Page 44 of Fated to the Grizzly

But all these people. Who actually hate living this darn wretched lifestyle.

My mom slinks up to me with tears in her eyes. “Well done, honey,” she murmurs and throws her arms around me.

Then Owen and Vinny come up, too. “Great work, little sis,” Vinny says. “You’ve got the balls to say what no one else dared to.”

“The ovaries, thank you,” I say primly, but inside I’m glowing.

I close my eyes for a beat. They haven’t been the kind of big brothers a girl could wish for, but they didn’t exactly have a good role model to set them on the right track in life.

“C’mere.” I beckon to them. “Let’s be friends instead of adversaries, huh?” I say, and I pull them all into a group hug.

Owen draws back. “How about I go get some beers?”

“Coming with you,” Vinny replies, and the two of them hare off.

They’re back soon, and the party kicks off. Alcohol and music have been banned since we came to live in the forest—and by the looks of it, in most prepper households, because everyone is partying like its 2099.

Everyone except for that loser who rejected me. He’s standing behind a tree, but I feel his eyes burning into me. I can do that now I’ve connected with my bear mate. I’m much more aware of my surroundings than I used to be.

“What the fuck?” Orion growls, evidently noticing him at the same moment.

I go to catch his arm, then I stop myself. Remembering the curl of that prick’s lip when he rejected me.

A moment later, Orion’s got him in a chokehold, and he’s beckoning me over.

“This is Derek,” he tells me. “He thinks he has some claim on you. Or hedid.”

I glance at Derek, whose face has turned purple. I frown. “Until you tried to choke the life out of him?”

“Yup,” Orion says cheerfully, and I notice that his canines are longer than usual. His bear is having a good time.

“No, he never had a claim on me,” I say, smiling pleasantly. “But he did reject my father’s offer to sell him mypurity.”

“Hewhat!?” Orion roars.

“I-I was freaked out, that’s all,” Derek chokes out. “He fucking surprised me, turning up on the doorstep like that. I didn’t know what to say.”

“Not exactly how I remember it,” I say, curling my lip right back at him.

“You looked real different then, Scout.”

“You rejected my girl?” Orion snarls.

“I-I didn’trejecther. I mean, look at her, she’s fucking hot?—”

A bellow of rage pours from Orion’s throat.

I shake my head sadly. “Wrong answer, doofus.”

Then I turn on my heel and leave them to it.

I’m chattingto one of the prepper teens when Orion saunters back a few minutes later, hands in his pockets.

“Everything okay?” I say.

“Yup.” He shrugs.

“You didn’t do anything…?”

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