Page 17 of A Bear's Secret

“You want her,” Austin said. “I can tell. I know you, Trevor, and I know we spend a lot of time apart but I know better than to believe you when you tell me to let her go.”

Austin reached over Trevor’s torso and took his hand, lacing their fingers together.

“Look me in the eye and say no,” he said.

Trevor looked down. He could practically feel himself fall into the blue pools of Austin’s eyes, the one person he couldn’t lie to. The one person who knew him, not who someone else wanted him to be.

“Okay,” Trevor said.

“Can you get away tomorrow?”

“Sure,” said Trevor. It was easy enough to make up some task and then wander off. It wasn’t like his father was doing a particularly good job of keeping the ranch up, anyway. He spent most of his time in the workshop with the other pack leaders, though ever since he’d kept the feral bear, Trevor wasn’t sure who was watching who.

“I’ll take her for a hike to Three Points Overlook,” Austin said.

“What if she doesn’t want to go hiking?”

“Then I’ll come up with some pretense to come over there,” Austin said. His voice started to go hard, like he was slightly annoyed with his mate.

“Okay,” Trevor said. He closed his eyes and thought of Sloane again, the girl who he’d never even spoken to. He hadn’t known that he could want someone so badly without even meeting them — after all, when he’d met Austin, it had been different.

Really different.

“We should go,” he said, softly, watching the fire die as he stroked Austin’s hair. “It’s getting late, and the morning isn’t getting any later.”

“I know,” Austin said. “I just hate leaving here.”

“Me too,” said Trevor. Austin squeezed his hand. “Me too.”

It took another half hour before a bear and a wolf left the cabin, moving in different directions through the forest.

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