Page 13 of The Alpha Grizzly's Mate

My beast rumbled inside me for two reasons. One, my omega had said my name so nicely. And with such a beautiful fucking mouth. And two, he called to my bear. I would’ve done anything for him just because of those sweet words. I sat cross-legged in front of him. At least the floor was clean. “You came with me with no fight at all.”

“Why would I fight you? You’re my mate. I scented you around yesterday but came up empty. I was glad.”

Heart exploded. He was glad to see me. “You brought no clothes. No belongings. Nothing.”

Colson chuckled and the sound shot straight into my heart and then down to my cock. “I’m sure you have a shirt around here I can borrow. It’s my dad I’m worried about. But I wasn’t happy there. Not at all.”

“Tell me why,” I asked, reaching for his hands. It was as though my whole body had gone cold, missing the skin-to-skin contact of his hand in mine. I would be done for once we mated.

“When I was a kid, I had an inkling of who he was. He wasn’t exactly a suit-wearing, go-to-the-office kind of dad. I had bodyguards at my private school. I was driven in a luxury car. I… He wasn’t like the other dads. I figured it out quickly and then as I planned college… I learned the hard truth.”

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“And worse than the truth, he wanted me to be a part of it. I evaded it as long as I could and when he finally forced me to work with him, I took more legit tasks, but the other day, I delivered groceries and I heard… I scented… I couldn’t forget nor did I want to. I was planning their getaway. You came along just in time, Levi. You rescued them and me.”

We would have to talk about what he saw at a later time. Right now, I wanted him in my arms, safe and sound. “Come here, omega mine. I’ve got you.”

Colson crawled into my lap, facing me. He nuzzled his nose into the crook between my neck and shoulder, inhaling deeply. “Thanks,” he whispered.

“Of course.”

He laughed. His whole body shook with it. “I was talking to the chair.”

I groaned, tickling his sides. “My brother has such a big fucking mouth. Do you even recognize that chair.”

He laughed harder. “That’s the thing.” He pulled back and cupped my face. “I have no idea. I mean, clearly I’ve sat in it, but I don’t remember.”

Didn’t matter to me. Fate was a silly female sometimes.

Chapter Eight

Colson

Among the people at that wretched place was Levi’s uncle, and not as an innocent omega. He worked for my father—at least, that was my assumption. They saw him as a victim, but everyone else there were omegas and children, so it didn’t make sense. He was involved in the seedier side of things, but him being “captured”? That, I wasn’t so sure of. Not knowing my family the way I did.

I wanted to ask the man questions, to find out what was happening in that place. There was so much more than Levi and the crew knew. My father always had layers of evil in his “business ventures.” They were right in not letting him come here.

The harsh reality of having any kind of dealings with my father was you were always connected to him. It wasn’t safe to bring his uncle to the den. It wasn’t safe to bring me, either. Not really. But at least I wasn’t a threat. Possibly, he wasn’t either. The odds of that were slim.

From the sounds of it, he was never safe for the den to begin with. Even when they tried to sugarcoat some of his mistakes, he sounded like a pretty shitty person, and I didn’t blame them for not trusting him. If not for the aunt, I didn’t think they would have even bothered to go help him.

And for that reason alone, I’d forever be grateful to her.

She was the reason all those children got away.

She was the reason I got away.

She was the reason I found my mate.

My wolf was antsy as fuck. He needed to get out. He needed to meet our bear. It was selfish even to think that way when therewas so much that needed to be done, but I couldn’t help it. The mating pull was too strong.

There was so much chaos around us, so much that needed to be done. There was still a lot of information I could give them about my father, things that might help make sure this doesn’t happen again to other omegas. But I couldn’t concentrate on a single one of them.

And Levi? His bear was pushing even harder. His eyes no longer looked human, and he scented more beast than man. If I had to guess, if I pulled his up shirt, we’d see some of his fur popping through.

And, of course, thinking of pulling up his shirt had my mind traveling a bunch of other places that were less than appropriate.

“Levi”—I gave his hand a squeeze—“my wolf is insisting—”

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