Page 2 of The Bear's Fated Mate
Enough reminiscing. She was making new friends. She was making a new start, returning after five years of college and tech school.
She grabbed her bag from the back and was ready to step forward when her wolf shot to high alert.
Eyes watching us.
Lara froze then took a deep inhale, checking for a scent. Tilting her head to the side, she allowed the wolf’s keen hearing do its job.
The bushes in front of her quivered slightly, and Lara laughed as she met the gaze of the fiercest hunter of the school hallways. “Mac?”
A loud meow greeted her as the oversized tabby magically slipped through the hedge without knocking a hair out of place. He rubbed his flank against her thigh-high red boots.
Lara laid her bag on the ground to free her hands as she knelt to stroke him. “I wondered if you were still ruling the roost. Good to see you, Sir Mac the Magnificent. I assume you’ve been keeping up on all your superior cat attack moves.”
He angled his head to allow her to scratch under his chin, a purr the volume of a Harley in high gear rumbling from his chest.
Lara scooped him into her lap and hugged him tight, awkward because of the sheer mass of the animal as she balanced on today’s moderately sensible three-inch heels.
The rumbling sound strengthened in volume beyond what was typically possible even for a big cat.
That’s when she realized someone else had entered the parking lot. Someone on arealHarley who was even now skidding to a stop beside her car, dust flying skyward.
She stood, Mac’s heavy weight in her arms forgotten, as the man on the bike dismounted and her every sense went into overdrive.
Black leather pants, black leather jacket. Adding those to the combination of black boots, leather gloves, and a mirrored helmet should have made him a mystery, but sheknew.
She knew far too well.
Alex Borealis loosened his helmet, lifting the gear away then dragging a hand over his military-short dark hair. The sun shone off his square jaw and firm cheekbones, turning the tan of his skin the colour of polished oak.
His eyes fixed on hers, pupils so dark and wide that they blended with his deep brown irises and turned his gaze mesmerizingly dangerous.
Lips. Those gorgeous lips that were firm yet deliciously soft when pressed to hers before hunger had swept in and he’d attempted to consume her—
And that was where her mind wasnotallowed to go. No matter how her inner wolf wanted to lunge forward and complete what had passed between them the last time they met.
Which was…less than twelve hours ago?
Yeah. They had a “history.” Short, not sweet, and definitely complicated.
Lara lifted her chin boldly but didn’t say anything.
Alex hung his helmet on his handlebars then stripped off his gloves. He unzipped his jacket and it fell open to reveal a black T-shirt stretched over a leanly muscular and extremely lethal body.
Oh, how she wished for the right words to strike him with, but her wolf and her brain weren’t cooperating. Instead, the tip of her tongue vibrated with something along the lines of “Sweet mercy, your place or mine?”
Her wolf wanted to do it right there in the parking lot, thank you very much.
Alex stepped closer, still staring at her face, as his fingers drifted up to rub his wrists. Faint red lines circled the base of his thick forearms as a reminder that at two a.m. she’d left him handcuffed to a stairwell.
Oops? History again. In her defense, ithadseemed like a good idea at the time.
“You looking for something, Borealis?” The words rasped out as if she’d taken up her aunt’s three-pack-a-day habit.
“Maybe an apology.” He stopped a foot away from her, glancing momentarily at the cat. Then, wonder of wonders, a smile bloomed on the bear shifter’s stern face. “Is that…Mac?”
Lara slammed her lips together, mostly to stop from drooling. Alex Borealis smiling did something dangerous to her hormones.
Who was she kidding? The damn man could be cursing her name and he’d still do something to her, but that was an issue for a future time. Because, beyond all reason, Alex had reached forward to curl a hand over Mac’s head, and the traitorous creature allowed it.
