Very Bearly Mated by Rebel Carter

Chapter 6

“Don’t be nervous. He’s your mate,” Rosie muttered while standing in her bathroom doing her damndest to apply eyeliner and not totally freak out. “He has to like you. You know he likes you.” She leaned back in the mirror and pointed her eyeliner at herself in the glass. “Wait, why do you want him to like you?” she asked her reflection with a scowl.

“You are not supposed to be worried if the bear will like you. We do not want him to like us.” She set her eyeliner down with a smack of her hand on the counter and backed away from the mirror. “We do not want him to like us,” she said again, but even though she said the words she could feel a change starting to spin inside of her. She wanted to be with Eric. Wanted him to smile at her, like her, touch her.

She craved his kisses. Wanted to feel them again. She knew that wasn’t from the contract. It would be easy to say that it was, to pretend the Fey magic had her eager for Eric’s presence in her life, but who was she fooling? She’d wanted him to kiss her again the second after the very first time he’d done it.

Magic had nothing to do with her wanting Eric to kiss her. Not even a little bit.

A knock at the door sounded and she practically jumped. “Get it together,” she ordered herself and slapped the light switch, turning it off. After another deep breath she walked through her bedroom and towards the front door. Her cabin was small and tidy, cozy really, and she glanced around it nervously as she wondered if Eric would come inside tonight.

She shook her head at herself. “He’s not setting foot in this house, you silly witch.” Wanting Eric to kiss her was one thing, but that? Having him inside brought her one dangerous step closer to them sealing their mate bond. She couldn’t do that. Not yet. There was something coming. What it was she didn’t know, but it had her feeling off kilter. As if the world could suddenly go sideways. Even if she wanted Eric to kiss her, even if there was a courtship contract signed and ensuring both of them were putting their best foot forward for the next two weeks, she knew the peace that existed between them was short lived.

She’d always had a way of knowing this. If she hadn’t been a witch she would have been the friend with the uncanny sense of deja vu, or the perceptive one. But seeing as she was all witch she knew there was an unknown about to drop on them. It didn’t really bode well for romance but seeing as she didn’t want romance—or a mate, Rosie shrugged it off. She snatched up her purse and walked towards the door as fast as she was able to in her heels. Pretty coral strappy heels she was wearing with a pale blue dress embroidered along the hem and neckline with gold she’d bought but never worn anywhere. Tonight seemed as good a night as any to wear it and she slipped on a long soft tan cardigan she knew would keep the chill away.

Rosie paused at the door, hand on the knob and took in another fortifying breath. “Relax,” she whispered to herself. Her nerves made sense, she supposed, seeing as Eric had a way of putting her right on her ass when she needed to be logical. But he was safe. He was her mate. Whatever it was that had her nervous and cagey wasn’t him. It wasn’t, she knew that. It was the thing she could sense rising up, rolling ever closer to them with each and every minute.

What the hell was it?

She opened the door and the smile on her face was genuine the second she caught sight of Eric. He was, once again, dressed impeccably. This time slightly more casual than before, but only just, and she bet he’d done it for her sake. She didn’t know if she could handle a night with him, a dinner date, with him looking debonair. He had a dark blue denim dress shirt on, which would have been nice on its own but Eric had opted to roll the sleeves up to his elbow which meant a corded forearm greeted Rosie’s eyes. She swallowed hard. Eric didn’t play fair it seemed, and even if he wasn’t wearing an expensive bespoke suit the bear was dead set on tempting her. A pair of snug tan slacks reminded Rosie just how built her mate was and the rugged leather boots the pants were tucked into also did the trick. Whispering to her that Eric could, if the need arose, be able to carry her just about anywhere they might need to go.

Not that she should need reminding on that front seeing as the bear had already carried her through town once that week.

“Hi,” she greeted him, slipping out the door before he could respond. Her quick exit from her house had her pressed right up against his chest. Oh shit. What the hell had she done? She made to take a step back but the door at her back had her bouncing off of it and straight into Eric’s arms.

“Why is it that you think I’m not getting in your house tonight?” he asked, arms casually circling her waist as if he had done it a thousand times before.

Rosie opened and closed her mouth like a fish gasping for air but nothing came out. She shook her head, knowing it was the contract at work, and let her forehead lean against his chest. “Who said you could eavesdrop?” she asked.

“Didn’t mean to,” he said, hands massaging light circles into her waist. “Shifter hearing. You know how it is.” The fingers at her back were warm, heavy, their touch deepening with each slow circle they made across her. Rosie closed her eyes and wished her dress and cardigan were gone. The extra layers were frustrating her, even if they were essential for a dinner date. Her eyes flew open at that. Date.

Shit. She had forgotten she wasn’t supposed to want that. They were going on a date. There was the little matter of the damn contract she’d signed that afternoon. What had even possessed her to do such a thing?

“Not really,” she told him, and when she made to push away from Eric's hold on her he tightened his grip and held her exactly where she was.

She felt Eric’s lips press to the top of her head. “You will, Rosie,” he said, and then he let her go. Rosie’s breath left with him, her exhalation in time with her mate’s arms leaving her waist and she put a hand out to steady herself. Everything felt slightly topsy-turvey and she swallowed hard, trying to get her bearings again.

“Are you all right?” he asked, moving towards her but she thrust her hand towards him, palm out, stopping him from coming any closer. If he did she didn’t know if she would be able to stop herself from doing the one thing she wanted to do most in the entire universe.

Kiss him.

“I’m fine. Thank you!” she blurted out and then shuffled awkwardly to the side, her heels clunking loudly on the wooden porch as she practically sprinted towards the porch door and out into the yard.

“Rosie?”

“Come on, will ya?” she called over her shoulder as she powerwalked down her sidewalk and towards the...well, she didn’t exactly know where the hell she was going but she was doing it quick, fast, and in a hurry. “Let’s get the lead out!” The gravel of the pathway leading to her front door crunched underfoot and she was nearly to the road when Eric jogged up beside her.

“Where are you even going?”

“Dunno. Don’t care.”

“Rosie–stop.”

She shook her head, already making to walk down the lane and into town. “No,” she said.

Eric sighed but settled in walking beside her. “Why not?”

“Because if I do then, then…” she bit her lip and frowned. Up ahead she saw a white rabbit make its way out into the lane, a baby trailing behind it. They were delicate in their steps, ears and noses twitching, keeping alert for danger. At the first sign of it, she knew the mother would move, bolting and forcing her kit to move with her. A gust of wind blew past them, moving her hair into her face and Rosie watched as the rabbit froze, nose moving in time with it. It whipped its head in their direction and they locked eyes, or rather she thought they did. For all Rosie knew the rabbit wasn’t looking at her, but was panicking, even so she stared back at the rabbit as she and Eric continued to walk forward.

“Rosie, why not?” Eric asked again, his hand coming to her side and she jumped in surprise. Her movement startled the rabbit and its kit, the pair leaping off into the forest a split second later and she licked her lips watching them vanish from sight.

“I’m scared,” she whispered.

Eric sighed. “And you think I’m not?” he asked.

Rosie looked his way in surprise. Her mate sounded...well, he sounded raw, slightly broken open and she knew this was coming straight from the bear’s heart. “You’re nervous,” she said, mouth falling open. “Like really, really, nervous.”

He laughed, hands going to his head and he nodded, eyes skyward. “My mate wants nothing to do with me. I had to fucking draft an arcane contract that, apparently, is Fey magic, or I don’t know—it’s just, I have thirteen days to win you, or you’re gone, Rosie. Do you get that scares the hell out of me?”

“But you don’t even know me.”

“That doesn't mean I don’t know you’re the other half of me.” He stopped walking and gave her a pained look, his blue eyes dark and searching. “You are my other part..” He tapped his chest. “Our souls, it’s the same, and I’m scared out of my mind that I’m going to mess this up. That I’m going to lose you forever.”

Rosie felt her stomach twist and flip. “Eric…” she came towards him but he backed up with a shake of his head.

“I need you to understand this isn’t some game, Rosie. This is forever. This is us. And I don’t need to know you for longer to know that what I feel,” he pressed his palm to his chest and pointed at her with his free hand, “is real. I don’t care where it comes from or what it costs. This. Is. Real.”

“I’m not saying that it isn’t,” she told him. “But what if-”

“But what if what?” Eric interrupted her as he took a step towards her. “I know you want me, I know it. I can see that you want me to touch you, to kiss you, but you keep fighting me and I can’t figure it out. You keep saying it’s to be free, but how free are you fighting what you want? That’s not freedom. That’s being stubborn. You’re hurting us.”

Tears stung Rosie’s eyes but she refused to let them fall. Eric’s words were like arrows aimed straight and true, each one hitting their mark and stealing her breath. “I want my life to be my own. Don’t you understand that?”

“I understand that you are hellbent on keeping us apart, even if it means stopping yourself from being happy, but what I don’t get is why. Why would you do that, Rosie? Is it because you think you don’t deserve to be happy?”

Oh goddess. Why was he saying this? How did he know to say this?

“Eric, stop.”

The hurt of her family’s less than nurturing touch with her. The way they envied and isolated her as a child and teenager had forced her to run, made her search for the better she knew she deserved from life. That search had kept her moving. Endlessly exploring, not putting down roots for fear of hurt when the new ground she sought to grow in rejected her. It was easier to live if she was the one leaving, not the one being left—but then she’d found Oak Fast.

And then she’d found Eric.

Now here she was, here they were, her mate breaking her apart and pouring out the essence of her fear—the why he’d demanded to know, rolling off his tongue as if he’d known it all along and Rosie wondered if he did. If that was part of fate in their equation. If they were magically connected then of course Eric would have a direct line to that part of her. But then why was she so surprised to learn he was terrified of them failing?

She shook her head at him. It was all too much suddenly. “I can’t do this. Eric, I-”

He came towards her and took her hands when she made to turn away from him. “I can make you happy, Rosie.” Eric’s fingers tightened on her hands and he pulled them to his chest. “As surely as you feel my heart beating. I can give you what you want. I will give you what you want until my heart stops beating because it's only beating for you.”

Rosie’s eyes squeezed shut and she sucked in a shuddering breath. “It’s like you just know how to reach into me and pull out the things I’m scared to ask for.”

He smiled at her, a hand coming up to cup her cheek, his tough light and as gentle as it always was. “Because I see you, Rosie. I see you.” He brought her hands up to his lips and kissed them, each and every knuckle until every one of her fingers had been adored and all the while Rosie stared at him in silent awe.

He did see her. She knew it.

* * *

“You’re nervous.”

Rosie rolled her eyes and turned from the window she’d been looking out of to glance Eric’s direction. He was driving, eyes forward on the road which had Rosie asking, “How do you know what I am? You’re looking at the road.”

“I don’t need to be looking at you to know you’re practically vibrating over there,” he said, eyes moving her direction briefly before they were back on the road. “There’s nothing to be worried about, you know.”

“Oh yeah? So you telling me that dinner is happening on your clan land with all of your bears around is nothing to worry about?”

He nodded. “There now you get it.”

This time she rolled her eyes at him. “Swear to Luna, you’re annoying. You know that I’m walking into the lion’s den here with this one, Eric.”

“Technically, it’s not the lion’s den, but the bear’s den, as you know,” he flicked a finger back at himself. “We’re bears, petal. You better get that sorted out now because I’ll tell you my ma gets particular when you start mixing up the species.”

Rosie groaned and pressed the heel of her hand against her temple. “I’m supposed to meet your mother?”

“Well, yes.”

“But tonight?!”

“Better to just get it out of the way. Rip it off like a bandaid. And besides, she’s excited to meet you, she’s making you dinner.”

Rosie turned in her seat to stare at Eric. “She’s what?”

“Making you dinner, it’s very special seeing as she’s going all out to impress you, so you have nothing to worry about when it comes to her liking you. She already likes you.” He was quiet for a beat but then added, “But you know, just get the whole bear thing right.”

“Oh my god, shut up.” Rosie laughed, because it was ridiculous. The whole thing was. How had her life gone from her thinking on where she wanted to vacation next to meeting her fated mate’s mother in less than the span of a week? Only in Oak Fast.

Only to her would this happen.

“Hey, you’re laughing now but you’re going to get nervous and the next thing I know you’re going to be calling us marsupials or something, and then dinner is going to go right out the window.”

Rosie giggled and leaned over the console to hug Eric. “You’re cute. Thanks for making me laugh.”

He kissed her cheek and then ducked out from her hold. “As much as I love you holding on to me, I’m driving, petal.”

“Right, right.”

She settled back into her seat and smoothed her hands over her dress. Maybe she should have worn something else? Something fancier? Goddess, what the hell did you wear when you were meeting your mate’s mother?

She bit her lip and snuck another glance at Eric to see he was still concentrating on the road. When they had left her cabin, they hadn’t gone into town like she expected. No, once they had piled into Eric’s, surprisingly sporty car for Alaska, he’d driven in the opposite direction from Oak Fast, taking them deeper into the forest, clear beyond even the boundaries of the Silver Clan. The forest was older here, the trees wider and taller than she had thought they could get. If Rosie hadn’t been paying attention she might have sworn they were in the Fey lands. The land had a dreamy, magical quality that made everything seemingly slow down, the light becoming rosier, the vegetation more lush and even the skies brighter.

It was a beautiful place all right, and it was clan land from what Eric had told her when they crossed whatever border it was that the shifters used to keep order. “This is all Iron Tooth land now. That’s my clan, and well, hopefully yours.”

Rosie nodded but hadn’t said anything. Their heart-to-heart, that break through in the lane by her cabin had moved them farther up the mountain in their journey to Rosie accepting the mate bond, but she wasn’t there.

Not yet.

“I see you, Rosie. I see you.”

But that didn’t mean she couldn’t see it now. It was there, as clearly as she knew Eric saw her, but it was too frightening, too intimidating of a prospect for her to reach out and take for herself. Thirteen days. She had thirteen more days to embrace it. To take what she could and embrace it with all of her, but the familiar feather light touch of fear that had always been ever present in her life was there at her side like a dutiful companion.

What if she couldn’t do it? What if she was so scared of letting herself free fall into this that she missed it? What if this was all perfect and true, and it was her, her fear that ruined it all?

What then? How would she face forever knowing it was her fault that she’d lost Eric? And for what?

“Rosie?” Eric’s hand at her knee made her jerk with a yelp.

She shot up in her seat, sucking in a breath at the touch of his hand against her skin. “What?”

“I said, we’re here. Are you all right?” he asked, giving her a concerned look. “I’ve been telling you we were here but you were zoned out.”

Rosie swallowed hard. “Uh, yeah, I just…” her voice trailed off and she gave him a strained smile. “I was just thinking.”

Eric arched an eyebrow and turned towards her, unbuckling his seatbelt as he did so. “Thinking about what?” he asked.

She shook her head, shying away from the truth but not wanting to lie. She knew the contract wouldn’t allow that. “About what I’ll say to your mom at dinner,” she answered. It wasn’t a lie, even if it was a bending of the truth. “Does she know about...well, that I-”

“That you’re fighting our bond?” he asked, as if it were to be expected, and she frowned at him.

“Well, yes, the thought had crossed my mind. Does she know that?” Rosie asked. She felt...well, she didn’t know how she felt about Eric’s mother knowing she was digging her heels in on the fated mate front.

“She does. They all do,” he said, moving to open his door but Rosie’s hand shot out stopping him.

Rosie felt her stomach drop out of her body and somewhere onto the floorboards of the car. “What?!” she screeched, definitely forgetting about the sharper than normal shifter hearing of the Iron Tooth Clan that was probably clocking her every panicked scream by now. “What do you mean they all know?”

“What?” Eric asked, and he gave his arm a shake. “Why are you holding on to me so tight? You’re strong for a witch.”

“You told them?!” Rosie whisper-screamed, doing her best not to give the shifters in their vicinity any more of the drop on them than was necessary. Though knowing her luck they all knew what was happening in the car by now, just like they all knew what was happening between her and Eric.

“Of course, I told them. They’re part of my Clan.”

“But-but,” Rosie spluttered, but Eric pulled away from her and opened his door.

“Come on, they’re waiting on us.”

Rosie eyed her door nervously and then shook her head. “No, I can’t.”

“What do you mean you can’t? We drove all this way and-” his voice cut off and Rosie looked around her trying to spot the reason for Eric’s silence. She sucked in a breath when she saw a woman striding out from a tree ahead of them. A stone walkway led from them and beyond the tree line Rosie could see very little. She glimpsed the lights of lanterns tinkling away in the dusk, but beyond that it was nothing.

Nothing except for the woman approaching them with a very determined gait.

“Is that your-”

“Yeah, it’s my mom,” Eric said, ducking his head back into the car and nodding at her. “You might want to come out of there.”

“Fuck,” Rosie whispered, but she unbuckled her seatbelt and reached for the door handle, though the second her hand hit the handle she almost locked it.

“Rosie, come on out.” She heard Eric call to her and her hand moved of its own volition, well, either that or the contract they had signed. There was no other explanation but the contract for how quickly she opened her door and got out of the car to greet Eric’s mother.

“Is this her?” Eric’s mother asked when she was standing only a few feet away from the car. Eric was walking towards her and Rosie was a few feet behind lingering at the car with her purse in her hands.

“Yes,” Eric replied, coming forward to hug his mother. “Be nice.”

“I’m always nice,” she retorted, but her eyes were on Rosie and she didn’t know what to make of the bear shifter who was staring at her curiously. Curious was good, she could work with curious, so long as it didn’t veer into wanting to rip her head off. Though she wasn’t sure what a mate was supposed to do if that happened, or if it was even a possibility for Eric’s family to hate her. He had said his mother had made dinner for her special, but she was nervous all the same.

“Hi,” Rosie ventured with a nervous smile. She walked away from the car and forced one foot in front of the other until she was standing in front of Eric’s mother. “I’m Rosie.”

His mother regarded her for a moment before she took Rosie’s hand and gave it a shake. “Pleased to meet you,” she said, seeming perfectly normal despite all of Rosie’s earlier fears. “I made dinner for you.”

“So, I heard.” Rosie gave her another smile but this one was far less nervous and more genuine. It was warm and she knew it reached her eyes without even cautioning a look at Eric who was now standing beside her. “Thank you.”

“No trouble at all for the woman that’s going to keep my Eric in Oak Fast,” his mother said with a bright smile, even as her words made Rosie’s stomach twist and drop. There it was again. Stay in Oak Fast. All of her future so seemingly planned out for her in a way that stretched on and on as far as Rosie could see.

“I’m Gale.” The words broke the tailspin Rosie felt herself nearly slipping into and she plastered a smile on her face, something made easier by the infectious smile Gale wore.

Rosie took her hand and shook it. “It’s really nice to meet you. I, ah, thank you for dinner tonight. I hope you didn’t go to too much trouble.”

Gale waved her hands. “None at all. It was so much fun to do, but let’s get a move on. You’ve got the entire clan waiting to meet you. We’re all so excited to meet Eric’s mate.” She waved them on and took off back down the pathway.

When Rosie hesitated to follow, Eric took her hand and gave it a squeeze. “What’s wrong?” he asked. She shook her head and opened her mouth to respond but nothing came out. He sighed at her. “You were going to say nothing was wrong and lie to me, weren’t you?”

She sighed. “Maybe.” Another squeeze of Eric’s hand had her adding, “Yes, I was definitely going to say that.”

“But what is it?”

Rosie shook her head instead of trying to speak, but when she tried to walk after Gale he didn’t budge. “Eric, your mom is waiting on us.”

He shook his head. “Not until you tell me what’s wrong.”

Rosie sighed, pulling her hand away from him and crossed her arms over her chest. Arms pulled in tight to her. “She said I was going to be the one to make you stay in town, Eric. We don’t even know if I can get myself to stay in town, so what’s that about? And now I have to meet your entire clan on top of it. I’m just freaking out a little here, okay?”

Eric rocked back on his heels and nodded, looking after his mother who had disappeared a minute before into the forest trees. “She likes her cubs close. You can understand that, right? It can’t be easy for your family.” A pang ached in her chest and she looked away with a sharp intake of breath. When she didn’t answer, Eric touched her elbow gently.

“Rosie, what is it?”

She looked down at where he was touching her, fingers resting against her skin and swallowed hard. “I don’t have a family, Eric.”

Her words hung in the air and for a second she felt the familiar unease bubble up in her that usually accompanied her admitting her home life and family weren’t the best. It was always accompanied by the usual questions: “What do you mean? What happened to them? Everyone has a family, where’s yours?”

She hated it.

But Eric didn’t ask any of those questions. He just slipped his arm around her waist and turned her towards the trees where the twinkling lights beckoned to them. She heard a peal of laughter and a breeze brought the delicious smell of roasted meat to her nose. “You’ve got me now, Rosie.” She looked at him shocked when Eric just set off towards the trees. No awkward questions or trying to wave off her words. He had simply accepted it for what it was and not pressed.

“That’s it?” she asked him.

Eric frowned and looked down at her. “That’s it what? Did...did I say the wrong thing?” he asked with a grimace. “I tend to do that a lot with you.”

She laughed and shook her head. “No, you said the right thing.”

He sighed in relief. “Good, but…”

“But what?”

“I’m going to ask what you mean by you don’t have a family, just later. Not now. Is that okay?”

She nodded. “Yes, that’s okay.”

“Good, because I don’t want you to think I’m not interested in that. I am, but,” his eyes moved towards the trees, “you don’t want to see the clan when they’re hungry. If ma says dinner is ready then we’ve probably got a minute or so more before they send someone after us.”

She smiled and nodded. “I understand. Let’s go meet your family.”

“Yours too,” he told her when they were walking again. “If you want them. They’ll be yours too, Rosie.”

She nodded at his words, not willing to trust her voice. Not because she might say the wrong thing but because didn’t trust herself not to cry at the sincerity she heard in Eric’s voice. Then, because he was her mate and always knew the right thing to say to her he added, “Just like me. I’m yours if you want me, petal.”

Rosie turned into him and looped an arm around Eric’s waist in a mirror of his arm around her. “I know,” she told him.