Page 23 of Chasing Dawn

I closed my eyes. “It’s greedy. You are the most powerful bears in your den. Stealing all of you from the females would be incredibly selfish, especially if I can’t give you cubs.” I choked on those last words like they were poison.

“But you want me?” He sounded uncertain, and it was kind of endearing. I closed my eyes and let myself be greedy for a moment. Even though I barely knew him, he spoke to my soul like a siren.

“Yes.”

A hand reached through the curtain and just hung there—an offering, or maybe we were shaking on a deal. I lifted my hand and placed my palm in his. “I won’t rest until you have everything you want in life, Dawn. I’m going to make you so deliriously happy that you’ll wake up every morning with a smile on your face, and everything before this moment will just be a bad memory you’ve overcome with strength and grace.”

I could see why this bear was an Alpha. Even as he said the words, the reassurance that pulsed down the connection between us wrapped me up like a blanket of strength. I believed him. Lifting my hand, he raised it to his lips, his fingers brushing lightly across my knuckles. I was still hiding behind the shower curtain, but I could see the outline of his head, and in the small gap, I saw the shape of his lips on my skin.

My body clenched, and desire swelled in a way I’d rarely felt in my life—with Talbot before, and with the twins back when I was a teen.

Even then, it wasn’t like this, as if my brain was running away with me, imagining the different places those lips could touch me.

Vance cleared his throat roughly, and I realized he could probably scent my desire—shifter noses. He massaged between my thumb and forefinger gently before dropping my hand behind the shower curtain.

“I’ll leave you to your shower. Take your time. The water is pumped from hot springs beneath the mountain.” He moved away silently. “I’m so glad you’re here, Dawn. I hate how you got here, but you’re where you’re supposed to be now.”

I heard the soft rustle of the door opening before the gentle thud of it closing told me I was once again alone. Gripping my hand to my chest, I stroked the place that still felt warm from his kiss.

CHAPTER 15

VANCE

As much as I wanted to climb into that shower cubicle with Dawn, kiss her until she was breathless, and she believed she was safe and wanted here in my home, I didn’t. Shutting the door to the bathroom had been a physical challenge. It helped that I had to take my turn patrolling, but before that, I had to find a couple of bears.

Besides, I couldn’t overwhelm her. She wasn’t like female bears, or even other shifters. It wasn’t even because she was an Omega or had a shitty history that made my bear want to tear people limb from limb.

No, she was my fated mate, and that meant I had to do things the right way… the slow way. Besides, I had some ass kissing to do, if I could ever find Franklin and Talbot. I knew they’d forgive me eventually. At least, they would once they heard what I had to say. They weren’t in their rooms, and they weren’t in the dining hall, so that really only left one place. I nodded at my sleuth as I walked past them, inquiring after mates and children, checking in on problems and jobs.

By the time I reached the place, it had taken me fifteen minutes to get there. It was a spot they’d had as kids, and I often found them hiding there after their dad whooped their asses for… so many things. Once they made homemade fireworks and set them off inside the den. Another time, when he was eleven, Franklin had snuck into town, and Talbot spent the whole day running back and forth, pretending to be both himself and his twin.

They were a handful, so it made sense that their secret spot was a goddamn climb up an almost sheer cliff face. I didn’t know how Franklin had done it, with his fear of heights, but it probably had something to do with Talbot giving him shit.

The natural external cave was barely twelve feet in the air and pretty easy for us to scale as adults. I climbed it and pulled myself over the ledge. I half expected a sign that said, “No Alphas Allowed.”

We hadn’t been up here in years. Franklin and Talbot glared at me from the back of the small cavern, and no one said anything as I sat down on the rough stone in front of them. “The place hasn’t changed. Thought you’d at least have to kick out some birds.” They remained silent, and I sighed. “I’m sorry. I was going to tell you, and then she never came, so it didn’t matter.”

“Of course it fucking mattered, asshole. Your fated mate married another man. That had to hurt, and you bore that shit alone,” Talbot growled.

I shrugged. It had hurt, but less so because I’d barely met her and never spoken to her directly. “You were hurting too.”

“You should have told us when she got here then,” Franklin added. “We would have behaved differently, guarded ourselves better so we didn’t…”

“Fall for her? Yeah, that wasn’t going to work,” I scoffed. “It doesn’t matter now.”

Talbot sat up straighter. “Like fuck it doesn’t matter. I’m not⁠—”

I put my hand up to silence the rant I knew was coming. “No, I’m not saying your feelings don’t matter. I’m saying she wants all of us.”

It was like the whole forest fell silent. Franklin blinked at me a few times. “I’m sorry. What?”

I shifted in the cave until I was leaning against the wall beside them, and they scooted over to make room for me. Even though they were mad at me, it was always the three of us against the world. “I spoke with Dawn this morning about the mate thing and you guys. She wants me, and I can’t tell you how happy that makes me.” They both stiffened beside me. “But on top of that, she wants to see where things go with you guys too, and that makes me fucking ecstatic.”

Talbot narrowed his eyes on me but didn’t say anything.

Franklin was still shaking his head. “You’re trying to tell me you’d be okay with us making love with your fated mate? Having crazy dirty sex? There’d probably be spit roasting happening. We might even high five, and you’d be okay with that?”

I raised my eyebrows. “It’s you. If it were any other man, I’d tear his head from his shoulders, but you are my best friends, by betas. You are my brothers, and there is no one I’d rather have help me take care of my mate than you two.” I screwed up my nose. “You guys don’t actually high five, right?”