Page 19 of Goldie's Grumpy Grizzly
But my beast can’t be held back anymore, and I feel my bones crack. My facial features morph, my teeth lengthen, and my clothes fall to the ground in tattered shreds as my control slips.
Rae’s eyes go wide and her hand slips over her mouth, covering a loud gasp as fur covers my body and the trademark hump forms on my back.
I give my body a stress-relieving shake, lower my head, and turn away from her shocked face. I still when I feel her hand on my hind quarters, ruffling my coarse hair and pressing against the corded muscle underneath.
Standing stock still, I let her stroke my bear, and I let out a pained kind of whimper. Her fingers slide gently over the hairless space where an ugly scar slashes my shoulder, and tears well up in her forest green eyes.
“God, Cole, look at you. Your beast is magnificent.”
Swinging my head back to look at her, my heart hammers in my chest as she twines her arms around my bear’s neck and tucks her head against me. No one’s ever embraced my bear before, apart from Mama, and my bear vocalizes the pleasure he feels at her touch.
But with my emotions still stinging, I can only snuffle and paw at the ground. When she releases me, I head for the tree line and wait in the dark until I see her enter my cabin.
“What crawled up your ass and bit you?” snarls Clayton as he sets the table for family dinner the next night.
I curl my lip, snarling. “None of your business, asshat.”
“You’ve been surlier than usual today. Even worse than after you lost your fight with a car,” Connor quips.
“She was driving too fast in that storm,” I mutter, taking another long pull of my beer. “I got caught out.”
“So you keep saying.” Connor reaches out to swipe more snacks from the cupboard. Quick as a flash, Mama whacks his hand with the back of her wooden spoon with barely a glance.
“I’ve got eyes in the back of my head. Stop eating, you’ll ruin your appetite.”
“I’m hungry, Ma. I can’t exist on salad,” Connor whines, rubbing his sore hand.
“All the same, finish making it and get it on the table.” Melanie Osborne may not look like she’s paying much attention, divided as it is between the phone and the veritable feast she’s got going in three different pots on the stovetop, but nothing gets past her.
Connor sulks back to the chopping board and cuts up all the greens.
“How long do you think you’re going to hide out here?” Clayton thrusts a fistful of utensils my way and waves at me to help.
“I’m not hiding.” I snatch them off him and go around the table, laying them out the way Mama taught us. “I’m healing. Besides, my cabin is currently playing host to a world-class famous writer while she works. You could’ve told me before I went over there and scared the shit out of the woman sleeping in my bed.”
“I didn’t do it.” Clayton raises his hands defensively. “The new girl didn’t realize your cabin is only for peak-time rentals and with prior clearance.”
“And whose fault is that?” I argue. “Yours. You were supposed to train her.”
Clayton’s nostrils flare and he straightens, towering over me by the inch he likes to lord over me. “Watch your tone, little bro. You know I was sick.”
I scoff, shaking my head. Okay, sure. Clay had been laid up in bed with the sniffles, and he’s the worst out of the three of us when ill. Still, someone should’ve told me they’d given up my space.
Connor lays his knife down and glares at me. “When are you back, bro? I’m tired of hauling all those tourists up and down the mountain. The last group of vampires I took up were only interested in cave exploration, the witches and wizards wanted to track down historic pagan worship sites, and the humans were spooked at every turn. It’s exhausting, catering for them all. I’ve had to drag my ass up and down that mountain fifteen times today.”
“Oh, leave your brother alone, Connor,” Mama tuts, pulling the phone from her ear. “Exercise is good for you. And your brother will be back in action when he’s ready. Though I have to say, you are looking much improved.”
She narrows her eyes at me.
“Yes, I’m healing well,” I grunt. “Faster than usual, but obviously my bear’s strong.”
“Mmm.” Mama taps her chin. “There’s something else. Something you’re not telling me.”
I squirm in my seat, not prepared to tell them all I’ve found my mate and I don’t know what the hell to do about that. My bear says one thing, my head says another. And if it wasn’t for the beast inside me, I wouldn’t be having to mess with this mate business at all. It’s tiring, fighting my instincts. And judging by how easily I lose control of myself around her, I’m not sure how long I can hold my bear back from claiming my mate.
But Mom makes more hushed, unintelligible murmurs and disappears down the long hallway. Connor tiptoes across the kitchen floor and opens the snack cupboard a crack before she yells back, “Connor Osborne, you keep those paws to yourself!”
He snatches his hand back like he’s been stung, a curse slipping out under his breath while Clayton and I laugh.
