Page 14 of Marked By The Grouchy Grizzly

He huffs out a breath and turns back to the forest, stepping into the darkness with our mate on his mind.

“Where are you going?” I ask him from inside as he turnsleft instead of his usual right. Right leads to the river, to the mountains, to hundreds of acres of wilderness exploration. Left leads to a dirt road that leads to the highway that eventually leads to our shop.

He huffs out a heavy breath as he picks up the pace.

My mind goes right back to Lainey as my bear takes over, waddling his big ass down the dirt road.

I still can’t believe I did that. I hope she’s not mad.

I know her friends will never like me after that horrible scene, but I’m more worried about my girl. I’ll die if she doesn’t forgive me. I don’t know how I could live with that angel mad at me. It would torment me forever.

I obsess over it as my bear wanders down the side of the highway, singularly focused on our girl. Cars slow to take pictures of my grizzly, but he doesn’t pay them any attention. A cute seven-year-old girl waves to him from the backseat and now I can’t stop thinking of having children with Lainey. I want a family with her. I want to breed her sexy body until my truck is full of my own adorable kids.

We arrive in the parking lot of Heat & Ink and my bear takes his time, smelling every inch of it. Lainey’s scent is still lingering around. It’s faint, but strong enough to get our heart pumping.

A rush of excitement hits me when I picture her stunning face with those mesmerizing brown eyes. I shiver as I recall the way they were watching me with such confusion and wonder, like she couldn’t quite understand what was happening to her. Why her body was reacting that way.

I let my grizzly smell around for over an hour, but when he starts looking down the highway in the direction she left, I pull him in.

I’m not going to let him drag me around for days and then force me to emerge on the side of the highway in Iowa with no car, wallet, or clothes. I have no idea where my girl came from. It’s not uncommon for people to travel a long way to be tattooed by us. She could be from anywhere.

Ihave to be the one to figure out where she is. Not my bear.

While my bear is distracted, I grab a hold of his essence and yank him in while forcing my way up. He roars at the sky in outrage as he’s dragged back in, helpless to stop me.

My bare feet hit the cold, damp pavement and I take a deep breath of cool air, letting it fill my lungs. The night breeze feels good on my hot, sweaty skin and I’m glad that I’m wearing nothing but my birthday suit.

I stare at my shop with my shoulders slumped, replaying the events of the afternoon for the hundredth time. It gets worse every time I think about it.

There’s not much you can do about it now…

With a lump in my throat, I head to the door. I have some emergency clothes stashed in the stock room—some jeans, shoes, and a T-shirt. I’ll grab them and walk home.

An owl hoots from somewhere in the forest as I reach onto the top of a wooden plank of the roof, feeling around for the spare key.

I grab it, shake my head at my stupidity once more, and then head to the door.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Lainey

I’m gripping the steering wheel with my heart pounding as I watch Julian reach up to grab something—a key probably.

But my eyes aren’t focused on his hands. They’re wandering over everything else.

This rugged, sexy man is butt-naked.

I pulled up across the road from the tattoo shop and just as I was about to get out of my car, I saw a massive grizzly bear walk into the parking lot. Not wanting to be bitten in half, I stayed in Carly’s car, waiting until it wandered off, but it didn’t.

No. Something else entirely happened.

I watched in shock as that giant grizzly bear started shaking and morphing into that hot, naked man over there.

Julian is a bear shifter.

That’s why I was so shaken this afternoon. That’s why I haven’t been able to stop thinking about him. That’s why I’ve been feeling so drawn to him. Beenachingfor him.

I think… I’m his mate.

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