Page 43 of The Bear's Forever Mat
She swore the bear swallowed hard before he continued.“I told Cooper there would be no mating until you had room for me. That was wrong. I thought that looking for your brother meant you had a missing place inside. But I heard you talk with Mason. I sense how much you care for him, and your parents, but your first touch is always for Cooper. For me. And your friends. Now I understand that you can care for more people without dividing love. Love is not a finite amount, it’s something that grows. Expands to fill the space.”
It was a difficult concept, and yet the simplest thing in the world.
Maybe, just maybe, it was also the reason she’d never given up hope. Never truly felt abandoned or alone. She’dhadlove with her all the days of her journey. Hope and love and optimism were as natural to her as breathing, or as…
As natural as shifting was to a certain bear of her heart.
“I can love my brother, and my friend Kaylee, and all of Cooper’s family, and my new sister-in-law and nephew, and I will still have room to love Cooper and you, his inner bear, with everything in me. Because love does grow.”
“This is a good thing,”Cooper’s bear informed her.
Moisture filled her eyes.Happy tears.“It’s a very good thing.”
“I’ll tell Cooper to shift back, and then you can have fun. But remember the ear scratching. And the compliments. I’ll remind you if you forget.”
She was laughing as the conversation cut out and Cooper shifted back into a naked man, now kneeling between her thighs.
He wore a slightly puzzled expression. “That was the most bizarre sensation.”
Amber cupped his face in her hand. “Did you hear us?”
Cooper shook his head. “Nothing more than that sound you hear in the Peanuts movies when the adults are talking. Blah, blah, blah.”
Interesting. Amber did her best to try and talk to him the way she’d been speaking with his bear.“Can you hear this?”
“I can, he can’t.”
Cooper blinked hard. “You just did it again. What’s going on?”
Amber thought it through then answered slowly. “It appears I can talk to your bear, and he can talk to me, and while that’s all fascinating, I think the most important part to tell you is that he no longer objects to our mating.”
Joy lit his expression. “That’s great.” He stopped. “Then why aren’t we mated?”
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18
An absolute swing of emotions had rolled up one side of Cooper and down the other.
He’d never had his bear take charge like that before, but it had definitely been an order when he’d been told to shift. It had worried him for a moment—with Alex’s warnings and all—then his bear had added an unexpectedplease.
The command wasn’t a bear rebellion, but a sweet and heartfelt plea, and suddenly the last thing Cooper had been worried about was being hoodwinked by his inner beast.
Obviously something had happened between Amber and his bear that went far beyond the normal.
But now Amber was sitting there, after giving him the best news he’d heard in a long time, seemingly unfazed by the fact that nothing big and wild had happened.
Instead, she shrugged. “I don’t know why nothing seems to have changed. Time delay? What’s supposed to happen when we’re officially mates?”
“I was thinking more along the lines of the whole wildness that happened with Kaylee and James back at the start of summer. You know, the tornado-on-the-stage kind of thing.”
Amber looked thoughtful. “But Lara told me that with her and Alex, it wasn’t until he bit her, in that way that wolves do, that everything went through for them.”
“Alex told me the same thing.” This just got more and more confusing. “Hang on. Let me check something.”
You there?
Not sure where exactly you thought I might go, but yes.
