Brave Bear Mated(2)

He cleared his throat, trying to dissolve the lump that formed there. He didn’t want to be thinking about this shit, but he managed a small nod. He wouldn’t lie to his brother.

“Nobody would try harder than we would,” Thames said firmly. “Because the things we have to offer aren’t to be seen on the outside, Theo.”

“What do we have to offer?” Theron was baffled since they had nothing. Zilch.

Thames swallowed hard. “We have our hearts. Our hearts are strong. We’ve lived through the worst heartaches and survived, so I know they’re strong. We will love harder because we had no love. We’ll work harder because it’s all we know. We’ll have a family and we’ll hold on to them so hard, because there was no one to hold us. Wait and see, brother. Wait and see.”

Theron wanted so badly to believe it. Even though he was barely seventeen, his bear desperately wanted someone like that. Maybe because the animal believed in what Thames said. Maybe the fool thing thought having a female to love would change the way things were. The way things hurt. Maybe he believed finding the female meant to love him would take all the bad things away like magic.

But Theron couldn’t let himself fall for that dream. Because if he woke up and reality swooped in, it would destroy him.

“So, what do you think yours will be like, Theo?” Thames asked. His voice had taken on that wistful edge. This was his drug. The thing that dulled the pain of living. “I think mine will be smart. I’ll have to be alert and learn as much as I can before we meet so she doesn’t think I’m stupid. I want her to be able to talk about smart things with me, and I’ll understand them.”

Theron stared at Thames, his heart lurching for his brother and all the fucking hope in his eyes. He needed this. Needed it to make it through until morning. No matter the tough act he put on, or the optimistic words he spoke, Thames was barely holding on and there was nothing Theron could do.

Except this.

If Thames needed to pretend they’d someday find happily ever after, Theron could play along. He could do that for his brother.

“I…” He cleared his throat roughly. “I think mine will be strong. I think she’ll be brave, but also a little afraid, and maybe I’ll help her be braver or… something.” This wasn’t going well. Maybe he should’ve stuck with looks. “Blond maybe, with pearly blue eyes. I… I really don’t know.”

Thames pressed his lips together, mind working at something. “We will need a cave. It’s never too early to start preparing. We could look tomorrow after the Mother Bear does our readings.”

Theron’s stomach turned at the reminder of what tomorrow was. Reading Day. They were due to receive their prophecy. The one the Mother Bear—the clan’s leader—gave each young to usher in adulthood.

The one that told of their future mate.

But Theron had his reservations. If the cruel female was willing to curse them as children and execute their parents, what would she do to them now, as adults?

Thames continued plotting about the cave. “I heard some young talking about a small one over on the north rim.”

“We’ll never find one not already occupied. And even if we do, any clan member could toss us from it if they wanted it for themselves.”

As outcasts, they weren’t allowed to own anything. If someone wanted their ratty beds of discarded things, they could take them and be within rights.

“That’s true,” Thames murmured, his mind still working. “I wonder if we can complete the mating ritual without a cave to bring our mates to.”

“Perhaps.” Theron tried to make his voice sound hopeful instead of dead. For Thames. “If we can find a place secure enough.” Not their makeshift tent behind a dumpster. “And if the female could find it in her heart to understand our complications.”

Thames deflated at that part, because he knew what Theron knew. No female wanted a male who couldn’t provide a home for her. Even if one chose him, she would quickly see he couldn’t care for her. Not being an Ursa Inferior.

Thames’s throat bobbed with a weighty swallow. “Do you think the Mother Bear will go easy on us tomorrow?”

Theron laid out on his own lumpy, cobbled together mattress, flattened his hands over his chest, and stared at the water accumulating on the tarp above him.

“Anything’s possible. Right, Thames?” But he wasn’t convincing anybody that he believed it. His voice was too bright. Plastic and fake.

“Yeah,” his brother said dully. “Why not.”

They didn’t speak the rest of the night, but sometime before dawn the rain stopped and Theron found sleep.