by Zoe Chant
“In return,” she added hastily, “I won’t even asked why you were jogging naked—you’re not a flasher, are you? Actually, wait, I don’t care. All you have to do is go to that wedding with me. And keep your clothes on!”
“All right,” he said easily, and then smiled at the disbelief on her face.
She was staring at him, eyes wide and mouth open, as if his answer was the last thing she’d expected.
“What,” he asked, tilting his head curiously. “Free food and cake. Who’d say no to such an offer?”
“You haven’t met my family,” she said, and groaned.
Like all bears, Kayden enjoyed good food immensely. But even so, the real reason why he’d immediately agreed to her plan wasn’t the prospect of a wedding cake.
He’d have said yes to anything, even if she’d invited him to tour the local landfill, because she was his mate, and she was gorgeous.
He couldn’t stop staring at her. Her light brown hair was currently pulled back into a ponytail. Her lips were full and red, her cheeks were flushed, and her figure was that of a goddess. Just looking at her made his knees feel weak. The red shirt she wore clung to all of her curves, showing off her generous breasts and curvy hips. He wanted to draw his hands all over those soft, elegant lines of her body, claim her, make her his.
He and his clan had ended up near this small town by chance, but now that he saw his mate, he knew it must have been fate. Maybe it was her presence that had drawn him here.
He’d been looking for a new home. A home where they could be free, without a cruel alpha to rule over their clan. And not only had they found a beautiful forest to settle in, he’d also found his mate.
“Where are your clothes?” she suddenly asked. “And... are you hungry? Where are you staying? And... Oh, sorry! I’m Sidney. Sidney Lewis. My cousin and my best friend are both getting married in two weeks. And I don’t have a date. And—”
He laughed softly. “It’s okay,” he murmured, interrupting her rush of words. “You’ve got a date now. I’m Kayden Hunt. And so far, I’ve been staying out in the forest.”
“Camping?” Sidney immediately began to shake her head. “Oh no. Oh no, that won’t do. Just... stay here,” she commanded, already reaching out for her phone. “I’m going to fix that. You don’t have to worry about a thing, I’ll get all of this organized. All you have to do is—”
“Tell them all I’m your date for the wedding?” He smiled as he watched her spring into action. “Believe me, that won’t be a problem.”
“We met while you were jogging,” she said, then blushed again when she gave him another look and waved her hand. “Or maybe you got lost. Just, you know. With clothes!”
“Noted.” He couldn’t stop smiling as he watched her.
With a grimace, she violently shook her phone until suddenly it beeped and turned on again.
“Oh thank God!” she breathed, then quickly dialed a number. “Auntie May? I’m so sorry, this is an emergency, but I need a room right away, could you ask if—”
Sidney covered the phone and mouthed, “Her neighbor runs a B&B.”
Before Kayden could answer, she was back to rapidly talking on the phone.
“Yes, one of the guests will arrive early. No, we haven’t yet looked at dresses. Yes, my mother just visited. No, I’m not going to—Auntie May, I really can’t—”
Sidney gritted her teeth, finally falling silent as she listened. Then with a fake, cheerful voice, she announced, “Oops, my guest has arrived early! We’ll drive to the B&B now. Thank you so much, Auntie! Love you! Bye!”
Kayden was still chuckling when she slammed the phone back down onto her table. With a pop, the back came off and the battery fell out.
Sidney moaned in despair.
***
The next morning, Kayden found himself sitting at a small table in a cozy little bakery decorated in all the colors of a pastel rainbow. The Linden Creek Bakery, the various cut-out newspaper reports and certificates on the walls proclaimed, had won all the regional contests and various ribbons at the state fair. Apparently it had even starred in a TV show about wedding cakes this summer.
Kayden, who’d been on the run for the past few weeks and who’d spent most days as a bear, sleeping on fir needles curled up with the rest of his clan, was rather overwhelmed by the whole experience.
Fortunately the group of overexcited women he shared the table with seemed used to that reaction to their planning. In any case, there was so much organizing and discussion of colors and fabrics and family relationships going on that Kayden had the time to just lean back in his seat and observe.
It was a bit overwhelming, yes—but it was the good sort of overwhelming. It was the sort of overwhelming you got when families came together who really, truly cared for each other. Right now, it meant that they cared for each other down to the last detail of the decoration on the cupcakes—but for someone who’d just fled the cruelly ruled lands of a despotic alpha bear, it was a change that made Kayden relax for the first time in months.
This was what Kayden wanted for his clan. This normalcy. This care. This happiness.
This was why they had run. This was what they were fighting for.
It was good to be reminded that it was worth all the hardships of their escape.
“Here, try this one!”
When Kayden looked up, he saw a beaming woman serve him a beautifully decorated cupcake.
“That's Eve, one of our two brides,” Sidney pointed out helpfully.
“I can't believe Sidney kept you a secret from us.” Eve laughed and raised her hand to brush her hair out of her face. “So how did you two meet?”
Kayden quickly took a bite of the cupcake, leaving it to Sidney to come up with the story. When she'd driven him to the B&B the day before, they'd agreed on a basic story, but he still made certain to listen attentively as she spoke, just in case he'd have to repeat it later to her relatives.
“He's a hiker. He got lost during a thunderstorm and somehow ended up in my garden.”
“That's quite a detour,” Eve said and laughed. “And how did you cross that creek behind her garden?”
“I stumbled right into it,” Kayden said after he'd swallowed.
While everyone laughed, he reached out to cover Sidney's hand with his own. “It was quite the thunderstorm. But it was also quite a memorable meeting. Perhaps I was meant to get lost.”
“Aw, that's so romantic.” One of the other women sighed. “You're so lucky, Sidney. How come hunky hikers never get lost in my garden?”
Amused, Kayden trailed his fingers over Sidney's hand. Her fingers shifted beneath his own, but she didn't draw away. Emboldened, he drew her hand up to his mouth to press a kiss to it. He'd never felt anything like it before.
Warmth spread through his body. Her scent was driving him insane. The gleaming of her eyes and the dimpling of her cheeks and the way she flushed whenever they touched—nothing could have prepared him for this. He'd seen other shifters find their mates, and he'd always hoped that one day, he would find his own... but he hadn't been able to imagine how right it would feel. How happy it would make him simply to spend time in her company.
It was meant to be, his bear whispered proudly. We led our clan to freedom. We'll claim a territory of our own. And now we'll claim our mate and bring her happiness.
Kayden felt amusement well up inside him. His bear thought that it was so easy...
Kayden might have grown up in a clan that had forbidden the mingling with non-shifters, but Kayden had tried to learn as much as he could about them. He'd used any chance he got to prepare for a life outside of their own heavily-guarded lands.
Fortunately, fate had now given him the perfect chance to get to know Sidney. And from her reaction to him, he was certain that deep in her heart, she knew that he was meant for her as well. He'd never wondered before about how people who weren’t shifters fell in love but now that he saw the way a new light made her eyes gleam whenever thei
r eyes met, he knew that they weren't different after all.
Shifters and humans, they could both love. And fate had already decided for them.
Now he just had to prove to Sidney that he was worthy of her love. Out in the woods, he would have tried to impress her with his strength or tracking skills. But from what he'd overheard of her conversation with her mother and friends, it seemed that Sidney had a different problem he could solve.
He couldn't believe that no one had tried to claim Sidney's heart so far.
Humans are foolish, his bear growled silently.
But Sidney deserved to know how gorgeous she was. And more than that—Sidney deserved to be happy, and Kayden intended to be the best date he could possibly be. If she wanted to make her sister jealous and silence the small town gossip about her non-existent love life, Kayden would make damn sure he'd give them something to talk about for years.
“How's the cake?” Eve asked, beaming down at the two of them.
“Delicious!” Kayden promptly let go of Sidney's hand to take another bite.
“Really, really good,” Sidney agreed. “So is this what we're deciding today?”
Eve nodded and gestured at the selection of cakes on her counter. “You're my guinea pigs today. I want something special for the wedding.”
“You're really going to bake your own wedding cake? Eve, you'll run yourself ragged!” Sidney looked worried for a moment. “When will you sleep?”
Eve sighed deeply. “I know, I know! I really wanted to—”
“But I told her that there's no way I'm going to allow my little Eve to bake her own wedding cake!” A white-haired man had come out from the back of the bakery, and moved towards their little table. He shook Kayden's hand.
“Welcome! I used to own this bakery until Eve took over from me and my wife. But I've always told her that one day, she'd find the right man. And on her wedding day, I'd be there with a cake, even if I have to come out of my retirement.”
Eve wrapped her arms around him, laughing as she pressed a kiss to his cheek. “It wouldn't be a wedding without you! Still, we're going to have to decide on flavors today to make it a little easier for you.”
As Kayden watched in amusement, Eve brought the next cake over from the counter so that her wedding committee could try her creation.
“Salted caramel banana pudding with caramelized walnuts,” she announced cheerfully.
Kayden's smile widened as he leaned forward with his fork. This time, instead of taking a bite himself, he raised it to Sidney's lips. She gave him a startled look, her cheeks flushing brighter. As her friends whooped, she tried the cake Kayden had offered her. Captivated, he watched as her tongue slid along her lips, cleaning away the salted caramel cream.
Then her eyes widened, and she moaned softly as she swallowed.
“Oh my God,” she whispered. “Eve! That is so good! That might just be the best thing I've ever tasted!”
Kayden couldn't look away from her. Sidney was wearing a low-cut silky top that revealed the tantalizing shape of her breasts. He'd watched her throat move as she swallowed. He wondered what it would feel like to press his lips to that spot, to slowly kiss his way downward to the hollow between her collar bones.
Her skin would be hot. He'd be able to feel her pulse beneath his lips. Would it race with excitement for him? Would she push her hands into his hair and squirm beneath him, hoping he'd kiss his way further down?
“Here, you need to try this,” Sidney said, her voice a little breathless.
This time, she used her own fork to offer him a bite. Her friends were giggling softly, but Kayden didn't mind. He wanted them to be jealous of Sidney. He wanted to be the perfect date for her. Because Sidney deserved it. And because she was damn sexy when she flushed at all the attention.
Slowly, he leaned forward for the bite she had offered. “Mmm,” he moaned at the taste of the cream.
Sidney hadn't exaggerated. He'd never tasted anything like it before. It was a perfect blend of flavors—the rich sweetness of the caramel, the hint of salt that perfectly balanced it, the sweet tang of the bananas that melted on his tongue, creamy and smooth.
“It's delicious,” he said hoarsely, his eyes still on Sidney as he swallowed.
She flushed an even deeper red as her friends kept giggling at their flirting. Her eyes were soft, dark with a desire that pulled at Kayden as well. It was as if nature herself had tied them together. It was inescapable, like a storm, like the moon calling the tides, and suddenly this overwhelming love that filled his heart was too much to bear.
Slowly he leaned forward, giving her time to pull away. But Sidney didn't move back. Sidney kept watching him, the gray of her eyes darkening with passion, her lips parting—and then their mouths met.
Somewhere in the background, he heard Eve whoop and her friends cheer—but right now, all of that had ceased to matter.
Sidney's mouth was soft beneath his own. Her lips were warm and they moved against his own, tender and light like the touch of petals. Still, beneath it all there was a surge of passion that was electrifying. One single touch was enough to make his blood rush through his veins, heat rising inside him.
As much as he wanted to make Sidney happy, as much as he wanted to impress her friends and family, the feral bear within him wanted to claim his mate, wanted the taste of her skin and the trembling of her thighs as he claimed her again and again.
He drew back before that need became unbearable. Flushed and out of breath, they looked at each other.
Her eyes were wide. Passion had kindled a light in them, the gray of her pupils the color of storm clouds lit by lightning.
Oh yes, his bear growled.
Kayden had to swallow. If this was what a single kiss caused, he could not wait for the sparks when he finally claimed his mate.
Gently, he reached out to brush a strand of hair back behind her ear while she watched, wide-eyed, her lips swollen and red. And then he became aware of the way the room had suddenly fallen silent.
When they turned around, they were met by grinning faces—and there, in the door, stood a newcomer. The stranger was a woman, tall and with perfectly coiffed white-blonde locks, wearing a white blouse and a pencil skirt so tight that Kayden wondered whether she was able to move in it at all.
“What’s this?” the woman asked and arched an eyebrow.
She sounded affronted, and for a moment, the atmosphere in the cheerful little bakery turned icy.
“Really, Sidney, what a display.” The newcomer sniffed after a moment. “Mom said you had a secret—did you keep silent just so you could make a show out of it?”
Next to Kayden, Sidney now rolled her eyes.
“Kayden, meet Karen,” she said. “My sister.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Kayden drawled, keeping an arm lightly wrapped around Sidney’s shoulder.
As a bear shifter and one of the Iron Fang clan enforcers, Kayden was used to tense situations. Gatherings in cozy bakeries might be new to him, but as soon as Karen had stepped into the picture, Kayden felt in his element.
The sisters might not be bear shifters, but damned if he didn’t recognize the posturing from the many brawls in his clan he’d taken part in.
Karen reminded him of some of the opponents he’d had to defeat. Not that she seemed in any way out for his blood—but there was that intense need for fame and acknowledgment, the jealousy over every perceived slight, the anger at not having the spotlight.
Suddenly Sidney’s desperate lie in front of her mother made sense. No wonder Sidney had decided that she’d rather pretend that a complete stranger was her date than have to bear her sister’s insults.
After a moment, Karen waved her hand. “I just wanted to announce that I have no time for your little party here. Mom called me and she was nearly in tears. It seems that no one offered to help Auntie May when—”
“Actually,” Sidney said and jumped up, “you’ll find that I’ve already driven to Auntie May’s house, col
lected her tablecloths and washed, dried and folded them all. I’ve told Mom three times this week alone. Are you sure you’ve really talked to her?”
Karen’s mouth fell shut as she stared at them.
Kayden used the chance to get up as well, taking hold of Sidney’s hand. “And we’ve also volunteered to collect a load of folding chairs from your uncle. We should better get started on that. Why don’t you take our place and help Eve decide on a cake, Karen? I’m sure she’d appreciate that.”
From the corner of his eye, he saw Sidney mouth salted caramel to Eve.
Eve gave them a little nod, not quite succeeding in biting back her laughter. “You should take the bakery van for the chairs. Just bring it back later today. And thanks for your help, Kayden. I’m glad we got to meet you today. Take good care of Sidney for us!”
Eve threw the keys to Kayden, who caught them right out of the air.
“The best care,” he promised, and pressed another gallant kiss to Sidney’s hand.
Once more her friends cheered while Karen brushed past them with a grim face.
Wedding preparations were something completely new to Kayden. He hadn’t known what to expect. But now he was reassured.
It was exactly the same as the yearly clan meetings of the Iron Fang clan.
Well, no one had gotten drunk enough to singe their fur at the fire yet. Or insulted the mother of a clan Elder by accident. Or lost a game of dice and wound up betrothed to their childhood nemesis.
Somehow, he was excited to see what horrors this human clan meeting would bring instead.
Chapter Three: Sidney
“Sorry I just dragged you right into the middle of that. My family can be intense.” Sidney gave Kayden an apologetic look.
He was driving the van back to her place after they'd filled it with the folding chairs. As he’d worked, he'd folded back the sleeves of his shirt, and now she couldn't stop staring at the hard muscles and tendons in his forearms. He'd carried stacks of chairs as though they weighed nothing. She wondered if he was used to this sort of work. His skin was tanned as if he spent lots of time outside, and there was a long, pale scar crossing his arm.