Page 46 of The Bear's Fated Mate
James shrugged. “I suppose it’s better this way. More snuggles.”
Brisk clapping sounded from the side as Auntie Amethyst marched forward, leaving the older gentleman bear she’d been canoodling with grinning happily in the background. “Okay, kids, gather around. We’ve got some home movies that we thought would be appropriate for today’s party.”
Chairs were scuffled and voices lowered as the motley crew settled into position.
Alex linked his fingers with Lara’s, arm curled around her shoulders to keep her close. “Family movies. You realize if I see any signs of you lying on a bearskin rug, I’m going to be very put out.”
Laughter rose from the pack, but Lara was the one who spoke quietly into his mind. “I seem to remember lying on a bear’s skin lately. Very naked.”
Damn. He shouldn’t have said anything. Now he was going to be uncomfortable for the rest of the evening until he could convince her it was time for them to go back to their private quarters.
Or maybe he could convince her that they should check out the broom closet there at the school.
Someone dimmed the lights and queued up a Bluetooth connection. Just as the projector started, Mac the cat prowled by, sliding in front of the light to create an enormous monstrous shadow on the screen.
The wolves howled and the bears clapped. Mac glared at them haughtily before slowly, very slowly, pacing off.
The background to the video was music with a catchy beat, and Alex was tapping his toes before he realized what was happening on the screen in front of him.
It was him sauntering up to Lara. He was dressed head to toe in black and she was holding Mac, and within a few moments he realized he was watching video footage of their meeting outside the school.
Parts moved in fast-forward, but every detail of the most important moments were played out or repeated in slow motion.
When Lara flipped him and slammed him into the ground, there was a collectiveohhhhhhfrom the gathered wolves and a “you go girl” from Amber.
And that wasn’t the end. The next scene was a shot of Lara in the pack house, happiness in her expression as she jotted down a note and left it on the desk. Then she was alert, moving like the ninja she was toward the door. The screen split, and suddenly she was on one side, sliding like a ghost toward where a shadow lay on the floor. The other half showed him, back against the wall, inching his way toward where she would inevitably find him.
The screen split again, this time, the third video showing the common room of the pack house with Auntie Amethyst sitting in her recliner, a large bowl of popcorn in her lap. She was watching them both onhertelevision. When it became clear that Lara was closing in on discovering him, Auntie rolled her eyes then deliberately held her popcorn bowl to one side before letting it go, cupping her hands to her mouth and shouting for help.
Lara straightened instantly and took off at a run, vanishing out of the picture and reappearing in the common room to help with cleanup.
Meanwhile Alex had slipped into the office and found his information.
He sighed heavily as the camera followed him all the way back down the hallway, up into the attic, and away from the pack house.
“So much for being a super sleuth,” he said wryly.
Lara snorted. “They got me too,” she pointed out.
Her grip on his fingers tightened, and he really didn’t care that he’d been caught on camera because, in the end, what they had together was more important.
Besides, they had gotten to the truly interesting part of the video. This one involved a lot more nighttime shots, but it was pretty clear that there was a bear wandering the pack house in the dead of night.
A polar bear sitting at the pack computer and carefully using one long nail to punch in orders on…Amazon?
Lara leaned against him. “What are you doing?”
“Not sure,” he admitted. “Give me a second.”
What were you doing?he asked his bear.
Wooing. I told you I would take care of things,his inner beast said proudly.
And while online shopping was the source for some of the gifts, it was Alex in bear form who hauled in the lake trout, awkwardly dragging an overloaded bag across the floor until stopped by—of all people—Crystal.
She shook her head in amusement before hauling a kiddie pool out of the storage closet. She helped him deposit his gift then snuck him back into Lara’s room.
It seemed there’d been more than a few people conspiring to get them together.
