Bearly Taken (Cub Lake Shifters #2)

Chapter 3

three

WREN

I forced myself to act as if everything was normal and I’d gotten my usual amount of sleep, when I got out of bed with my 3:30 AM alarm.

I’d spent the last few hours of my night staring at the ceiling, trying to stop myself from hoping that Reed was there to stay.

He was going to leave again.

Hell, our text conversation had probably already sent him running for the hills.

I checked my phone for the dozenth time, to see if he’d messaged me again.

He hadn’t.

Of course he hadn’t.

I shoved my phone in my bag and put my cheery face on as I pulled a sleepy Parker out of his bed, buckled him into his infant car seat, and lugged the heavy little guy out of the house. My shift at the diner started at four, which meant dragging my poor baby out long before he was ready to wake up. He was used to it, though, and slept through it like a champion.

Putting my keychain between my teeth the way I always did, I tugged the front door open and stepped outside, grabbing the crazy-heavy car seat’s handle once again.

My knee collided with a wall of solid muscle, and my eyebrows shot upward when I looked past the car seat and found Reed there.

Sitting on his ass.

On the filthy concrete.

“What are you doing?” I hissed around my lanyard.

He grabbed the car seat from my hands, lifting our tank of a son like he weighed nothing. I plucked the keys from my mouth and angrily spun around to lock the door.

“You’re still working the morning shift at the diner?” he asked, his gorgeous golden eyes narrowed at me when I turned back toward him.

“Of course I am. I have to pay my rent somehow.”

I wasn’t going to tell him about the bookstore I owned, I decided. He didn’t need to know.

I tried to snag the car seat from his hands, but he stepped back. “I’ll carry him down. You looked like you were about to fall over.”

He wasn’t wrong. Parker was only a pound from being too heavy for the infant car seat, and I’d gotten the one with the biggest weight limit at the advice of another shifter mom.

I felt like I was going to fall over, carrying the car seat. It didn’t help that the handles on those things were so uncomfortable.

But Parker was so young, I was terrified to put him in another kind of seat.

“Fine,” I gritted out, following Reed down the stairs. Because he could carry Parker’s weight more easily, he was able to be more careful with the car seat than I was. I could appreciate that, if nothing else.

Reed was quiet when we reached my shitty old car, his eyes lingering on our baby’s peaceful face for a long moment. When he handed me the seat, he watched closely as I buckled it in, pulling the belt out to make sure it was locked in place. I’d tried to use the base that came with it, but couldn’t make it steady enough in my car. So, the seatbelt worked.

When I closed the door and turned around, I found myself facing him. There were only two inches between us—and if I breathed in deeply enough, I might be able to erase them with my breasts.

I wasn’t going to do that.

Obviously.

But the temptation was still there.

“What are you doing here?” I asked him, weariness weighing down my shoulders.

“I’m not leaving you again,” he said. “You don’t have to believe me, but it’s true.”

I scowled.

“You’re my mate, Wren. You know that means you’re it for me. I haven’t been with anyone else since we started sleeping together. I left because I knew I wouldn’t be able to walk away if I stayed any longer. If I’d known you weren’t on birth control, I wouldn’t have gone anywhere.”

“I don’t believe you,” I said bluntly, stepping to my side so I could put more space between us.

It wasn’t necessarily true.

If I really believed that telling him wouldn’t change anything, I would’ve told him as soon as I found out I was pregnant.

But I didn’t want to admit that.

“I know. And you shouldn’t. But you will.” The confidence in his voice made me scowl.

“Bye, Reed.”

“Bye, Beautiful.”

The nickname brought back emotions.

Too many emotions.

I slammed the driver’s side door behind me, tensing for a moment as I waited for Parker to start crying.

Thankfully, he slept through the noise.

Reed’s truck stayed behind me through the drive to my mom’s house.

My mom saw him watching from the vehicle, and asked what was going on when she did. I explained that he’d found out, and she hugged me tightly.

“Are you going to give him a chance?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted.

I wanted to.

Desperately.

But I couldn’t risk letting him hurt me again. I couldn’t risk watching him leave me again.

“Whatever the right choice is, I know you’ll make it.” She hugged me, taking Parker’s stupidly-heavy car seat and leaving me to go to work.

She had done so much for me.

So, so much.

Part of me wanted to move into Reed’s house and accept the clan’s money just to make her life easier. Sylvie’s, too. They had both told me so many times that they were happy to help me, and always had a good attitude, but still.

I hated that I couldn’t do everything myself. Really, truly hated it.

Reed’s eyes were on me as I got back in my car and drove to the diner. When I headed inside, he caught the heavy back door before it could close behind me.

I flashed him a glare, but didn’t try to stop him from following me in. My boss there was a bear shifter, which meant Reed’s word would have more sway than mine.

Or equal, I supposed.

I’d worked there for a long time.

“Hey, Wrennie,” Lennie, my boss, called from the kitchen. Though he owned the place, he’d made it clear he would be cooking there until he was in the ground. “Is that the Pawson boy?”

“It is,” Reed said from behind me. “Hoping you’re still hiring.”

I gave him a suspicious look, and he lifted an eyebrow at me.

“You know we’re always hiring shifters,” Lennie said.

Reed chuckled. “Counted on it.”

“Heard your fancy security job pays pretty well, though.”

“It does,” he agreed. “But my mate wants your money. You can add my paycheck to hers.”

Lennie laughed, loudly.

I glowered at Reed.

He tucked an escaped strand of my smooth, straight hair behind my ear. The touch alone made me warm. Much warmer than it should’ve.

Reed followed me to the aprons, tying one around his waist as I tied mine. He’d never worked at the diner before, but I knew from experience that if a shifter was involved, Lennie didn’t give a damn. Reed could show up, and he’d get paid.

I tried to put space between us as I started working, but my mate took it upon himself to stay close to me, explaining to all of my curious, regular customers that I was training him.

By the time my shift was over, I was done .

Wiped out from trying to put space between us.

Exhausted from the change to my status quo.

Dreading the questions and everything else that would accompany him following me to the bookstore next.

I’d come up with a way to potentially avoid that, so after we left the diner, I stopped outside my car.

He did too, remaining within arm’s reach.

“We can’t do this every day,” I said, weariness in my voice.

“Why not?” he sounded upbeat.

Way too upbeat.

“Because we can’t. I have an alternative idea. I don’t love the idea, but it’s better than this.” I gestured between us.

He lifted an eyebrow, as if asking me what, exactly, it was better than.

I couldn’t tell him that it was better than forcing me to spend time with him. That would only make him fight harder. Reed was a good man, but he was a bear shifter. He didn’t do sly or sneaky. If he wanted something, he made it happen. Hence the way he’d just shown up at the Grill the night everything went to shit.

“Despite keeping Parker a secret from you, I know you could be a decent dad. I trust you to that extent. And I want the court to have evidence that I’ve been reasonable, if it comes to that. So while you’re in town, I’ll bring Parker to your house in the mornings instead of my mom’s. He sleeps most of the time, so you’ll need a crib, but you’ll also have breakfast with him. He’s the happiest during breakfast, so that’s good for you. I’ll pick him up after my shift here.”

Reed blinked, apparently surprised by my offer.

My stomach clenched when he didn’t accept immediately, like I expected him to. He was in Cub Lake for our son, after all.

He finally said, “I would love to take him for breakfasts and mornings, but I won’t be able to do that until you’re living somewhere safer than your apartment. Until you either let me move you to another place, or move in to my house, I’ll be working here too.”

So he could get Lennie to make me take the money.

I squeezed my eyes shut and let out a slow breath. His hand brushed my elbow, and I fought every instinct in my body that pushed me to lean against him and put myself in his arms.

As much as I wanted to maintain my independence by staying in my apartment, that wasn’t my highest priority. Deep down, I knew Reed would never take me to court. His childhood had been too rocky to put his son through that.

And truthfully?

The apartment was shit.

My body ached constantly from sleeping on my crappy couch, and I’d never felt safe there.

All things considered, his request was actually pretty reasonable.

So, I said, “Fine.”

His forehead creased.

I pulled my apartment’s key off my keychain and handed it over. “Move my stuff. I’ll meet you there tonight.”

The creases deepened. “You’re giving up too easily.”

“My apartment sucks. My son deserves a better place to live. And I’m tired of fighting with you.” I ran a hand through my hair, pushing it off my face and out of my eyes. “So, move my stuff. You have three bedrooms—just put mine in your office.”

He still looked unconvinced, but he took the key. “Alright. Text me back when I message you, so I don’t worry that you’ve made a run for it.”

I laughed, the tension in my shoulders easing slightly. “I have nowhere else to go, Reed. Cub Lake is it for me.”

The admission worked, because he nodded.

He waited until I’d started my car, stepping back as I pulled out.

Relief coursed through me when I’d made a few turns, separating me from the man I had so many feelings for. It probably wouldn’t last, but I’d enjoy it while I could.