RANCHER BEAR’S BABY(82)

I went in with her to every store, eager to watch out for her. My bear didn’t want anyone else near her. He was coming alive, full of constant growls and always at the surface.

Whenever I tried to touch Bunny, she practically hissed at me and jerked away. It was killing me.

“I still need fresh flowers.” She was sitting in my truck with her notepad in her lap and her phone in her hand. She had a pen gripped between her teeth and lines between her eyebrows from bunching them together all day.

“There’s not a florist around here, but I can take you to my family’s ranch. I need to talk to my brothers, anyway.”

She tapped the pen against her lips and frowned. “There’ll be flowers there?”

I nodded and pointed the truck in that direction. “Yep.”

She closed her notebook and shoved it into her purse, with the pen that I was feeling massive amounts of jealousy towards. “Fine. To the ranch we go. Then, you take me back to your house and I get everything ready for your girlfriend’s arrival.”

I stopped the truck at the edge of the ranch. “It’s not going to work, Bunny. She’s no longer my girlfriend. I’m not going to be with her and I’m not going to lie to her about being with you. She deserves to know the truth and I deserve to be happy. Finding your mate is special. I don’t want to start it off hurting you, or myself, by pretending that I’m still with Mandy. What would be the point?”

“We talked about the point. The point is that I need this job.”

“Not really. You’re my mate, Bunny. That means that I would do anything for you. I will take care of you.”

Her cheeks turned red and I’d already learned that it wasn’t going to be as cute as it looked. “What the hell is it with you bear shifters? You swoop in and take care of everything so I’m completely dependent on you and then you snatch it all away. I’m not doing it again. I don’t want to be with a bear. I don’t want to be with a man. I don’t want to be with anyone. I want to be alone.”

I felt my bear clawing through my skin and did everything I could to stop the shift from happening. “How can you ignore the pull? I know you feel it.”

She looked out the window, her face redder than ever. “I don’t feel anything. I’m not going to be mated to a bear.”

I shoved the truck back into gear and headed towards the main house. I needed to get out of the truck and away from her for a few minutes. I needed to hit something and I had a feeling one of my brothers would be down for a fight.

I slid to a stop in front of the house and jerked my thumb to the right of it. “Walk that way for a bit and you’ll find a small gathering of flowers. Honk the horn when you’re finished and back here.”

Before she could even get her door open, I was out of the truck and striding across the property in search of one of my brothers. I shucked clothing off along the way, shifting as soon as I could. Once my bear was free, he tried to turn me around and run me towards the smell of wild cherries, but I refused. Instead, I roared as loud as I could and charged my brother Alex.

Alex shifted immediately and wasted no time in returning the attack. He was going easy on me at first because I’d never instigated any kind of fights, but once I tackled him to the ground hard enough to piss him off, he gave as good as I was giving.

We rolled around and lashed out at each other until we were both panting and covered in muck and dirt. Alex shifted back first and glared up at me.

“What the fuck was that about?”

I shifted back and sat down next to him. “Found my mate. She works for Mandy. She hates bear shifters and doesn’t want anything to do with me. That pretty much sums it up.”

Alex shook his head and grunted. “Fuck. Did you do anything to piss her off?”

I thought about everything that’d happened in the few short hours we’d been together. “Probably. But she asked me to go ahead and have Mandy come tomorrow. Act like nothing ever happened between us.”

“And something did happen between you?”

I shot him a look. My character was changing when it came to my possessiveness, but I was still a gentleman. Mostly. “I’ll just say that I can’t in any way, shape, or form pretend like I still want Mandy. God. I can’t even imagine touching Mandy now. The bond just fucking sucker punches you, doesn’t it?”

He laughed and smacked my arm. “Yep. And there is no fighting it. Your girl can say that she isn’t interested all day long, but no matter what, she’ll give in eventually.”

“Her name’s Bunny and she’s anything but the sweet, timid picture the name brings to mind. She’s stubborn as a fucking mule.”