Page 12 of Poke the Bear

“After you win,” I said, injecting all of my father’s confidence into my voice.

He grabbed my hand then, and that drove out all doubts. It was hot and hard and oh so big, dwarfing mine. Adam gave it a squeeze and that made everything else easier.

Maybe this was our first date, my first real date with a guy who actually seemed into me. We wouldn’t get much of a chance to chat with the tally count beginning, but I guess it was no different than being at the movies. We sit in the darkened ballroom and watch everything he achieved be displayed up there and for once, I’d be watching the tally numbers rise with bated breath, just like countless people across the city in their lounge rooms. Adam would win, somehow I knew that and when he was flush with success, I could step back and away from him and leave him to it.

Chapter 6

Adam

Tonight was giving me whiplash. I’d walked into the medal count cautiously optimistic. Nah, I was psyched as fuck, until Kaine gave me a talking to, calming me down until I saw Freya. Finding my mate hit me like a ton of bricks, but right now I felt it. The same shit that every other bloke on my team and the others did. They all had girlfriends, boyfriends, partners sitting beside them, egging them on and I had…

Her.

I snuck yet another sidelong look at Freya, the need to memorise her face so strong an impulse I was never going to be able to resist, so I watched her watch me on the screen.

I kicked fucking arse this year and the video replays showed it, which resulted in a strange kind of pride. Freya watching that evasion, that kick, that mark. I remembered making each one, but it was so much better now. On match day, I was half riding some kind of manic joy that came every time I got on the field, my body doing just what it was supposed to.

When I had moments like this, the bear could be persuaded to enjoy football. To him it was like hunting, but instead of seals, it was the ball. He wanted to hack, slash and snarl at anyone that got in his way, but I made clear the rules just made the challenge that much harder and more worthwhile. But right now? The bear and the man wanted her to see these clips, see the evidence that was there. That I was strong, fast, a capable mate. That I’d use every fucking resource I had to get what was mine and that was her. She looked up and then flushed when she noticed I was staring, which should’ve made me look away, but I didn’t. Because then she smiled and I did too.

“Farrelly, 3,” the compere said.

Fuck yeah he did. That meant all three umpires that day gave me all of the available points.

“You’re in front,” Freya whispered, giving me a nudge and that just made me tighten my grip on her. I wanted to nod, say yeah I fucking was. That I’d walk out of this ballroom a winner, with the medal around my neck and my girl in my arms, but I couldn’t. Aussies turned pretty fucking fast on anyone that’s an arrogant prick, Jack made that clear.

“For now,” I replied finally.

Forever, I said in my mind.

I’d dominate on the field once I had her. Every game I won would be in her honour. I’d bring her the head of her enemies and lay them at her feet and… I blinked, then forced myself to take a breath. The bear was pretty sure he was a fucking Viking or something, wanting to go raiding and pillaging, but that was just theft and trespassing now. But right as I was riding this wave of awesome, my phone buzzed again.

Fuck, Kaine.

I palmed it surreptitiously. We were not to sit on national television scrolling on social media, Jack made clear, but she couldn’t see me right now, so I glanced at it under the table.

Who’s the girl? he’d written, and I read that in his usual growl.

When me and my mates were all young, having just found our bears, some of us talked about hooking up with a girl, just to get a taste of what was to come. Kaine had pulled me aside and told me in no uncertain terms I wasn’t to touch anyone who wasn’t my mate. To some of my buddies, that made me a pussy, a soft cock, but he’d made clear that he’d tell every girl at school I had an untreated STI if I didn’t listen. I did. But I smiled now, just in time for a round of applause that went up around the room, then when they started the next round I tapped out a response.

Ours.

But mine tonight, which would drive him fucking nuts. Leaving me in charge of building the most important relationship of our lives would have him cursing under his breath, his bear shoving at him to get free.

What? That was his first response, then, Her? Was there a note of hope there? Kaine was in his thirties and the fact he hadn’t found his mate yet was low-key killing him. She’s our mate? My smile got wider, right as the compere started talking about what had happened in round three of the season. He thought I was smiling at him, then nodded in my direction before describing what I had done.

Yep, that was my only reply to my brother.

I felt like time stood still as the video footage played, then I felt the buzz of my phone again.

Don’t fuck this up for us, the message read. Adam, don’t—

I did what Jack would’ve wanted, shoving my phone back in my pocket. I felt it buzz again and again, knowing my brother would be going out of his fucking mind right now. Just made this all the more delicious. I luxuriated in the satisfaction that I had found her first. Freya looked up when I pulled my hand free of hers, stiffening slightly until I placed it on her shoulder blades. I rubbed it up and down her spine, feeling the satin of her dress and knowing she’d feel twice as soft when I finally got her out of it. Probably not tonight, but…

“Farrelly, 2.”

Everyone around our table shot me a grin. Everyone except Darryl. He tried to, I could see that, but his face made this weird grimace instead, until the girl he was with leaned in and placed a kiss on his cheek. But I couldn’t pay attention to my teammate or even the count, just Freya. She smiled every time my name was called out, it growing wider when my numbers kept climbing, but none of that seemed to matter when she slid her hand on my thigh. My cock was fucking aching. It had been since the moment I met her, but it jerked in my pants right then. She rubbed her hand in small circles as we watched videos, squeezed it each time my name was called out, but when she went to pull it away, my hand shifted to cover hers. She looked at me then, really looked at me, the smile fading and replaced by this.

Confusion, that was definitely there, and wonder, but the thing that had me drowning in her eyes was hope. I saw it there, shimmering like sunlight on the ocean, something rising, rising, and I felt like I rose with it. Maybe she knew somehow. Some women who found their mates did. They just saw their guys across a crowded room and…

---