The Bear's Reluctant Wolf (10 page)

So
this is what it means to have someone care.

“I don’t see you as a monster, Trace.” She
moved closer yet until they were so close he could see the tiny, almost invisible
freckles lining the bridge of her nose. She searched his face, and then
surprised the shit out of him by lifting her hands, cupping his face, and
saying with determination, “I don’t see you as a monster. I don’t know all the
details, but I don’t want or need to know them. I see the male before me, and I
can scent you’re genuine. It is what it is, and although I don’t condone people
hurting others, I can see why you were angry and couldn’t control yourself.”
She sighed heavily, and he wished he could see into her mind to know what she
was thinking. “I’m sorry I have been pushing you away, and trying so hard to
not give this a chance. I was betrayed, too, and I know how much that hurts.”
They stared at each other, and then she curled into his body, wrapping her arms
around him, and resting her head on his chest. For a moment Trace was frozen,
not able to move as she was the one that held him. Just moments before he had
been the one all over her, nearly pulling out his cock and fucking her right
there on his bike, but now he felt like an unsure and scared shitless teenager.
“
It’s
okay, Trace.”

As he closed his eyes and lifted his
arms, a tremor wracked through him when he pulled her in closer. He rested his
chin on the top of her head and stared straight ahead.

He had told her about his life, about
nearly killing Dale, and about the ugly fucking scar he had gotten because of
his violence. He still fought in back alleys, unable to control himself at
times, or the wild anger he would always house inside of him. Her running away
and never waning to see him had been what he expected.
Hell,
that
was one of the reasons he had kissed her, because he had been sure
she would see him as a villain and never want anything to do with him. He had
told her over and over that he wouldn’t let her run, and although that was true
to an extent he wouldn’t force her to be with him in return, not if she feared
him.

“I’m willing to give this a go, Trace,
but it has to be slow.” Her words were muffled against his shirt, and he gripped
her arms and pulled her away enough that he could look down into her eyes. She
was giving him a chance, and he may not be a deserving bastard of that, but he
sure as hell would treasure it.

“Baby, I’ll go as slow as you need. I
may want to take control, but you’re the one that holds all the cards.”

Chapter Seven

“So, are you going to tell me or do we
have to play twenty questions?” Candace looked over at Melissa, who stared at
her expectantly. Ary was on her other side holding Madeline, who had her
mother’s big blue eyes and her father’s darker hair. The little girl was busy
slamming Candace’s car keys on the table over and over again, a bit
distracting, but it kept the baby occupied.

“I mean, what exactly do you want me to
tell you?” Ary and Melissa glanced at each other knowingly, before they turned
their hawk-like stares on her again. Candace sighed and leaned back in her
chair. “You Nosey Nellies already know pretty much everything.” Melissa crossed
her arms over her chest. Candace looked at the ceiling and breathed out.
“All right, all right.
So I am a mate to this overly
intense, possessive polar bear shifter that has a tendency to be all growly and
rough, but also is strangely endearing.” The only sound was of the clock
ticking away and of little Madeline cooing and slamming her keys on the table.

“So he brings a whole new meaning to the
words alpha asshole?” Ary said with repressed amusement. Her ocelot shifting
friend knew all about overbearing males given the fact she was married and
mated to one. Her husband, Charlie Wylde, was not only a big, brooding grizzly
with a territorial streak when it came to Ary and his son and daughter, but he
also pissed Ary off to no end with the need to be possessive to the nth degree.

“Yeah, to put it mildly.”
But Candace couldn’t help the small smile that tugged at her lips.

“You are such a lying bitch.” She
glanced over at Melissa, who was grinning from ear to ear. “You like that he
gets all ‘Mine. No touch’ on you, don’t you?” Melissa was all but laughing out
loud now, which had Madeline stopping her destruction of the car keys and
staring at her. Leave it to Melissa not to beat around the bush. There was also
no point in denying since by the looks on her friends’ faces they could scent
exactly how much she did like it.

“I’m not saying I like it all the time,
but I also won’t lie and say it doesn’t make me feel all tingly.” She glared at
them, but couldn’t help the way the corner of her mouth kicked up. “I know you
two will pester me until I ‘fess up anyway. So yeah, I kind of like when he
gets all ‘Mine’ on me. Kind of makes me feel wanted.” She glanced down at the
table, suddenly feeling a plethora of emotions wash through her. The three guys
she had been with in her thirty-five years on this planet had never made her
feel the way her polar bear did. Trace, on the other hand, made her feel like
she was the only female to ever come into his life. He looked at her like some
kind of prize, touched her like he couldn’t help himself, and made it clear
that she was his and no one else’s. It was a feeling like nothing she had ever
experienced before. Sure, his caveman attitude did get on her nerves at times,
but after he opened up to her that day when they went into the mountains,
something inside of her had changed. At first she hadn’t wanted him as a mate,
not because she thought he wasn’t worthy, but because she just hadn’t wanted
anything or anyone to rock her perfectly placed life.

“So, you actually like that a male is
bossy and wants to control everything you do?” There was no accusation in
Melissa’s words, just an honest question. Out of the three of them Melissa was
the only one that openly admitted to liking the intensity that came with being with
an alpha male. She liked the biting and growling, liked the fact a big, strong
shifter could control her just as easily as he did everything else. She hadn’t
found her mate yet, and may have a hard exterior, but there had been many times
she had confided in them. “Little Candace has actually surrendered a part of
her perfect life, and wants someone else hold the reins for a while?”

“Shut up, Melissa,” Candace snapped, but
there really wasn’t any heat behind her words. Besides, Melissa was still
grinning, and the shock, but teasing, in her voice told her she was having a
really good time pointing
all of this
out.

“Didn’t I tell you giving up control
would be invigorating?”

“Melissa, you are the one with the
smartest mouth, the raunchiest attitude, and the only female I know that acts
all badass, but wants to give yourself up without a second thought to the right
male.”

Melissa shrugged. “True. I mean, it is
freeing to have someone else make all the decisions. Of course I do draw the
lines sometimes. I don’t want some controlling prick who doesn’t know when I
like to submit.”

“You’re insane, Melissa,” Ary said, but she
smiled broadly. Madeline decided to toss Candace’s keys across the room and
belt out a loud scream. “Yeah, this one is going down for a long nap. She was
up at five this morning, and we all know I don’t do mornings.” Ary stood and took
the squirming and screaming Madeline to the little girl’s bedroom. Seconds
later the sound of the front door opening and closing, and then of Charlie’s
deep voice and Cole’s excited one came through. They walked into the kitchen
and stopped. Five year old Cole was in his father’s arms, and the two males
looked between them. Candace held her finger to her mouth to indicate they
needed to be quiet, but both Charlie and Cole knew without her saying, that Ary
was trying to get the baby down for a nap.

Charlie nodded and set Cole on the
ground. “Why don’t you go get that car book and we’ll read it on the deck?” Cole
grinned and ran off. Charlie straightened and looked between them. “It’s safer
if we go outside. He gets a bit excited when they start talking about all the
different kind of racecars.”

Melissa started chuckling low. Yeah, it
was safer, because if Charlie woke up the baby, Ary would be in bitch mode. “That’s
probably smart.” She grinned just as Cole
came
running
back in the kitchen with a very big book in his arms.

“How is kindergarten?” asked Candace. Cole
beamed and started going into great detail about all of the things he was
learning, but that also meant his excitement had his voice rising. Charlie
quickly scooped him up and narrowed his eyes at them in mock anger. Just as
they heard the bedroom door shut he was out the back door in record time. They
both grinned at each other.
Ary came back into the kitchen
with the baby monitor in hand.

“So, back to the exciting stuff.”
She pointedly looked at Candace.

“I just told you everything.” Of course
she had left out the stuff about his ex-wife, the cheating, and the scar, but
Candace didn’t think those were her right to tell.

“So when are you seeing him again?”

Candace blushed because she was seeing
him tonight. It had been only a couple of days since Trace had taken her back
home from the mountains, but she hadn’t seen him since. They had talked several
times on the phone, but she did miss seeing him, even if he was grumpy at
times. For such a strong male, he could really put on the charm when he wanted
to, and the three dozen red and white roses that had arrived at her house this
morning was a testament to that.

“Oh man, have you fucked him yet? That
blush you got going on is telling me you have and plan on doing it again real
soon, or you’re thinking about doing it.”

“God, Melissa, you’re so damn vulgar
sometimes.” Ary was laughing, but Candace didn’t find it funny at all, and that
was because she was thinking about doing it with him … like all the time since
he had come into her life. “I’m not talking about this stuff with you.”

“Why? I have no shame when I divulge my
personal business.”

“Yeah, that’s because you have
no shame
.”

Candace grinned over at Ary. Melissa
snorted and rolled her eyes.

“What the hell ever. Well, I have to
run, but it was nice
not
getting any
juicy details from you.” Melissa stood and grabbed her purse.
“Toddles, bitches.”
Melissa grinned and walked toward the
front door, her bangle bracelets jangling, and her gypsy style skirt flowing
behind her. The front door closed with a soft click once she left, and Ary
started laughing again.

“She’s something else.” Yeah, that was
an understatement. “So, when are you seeing your polar bear again?”

“Tonight actually.”
Candace couldn’t help but feel anticipation and excitement. It seemed with each
passing day her desire for Trace grew, and although she knew some of that was
the pull from being mates, it was also because she was growing to care for the
grumpy bear. She just couldn’t stop thinking about him, and was glad she had
gone with him to lunch and a ride that day. If she hadn’t, and would have stuck
with her ridiculous idea that she needed to be alone, and that a mate was bad
news for her, she wouldn’t be feeling this bone melting warmth whenever he was
near, or when she thought of him.

“You really care for him, don’t you?”
Ary’s
voice was soft.

Candace nodded. “It’s crazy, I know. We
have only known each other for like a week, if that, and although it certainly
isn’t love, he has showed me a part of himself I know he has never allowed
anyone else to see.” Ary was nodding before she even finished.

“I know exactly what you’re saying. When
I saw Charlie for the first time it was like
insta
-lust,
but more than that. Finding a mate defies all logic, pisses you off most of the
time, and I won’t lie and say it is all roses and chocolates. But what I can
tell you with certainty, and from the bottom of my heart,” Ary glanced out the
sliding glass doors at where Charlie sat on a chair with Cole in his lap,
reading to him. “I wouldn’t change it for the world. Every day that passes by,
even five years later, makes me glad I didn’t fight what I knew in my heart
felt right.” She looked back at Candace and smiled. “You just have to listen to
your instincts, and let your inner animal tell you what to do, because at the
end of the day when our human sides are fighting us tooth and nail on what
course we should take, our animals have already come to that conclusion one
hundred times over.”

Ary was smart, in more ways than one,
and even if Candace had doubts at first, still thought about the “what ifs”
that could transpire if she allowed herself to get rid of her rigid routine and
go with the flow, she did want to give him a chance. She deserved to be happy,
and why not try with the only male that had made her feel so alive?

Chapter Eight

As soon as Candace heard those three
hard knocks, ones that seemed very masculine in nature, she became wet. She was
losing it, certifiably so. It was like she was constantly in a state of
arousal, feeling like she was burning alive, and it was all because of Trace.
He had told her he’d pick her up at eight P.M. sharp, and of course he was on
time. For a bike-riding alpha shifter, he was punctual in all things. She made
her way down the hallway and opened the door. He hadn’t told her what they were
doing, or even where they were going tonight, so she had decided to put on a
simple sundress, one that looked classy, but could certainly be played down if
they were steering clear of fancy places. For an hour she debated what to do
with her hair, what she would wear, and always wondering if Trace would like
it. She was over-thinking everything and driving herself insane. In the end
none of the materialistic things mattered.
Ary’s
words played back to her, on how she needed to let her animal take some
control, and how everything would just fall into place. Her instincts told her
this was good, that Trace was good, and if she pulled that stick out of her
ass
she would be good with whatever he had to give her. But
there was also a small part of her that was scared of getting hurt again. Then
again, she couldn’t find happiness if she wasn’t willing to take a chance.