Page 18 of Grumpy Special Ops Bear: Ep. 3
She barked out a laugh. “Fragile, am I? Who in this damn camp smacked a bear in the face?” She raised her hand.
Cutter laughed until I shot him an evil look.
“Not the fucking point, Trinity. Just please will you let us come up with another plan?” I asked.
“No, I will not. This plan makes sense. So what aren’t you telling me? What is it, Fergus?”
“What do you mean?” I asked, trying to sound oblivious.
“You’re hiding something. What is it? What are you so afraid of?”
“Why can’t I just be worried about you getting hurt?” I asked, losing my patience with this entire conversation.
My inner bear snarled and growled, wanting me to tell the truth, but I fought it.
“No, because it’s not just that. What’s the fucking issue?”
“It’s not the right thing to do—”
“Yes, it is! They want me. I can stop a war. I can prevent hundreds of shifters from needless deaths.”
“No, Trinity. Just leave it at that.”
“I’m doing it, Fergus,” she argued, stalking around the fire toward me. “I’m going to do it, and you can’t stop me.” At the last few words, she poked me in the chest with her finger.
“I said no, and that’s final,” I barked.
“Yes, I am.”
“I will not risk the life of my mate!” I finally yelled.
Everyone around me stiffened as an uncomfortable hush fell over the camp.
The second I realized what I’d just shouted, I couldn’t even look at Trinity. I didn’t want to see her sudden rejection or the fear on her face from my words.
Cutter whistled as Grant cleared his throat, crossing his legs at the ankles. The two watched, waiting to see who would move first—Trinity or me. I wanted to go hide under a large boulder and maybe hibernate there for a year or two.
Chapter 12
Trinity
Fergusand I stayed rooted where we were.
I was looking up at his red face in stunned silence.
Mate? Did he really say mate?
No, I couldn’t have heard him right.
“Did you just call me your mate?” I finally forced myself to ask.
Fergus cleared his throat. I’d never seen him this nervous.
“If I said no, would you believe me?” His eye twitched.
“No,” I answered immediately as I took a step backward. “Mate? But that’s what Grant had, right? With the connection and the whole… Holy shit,” I whispered, quickly sitting on a log. “Mate? I can’t be your mate. I don’t even know you.”
Cutter said, “Well, for starters, he’s the alpha of our bear clan, and—ow!”
