Page 77 of More Than I Can Bear

“Jack…!” came Freya’s muffled retort.

“Spontaneous ejaculation all around, promise,” Jack said. “But if you can be real discreet about it, that’d be awesome. Don’t want to have my bestie’s guys’ O faces etched into my brain. Save that shit for her.”

But anything anyone might have to say about that was silenced as soon as Freya walked into the room.

She didn’t like wearing dresses, that was clear. She kept twitching at the folds of the full skirt, made from some kind of light as air, twinkly fabric overlaid on a heavier satin. That was OK, because I was pretty sure I didn’t want anyone seeing her like this. The dress had a strapless bodice that seemed to expose way too much creamy white skin making my fangs ache and my fingers itch to explore, the dress nipping in to make her waist look tiny, then flaring out over her hips.

“You look—” I started to say.

“Fucking amazing.”

Adam had a posy of flowers he’d picked from the gardens of the old ladies up our road. Each one of the women knew what we were and what we were up to, being members of the bear shifter community, so they’d banded together to help him make the prettiest flower arrangement possible, fussing over which flowers to add and which to discard. Their hard work seemed to have worked. Freya flushed bright red as she accepted the bouquet.

“They’re beautiful,” she said, then looked at each one of us. “Thank you.”

“And I got you this.”

Kaine produced a shawl from fucking nowhere, like some kind of magician, flicking the soft folds out and then wrapping it around her shoulders. Her eyes went wide, then heavily lidded as she felt the fabric. Her hands petted it like it was a cat and suddenly I was jealous of a piece of fabric.

And realising I was standing there empty handed.

Mum’s worries about finding my mate, her twittered instructions, felt like they doubled, tripled inside my head, but I stepped closer anyway.

“I didn’t bring you anything—” I said.

“Yes, you did.” Her arm went around my waist and while I could barely feel the weight of it through my suit jacket, I treasured it just the same, tucking her into my side. She stared up at me and I met her eyes. “You brought me you.”

I dropped my head down, arrowing in for her lips. I’d stopped myself from kissing her, picking her up and throwing her down on the nearest bed the moment I saw her, so I figured I was doing alright. I brushed a kiss across her lips, loving the way they instantly parted for me.

“Gag,” Jack said, then winked at me. “People in love. Bah, humbug.”

“Shit, Jack,” Freya said, pulling away from me to go to her, but her friend shook her head sharply. “You’re still getting over—”

“Nothing. I’m getting over nothing.” Jack said the words so decisively you had to wonder what pain was lurking beneath them, but she charged on. “Because I know this: nothing and no one should stop you jumping in, if you know it’s right. It doesn’t matter if it’s right now, or forever.” She shrugged. “There’s no way of knowing other than giving it a go.” She looked all of us over. “And I hope you four can get it together long enough to see if this is going to work.” Her eyes narrowed as she zeroed in on Adam. “And you. Keep your bloody fangs to yourself.” She waggled a finger in his face.

“Can’t claim your mate more than once,” he said with a grin, then glanced at us. “You need to be lecturing these two.”

“My bestie comes back here un-gnawed, you hear me?” Jack told us and I held up a hand.

“I swear I won’t claim Freya unless she asks me very nicely,” I replied.

“Good, now you…” She sighed when she looked at Kaine. “No point in telling you anything, is there, Ice Man?”

“Ice Man,” Adam chuckled. “I think I’m gonna use that.”

“And if you do, I’ll kick your arse, ya great fluffy poodle.” Kaine yanked on his brother’s bun, hard. “But let’s get out of here before this all devolves.” He held out his arm for Freya to take and she glanced up at me before moving the two of us closer so we could both escort her to the lift.

“I get to walk Freya into the restaurant,” Adam said, following behind.

“You did not just call dibs on our mate,” Kaine replied.

“Not dibs, just saying.” He ducked out in front of us, walking backwards so he could still talk to Freya. “The place is amazing, just you wait.”

And it was.

We all piled into the town car Kaine had hired, winding our way through the hills, before we reached the mill.

You could see why people used it for weddings. The beautiful old building had been revitalised and remade into a fairy tale-like venue. There was a large open deck area and across the top they’d built a trellis. Vines wound their way between the network of wood and steel, softening the hard lines and creating an open air roof of pretty purple flowers that smelled almost as sweet as our mate. Adam had stayed true to his word, escorting her up the steps, but I cut ahead. The waiter indicated which table was ours and I pulled out the chair at the head of it.

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