Very Bearly Mated by Rebel Carter

Chapter 2

“What the hell am I going to do?”

“With what?” Alice asked.

“With him,” Rosie whispered, jerking her head in the direction of the bear shifter that was pacing outside of the coffee shop. The agitated looking bear shifter that was currently not in his bear form—thank goddess—because there were just some things the human residents of Oak Fast wouldn’t understand. She glared at the man through the window, and he turned his head, meeting her eyes without so much as a flinch. Curious. Not many shifters were able to do that with her, not when she was pissed, not with the power Rosie was packing.

It was just a touch too Fey for their liking. And that suited Rosie just fine. She didn’t want them any closer than absolutely needed, but that was easier said than done in a town like Oak Fast where the shifter community was so intertwined with life. Rosie broke her staring contest with her mate and glanced at Alice. The shifters here were different though. Until now. She had never been pissed at a single one of them before now. Rosie didn’t think her normal grumblings at Alice for stealing clothes really counted as anything beyond mildly annoyed.

“Oh, well, you know…” Alice’s voice trailed off.

“No, I don’t know.” She set her hands down on the counter and closed her eyes with a groan. “I’m supposed to–what? Just go out there and let him bond mark me? Just bond right away and-and, bye-bye old life? Hello new life with a dopey bear?”

Everyone knew bears were family oriented. They put down roots that rivaled the deepest oak and were extremely Clan focused. Not a single thing in that list appealed to Rosie. She liked her life the way it was, the way it was turning out to be in Oak Fast. A mate? A bear shifter mate specifically? That changed the entire game.

Alice winced and went back to the latte she was making. “Bears aren’t so bad,” she offered, and Rosie continued to grumble, all while under the watchful gaze of her mate who hadn’t moved. He was standing on the sidewalk, hands on his hips and watching her. Why was he watching her like that?

Rosie looked his way again and her skin went hot. The way the bear was watching her wasn’t just curiosity, which she could understand. Teresa had told the story of how Cash, her mate and a bear shifter, had come to the shop looking for her. He’d wanted to talk, of course. But this...Rosie’s mate didn’t seem like he wanted to talk.

Rosie’s mate looked like he wanted to devour her.

“What the fuck?” Teresa exclaimed, coming out of the back with a tray full of cinnamon rolls.

“What the fuck what?” Rosie asked, still looking at her mate. His blue eyes flicked to Teresa, but only for an instant before they were back on her. She didn’t miss the silver that sparked in them at Teresa’s appearance, and she bit her lip in worry. What the hell was he about to do?

“Why is that bear out there?”

“He’s Rosie’s mate,” Alice offered, placing the drink she finished on the counter. She waved at the customer who came up to get their drink but not before they looked nervously out the window.

“Is he feral?” they asked.

“Is he what? Of course he’s not feral. Why would you think that?” Rosie barked at them, her hackles instantly going up at their question.

She didn’t know why she was so protective over him, not when the most contact they’d had was when she’d swung her purse at him that morning. She’d managed to clock him good and sent the contents of her purse flying down the street, but it had been worth it to put some distance between them.

That had been when the Fey Queen had shown up. Or rather the Fey-Queen-In-Training. Rosie was still trying to figure that one out. Whoever she was and whatever title she used, the woman that had gotten between them that morning possessed immense power. The strength of it had practically knocked Rosie on her ass and she had listened as carefully as she could to the words the self-proclaimed Fey-Queen-In-Training, Ximena, had spoken.

“Mates don’t make sense. Mates really, really, don’t make sense but you two aren’t just mates, you’re fated. You’re meant to work.”

When Rosie had gone to protest Ximena had raised a hand and smiled at her. “Rosie, trust me. This is going to work.”

That had shut her right the hell up. Ximena had known her name without even asking. The power coming off her was certainly as Fey-Queen-Sized as Rosie had ever experienced, never mind the In-Training bit. If this was in training, what would she be like once she was on the job?

“S-sorry, I just, he looks like he wants to eat someone, or whatever it is that bears do,” the customer replied with wide eyes. “Maul someone, I guess?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Teresa asked, hands going to the small but slowly growing cub bump of her belly. Rosie could still remember how excited her friend had been announcing she was pregnant with the couple’s first cub. She raised an eyebrow at the customer who looked like they wanted to drop through the floor. Rosie got it. If Teresa’s hands were on her cub bump, things were about to go sideways and not in the good fun way either.

“Nothing, I didn’t mean anything by it, I just,” they gestured at Rosie’s mate with their mug, “look at him. Don’t turn this around on me. That bear is ready to pounce.”

Teresa relaxed at that and looked out the window. “You’re right. I’m sorry,” she said to the customer and then looked at Rosie, “Get that bear under control and do it quick.”

“How am I supposed to do that?” Rosie wanted to know.

“Hell if I know! Cash is calm. I don’t deal with that kind of bear.”

“Are you forgetting that he kidnapped you?” Alice asked wryly.

Teresa waved her hand. “That was different. This,” she looked at the bear still staring at them through the glass. “This is serious.”

Rosie put a hand down on the counter and pinned Teresa with a look. “And why is that? He’s not any different than Cash, okay?”

Her friend grinned at her. “Good. At least you’re protective of him. That’s a starting point even if you seem hellbent on fighting this.”

“Whatever,” Rosie muttered, crossing her arms and blowing out a heavy sigh. “I do not want this, that’s why I’m hellbent on fighting this. I’m happy with exactly how things are going right now, and a mate is going to mess all of that up,” and because she was a sucker for putting her foot right into her mouth, she added, “and a bear shifter too.”

Teresa’s eyes went to her. “What do you mean?”

Rosie groaned and put a hand to her forehead. “Teresa, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”

“I don’t see what’s so wrong with bear shifters,” Teresa said.

Rosie held out her hands and gave her friend a placating smile. “There’s nothing wrong with bear shifters, they just aren’t for me.”

“Why not?” Teresa asked, her brow furrowing. “Why aren’t they for you?”

Somedays Rosie really hated that her mouth could get ahead of her brain. Today was one of those days. “Teresa, look, I’m just—there’s a life bears want that I don’t,” she held up both hands when Teresa went to open her mouth, “and there is nothing wrong with that life, but you know me. I’m not really the put down roots and have cubs kinda witch.” She looked past Teresa to Alice and gave her friend a pleading look. “You get it right?”

Alice stepped away from them with her hands up in the air in a ‘not touching that’ gesture. “Not it!”

Rosie could wring her little neck, leaving her stranded with a not happy looking Teresa. “Hey, where are you going? Answer my question!”

Alice shook her head. “I am sooo not involved in this.” The fox shifter made to sprint away but came bouncing back a second later when she crashed right into someone coming in the coffee shop.

“Sorry, I-”

“What’s going on in here?” A deep voice asked, and Rosie knew it was him without even looking. It was her mate. He had the kind of voice that was like rolling thunder, the kind that made you excited for the storm, pleasant and deep, alluring in all the right ways because of what it promised.

This bear’s voice promised sex.

And that just plain confused Rosie because since when did a bear’s voice promise that? There were a lot of things she knew about bears, not a single one of them pointed to sex.

She turned to look his way and wanted to melt into a puddle. He was big, because of course he was. Broad shoulders and big chest that put the material of his dress shirt to the test. The pants he wore, slacks that were pressed and neat, clung to every damn curve of him and left Rosie wanting to write the maker of those damn pants a handwritten thank you letter. He was far more put together than most men in Oak Fast tended to be. Life in Alaska had a way of demanding function over fashion when it came to clothing, but Rosie’s mate hadn’t seemed to get the memo. He wore expensive looking leather shoes with a watch that could only be described as luxurious sitting on his wrist. He didn’t look like he belonged in a small town, but in a city, somewhere busy and far away—where he’d be in a business meeting or catching drinks at some trendy club.

But here he was in Oak Fast, in her small coffee shop, dressed to the nines. And he was looking pissed.

“Nothing?” Alice offered, but she scurried away from the shifter and cast a searching look Rosie’s way. “Right?”

Teresa scoffed. “You mean other than you running away? And Rosie bad mouthing bears? Yeah, nothing.”

“I wasn’t bad mouthing bears!”

“Were too!”

“I just said they weren’t for me, not that there was anything wrong with them.”

“Why aren’t they for you?” Her mate interrupted, taking a step closer and filling the space with his scent. From the non-reaction Teresa and Alice were having Rosie could only imagine she thought he smelled good on account of him being her fated mate.

“She thinks they're dopey,” Alice chirped.

“Traitor,” Rosie hissed.

The fox shifter shrugged. “Listen, it was gonna come out anyways. Might as well rip the bandaid off.”

“Bears are not dopey!” Teresa protested while Rosie’s mate made a sound like he agreed.

Rosie rubbed her temples and, because she could only fight on so many fronts, decided to confront the most dangerous of them all: her mate. “Listen, what are you doing in here? I thought my little smack and dash action indicated I needed time to deal with this.”

“You’ve had time.”

“I had like zero time, mister! You followed me here and you’ve been brooding out there for everyone to see the entire time!”

He frowned and leaned back, looking at her. He was taller than her, a whole head taller than her which was unnerving seeing as Rosie was tall already. She was 5’10 which made this bear at least 6’5. She wrapped her arms around herself and resumed her glaring at him. Why was he so big? She loved a big man. That wasn’t fair.

“I have to protect you,” he said simply, as if that explained everything.

Of course, it explained nothing.

“That literally doesn’t... what? There’s nothing to protect me from. I’m fine. You can go home.”

He made a face like he tasted something sour. “Not without you. I’m not leaving without you.”

Alice sighed, eyes going heavenward. “Oh, here we go. Bearnapping part two.”

Teresa rolled her eyes. “This is nothing like when Cash bearnapped me.”

Rosie stared between her two friends and then shook her head. “I’m not going anywhere. There will be no bearnapping, or kidnapping, or whatever, and do you know why?” she asked.

“Why?” Alice and Teresa asked, but her mate was stalking towards her not looking like he particularly gave a single shit about the words coming out of her mouth.

“Because I have a shift to work,” she said, pointing at the floor. “I’m not going anywhere, and that is final. Do you all understand me?” Rosie asked, feeling strong and confident. She was not setting foot out of this coffee shop. She was an independent witch and woman, end of story. Or at least those were her thoughts the second before her mate’s shoulder hit her waist and his arms came up around her thighs, tossing her over his shoulder.

He walked out of the coffee shop a minute later with Teresa and Alice cheerily waving goodbye.