Page 20 of Mated to Four Bears

“Not if you keep going up against Antonio like this.”

He tossed his head back and let out a little laugh. “We aren’t worried about Antonio. All we have to do is capture the slippery bastard. He’s a hard one to follow.”

I knew that very well. It was one of Antonio’s better spells, actually, covering his trail. That probably should have been the first red flag, considering he wasn’t much good at anything else. If he didn’t want to be found, then he wouldn’t be.

“But we know where he seems to be staying now. AtGrayson’s Farm, right on the outskirts of the city.”

I tried not to let it show, but I knew that place. It was a shit hole that had once belonged to Antonio’s uncle but had gone toruin. Antonio used to hold poker nights there. Probably because he was into some dodgy shit he didn’t want me to find out about.

“We’ll go after him when Richard recovers.”

“What happened to Richard? Please tell me,” I begged. “What did Antonio do?”

“He broke his leg. But don’t worry, it’s something Thomas can fix.”

I gasped. That was too much, way too much. Richard was only trying to defend me; he didn’t need to get hurt.

“Hey, don’t you worry about a thing.”

Before I knew what was happening, he pressed his lips to mine. It came at a time of such heightened emotion, that it somehow intensified our feeling. I grabbed Henry’s cheeks and kept him exactly where he was because I couldn’t get enough of him. One tiny kiss and I was intoxicated.

There was a little part of my brain that thought this was wrong, but I had to remember what William and Thomas had told me. That love didn’t have to look a certain way. They have given me the okay to embrace my feelings, whatever they might be, and this felt right.

“We’re all going to be okay,” Henry whispered when we part. “You don’t need to worry about a thing. Now, I’m sure you want to go check on Richard, and with a bit of luck, he’ll be fine now, so should we head up there?”

I grin and nod. “Yeah, I think I would like that very much. I want to make sure Richard doesn’t hate me for all of this.”

Henry laughed once more. “Richard wouldneverhate you, that much I’m sure of. He thinks the world of you, which is why he wanted to keep that asshole away from you.”

I was touched, truly. It was nice to be cared about, that was a feeling I hadn’t experienced in a very long time. But I didn’t like it when it put other people in danger. That was really killing me.

My mind raced as Henry held my hand and took me upstairs. The closer we got to Richard’s room, the more anxious I became. I didn’t want to see what was my fault, what I’d done with my shitty life choices.

“Samantha?” Richard’s face broke out into a smile as soon as he saw me, but that didn’t change the pain I could feel emanating from him. “Are you okay?”

Tears filled my eyes all over again. I didn’t want to cry, I didn’t feel like I deserved it, but it was hard to push all of that down. “You shouldn’t be asking if I’m okay, I’m the one who needs to know that about you. I can’t believe you got hurt like this.”

Richard reached out his hand to me, and I took it eagerly. The rest of the guys left the room to give Richard and me some time alone. It was as if this moment had encased the pair of us in a bubble and no one else could interfere.

“I feel so horrible, Richard,” I told him sadly. “This never should have happened to you. Antonio shouldn’t have been allowed to come anywhere near you. I feel so bad…”

He was already shaking his head. He wasn’t the sort of person who would allow me to take the blame for things that weren’t really my fault.

“No, I chose to confront Antonio alone. That was on me. I shouldn’t have done that. I have just been trying to track him for so long, so when I finally managed to follow him to that farm, I couldn’t help myself. Plus, you can’t blame anyone else but him. You did nothing wrong. He’s the one who decided to act like an asshole. I’m just so annoyed that we didn’t catch him. If I could have gotten to him before he broke my leg, we could all be calm in the knowledge that he wouldn’t be able to hurt you again.”

That sentiment brought the bitter taste of bile to the back of my throat.Ididn’t want Antonio to get to me again, but I also didn’t want him to hurt anyone else. Least of all the people whowere helping me. Somehow, I was going to have to put a stop to this, to make Antonio leave me alone once and for all. Maybe if he saw me and I proved to him they I really didn’t have anything else to give him, he would leave me alone.

But that meant I was going to have to face him head on, even if that terrified me.

Before I did that, though, I needed to do something else first. I wanted to kiss Richard, to thank him properly. He was the only Osborne I hadn’t had a chance to kiss yet, and I ached to. I brought my lips down to his and was met with a happy response from him.

Fireworks erupted again. I was starting to get used to that sensation.

I held Richard close and kissed him until we were both breathless. By the time I pulled back, I could see that while Richard had enjoyed the kiss, he was exhausted. He had to rest so that he could heal properly. I laid my head on his chest and listened to the intense pounding of his heart until it slowed down to a restful pace.

“I have fallen for you,” I whispered to him, glad I could say this aloud without him being able to hear me. “I have fallen for all of you. So much so that I think I might be bonded to you all in a magical way. It’s something I didn’t expect, but something that makes me really happy. I keep tryingnotto see this as the rest of my life, but at the same time, I can imagine being here forever. If you’ll have me. But that means I need to fight for this just as much as you guys. I need to fight for you too.”

I couldn’t just sit in this house, intheirhome, while they were out there getting hurt on my behalf. It wasn’t right, it wasn’t fair. I needed to do something. I had to sneak out again, only without smashing any windows this time around, and I had to go toGrayson’s Farm. It was the only way to put an end tothis. If the guys kept fighting him, then it would only escalate. He just needed to know to leave me alone.

---