Bear the Burn(23)
There was something base between them. Some chemical connection on a cellular level that made her want to touch him and be near him. Maybe it was science or some instinctive compatibility of their basic natures. Perhaps it was that he was part animal, and she understood him better than most people she’d met—she didn’t know. All she knew was when she was around him, he made her want to be braver and better. He made her stomach do curious flip-flops, and for the first time in a long time, the thought of a future with a man made her pulse race with excitement over the unknown.
“Are you sure you’re okay with me crashing at your place?” she asked in a much smaller voice than she’d intended. Waves of random shyness did that to her. Apparently, the grizzly sleeping inside of her didn’t do much for bolstering her confidence around intimidating, sexpot shifters like Dade Leland Keller.
“Of course I’m sure. I don’t think I could handle you staying in town without the protection of the Breck Crew right now. I’d be there watching over your house from the uncomfortable seat in my truck and putting us both at risk by allowing us to be separated from our people.”
Our people. That was insane to think about. She had people, and she didn’t even know them yet. A sense of excitement and terror unfurled in her stomach, and she clenched her hands against the urge to panic, or squeal or both. “When will I meet the rest of the Breck Crew?”
“Tomorrow if you want. Ma has already sent me about thirty text messages asking about you. I think she’d given up on me ever finding a mate.”
“Mate,” she whispered, testing out the word on her tongue. Simultaneously, it sent a trill of intimidation and elation through her, leaving her breathless.
“Sorry. I know humans don’t talk like that. Sometimes I forget that you’re new to this because you seem to be handling it so well. We don’t have to talk about that stuff until you’re ready.”
She drew up straight at the realization she was kind of handling this like a champion. The animal lover in her was just as accepting of her new inner furry rider as it was scared for her future. She’d been on a roller coaster of emotions with all of this, but a small, quiet part of her felt right at home with her new animal side. “What does being your mate mean?”
Dade huffed a laugh and rubbed his hands over his platinum blond hair, spiking it up everywhere. It seemed to be a nervous habit of his, one that made this big tough guy even more endearing to her. “I don’t really know. I was planning on calling my half-brother about it tonight after you fell asleep.”
“What do you feel?”
Dade screwed up his face and shook his head. “If I tell you, you’ll run for the hills and never look back.”
Quinn held back a squeak in her throat at how cute he was. “Well, now you have to tell me.”
“Swear that anything I say in this car doesn’t make it back to my brothers or their mates. Or Ma.”
“Fine.” Easy promise. She didn’t even know his family other than Boone. She pulled her duffle bag of clothes tighter against her side and settled against the passenger seat cushion of his truck. Outside, it was late in the evening and the fireflies were just coming out, illuminating the piney woods with little blinks of light. It was beautiful, but not as alluring as watching Dade’s profile as he struggled to find words. Chiseled jaw adorned with the beginnings of that short, blond beard, as if he hadn’t bothered to shave since she’d been taken to the hospital. The thick chords of muscle in his throat moved when he swallowed, and when he ghosted her an are-you-sure-you’re-ready-for-this look, his aqua-colored eyes were worried. That he was concerned with what she thought of him was baffling.
Him, a big, dominant bear shifter who’d survived God knows what, and he was worried about what she, a quiet, mildly clumsy widow, thought of him.
“When I first saw you, my bear woke right up. It was this there-she-is moment, and you were sitting on the floor of the vet’s room, mourning something I didn’t understand, and all I wanted to do was make it better. But right before I’d gone in there, Shayna had stopped me on the side of the road, threatened a girl I used to hang out with, and I’d just got done swearing up and down that I’d never put a living soul in that woman’s path. And then there you were, not fifteen minutes later. And then when I heard the vet tell you to take the rest of the day off, I got this jumpy feeling inside. I stalled paying for Tank’s check-up so you’d have time to gather your stuff and head out, because even though I had just told myself I wouldn’t get involved with anyone, I was already planning to see you again. And you were so upset, and your tire was flat, and I wanted to put your bike in the back of my truck and ask you out. Take you to a movie or dinner or something. But Shayna was there tailing me, reminding me I couldn’t have anything that I wanted without it being ripped away from me, just like the agency she works for has always done to me and my crew.”