Page 57 of Choose the Bears

“Immie!” I looked down to see Kaleb running over. “There’s no sauce.”

Tomato sauce (never ketchup) was the condiment of choice in Australia, so I smiled and took the empty bottle from him.

“I’ll get you some more.”

That’s why I went inside, I told myself. That’s why I walked down the eerily quiet halls. Towards the kitchen, obviously, but as I went, the sound of muffled voices had my feet slowing.

“Stay here.” That was definitely Asher. The note of command made that clear.

“We’re not staying here while you do the one thing our hearts tell us has to happen.” That was Kyle, but his usually warm tones had transformed right now. There was a growly strength to it. “He… hurt her.”

I wanted to be that her I realised in a hot rush, to be the one who turned Kyle from that easy going guy into whoever this was. Someone intensely protective. Jealousy flared in my heart, burning all the way through my chest like an attack of heartburn. It didn’t even have to be him. Just some guy, any guy who’d put me first, be ready to protect me.

Not be the one I needed protecting from.

I went to walk away then, realising this was a private conversation that I had no business overhearing. My resolve held until I heard Asher’s reply.

“I know he fucking hurt her. If you hadn’t held me back, if all of you?—”

“Killing a guy in a public place in front of witnesses was never going to be smart,” Lucas reasoned, but even his voice held a rough edge. “No matter how much he might deserve it, but what have you got planned…?” I heard a ragged sigh. “You’re going to hunt him.”

“My beast says I have to.”

Beast? I frowned at Asher’s words, seeing that damn dream again. Not the hot, sexy part, but this. That massive polar bear lumbering through the forest, ready to smack Phil down. That made sense when I was asleep because you could walk on the ceiling or drink broken glass in dreams without even a second thought, but I wasn’t dreaming. I fought the urge to pinch myself, my fingers twitching around the sauce bottle.

“And so do ours,” Lucas replied. “She belongs to us as well.”

Us? My brain felt like it was racing at full pelt, trying to decipher their words and failing every time. They shared… Nope, that was it. I hit the wall, unable to parse their meaning any more, and it was just as well, because apparently I was no longer alone.

“Did you get lost?”

I spun around, stifling a yelp to find Ursula standing there with an amused expression on her face.

“No,” I said, then recovered, “I mean yes.”

“This place is huge. We’re always having to rescue people from the maze when they first come here. Were you headed to the kitchen?”

She nodded to the sauce bottle in my hands.

“Um, yeah, we’re out of sauce apparently.”

“Can’t have that.”

She helped me find my way and I played along, not giving away the fact that I knew how to get back to the kitchen, but when we passed by, I looked down a corridor and saw the three men standing there. Lucas and Kyle were still dressed in the same clothes, but Asher had pulled on something dark blue and form fitting.

Like a SWAT officer or something.

I met his eyes as I passed, catching the moment they narrowed and his lips parted, as if he’d explain, but I couldn’t break my stride. Right now I had to pretend to care about sauce and burgers. When we reached the kitchen, Ursula stopped and stared me down.

“You know you’re safe here, right?”

“Right.”

But the jury was still out inside my head. It was gathering all the information it could, evaluating and judging it in record time.

“The guys…” She didn’t specify who, though I’d since discovered that other men worked here as well. “They’d never do anything to hurt you.”

But she couldn’t say that about others. That statement rose, begging to be said, but I just pursed my lips and nodded. Hunt, kill, hurt, him, her, each remembered word echoed around in my head.

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