Bear With Me

by TJ Cross

  “Look,” I started, “This whole mating thing. I get it. I understand it. But I can’t accept it. Not now.”

  I can’t even begin to explain the look of hurt that flooded August’s face.

  “What?” he stammered. “I don’t understand. I thought you felt…”

  I shook my head, “I do. I do feel it. But I can’t. I’m a tiger. Being alone is intrinsic to my nature. It’s encoded in my DNA.”

  “What does that mean?” August barked, a scowl taking shape on his face. He was a bear, I remembered, and bears angered easily.

  I spent a few seconds collecting my thoughts, trying to find the best way to explain it to him. “I’m a transient. I move from one place to the next, no attachments. I don’t have the time or desire to lay down roots, to raise cubs.”

  August threw up his hands. “Is that all? Seriously? We can’t do this…this - whatever this is - because you don’t want to stay where you are? Because you have a need to move from one place to the next?”

  I nodded. He’d pretty much nailed it.

  August laughed. Deep and long, a laugh that had him shaking and in tears.

  “Fate is cunning,” he finally managed between chuckles, and I stared at him in confusion. It was my turn to get an explanation.

  “What are you talking about?” I asked flatly.

  August stood and walked toward the door, his hands planted on his head. He turned back to me and smiled. “I can’t stay here either. I need freedom. Freedom to roam, and run, and just be. I left my home, my family, my clan. And I’m not turning back. I hadn’t planned it all out, but I knew that I’d be moving from one place to the next, never staying anywhere too long. If I do, they’ll find me, and I can’t go back.”

  There was a sudden tightness in my chest and I felt myself being drawn toward him. If what he was saying was true, there really was no reason for us to be apart. There was no reason for us to not be mates. Fate, for whatever reason, had decided to bring us together, at this exact moment, because I was the escape that he needed. I shook my head in disbelief.

  “Okay then,” I said, standing up and walking toward him. “Let’s do this then. Let’s go, let’s run. Let’s get you as far away from here as possible, and let’s be together. God knows I can’t convince my tiger to stay away from you.”

  August smiled at me, his eyes sparkling in a way that sent shivers down my spine. For as long as I could remember, I never wanted to be with anyone. Never wanted to be tied down or connected to anyone. But here, now, it didn’t seem like I had a choice.

  August was my mate, and that fact was at least worth exploring.

  AUGUST

  I was more than a little excited when Rhys offered to drive. For starters, as much as I loved my car and loved the feeling of driving, sometimes I just wanted to sit back, watch the scenery, and relax. And besides, it was kind of hot watching him handle the stick.

  Rhys said that he’d spent some time in Europe a few years back and had done some sports car racing over there. He’d driven an orange Ferrari for some uber-rich Italian guy that he’d seduced. The last part I didn’t necessarily need to know, but that didn’t stop me from being a little impressed. Apparently, he’d been globe-trotting for the better part of his life. Which, honestly, made sense.

  While I didn’t know much about tiger shifters, I did know something about tigers themselves. Tigers were solitary creatures, often spending their time wandering alone. They rarely, if ever, settled down in one place or with one person. It made sense that tiger shifters would be similar. After all, I was more like a bear at times than I cared to admit. Fortunately, Rhys didn’t seem to mind that. Not yet anyways.

  And hopefully never, I thought. All things considered.

  To be honest, I hadn’t expected him to let me join him on the road. I half-expected him to dismiss my declarations of Fate, but he hadn’t. He knew, just as well as I did, that this feeling was unmistakable. It was raw, primal, and real, and there was nothing that could stand in its way. That’s how fated mates worked, after all. Or so I’d heard.

  Back in Black Canyon, fated mates weren’t even considered. There’d been a time, sure, long ago when the bear clans mated by choice, rather than through prearranged ceremonies. At some point, however, the wealthier clans had decided to play God, and the rest was history.

  I sighed, thinking back on it. My father, I imagined, would be furious if he knew what I’d been up to. If he’d known that I’d found my actual mate, rather than the one he’d decided that I’d have. Not to mention the fact that I was performing all sorts of “abhorrent” behaviors.

  Ouch. The memory of him saying those things to me still stung, even now, a few days after having abandoned my ancestral home. It was one thing to disapprove of my sexual preferences, it was something else entirely to tell me, to my face, that I was behaving the same way an abomination might. I couldn’t help it, couldn’t change it. I was who I was. And he’d never understand.

  I shook my head, dismissing the thoughts and turned my attention to the world outside my Camaro.

  We were driving north, still east of the Appalachian Mountains and nearing the northern Virginia border. The scenery was beautiful, complete with wondrous green hills and trees that seemed to go on forever. It was the furthest I’d ever been from home, and the further we drove, the more at ease I was with my decision.

  “Are we headed anywhere in particular?” I asked after a while, my stomach starting to growl.

  Rhys smiled at me, “Why, you got plans?”

  I chuckled. “As if. Just curious as to whether or not I’m going to be eating anytime soon. I’m a bear, remember? Crackers aren’t going to cut it.”

  “Point taken,” Rhys started. “It won’t be much further now. We’re getting pretty close, actually.”

  I sat up at that, searching the horizon for any sign of where we might be headed. Taking notice of my scanning, Rhys reached over and put a hand on my leg, rubbing my upper thigh gently, and sending my little soldier to immediate attention. It was insane how my body reacted to his touch. I still barely knew Rhys, but I absolutely craved him. I needed him. Needed his touch, his presence, his breath, his kiss, his love. All of it.

  After a few more miles, I saw a small outcropping of buildings on the horizon. It was a small development, maybe a few houses centered around a larger structure. From what I could tell, there was really nothing there at all. That couldn’t be where Rhys was taking us, could it?

  “There it is,” Rhys said, as if in answer to my thoughts. “Good ol’ D and D.”

  I looked at him, puzzled. “D and D?”

  “Darrel and Darla’s. It’s a bed and breakfast. Very cozy.” He winked at me. “And the beds aren’t half bad either.”

  I blushed at that. “You’re taking me to a bed and breakfast?”

  Rhys nodded. “There’s a diner inside that serves lunch and dinner too. Best brisket this side of the mountains.”

  After a few minutes, we pulled up in front of the larger structure - which I could now tell was the bed and breakfast proper - and parked. I climbed out of the car and did my best to stretch, easing out the muscles that had been so cramped up from the long drive. Rhys, I noticed, was doing the same thing.

  I stared at him, half-gawking, as he stretched his arms above his head, pulling his shirt up to reveal the lower set of his rippled abs and the perfect “V” they hovered just above. My eyes trailed even further down, tracing the outline of his cock inside the tight pair of jeans he was wearing. The memory of what I’d done to him at the hotel played again in my head and it was all I could do to keep from quivering with lust.

  Maybe I’m hungry for something besides food.

  Rhys caught my eyes as he turned, cocked up an eyebrow, then reached down and grabbed the bottom of his shirt. “You looking for these?” he asked coyly, lifting his shirt to show off the rest of his rock-hard core. Then, with a roguish grin, he dropped the shirt back down. “There’ll be plenty of time for that lat
er.”

  Before I could gather myself to respond, Rhys waved a hand at the bed and breakfast and started toward it. I followed him, deliberately leaving enough room for me to check out his ass as he all but sashayed forward. I bit my lower lip, still staring at him, and just shook my head. This guy was exactly the right kind of trouble.

  ***

  I sat across the table from Rhys, my eye pouring over the menu in my hand. My stomach growled in time with my bear as I tried to decide between the steak and the burger. Part of me wanted to just order both, but the sensible part - the part that recognized the fact that I now had very limited funds - was trying to make the decision for me. Rhys was adamant that I was missing out on the best brisket around, and that I’d regret not ordering it. I just ignored him. I mean, who the hell wants brisket when steak is an option?

  By the time the waitress - a stick figured beach blond with a too-huge smile and a pair of barely-there tits - made her way to the table, I’d decided on the steak. So I was more than a little surprised when Rhys cut her off halfway through my order.

  “Ignore that,” he told her. “He’ll have the same as me. Two of the barbecue brisket sandwiches. With hot chips.”

  The waitress jotted down the order and walked off before I could protest.

  “What the hell?” I shot at him, more than a little annoyed.

  “You’ll thank me.” Rhys waved a dismissive hand at me, then took a sip of his iced tea.

  I shook my head at him. “No, I won’t. I’m a grown-ass man, and I can order whatever I damn well please.”

  Rhys sat his glass back down and stared across the table at me, his liquid blue eyes piercing me with an already familiar ferocity. I expected a lecture, some aggression, something volatile. Instead, all I got was a flat, “My treat.”

  I just stared at him, dumbfounded. If he thought that he could buy me off to get around my annoyance, he had another thing coming to him. I’d never heard of fated mates brutalizing each other, but I was pretty certain that’s what he was in for if his air of superiority kept up.

  “I don’t give a shit if it’s your treat,” I growled at him. “I can pay my goddamn way.”

  Rhys snorted. Just… Just snorted. Mockingly so.

  “How’s that?” he purred. “We both know daddy’s probably already cut your money flow off.”

  I’d told him, in detail, about how I’d abandoned my family during the car ride here. I thought I’d been opening up to my mate, trying to let him get to know me, maybe in exchange for some information about him. But he’d been guarded. Even if he’d accepted that we were mates, he still didn’t seem one hundred percent keen on the idea.

  “You don’t get to use my family baggage against me, Rhys,” I told him, cold and annoyed.

  I didn’t know why he was trying so hard to get under my skin - not when everything was going so well - but it seemed like he couldn’t stop himself. I understood that he was a tiger, that tigers could be…difficult, personality-wise, but this was ridiculous. All I wanted to do was order my own food.

  Rhys only rolled his eyes at me. Fortunately for him, the waitress returned with our food just then. And, as much as I hate to admit it, the food on the plate was the best smelling anything I’d ever come across. As she sat the plates on the table, my eyes absolutely bulged at the site of the massive, succulent sandwich in front of me. It was thick, far thicker than I could possibly squeeze into my mouth, and a good six inches in diameter. The meat was stacked loosely on the toasted sesame seeded bun, and a smoked hickory smelling barbecue sauce oozed out on all ends. My mouth watered at the sight of it, and my bear grumbled his approval.

  I shot a glance toward Rhys, who sat there, staring at me, with a stupid told-you-so look plastered on his face. It was both adorable and despicable at the same time, but I chose to ignore him and dive into my food instead.

  “Holy shit,” I moaned after taking my first bite. “This is like Jesus being baptized in my mouth.”

  The waitress, who was still standing nearby, shot me a look that screamed both disdain and pride at once. Apparently I’d nailed what the place was going for.

  “Told ya,” Rhys snorted before scarfing down his own food. He ate like a ravenous, well, tiger, wasting no time. By the time I’d finished my sandwich, Rhys’s plate was clean and he was chugging along at his third glass of tea. The man had an appetite, that much was clear. But you couldn’t tell it with that body.

  When I’d finished and the waitress had cleared off the table, Rhys drew out his wallet and dropped a few high-value bills on the table, and gestured for me to get up. Grudgingly, I obliged, and we left the small diner and headed toward the exit.

  “Wait,” I told him. “I thought we were staying here?”

  Rhys arched an eyebrow at me, then looked over my shoulder toward the rest of the diner-slash-bed and breakfast. “Fuck that. Now come on.”

  Bewildered, I followed him out of the building and back toward the car. Rhys grabbed the passenger door and held it open for me. Something that I found both charming and out of character all at once. He was up to something, I could feel it. Oddly, though, I trusted him.

  Rhys slammed the door behind me once I’d climbed in and he made his way around the front of the car, slid across the hood, and hopped in the driver’s seat. I was still laughing at his antics when he keyed the ignition, revved the engine to life, then abruptly floored it.

  I jerked back against my seat and watched the speedometer rise rapidly into triple digits. My bear roared to life, surprising me, and I adapted to the weird adrenaline rush that Rhys’s erratic driving had kick started. He was either going to get us killed or drive my bear into a frenzy, and I still wasn’t entirely sure that the first option wouldn’t be the more accurate one.

  RHYS

  Much to my surprise, August’s Camaro handled the winding roads better than my bike had. Granted, they weren’t the same roads. But still. They were just as fun to drive on, and the extra horsepower didn’t hurt. And besides, judging by the wicked grin on August’s face, he was having just as much fun as I was. And that made things more than worth it.

  Still, having his arms wrapped around me, his large, muscled body pressed tightly against mine as we tore the roads up with a motorcycle wouldn’t have been the worst thing in the world. Maybe I’d look into getting another bike once we reached our destination.

  August still didn’t know where we were going and, despite his constant prodding, I had virtually zero inclination to tell him. He’d told me that he’d never really been outside of Black Canyon, besides visiting the small city bordering the mountains a few times over the years. He’d told me that he absolutely adored the way the city looked, how vibrant and alive it had felt. And if enjoyed that, he was going to love Washington.

  In fact, I didn’t know how anyone could not love the District. Of all the places that I’d traveled in my life, it was the only one that felt like home. There was something about the raw power in the air and the scent of violence just waiting to spill over that made my skin tingle. Between the politicians, the federal law enforcement agencies, and that deep-rooted and hidden nature of the city’s history, there was more than enough for any alpha shifter to enjoy.

  I piloted the car forward, my foot iron-clad against the pedal as we neared top speed. Even with my heightened instincts and reflexes, it was beginning to become somewhat difficult to keep the car on the road. The ever-increasing traffic as we neared the city didn’t help much either, so I was forced to drop back down to the legally posted speed limit. With a glance at August in the passenger seat, I could tell he was just as disappointed as I was.

  Looked like I was rubbing off on him.

  What I’d like to do is rub one out in him.

  I smirked at that thought. If everything went as planned, I’d be doing more than that once we reached Washington. I was a regular at a hotel near the National Mall, and the view from the room would have his shorts on the floor and his ass bent over the bed in no t
ime.

  When the city finally came into view and we crossed the Potomac into D.C. proper, August’s eyes almost popped out of his head. He leaned against the window, pressing his face against the glass like almost like a child visiting the zoo for the first time, and just stared with his mouth agape.

  “There’s so much…” he stammered, half to himself, half to no one.

  “You have no idea,” I told him. “And New York is another world compared to this. Not to mention Mumbai. That’s where the fun is.”

  He turned toward me, his eyes pleading and hungry. He wanted to know more. He wanted to visit those places, not just talk about them.

  I nodded at him, reading his thoughts. “One day. Maybe soon.”

  “Seriously?” August asked, suddenly sounding guarded.

  I shrugged. “I don’t see why not. My family is originally from near there anyways. It’ll be nice to go back for a visit.”

  “Mumbai?” he questioned. “As in, India?”

  “Yeah. My bloodline, at least, originates in India.” I told him.

  “Huh,” August grunted, turning back to the window. “I think that’s probably the first real thing you’ve told me about yourself.”

  I shot him a quick glance then turned my eyes back to the busy D.C. streets. He was right. I’d made a point of not offering up too many details about myself, even despite him basically being an open book. And, to be honest, I didn’t plan on changing that. It was one thing to be his mate, it was something else entirely to be his “lover”. I’d fuck him, but I wasn’t so sure I wanted more than that. The only real thing that was keeping me tied to him right now was the fact that my tiger refused to go anywhere without him. Even the thought of it drove my inner-predator into a frenzy. We were mates and that was that.

  And besides, mating was just another word for fucking anyways.