Page 12 of The Alpha Grizzly's Mate

Those two words undid me.

“Damn it,” Maverick cursed under his breath.

“What?” Sutton asked.

“I was really looking forward to burning these motherfuckers down.”

My mate, Colson, cracked up at Maverick’s words, so, naturally, I elbowed Mav in the ribs. Making my mate laugh before me. Bastard. “Be my guest,” Colson said, waving his arm in the direction of the houses and buildings. “But my dad can’t be killed. Trust me, a lot of people have tried.”

“Come with us,” I blurted. “Come with me. Somewhere you’ll be safe and away from this place.”

Colson walked over to me, and my heart fluttered. My cock stirred. His eyes were pale green, and his wolf communed with my bear. Seconds were all it took for my entire life to change and for my life compass to point permanently toward him. “You want me to go with you, mate? He’ll come for me, you know. I’m his son and while he hates me, he has a reputation to uphold. He pretends like I’m the accomplished one he’s proud of, my schooling making me the legit one he can show off at parties and clink champagne glasses over my degrees and merits, claiming it was him who raised me right. You’re basically stealing his prize pig.”

Now I really wanted to kill his father.

“Let him try,” I said. “Let him try and steal what’s mine.”

One of Colson’s eyebrows pulsed upward. “I like the sound of that. Let’s go, then. What are we waiting for?”

I sat in the back of the SUV the whole ride home, my omega next to me. “Are you okay?” I asked. “Do you need anything?”

He shook his head. “Who are you? I mean, I know your name and that you’re my mate but not a lot else. Who are they?” He tipped his chin upward toward Mav and Sutton.

“I’m Levi. I’m the alpha of a den of bears. Did you meet Raphael?” I asked. No. He hadn’t. I took that as a blessing. The last thing I wanted my mate to do was to judge me based on that asshole. “We came to your compound to rescue him but, when we were there, I scented you.”

Sutton snorted. “And before. In a chair.”

Colson’s eyes widened. “A chair? You scented me on a chair?”

“Shut up,” I barked at my brother. “That’s Sutton. He’s my older brother. And that’s Maverick. They belong to a team.”

Colson blushed. I had taken his hand somewhere in introducing my brother and my new friend. “Explain the chair?”

Sutton chimed in for me. He was really getting a kick out of this. Hadn’t he picked on me enough when we were cubs? Apparently not. “We have some used chair at the farmhouse we’re redoing. No one knows where it came from. But he scented you on it days ago. I thought he was going to dry hump the damned thing.”

I let them all have their laugh. “I did no such thing.”

“Of course not.”

We got back to the farmhouse and, even though we’d only been gone less than a day, there had been major improvements. The outside of the house had a fresh coat of pale-yellow paint, happy as fuck if you asked me. The shutters had been removed,and I was sure someone, somewhere was laying a fresh coat of paint on them as well. It looked amazing. A place of light and hope. Just what these omegas needed.

“Can we talk?” I asked Colson. He hadn’t let go of my hand even when we exited the SUV. “In private?”

He nodded, blushing again. Damn, he was beautiful when he did that. Even though we’d only met just hours ago, his wolf and my bear already shared a feather of a bond. One that would grow stronger with time.

“You’ve got the same room,” Sutton said. “Supper’s at six. Don’t be late.”

I pulled my omega with me as we took the stairs to the second floor. I had slept on an air mattress but someone had deflated it and painted the room while I was gone. “I’m sorry. This isn’t where I live. I only came here for my uncle. I have no bed to offer you. Only…”

When my omega let go of my hand to walk over to the worse-for-wear armchair with its tattered green velvet and unsteady legs, I wanted to die inside.

Bless and damn that chair all at the same time.

“This is the infamous chair?” he asked, laughing.

“Yes. I’m taking that chair with me when I go home. We. I mean we. I hope. I don’t even have a place for us to sit.”

“The floor is fine, Levi. Come sit next to me, big bear.”

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