Fearless Bond (Bears of Beauville #1)

Chapter 10

10

BARCLAY

It took ages for the knot to go down. Not that I was complaining, but the longer I waited to tell Calvin the truth about myself, the bigger mess the situation could become. As soon as our bodies were separated, I carried him into the shower. I washed him, dressed him in those sweats and my hoodie that made him look even tinier and unbearably cute, and brought him to the kitchen. He seemed to like it when I carted him around like a parcel. He gave me these sweet little kisses into my beard and clung to my neck. Who was I to deny him? He was my mate. My forever omega. I would carry him in my arms all day, any day he wanted.

But first, he needed to know the truth.

Look, Calvin, I know we’ve just met, but you’re my fated mate because, well, bear shifter stuff. Have I mentioned I change into a bear for funsies? So, how about we keep fucking until I impregnate you? Then we’ll have five to seven kids, and you’ll stay here with me until we die. Sounds good?

Yep. He’d freak out. He had said he felt calm around me, but there was no way he’d take this news lightly. I prepared myself for the worst, but I couldn’t postpone it.

I sat him on the kitchen chair and got him a glass of water. Then I pulled the other chair close so I could hold his hand on the table.

“There’s something important I need to tell you.”

He frowned at me warily. “Okay.”

There was no way around it. I just had to spit it out. “Before I found you in the forest, you met a bear.”

Calvin blinked, looking confused. “I didn’t tell you that story, did I?”

“That bear was me. That’s how I knew where to find you.”

A few seconds passed, during which I managed to come up with five different catastrophic scenarios about him running away from me in terror or calmly leaving in disgust. People held all kinds of superstitions about us, and my experience said you never knew where you stood with a guy until you told him. But Calvin didn’t remove his hand from under my palm.

“You’re a shifter.”

I nodded. “Yes. Many here in Beauville are.”

His eyebrows scrunched up in a thoughtful frown as he studied me.

Now I had to get out the other part.

“See, your heat came quickly, and you said things about my scent… so, um, there’s a possibility, depending on where you are in your cycle… I mean, you might feel it already… or not. I… I think I feel it.”

“I wasn’t supposed to go into heat for another four months.” He sounded calm, almost detached. Was that a good or a bad thing?

“I think… I believe…” I couldn’t even say it.

Groaning in frustration, I stood and pushed the chair aside. I knelt in front of him and reached for his hands. He was still frowning but let me hold them.

“You’re my mate, Calvin. My fated.”

He opened his mouth. Closed it.

“Your heat is my fault. My scent caused it.”

I could hear his sprinting heartbeat. Was that fear? He didn’t seem afraid. He licked his lips almost sensually as he stared at me.

Eons went by as I knelt there, gazing at the little omega who threw my life upside down. He had a journey in front of him, and no matter how much I wanted to give him the world, there were some things I couldn’t help him with. He needed to feel and understand the bond between us, and I had to be patient until he did.

“Will you get me pregnant?” was his next question. His voice sounded remarkably steady.

Slow breath .

I hung my head. “That’s how things often go.” Yeah, any second now, he’d freak out on me.

“Because contraceptives don’t work on shifter mates,” he said. He must be shocked. That was why he sounded so calm.

“They do, but shifter mates don’t usually want them. Not the first time around. The urge is too strong.”

I heard him swallow. “I feel it.”

He did? My eyes prickled with tears as I laid my head on his thighs. “I’m so sorry, Calvin. I’ll keep you safe, I swear.”

“I didn’t think I’d have a kid at twenty-one.”

Twenty-five years my junior. Oh Lord. Fate was a real joker sometimes.

“But I want it,” Calvin blurted, making me lift my face from his lap. “I know it’s irrational, but I need it. I want to get pregnant. I thought of it during the heat wave. Imagined it. It was like my whole body ached for it.”

I was the luckiest fool in the entire wide world. I stroked his thighs through those too-large sweats, lost in his adorable face. He had impeccable plush lips. I needed to kiss him more often. His cheeks glowed with a healthy pink color. My mate in heat, ready to breed.

He was perfect.

“My heat… it feels different from my first. Stronger.”

“Yeah. It’s like that for shifter mates. It’ll pass when…” I swallowed.

“When you breed me,” he finished for me, gazing at me fearlessly.

“Calvin, I know this is sudden. We’ve just met. But bears, we’re loyal. Once we find the right person, it’s for life.” I paused, wondering if I was going too far, but his eyes shone as they held mine. “I’ll do everything I can to make you happy.”

His pupils flared at my promise, and a shiver went through him.

Then he whispered, “Some people say becoming a shifter’s mate is immense luck.”

And some say it’s a curse. But I didn’t tell him that. I kissed his dainty hands instead. Hugging his hips, I laid my head back on his lap. He stroked my hair. It felt too easy, too good to be true, but Calvin’s heartbeat sounded strong and steady.

I held him until I heard his stomach growl. He looked uncomfortable on the kitchen chair, so I brought him to bed and served him brunch on a tray. He polished off the plate and fell asleep the second he put the fork down.

When I finished cleaning up the kitchen, I called Hunter.

“I spoke to Jordy and Monty,” he said. “That city slicker was indeed asking around about an omega called Calvin, but the guys didn’t tell him anything.”

“Is he still in town?”

“No. The car’s gone. He was trying to find accommodation, but Monty told him the B&B was full. He must have driven to Green Peaks to find a hotel.”

“Good. The further away from here, the better.”

“He’ll come back.”

“Then we’ll deal with him.”

“And how’s Calvin?” Hunter asked in his good-doctor voice.

I swallowed, my throat suddenly thick. I wanted to go back to bed and hold my mate. I wanted to watch him sleep and make love to him when he woke up. “He’s great. He’s fine. All good.”

“What’s going on? You sound weird.”

Should I tell Hunter already? He would find out sooner or later. “He’s in heat.”

“What?”

“Calvin is my fated. He went into heat one day after we met.”

The phone was silent for a long moment. “That’s fast.”

“Yeah. It’s a strong bond, I think.”

Hunter’s exhale crackled in the phone. “You hide out here for a decade, determined not to put a foot outside of Beauville, hating on everyone and everything. Then you find your fated mate wandering through the forest behind your house. And only one day? You’re kidding me. You can marry him tomorrow, you fucker.”

“It’s like poker, man. I’ve got more luck than sense.”

“I hate you.”

I shouldn’t have laughed. For years, Hunter had been going on all these trips and cruises, driving for miles to meet omegas, and still no luck. Men were all over him like he was catnip—or a hot alpha doctor, as it were—but none of them turned out to be the one. I did shit all, reconciled to being alone, and Calvin stumbled right into my arms.

“It’s not fair, I agree,” I said. “But he’s mine now.”

“You’d better fucking take care of that boy. He seems lovely.”

“He’s an angel. I should go. He could wake up at any moment.”

“Yeah, yeah. Hurry up and have all that heat sex, you asshole,” Hunter grumbled.

“Oh, I will do that. Many times.”

“You know what? It’ll be me laughing when you’re elbows deep in baby puke.”

I blinked, and it hit me like a ton of bricks. Chances were really high that nine months from now, I would be a father. “Shit.”

Hunter chuckled. “When the heat is over, tell Calvin he can make an appointment with me for a test and an ultrasound. Good luck.”

My cousin ended the call, leaving me standing there, reeling. I did know I’d breed Calvin. He wanted it, needed it even. Once a human omega bonded with a bear, his hormones went haywire and the powerful heat wouldn’t end until he was knocked up. And Calvin’s had started even faster than what was usual for newly mated couples.

So, yeah, in a few days, Calvin would be pregnant. I just hadn’t thought as far as to imagine an actual baby. A little boy, mine and his, growing to become a person.

Oh hell.

I dropped the phone onto the kitchen table and hurried to the bedroom.

Calvin slept on his side, huddled under the duvet, his eyelids pale and cheeks pink. His soft, plump lips were parted.

The most beautiful omega in the entire wide world.

I took off my T-shirt and, trying not to jostle him, I climbed onto the bed next to him. My mate snuffled in his sleep and threw an arm over my chest. He pressed his face to my shoulder.

He slept like that, nestled to my side, and I breathed him in, trying to get some rest.