Page 34 of Bear With Me

Escalus offered him a smile that was surprisingly warm for the irascible impression he’d left on Dennis. “It’s nice to see you again, Bjorn. Thank you.”

Bjorn just nodded silently and held his hand out to Dennis, who looked at it, stunned by the gesture, for a moment. Should he take the offered hand and the comfort that would come with it, and possibly lead Bjorn on? Or should he refuse and hurt Bjorn’s feelings but keep himself safely aloof? To his credit, Bjorn didn’t pressure him; he just kept holding his hand out. Finally, with a sigh that felt like it came from his soul, Dennis took Bjorn’s hand in his. It was just because he was unsettled by this situation, he told himself. Nobody could blame him for taking a little comfort.

Bjorn obviously ascribed a different value to the touch, because his face lit up and he tugged on Dennis’s hand, urging him toward the door. “Let’s run to the store to get some groceries for Gran, and then we can go back and settle into our room.”

Right. Because they were back in only-one-bed land. Dennis wanted to file a complaint with the universe, please.

11

Bjorn

Bjorn made up the bed in Gran’s guest room with a resentful-looking Dennis hovering over him. “I could take the couch,” Bjorn offered for the fifth time, hating the look on his mate’s face and wanting to fix it.

Dennis scoffed. “You’d have to be two feet shorter and at least a hundred pounds lighter to fit on that thing. Just make the bed. We’ll make do.”

Bjorn bit his lip, searching his mind for another solution as he bent to fasten the corner of the sheet to the corner of the bed. “I just really hate that I know you’re uncomfortable,” he sighed when he failed to come up with one. “It’s been one thing after another for you since we met, and that’s not fair to you.”

His mate sighed and plopped down on the made-up side of the bed. “It’s fine. It’s not like you’re not having a hard time, too. At least I’m not shifting into an animal at random intervals.” He looked down, studying his hands. “And I know I’ve been bitching at you a lot, but I do know it’s not your fault. It’s just…how things are. Which sucks for both of us.”

Bjorn popped on the fourth corner of the sheet and reached for the top sheet, draping it over the bed with a flourish he couldn’t resist. “I’m fine,” he assured Dennis. “I’m used to shifting.” Was he used to uncontrollable shifting that always seemed to happen at the worst possible moment? Ok, no, he wasn’t, and he couldn’t say he was a fan of it. But it wasn’t Dennis’s fault, either that the fates had put them together or that Dennis didn’t feel for Bjorn the way Bjorn felt for him. Maybe that was a human thing – after all, they didn’t have the immediate signifiers of “this is your mate” like shifters did – in which case it could change as Dennis got to know him; or maybe it was just Dennis’s true feelings: he wasn’t interested in Bjorn.

Holding in the urge to either sigh or flat-out ask Dennis which it was, Bjorn finished making up the bed, tucking the bottom corners tightly like his Gran had taught him. “The situation does suck, though,” he agreed after a few too many seconds of heavy silence. “I’m sorry you’re caught in it.”

Dennis gave him a sardonic look. “Are we talking about the random mating, the being stuck with a guy who hulks out randomly, or the being stuck in some kind of hostile commune that wants to turn you into Business Barbie?”

Business Barbie? Bjorn chuckled, feeling a little bit of the stress melt away at the knowledge that Dennis could still make jokes. “If I were Barbie, I doubt my mother would be pushing me into business,” he said after getting control of himself again. “It’s because I’m a son, their ‘legacy’. A daughter would only have been useful for marrying to someone else.”

“That’s some bullshit,” Dennis commented tightly. “Both that they expect you to do what they say, and that they'd see a daughter as being of less value. Gotta tell you, my man, I am not liking your parents so far.”

“Few people do,” Bjorn said with a shrug. “But Papa has power in the political hierarchy of the den, so they do what he says anyway. It’s part of why I moved across the country when I could. He and Mom can’t control me if I have my own home, my own income, and my own life. Not that that stops them from trying,” he added, and if he sounded a bit bitter, well, what of it?

“It's bullshit,” Dennis repeated, “like I said.” He paused. “You are an only child, right? There’s not some sister your parents are going to try to auction off to the highest bidder?”

“I’m an only child,” he confirmed. “I used to wish I wasn’t, but now…yeah.”

Dennis scooted up the bed until he could put his head on the pillows, then flopped back and crossed his arms behind his head, staring up at the ceiling. “So, I’m not trying to rush you or anything, but how long do you think your grandma really needs to get back up and running? Is three days going to do it?”

Did Dennis want out already? Well, Bjorn could hardly hold that against him; he wasn’t particularly happy about being here either, and he at least had the advantage of already knowing everyone. He tried not to picture Dennis peeling out of the parking area and leaving him behind. “Well, the healer very firmly said bed for three days, so it will definitely be at least that. If she’s supposed to stay in bed, she can’t cook and clean for herself, so she’ll need me for as long as she's stuck there.”

Dennis grunted an acknowledgement of that fact. There was silence for a few seconds, and then: “Why can’t your parents take care of her? I’m not saying you shouldn’t or that we should leave,” he hastened to add, “but just…they live right here. Why weren’t they the first call your alpha made?”

Bjorn almost snorted. “Consider what you know about my parents. My mom has the warmth of a wet eel. My papa has the emotional intelligence of a cauliflower. Nobody thinks they’re capable of caring for a sick elderly woman.”

“And yet the den let them care for you as a small child,” Dennis commented darkly. “Delightful.”

Yeah, his home hadn’t exactly been a warm and caring place, Bjorn mused, but it had nevertheless been home for him until he’d moved to Gran’s and discovered the genuine love he’d been missing. “I had Gran,” he defended half-heartedly. He felt duty-bound to defend his community, but honestly, his heart wasn’t in it. His parents had been crap to him, were still crap to him, and his community hadn't done nearly enough to protect him from it. The den putting him with Gran rather than just letting his parents kick him out wasn't enough to make up for the first decade or two of his life. A deep, childish part of him wanted to scream Fuck all of them.

“Good thing,” Dennis replied, “or I’d have run at first sight. No emotionally-unintelligent eels for me, thanks.”

Had that been a joke? An actual joke, out of his grumpy, out-of-place mate? Bjorn felt a smile creeping across his face. Maybe he was finally starting to soften Dennis up. “Does that mean you’re open to relatively touchy-feely, emotional bears?” he asked eagerly.

“Whoa there, cowboy.” Dennis sat up and gave Bjorn a mock-stern – at least, Bjorn was pretty sure it was mock – look. “Let’s not go getting ahead of ourselves.”

Bjorn pouted. Yes, he pouted. On purpose. “You’re no fun.”

“I live to ruin your fun,” Dennis deadpanned. Then he glanced at his watch. “God, it’s almost midnight, and we’ve been going since eight in the morning. No wonder I feel exhausted.”

“And you did all the driving, too,” Bjorn pointed out. His mate truly had gone above and beyond what Bjorn had any right to expect of a man who’d just met him. “I think you’ve earned the right to sleep late tomorrow. Don’t worry if I’m gone when you get up, though – I’ll probably get up and cook some breakfast for Gran and then sit with her.”