Page 24 of Poke the Bear

“Where’s who? Where’s the fucking fire, golden boy?” she asked.

“Where’s Freya?” I held up the shoe I’d found in my room as evidence, the only thing I had that proved she was actually there in my room and not some kind of fever dream. “Where’s my girl?”

“Your girl?” Jack’s voice cooled noticeably and when I turned to face her, she crossed her arms. “Freya’s not anyone’s girl, not until she says so.”

“Yes, she is. Jack, I…” I needed to calm the fuck down, but the bear and I were in the same mind. We claimed our mate last night, before we should’ve, and then she’d taken off without a word.

I thought we were cool. The moment I lost control was so fucking sweet and absolutely fucking terrible, all at the same time. Feeling my baculum jut out and lock down inside her, the blunt bone anchoring me to her, forcing me to rock her through this orgasm and the next, it’d driven all good sense out of me, so my fangs found her neck. I did the one thing bear shifters were never supposed to do.

Claimed my mate before she accepted our bond.

I forced her, bit her without permission, and she didn’t even know why. I’d rushed shit.

I’d fucked shit up.

I groaned, raking my hands through my hair, able to hear what Kaine would have to say in my head.

And knowing River would say nothing, his face closing down.

I’d tried to do this shit on my own, steal something for myself, and here we fucking were. Sleuths worked together for just this reason, to keep these impulses under control. Of course I wanted to mark her, lock down inside her, fill her full of babies, because that was the terrible biological imperative that lurked inside us.

But people weren’t animals and didn’t like being treated like that.

I had to make this right, that need burned in my chest, even though I feared I couldn’t.

“I fucked up,” I told Jack, because facing shit head-on is always the best tact.

“What did you do?” I’d seen Jack do her nut before, but not this. She seemed to swell to twice her size, fury blazing in her eyes. She tucked her dressing gown in tighter around her and snapped. “What the fuck did you do?”

“I like her, Jack,” I said. “I want—” To spend the rest of my life with her, I thought, but didn’t say. “I don’t chase girls, you know that.” She nodded grudgingly. “But Freya…” Internally I begged, pleaded for her to understand. “She’s the one.”

“God, help me,” she said with a shake of her head. “I thought you were the easy one. What did you have? A hot one-night stand and now you want more? Newsflash, buddy.” She tapped on my skull. “It’s because she left. This is just some primal need to chase bullshit going on.”

She had no idea how true that was.

“Some dickheads want to chase the one that got away,” I agreed. “But not me. I know Freya’s the one for me.”

“So why didn’t she give you her number?” Jack’s eyes bore into mine. “Why didn’t she stay? Why aren’t the two of you doing whatever shit heteros do in bed right now? Freya’s my best friend and if she left, she did it for a good reason.”

“Let me talk to her, please, Jack.” Fuck, I was so close to begging, I may as well commit. “I will do literally anything you want. That charity thing—”

“No.” I’d seen this expression before. A woman working in a male-dominated field had to have a steely spine and that was when hers came out. Jack was not going to be moved. “You can’t bargain your way into my bestie’s life. She either lets you in or she doesn’t, and lemme say, she doesn’t let many people in. I’m sorry, Adam.”

I flinched when she put her hand on my arm. It was well-meaning, but any woman’s touch other than my mate’s felt wrong.

“You’re just going to have to let her go.”

But I couldn’t, wouldn’t, turning on my heel then and striding out into the hall.

And that’s when my brother rang.

“Where the fuck did you get to last night?” he snapped, as soon as I accepted the call. “What the hell were you doing? You won the fucking Magarey medal, you dickhead, but you weren’t there to accept it. I had to fucking do the honours.” But before I could get a word in edgewise, he charged on. “You were with her, weren’t you?”

His voice changed then, the longing becoming clear, right before he smothered it.

“You were. You took her up to your room and —”

“Fucked everything up.” I said it before he did, then waited for his response.

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