Page 81 of Choose the Bears

“Oh my god, you are shifters?”

The bear didn’t, couldn’t, make sense of that, but this? Her fingers outstretched, even the injured hand, reaching for us. He knew exactly what that meant. A moment when our heart and hers met on an equal plane. She wanted us, the bear’s heart grabbed onto that, and as a result I was free to do the same. My eyes, his eyes, falling closed, so we could better feel the moment when her hand landed on our head.

Scratching at our fur, my back paw clawed at the air in sympathy. Smoothing her hand over my head. “Oh my god, these ears!” she said and we bent lower so she could feel them, the sensation so damn good that we went perfectly still, as if to prolong the experience. One ear was scratched, then the other, before he moved, unable to stop himself from bunting his muzzle into her side. Probably because she did this.

Her arms went around us to stay on her feet, but when she did, they slid down. She slipped under our head and that’s when we received the sweetest of rewards. Whatever I’d done to deserve a hug in bear form, I’d do it over and over again I vowed silently as she held me tight. My front paw moved carefully, hugging her right back, until the others pushed forward.

The polar bear huffed, making clear that he thought he was due a cuddle as well, so I relinquished my hold on her.

“You want bear hugs as well?” she asked, the amusement clear in her voice.

My bear chuffed at that, not liking the way our mate pulled away from us, but when she ducked under the polar bear’s headto hug him too, it made sense. So did the grizzly bear’s muzzle pressing into her back. Lucas was always patient, but his bear, not so much. His nudges had her laughing and then pulling free. Asher’s paw rose, wanting to claw her back, but he would never use that brute strength against her. Instead, he watched her throw herself into Lucas’ bear’s paws, the idiot falling backwards to the sound of her shriek, only for him to end up sprawled across the gym floor, her body pressed into the fur of his belly.

“Oh, this is nice.” She turned around and started waving her arms and legs around, like she was making snow angels, but then her head popped up. “This is why you were so good to me.” I watched her scramble off Lucas, much to his chagrin. Her feet landed on the floor and her injured arm was tucked up against her chest. “Why you needed to protect me from Phil. I’m…”

She seemed to know somehow what she was here, and that’s what persuaded the bear to relinquish his control on me. He couldn’t navigate this conversation, so I was sent as his delegate. I dropped to the floor in human form, jerking on a pair of shorts, the others doing the same.

“Our fated mate,” Asher confirmed as he buttoned his jeans. “Yes. We knew it the moment we saw you with your ex, when Phil was stalking you. We’ve known it the entire time.”

For some women, this was a terrible betrayal. They felt it wasn’t their character, who they were as a person that earned them the mate treatment, but some mystical bond they’d never heard of. Not Imogen. She stood tall then, taller than I’d ever seen her, her smile tremulous, but it got firmer by the second.

“So you’re… mine?” she asked.

“Always,” I said, my voice breaking on the word. “Just like you’re ours, if you choose to accept?—”

“The bond?” I don’t know where she got this knowledge from, but she threw herself at me then, wrapping her armsaround my chest and pressing her face into it. “I accept. Trust me, I accept.”

I’d prepared myself for a fight for her affection, to talk her down off a ledge when we told her, but not this. Not this incredible rush of relief, of possessiveness, but most of all, of love. My eyes closed as I pressed my face into her head.

“You’ll never regret it, that I promise. Never, Imogen.”

When my grip tightened, hers did too, right as the others ambled closer.

“Well, if that’s settled,” Asher said, “we need to get you in to meet with the elders.”

Chapter 43

Imogen

My hands trembled as I buttoned up the borrowed blouse, and it wasn’t just because I’d spent my morning patting actual bears. Like really big, really furry bears. It wasn’t even that they were my… Fated mates, I kept rolling that term around and around in my head, and like a good meal, it got better with every taste. I’d spent my days and nights dreaming, fantasising about just such a thing, settling, I now realised, for someone like Mike; because if there was no magic in the world, I may as well be with someone like him. No, what had me brushing my hair in sharp strokes, making sure every hair was in place, was the fact that I was about to meet my in-laws.

I swallowed hard, but my throat stuck mid way, only cleared by a cough. Asher had explained it. That women rarely knew about the existence of bear shifters before being introduced to their mates. The older members of the community clustered around prospective mates, making sure the woman knew her rights, that she had multiple options available to her and didn’t have to accept the bond. I’d just stared at him, seeing that severe face, that intense expression as something else entirely.

Mine.

Not just intimidating and impressive and beautiful, but he was… mine. My fingers twitched, wanting to reach for him, but then he’d continued. I’d be taken to the meeting house where the other women often met, and they’d teach me about my new situation which was what had me taking extra care with my appearance. I plaited my hair back from my face, but then I looked too pale, the lines of my face too harsh, so I undid it again and brushed it smooth.

“Ready?”Lucas asked, walking in through the open door, but one breath in had him frowning. “Hey, you’re worried about something.”

“I’m going to meet your mother today, right?” My voice came out way shakier than I intended. “And your aunties and cousins. Sisters?” I turned to face him. “Do you have sisters as well?”

“Just a pair of twin brothers,” he replied with a smile, edging closer, that smile widening when I didn’t pull away.

God, no, instead I moved into the circle of his arms, and it all made sense then. Why I slept better when he or Kyle were asleep beside me. Why I was so drawn to them straight away. I thought it was just me being a weak little bitch, wanting another big, strong man to protect me from the first, but now. Now I could release the breath I’d been holding and nestle into his arms. He cradled me with care, like I was the most precious thing in the world, and that was true, right? That’s what the books said. That I was the only one for him, period.

“They’re idiots,” he informed me, his rumbly voice echoing in my ears. “So do not be intimidated by them for a second. If it’s not a hammer or a power tool, they have absolutely no idea how to deal with it, but…” He rubbed his hand up and down my arm.“Today is about you, about helping you adjust, though you seem to be doing a really good job of that.”

I looked up and smiled at him.

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