Page 75 of Bear With Me

Bjorn couldn’t hold back the urge to chuckle at his sheer panic. “Still no butt babies, mate,” he assured Dennis. “She means adoption or surrogacy.” Yeah, Dennis knew butt babies weren't a thing by now, but Bjorn couldn't resist needling him. His mate apparently lived in fear that mating a shifter meant he’d be pushing a baby out of…well, there. Well, Bjorn supposed it might be him doing the pushing, given how they’d mated last night, but the point remained the same.

Dennis let out a heavy breath. “Ok. Ok.” He wiped his forehead as if he’d been sweating, then looked at Gran. “We haven’t discussed kids, and I think that’s something we need to sort out for ourselves before we start talking to other people about it,” he said gravely.

Gran pressed her lips together, then nodded reluctantly. “Oh, very well, I suppose that’s fair. But your living situation?”

That one, Bjorn could answer. “Dennis can’t up and move his business,” he pointed out, “while I can work from anywhere. So I’ll move to be with him.” Then, glancing at his mate, he added carefully, “I don’t need to move in with you or anything.” Bjorn didn’t want him to feel he was shoving his way into his space. “But I definitely want to live close to you.”

Dennis blinked. “Why wouldn’t you move in with me?”

He…what? Bjorn blinked back, caught off-guard by his words. “Well, uh,” he ventured slowly, “I don’t even know if where you live has room for a second person. And maybe you don’t want someone else in your space. Knocking you out of bed,” he added as a weak joke. “I just…don’t want you to feel pressured.”

Dennis considered that for a second, then put down his coffee mug with a decisive thump and crossed the room to Bjorn. Bjorn froze, not sure what to expect, but he definitely hadn’t expected what Dennis actually did: he threw his arms around Bjorn’s waist and gave him a tight hug. “You’re my mate,” he said into Bjorn’s shoulder. “If I like you enough to let you take a chunk out of my neck, I damn well better like you enough to share a bathroom with you. And anyway, I’ve got two of those.”

Relief shuddered through Bjorn viscerally. He hadn’t been lying – he would have gotten his own place near his mate – but it was so much better to know he truly wanted Bjorn near him. “I swear I’m a better housemate when I can control my shifts, too,” he pointed out. “I don’t break nearly as much shit.”

Dennis chuckled. “Good to know.” Then he turned to Gran. “As for when we’re leaving, that depends on you, and I suppose on the business I’m doing with the alpha. I don’t want to leave him hanging. And we definitely don’t want to go before we’re sure you’re ok.”

“Oh, pshaw.” Gran waved that off. “I’m just fine. Shifters heal faster than humans, you know.”

He cocked his head to the side. “I didn’t know that, actually. How much faster? Are we talking, like, cuts closing up as you watch?”

How had this never come up between them before now? Bjorn owed Dennis an apology for leaving him in the dark for so long. “I think it’s something like half again as fast? I can heal a broken arm in about a week, though I’d still need some physical therapy afterward.” He grinned. “Ask me how I know that. Tween Bjorn wasn’t very careful when climbing trees.”

Dennis winced sympathetically, but Gran cackled. “Oh, boy, I’d forgotten about that episode. Bet you learned your lesson after that fall, my dear!” She patted Dennis on the arm. “Did he at least tell you about what you’ve inherited from him now that you mated?”

“Inherited?” Dennis looked from her to Bjorn with wide eyes. “Am I going to turn into a bear, Bjorn?” He sounded scandalized.

Bjorn couldn’t stop his laugh at that. “Bear-ism is not contagious, mate. But you will get some of my regenerative powers. Not enough to make you Superman or anything, but your immune system will get stronger as our bond solidifies. And little stuff like needing reading glasses as you age just won’t happen.”

He gaped at Bjorn. “What?” His mouth opened and closed a few times wordlessly before he got out his next question. “How fast will this happen? Am I magic now?”

Bjorn could only shrug. “There’s no set time. It’s just sort of a bonding thing that will…take shape as our, uh, souls meld together?” He winced. “Wow, that sounds really new age-y. I don’t even really know if we have ‘souls’. But as whatever it is meshes together, you’ll just slowly gain a little bit of my…whatever.”

“Wait,” Dennis said slowly, “you’re not actually immortal or something, are you?” Then he dropped his voice to a whisper apparently directed at himself. “How do I not know this stuff?”

“Because you deliberately avoided socializing with shifters,” Bjorn couldn’t help pointing out, feeling just a little vindicated. “Something about chaos, if I recall correctly?”

He scowled and flapped a hand at Bjorn. “Can we not talk about me being dumb? Fine, I was wrong, shifters are people too, let's just pretend I didn't come to you all…speciesist. And I mean, you try having a rhino destroy your bar after you just got it put back together after a tiger did the same. You'd probably draw some bad conclusions too!”

Bjorn chuckled. Dennis had a special way of admitting he'd been wrong while still basically saying fuck you. “And no, I’m not immortal and neither are you. We’ll probably live a bit longer than the average human because of better immune systems, but not enough to really skew the statistics.”

“Jesus,” Dennis breathed.

“Boys,” Gran interrupted them staring at each other, “breakfast is ready. Sit down and eat.” She shook a platter of French toast between them. “I assume you’ll be going to speak to Alpha today, so you need fortification. Especially if your parents might be there, too.”

Oh, hell. Bjorn probably did need to tell Escalus that the mating was finally complete. He didn’t need to sign off on them being allowed to mate or anything – not that they had reason to think he wouldn’t have, anyway – but it was considered polite to introduce one’s new mate to one’s alpha. As for his parents, well, he'd be just as happy to never update them, but he supposed if they happened to be there, then they happened to be there.

Well, this was going to be fun.

***

Bjorn decided to shift for Dennis before they left for the alpha’s house. He wanted his mate to meet his bear under voluntary circumstances. So after they finished Gran’s breakfast and allowed her to coo over them a bit more – Bjorn even got his cheek pinched – they walked outside and into the backyard, which was really just more woods, slightly less forested than the rest. “Now remember,” Bjorn told Dennis as he took off his shirt, “I’m totally under control as a bear. I’m still me.”

Dennis just rolled his eyes like Bjorn was being ridiculous. “I know that, Bjorn. If you didn’t try to eat me when you couldn’t control your shift, you’re not going to do it now that you can. Now…” He twirled a finger in the air. “Get on with it.”

Bjorn huffed. Dennis was spoiling his Big Dramatic Reveal! But he obediently took off his pants and underwear and folded all his clothes into a pile. Then he straightened up, composed his thoughts, and focused on being a bear. Almost effortlessly, he sprouted fur and claws and found himself a few feet taller, towering over his mate. Bjorn carefully dropped to all four paws, not wanting to sideswipe him or knock him over. He nosed over Dennis’s bond mark, then gave it a lick.

Dennis hissed and shoved him away by the nose. “Hey, that’s sensitive!”