Page 87 of Choose the Bears

“That never factored into my dreams of the future.” He was always so intense, but right now I sucked up that constant regard like the wine. It rushed to my head, intoxicating me in the same way. “Just you, Imogen. A woman to care for, one to protect with everything I have. One to…”

I leaned forward, ready to hear the last bit, but that’s when Kyle and Lucas came walking over toting plates of food.

“Escaped the crush already?” Kyle asked, sitting down on the grass after handing me a plate. “That took what, two-point-five seconds?”

“Your family is insufferable,” Asher replied dryly, then turned to Lucas, “and yours is just loud.”

“They’re your family too. All of them,” Kyle replied with a smug smile.

“Yeah?” Lucas fixed him with a dark look. “Then you can deal with my fuckhead brothers.”

Chapter 46

Lucas

My family were nice people. My mum was the quiet one, much like me, and my dads, while completely full of shit, never made me feel anything other than loved. It might be that rough-and-tumble, put-shit-on-you, kind of love that Australian families specialised in, but still, love. Even my older brothers, identical twins as was often the case with bear shifters, loved me.

But sometimes I wondered if they liked me.

I saw their sly smiles when Kyle coaxed us all back to the table with promises that everything would be fine. Asher was even pricklier than ever, needing to not just protect himself but Imogen too. And me? This was the moment when my family rallied around me, supported me, made clear I was the right guy for my mate, right?

“She’s hot,” Kevin, or was it Steven, said, looking Imogen over as we all sat down. Her butt hovered in the air, not ready to sit as she stared at me. “How the hell did you get a hot mate, numbnuts?”

That was me. I was numbnuts for as long as I could remember. Also dickhead, wanker, fuckface… You get the picture.

“He didn’t find you at one of those ren faire things, did he?” Steven asked Imogen. That was definitely him, the scar on his left forearm from the time we all fell out of a tree becoming apparent as he leaned forward.

“Don’t put your elbows on the table,” Mum hissed, knocking him away. “And stop teasing your brother.”

“Ren faire?” I heard my mate’s voice, and for the first time, I didn’t want to look down. Apparently her meeting with the female elders was scandalously short, that she’d decided before she even heard what they had to say to accept us. My heart beat too hard, too fast at that knowledge, but right now I felt like we were about to reach the hurdle she couldn’t get over.

“I like to do historical fencing when I have some down time,” I replied, daring to sneak a look sideways.

There was no way I wanted to bring this up today. Accepting that we turned into bears sometimes was one thing, but a girl being cool about a guy that dressed up in armour and swung a sword around at other guys also wearing armour? That seemed a step too far. I shot my brothers a dark look, mentally swearing I would do my damndest to embarrass the shit out of them if they ever managed to find their mates.

“Like a knight?” she asked, and the lack of disgust in her gaze made me feel a little better. “Do you fight in one of those things they show on TV?”

“Tourneys?” I asked. “Not quite. Our bouts are all pretty heavily controlled. Swinging heavy metal weapons at each other, they have to be.”

“Stop trying to make it sound cooler than it is,” Kevin said.

“But it is.” Her head whipped around and she stared into his eyes. “Lucas would look freaking hot in armour.”

“Um, yeah.” Kevin looked her up and down. “Standing around in a really expensive tin can in the sun will do that to you.”

“Gorgeous,” my girl snapped. “Amazing, strong, incredible, do you need me to use smaller words for you that are easier to understand?” I couldn’t help but let out a little snort, but that just delayed the rush of warmth that started in my chest and rushed outwards. “And lemme guess, you two love going fishing.”

“What’s wrong with fishing?”

Watching the twins look at each other in confusion was worth anything that might come after this.

“And you take all these photos holding up your fish like this?” she continued, showing them what she meant. The twins muttered at that because it was true. Their social media was littered with images exactly like that. “Women don’t find that a turn on at all. It’s like guys are cats leaving dead rats on your doorstep. They’re super proud of what they’ve killed while everyone else is low-key horrified.”

“At least you can eat the fish afterwards…” Steven mumbled.

“But playing with swords and ren faires?” Imogen gazed up at me. “That’s so cool. Can I come to your next tournament? I’ll go as a busty wench.” I choked on some spit as her arms went under her breasts. “Though I might need some padding.”

“No padding.” I’d barely wheezed that out, forced to cough and clear my throat. “You’re perfect the way you are.”

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