Page 46 of Bear With Me

And that was definitely not nothing. "Thank you, Alpha," Bjorn said sincerely. "I really appreciate your help on this. I need…Dennis and I need some time to ourselves, without feeling like they're breathing down our necks trying to split us up."

Escalus grinned. "Well, it's part of my job to wrangle the…forceful personalities of the den. And like I told you before, I don't approve of fucking with fate." He patted the arms of his chair. "I'll text you when I hear back from Ted about next steps. Now, get out of here and go have your date."

Bjorn startled. Did their date start as soon as they left the office? "Oh, no, I need more time to -"

"Sounds good," Dennis interrupted him. He elbowed Bjorn. "C'mon, you need some time to plan. You can do that while we hang out with Gran."

It warmed Bjorn's heart to hear his mate referring to Gran as Gran and not by her first name or as your grandmother. And hey, maybe Gran could help with date ideas? "Ok," he said, standing. "Thanks, Alpha."

"You got it." Escalus waved them out of the office.

A pair of curious cubs intercepted them on the path between the den house and Gran’s, gamboling around them and nipping at their pants, and Bjorn laughed. "You guys, come on! We've got places to be!"

"Sorry!" A harried-looking woman emerged out of the forest. Bjorn recognized her, after a moment's thought, as Melanie, a bear about his age. "I was hanging up the laundry, and they got away from me. You two, leave Bjorn alone!"

One of the cubs shifted to human. "But Mooooommmmm…"

She waved him off. "Come on, now. You don't mess with new mates."

Oh. Oh, it felt good to hear himself referred to as having a mate, though he did wonder just how quickly the news of his prospective mating had spread through the den's gossip mill, that this woman he hadn't spoken to in years knew about it. "They're fine," he assured Melanie. "But we've gotta get back to my Gran's."

To his surprise, Dennis scruffed the remaining cub affectionately and gave him a playful shake. "We can play some other time, but right now Bjorn and I have things to do."

When had Dennis gotten so comfortable with kids? Shifter kids, even? Did Bjorn have heart eyes? He thought he probably had heart eyes.

16

Dennis

Bjorn was thinking hard about their date, that much was clear. Dennis hid a smirk as he chatted with Gran, who was growing increasingly discontented in her bed, and that was saying something, since she’d never seemed particularly content about it. He wondered how long it would take Bjorn to plan The Date To End All Dates. Would it be tonight? Tomorrow?

He was antsy, and he hated being antsy. He needed to talk to someone, and the choices were…limited. It was pretty much Gran, Bjorn himself, or Myrah. Yeah, Myrah.

It took him a good half-hour, but he finally got Gran immersed in reruns of her favorite TV show. He promptly patted her hand, told her Bjorn was in the kitchen working on lunch and to call him if she needed help, grabbed his phone, and let himself out of the house into the clearing.

He dialed Myrah’s number and tapped his fingers impatiently on his leg as he waited for her to answer. “‘Lo?” said a groggy voice.

Dennis snorted. “Why do you sound like I woke you up? It’s…” He did quick time zone math. “Two? Three?”

Myrah growled, the sound almost bear-like, now that he’d heard actual bears growling. “I was up late. Had a date. What’s going on?”

A date? Ohhhh, that was interesting. “Nope, you first. Tell me about this date! Who was she? Did you like her? Are you seeing her again?”

“Ohhh, no. You’re not getting away with distracting me,” she countered. “You called me. You’re not the guy who calls just for a casual chat, which means something’s going on. Is it about the fish guy? Your mate?”

Damn, how dare she guess right on the first try? Just because they’d been married for almost ten years was no excuse. He harrumphed his disapproval of this, then sighed. “Yeah. Things have…happened.”

“Oooh.” She guffawed. “‘Things’? Were they sexy things? Is this a post-banging debrief?”

“No,” he snapped, then sighed again. “Not yet. But we did kiss. Well, actually, I kissed him. And then I told him we could go on a date.”

Myrah squealed. “Yes!” she cheered then. “I knew if you just gave him a chance…”

“Yeah, yeah. You’re brilliant. I’m not saying I’m gonna mate him up tomorrow or anything. I’m just…yeah, giving him a chance. He’s…nice.”

“So, not a serial killer, then?” she deadpanned, referencing their previous conversation.

“Probably not,” he grumbled, sort of resenting that fact now. Well, not the fact that he wasn't a serial killer; that was definitely a pro. But he was for sure a little salty that he had to admit Myrah'd been right. “He’s too sweet to be a serial killer. Which is really something, once you meet his parents. But then, he was mostly raised by his grandmother, and she’s awesome.”