by E A Price
“Looks too fat,” said Barlow.
The bear gave an answering growl and slumped down on his butt.
Susie let out a groan. “He was leaving before you turned up.”
Barlow raised an eyebrow. “Were you planning on making a run for it?”
“Maybe,” she replied uncertainly. “Well, I wasn’t planning on sitting up here and freezing to death.”
“You don’t need to worry – I’m here now.”
“Yes, the way you scrambled up this tree fills me with great confidence,” she muttered.
Barlow affected a hurt expression as his wolf pouted. “Are you suggesting I can’t protect my mate?”
“I’m suggesting… wait, what did you just say?”
Susie blinked at him, and he took a deep breath.
“I’m sorry. I was a dick. I want us to be together.”
She stared at him for a few moments. The only sound was of the bear below scratching his fat behind. “Are you saying that because you think we’re about to die?”
His wolf huffed. “Little darling, we are not going to die today. In fact, I foresee a long happy life for the two of us. You’re not allowed to die for a good seventy years.”
“You’ve changed your tune,” she said slowly, giving him a wary look.
“I was wrong.” He smiled gently. “Little darling, I wanted you the moment I saw you. My wolf wanted you the moment he scented you.” The beast howled in agreement. “But I was too… too…”
“Stubborn?” she suggested. “Pig-headed? Stupid? Moronic? Foolish? Idiot! Dope!”
“Whoa, little darling, you’re just insulting me now.”
Susie pursed her lips.
“And I agree I deserve them, and you’re right. I was an idiot, but c’mon, little darling, I’m falling in love with you.” He grinned at her.
Susie chewed on her cheek. “You know, if we get together, you’ll need to drop Roxanne.”
“What?!” he roared and almost managed to topple out of the tree. The bear looked like he was licking his lips. “There is nothing going on with Roxanne. I swear, little darling. I wanted Edward to see that she’s nuts – that’s the only reason I would let that crazy bitch lick me!”
Edward had taken it on board too. He left the hotel last night – on his own. Roxanne left earlier that morning – when she had slept off her hangover.
“I hope you bathed after that lick,” said Susie.
“Susie!” His beast howled and his branch dangerously rocked.
“Okay, okay! I believe you – no need to throw yourself to the bear.”
“Susie,” he breathed. “I want you. I need you.”
She was hesitating. She wanted to say yes to him. But she was afraid of him breaking her heart, and he didn’t blame her, not after Allen and not after the way he rejected her.
“Little darling, I’d do anything for you, and if the last few days have taught me anything, it’s that I am more than capable of taking care of you and keeping you alive, and I’ll do it again now.”
Barlow shakily stood up on the branch.
“What are you doing?” she asked fearfully.
“Proving to you how much I care about you.”
Her eyes flicked between him and the bear who was taking very great interest in what Barlow was up to.
“Barlow, no, you don’t…” He lifted his leg, about to step off and she screamed at him. “Barlow, no! Stop it! I care about you, too, okay!” He readied himself to jump. “I want to be with you, too, just don’t jump.” He didn’t stop. “I’m falling in love with you too, just stop being an ass and we can be together!”
He froze and looked at her. “You mean it?”
“Yes, yes I mean it!” she cried, trying to reach out to grab him.
“You’re falling in love with me?”
“Yes! You moron!”
His wolf howled in triumph and Barlow beamed. “Well, that puts a different spin on things.”
He jumped off the branch towards the waiting bear.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“I will never forgive you for that!” snapped Susie.
“Little darling, I had to get your attention,” crooned Barlow, completely unrepentant for nearly giving her a heart attack.
“Looks like someone cut this fuel line deliberately,” murmured Derrick.
Derrick – Barlow’s good friend who lived nearby. Derrick – who happened to be a bear shifter and had chased her up a tree so that Barlow could come and ‘save’ her.
“Yeah, that was my mate’s ex, Allen,” said Barlow.
“Allen?”
Susie tried to look round at him, but it was hard to do anything with Barlow’s hands over her eyes. Since Derrick had shifted, he was naked, and Barlow was adamant that she was not allowed to see him naked.
“Yeah, turns out Allen locked you in the sauna, got a friend to pretend to run you down and he told the hotel to use hazelnuts to poison you.”
“But why?” gasped Susie.
She tingled as he pressed his body close to hers and cooed in her ear, “He wanted to rescue you, to show you he could be your hero.”
“Oh.”
She shivered, though, not because of what Allen had done, no the shiver was entirely the fault of the six-foot-six male who – in spite of his recent actions – was making her fall in love with him. No, while his recent actions called into question her own choices, it didn’t stop her heart from its speedy descent. She had passed ‘like,’ said see you later to ‘care for,’ thundered through ‘adore,’ and was now making her way to ‘love’ and would soon careen to ‘obsess over.’
“I can’t believe Allen would be so impetuous,” she said wondrously.
Barlow rumbled, his chest vibrating against her. “You’re not impressed by that, are you?”
“By impetuous actions? A little.”
Barlow snarled, and she laughed. “But it also depends on who’s behind the impetuous actions. I mean, you can hardly say that jumping on top of a fat bear…”
“I am not fat!” groused Derrick. “It’s all muscle!”
“Is not impetuous,” she finished.
“I knew he wasn’t going to eat me,” reasoned Barlow.
Derrick humphed and started muttering about not counting chickens before they’re hatched.
“But tricking me into thinking I was in danger…”
“Yeah,” he chuckled. “It was actually Allen who gave me the idea, and then I told Derrick where you were and the plan just came together.”
“You’re not even a little sorry, are you?”
“Nope.”
No, he sounded proud of himself, and his craziness was one of the reasons she already loved him. Yep, two weeks ago she was adamant she would never have anything to do with another wolf, and now she was already head over heels for one.
Susie giggled and nestled against him. “Idiot.”
Barlow laughed and kissed her neck, nuzzling her while he told her all the things he wanted to do to her when they were alone. If it weren’t for Derrick muttering about how they were making him sick, she could almost imagine they were the only two people in the world, and for the first time in a long time, she was truly happy.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
When they got back to Rose, they decided to take things slowly. Barlow had never been in a committed relationship, and Susie’s only experience was with Allen, so they were both a little unsure. So they took it one day at a time, and one month later, they were mated, bonded and living together. On reflection, a month wasn’t a long time, but every day they weren’t apart made the time seem interminable, and they soon realized they just wanted to be together.
Now, their only problem was learning to live with one another. It soon became clear that Barlow’s idea of cooking was picking up a takeout menu, while Susie was a hoarder and had trouble throwing anything away. She still owned two hairdryers that hadn’t worked in years – she was adamant she might need them one day. They were slow
ly making changes to accommodate each other.
Barlow had finished renovating Maguire’s house and was now considering what he wanted to do next. Susie’s jokes about him being her trophy mate were not well received, and he was actually thinking about trying out to be a pack enforcer. His need to provide for his mate overruled how happy it would make his dad if he actually followed in his footsteps of being an enforcer.
Susie and Jules were getting along a little better, though she wasn’t sure if she would ever be close with Lila again. She understood that Helen had left Allen, though Susie felt no triumph about that – she honestly didn’t care what happened to either of them. At least Allen was no longer bothering her to get back with him – no, he knew he was a dead man if he ever set foot in Rose. Barlow made sure he got that message.
In the end, Jules gave the Hawaii trip to Susie. No one actually managed to finish the scavenger hunt, and since she was the bride, she decided she could do what she wanted. Susie’s grandparents were thrilled with the trip, but even more thrilled when she brought Barlow to meet them. He charmed them immediately and cemented his place in their hearts when he fixed their washing machine and repaired their porch swing.
As for now, they were enjoying another Tanner barbeque. They had already eaten, it was only a matter of time before the football game commenced and everything turned to chaos.
“Beer, little darling?” offered Barlow.
Susie took it and smiled in thanks. Barlow slid an arm around her and planted a thorough kiss on her mouth.
“Don’t we get enough of this at home?” grumbled Greyson.
Violet elbowed him. “Ignore him.”
“Always do,” said Barlow, smirking.
Before, Susie had been renting an apartment with two other women. So, to save money for their own place, she and Barlow moved into his dad’s house. Violet was delighted to have them there. Greyson was pleased, too – he just resented the fact that Violet was shy about having sex while they were there. Susie decided not to bother wasting her time being shy. Either she would scream, or she wouldn’t have sex - she chose to scream and let everyone hear her.
Terri joined them with her pups, and Violet eagerly picked up the toddler, Seth and started fussing over what a big boy he was.
“I hate to tell you this,” said Terri looking at Greyson and Barlow, “but Hank is heading your way to recruit you for a game of football.”
Barlow chuckled while Greyson looked eager. Usually, Greyson and Hank were on opposite sides – and they were the worst of the bunch for starting fights.
“Are you sure you want to play?” asked Violet.
Greyson frowned. “Yeah, I always do.”
“Well, I just thought that you know, because we have a moment alone…” She leaned up and whispered into his ear. His eyes changed to amber, and his face lit up.
“No, I can’t play, c’mon sweetheart.”
Greyson urgently set Seth down, who gave him a consternated growl and tugged Violet away.
“Your parents are about to have sex,” whispered Susie, gleefully.
“Might improve his mood,” muttered Barlow.
Candace flew into the kitchen. “Why on earth would you not warn me about the psychotic love-sick pup?!” she growled at Susie before running in the other direction.
“Uhhh…”
A few moments later Eric made his way into the kitchen, a grin on his face.
“Did you see which way Candace went?”
Barlow pointed, and Eric set off after her.
Susie slapped his arm, and he rolled his shoulders.
“What?”
Susie shook her head. He was just pleased that Eric had transferred his affection away from her. Eric had given her up as a lost cause, and when he met Candace – he was instantly smitten.
Candace was considering moving to Rose – she wanted to open up her own candy store, and Adam the Rose alpha wanted her to do it in his town. He was offering to fund it, and she was tempted to say yes. She had been trying to raise money for her shop for years, but her own alpha refused to step in and help and with six younger sisters, there was always some expense that put her back to square one.
“Poor Candace,” laughed Terri as she left with her pups in search of her own mate.
Susie pursed her lips in disapproval.
“She’ll be fine,” said Barlow dismissively. “She can run fast. Besides, what female wouldn’t want to be caught by a Tanner?”
“You’re an idiot,” she said affectionately.
“Your idiot.”
“Mmm, definitely, all mine,” she cooed possessively.
“You know I don’t have to play football either…”
His eyes turned amber as his excitement rose.
“You’re also a mind reader.”
He bent down and kissed her, and she was grateful that she ever had the nerve to talk to him in Vegas. What had started as one night with the wolf, had turned into a lifetime of happiness, and she planned on enjoying every single moment.
The end
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