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I struggle to pull him down and when I do, he bounces back up and barks at the window again. I check that it’s locked, close all the blinds, and then sit back down with my adrenaline spiking. This dog is supposed to make me feel safer at home, not freak me out.
“Come on, Buddy,” I say as I slap my thigh. He growls at the window one more time and then reluctantly sits in front of me with the hair on his back standing straight up.
He’s on edge for the rest of the night, but I’m able to sleep knowing that anyone who tries to mess with me will have my protective dog to face.
And I wouldn’t want to be that guy.
Chapter Four
Carter
“Where the hell have you been?” Blake barks at me when I bring the firetruck back at nine o’clock at night.
I get out with my head pounding. This has been the longest day of my life.
My grizzly bear is infuriated as I step down from the truck. He’s growling and snarling in my ear as he thrashes around and roars at me to return to the truck and go back to her.
I’m not used to this. He’s been almost dormant inside of me for the past two decades and now he’s making up for lost time with a vengeance.
“I’m sorry I’m late,” I say as I hang up the keys with my head dropped down.
“Well, we didn’t get any complaints from the elementary school saying you burnt it down,” Westin says with a laugh. “So, that’s a good thing. Right?”
“School finished six hours ago,” Blake says as he crosses his arms over his chest and stares me down. “Where have you been with my spare truck?”
A snarl rumbles out of my throat as I glare at him.
His face turns fierce. “What the fuck was that?” he hisses in a low threatening voice.
I close my eyes and shake my head. “I can’t help it. This bear is—”
Out of nowhere, my grizzly surges forward and shreds his way out as I flex my body and desperately try to hold him back. I’m out of practice and even though I’m straining as hard as I can, he slips through.
My body burns as my muscles balloon to three then four times their size. The skin tears along my spine and then reattaches as my furious bear explodes out of me with a savage roar.
All four bear shifters in my crew stop and stare at me in shock.
My bear pulls his lips back and snarls at them in warning as he stares each one of them down.
No one is talking. No one is moving. We’re all used to crazed bears who act grumpy from time to time, but it’s never from me. My bear is more like Winnie the Pooh rather than the deadly beast that’s stomping his big paws in front of them now.
All I can do is watch from inside as my bear turns to the door and sprints out of the fire station.
I can feel what he’s thinking and it’s all about her.
His thoughts are on repeat.
Claim her. Claim her.
Mark her. Mark her.
Over and over again as he races down the road, returning back to where we just came from.
Now, I know for sure what I’ve been suspecting all day.
Aubrey Olson is my mate.
My bear is obsessed with her.
And I’m totally, utterly, screwed.
* * *
It’s six in the morning when I finally return back to the fire station wearing nothing but the Montana state flag that I stole from the Town Hall. It’s wrapped around my waist as I walk in shivering. My feet are freezing.
My asshole bear brought us out to the other side of Blackcloud Point before he let me phase back. I had to walk over fifteen miles at night along the freezing mountain roads in mid-November with absolutely nothing on.
If I could strangle my bear to death right now, I would. If only just to warm my hands up with his body heat.
Blake’s face drops when he sees me walk in. He’s got a fresh steaming cup of coffee in his hand, but he gives it to me when he sees my blue lips.
“I don’t know whether to drink it or to pour it over my head,” I say with a shiver as I wrap my hands around the hot mug.
“Drink it,” Blake says as he grabs my jacket and puts it on my shoulders. We sit down at the folding table in the corner and he watches me as I take a sip of the gloriously hot coffee.
“Thank you,” I say as the heat starts to warm me up and I begin to feel a little bit better. Not a lot. Just a little bit.
“I’m waiting to hear the story,” he says as he taps his fingertips on the table. “What the hell has gotten into your bear?”
I just stare at him blankly and his lips curl into a grin when he realizes it.
“You found your mate.”
I shake my head, still not wanting to believe it. “Nope. You don’t know that for sure. It could be something else.”
“Like what?”
I think about it for a second, but nothing comes. “Oh! Maybe my bear has a brain tumor and he’s acting all funny because it’s pressing on the idiot part of our brain.”
Blake’s grin widens as he watches me. “You can’t get a brain tumor. Your shifter healing would take care of it before it would even start growing.”
I drop my head and close my eyes. My bear is still pacing around, wondering why our mark isn’t on Miss Olson’s neck.
“He went to her?”
I sigh. “Yeah.”
“Who is she?”
“The kindergarten teacher.”
“Nathalie?!? I thought she was married and pregnant! God, your bear is making this really hard on you.”
“No, she’s on maternity leave. It’s her replacement. Aubrey Olson.”
Just saying her name makes my whole body start to heat up. I can’t stop thinking about her. I’m already obsessing about her like a creepy stalker psycho.
“I don’t know what to do, Blake. This is exactly what I didn’t want. Look at me. We’ve only said five words to each other and I’m already all twisted inside out. My bear is acting like a rabid lunatic. I can’t go on like this.”
But I don’t see any other choice. I have to be near her. My bear has to be near her.
“I followed her home. Her smell…. Fuck. I couldn’t get enough of it. I climbed a tree to see inside her window… I feel like my mind is melting. I can’t think straight.”
“You climbed a tree to see in her window?” he says as he stares at me in disbelief. “Mr. I’d-rather-set-myself-on-fire-than-have-a-mate? Did she see you?”
“No, but her dog knew I was there. The fucker wouldn’t stop barking so I ran out of there. I hung around until she went to bed and then I came back here.”
“And that’s when… your bear came out?”
“Yeah. I’m sorry about snapping at you, Chief.”
He shakes his head. “It’s already forgotten.”
“This is the exact thing I was worried about happening and it’s happened. She’s only been in my life for a few hours and look at what’s become of me. I’m broken. My bear won’t stop snarling in my ears. He won’t calm down until I claim her.”
Blake takes a deep breath and sighs as he watches me.
“I need to go back to normal,” I tell him. “I need to try and forget she ever existed.”
“I don’t think that’s going to happen. The genie is out of the bottle, my friend. There’s no stuffing it back in.”
I take another long sip of coffee and stare at the table, wondering what I’m going to do.
“What’s she like?” he asks.
My lips curl up into a smile when I remember her gorgeous dark brown hair and stunning honey-colored eyes. She had old baggy clothes on, but I knew there were some spectacular curves hiding under there. I could sense it. My hands tingled as I imagined what it would feel like to touch her soft skin.
“You’re smiling,” Blake says with a grin. “Maybe it won’t be so bad once you get a good night’s sleep.”
“A good night’s sleep?” I say with a tired laugh. “It’s morning time. I have to work today.”
He shakes his head. “You have the day off.”
I look up at him in shock and he shrugs. “We haven’t had a fire since this summer. I think you can go lay down.”
“That’s the thing, though. I don’t think I can. My bear is all amped up. He won’t let me rest until I mark the girl.”
“So…” Blake says. “Mark her.”
I shake my head and sigh. “Then my whole life is going to change.”
He puts his hand on mine in a rare show of affection. “Dude, I think it already has.”
I drop my head and sigh. I think he’s right.
* * *
A few hours later, I’m walking into the school with a brand new globe under my arm. It’s the least I can do after I shattered her other one.
“You’re not supposed to be here,” the terrifying secretary snaps at me when she sees me at her counter.
