Page 17 of Cross To Bear

“Keep your fucking nose out of my business, Bjorn–” Jesse growled.

“Do you?” Bjorn’s normally tan skin had gone pale as he stared at his brother, his eyes turned now to pure gold. “Is this the way you talk to her? Treat her?”

“Why are you so fucking concerned, brother?” Jesse moved closer in a loose, swinging walk. “Why do you care so much?” He leaned in closer, his head shifting through the air like a snake’s might, right as it was about to strike. “Why are you rushing to Maddie’s defence? Because you’re such a good guy?”

He turned and scanned the whole room, his lips curling as he took in the bucket, the kitchen, even the rest of the sleuth.

“Or is it because my girlfriend is your fated mate?”

I’d started the morning with the harsh, high pitched sound of a fire alarm ringing through my head, and I heard it again now. Not because something had caught fire on the stove, but because my whole body burned. A red hot flush washed through me, no doubt turning me crimson, followed by ice, ice cold.

Because now it all made sense.

A sleuth has only one woman in the world that will make them happy and that’s their fated mate and I… Every single thing they’d done, chairs pulled out, drinks provided, food placed before me, a napkin there before I even knew I needed it. A million tiny gestures, each one with an ulterior motive. That hurt somehow, that it wasn’t just that they were friendly, caring kinds of guys but that they… I shook my head, seeing everything clearly now.

“Jesse, we’re over. We’ve been over for some time and you and I both know it.”

When he went to protest, I spoke over him because now I’d found my voice, I wasn’t going to stop using it. “And you.” I scanned each member of the sleuth, Crash’s eyes burning like pale blue fire, Hawk looking like he’d just been slapped. But Razor, red spots had formed in his now pale face, though when he caught my attention, those full lips twisted into a small smile. “You need to get out. Now!”

And for once, my command was obeyed. Jesse jerked himself away from me with a sound of disgust; he headed out the door and I didn’t feel a moment of sadness as his back disappeared, just relief.

“Maddie—” Bjorn started to say.

“Every person with a Y chromosome better be out of my place by the time I count to ten, or I’m calling the cops,” I said flatly.

They left. Not with a bang but a whisper, Crash nodding slowly to me as they grabbed their shirts and headed for the door.

“You know where to find us, if you wanna talk or…”

I’d seen him swearing up a storm as he bent over an engine he was working on, shooting people careless smiles while talking shit over a beer. I’d even seen Crash saddened, crushed by the death of a friend in a motorcycle accident, though I’d never seen him like this. Hopeless, that’s what it was. The muscle in his jaw flexed as he turned with the others and walked out, the door closing behind them with a slight click.

“What the actual…?” I remembered Mal was there as she spun around on her heel to face me. “What just happened and what the hell is a fated mate?”

Chapter 11

Bjorn

“You fucking knew?”

Jesse, the little shit, had jumped into his car the minute he got downstairs and took off, though I knew where he’d go. I’d piled into the work truck with the rest of my sleuth and taken off after him. Back to Mum, just like he always did, and sure enough, when we pulled up in the driveway of our parents’ house, there he was. When I stormed inside, Mum and the dads were doing the last of the cleanup, looking up in alarm when I snapped at Jesse.

“You knew?” I repeated myself because he wasn’t answering quickly enough for my liking, ambling over to the fridge, no doubt to grab himself a beer. I slapped my hand down on the door, something that had the parental units moving, because they knew when a fight was coming. They’d had to step between us more than once. “Tell me you did not fucking know that Maddie was my… our fated mate all this time.”

“Not right away.” That fucking smirk, I wanted to wipe it right off his face, the bear ramming into the barrier between us, demanding I take fur and let him deal with this. Being around Maddie on the regular and not being able to do anything about our bond had him half mad most days, but now…? “When you…” He turned around and looked at my sleuth. “And the rest of you fucks couldn’t keep your eyes off my girl, I put two and two together.”

“What?” Mum looked pale, too pale, as she crept closer. “Jesse, Bjorn, what’s going on? Where’s Maddie?”

“Kicked me out.” Jesse wrenched the fridge open, daring me to say otherwise, pulling out a beer and cracking it, then drinking down several mouthfuls before wiping the back of his hand across his mouth. “She broke up with me over fucking potato salad.”

“Potato…?” Mum shook her head. “No, that can’t be right, not Maddie. She’s a lovely girl. She wouldn’t—”

“Wouldn’t what, Mum?” I asked, approaching her with a low growl, something that had my dads shifting in front of her, making clear none of my anger could be directed at her. “Wouldn’t what? Get pissed off when Jesse trashed their fucking kitchen?”

“Jesse’s always been a bit hopeless when it comes to things like this.” Here she was, rushing to defend her baby boy again. “He’s not like you.”

There was so much in that statement. All the responsibilities I’d been forced to take on when it became clear I’d have a bear and Jesse wouldn’t. Before that, it was all the older brother shit. Look after your brother, Bjorn. Make sure he’s OK. No, give him the toy. You have to share. But when it came his time to do the same, she’d say, Well, he’s only little. He’s still learning. All of her excuses were saved for him and all of her demands for me. I sucked in a breath, then shook my head, knowing firsthand how hopeless this was.

“He nearly set the kitchen on fire. Maddie woke up to a fire alarm going off, and while she was out there dealing with his mess, he was sitting on the balcony smoking cones.”

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