Mate Fur Hire (Bears Fur Hire 3) (14 page)

“It’s okay,” Tobias whispered, his eyes on the tiny white star. “I don’t want you to hate snow.”

“Snow will take you away from me.”

“No,” he crooned, hugging her tight under an awning as they watched the white flakes drift down, slowly blanketing the street. “Timing and cold cause hibernation. Someday snow will be fun for us.”

She could imagine it for a moment. Snowmen and sledding. Christmas lights up on some imaginary cabin wherever they settled. Stomping boots off before entering the house and riding a snow machine together. Everything would be different soon. She would make sure of it.

“Take me home.”

“Home?”

“Well, not
home
, silly bear. Take me to Link’s shed.”

Tobias’s lips were curved up in a smile as he kissed her, and when he angled his head and brushed his tongue against hers, she melted to him like that tiny snowflake on her hand. Her strong Tobias, unaffected by the signs of winter.

Easing away, he rested his forehead against hers and rocked back and forth in the slow falling snow. “Vera?”

“Yeah?”

“No matter what happens, I want you to know how much I care about you.”

“Winter feels like breaking up.” Her voice came out nothing but a soft squeak as she fought to keep her emotions in check.

“We’re not breaking up, or even taking a break. You’ll live a life while I sleep, but when I wake up, for me, it’ll be like no time has passed and nothing has changed. You’ll still feel this important.”

“You promise?”

Tobias nodded and kissed her again, just a soft pluck of her lips. “I promise.”

Vera stepped out of the car and nearly busted her ass on a slick patch. Tobias would’ve been worried if she hadn’t immediately doubled over and laughed. He cracked a grin as he slid around the Bronco toward her to make sure she didn’t go down the rest of the way.

“How are you so clumsy?” he teased. “You’re a fox.”

Vera swatted his arm and almost went down again. Tobias caught her around the middle and kept her from hitting the snow, but just when he thought she would wrap her arms around his neck and allow him to help her up, she spread out like a starfish and closed her eyes, the heels of her boots resting on the thin layer of snow. “It feels like I’m flying,” she whispered through a full-lipped smile he couldn’t drag his eyes from.

Funny. She made him feel like he was flying, too.

Instead of dragging her into the shed and fucking her silly like his bear wanted to do, he laid her down on the snow and took his place beside her, ignoring the cold flakes that fell into the neck of his sweater.

Even with the clouds above, there were still patches of stars and the faint glow of the northern lights. Blue tonight, like Vera’s eyes.

Vera blew a long, frozen breath, like a steam engine, and wrapped her pink mitten-clad hand around his. “Next year, we’re going to build a giant snow-werebear.”

“I’m gonna build a snow wereporcupine and kick it in its snow dick.” He was still pissed at Harlan and his many painful quills.

Vera giggled and stuck her tongue out to catch the falling flakes beside him, and he was stunned once again at how beautiful she was. Chestnut hair fanned across the fresh powder, eyes dancing in a way he hadn’t seen them in weeks. Her cheeks were likely pink from the cold, but he liked to think they were rosy because she was happy. He liked to think he was the reason for the color there.

He’d never done that before—made someone happy. Oh, people were grateful when he delivered supplies to them out in the bush, but this was different. Vera was the most important part of his life now, and every smile she gave him made him feel like maybe he wasn’t such a monster. Vera was sweet and loyal, and if someone so un-jaded could love him, perhaps he could do this. Maybe he could be the mate she deserved if he worked hard enough and long enough. Or maybe it was Vera’s chronic optimism that was rubbing off on him.

“Why do they call them piggyback rides?” she asked.

Tobias rested his cheek against the snow and studied the perfect curve of her petit little nose as she stared up at the stars. “Do you want a piggyback ride?”

“Yes, but why do they call them that?”

Tobias rocked upward, then stood and helped her onto his back. Hands hooked behind her knees, he strode easily toward the shed behind Link’s cabin.

Vera rested her chin on his shoulder. “A koalaback ride makes more sense, right?”

“It probably deviated from a different word in a different language and didn’t actually refer to the animal originally.”

“Huh.”

Inside the shed, Tobias built a fire in the wood burning stove he and Link had brought in. He handled the chill much better than Vera did, and he hated the thought of her sleeping cold tonight. Usually his body warmth was enough to keep her comfortable, but he wouldn’t be here in the morning. Vera watched him quietly, head canted, her eyes the startling gold color that said her fox was near the surface. She was so damned beautiful here in this place, the glow of the fire pulsing against her pink cheeks.

“You love me,” she said.

He shut the door to the stove and nodded. “Very much.”
More than anything.

“I can tell by the way you look at me.”

“Mmm,” he rumbled, his bear pushing a satisfied growl up his throat. Clever mate.

Tobias pulled her waist to his, then tugged the hem of her dress over her head. She was wearing the red lacy bra he’d bought her when he had flown a delivery from Anchorage. Vera liked feminine things, and here and there he had bought gifts he thought she would like. Sweet pea bubble bath soap and tiny bottles of different shampoos. The pair of snow boots she wore tonight and a new nightgown. She always gave him the biggest smiles when he surprised her, and then she always grew all self-conscious and said his gift was, “too much.” She was so damned cute. She didn’t realize it, but he gave her gifts for selfish reasons. He felt normal when he made her smile like that—less like an animal and more like a man.

Unsnapping her bra in the back, he reveled in her sexy sigh. Hooking his finger in front, Tobias pulled her lingerie gently off her arms and let it fall to the floor. Unable to resist her a second longer, he kissed her. Tasted her. Felt her. She let off a sexy, helpless moan, and his bear pushed for more. This was their last time…

Pain left a gash in his middle as he deepened their kiss, desperate to rid himself of the thought of what he had to do. Leaving felt impossible when he was here with her. Fingers fumbling with his need to be inside her, he pushed her tights down as she kicked out of her boots. Vera was burning up like a beautiful brush fire in his arms, growing hotter and more volatile with every touch of his lips and brush of his fingertips.

He cupped her full breast, and she arched for him, his sexy Vera.

Breath coming in short pants, she shoved his sweater upward and ran her palms down the curves of his chest and abs to the waist of his jeans.

“Vera,” he murmured as she dipped her fingertips inside and brushed his cock. He was so hard already, so hungry to be buried inside of her.

“Touch me,” she pleaded as she stood on her tiptoes and teased his lips with hers.

Tobias backed her against the wall and cupped her sex. So wet already. He was losing his mind. Bear was snarling, pushing. Wanted her so bad. She writhed against his palm and cried out his name when he slid two fingers inside her. Sensitive mate. She always came so easily for him.

“Oh. Oh!” she panted as she threw her head back and bucked against his hand. Her orgasm came quickly, gripping his fingers in sexy pulses, hard at first, and then softer as her pace slowed.

Desperate to feel the last of her aftershocks, Tobias unbuttoned his jeans and shoved them down just far enough to unsheathe his dick. Then he spread her knees farther apart with his own and eased the head of his cock inside of her. So damned tight. Perfect. He gritted his teeth at how good she felt all wrapped around him. Wet. Warm. Ready. He couldn’t stop anymore. No going slow. He slammed into her over and over, the pressure in his balls growing with each stroke into her. He snarled and gripped the back of her hair as she grazed her teeth where she’d left her claiming mark. It had healed but still tingled anytime she got close to biting him again. Arm behind her back, he pulled her hard against him as he slid into her faster. She was yelling now, lost to the feeling like he was, crying out his name, over and over. Fuck yes, he loved when she called him. He thrust into her one last time and froze as he came. His hips jerked as he throbbed into her, mimicking her own orgasm as he emptied himself.

Breath ragged, they stayed locked like that, pressed to the wall, hands gripping each other like they never wanted to be parted. And he didn’t. If they could stay locked in this moment forever, he would gladly do it.

He could feel it—the bone-deep fatigue. The heaviness seeping through his limbs, hour by hour. Tonight had been perfect. Tonight had been torture.

“Change with me,” he ground out against her ear.

“Into my fox?” There was hesitation in her voice. They’d never been in their animal forms together, save the moments she’d attacked Clayton with him. They’d never enjoyed time together out in the woods, though. She hadn’t been brave enough, but Vera was different now. She was invincible, if only she saw in herself what he did.

When Vera eased back, she looked sad again, as if deep down she knew this would be goodbye.

“Okay, Tobias. We’ll Change together.”

He slid out of her and felt an immediate chill. She led him out of the shed and into the night. He didn’t get cold often, but Vera had been warm and alive against him, and the painful thought of his lonely, snowy winter den made him wish he could rip his own heart out so that he would feel nothing at all.

She lay down in a clearing, out of the safety of the evergreen canopy, exposed to the falling snow. And then he watched her body break apart and reshape into the fox that had changed everything. Only when she was safely sitting next to the trunk of a white-bark birch tree did he let his own beast out.

And when he towered high above her on all fours, he blasted a roar, his breath steaming in front of his muzzle, expelling the pain of the impending separation from the only person who’d ever really
seen
him.

Tonight, his fox shared her woods with him. She showed him every place she had attached to over the weeks. Every nook and cranny and frozen creek. And when their backs were covered in white, she turned them for home and Changed straight back, just like he knew she could. It was her fastest shift yet, and the last thing he needed to go into hibernation.

Vera and her fox were okay.

In the shed, she fell asleep against him, her back to the wood burning stove. And when her breathing turned deep and her muscles relaxed in sleep, he slipped out from under the blankets, dressed silently, and set the letter he’d written on the empty cot.

At the door, Tobias allowed himself to look back once. His mate was tucked on her side, knees drawn up, the curvature of her body beautiful under the thick blankets, and her face relaxed in her sleep for the first time in weeks. He closed the door gently, adjusted the strap of his backpack on his shoulder, and strode away from the closest place to home he’d ever known.

Link’s gray and white wolf sat somberly near the cabin as if he’d been waiting. He trotted beside Tobias through the woods until he reached the edge of Wolfland.

And when Tobias continued on and couldn’t see the bright-eyed wolf behind him anymore, the haunting notes of Link’s howl sent him off into the night.

Something shook Tobias hard. With a soft warning growl, he relaxed again. A small prick of pain, like a bee sting, burned through his shoulder.

He let off another growl, but was helpless to wake up.

He could hear the murmur of voices now, slurred and too low to understand. Men’s voices. Humans. Shit.

He tried to pry his eyes open to defend himself but couldn’t muster the energy.

His shoulder had ignited as if someone had built a tiny fire on his fur. With a grunt of anger, he managed to move his paw. So fucking tired. How had they found him? He was deep in the den, hidden from the outside world. He’d bled three bruin bears to claim this spot. Stupid humans. He would bleed them, too, for waking him from hibernation.

Clamping his jaw against the pain, he blinked his eyes open.

“Oh, shit, he’s waking up.” Was that Dalton Dawson?

“Not fast enough.” That was definitely Chance Dawson.

“Should we give him another dose?” Dalton asked. “Vera said it might take two.”

“No,” another familiar voice murmured. Link? “Let him come out of it easy.”

Something hit Tobias in the chest, and the fragrant smell of cooked chicken hit his nostrils.

“Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey,” Dalton sang.

“Let’s go,” Link said. “He’ll wake up pissed.”

“I don’t want to die out here,” Chance murmured low.

“Me either,” Dalton admitted. “Tobias is a beast. I’ve never seen his bear before. Holy fuck, dude, he’s huge.” The voices faded, echoing off the cave walls. “It’s cold as dick out here.”

Just before the trio disappeared around a rocky corner, Chance shoved Dalton. “Man, dicks aren’t cold! That doesn’t even make any sense.”

Tobias couldn’t understand them anymore, though he could still hear the Dawsons arguing. The pain was too bright now, the snarl in his throat unavoidable. Something awful was happening to him. His eyes flew open as agony rippled up his spine. It was followed by a hundred tiny cracking sounds. His bones. His bones were breaking. The anguish became so bright, he roared, but as his body exploded with pain, the sound in his throat turned to a scream.

He landed on his hands and knees, gasping and confused. His human hands were splayed against the branches he’d gathered for the floor of his den. His bleary eyes focused on a whole cooked chicken on a paper plate, a bottled water, and three plastic containers. They held what looked like green beans, mashed potatoes, and stuffed mushrooms, like the ones he’d eaten with Vera on their last date. Vera.

He jerked his attention to the tiny dot of blood on his shoulder. It wasn’t April yet. Too cold still. Had she done it?

His stomach clenched in on itself, making him sway. In a rush, he ate every last bite down to the chicken bones. His body wasn’t working right as his fingers fumbled with the zipper of his backpack. He was shaking now, from cold or from whatever the medicine was doing to him. Where was his bear? He tried to reach the animal with his mind, but there was nothing there. Only him. Only the man. She’d done it. Hope bloomed in his chest as he struggled into his warm clothes. His body wasn’t even emaciated yet. He’d probably lost fifteen pounds at the most.

He fell three times onto the unforgiving and jagged cave floor as he dragged his jerky body out of the cave, and when he stumbled out into the muted sunlight, he fell to his knees again, unable to push himself farther. His shins were bleeding and warming the legs of his jeans.

Dalton stared at him, head canted, and naturally dark eyes blazing silver. “You still smell like a bear.”

“Dumbass,” Chance muttered, his blond brows jacking up at his cousin. “He was a bear not more than half an hour ago. Of course he still smells like fur.”

Link pulled a sweater over his bare torso, then smiled at him with that lopsided half-crazy grin of his. “It’s good to see you human again.”

“Why are you naked?” Tobias slurred, his mouth feeling numb and his words coming out hoarse.

Chance picked up Tobias’s backpack and shouldered it. “See, you made Link swear not to bring Vera out here—she’s going to maim you, by the way—so he got around the swear by bringing us for backup instead. Only we had to search every damned den on Kodiak Island since you gave us zero clues to where you hibernate, so Link had to go wolf and sniff you out, since we don’t know your bear smell. Me and Dalton brought the food and supplies.” Chance gave Tobias a slow grin. “And medicine.”

“She really did it,” he said slowly, shocked that he was kneeling here in two feet of snow talking to a pack of snarky werewolves instead of sleeping inside the cave as a bear. “Why am I numb?”

“Vera said that’s normal. She calls it ‘the thaw.’ It’s a side effect, but it’ll wear off soon.”

“When is it? What month?”

“You’ve been asleep for six weeks,” Link said, pulling his own backpack onto his shoulders. “It’s mid-November.”

“Oh!” Dalton said, digging in his pocket. “I brought a love letter from your mate.”

Chance snorted, but Tobias didn’t get the joke.

Dalton unfolded a piece of thick paper and cleared his throat. “Dear stupid, twit-nugget, pigheaded, pickle-dick, marker-sniffin’, fart-faced—”

“I get it,” Tobias gritted out.

Dalton arched a dark eyebrow and continued in a dramatic reading voice. “You’re in big trouble for leaving me with a fucking goodbye note, and you are in double big trouble for telling Link I wasn’t allowed to wake you up. Come straight home so I can yell at you like I want. You should be frightened. Sincerely and angrily yours, Thistle.” Dalton folded the piece of paper and offered it to Tobias. “So you can keep it forever.”

“Yeah,” Chance said. “Frame that shit.”

With a grunt of effort, Tobias took the letter and clutched it in his shaking hand.

Link pursed his lips sympathetically. “She’s definitely going to bite you.”

Tobias tried to growl but couldn’t. At least he was getting a warm tingling feeling back in his body now. That was a good sign. He hoped.

“Hurry up and get moving, Silver,” Dalton said, nervously looking around. “Kodiak Island gives me the creeps.”

A werewolf outdoor guide was afraid of Kodiak Island? Tobias looked around, but it felt completely safe to him. Though, now that he thought about it, Kodiak really wasn’t the haven it once was. Not now that he couldn’t call on his bear to protect himself. He pushed upward and stood on locked, splayed legs, unstable as a baby horse.

Link ducked under his shoulder on one side, Dalton did the same on the other, and then they half-dragged him down the steep hill.

And somewhere around mile two, when Tobias could finally walk on his own, it hit him. He skidded to a stop in a deep snowdrift and spun in a slow circle.

“What’s wrong?” Link asked from up ahead.

“I haven’t seen winter since I was fifteen.”

Link trekked back to him, lifting his feet high to get over the snow. He gripped Tobias’s shoulder. “Silver, you got lucky with your mate. She’s worked night and day, and not just for you.”

“What do you mean?”

Link ducked his chin and gave him a loaded look. “Your brothers haven’t seen winter either.”

Tobias let off a shaky breath, then swallowed over and over to control the overwhelming emotion roiling through him. His eyes burned as Link shook his shoulder slowly.

Link’s gray eyes were rimmed with moisture as he dragged Tobias in for a rough hug. He clapped Tobias on the back hard enough to rattle his bones, then shoved him back to arm’s length. Link cleared his throat and wiped his cheek on the shoulder of his jacket. “Come on, Tobias. Let’s go wake up your brothers.”