Page 25 of Bearly Yours
Roarke staggered closer and gently picked me up off the floor. His control over his dragon fire was so insanely good that he’d already cooled his skin temperature down to a level I’d be comfortable with as he folded me in against his chest and wrapped his arms around me.
“Are you okay?” he asked gently, his voice like gravel.
I nodded against his chest and felt it shudder once beneath my cheek. I didn’t know what was wrong with him, but I knew it had to be significant for him to act this way. Roarke was a supernatural with an insane amount of control. From his body language, he looked stunned, and there was a look in his eyes of intense sorrow layered with incomprehensible joy. I’d never seen that expression in someone’s eyes before, and I had the feeling I never would again.
Roarke gently rubbed the back of my head where it had smacked into the hardwood floor. I was going to have a massive bump there for a bit, but my shifter biology would heal it quickly, so I wasn’t hugely worried about it. I was mostly worried about the nausea, because it probably meant I had a concussion.
Roarke buried his face in my neck. He was shaking. “Roarke,” I croaked, rubbing his arm to try to soothe him, my other arm pinned against his chest. “What’s wrong? Talk to me.” I winced when the light from a window flashed across my face and pierced my brain. Holy mother of all headaches, my head hurt.
I pulled my head away from his chest, squinting up at his face, and was stunned to see him crying. Like, full-on silent tears running down his face crying. It was heartbreaking. I’d never seen Roarke cry. Ever.
The sight of my best friend crying made me suddenly furious. I wanted to chomp down on whoever’d made him cry with my bear teeth and gut them with my claws. How dare they! I winced as my head throbbed particularly viciously and I groaned, then went back to being furious.
I was going to hurt someone.
Just as soon as I could see straight.
Roarke’s chuckle was watery as he pulled me in closer to him until there was zero space between our bodies, and gently cradled me, nuzzling my neck. I shivered as his lips grazed my skin.
“That’s all it takes to turn you into a warrior woman, huh? My tears?”
“What happened? Who hurt you?” I demanded, still croaking. I was going to go eat them!
But before he could answer, my Clan came in in their human forms, all of them wearing black sweats and no shirt. We had drop places for sweats everywhere on Clan property, but I had a dozen or so in a bin outside my house, so they’d likely gotten the sweatpants there.
Instead of barreling in and instantly haranguing me with questions, they stayed at the open front doorway and scented the air. Even Taco looked subdued.
“You okay, chica?”
I nodded, though I was still distracted by the tear-tracks on my best friend’s face and his obvious pain. “Yeah, has alpha caught the intruder yet?” They were probably well away from Clan property by now, but a girl could hope.
Mateo came into my house on bare feet, his movements graceful and quiet, but the others stayed by the front door. “Alpha’s on his way back, Em. The intruder got away. We put in a call to MCPD. Hopefully Finn can find him.”
“He stole Emrie’s locket,” Roarke growled angrily. I startled at his growl and looked down at my chest.
My locket! It was gone!
“Roarke, my parents gave that to me.” I wanted to bawl like a baby. I couldn’t believe that stupid thief had stolen my locket! What did he need it for? It wasn’t valuable! Just two engraved silver ovals with a latch and a picture of my parents inside.
I stilled.
“It had a picture of my parents inside, Roarke.”
Roarke cursed. “We’ll get it back,” he growled.
I nodded numbly.
“Em,” Mateo said. “We’re heading back to the lodge, okay? Alpha is just about here.”
I looked at him in confusion, so bewildered by the last few minute’s string of events I couldn’t even begin to make sense of them. Roarke, my dragon who never crossed lines, was wrapped around me like a burrito. My Clan brothers, who’d always felt free to barge into my home at regular intervals in the past, had yet to cross my threshold. Instead they kept scenting the air, and looking at me with their most serious expressions. My home had just been broken into, and the intruder had jumped on me and stolen a twenty-dollar locket. Not exactly a thing that most thieves had aspirations to steal. And usually, the Clan brothers that I couldn’t peel off of me with a stick when I was injured or emotional, were warily keeping their distance from me.
I mean, I wasn’t going to go full diva on anyone, but I’d been injured in a home invasion. Didn’t that rate them staying and maybe offering some protection? What good were brothers if they ran away when you were in trouble?
Nothing was making sense right then, and I didn’t think it was the stupid concussion.
Roarke gently led me to my sofa after the rest of the Clan left, sat me down, then rummaged around in my freezer forsomething. He came out with an ice pack which he quickly wrapped in a dish towel, then sat and put a pillow in his lap, patting the pillow with his free hand. “Here. Rest your head.”
I gaped at him. This was definitely crossing lines. But he was insistent, and I was in too much pain to puzzle out his odd behavior, so I laid my head on the pillow and closed my eyes, while he gently held the ice pack to the back of my throbbing head.
