Page 32 of The Bear's Fated Mate
One of the reasons the pack house was located on the outskirts of town was so random facts of shifter life weren’t as obvious to the humans in town. Lara had many reasons to be thankful for that but never so much as now.
She turned to face Alex in the hopes of redirecting him to a different setting.
Too late. He’d already stripped off his shirt and was in the process of shoving his jeans and briefs off his lean hips. Boots were kicked free a second before he looked her in the eye…
And winked.
A moment later, a massive polar bear sat on the walkway beside her, a grin on his face and his head tilted to the side as if he were an innocent puppy.
Lara let out a long-suffering sigh then gathered up his clothes. “No bloodshed,” she reminded him. Then she leaned down and touched her nose to his. “You are rather impressive. Also, did I mention how much cuter polar bears are than I expected?”
He narrowed his eyes, ears swiveling forward.
She grinned, ruffling the fur on the top of his head before stroking her fingers behind his ear to scratch softly. “I think we’ve lost some of our audience.”
Alex rocked forward and head-butted her in the stomach, gentle but powerful enough that she had to scramble to keep her feet. She laughed and turned to the front porch to discover half of the unwelcome guests had vanished.
Unfortunately, that was the good news. The bad news was that her sister now stood front and center.
Crystal had her arms crossed over her chest and an unwelcoming expression on her face. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Lara stopped at the base of the stairs, body on alert. At least until Alex rumbled up beside her, one paw on either side of her legs, surrounding her.
She got the message—he had her back.
She lifted her chin and met her sister’s gaze. “You commanded me to return to the pack house, so I’m here. Unfortunately, I was in the middle of something I can’t call off.”
Crystal rolled her eyes. “Please. You’re fucking him—I can smell it from here. Do it on your own time and somewhere else.”
“Can’t. Mating fever.”
Her sister’s frown deepened. “Get out. He’s not mated to you. I can tell.”
Pain shot through Lara at the comment. It was true—they might be fated to be mates, but they weren’t actually mated at the moment.
Lara pulled on sarcasm like armour. “Nope. But for whatever reason, possibly because of a certain little ‘make friends and influence people’ situation you put me in earlier, Alex and Iareinvolved for the duration. It’s a bear thing. It’s not our way, and it doesn’t make sense to you, but it’s something we have to respect.”
Slow curses rumbled from Crystal’s lips before she shook her head and stormed into the pack house, leaving the door open behind her. A final shout rang over her shoulder. “If he breaks anything, he’s paying for it.”
Lara stepped forward, meeting the gaze of each wolf who had been summoned by her sister. Only two of them managed to hold her gaze for any length of time.
The one who dared take a step closer tumbled off the porch a second later. Alex, seemingly by accident, had swung a massive hip, making contact with the man’s thighs and sending him flying.
Lara laughed. She placed a hand on Alex’s furry shoulder and led him into the pack house. As a homecoming, it was the weirdest ever, yet she wouldn’t have changed a thing.
Well, maybe one thing. When she got him alone in her quarters, she needed to sweet-talk the bear into changing back to human.
She leaned in close and murmured in his ear. “Did I mention you getting all growly gets me hot?”
She should’ve waited. A second later a very naked, very riled up Alex was stalking her deeper into the pack house. “You’ve got thirty seconds to find a private place, or I won’t be held responsible for what’s definitely not going to be a PG event.”
Lara set off at a run, Alex pounding after her. She made it to her room in seventeen seconds, had the door closed behind him at twenty-four, and her clothes off by twenty-nine.
Challenge met.
Alex stared her down as he stepped closer, catching her fingers in his and bringing their bodies into contact. “Wolf hearing is really sensitive, isn’t it?”
Oh shit. She pinned her lips together, heart rate increasing at the expression in his eyes.
