Delta Bear (Rogue Bear Series 2)

by Meredith Clarke

He hung his head when he saw the fear in her eyes, the realization sweeping over her.

  “No. No. No.” She jumped from the sofa. “It is not scientifically possible. You have created a fantasy world to avoid the pain you suffered as a soldier.”

  He hung his head. Men did that, and fuck he had done a lot to avoid this very scenario, but not this time.

  “There is more in this life that can’t be explained than can.” He eyed her. “You may not have known it, but you accepted my shifter magic. We are mated.”

  “The crazy sex? That’s what you call it?”

  He rose from the couch. He wanted to calm her. He reached for her. “When you told me you couldn’t get pregnant I knew I could claim you without having to worry about cubs. For now.” He didn’t want to tell her how much his bear was craving more of her.

  “Oh my God. Claim me? Cubs?” She looked around wildly.

  “I need to leave my alpha mate in charge of the clan while I’m gone.” She was good with facts. He would just keep giving her those. “I might not have been able to leave again if you were pregnant. My bear wouldn’t have been able to, but you’re a strong independent woman. I know you can handle another mission. You’ll be fine when I leave.”

  “That’s why you like my independence? Because you can’t knock me up?” She sounded hurt.

  “Ok, that didn’t come out right. It just seemed like the perfect scenario. We can have cubs later. When I’m done with Delta.”

  Her eyes flared. “How fucking calculated are you?”

  “It was honorable.”

  “Nothing about what you’ve done is honorable.” She raced to the bedroom. He followed her down the hall.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’m grabbing my bag. I will hike out of these woods if I have to.”

  “Stop. Haley, stop. Maybe my tactics weren’t the best.”

  She whipped around. “You’ve been in the desert too long. Have you lost all touch with your humanity? I can take a one-night stand. I can take a fuck buddy. What I can’t take is this. I don’t even know what it is.” Her eyes welled with tears. “What have you done to me?”

  He couldn’t take it any more, he pulled her against his chest, despite her desperate pushes.

  “I’m sorry. I fucked it all up.”

  “I’m so mad at you right now.” She sniffed. “I gave you my body. I’ve never done those things with anyone else. You’re a jackass.”

  “Ok. I deserve that.” He rubbed her back, drawing her face toward his. “But please don’t walk out of here.”

  “I don’t know if I could.” She shook her head. “My body aches for you.”

  He couldn’t help but smile. “I feel the same way. It’s because you’re my mate. I’m yours.”

  “I don’t believe any of it.”

  He brushed a tear from her cheek. “You will.”

  She shoved against him until he had to let go. “I need some space, Jax. I think I should sleep at home tonight. I can’t stay with you. I can’t be near you.”

  “Because of my bear?”

  “No. I don’t know. Because of all of it.”

  “All right. I’ll drive you home. But I want to see you tomorrow.”

  “That’s going to be difficult. I have a twelve-hour shift tomorrow and the next three days. I work then go home and collapse. Sometimes I stay at the hospital and sleep.”

  “I’ll wait.”

  “You will?” She searched his eyes.

  “Whether you’re at the hospital, or I’m on a mission we’re always going to find our way back to each other. This is forever, Haley. I can wait a few days.”

  “I don’t know if that’s going to be enough.”

  It wasn’t the time to tell her their timetable was limited. He would give her what she needed now. Maybe it would bring her back to him faster.

  “Come on, I’ll take you home.”

  17

  Haley

  Haley filled a Styrofoam cup. She sat on the bench in the doctors’ lounge. It had been two days since Jax had dropped her off on her front porch.

  Life had flipped upside down. The only thing that made her feel grounded was work. She examined patients, prescribed medications, and slept. She extended her shifts, not wanting to go home. She didn’t know if she was worried he would be at the house waiting, or if she would be crushed if he wasn’t.

  The crazy sex humming that had coated her body had finally evaporated. It was easier to think without feeling like she was always on the verge of spiraling into another orgasm, but her craving for Jax hadn’t stopped.

  She wanted to know where he was. She wanted to hear his voice. She wanted to feel his lips on hers. She wanted his hands on her hips. She tipped the coffee to her lips and spit it back in the cup. It tasted strange and the smell made her stomach turn. She tossed it in the trash.

  None of it made sense. It was scientifically impossible for a man to be a bear. The two couldn’t co-exist inside one being. The night Jax took her home she had spent hours researching animal shifter myths and legends. She checked every medical journal she had packed in her closet. She jumped into online forums. Anything that would lend to the possibility that there was an ounce of truth in what he had told her. But every possible lead took her into a fantasy land that she wasn’t willing to accept.

  She walked to the nurses’ station and pulled a clipboard from the top stack.

  “You have a patient in room one,” Michelle called over the counter.

  “What’s that smirk for?” she asked.

  “Let’s just say I’d like to take his vitals.”

  “Oh, good grief.” Haley pulled her hair on top of her head, before charging into the room. The chart was practically blank. The patient was listed as John Doe. The injury was a six-inch laceration to the arm.

  “Ok, Mr. Doe, I’m Dr. Manning. Let’s take a look at your arm.” She closed the door behind her and looked at the man in the bed.

  “Hi, doc.” Jax smiled.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I had an injury.”

  She pursed her lips together. “I thought you said you were going to give me some space.”

  “I did. I am. But I thought it might help if you had a little scientific evidence.”

  She sat on the stool next to the bed and rolled toward him. “And what is that?”

  “See my arm?”

  She looked at the firm muscles in his bicep and had to stop herself from licking her lips. He was built of nothing but solid muscle.

  “It looks fine to me. You shouldn’t waste the hospital’s time.”

  He shook his head. “I walked in thirty minutes ago with a gash six inches long. Look at it.”

  She peered at his skin and she could see a faint line leading to his elbow. “That looks like an old scar.”

  “It’s not. Give it a minute and it will be completely gone.” He grinned.

  She exhaled. “Jax, what are you doing here?” She wanted to sound pissed and angry. Annoyed that he had popped up while she was at work, but her heart was fluttering and her pulse was racing.

  “Giving you facts. You work best with facts and science.” His eyes locked on hers. Those dark pools of mystery that had already led her somewhere she didn’t think she should go again.

  “I-I need more time.” She started to stand, but he reached forward and gripped her wrist.

  “Look at my arm.”

  Her eyes shot to the line on his bicep, only the streak of silvery white was gone. “Where did it go?” She traced the hard muscle with her fingertips.

  “I heal faster than non-shifters.” He was watching her.

  “You mean humans?”

  “I have a body that repairs itself.” Before she could stop him he grabbed the pen from her clipboard and jabbed it into his other arm.

  “What are you doing?” she screamed. She ran to the cabinet to grab gauze and returned to press it against the wound.

  “Doc, stop.” He pulled he
r hands away, lifting the gauze with them.

  She blinked. The small gash was knitting itself back together. She took a step back.

  Jax rose from the bed and stood next to her. “You have one more day.”

  He walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

  Haley felt the nausea roll in her stomach. She lunged forward as she threw herself over a bedpan. What in the hell just happened?

  18

  Jax

  The technique might have been extreme, but he only had one day left to convince his mate she was going to be the alpha in his absence. Standing there in the emergency room, his hands ached to hold her. His chest tightened when she walked in the room. But he forced his bear to control the situation. It was more important to convince her to help the clan.

  He looked at his arm. Her fingers had been soft and tender. The look in her eyes ripped through him. The hole had healed, there wasn’t even a scar.

  The clan leaders had resisted his attempts to stop the clan absorption. He should have suspected they weren’t interested in his alpha status. It was their excuse to take control of more lands, build their clans, exert their force over the shifters in the area.

  But he had until tomorrow to bring Haley to the next meeting and present her as the alpha. They wouldn’t be able to deny her power. He stared off the cliff into the distance. She had to agree. She would. She was as deeply his as he was hers. He closed his eyes, inhaling the cool wind.

  All his life he had been searching for something. He thought he had found his calling with his Special Forces unit. He saved lives. He kept the country safe. It took all his energy and focus to lead his team, but every since he had taken his mate he was hungry for something else.

  Haley had changed everything. Slowly, he was starting to think about what it would be like to stay in Watkin. What it would be like to raise his cubs with her. What it would be like to take his official position as the alpha, instead of always shoving it off on someone else.

  He watched an eagle soar in front of him. He always thought he used his bear strength as a Delta, but maybe what he did was use it as his excuse not to embrace the real bear in him. The one that wanted to stay and protect his mate.

  He shook his head. One thing at time. First, he had to get her back.

  * * *

  Haley

  She gripped the steering wheel. She couldn’t believe she was doing this. She must have lost her mind. Too many night shifts had warped her sense of reality. But she knew what she saw in the emergency room. Jax had healed in front of her.

  She knew she shouldn’t have been surprised when she saw him standing on the front porch. He always seemed to know when a car was in the driveway.

  “Hey.” He grinned from the porch.

  “Hey.” She walked to the front steps.

  It was there—the pull she felt every time she saw him. Only now she knew it wasn’t because of the intense pheromones they shared. It was magic linking them together, bonding them like no two other beings.

  “I’m glad you’re here.” He took a step down so he was standing next to her.

  She looked up. “I think we both knew I was going to come back.”

  “I tried to tell you.”

  She didn’t know if it made her angry or if it felt so right it set her blood on fire. But before she could take another breath, Jax pulled her to him, his mouth hot and urgent against hers.

  He growled as his tongue slipped in her mouth. She felt a sudden sense of panic, but the growl rumbled through his chest and she relaxed into him. Nothing had sounded sexier. She knew he was happy kissing her.

  She tried to breathe as he kissed her, but she was desperate to touch him and hold him. Four days away had created a hunger so deep she didn’t know if she could feed it.

  “I want to take you inside and show you how much I missed you,” he whispered.

  She nodded. She tried to draw him back to her lips.

  “But we have somewhere we need to go.”

  “What?” Kissing him had started a fire under her skin.

  “Sit for a second.” He took her hands in his and lowered her to the porch steps.

  “I just got here.”

  “And now I need you to take your place as my mate.”

  Her eyes widened. “I don’t understand.”

  “I gave you as much time as I could. I gave you all the time I could. Our clan needs you right now. I have to present you as the alpha.”

  She blinked. She heard him speak, but it might as well been her first year in med school. It all sounded foreign.

  “Alpha?”

  “Yes. While I’m gone I need you to lead them.”

  “But I don’t know anything about leading people. Or bears. I’m a doctor.”

  “You’ll do great. I trust you, doc.” He kissed her forehead. “Now come on, we have to get to the meeting before they start picking apart my family.”

  Everything moved in slow motion as he held her hand and led her into the forest. She didn’t know how long they walked before they stopped in front of a cave.

  Her knees began to shake and her heart pounded.

  Jax squeezed her hand. “I’ve got you.” He nodded as he pulled her behind him.

  She followed him through a tunnel and they finally emerged in a room lit with torches. A circle of people was formed in front of them.

  “Ahh, he did show up.” A woman with bright red hair grinned.

  “I told you I would present the alpha mate.” Jax stood behind her.

  She needed his strength right now. She thought she would faint from the shaking. Her stomach lurched and her hand flew to her mouth.

  “Pretty alpha.” An older man with grey streaks in his beard winked at her.

  Were these people bears too? She withdrew her hand and tried to take a deep breath. The nausea seemed to ease.

  “See? She’s here.” Jax squeezed her shoulders. “This is my mate, Haley. She will be the alpha when I’m fulfilling my Delta obligations.” He looked at each of the members of the circle. “My clan is in good hands. You can fight each other all you want, but you won’t shred my clan. They have a leader.”

  The older man nodded his head. The woman walked toward them and Haley couldn’t help but try to back up. She didn’t like the look in the woman’s eyes. But Jax’s chest blocked her from moving. She felt his sturdy frame and felt the shelter of his body. She was safe. She knew he would protect her.

  The woman looked at Jax. “So this is your mate?”

  “Haley, meet Estelle. She’s leader of the Onyx Clan.”

  “Nice to meet you, Estelle.” Haley extended her hand, but the woman’s palms immediately cupped her stomach. Haley looked down at the woman’s hands planted against her belly.

  “Did you accept him as your mate?” she asked.

  Haley nodded. It wouldn’t make for good clan politics if she told them when she asked Jax to claim her she didn’t know what she was signing up for. But it didn’t matter—according to his clan laws, she had invited him into her body and what was done was done. On top of that, did they really expect her to share what happened in the bedroom?

  Estelle looked past her and into Jax’s eyes. “Tsk, tsk, Jax.”

  “She’s more than capable, Estelle.” His voice was firm. “She will be a strong alpha while I’m gone.”

  Estelle withdrew her hands. “I’ve seen alphas do a lot of things in my time, but I don’t think I’ve seen one leave his mate with cubs.”

  “I’m not,” he declared.

  Haley’s hands instantly landed on the swell of her stomach. She felt the nausea rising in her throat. Oh, God. She was going to be sick in this bear cave.

  Jax reached out to steady her. “Hey, are you ok?”

  She nodded, but her eyes caught his. “I think I’m pregnant.”

  She knew it wasn’t medically possible. She had had ultrasounds and tests. Her ovaries were basically frozen until she did hormone treatments, but as another wave of
nausea rolled through her she knew there wasn’t any other answer.

  The way coffee smelled made her sick. Her favorite lotion made her throw up. She was craving everything sweet in sight. Her breasts had never felt more tender. And now, one of the bear clan leaders said she knew there were cubs. Haley knew it too.

  No, it wasn’t medically possible. It would be weeks before she should even have the slightest symptom of pregnancy. No pregnancy test would confirm she was pregnant after a few days, but she could feel it. None of this had to do with science or medicine. She was standing in a cave of bear shifters. The man she had fallen in love with was a bear and she was carrying his cubs.

  She reached for Jax, and his arm wrapped around her waist.

  “Congratulations, Jax.” The old man slapped him on the back. “You didn’t waste any time. I think this settles things, doesn’t it Estelle?”

  “Barnes, you know I won’t fight if there is another generation on the way. It’s no way for cubs to be brought up.”

  Haley watched as the two shook hands. The others in the group began to file out of the meeting, each one stopping to congratulate them.

  When the last one left. Haley looked at Jax.

  “I’m not supposed to be able to get pregnant,” she whispered.

  “I know.” He pulled her against his chest, his arms circling her.

  “What are we going to do?”

  19

  Jax

  He held her close. So close he could feel her heart beat against his chest. This wasn’t supposed to happen. None of it was supposed to happen.

  “I think I’m going to be sick.” She pushed away from him and held onto the wall closest to her.

  He watched her. She was pregnant. She was carrying his cubs. He didn’t know whether to burst with pride or wallow in the shame of what he had done. He never would have claimed her like he had, only to leave her with his cubs.

  He ran his hands over his head and tried to smile when she turned toward him.