Page 102 of The Thief

Bear’s wolf licked my face before getting down. He sniffed the Vespa and everything around it. The rags, the cleaning supplies, and everyone’s lingering scent.

I knelt down, and he excitedly nudged me. Wolves could be hyper when excited, so I wrapped my arm around his neck and kissed him. “I missed you.”

He made a high-pitched whine, and I realized he was gearing up for vocalization. Bear’s wolf howled—the kind of howl a wolf gives when he’s calling to his mate.

“Stop that!” I hissed. I sprang to my feet and stepped back. “You better cut that out!”

He circled around me.

“I’m going back to work today,” I informed him. “You need to shift and let me have Bear. I need him.”

His wolf must have sensed the lack of levity in my tone and forced him to shift.

The next thing I knew, Bear was standing naked in front of me.

He looked around, momentarily confused. Then he paced toward the door of Tak’s truck to hide from the house. “What’s going on?”

“I want to leave for work early so I can talk to Calvin. I want to see if he expects anything for fixing my bike.”

Bear glanced over his shoulder at the scooter. “He’s not supposed to charge for that.”

When I was certain no one was watching, I wrapped my arms around Bear’s middle and nestled against his chest. During my recovery, no one had visited me. Occasionally, a wolf howled outside my door, but I didn’t know whose. Though I’d slept most of the time, fighting nightmares, I longed for his embrace.

Love filled my heart whenever he held me in his arms.

I stepped back, and our hands joined in a handshake.

“I love you, Bear. No matter what happens between us and where we go in life, I’ll always love you.”

With a guarded look, he withdrew his hand.

“I’m not saying goodbye,” I promised him. “But let’s slow things down. My position with this pack is still on shaky ground. Argento’s coming after me, and I don’t know what that’ll mean. Tak is a great Packmaster, but I’m still not sure what he’ll decide. If he finds out on top of everything that we’re sneaking around without him knowing about it… I can’t risk it.”

“Then I don’t want to risk it. Slow is fine with me. Some of my best meals take days to cook.”

He always knew the right thing to say. There was so much to love about Bear, like his unrelenting support and understanding for someone else’s needs. No one had ever put my needs first before.

I smiled softly and searched his eyes. “When you’re a hundred percent certain and you’ve really thought about this with your head and not just your heart, we’ll talk more seriously. But it’s not fair for me to demand an immediate answer. You need time to consider everything that’s come to light and how that could affect you or us as a couple. Don’t let your emotions influence your decision. If you want to end it, I’ll understand. Can’t say I’ll be happy about it, but that’s your right. If you decide you want this to be forever, we’ll have to tell Tak. I don’t think it’s a good idea to dump this on him now.”

Bear nodded. Then he leaned down, took my face in his hands, and delivered a slow and sensual kiss that could melt steel. His tongue slid against mine, his lips soft as they claimed me. Bear took his time with his kisses and built them up to a scorching degree.

“How do you like your new ride?” Tak boomed.

Bear instantly morphed into his wolf.

When I backed away from the truck and spotted Tak approaching from the side yard, my heart raced at hummingbird speed. Shirtless with an axe in hand, it looked as though he’d stopped in the middle of work to come find me.

He couldn’t have seen us. Not unless he can see through steel.

I peered over the hood. “How did you know I was still out here?”

“Lucian.” When he crossed in front of the truck and caught sight of Bear, he grinned. “You’re bigger than her scooter. Maybe she should ride you to work.” Tak set his axe on the hood.

I gathered up the bottles and rags. “This was a nice surprise. I don’t have much money socked away, so it would have taken me a while to buy a new one.”

Tak crouched and rubbed Bear’s face. Bear obediently sat down, enjoying a good scritch from his alpha.

“How are you feeling?” he asked me.

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