Page 41 of Bearly Yours
“I must have mistook the day,” I said inanely, watching the unfortunate opponent to the king get a beat down, pool noodle style. Perhaps the vampire had flirted with Consort Mia or something, because the vampire king showed no mercy as he pummeled him.
“I wish I could pull out my phone and record this for Roarke. He’d never believe me,” I said, trying to hold back my irrepressible giggles.
“I’ll corroborate your story,” Mateo said, scratching his chin as he eyed the king take on another opponent in the pool noodle fencing arena.
“Should I let them know I’m here?” I wondered aloud, but I could see there would be no need. As I watched, Zian slunk into the room. Avoiding every obstacle in his path, he made his way to his mistress, and got her attention by rubbing up against her side in feline devotion. It almost knocked her over. I snorted and covered my mouth again.
Consort Mia laughed and rubbed Zian’s fluffy ears, then she spotted Mateo and I and made her way carefully over to us. She was in bold, electric-blue leggings, and a dark grey sweatshirt that was made so that it had one shoulder cut out. It readMake My Day, Punkin glittery blue lettering.
“Love your sweatshirt,” I said, thinking how ironic it was that I’d said those words just this week to a rooster on the warpath.
Consort Mia slung her camera over a shoulder and fixed her messy bun really quickly. “Aww, thanks, Emrie. I thought it was appropriate for our office olympics day.”
“Is that what this is?” Mateo asked. “I think the bear Clan needs to do something like this. Work out all those winter jitters we get around this time.”
Mia looked confused, so I helped her a little. “Bears usually hibernate for the winter. They stuff their bodies as full as they possibly can for the rest of the year, and then hibernate during the winter and survive off the stored fat. Even though we’re bear shifters, we still have a tendency to get antsy during the winter months. Activity and physical exercise helps.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to actually hibernate?” Consort Mia asked.
I shook my head. “It’s not in our makeup to be able to. We just have to tough it out. It’s not too bad. I barely feel it most winters. I think the more dominant bears feel it more acutely,” I said, eying Mateo carefully. “Are you feeling it, Mateo? Is it crazy strong?”
He shrugged. “Not much to be done about it.”
Consort Mia turned to Mateo. “This might be an indelicate question...”
“Go ahead.”
“But how dominant are you?” Mia finished.
King Draven came up beside Consort Mia with his pool noodle slung over one shoulder like a sword, and wrapped his free arm around his wife’s shoulders. “He’s extremely dominant, love. He just hides it well.”
I’d never really stopped to think about it, because I’d grown up in my Clan and just accepted it without pondering it for any length of time, but Mateo was nearly as dominant as Alpha Riggs. The same power pulsed from his body, just with slightly less intensity.
“Holy honey badgers, Mateo. I never thought about it, but you’re powerful!”
Mateo laughed and shook his head, as if he couldn’t believe how blind I was. In my defense... Well, I had no defense. Other than just blindly accepting my Clan for who and what they were. Even Taco, who’d hid my favorite fuzzy socks just last night, andate the last piece of chocolate cake that I had been saving for a midnight snack.
I’d not said anything, but Roarke must have because my fuzzy socks miraculously found themselves back in my drawer in the morning, and the only time he could have returned them was when I’d been taking a shower.
So, yeah, I accepted my Clan, cake-stealers and all.
I patted the tube slung over my shoulder with a strap. “I brought the blueprints. Do you both have a few minutes to go over them? I’m sorry, I must have gotten the time wrong that we were set to meet.”
Consort Mia shook her head. “You didn’t. We’ve actually run long. Everyone was having so much fun that no one wanted it to end.”
“They’ll get a chance to redeem themselves next quarter,” King Draven said, smiling fondly at his wife. “And maybe I can get you out there playing next time instead of taking pictures.”
“You want me to go toe-to-toe against vampires and other powerful paranormals?” She gaped at him. “I’ll get pummeled.”
Mateo shook his head.
“You disagree?” Consort Mia asked him, frowning.
Careful, Mateo. Don’t tick off the Consort.
His snort echoed through our telepathic link.
“King Draven would impale them on a stick,” Mateo said aloud. “I was watching your games for a few minutes. Everyone was very careful whenever you got near them. Several times there were rogue chairs or missiles that got close but were headed off or batted away by someone else before they made contact with you.”
