Page 62 of Bear With Me

Ronald pointed a shaking finger at him. "You! You're the cause of all this drama; if you'd just go back to where you came from -"

"Ohio?" Dennis asked with a raised eyebrow.

"- Wherever that is," Ronald continued, "then we could go on very well as we have been for decades." He turned to Bjorn. "We'll get you settled in as a human and then find you a different, more suitable mate. I know you didn't like Kevin, but there are other single bears!"

"I like Kevin just fine," Bjorn said, shaking his head at the sheer bullheadedness. "I just don't want to mate him. Because I already have a mate."

Rowena scoffed. "He won't even bond with you. Some mate."

"Enough!" Escalus roared, and everyone in the room shrank back a bit. "This is not up for negotiation, and we are not here to allot blame, particularly to innocent people." He glanced at Dennis meaningfully. "You will report to the community center at noon tomorrow and do everything you are instructed to do. Your assignment ends when either I or the community center administrators say you're not needed anymore. You will do this, or we will be having a serious talk about your continuing status in this den."

Both of Bjorn's parents simply gaped at the alpha, wordless for once.

"And just to make sure," Escalus added, "Bjorn and Dennis will be accompanying you tomorrow."

"B-b-but, Alpha," Ronald sputtered, "my work here at the den…"

"Covered." Escalus waved a dismissive hand. "The community center is your job now."

Rowena emitted a muffled shriek, startling both Bjorn and Dennis, though Escalus didn't so much as twitch. "This is bullshit," she hissed, and the sound of the crude word in his mother's usually so-classy mouth startled Bjorn perhaps more than the roar had. "We will not work with these…these…"

"Humans?" Dennis offered coolly.

"Yes!"

Escalus sighed and leaned back in his seat. "Let me be clearer, then: if you do not do this job, and do it to the best of your ability, I will be stripping Ronald of his position in the den and cutting both of you out of the communal business profits. Not that there's much of those," he added under his breath. Then he went on in full alpha-voice, "Don't test me on this."

"Fine," Rowena snapped. "We'll do your stupid -"

"Ro." Ronald held up a hand to forestall his wife's forthcoming rant. "Enough." He looked at Escalus. "We will be there tomorrow. I don't know what you expect to accomplish with this stunt, but I understand that we are not being given a choice."

Escalus nodded. "Good, I'm glad to hear it." He looked over at Bjorn. "You two ready to go?"

Bjorn nodded, but his mother squeaked again as they stood up. "You can't just -!" she protested.

Escalus silenced her with a glance, her mouth snapping shut so quickly that it had to hurt. "Oh," he added over his shoulder as he strode toward the door, "and Bjorn and Dennis will be reporting back to me about the quality of your work. Just so you know." And with that, he let himself out, leaving Bjorn and Dennis to follow after him while Bjorn's parents just stood there and stared.

"Whoa," Dennis remarked, pushing his hair out of his face, as they emerged into the clearing, "that was intense. About what I expected, though."

"Same," Escalus said shortly. "This was about as good as it was going to get." He patted Dennis on the shoulder. "Just get through tomorrow with them and then you can forget about them."

And wasn't that the shittiest part, Bjorn mused. The best he could reasonably hope for was to never be bothered by his parents again once he left the den.

24

Dennis

Ten past noon the next day found Dennis and Bjorn standing in the lobby of the community center, waiting for Bjorn’s parents. Unsurprisingly, his parents were late. Dennis hadn’t expected any different given their resistance.

Bjorn probably hadn’t expected different either, but he was busily apologizing to the volunteer coordinator even though they’d been on time. “I’m so sorry about this. We did tell them to be here at twelve. Maybe, uh, there was…traffic?”

In this small town? Unlikely, Dennis thought, but he didn’t contradict his mate. Instead, he focused on the forms he was filling out: a code of conduct agreement and a volunteer contract. The code of conduct was pretty strong – no discrimination, slurs, racism, ableism, or just about anything else he imagined Bjorn’s parents would get up to – so he was pleased about that.

“I’ll just call them,” Bjorn said, still apologetic as he pulled out his phone and dialed. “Papa? Where are you? You were supposed to be at the community center at noon!” He paused, listening. “Well, you should have planned better, then! When will you be here?” Pause. “Fine. See you then,” he said shortly, and hung up. He looked at Dennis and the coordinator – Ted, Dennis remembered his name was. “They’ll be here in ten minutes. Supposedly.”

Ted looked remarkably unperturbed by this delay, his smile never slipping. Instead of complaining, he clapped his hands together lightly. “That gives us just enough time to finish this paperwork and for you to give me a quick rundown of what to expect from these folks. Your parents?” he asked Bjorn, who nodded.

“Yeah, my parents. And I feel like I need to apologize in advance for them.”