Bear Naked (Midnight Liaisons)

by Sims, Jessica

  “Leif,” I said softly. “Stop making me sound so self-sacrificing.”

  It was like he wasn’t listening to me. “You say that you were using me, but every touch you give me, every caress, is so full of love and caring. That’s not using someone.”

  “I love you,” I said softly, pressing my face against his neck again. “I love you so much.”

  “I love you too, ‘Lina,” he murmured. “You’re the only reason I came back.”

  And because we were back, things were miserable. “I don’t know what to do,” I told him. My hands smoothed up and down his back, enjoying the feel of his warm skin against mine. “I feel like if we stay, they’re going to do their best to make sure we’re as miserable as they are.”

  “I don’t think you’re wrong about that.”

  I knew I wasn’t. The clan elders loved control more than anything else. If they had to crush the life out of the rest of us to ensure that they kept that control? They’d do it. Even my own father didn’t have my back. He wouldn’t let me move out, and had even taken my truck from the airport, all because he wanted to keep me under his own control.

  For the first time in my life, it made me angry.

  I’d cheerfully gone along with it for so long, thinking that I was the problem, the unlovable one. All this time, they’d let me think that, because it kept me subdued and under their thumbs.

  No longer.

  “Sometimes I think Ramsey was the lucky one,” I told Leif. “At least he got away from their head games.”

  “Do you think he’s lucky?” Leif asked. “He left you behind.”

  Sweet man. I squeezed him in a hug, and nestled closer. I thought of Ramsey again, of the unhappy teenager he’d been. I wondered if he was as miserable now that he was part of the Paranormal Alliance in the south. Now that he had a little she-wolf for a mate. I’d tried to join the Alliance in the hopes that there would have been another were-bear out there that we hadn’t known about, but my father had found out that I’d contacted the Alliance and shut that avenue down.

  He liked me being single and lonely, I realized. If I’d never gone into heat, he would have been fine with me being alone all my life. I frowned at the thought.

  And then I sat up, thinking hard.

  Leif’s bright blue gaze searched my face. “What is it?”

  “If I leave, would you follow me? Even though it means leaving your family behind again?”

  Leif’s smile was beautiful to see. “You’re the only reason I’m here. My family is with you. You, and whoever we have growing in here.” His hand brushed my stomach.

  A burst of love shot through me, and I leaned forward and kissed Leif on the mouth, hard. “You’re wonderful, you know that?”

  He grinned and kissed me again. “So what’s the plan, love?”

  “I think we’ll pay Ramsey a visit.”

  To say that my father wasn’t pleased by our decision was an understatement. Actually, my father wasn’t pleased with anything that involved me. He’d seen me come out of the woods, hand in hand with my mate, and had tried to send Leif away again.

  We’d ignored him.

  When his bluster didn’t work, he threatened to call Leif’s father, citing that Leif’s refusal to obey simply showed his mental illness and suggested that the elders wouldn’t look well upon this.

  For the first time in my life, I realized it was an empty threat. I didn’t care what the elders thought of us. If they wanted to separate us, I wanted no part of being in the clan any longer.

  So we ignored my father and went to my garage apartment to get my things and dress. My hands trembled as we did, but Leif’s strong presence at my side made things easier.

  With Leif at my side, I could do anything.

  I packed light - there wasn’t all that much I needed, really. My laptop for work, clothes to change into, and some personal toiletries. My phone. My savings account had been tapped out due to my Antarctic trip, but Leif told me he had an IRA he’d planned to use for college that had been accumulating money all this time. It would be more than enough to cover anything we needed when we got to our new home.

  A new home. Strange, how invigorating and freeing that sounded.

  Leif had one bag - a backpack - that was sitting on my front porch. He’d apparently come with intentions of not leaving my side again. I’d adored the sight of that, and kissed him long and hard out of pleasure.

  God, I loved that man.

  When my car was packed up with the last of my possessions, my father showed up again with Gunnar Ludvik in tow. “What do you think you’re doing, Niko?” Father asked in an angry voice as he saw the boxes in the back of my little sedan.

  “I’m leaving with Leif,” I said.

  “Leaving?” He sputtered. “Do you want to be exiled like this fool you mated?”

  “Fool?” Gunnar asked, turning an angry face toward my father. “My son is not a fool. You brought me here to talk sense into the boy, not to insult him.”

  “He is leading my sweet daughter to ruin!” My father roared.

  “Am I?” Leif murmured at my side, amused. “Have I corrupted you?”

  “Only the parts I wanted corrupted,” I told him with a cheeky grin. Now that we’d made our decision, I felt so light. So…free. So happy. Why couldn’t I see how the clan’s ridiculous rules was smothering me? Without them, the world seemed full of possibility once more.

  “You cannot go,” my father demanded, charging forward. “Your elders forbid it.”

  “And if we go,” Leif asked, coming to stand in front of me protectively when my father approached. “What will you do? Exile us?”

  “This will be no turning back for you, son,” Gunnar said in a low, sad voice. “Are you sure this is what you want?”

  Leif looked to me. I knew if I said the word, he’d stay…because he loved me. He’d be willing to put up with their bullshit all to make me happy. Such a wonderful man. I felt so lucky. So I simply smiled and nodded at him. He winked at me, then turned back to his father. “I’m sure.”

  Gunnar drew his son in for a long hug, and murmured something in his ear. Then he clapped his back and released him. “If I cannot stop you, then so be it.”

  Leif patted his father on the shoulder, and then stuck his hand out to my father to shake. “Mr. Aasen.”

  My father glared at Leif, then looked at me again. “You’re making a mistake, Nikolina. You will be exiled—“

  I ran forward and impulsively kissed my father on the cheek. “Bye, Daddy. Wish us luck.”

  “Never!” His face was turning beet red. “You stop this right now! You—“

  We ignored him and climbed into my car. The two elders stared at us as we backed out of the driveway and pulled onto one of the side roads that would lead to the highway…and eventually out of the Ozark Mountains.

  Leif was watching me as I drove. His hand went to my thigh, a caress of support. “You okay?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “Actually, I am.” My father would be upset right now, but eventually he’d calm down enough to talk. And there were phones for those sorts of things. I felt free, and light…and happy. “It’s a long drive to Texas, though.”

  “I’m glad I’ve got good company,” Leif told me.

  I grinned, and headed down the road. “So what did your father say to you when he hugged you?”

  “He said for me to get settled, and then to let him know where we were at, and he would join us. He’s tired of the games, too.”

  I laughed out of pure joy.

  When we pulled into the parking lot at Midnight Liaisons, it was pitch black outside. The strip mall storefront was lit up, and I knew they were open late hours. They had to be, considering some of the clients were nocturnal.

  “What is this place?” Leif asked with a yawn.

  “Dating agency,” I told him.

  His eyebrows wrinkled as he considered this. “So why are we here?”

  “Because I think they have Ramsey’s
address.” I leaned over and gave him a long, lingering kiss. “Wait for me here?”

  “I’d wait for you forever. You know that, right?”

  God, that man. I was totally going to eat him up when we stopped for the evening. I gave him another fierce kiss before climbing out of the car. We could always get a hotel for the night. I wanted nothing more than to claw Leif’s clothing off and throw him down on the nearest bed…but we were so close to our destination that it seemed silly to stop now.

  I entered the small dating agency office and sniffed the air. Smelled like humans. For a moment, I wasn’t sure I was in the right place.

  “Hi there,” said a peppy blonde, standing up behind a nearby desk covered in pink supplies. “I’m Ryder. Can I help you?”

  “I’m looking for the shifter dating agency,” I said bluntly. “This the right place?” She smelled human, but the moon logo on the back wall was throwing me off.

  “That’s us,” she said cheerily. “You need me to help you find the right man - or woman - of your dreams?”

  “Actually, I need the address of Ramsey Bjorn.”

  Her cheery look faded just a touch. “I can’t really give out information on our clients. I—“

  “I’m Nikolina Aasen,” I said to her. “His betrothed. I’ve come down from the bear clans to get him.”

  It was pleasant to see her eyes bug out, just a little. She blinked at me for a moment, then typed something into the computer.

  “Aasen has two A’s,” I said helpfully.

  She looked over at me, and I watched her type again, noticing she hammered down on the ‘A’ key twice. She was searching my name. A moment later, she peered at her screen, then at me.

  “Oh shit.” She looked terrified.

  “So can I have his address? I’d like to say hello to an old friend.” I didn’t bother to tell her that I had a mate. She was human, so she couldn’t see the mate mark on my neck, and it’d be easier to get information out of her if she thought I still had a connection with the other were-bear.

  Ryder hesitated for a moment, then pulled out a bright pink post-it. She scribbled something on it with a glittery pen, then ripped the post-it off and held it out to me. “You totally did not get this information from me.”

  I smiled at her. “Thank you.”

  “And if you’re murdered by a tiny little she-wolf, just keep my name out of it.” Ryder gave me a pained smile.

  I laughed. I was six foot tall and could shift into bear form. I could handle a werewolf. “I haven’t been here.”

  “Exactly.”

  It was almost another hour before we pulled onto a gravel road out in the middle of the country. In the distance, a large Victorian loomed, every light on in the house despite the late hour.

  “Something tells me that we’re expected,” Leif mused.

  “I’m guessing the little human made a phone call after I left,” I told him. “She looked like she was a bit freaked out.”

  “Then we’ll go to the door together.”

  That sounded fine to me. We got out of the car and I inhaled the crisp night air. Texas smelled different than Arkansas. Less lush, but more grassy. It was a smell I could get used to. Leif’s scent wafted toward me, and my hand slid into his. He was my favorite scent, I decided. I moved closer to him and we approached the house together.

  It was a cute house, in a sprawling, antique-ish sort of way, though I caught the faint scent of new lumber and fresh paint….and the smell of were-bear and wolf, all over the grounds. I wrinkled my nose at the doggy scent. Bears smelled so much cleaner, at least to my nose.

  Before we could take one step onto the porch, the front door opened. A man stepped out.

  Ramsey didn’t look like I’d remembered. Whereas Leif was all lean, corded muscle from the harsh island living and probably days of missing meals, Ramsey was like a chunk of concrete. He was thick and broad. His hair was long and brushed his collar, and three days growth of blond beard shadowed his hard face. He was also frowning quite fiercely at the sight of me.

  “Hi, Ramsey,” I began.

  A small, pink-haired female lunged out the door, and I barely caught a glimpse of flailing arms and legs as she tried to bodily launch herself at me, only to be snagged by Ramsey, mid-air. “Let me at her,” the little she-wolf snarled. “She can’t have you! I’ll claw her eyes out! I—“

  “Sara,” Ramsey said in a low, gruff voice that brought back painful teenage memories. Memories of parents shoving us together and forcing us to talk to each other, since we were betrothed. Wow. I hadn’t realized how uncomfortable I’d been all those times until I heard Ramsey’s voice.

  My hand tightened on Leif’s and I was suddenly glad things had turned out the way they had. To think I’d once been sad that Ramsey had left me a spinster and we’d never marry. Now I was glad that things happened the way they did.

  I’d simply been waiting for Leif all my life.

  “She’s not taking me from you,” Ramsey said to the small female squirming in his arms. His voice was patient and even loving. It was kind of cute.

  So was the fact that Leif had stepped in front of me the moment she’d lunged forward. He was so sweet.

  “I just want to talk with Ramsey,” I said, linking an arm around Leif’s waist and pulling my body against his back in a possessive movement. “My mate and I have been exiled from the bear clan and we wanted to talk to another were-bear that’s left them behind.”

  The woman — Sara — stopped squirming in Ramsey’s arms. “Did she just say ‘mate?’” she whispered.

  Ramsey grunted in something that sounded like agreement.

  “Oh.” She patted his side. “Put me down, Huggy Bear. I’m good now.”

  He did, and I watched as the woman - goodness, she was a tiny thing - straightened her clothing and smoothed her short, wild pink hair. She was wearing jeans and a t-shirt that said GAMER GIRLS DO IT WITH JOYSTICKS and when she looked at me, she studied me with that same wary look.

  I pushed one of my thick blonde braids aside and revealed my neck and the mate mark there.

  Immediately, a smile blossomed on Sara’s face. She gestured for us to approach. “Well, don’t just stand there. Come on in!”

  Ramsey snorted, though his hand went to his mate’s neck and he pulled her against him and gave the top of her head a kiss.

  My fingers tightened on Leif’s hand, but we went into the house.

  The interior had an interesting shabby chic to it. There were shelves of gaming books and code books, and what looked like an entire shelf of various computer games. A big TV hung on a back wall, and the entertainment center below it was crammed with gaming consoles. There were ratty, comfy couches scattered in the living room, and at the far end, I could see what looked like a study that was set up with two big computers side by side.

  Someone here was clearly into computers. Ramsey? That didn’t seem like the man I remembered, but maybe he’d changed in the years that he’d been gone.

  “Nice place,” I said politely.

  “My Huggy Bear made it for me,” Sara said in a cheery voice. As she passed by Ramsey, she grabbed his ass and squeezed. “Made a den for his mate. Isn’t that sweet?” When Ramsey sat down on one end of the couch, she immediately crawled into his lap.

  Possessive little thing. I bit back my laugh. I did not want Ramsey. Not when I had Leif. “Very sweet.”

  Leif sat down on one of the couches opposite Sara and Ramsey, and tugged on my hand so I’d sit down next to him. I didn’t need coaching - every moment I could spend with Leif was a wonderful one, and I was all for it.

  “So what brings you two here and so late at night?”

  “We just left the clan and didn’t have anywhere else to go,” Leif said. “My mate wanted to come and see Ramsey.”

  “Oh?” Sara tried to keep her tone light, but I could hear the concern in it.

  “Yes,” I said, and was unable to resist needling her. “I thought I’d come and talk wi
th him about his apology.”

  Immediately, Ramsey’s arm snaked around Sara’s waist, holding her down.

  Leif squeezed my hand. “That was naughty of you,” he murmured.

  “Apology?” Ramsey asked. Not a man of many words, that Ramsey. So he hadn’t changed that much since when I’d known him before.

  “Yeah. For years I dreamed of making Ramsey apologize for leaving me a spinster. I resented him for a really, really long time. A long, long time,” I said, smiling. “But then I found Leif, and I realized that Ramsey’s leaving was the best thing that could have happened to me.” I looked over at Leif’s blue eyes and beamed, my heart full of love. “And so I wanted to come and tell him that. That I was okay.”

  “I’m glad,” Ramsey said in a gruff voice.

  Sara stiffened in his arms. “That so? Because I—“

  He silenced her with a quick kiss, then said, “Felt guilty for her. Not for me.”

  “Oh.” Sara blushed and looked over at me. “I understand.”

  “Was it hard for you to leave?” I asked Ramsey. So far, I had no regrets but I wondered if they’d kick in later.

  “I have never looked back,” Ramsey said after a long moment. Then, he added, “But I felt bad I ruined your life.”

  “Not ruined at all,” I said, and squeezed Leif’s hand again. “I have my mate, and we’re expecting a child. All we need is a home.”

  “Home is where you make it,” Ramsey said.

  “That’s right,” I said, surprised to hear Leif’s words echoed in the fellow exile. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.

  “A baby?” Sara’s face softened. “A baby bear? That is so cute.” She patted Ramsey’s arm that was linked tight at her waist. “We should let them stay in the cabin. Just until they get on their feet.”

  “Oh,” I said quickly. “We didn’t come to impose. I just wanted to reconnect with Ramsey. He’s the only kin that Leif and I have now.”