RANCHER BEAR’S BABY(48)

Lucas knelt beside me and stroked my face, almost the same way I was stroking Mason’s. “What’s wrong?”

I felt another breakdown coming on and realized I had to get away from them. I didn’t want Mason to see me sobbing. “Mason, why don’t you play with your Daddy some more? I’ve got to go check on something.”

He looked like he wanted to argue, but finally nodded. “Okay, Sammie.”

I stood up and hurried inside before Lucas could stop me. I didn’t fail to notice that we’d had an audience for that whole show and it just fueled me to make it to my room even faster.

I shoved the door closed behind me and threw myself on the bed like I was in some bad teenage drama. I wanted to keep it together, but everything was too much. I cried for what Mason had endured, I cried for Mallory whose life ended far too soon, and I cried for Aaron, a fine man who would be sorely missed.

I didn’t know how I was supposed to go back to doing my job without Aaron at my side. We’d worked together since I joined the Marshals. He’d become my best friend pretty much instantly. He had a wife, and a young baby that would grow up without him. Their loss was much greater than mine, so I cried for them, too.

When I thought I’d cried everything that I had out, my thoughts turned to my leaving Mason. And Lucas. My chest ached and I rolled over in my bed. Staring at the ceiling, I blew out a rough breath and tried to make sense of what I was feeling about Lucas.

Any anger I’d felt towards him had dissipated when he’d nearly cried over Mason. I was still hurt that he thought of me as second-best. I didn’t even fully know what it meant, though.

I groaned and pulled a pillow over my face, just as someone knocked on the door.

“It’s me, Elizabeth. Can I come in?”

I sat up and called for her to come in.

She crept into the room and smiled at me before shutting the door. “Hi. You okay?”

I nodded, embarrassed. “I must be getting my period.”

“Or you’ve got a shit-ton going on and you’ve had a really hard time lately. Don’t minimize your feelings, Sammie.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re right. I’m not getting my period. I’m just a hot mess.”

She sat on the bed and pulled her feet under herself. “Talk to me. I’m a great listener.”

So I talked. I told her everything that had gone on and all the reasons I had for releasing my tension through tears. By the time I got to the end, I was standing and ranting around the room like a lunatic.

“And then he said he’d thought that Mallory was his mate. But now he thinks it’s me. I guess now that she’s dead? I don’t even really know what that’s supposed to mean, but I do know that I don’t like coming in second place.”

She rolled her eyes. “He’s an idiot. If he said you’re his mate, then you’re his mate. You’re not second to anyone. That’s not how it works. They, shifters, know immediately when someone is their mate. She’ll smell different, everything will feel different, and it’s like they can’t keep their hands off of her. And, speaking from personal experience, being the human counterpart is almost as intense. As soon as I met Alex, I didn’t even wait a whole two hours before we were rolling around in the sack.”

My cheeks burned and she laughed. “Yeah, we all know you slept with him already. Bears have insanely great hearing.”

I gasped. “No!”

She laughed even harder. “Yep. That’s what I’m saying, though. No judgement. It’s insane how the mate bond works. It’s virtually instantaneous.”

“Then why did he think Mallory was his mate?”

She rolled her eyes again, so far back in her head that I was afraid they’d get stuck facing the wrong way. “When their Dad died, he left this crazy will that said that the first son to have an offspring inherited control of the ranch. I don’t know if Lucas just hoped Mallory was his mate, or what. It was weird. He just left one day and said that he was going to find her. None of us knew what to make of it.”

I groaned, surprising myself. “I hate that he went looking for her.”

Elizabeth grinned. “That’s the mate bond. You become insanely jealous. When I see a woman look at Alex, I can’t help visualize myself scratching her eyes out.”

“This is all too much. What do I do about it?”

“You just… accept it and deal with it. Life gifted you with a soulmate who was made just for you. Fate sent you to one another. That’s pretty special. You shouldn’t ignore it.”

I didn’t think I had a choice. “I can’t stay here.”