Page 12 of The Alpha's Bounty
“Okay,” she whispers.
My bear settles, chin on his paws, content to watch as she places her pack beside the dresser, as if she doesn’t trust the floor to hold it if she lets go.She touches the quilt with two fingers as if it might evaporate.Turning, she takes in the room from a new angle, mapping exits the way she did in the woods, only slower now, less frantic.
I stand in the doorway and let her do her thing.I could fill the air with talk about rules, the pack, schedules, and what we’ll do when Camden chews my ear off about “process”.But I don’t.I give her quiet and space.
“I’ll let you get some rest.”
“Cyrus?”
“Yes.”
She lifts her hand, hesitating before she places it on my forearm.“Thank you,” she whispers.Quiet, sincere, scared.Brave.
Heat rolls through me like a tide.
My bear shuts his eyes and smiles as he rests inside me.
“Anything for you, Mina.You’re safe.”A promise.“You’re home.”
She nods once and removes her hand, turning toward the bed.
I smile as I close the door behind me and make my way downstairs.
FOUR
Mina
I’ve never had somany questions.They’ve been stacking in my head since the moment Cyrus said,“fated mates.”Honestly, it was before that, when he kissed me in the middle of the forest instead of slapping cuffs on me.And now I’ve seen him change—shift—right there in the middle of his living room, I feel like I’m at a breaking point.
I thought a shower would help to calm me.I should be exhausted from traveling and being on the run, but as I pad back into Cyrus’s bedroom, my damp hair dripping onto my shirt, I’m not tired.
I’m curious.
So I head out to find him.
The lights are on downstairs, and I make my way toward them.Cyrus comes into view once I’m halfway down the stairs, and he looks up at me in concern.
“Everything okay?”he asks, leaping to his feet.
“It’s fine,” I assure him.“I just… had some questions.”
“You should rest,” he tells me, and I can see the concern on his face.
It’s a foreign concept, having someone concerned about me and my well-being.I find that I love it.
“I’m not tired.Not yet.I have questions.I mean… alotof questions.”
“Good thing I’ve got time,” he says as he drops back onto the couch and motions to the chair next to him.
I sit, drumming my fingers lightly against the armrest.“So… bear shifter.”
“That’s me.”
“You can just… turn into a bear?Anytime you want?”
“Pretty much.”He shrugs one broad shoulder.“Takes some focus to do it clean, but yeah.When I was younger, I shifted without meaning to.Comes with learning control.”
My mind scrambles through what I saw earlier, the bones that didn’t break butchanged, fur where skin had been, his eyes the same even when his face wasn’t human anymore.
