Page 27 of Sasquatch's Claiming

Caleb bobbed his head stiffly. “I think everyone needed to see that you’ve claimed her and that she can’t be sent back through the veil. I’m going to follow you both at a distance with Ethan and Daniel. We’re going to make sure that nothing else gets through. We’ll keep a discreet distance.”

Ben nodded and started walking through the brush, with Bernadette perched in the crook of his elbow, her arms wrapped around his neck.

He walked in silence, back to his cabin, and set her down. He was feeling a bit tired from the attack. As much as he wanted to do what the council wanted and impregnate her, it would have to wait.

He wanted her to be comfortable with it.

He wanted to talk to her, especially in light of her thinking she was infertile. It was overwhelming.

And he had to heal.

The wendigo was a dirty, dark-world spirt of a corrupted human and it had clawed him bad. Aoife had done her best to heal it, but it still hurt and it would be a mark that he would carry forever. Ben didn’t give two shits about that, it was the fact that something else, something dark and sinister, was after Bernadette.

His mate.

And there was no way he was going to let that happen.

When he gother safely inside their cabin, Bernadette tucked him into bed and he let her. Only he threw off the blankets and lay on the bed, naked and shivering. Then she warmed up some water and pulled out a sponge from the cupboard.

“What’re you doing?”

“Giving you a sponge bath. You’re feverish,” Bernadette responded.

He grunted, not fighting, because she was right. He did feel that way and he knew it was from the attack.

Bernadette came over to him and slowly began to wipe down his body. The water was warm, but it felt so good because he was so cold at the same time as being profusely hot.

“Thank you for protecting me,” she said gently.

“I will always protect you. We’re mates.”

Bernadette nodded and continued to wipe him down. “I’m just worried about this whole impregnating thing.”

“Why?” he asked cautiously. “Don’t you want to have my young?”

“I would love to have your children. It’s nothing to do with that, it’s just I was told I could never have children. I never had a period. Nothing.” Bernadette swallowed slowly, like she was holding back tears. “It seems kind of impossible. What if it never happens?”

“Then it doesn’t,” Ben stated.

Their gazes locked and his heart swelled. As much as he wanted her to have his young. As much as he longed for a family like Adam was about to have, none of that mattered because all he wanted was Bernadette.

She was his heart, his reason for being.

If it meant that he had to protect her fiercely forever and never impregnate her, to always live in this state of being under the love spell or the mating frenzy, then he would gladly do that. As long as he could have her forever.

That was all that mattered.

“Come to bed,” he murmured.

“You’re injured.” She smiled at him. “You need rest.”

“I know, but I can protect you if you’re curled up next to me. I need to keep you safe.”

“No one has ever wanted to keep me safe before. Not since my parents.”

“I will always keep you safe, my mate.”

Bernadette peeled off her clothes and climbed into the crook of his arm, naked, settling against him. Her body was warm, soft, and even though his body was tired, his cock stirred to life.

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