Page 15 of The Alpha Grizzly's Mate

Someone had managed to get a bed put in our room, and I had never been more grateful for a piece of furniture since the infamous chair. “Can we talk about some things?” I asked.

“That sounds ominous.” Colson walked over and took my hand, dragging me to sit beside him on the mattress with mismatched linens. When I got back to my den, my pack, I would make sure we donated some things as well as some funds. From what I could see and hear, they were bursting at the seams with omegas and their cubs and pups.

“Not ominous. I feel like I’ve stolen you from your life.” I scrubbed my hands over my face. “You don’t even haveclothes here. What kind of alpha takes their omega away from everything?”

Colson put his warm palm over my hand. I turned my hand to lace his lithe fingers with mine. “The kind who has the permission of his mate. But I really do miss my clothes.”

I sucked in a sharp inhale. “I can go back and get them. Are they all in your room? Can you tell me how to get there? I’ll get around your father, but I promise I won’t hurt him unless I have to.”

My mate bit down on his lips and then snorted, nudging my shoulder with his own. “Levi, I was kidding. I can get clothes. We don’t know each other well, but I’m a simple guy. T-shirts. Jeans. Sneakers. Honestly, I thought about it last night. You were asleep, and I woke up. There isn’t one single thing I can think about that I miss other than my books, and they can be replaced easily enough. I wish my relationship with my dad was different but I’d pick being with you over anything else.”

I flopped my torso back on the bed and let out a growl. “That wasn’t nice, omega. I thought you were serious. I was already creating a plan in my head to go get your things.”

“They’re just things. Besides, I know a handsome and sexy alpha who will probably buy me some more jeans and T-shirts. I’m not really worried about it.”

My bear stilled hearing those words from his mate. “You’re not. But you barely know me.”

He nodded. “That’s true and not true.”

“Explain, please.” I reached for his sweatshirt and tugged him against me so that his head rested against my chest. Threaded my fingers through his dark-brown wavy hair as he hummed his approval.

I hoped to hear that sound for a long time.

When he didn’t start explaining, I turned to face him. “Mate, explain please. How do you know me and yet, don’t know me?”

He gave me a lazy smile and placed his hand flat on my chest. “Well, for one thing, you were rescuing your uncle. That means you have a sense of duty and honor.”

I gruffed. My sense of duty and honor was to Aunt Patty, not Raph. “What else?” My ego and my grizzly demanded more.

“You made sure those cubs and pups and even the little kitten were safe in this place before you pursued your own mate. That makes you selfless and kind.”

I let out a grunt. I didn’t see myself in the same light he did. Not even close.

“And now you’re making sure my needs are met. My wolf felt safer and at home alongside your bear than I think I have in my whole life despite the bodyguards and armed men around our house all the time. But there are things I obviously don’t know yet. Things I want to learn.”

His hand slid down my chest and over my abs where he placed his fingers in between the buttons of my flannel shirt. “Name it. Whatever you want to know, mate. I have no secrets—nothing to hide from you.”

There were things that needed my attention outside this bedroom, here, in a farmhouse, in the middle of nowhere, but at the moment, I didn’t want to deal with any of them. In fact, if we could have meals delivered, I would reconsider anything other than staying here.

Except my pack depended on me.

My brothers.

My family.

Fuck you, responsibility.

“I don’t know the little things. How you take your coffee. What your favorite color is. Your favorite breakfast. How you would look above me—mating me, fucking me until I cried out your name in pure ecstasy.”

Oh, now he was playing with fire. Mating my omega had been hovering in the back and front of my mind since the moment I scented him, but I’d pushed it back. Giving him time. Giving him space. Wanting him to make the first move.

After taking him from everything he knew, it was the least I could do, though, he didn’t seem to mind being taken away. In fact, I thought he might’ve been looking for an opportunity all along.

Fate might be mysterious, but her timing was impeccable.

My cock swelled inside the confines of my pants, bobbing at the chance to get out and answer all of Colson’s questions and a ton of mine while he was at it. “There’s one way to find out the answer to that last one.”

My mate shuddered, inching closer to me. So close, our bodies had less than an inch between us. He threw one leg over my hips and ground his hardness into mine. “I’m more than ready, mate.”

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