Page 98 of Grin and Bear It

“OK, so Todd knows about bear shifters, obviously. Is there a massive secret network of people who know about shifters or…?”

Before he could answer, another one of my alarms went off, making me frown. Cole saw that, shifting gears rapidly and then started to move through traffic again.

“Todd is the son of a bear shifter sleuth. We grew up on the same street and hung out a bit. He was excluded from a lot of things because…” Cole glanced at me.

“Because he’s gay?” I asked.

“Because it was obvious he wasn’t going to have a bear. His family had always ‘bred true’ and produced sons that had bears and as far as they were concerned, he was responsible for breaking that tradition.”

“That’s so shit.”

“Yep. They pretty much left him to his own devices, kinda wiping him as a result. We were on the outer of the shifter community because…”

His grip on the gear stick tightened, every muscle tensing.

“Because?” I prompted gently.

Cole’s pale, pale blue eyes were wide as they met mine for just a second, then focussed back on the road.

“Because my mother bonded with my fathers, had me and then left.”

“What?” I felt suddenly too cold and too hot, all at the same time. “Why? But they were fated…” I stammered out. “Did they…? Were they abusive?”

He snorted at that, then shook his head.

“That’s what everyone assumed. Why else would she leave if not for that? People pulled away, stopped inviting my dads to things. Friends I’d grown up with stopped hanging out with me…” He smiled ruefully and then shot me a sidelong look. “Bloody Todd. I just wanted coffee and breakfast, not a rehash of history.”

“But it’s all going to have to come out, isn’t it?” I said. “If you really want…?”

“Don’t sound so tentative.” He stared at me for a second. “You’re all that I want. It took every damn iota of self-control I had to stop myself from lunging at you when I saw you standing there in a bra.” He shook his head slowly, coming up to the school, the line of cars dropping off kids stretching out for blocks. “But I told myself I wasn’t going to do that, not until you asked me nicely.”

I snorted and then bundled up my bag and coffee, grabbing the bag at my feet.

“You can just let me out here and I can walk up to…”

My instructions were cut off as Cole wrenched the steering wheel sideways, jumping the curb with the car and then driving along the edge of the grassed oval, perpendicular to the road.

“Cole… Cole!” I yelped in alarm as we whizzed past, kids stopping on their way to school to gawp as we passed. “Cole, stop the car. I don’t need you to…”

And that’s how I came to be parked out front of the school on the footpath.

Kids’ heads popped up everywhere. Of course they did. The engine’s heavy rumble echoed around the entire front of the school. Students checked out the car, the driver and then the passenger, a whole bunch of them clustering closer. Several of my kids waved their arms at me, then pointed to the car, still others seemed to be in a debate about what kind of car it was. All I knew was this was very bad.

“Don’t need?” Cole shrugged. “Maybe. But you deserve to be escorted to your door. I can walk you to class.”

Teenage El loved that idea so fucking hard. To have the hot guy with the hot car paying her that kind of attention, but adult El saw June walking over with a small frown on her face.

“No, that won’t be needed,” I replied in a thin voice.

“Then I’ll have to do this here.” He grabbed me by the back of the neck and dragged me closer, his mouth smashing down on mine, full-on pashing me in front of everyone.

I knew I had to pull away, to stop this. I was a bloody teacher, his nephews went to this school and… But my rational mind was derailed by some fated mates bullshit, swooning at the feel, at the taste of him, my eyes remaining heavily lidded, my lips still hanging in the air when he pulled away.

“Go and teach Australia’s youth,” he told me with a wink, leaving me to scramble out of the car in a rush. “I’ll pick you up after school.”

“Ellie!” June called out as soon as I got out of the car, but then the bell went.

“Teaching first lesson!” I explained before rushing off.

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