Page 14 of Bear for the Holidays

“You sound awfully sure.”

“I’m lucky. I grew up with my parents and the rest of the shifter community. True mates, well. I’m not sure about much, but I’m sure about you. I want you to be happy.”

She looked down at their hands clasped on the table.

She started to speak, but then there was a thump on the roof, followed by a terrible rattling.

“What the hell?” she said instead, and as much as Nik wanted her to keep talking, he got up reluctantly.

“Something on the roof,” he said, shoving his boots on.

He grabbed up his coat and went out to look, Deanna on his heels.

Outside, the snow was fluffy on the ground, the visibility next to nothing, and when he looked up on the roof, there was a portion of otherwise flat white snow that had been disturbed.

Just as he was looking up at the roof, a dark winged shape swooped down towards them, so fast it was a blur. Without thinking, Nik grabbed Deanna and sheltered her against his body, one arm thrown up to ward off whatever it was.

It was gone as fast as it appeared, however, and slowly, he and Deanna straightened.

“You all right?” he asked, and she nodded.

“What in the world was that?”

“An owl, maybe? Or a really really big bat,” he mused, but it was late in the day for an owl or a bat to be about.

“Here, look at this.”

He blinked at the dark flat object that Deanna held up. It took him a moment to recognize a shingle from the cabin’s roof.

“Ard mentioned the roof was starting to go but that looks a bit deliberate.”

“Fun.”

He abruptly realized Deanna was out in the snow in just her sweater, and he shook his head.

“Come on, back inside,” he said. “It was probably a raccoon that thought it smelled something good under the shingle.”

“Aw, maybe it was trying to get warm,” Deanna said as he herded her back inside.

“Lady, I already have a cat in my underwear drawer. I don’t need to start bringing in more strays.”

She peered up at him as they stomped the snow off in the mudroom.

“I’m a stray,” she said, all big eyes, and he was suddenly aware of how close they were to one another, how dark her eyes were and Christ, how gorgeous her mouth was, still red from the cold.

“Are you?” he asked, his voice hoarse in his own ears.

“Mm-hmm. Are you going to keep me?”

“If you let me. If you want to stay.”

“I want to learn about where I’m staying,” she said, and his breath stuttered as she ran her hand inside his unzipped coat. Through the flannel, her palm was warm, and her fingers tugged ever so gently at his collar, undoing the first button there.

“You should–” His brain wasn’t helping. It was just sparking furiously at her touch, at the slumberous look in her eyes, at the way her voice sounded in the intimacy of their small shared space.

“You should explore,” Nik managed. “Look around, decide if you like what you see.”

“I’ve been looking. I like what I see so far. Maybe I want to look a little closer?”

---