Page 124 of Choose the Bears

“Let’s just keep everyone safe here. Please, Asher.”

I felt his sigh when it came, vibrating all the way through me before I dared to look up.

“Anything for you.” His hand brushed my hair out of my face. “Even this, my mate. But, now I need to make a call to the foxes.”

Chapter 64

Jesse

I’d wanted a bear my whole fucking life, but now I was forced to fight to keep him back.

We were kilometres away from Coober Pedy and half of the way to Adelaide when I saw the fur ripple across my forearms, my hands becoming claws until I had to take one long, slow breath, then another and force him back. He wasn’t keen, my bear. My polar bear.

It was hard not to smile. There was no one around, so I grinned like a fucking loon. Well, no one but fucking Phil. I glanced into the tray of the truck, making sure the prick was still there and realised I’d need to do something about him before too long. Out here people didn’t cross paths often and wouldn’t think much of a bound man, but closer to the city, things got a little more civilised. I flicked on the indicator, even though there was no one for miles on either side of the highway, and pulled over. I was ready for a piss anyway, so I pulled on the brake and killed the engine before getting out.

Phil was looking a little worse for the wear. He’d rolled around in the tray a bit if the scrapes and bruises were anythingto go by. What a pity. Nothing worse than he’d intended to do to Daisy, so I felt no guilt whatsoever, just shot him a nasty grin as he started grunting behind the mask of tape across his mouth.

“Got something to say, Phil?” I asked, unzipping and pulling my dick out, ready to ease the pressure in my bladder. “No?”

He wouldn’t be saying much by the time I returned him to the city. If this dumb fuck had tried to attack someone’s fated mate… I stopped and blinked, suddenly realising something. If I was a bear now, did I…? Right then, I saw a familiar set of green eyes, her lips twisted into a wry smile, the view capturing my entire attention, which was a mistake. I heard a series of grunts, the wild wind of mallee country whipping them away, but it was the great thud that forced me to come back to the here and now.

The dumb fuck had wriggled himself up and out of the tray, landing like a sack of potatoes on the ground beside the truck.

When I walked around, I could tell he was questioning his life decisions, trying to suck breaths in through his nose. I reached down, ripping the tape off his face because he was going an alarming shade of purple. My job wasn’t to kill him before we got to the city, so I made it easier for him to suck in breaths, watching him flop there like a landed fish.

“You right there, mate?” I asked.

“You fucking cunt.”

I waved the piece of tape in front of his face, smirking at the stubble I saw stuck to it. That shut him right up.

“Yeah, I’m the cunt that’s got you trussed up like a Christmas turkey, ready for delivery,” I said and reached for him, making my first mistake.

Jesse could’ve beaten the fucking shit out of Phil, but the bear? He lunged forward, demanding control, showing me exactly what we should do. Rip his head off, leaving his limp body fountaining blood all over the road, his corpse left for the crows and the dingoes to pick at, maybe discovered once he wastoo far gone to decomposition to identify. Shit, the bear even showed me our fangs digging into his soft belly, chomping down mouthfuls of flesh in fur. That had me regaining control, a wave of nausea shoving the bear back and making clear that I’d need to stop somewhere for more water and some fuel.

“And you need to get back in the tray.”

The bear pushed back then, the sneaky fuck, my claws snicking out and puncturing the tape in several places, right as I dropped Phil down. His head bounced on the metal tray, his eyes blinking, right as I grabbed another piece of tape and put it over his mouth.

“Stay quiet.” The growl made his eyes widen. “Don’t make a fucking sound when I roll into the service station. Trust me, you won’t like the end result.”

Another dark spot grew in his groin, and that had me grinning. Message received, I got back into the car and started forward.

“Brother.”

When I was just about to pull up to the next town, the call came through from Bjorn. Just like before, the sound of his voice evoked a strange response. Sadness, anger, but most of all this… longing. Wanting something I’d never get due to my fuck ups. I cleared my throat and answered him.

“Hey,” I replied, “did you get the number of the sleuth that’s looking for this bloke?”

“I got it.” Bjorn let out a hissing sigh. “You gonna fill me in on what this is about?”

I wanted to. Part of me was still a dumb kid unable to believe I had a big brother like him, babbling out whatever shit I could think of to keep his attention on me. But not now. I’d gone out to the desert to grow the fuck up, and I needed to show him I had before I could tell my story.

“The foxes I was working for said they got word that a sleuth was chasing this bloke. I’m just bringing him down for them.”

“Right.” Nothing got past my brother. He always knew when I was holding things back, but he let this go. “Well, Asher and his crew are who you’re after.” I knew Asher. Everyone did because the guy had a reputation no other young guy could match. That and a smoking hot sister gave him a kind of cachet amongst the bear community. “I’ll forward you his contact details and address so you can organise a drop off.”

And keep Bjorn and his sleuth out of it if it all went to shit. I shook my head.

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