Page 56 of Bearly Hanging On

My mother’s words washed over me as Harper broke away from the conversation and edged closer. Her eyes went wide as she looked at me, then Mum. Mutely, I begged for herunderstanding, because Mum noticed as soon as Harper drew closer. She blinked and then grinned.

“Mum, this is Harper.”

“Oh, I can see that.” Mum’s eyelashes fluttered wildly, and I soon saw why. To my alarm, tears started filling her eyes. “Kieran…” Right then, I’d have rather faced down a firing squad than watch my mother meet my mate. What if she took a disliking to Harper like my dads did my sleuthmates? “She’s beautiful!”

“Um… thanks? Oof!”

Mum rushed forward and dispelled all my old fears, creating new ones as she flung her arms around my mate. Harper’s hands went up in shock, then she gave Mum an awkward pat. Mack said not to overwhelm Harper, and here was my mother, clinging to our girl like she was a long-lost relative.

“Mum? Ah, Mum? Can you let go of Harper, please? She needs to breathe.”

“Oh, my goodness.” Mum hastily wiped some tears away. “I’m sorry, love. I’ve gotten all sooky. It’s just…” She tried to smile, but it was a very watery one. “It’s just we’ve been waiting for so long to meet Kieran’s mate. I’m Kimmy, I mean Kim, his mother.”

“Ah, lovely to meet you, Kim,” Harper replied.

She wasn’t running, that was a plus, and when me and the bear took in a deep breath, we weren’t detecting the sharp stink of fear. Harper was… hovering. Like a deer that had come to attention, not sure if it was going to stay cropping grass or make a run for it.

Stay, that’s what I asked mutely. Stay, even though my family, the whole community, was really intense. Stay long enough to become one of the older women that terrorised the younger ones with details about our dicks. As Mum started babbling to Harper about the different cakes she’d made,trying to get her to sample some of them, I could see it. Harper meeting the fated mate of any children we might have, or just helping other women coming into the community, if kids weren’t something she wanted to do. Being a part of this, of everything I was connected to. Being connected with me.

The bear was somewhat satisfied, because this place was safe in his mind, but the man? He wanted to pull Harper close, bury his nose in her hair, and run his nose along her neck, right where I’d leave my mating mark. Somehow, that had Harper turning my way, shooting me an impish smile as she bit into a chunk of my favourite honey cake that Mum was pushing onto her. Then, right as I was about to suggest we go and do something that didn’t involve every female member of the community, a voice blared over the PA system.

“Everyone wanting to participate in the bear back races, please present yourself to the end of the oval. I repeat, everyone wanting to participate in the bear back races, please present yourself to the end of the oval.”

This was something the elders had put together, thinking that if we were going to be out in the open, we needed to acclimate Australians to the idea of massive apex predators wandering the streets. While there was a disproportionate number of venomous snakes, sharks, and crocodiles in Australia, big land-based predators were less common. Maybe that’s why Harper’s eyes went wide.

“Bear back rides?” she said, clasping her hands together. “Or bare back rides?”

“Both in a way,” I said with a smile. “Us guys turn into bears and then we?—”

“Sold!” Harper grabbed my hand and started to tug me away. “Lovely to meet you, ladies, but we’ve got a bear race to win!”

“That won’t be all she rides…” Ingrid muttered.

“Be careful! “ Mum called out as I was pulled towards the oval. “I’ll keep your honey cake safe and have it ready for you when you cross the finishing line!”

“So how do we do this?” Harper turned to me, a gleam of determination in her eyes. “And more importantly, how do we win?”

“Ahh… I don’t think that’s the point of this exercise,” I said, looking around me to see other males stepping up, their fated mates, children, or friends ready to be their riders. “It’s more a PR?—”

“Eye on the prize.” She jerked my jaw her way, then pointed to my eyes, then hers. “Are there any rules? Will kicking or spitting get us disqualified?”

“Um… no?”

I stared at her in alarm. Harper rubbed her hands together.

“OK, so where do we start?”

“Well, like this.”

I tore my shirt off over my head and her reaction was everything I wanted to see. The wild grin was replaced with a slack-jawed stare. Last time Harper saw me naked, we were all drunk, but now? She seemed to be making up for lost time, studying every muscle, every hair on my chest. I toed off my shoes, then unbelted my jeans, stepping out of them, and she watched every movement.

“You sure about the whole no sex thing there, Bear Boy?” she muttered, but before she could look down, my hand went out, stopping her from looking at my dick.

“You wanna win this race? Better keep your eye on the prize, Harper.”

The bear was stamping his paws inside me, ready to come out, and just this once, I let him. Fur flowed over my skin, my bones breaking and remaking themselves in seconds, until…

“Whoa…” Harper gasped, her eyes wide as she struggled to take all of me in.

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