Very Bearly Mated by Rebel Carter

Chapter 7

“Eric’s head over heels for you, you know.” Gale was standing close to her, pouring another glass of homemade red wine in Rosie’s glass. “I’ve never seen him like this with anyone else, but that makes sense. You two are meant to be.”

Rosie nodded and took a quick sip of her drink. “He’s really wonderful. I wasn’t sure about him at first, I’m still feeling things out to be honest though,” she confessed.

It was after dinner now, the clearing they had walked into had been bustling with clan members and long picnic tables set with food and drink, the lights Rosie had seen through the trees were lanterns strewn up along poles that added a touch of magic to the setting. It was a perfectly beautiful fall evening, just crisp enough for a sweater with a light breeze that told them the weather would change soon. Crisp deepening to chill and snow. Rosie wondered what the clearing would look like in winter. Would they still gather here and have dinner? She glanced out at the clearing and watched as Eric and his friends built a bonfire at the center of it. She could see them doing the same in winter, warm mulled cider instead of red wine, tinsel instead of lights. It would be pretty in the winter.

“Feeling things out how?” Gale asked.

Rosie looked away from the bonfire and back to the other woman. She wasn’t sure what the protocol was when it came to admitting feelings for mates, or in her case, uncertainty but she’d already done it. Thankfully, she didn’t see malice or annoyance in Gale’s eyes, only curiosity.

“It’s just very sudden,” she said and gestured towards the bonfire where Eric was. “I didn’t even know him two days ago and now suddenly here he is, and-and-”

“And he’s supposed to be your everything,” Gale finished with a sympathetic look.

“Yes,” Rosie answered and took a deep drink from her wine cup, “and it’s terrifying, Gale.”

“Why?” she asked. “Everyone here loves you. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone be a bigger hit with his father than you. If I were to ask Clive, I’m sure he’d insist on swapping Eric for you in the family.”

Rosie laughed. “He’s an easy bear to get along with.” It was true. At least for her. He was, she figured from the surprised reactions at their fast and easy friendship, the strong silent type, but from the second Rosie met him, he hadn’t stopped chatting to her. He was kind, gentle, and welcoming. Plus, he had killer stories about Eric, embarrassing ones that Rosie couldn’t get enough of.

Like the story of Eric’s first accidental shift on a date? Perfection.

Rosie’s easy friendship with Eric’s father would be nice under normal circumstances but he was also the Iron Tooth Alpha, which was a big deal. She hadn’t realized Eric was the son of an alpha. Suddenly his mother’s comment about keeping Eric in Oak Fast made more sense. It wasn’t just a mother wanting her children close, it was a clan that needed to secure the future. She looked over her shoulder to where Clive had joined Eric and watched the father and son for a moment. They were the spitting image of one another with the same hair, blond but now more silver hair on Clive and a bit more heft to his build than Eric. But anyone who knew them would know the pair were father and son. Clive turned and looked in their direction and grinned, raising his hand in a wave to them.

“Come on over, Rosie. The fire’s going now!” He called out to them.

“See, adores you,” Gale told her. “And so do I, you know that right?”

Rosie stopped short and looked over at the woman beside her. She was slight, red headed, with brown eyes that had only been anything but warm and open to her since Rosie first laid eyes on her.

“Yes, I do,” Rosie answered her and Gale smiled wide.

“Good, because we want you to feel welcome here. Welcome with all of us. You are an Iron Tooth now.”

Rosie frowned and dropped her eyes. “Gale, I just, it’s hard to adjust so fast.”

Gale put a hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle pat. “I know it is. I was spinning when I met Clive, too.”

Rosie looked up in surprise. “Really?”

She nodded. “Oh, yes. I had big plans to scoot out of town the second I was able to, but then Clive happened and that big idiot just kept right on pushing me to be his.”

“But you’re so happy now.”

“Of course, I’m happy,” Gale said with an easy smile. “Clive is my heart.”

“But don’t you miss your plans?”

Gale shook her head. “No, because you know what?” she asked.

“What?”

“I did go.” When Rosie’s mouth dropped open Gale nodded, coming closer and glancing in the direction of her son and mate. She lowered her voice and Rosie was willing to bet it was to keep the other’s shifter ears from picking up on what she was about to share. “I left, skipped town for months after Clive tried to talk me into being his. He was going to be an Alpha, you know,” she said with an eyeroll and a drop of her voice that told Rosie she was mimicking her mate. “Luna, he was such a show off back then.”

“What did you do? I mean, what happened? You obviously came back.”

Gale nodded. “I did, I came back because all the adventure in the whole world was empty without him. I couldn’t forget him, couldn’t stop thinking about him or what he was doing back here, even if he was the most boastful bear I had ever met in my entire life,” Rosie snorted thinking about Eric, and Gale grinned at her, “the only thing that mattered was him. Coming home to him. Because Clive is my home.”

The change that had begun to work, the one that demanded she not fight the pull she felt for Eric dug in a little deeper at Gale’s words. Because for her Eric was slowly becoming the same. Her home. Her safe port when things didn’t feel steady, and it hadn’t even been a week. What would she be like in a month?

“And besides, you can always take vacations or vanish for a while together, but do not,” Gale raised a finger in warning, “think you’re going to get that bear anywhere near a boat. He will not do it. In fact, Clive has a whole long embarrassing story about why Eric will not do it. Seeing as I wasn’t there when the traumatic event took place I don’t know all the particulars, but I do know ice fishing and no pants was involved.”

Rosie burst into laughter and came along when Gale hooked an arm through hers and led her over to the bonfire. She was still laughing when they stepped up beside Eric and Clive. Eric gave them a suspicious look.

“What’s going on?”

“Ice fishing,” Gale said without introduction and Eric shook his head, hands going out at his sides.

“Oh, no, that’s not happening.”

Clive clapped his hands. “Ah, now that’s a great story.”

“We’re done here,” Eric interrupted when his father sucked in a breath to begin his tale. “Come on, petal. Time to leave.”

“But I want to hear the story!” Rosie protested but it was too late, Eric was already scooping her up in his arms and turning away from his family. “Eric, come on!”

“What story?” A passing cub asked excitedly.

“The ice fishing story!” Clive shouted and a cheer went up from the gathered clan members.

“You’re all against me,” Eric gritted out, but he kept walking, Rosie in his arms and this time she didn’t mind it. Not that she really had minded it in the first place, but this time there was no other place she wanted to be than in Eric’s arms. “I’ll not have you spreading lies about me to my mate.”

“Oh, son, it’s not a lie!” Clive called after them with a bellow of laughter. “It’s a legend!” The clearing erupted in a round of laughter and Rosie joined in with them. Eric gave her a gentle squeeze.

“I see you’ve picked a side, then?”

“I am just a fan of dramatic retellings and it seems like we were about to be treated to one,” she replied, turning in Eric’s arms to look over his shoulder. He scoffed at her but said nothing and she grinned, seeing the Iron Tooth Clan was gathered and waving them off with laughter and jeers at Eric to come back “and face his past like a bear!”

“It was nice meeting you all!” Rosie shouted when Eric showed zero signs of slowing down.

“Come back soon!” Gale hollered back. She waved at them alongside Clive and the rest. They were a good group of bears, a strong community, and she could see their influence over Eric. Though what his mother had said earlier rattled through Rosie’s mind, “No trouble at all for the woman that’s going to keep my Eric in Oak Fast.” It didn’t matter how well her meeting the Iron Tooth Clan had gone, Gale’s words rattled Rosie. The expectation of it pressing down on her shoulders and making it hard to breathe. Eric hadn’t really gotten into it, but Rosie wanted to know. She would ask him, she decided but when she wasn’t hanging over his shoulder while he power walked to his car. When he got to his car, he slowed, and lowered her down carefully to her feet beside her door.

He opened the door and motioned for her to come forward.“Let’s get you inside,” he said, but the hand at the back of her head nearly made her stumble when he said, “watch your head, it’s too damn dark out here to see for non-shifters.”

She felt a pull in her chest, a coiling and tugging, that drew her eyes to him. Eric was in front of her, bending close as he guided her towards her seat and Rosie had never seen anything more beautiful. If it had been yesterday, hell if it had been earlier that day, Rosie would have rolled her eyes at him and told him she was “just fine and perfectly capable of getting into a car on her own,” but seeing as she was falling fast and hard for her mate she simply murmured her thanks and let Eric guide her into the car. She turned her head, watching him, drinking in the way he moved, the way he was focused on getting her in the car. It was a mundane thing, a small—minuscule everyday thing, but to Rosie it meant the world.

She had never had anyone care about something so small when it came to her life. There was comfort in it and like a warm fire, she drew close to it, drinking in the light and comfort of it.

“Eric,” she whispered, hands reaching for him and landing on his shoulders. She tugged at the fabric of his shirt and pulled him down to her.

“Rosie, what are you doing?”

“Kiss me.”

If there were crickets or owls, or the stray peals of laughter on the night air, Rosie didn’t know, couldn’t tell anyone what she might have heard or what was going on around them. Anything that was not Eric, not her, did not exist in Rosie’s universe. She tilted her head back and whispered again, “Kiss me, Eric. I want you to-”

Eric’s mouth was on hers before she could finish, and unlike the gentle focus that had spurred her to action, his kiss was hungry, wanting and hot.

“Fuck, Rosie,” he whispered against her mouth when he drew back enough to look at her. He moved forward, into her space, and slanted his mouth to hers. Rosie’s lips parted and she moaned when Eric’s tongue touched hers, their kiss deepening into something that turned Rosie to fire incarnate. It was like every bit of her body was alive and singing. Her blood was pulsing in her veins, a hunger she couldn’t identify urging her to touch every last part of Eric she could get her hands on—or her mouth. When they broke apart she kissed his jaw, his cheeks and was on her way to mapping out the column of his neck when Eric groaned and nudged her away from him.

“Why are you stopping me?” Rosie demanded to know.

“Because if I don’t then I won’t be able to,” he said, a hand coming to rest on the car door frame above her head. “We won’t be able to stop.”

She was silent because she knew he was right. Even now her palms itched and she longed to touch him, to push aside the clothing he wore, rip the buttons clean off his denim shirt and get down to business. The business being getting her eager hands on her mate’s body.

And if she was feeling this way while trying to fight the bond? What was Eric feeling like? His eyes flashed silver in the moonlight and a thrill of excitement shot through Rosie. His bear was here, close to the surface. Which meant her mate was well and truly spun up. He wanted her just as bad as she wanted him. And he was right. If they didn’t stop, there would be no telling what they would get up to less than twenty feet from the clearing his clan was still enjoying a wholesome meal in. She knew she got on well with his parents but it was going to be difficult to recover from what she wanted to do to Eric.

“I’m sorry, I ruined your dinner by defiling your son twenty feet off the path.”

Nope. That wouldn’t fly.

“We have to go then,” she said. “Now.”

“Where?” Eric whispered, his other hand gripping the car door so tightly she swore she heard metal whine and she gulped at the sound. She knew her mate was strong, but that? Holy Luna, what was she going to do with that in her bed tonight? Her cheeks went warm and she licked her lips. As far as problems went, she was sure this was a wonderful one to have. Whatever she did with her mate’s strength it was going to be fun, of that she was sure. Her bed was plenty sturdy, hewn from Redwood and tempered, it would be able to handle the—

“Rosie?” Eric pressed and she snapped back to reality.

“Sorry! Sorry,” she blurted out, clapping her hands over her face.

“Where are we going?” Eric asked, as if he hadn’t just caught her fantasizing about what it was going to take to break her bed once he was in it.

“My cabin,” she said. “It’s closer, and-”

“What happened to me not coming in tonight?” he asked. The silver in them dimmed slightly and she heard the metal of the door creak, signaling he was squeezing once more. She knew he was fighting to keep himself in control. Beating back his urge to take her as badly as she wanted him to. To seal their future together as mates with a bond mark, one that would make their connection stronger, their partnership fulfilled and complete.

She shook her head. “That’s ancient history.”

“That was three hours ago.”

“I changed my mind,” she told him. “And as a modern witch, I have the right to change my mind. Maybe I didn’t want you to come in two hours ago, but now? Now I need you to come inside my cabin tonight. I want you there, Eric.”

Eric sucked in a deep breath, a breath Rosie noticed he held for a long, long while.

“Are you okay?” she asked, reaching out to touch him. When her hand made contact with his arm, he let out the breath with a ragged sigh, and just like that the silver in his eyes died away leaving the familiar pair Rosie was quickly coming to love looking into.

“If you change your mind once I’m there. I want you to tell me,” he said, and then moved back from her. “Get buckled in. I’m closing the door.”

Rosie raised an eyebrow at his words. What did he mean by change her mind? But she did as he instructed and slid back into the leather of the seat and buckled up. The door shut a second later and she watched as Eric rounded the car and got inside. He seemed more in control of himself, which she wasn’t sure was good or bad.

It was probably good since he was all human now. It was also bad since Rosie was now willing to admit that she liked it when Eric lost control around her. There was something appealing about knowing her mate was on edge around her, not because of anything she was doing but just simply because it was her. Rosie didn’t have to do a thing to drive Eric crazy, all she had to do was exist. He wanted her just as she was. Not even her own family had cared that much. She frowned at the sudden thought and looked out the window.

Why were they on her mind? And so soon after they had found their way into her head that afternoon. There were times when Rosie went weeks, months, hell even years without so much as considering her family as more than a passing thought, but here they were. Their ghosts loud and in front when she should be basking in the rightness of Eric.

She didn’t like it one bit.

Beside her, Eric started the car and backed out onto the road. When they were driving, well on their way to her cabin, Rosie spoke. “What do you mean if I change my mind once you’re there?”

“If you decide you don’t want me there. Don’t want this. I want you to tell me.”

“By this, you mean our mate bond don’t you?” she asked, turning to look at him.

Eric’s hand clenched on the wheel and he narrowed his eyes. He was staring ahead at the road, but if they had been looking at one another, she wouldn’t have been surprised to see his eyes go silver. They had to be. She could tell he didn’t like thinking that she wouldn’t want the mate bond, his bear rising to the surface to fight for it, but even so he answered her.

“That’s exactly what I mean,” he said through clenched teeth.

“I want this,” she told him, quietly. “I want you, Eric.”

And then he looked at her. “Say that again.”

“I want thi-”

“Not that. The part where you want me.” It was dark, the shining light of the moon dim, not yet full, that was still almost two weeks away and the deadline she had given him to fulfill. She should have known it was foolish to set the deadline for two weeks. How could she not want him? Hardly two days had passed and her heart was new, her need for him true. The truth in her words was evident, palatable in the small space of the car, even without the enforcement of the contract at work preventing her from lying.

She didn’t need Fey magic to keep her honest when it came to Eric.

“I want you.”