Lucas gently pulled out of me and sat me back on the counter. He planted his hands on either side of me and hung his head against my shoulder. I watched curiously as my nail marks slowly healed themselves from his back.
“Jesus. What was that?” he breathed.
I stroked his hair absently. “I don’t know.”
He lifted his head and stared at me. “You’re my mate.”
I raised my eyebrows. “What?”
He pulled his hand down his face roughly and shook his head. “It makes sense. Holy shit. Holy shit!”
I scooted off of the counter and grabbed at the towel I’d hung up. “What are you talking about, Lucas?”
He suddenly laughed and then grabbed me again. He pulled me to him and kissed me hard on the mouth before pulling back. “I thought Mallory could be my mate. But, it’s you.”
Apprehension filled my stomach. “What’s a mate?”
“A mate. Soulmate. Bears find their mates, their one and only, if they’re lucky, and they claim them and then they live happily ever after.”
“And you thought Mallory was yours?”
He nodded, not noticing that I was starting to get upset. “Yeah. I went searching for her, and then you showed up on my doorstep.”
I gulped in a big breath. “You went looking for her?”
He hesitated, as if sensing I wasn’t feeling the slightest ounce of the joy he seemed to be feeling. “I thought maybe she was my mate. But, it wasn’t about her. I just needed a mate because of this thing with my father’s will.”
My heart ached, and then I was pissed. I was pissed because I didn’t want to feel anything for him. Where was this heartbreak coming from? He’d been out looking for Mallory, the woman he thought was his soulmate.
Jealousy reared its ugly head and I stomped out of the bathroom and into the bedroom. I suddenly wanted to be as far from him as possible.
Lucas wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me into his chest. “What’s wrong?”
I shrugged him off and grabbed the clothes Elizabeth had brought for me. “Get out.”
“Whoa. What happened?”
I didn’t want to be jealous of Mallory. I’d grown to like her. She’d finally cleaned up and started getting her act together. She was trying to be a good mom to Mason. Yet, when he said he thought she was his mate just now, I’d wanted to time travel backward and rip her hair clean out of her head. What the hell was wrong with me? I should be ashamed thinking such thoughts about a dead woman.
“Get out of this room. I am not some poor man’s Mallory. Some sad, sorry, second choice. Thanks for the fuck. Thanks for taking my mind off of everything. Now, GET. OUT.”
He actually looked hurt and that made me feel terrible. Which pissed me off even more. He still wasn’t moving, so I opened the door and then pushed him out of the room using all of my strength. After he was out, I slammed the door shut and locked it.
In the quiet of the room, without Lucas standing there looking at me, I could finally think again. Unfortunately, my thoughts didn’t make me feel any better.
I got dressed and went downstairs to find Mason. I just wanted to hug him and forget about what I’d just done. I’d taken a few minutes in my room to try to make sense of what had happened, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t grasp onto any logic that made sense of any of it. It wasn’t like me to have sex with someone I just met. It definitely wasn’t like me to have sex with someone I just met minutes before sitting down to breakfast with his family.
I hadn’t even been upset when Lucas had started talking about soulmates. I got upset that he thought I was a good backup choice. My emotions were all over the place, and this wasn’t like me at all. I had always been cool, steady, and level-headed.
Loud voices echoed from the kitchen and I groaned when I thought of all the people that were in there. I just wanted to go back up and hide in my room with Mason.
“Come on in here, Sammie. We all heard that.” Alex called.
I looked up at the ceiling and shook my head. Life was just getting stranger and stranger.
CHAPTER 8: Lucas
Sammie walked into the kitchen and I snapped a chunk off of Mom’s wooden dining table. I’d been holding onto it out of frustration, but seeing her in the tiny dress and smelling my scent on her sent me overboard.
Mom spotted the chunk in my hand and shrieked. “Lucas! Not my table! Dammit! You boys. This is why I should’ve had more girls. Look what you did!”
I winced. “Sorry, Mom.”
Alex snorted. “And the plot thickens.”
Elizabeth giggled when she saw Sammie coming in. “Oh, Sammie. I accidentally gave you a mini-dress. I didn’t realize how much taller than me you are.”
Sammie shrugged. “It’s okay. Thank you for the dress. I’ll have to be careful when I sit or bend, but it’s still nice.”
Michael turned to look and I let out a vicious growl. “Keep your eyes to yourself, little brother.”
He raised his eyebrows at me. “You’re serious?”
I glared at him. “Deadly.”
Sammie noticed the empty seat next to me and then went to stand in the kitchen with Mom. She wouldn’t even meet my eyes and it was driving me crazy. “Where’s Mason?”
Mom grinned. “He’s playing with Bailey. Come see.”
I gritted my teeth and made myself stay where I was. I wasn’t going to push her. I groaned. I’d fucked up. I hadn’t even realized what I’d said until I was out of her room. She had every right to be pissed at me, but I still didn’t like it.
“How did you fuck that one up so royally, brother?” Alex pulled Elizabeth into his lap and laughed at me.
I got up, forgetting about my decision to give Sammie space. “It wasn’t hard, believe it or not.”
I followed her scent into the small playroom behind the kitchen and found her sitting next to Mason on the floor. She was tickling him behind the ears and whispering to him that she was going to tickle him until he told her all of his secrets. My heart felt like it grew a couple of sizes in my chest. That could be my family. That would be my family. No way was I going to let her slip through my fingers.
I sat down next to them and focused on my son. I wanted to will him to change back to a little boy. I wanted to see the signs that he was comfortable enough here. He’d already made progress, just in letting Mom hold him, and my sister Bailey play with him. I wanted to be able to bond with him as a man, but if it took me being a bear, I’d do it.
I stripped out of my clothes and then shifted. My bear immediately moved closer to Sammie and nuzzled her hand, where it was resting on her lap. My nuzzling was a little rough and forceful and she tipped backwards, laughing.
“You silly bear. You’re a little bigger than me.” She sat back up and gently stroked my fur. “Don’t think this means that I’m not mad at you anymore. It just means that I’m a sucker for bears. You two are just really cute like this.”
I gently nipped at her fingers and she popped me right on the nose. Mason watched us and rolled over onto his back, making a laughing sound. Sammie caught on and waited until Mason was watching again to lightly swat me.
I moved to his side and ran my nose across his little belly before gently nipping him and then moving to the other side of the room in a game of chase. He ran after me, knocking over everything in his way. Bailey quickly shifted, and Mom followed, and then the game moved from the playroom to the kitchen and then out the front door. I heard Alex give a mighty whoop and run after us.
Before long we were all in the yard, chasing each other. I stuck close to Mason and let him catch me a few times before chasing after him. He was fast for his age and gave me his all. I’d never felt prouder of anything in my life. This amazing little life had come from me. My heart ached for how many years and how much time I’d missed with him, but I’d make it up to him. He’d never have to worry about anything again.
I felt Sammie watching us from the porch and stood on my hind legs to get her
attention. I let out a mighty roar and hit my chest, showing her how much of an idiot I could really be. She shook her head, but when she looked away, I saw a smile on her lips. I was going to win over my son and Sammie too. There was no turning back.
I smelled Matt coming up the drive and turned to him just as he was stripping down to shift and join the fun. He tackled me to the ground and we rolled into Alex, taking him down with us. Michael stood off to the sidelines, watching. I felt my brother’s pain in that moment and crawled out from under Matt to go to him.
Michael wasn’t much for shifting, not for fun. It had been years since he shifted for anything other than emergency situations. An accident when he was younger had scarred him, physically and mentally. We were all still connected to one another in our own way, though, and I felt the unhappiness rolling off of him in waves.
I stood up in front of him, watching him as he frowned at me. I huffed and then shoved him by the shoulder. My bear wanted our brother to play.
“Knock it off, Luc.” He ground his teeth together and then turned and headed off in long strides.
I roared at him and then heard the same noise come from below me. I looked down at Mason and forgot my brother’s troubles for the moment. My son was trying to imitate me.
Sammie came towards us, holding berries. “Look what I found for my bears.”
Mason ran towards her and reached for the berries, but she held them over his head and shook her finger at him. “That’s not how we take food from humans. Unless you want to eat my fingers, too.”
Mason made a gagging sound and gave his own little huff at her.
“What? You want to eat my fingers?! This little bear is a wild man!” She leaned down and tickled his belly. “If you eat my fingers, how will I tickle you?”
He laughed and then suddenly, Mason wasn’t a bear anymore. My jaw dropped as I watched him become a scrawny little kid with shaggy brown hair and the gangliest looking limbs I’d ever seen.
Sammie dropped the berries she was holding and screamed. She scooped him up and held him tightly to her chest. I watched with my heart in my hand as the biggest tears I’d ever seen rolled down her cheeks and her body shook from her silent sobs.
“I don’t want to eat your fingers, Sammie. You’re silly.”
I shifted back and almost fell to my knees. Seeing him as bear was one thing, but seeing him as a little boy knocked the air out of my lungs. I ran over to them and pulled them both into my arms. Mason struggled against being smothered by us, but it quickly turned into a bout of giggles.
CHAPTER 9: Sammie
“What’s so funny, boy?” Lucas’s voice shook with unshed tears and I had to remember to keep breathing. Everything in me was overwhelmed with emotion and feelings that I couldn’t make sense of.
“You’re naked and you’re hugging Sammie.”
I felt my cheeks turn red and lightly pulled out of his embrace. I sat Mason down and cupped his soft cheeks in my hands. “I’ve missed your little boy face so much.”
He moved into the touch, smiling at me. “You smell good, Sammie.”
I fell to my knees and held him against my chest. I kissed his head and cheeks and said of prayer of thanks all over again that nothing had happened to him. “You smell good, too.”
He suddenly pulled away and frowned. “You’re crying.”
I touched my face and realized that I was. So much for keeping it together. As excited as I was about Mason being a little boy again, I couldn’t help but think about what it meant for me. I would have to leave him, return to work. I would show my boss that he was okay and with his father and then I’d have to go home. Away from Mason. Away from Lucas. The thought sent a pain through me that was so harsh it felt like a dagger in my chest. I whimpered.
Lucas knelt beside me and stroked my face, almost the same way I was stroking Mason’s. “What’s wrong?”
I felt another breakdown coming on and realized I had to get away from them. I didn’t want Mason to see me sobbing. “Mason, why don’t you play with your Daddy some more? I’ve got to go check on something.”
He looked like he wanted to argue, but finally nodded. “Okay, Sammie.”
I stood up and hurried inside before Lucas could stop me. I didn’t fail to notice that we’d had an audience for that whole show and it just fueled me to make it to my room even faster.
I shoved the door closed behind me and threw myself on the bed like I was in some bad teenage drama. I wanted to keep it together, but everything was too much. I cried for what Mason had endured, I cried for Mallory whose life ended far too soon, and I cried for Aaron, a fine man who would be sorely missed.
I didn’t know how I was supposed to go back to doing my job without Aaron at my side. We’d worked together since I joined the Marshals. He’d become my best friend pretty much instantly. He had a wife, and a young baby that would grow up without him. Their loss was much greater than mine, so I cried for them, too.
When I thought I’d cried everything that I had out, my thoughts turned to my leaving Mason. And Lucas. My chest ached and I rolled over in my bed. Staring at the ceiling, I blew out a rough breath and tried to make sense of what I was feeling about Lucas.
Any anger I’d felt towards him had dissipated when he’d nearly cried over Mason. I was still hurt that he thought of me as second-best. I didn’t even fully know what it meant, though.
I groaned and pulled a pillow over my face, just as someone knocked on the door.
“It’s me, Elizabeth. Can I come in?”
I sat up and called for her to come in.
She crept into the room and smiled at me before shutting the door. “Hi. You okay?”
I nodded, embarrassed. “I must be getting my period.”
“Or you’ve got a shit-ton going on and you’ve had a really hard time lately. Don’t minimize your feelings, Sammie.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re right. I’m not getting my period. I’m just a hot mess.”
She sat on the bed and pulled her feet under herself. “Talk to me. I’m a great listener.”
So I talked. I told her everything that had gone on and all the reasons I had for releasing my tension through tears. By the time I got to the end, I was standing and ranting around the room like a lunatic.
“And then he said he’d thought that Mallory was his mate. But now he thinks it’s me. I guess now that she’s dead? I don’t even really know what that’s supposed to mean, but I do know that I don’t like coming in second place.”
She rolled her eyes. “He’s an idiot. If he said you’re his mate, then you’re his mate. You’re not second to anyone. That’s not how it works. They, shifters, know immediately when someone is their mate. She’ll smell different, everything will feel different, and it’s like they can’t keep their hands off of her. And, speaking from personal experience, being the human counterpart is almost as intense. As soon as I met Alex, I didn’t even wait a whole two hours before we were rolling around in the sack.”
My cheeks burned and she laughed. “Yeah, we all know you slept with him already. Bears have insanely great hearing.”
I gasped. “No!”
She laughed even harder. “Yep. That’s what I’m saying, though. No judgement. It’s insane how the mate bond works. It’s virtually instantaneous.”
“Then why did he think Mallory was his mate?”
She rolled her eyes again, so far back in her head that I was afraid they’d get stuck facing the wrong way. “When their Dad died, he left this crazy will that said that the first son to have an offspring inherited control of the ranch. I don’t know if Lucas just hoped Mallory was his mate, or what. It was weird. He just left one day and said that he was going to find her. None of us knew what to make of it.”
I groaned, surprising myself. “I hate that he went looking for her.”
Elizabeth grinned. “That’s the mate bond. You become insanely jealous. When I see a woman look at Alex, I can’t help visualize myself scratchi
ng her eyes out.”
“This is all too much. What do I do about it?”
“You just… accept it and deal with it. Life gifted you with a soulmate who was made just for you. Fate sent you to one another. That’s pretty special. You shouldn’t ignore it.”
I didn’t think I had a choice. “I can’t stay here.”
She stood up and stretched. “Then maybe you can stay at Lucas’s house.”
I started to correct her, but she cut me off. “I know what you meant, but I’m unwilling to lose a partner in crime. Leila is too hormone-crazy right now. I need a sane counterpart.”
“I don’t know what’s going to happen, Elizabeth.”
She nodded. “It’ll work out. Mates are bound together by larger forces than our own silly fears and anxieties. Alex would move mountains to get to me. Just like Matt would move mountains for Leila. Just like Lucas will move mountains for you. No matter how big you build them.”
She moved towards the door. “Come downstairs soon. You don’t want to miss time with that cute little boy running around down there.”
CHAPTER 10: Lucas
I could barely stand it. Sammie spent the rest of the day avoiding me. No matter what I did, when I got close to her, she moved away. I was ready to throttle her, just to get her to look at me. She’d busied herself with Mason, coddling him until I’d wanted to scream. I was actually jealous of a four-year-old.
When she’d stood up later that night and said she was going to bed, I stood up to follow her, but Alex caught my arm. “We need to talk, bro.”
I growled at him and watched as Sammie quickly disappeared up the stairs with Mason hot on her heels. The boy was in love with her. He stared at her with so much adoration that everyone noticed. All day long, there’d been the comments about how attached he was to her.
Rancher Bear Complete Series: PLUS NEW BONUS BOOK: Rancher Bears' Merry Christmas Page 13