Page 105 of Bearly Hanging On

I blinked, hearing his voice inside my head.

Of course it does, idiot, Mack snapped.The gods would never allow us to take a form that would hurt our mate.

Easy for you to say, Tor shot back.You’ve got an inflatable beach ball at the bottom of your dick. I watched a documentary on cats mating and I can still hear the female’s screams.

And you still stuck your dick in Harper?

Oh my god… I sighed.Is this what it's gonna be like? You two bickering in my head the entire time? I take it back. Break the mating bond, please.

No take backsies.Tor pulled me down on the bed, holding me close as I heard a strange rumbling sound. Purring, I realised. My eyes closed, and I nestled in closer, suddenly incredibly tired.Kieran is always the one that stops the arguments, my mate.My eyes opened to see Tor staring down at me with a smile on his face. Our eyes rolled sideways to where Kieran was going to the bathroom, retrieving a cleaning cloth.If you want someone to stop the squabbling…

I needed to take him as a mate too. That was what I wanted, but it was like Tor’s purr was an anchor and it was dragging me down, down, down into a dark place, a soft and safe one.

Soon… I promised, right as I fell asleep.

Chapter 45

Kieran

I needed to look after Harper. That’s what sent me to the bathroom, searching through the drawers to find a face washer. It’s what had me dampening it slightly, the water warm, so I could clean her up. I didn’t want my mate waking up all sticky. I didn’t want… As I blinked, I saw it, Harper picking up that damn rifle, a shout building in my throat. I’d leapt forward, ready to protect her.

But she shot Dax, killing him instantly.

My fingers sank into the washcloth, claws threatening to puncture the fabric.

I should’ve been the one to protect her. I should’ve killed Dax. She made that clear, right before she lunged for the gun. The fact she did hit me hard, because it cemented the feeling I’d been struggling with since the moment she called me.

That I’d failed her.

I stared into the bathroom mirror, seeing the bear push forward. He stared right back, making clear how he felt about things. Leaving the house this morning was a mistake. Hewas dimly aware that family was important to me, but that knowledge paled into insignificance when it came to Harper. We left the den and that meant our mate was defenceless. She’d been forced to work around Mack, because he was so inflexible. If we were here, she’d at least have us by her side when she raced towards the quarry, if we couldn’t talk her out of such a mad plan. That way when we arrived, she wouldn’t…

She wouldn’t have been dragged into the depths of the tunnels under the quarry. When we’d leapt out of the car and rushed towards it, the bear was incensed that he couldn’t ride to Harper’s rescue. The tunnels were too small and it’d taken everything I had to stop him from burrowing through them. When I explained what a cave in was and that dying crushed under dirt and rock was not what we wanted for our mate, he’d stopped.

To do what?

Taking fur and chasing down Dax’s minions was a relief, but not for long. The wolf shifters provided little challenge, other than forcing ourselves not to tear them in two, especially when I detected the stink of Harper on them. But then what? When she was safe, when she was with us, our mate had raised a valid concern. Not that Dax didn’t deserve to die, but how. I shook my head, forcing myself away from the mirror and out into the bedroom. I’d care for Harper now, I vowed, make sure she was comfortable and… The faint sounds of her whistling breaths let me know she’d fallen asleep.

All the tension seemed to leach out of me at the sight of her. Curled up in Tor’s arms, he purred for her over and over again.

“You got a cloth?” Mack looked exhausted, but he held out a hand for it. “Good. I’ll clean her up and then we’ll get some sleep.”

“I’ll…” I felt like a dick, insisting on this and yet I had to. “I’ll do it. You’re beat. Get some sleep, brother.”

He nodded, his lips twitching, making clear he knew this was more than just an act of altruism on my part. Instead, he crawled up the bed, his eyes closing the moment his head hit the pillows. That left me to deal with Harper. Tor nodded, pulling free with a wince, and I was pretty sure what that was about. A desire to keep her exactly where she was, clasped tight, lest she get away. We both moved so slowly, quietly, hoping to deal with this without waking her, but as soon as I rolled her onto her back, her head popped up off the mattress. She blinked wildly, then stared at me. Her focus shifted from my face, the rag, then to my naked body.

“Oh, hey… Mating. We need to finish the mating?—”

“You need rest,” I replied. “I was going to clean you up first.”

“Clean?” That seemed to rouse her further, her hands raking across her torso as she rolled up into a seated position. “I’m not sure if that rag is gonna cut it. Got Dax germs all over me.” My hands covered hers, hating that she was leaving red welts all over her. “There’s no way I got his brains on me, right? Like that’s not possible.”

“Harper—”

“I mean I shot him at a distance, but…” Her eyes met mine and I saw some deep discomfort there, one I needed to erase. “I feel dirty? Why the hell would I feel dirty?” Finally, something I could fix. I scooped her up into my arms and carried her towards the bathroom. “Where we going, Bear Boy? Somewhere saucy…?” Her eyes went everywhere, taking in the bathroom. Probably because it was bigger than most people’s bedrooms. “Oh.”

I set her down and then walked over to the bath, running the water. When it was warm enough, I started filling the bath, adding some lavender scented bath salts. Mum always said they were relaxing. At this point, I was pretty sure I needed them more than Harper did. But once the bath was full, Harper drewcloser, lured perhaps by the scent. I picked her up and then placed her into the water, intending to sit outside and wash her.

“So do I get princess treatment only when I defeat the bad guy?” she asked as I grabbed the soap, and it was then I heard the slight waver in her voice. “Like are you guys gonna go around and put up all the toilet seats tomorrow?”

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