Page 17 of Bear with Me

“Of course, he did,” Helen said softly. “He almost lost his mate. Jemma, no matter how much both of you have denied it, everyone knew you two were mates. Fletch said you covered yourself in Brock’s scent and hid in the vehicle when they came to rescue me and the other women who survived with me. And it was easy to see how Brock couldn’t stop searching for you every time he entered a room. Maybe, you didn’t know at first, but I know at some point, you had to realize he was your mate.”

“Yes. It was like I woke up one day and realized my day didn’t feel complete if I didn’t see him. I finally noticed the way my bear pressed against my skin every time he was near. His scent became my main source of comfort. He…” She gave another sigh and shook her head. “You get the point.”

“What are you going to do?” Helen probed.

“Mate him and make him absolutely crazy.”

Helen’s mouth dropped open, and Jemma slapped a hand over hers. It didn’t matter, though. Both of them broke into laughter.

“I can’t wait to watch that,” Helen told her. “You two are fire together.”

“Honestly, I miss his temper. He’s been pretty tame since I woke up in that cabin.”

“He almost lost you,” Helen reminded her again. “That has a way of waking up a man. Fletch claimed me immediately. I know it was because I was at death’s door when he found me. It was the same for my sister. When Hadley and Megan found Sam, he took one look and knew Hadley was his mate. She told me he took her to his bed and said she wasn’t leaving until she’d initiated the mating.”

“Brock told me he wouldn’t have sex with me until I begged him,” Jemma admitted. “Then he said he wanted vows between us first, that I’d need to initiate them.”

Helen lifted a brow in question.

“I was close this morning. Waking up wrapped around him, naked. Then he told me…” She paused, cheeks flushing with heat as she recalled him saying he wanted to spread her out and eat her for breakfast.

“You realize you don’t stand a chance,” Helen stated with a snicker. “He’ll have you panting in heat the next time you’re in that bed.”

“Oh, God.”

Helen laughed again. “Let’s go before one of our mates comes looking for us. Declan and the others are probably here by now.”

Jemma nodded, following Helen upstairs then toward the front door. She had a feeling Helen was correct. When night came, if Jemma joined Brock in bed again, he’d have her eating out of the palm of his hand. Who was she kidding? She would join him in bed. It was exactly where she wanted to be.

Chapter Eight

Brock stepped outside into chaos. It seemed as if every member of the Holloway den had gathered to watch Lawrence Walker being brought in. Brock understood the pull. Walker had cost them much. As an elder of their den, he’d lured their former alpha, the Holloway’s father, Matthew, away from the protection of the den where he’d been murdered, his body brought back by a liger shifter who’d stumbled across Matthew too late to save him. As if that weren’t enough, Walker had helped a group of hunters plan strategic attacks on the Holloway’s den, with a focus on killing as many female shifters as possible.

Even that wasn’t enough, though. Walker had then used his position as a respected elder to sow discord and lure the remaining elders to hide any surviving females, letting no one know they were alive. Not even their new alpha, Laramie Holloway. Walker probably would have killed the survivors if he’d thought the other elders would have allowed it without balking. Perhaps, if he’d been the only one to discover survivors, he would have quickly finished the job. Instead, he’d talked others into hiding them for the females protection, leaving their den in shambles. Unlike some other species of shifters, only female bear shifters were able to carry bear-shifter children. Without their females, the den would eventually die out. Now, they all stood together, ready to see justice brought to the man responsible for all of it.

Brock made his way to the bottom of the steps and joined his brothers. Laramie stood in the center. Koby and Slade stood to one side. Jensen and Matheus on the other. Brock slid in between Jensen and Matheus. Holt, Fletch, and his brother, Milo, stood with them. The rest of the den was spread out. Some on the steps. Some in the grass or gravel. All of them waited as the first vehicle appeared, followed by several others.

“Koby, Holt,” Laramie barked out as the lead vehicle came to a stop.

Brock watched as his brother, Declan, stepped out of the driver’s side before rounding the hood and opening the passenger door for his mate, Xandra.

“Brother,” Laramie greeted, stepping down to embrace Declan.

Their family was whole again. All seven brothers together. They’d always been close. Their mother had given birth to the seven of them across the span of ten years. She’d never regretted not having a daughter, saying her sons were more than enough, but Brock couldn’t help but think she’d have loved meeting her daughters-in-law. She’d have a lot to talk to Laramie’s mate about. Emersyn Langston was the daughter of the former alpha of the Washington Langston pack, her father killed in an attack by hunters. Em was a Kodiak female. The only one in existence as far as they knew.

There were the two Blackstone sisters who’d mated into their family: Sidia, who’d mated Koby, and Xandra, who’d mated with Declan. Rissa had followed Em to Wyoming, and Slade had fallen hard and fast for her. And Jemma. Brock’s fiery mate would have had his mother in stitches of laughter with the way she made him crazy. Five of her seven sons mated, with two of the mates, Em and Sidia, pregnant.

Brock let go of those thoughts as Koby and Holt removed Lawrence Walker from the back of the vehicle. He looked worse for wear, cuts and bruises on his face, hair and clothes disheveled. Chance and Wood were the last to exit. Both bear shifters had been sent with Declan and Xandra to hunt down and bring Walker back to the den where justice would be given.

“Jasper?” Chance questioned immediately.

“He’s in the cabin across from the clinic,” Jensen answered.

Chance looked to Laramie, and at their alpha’s nod, he turned and left. Jasper had asked after Chance as soon as he’d arrived, too. The two shifters had grown close when they’d served as den enforcers under Matthew Holloway. Laramie had reinstated Chance as an enforcer under him, and Brock had little doubt Jasper would be given the same status once he was fully healed.

“Declan,” Brock greeted his brother with a hard hug.

“I see you finally came to your senses,” Declan said, gazing over Brock’s shoulder.

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