Billionaire Bear’s Human Mate by Alicia Banks

Chapter 22

Shane

He was cursing her delicate senses and his idiotic need to tell her the truth. He could have wrapped it in sugar and made it more palatable, but instead he had just given her the bitter end and, of course, she hadn’t taken it well. It was a shame too, because things had been going so well for him. His father wasn’t helping matters, but he very rarely did, and Shane was determined that he wasn’t going to let it all bother him. It wasn’t like he couldn’t convince her later.

He took her to his bed and set her in it. That was where she belonged, with him, next to him. Shane wouldn’t have it any other way. He was convinced that she was a special human too, but he didn’t know how. She was still too delicate in his eyes. He was afraid something would happen to her in his ‘world’, and he wouldn’t be able to keep her safe. It was the worst thing that he could think of, and it haunted him all the time. Shane was constantly wondering how he was going keep Vivica safe. It was easier in the human world. He’d made enough money to cushion him from most of the rules and regulations of the time. All Shane had to do was keep her there with him, and everything would be fine.

After setting her in the bed, he waited a few moments and then left. She was going to be out for a while, like before he figured. He wanted to go yell at his dad, but there were other matters to take care of. He’d been sent a letter from the Montauk clan and Shane knew that it wasn’t going to be good news from them. They’d tried to get him to come back and share his wealth, but he hadn’t agreed to go with it. That meant that they weren’t going to be very happy with him, not when he wasn’t playing the games that they wanted him to play. Shane couldn’t be bothered. He had Vivica to think about and their baby that she would soon have. It was all Shane needed to worry about. The rest of it was just a waste of time and he skipped going to see his father. He was a waste of time too.

Vivica came to a while later and he had some dinner brought in for them. His dad might be at the dinner table, and he didn’t want to risk the two of them meeting again. Vivica didn’t need his father’s vicious opinions. They still hadn’t talked about their futures and what it meant to be his mate. She was worried about their kids, but she wasn’t worried about forever. That was something he didn’t quite understand.

“Shane, I am sorry that I seem to keep losing it. I don’t know what is wrong with me. You know, I’ve never done that before. Ever. And now, I’ve done it a couple of times and it’s like everything is going to change in my life now.”

“Well, at least you are sitting up now. We should get it all out and if you need to take a break, just tell me. I want to help you understand what is going on.”

Vivica nodded, but she looked so scared. Shane wasn’t sure what she was thinking about, but he tried not to worry about it. There wasn’t anything for him to say but the truth. Vivica found it hard to deal with the truth, or at least that’s what he had figured out so far.

“I know that the idea of children with me is a shock, but I hope that it isn’t because you don’t want them. We should have talked about it before, but I have never had my bear come out like that, not in the middle, so I wasn’t prepared. You were a virgin and it made it come out, I think. That was the night you conceived.”

“Well, I mean, it doesn’t mean that, just because we had sex.”

Shane just grinned. Vivica was trying so hard to act like it wasn’t happening, making excuses, because she didn’t want to wrap her head around the truth. The truth was that they had done a lot more than just have sex. He had taken her body, made it his and started a new life within her. That was the truth and it made Shane smile every time he thought about it. The idea that Vivica was full of his cub was enough to make Shane not care about the rest.

“It does, Vivica. It’s a guarantee when the bear comes out. It’s pretty much a guarantee every time with humans. Your body has no defenses.”

Vivica sighed and closed her eyes. He was worried that she was having another bout of dizziness, but she then smiled and shrugged.

“Well, I don’t think I do have any defenses to you, that much I agree with.”

Shane grinned and told her that he liked the idea of that.

“Do you?”

He agreed.

“What about what your father said?”

Shane sighed and told her that he wished that she hadn’t heard any of that. “My father is just one of the old ones that listens to the old ways. No one listens to him anymore; he is kind of a joke. He was a powerful Alpha at one point, but then he just lost it all.”

Vivica just nodded, but he could see that she wasn’t satisfied with his answer. Shane didn’t want her to know the truth of his dad just yet. It wasn’t something that he was proud of. George was the sort of shifter that other shifters stayed away from. He was always causing trouble and chaos followed him wherever he went.

“How many other people in your clan believe the way that he does?”

Shane didn’t want to answer that, and he found a way out by bringing up the fact that they weren’t really his clan, hadn’t been in a long time.

“It doesn’t matter what they think, Vivica. It all comes down to the fact that I hadn’t been one of them in a long time, I mean, a long time. It was their decision to kick me and my father out of the clan. They stole my mother’s inheritance, which was quite a sum. It was all done a few days after my mother died. It was set up to fail and I don’t worry about what they would or wouldn’t think of me and you. I don’t want you to worry about it either. It is really beneath us, you know.”

Vivica smiled and then it was gone. She was unsure, and he was going to have to accept it. He didn’t have a choice. Considering how well everything was going, it was a miracle that she was still talking to him at all. Shane had to keep telling himself that and remind himself that she had been through so much. It was all he could do, make sure that she got everything that she needed to make it all okay. He couldn’t change the facts of the situation. Shane was hoping that it could be sugar-coated.

“Well look, Vivica, I need to go check on my cantankerous dad. Just stay here and I will be back soon, okay?”

Vivica agreed, and he was sure that she would do exactly what she said she was going to do. Shane had to yell at his father, but he did also need to check on him and make sure that he was okay. He had injuries that needed to be tended to, even after the witches had healed him several times over. His dad had tangoed with someone that he shouldn’t have, yet he wouldn’t tell Shane what really happened.

Shane left, thinking about all of the things that he wanted to do to Vivica when he got back. He wasn’t too worried about the conversation with his dad. He sounded desperate, but that had been his state of being for years, so Vivica wasn’t going to see it as anything different. Shane didn’t like the idea of that. He wanted something different.