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Bjorn
I wasn’t letting either of these wolves lay a paw on my mate.
Backstage, they’d been laughing about how easy it would be to nail this like they thought this was some sort of frat party conquest. If Marissa picked either of these two clowns, I’d make sure the episode didn’t go forward.
Bibi wouldn’t want this for her.
But was I gonna be that contestant? The one who couldn’t lose gracefully? The one who couldn’t accept that someone else had what he wanted?
She’s your mate,my bear said.Hell, yeah, you will.
I might not know Marissa yet, but I knew what she didn’t like. She wasn’t impressed by flash. She’d seen enough of the gross side of fame to want to avoid that. Or so I hoped. She seemed to want stability. Something real.
An eternity had passed since Beebs asked the question. I would do anything to get one of those knowing winks from her, confirming everything was going according to plan.
But this was reality TV, and there was no plan.
“I’ve made my decision.” There was no missing the shake in Marissa’s voice.
“Delightful.” Bibi’s voice was barely audible over the roar of the crowd. “But first, we need to know who we’ll be saying goodbye to.”
I held my breath, waiting for her to dismiss me first. So many shifters in this position on earlier episodes made complete asses out of themselves. My bear was pushing me to do things I wouldn’t be able to make go away with an apology.
“Shifter Number Two.”
The wolf scoffed. “Bad choice, bitch,” he said under his breath, but loud enough for the mics to pick up. He gave the audience the bird as they booed him off the stage, but as it died out, no one could miss the rumble that rolled through my body.
That wolf was lucky we weren’t somewhere that we could settle things like beasts, talking about my mate like that.
Enough about him. I couldn’t believe I made the first cut. The other wolf looked at me, hopeful. He was the one who’d said he’d been drawn here by something he couldn’t explain.
Sunset Springs was suddenly full of people who claimed they had Hudaknocker fever.
“That leaves us with two very handsome shifters. Who will you choose?” Bibi asked.
The crowd was going nuts, shouting suggestions, and I couldn’t decipher any of it.
My heart was pounding. Marissa was taking too long. That meant she was thinking things over. The little human wasn’t impulsive. Usually.
“You can go back to your nap now, big guy,” Wolf Number Three said, smug as fuck.
But before I had a chance to answer, the crowd changed their tune. They were swooning over something, and it was frustrating as hell not to know what was going on.
“I choose Shifter Number One.”
No. Fucking. Way.
The other wolf growled in confirmation. I rose from the stool, practically floating to the other side of the stage. Tina waved to me, asking me to stop. Right, the introduction. Nothing like your mate actually picking you in front of a live audience to make you forget everything about your job.
I didn’t need to see Beebs to know how thrilled she was with this. She would’ve never put us on stage if she wasn’t hoping for this outcome. “Our lucky shifter needs little introduction, but he is a beast shrouded in mystery. Coming to us from the arctic north, he enjoys travel, extreme outdoor sports, and filming nature documentaries, as well as being our cameraman onThe Mating Game. But most of all, he’s looking to build a life with his mate. Please welcome Bjorn Bernard!”
All those crazy feelings were back. Excitement, nerves, relief, the whole gamut. But mostly, I was just so glad she picked me.
Marissa looked incredible. Her hair was long and free, shiny, and wavy. So often at work, she’d pull it back into a severe bun. That looked hot too, but this was a little wild, which was a side of her I was looking forward to getting to know. Her red lipstick made her lips good enough to eat, and her wide, unblinking eyes were framed with dark liner. She was questioning her choice right now, but I’d make sure she never regretted it. I’d seen her so many times without any makeup, she was gorgeous au naturel, but all done up, she belonged on the red carpet with any A-list celebrity. Her blue dress was short, showing off those fantastic legs, which I liked even more than the healthy dose of cleavage the neckline revealed.
Mine, my bear rumbled triumphantly.
I took a few steps closer. I wanted to take her in my arms and kiss her. This time, we were in the heat of a completely different moment. Her body relaxed, and my bear let out a sigh of relief.
