Page 9 of Bearly Yours
I swallowed, grimacing. Ireallydidn’t want to talk about this, or get anyone in trouble, but he was my alpha, and he was asking. I couldn’tnotanswer him fully “A few have given my number out to people they think I might hit it off with. Most of the dates have ended in...disaster. It’s funny, really, and I know they’re just trying to help.”
I mean, if you looked at it in a certain light it was funny? Maybe?
But my alpha didn’t think it was funny.
His posture went ramrod straight.“They gave your number to random males?”
I cringed, lowering my eyes. “Yes, Alpha.”
The power radiating from him increased ten-fold, and I swallowed and started to tremble again. Not because I thought he would hurt me, because of course he wouldn’t, but because of the staggering weight of his power that flowed through the room. It was so thick I couldseeit.
“They mean well, Alpha,” I said, clutching the chair to keep my hands from visibly trembling. “They know how difficult it is for me to interact with strangers, and they know how much I want a mate and family.” Sometimes I repeated this mantra to myself weekly. They mean well. They mean well. Some weeks it worked, others it didn’t.
Alpha Riggs got up very carefully so that he wouldn’t scare me, gently squeezed my shoulder to let me know he wasn’t upset with me, opened his door, and went to stand at the railing looking out over the living room where a few of the Clan were watching TV below.
“Whohas been giving out Emrie’s number to males in Moonhaven?” Riggs asked in a deadly quiet voice. You wouldn’t think it would be able to be heard over the TV, but of course it had been. Everyone below instantly came to attention. Only Drew, Taco, Matteo and Mathan were still here. It looked like everyone else had gone home. They all stood at the quiet, powerful voice of their alpha.
I had to lean on the wall outside my alpha’s office door because the queasiness was back. I feltterrible.Like I’d just ratted out my Clan. I was trembling so much that my vision started wavering like a ninety-year-old hula dancer.
“I don’t give out her number,” Mateo answered quietly. “I ask her first, letting her know a little about them, and then I give her the other male’s number.”
Mathan nodded. “I do the same.”
Drew and Taco went pale, which was saying something because Taco’s skin-tone was usually a toasted golden bronze. They looked at each other. “We do, Alpha,” Taco said, obviously the braver of the two. “We just thought it would be easier on her, because she gets really nervous talking with someone and initiating things the first time she meets them.”
I did. I really did. Bless their sweet, loving, very blind hearts. I mean, I think a turnip would have better taste in males for me than these Clan brothers, but it was the thought that counted, right?
“Alpha,” I said in a tremulous voice. “The system they’re using may be flawed, but their hearts are in the right place. I’ve been okay, really. Roarke is always there. I make sure we always go to one of his restaurants.”
My alpha turned to me, and from below I could see Matteo turn and look at me as well, both of them giving me the full measure of their very piercing gazes, like they could read each other’s minds—which they could, sort of—then they both lookedat each other, and had a conversation that none of the rest of us could hear.
The power radiating off of my alpha lessened and softened. “While I appreciate that your hearts are in the right place, please respect her privacy, and don’t give out her number anymore. Are we clear?”
“Yes, Alpha.”
Alpha Riggs nodded, then gently ushered me back into his office and shut the door.
I was shaking hard as I sat down. No one had raised their voices, but Ihatedconflict, and what was worse was the fact that I felt like I’d gotten my Clan in trouble for a kindness they were doing for me. I couldn’t help the tears that fell, and I couldn’t look at my alpha’s gentle gaze for a full minute as I struggled to get control of myself.
I guess I really was a sensitive soul, as Roarke often called me affectionately.
“Every time they gave your number out to someone, they were risking your safety. I’m sorry that I had to say something to them, Emrie, but your safety, and the safety and happiness of my bears are paramount to me,” Riggs said gently.
“I should have said something to them earlier,” I whispered. “I kept meaning to, but I didn’t want them to think that I haven’t been grateful for their attempts.”
“We can be grateful for someone’s attempts on our behalf, and still struggle with the manner in which they are attempting it.”
I nodded, wiping my face with the tissue he handed me and tried to pull myself together. Taking a deep breath, I looked up and found my alpha’s compassionate gaze. He was always so gentle with the females in his Clan, and possibly, because I was so broken, even more gentle with me.
“You can tell themno,Emrie. I know they wouldn’t get offended or hurt by that.”
I shook my head. “I don’t feel that Ihaveto go out with whomever they pick for me, Alpha. I just feel that...“ I stopped, frustrated, not sure how to explain.
I was the only female bear shifter in the Moonhaven Clan.
The. Only. One.
Sure, there were families in our Clan, as about twenty percent of our Clan were already mated, but those mates were human or some other type of shifter or supernatural. I was the only female bear shifter.
