Morgan threw back the rest of his beer before chucking the bottle into a nearby trashcan. He moved to claim a seat between Callie and Aimee, the otter shifter Callie had brought with her. His old flame looked at him as if she could shoot daggers with her eyes. Aimee was a bit more amicable and moved over to make room for him.
“So, how did an otter find herself in the bear den?”
Aimee laughed and leaned in to begin her story. “Callie dragged me out of the river and brought me home like a lost puppy. I liked it so much that I decided to stay. I had hopes of opening a restaurant in town, but there’s never an empty storefront and the town council won’t let me break ground for a new building.”
“That is a very abbreviated version of your life,” Morgan said with a laugh.
Aimee winked at him. The otter shifter was far friendlier than her friend. Once more, Morgan wanted to ask Callie what happened. He knew now wasn’t the time. He couldn’t dredge up old feelings in the middle of a party, but he also didn’t know if he’d ever have another chance.
When he opened his mouth, something else came out. “We should go on a double date while you’re here.”
Immediately, Callie stiffened. Her eyes narrowed and the daggers in her eyes sharpened. He could almost feel them piercing his skin over and over again. Aimee’s gaze flicked from Callie to Morgan and back, a conversation passing between them.
“That could be fun,” Callie said, though the way she held herself said something else entirely. Her smile was so thin, Morgan could almost see through it. “You and Aimee could go. I could take Dominic.”
That was not what Morgan had in mind. Yet, he would take it. This was the closest he could get to Callie. Perhaps, on the date, he would find the time to demand answers from her. He knew nothing would ever replace her as his mate, but maybe he could rest easier if he knew why she’d turned him away.
Over the past nine years, his mind had replayed the situation and tried to find the reasons behind it. He didn’t think anyone could fall out of love so quickly, but it was the only thing that made any sense. He might have been an unruly teen, but he had not been mean to her. If anything, he’d treated her like the treasure she was.
His mate.
The beast inside him squirmed. It wanted to be closer to Callie. It wanted to hold her and feel her skin on his. No matter what he told the beast, it ignored him. He was about to get up when Aimee set a hand on his arm. He paused.
“Tell me a bit about yourself if we’re going to go on a date together. A girl should know what she’s getting into.”
***
A fire burst to life inside Callie’s chest when the world narrowed down to Aimee’s hand on Morgan’s arm. It was all she could do to keep breathing and remain still. The bear inside her wanted to rip her friend’s hand off.
She sucked in a sharp breath and tried to regain control of herself. The beast refused to be quieted. It roared in her ears and pulled Callie’s gaze back to the small hand on Morgan’s bronzed arm. It might have been Callie’s imagination, but she thought she could feel her teeth getting sharper, the jealousy she suddenly felt becoming palpable.
“Are you alright?” Morgan’s concerned voice cut through her muddy thoughts.
She snapped back to the present to find Morgan and Aimee watching her. His eyes crinkled at the corners, brow furrowed. She noticed that as he turned toward her, he shrugged off Aimee’s touch.
Suddenly, she could breathe again.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” It was a lie, but she couldn’t tell them what just happened. She was supposed to hate Morgan.
She lurched away from the seats and toward the water. The artificial light of the construction lamps glinted off the water as it lapped at the shore. Callie wanted to call her father and ask him to send someone else. It was becoming painfully clear that Callie wasn’t cut out for this job. There were other shifters who were better suited. They had years of experience behind them.
Callie realized that there was another form standing beside her. Emmy gave her a tight-lipped smile before turning her attention back toward the water. In the distance, she could see another shape swimming against the waves. Boomer, she guessed.
“Boomer helped explain what you’re here for,” Emmy began. Her voice was somber, a vein of steel wrapped in silk. “Think of this as a vacation. You and your friend are welcome to stay as long as you like, but there is no way that you’re getting me to leave with you.”
Callie tried to explain the risks Emmy seemed to be ignoring, but the other shifter held up a hand.
“I’m a registered nurse. If you think your presence will be helpful, you’re welcome to stay and help me deliver my own baby. If you don’t think you’re cut out for that, then don’t worry about me.”
“You can’t just deliver your own baby.”
Emmy raised her brows. The look said watch me. Callie had no doubt this woman was capable of anything she put her mind to. It brought a sigh to her lips. Callie would just have to work harder at convincing her of the benefits. The Den had been created for a reason.
“I don’t want to leave you here alone. If you need to, bring Boomer with you. He would cause a stir in town, but that could be fun to watch.”
“Are you forgetting what happens after? When you take my child? You can’t ask us to give up everything we are to stay at the Den. Our child will always be the most important thing in our lives, but there are other people we need to look out for.” Emmy pointedly looked to Orion.
The youngest male shifter of the group leaned toward Dom and tapped the bottom of his beer on the mouth of Dom’s. Suddenly, the beer erupted in foam. Dom shouted, racing to keep the foam from falling into the turkey fryer. Orion erupted into laughter. Dom glared at him.
“The Den’s rules destroy families.”
Before Callie could find a response, Dom announced that the turkey was ready. Everyone rushed to gather around him and the crisp bird, leaving Callie trapped in her own mind. Every shifter here challenged her way of thinking. She knew that wasn’t a bad thing, but it left a bad taste in her mouth.
Instead of analyzing it, she reached for a beer to wash it down. The Den was her home. If these shifters didn’t want to see all the good it did for them, then they were welcome to bury their head in the sand. She would call her father in the morning and tell him it was no use.
As she approached, she found Aimee and Morgan together again. He grinned at her friend, winking as he filled up a plate and handed it to her. Callie’s stomach tightened. The way Aimee touched him in return made bile burn the back of her throat. It felt like she was standing on the edge of a life she could have had. The thought troubled her.
Morgan wasn’t the man she wanted.
He would never be the man she wanted.
If that was the truth, then why did she feel this way?
As if he could hear her thoughts, Morgan looked up and their eyes met. He broke away from the others, a heavy plate in his hand, and headed toward her. Callie looked in every direction, but there was nowhere to run. All she could do was smile nervously as he approached.
“A smile! That’s an improvement.” He pushed the plate toward her. “This is for you. I remember you prefer dark meat.”
She did prefer dark meat, but that didn’t change anything. She sighed when she saw the heap of cranberry sauce piled next to the meat. He hadn’t forgotten her love for that, either.
“I know you hate me. I can’t say I understand why, but if that’s what you want to feel, I can’t stop you. All I can do is show you that I don’t deserve it.”
With that said, he left her standing alone on the wet sand. Her stomach felt heavy, the weight of what he’d dropped on her not settling quite right. Everything about this trip had Callie turned upside down and inside out.
The beast in her head urged her to run after him. Screw the food. No, screw him, the beast begged.
Those days were over. She wouldn’t give in to the animal inside her just to appease some
itch she felt. Maybe, if the date went well, she would scratch the itch with Dom. Maybe then, her brain and her beast would leave her alone.
Yet, when she looked up again, it was Morgan whose gaze she found.
Chapter Five
Callie should have called her father. She should have returned to Boomer’s cabin to talk to Emmy. Instead, she’d spent the day holed up in Dom’s cabin, nibbling on leftover turkey and watching marathons with Aimee while the men worked. Once the sun started to sink beyond the horizon, Aimee leapt up from the couch and dragged Callie to her feet.
Their double date was tonight. Dread dropped like a stone in Callie’s stomach. She’d conveniently forgotten about their agreement.
“Don’t tell me you didn’t bring anything to wear to a party!” Aimee spun on her heel and threw open her suitcase, as if she might be able to find something for her six-foot friend.
Callie sighed. She never should have agreed to the double date. She’d been afraid when Morgan suggested it and tried to take control of the situation. Shutting it down would have been smarter, but she couldn’t think when Morgan sat that close to her.
He’d shoved his way between them at the cookout, and her body had reacted with glee. It had taken everything Callie had to shove the overwhelming feelings to the back of her mind and remind herself why she hated him.
Morgan might have changed over the past nine years, but that meant nothing. Not even time could erase what he’d done. Her foolish heart wanted to forgive and forget, if only to remember how it felt to be touched by him. She hadn’t tried to be with anyone else since him. Losing him had hurt far too much and, if she was honest, no one else compared to the brief flash of fiery romance they’d had.
Finally, Aimee emerged from her suitcase with a thin shirt. It draped in elegant folds, the colors of the sunset. The only hitch was that it belonged to Aimee. There was no way that it was going to fit Callie.
Still, Aimee threw it at her and demanded that she try it on.
“If you hate him so much,” Aimee began as Callie pulled the shirt over her head, “then why am I the one going on a date with him? Did I do something to piss you off?”
“No! No, I didn’t mean for it to be like that.” The shirt fell over her skin like water, fitting her surprisingly well.
When she turned to see herself in the mirror, it showed a thin slice of skin between the waistband of her jeans and the hem of the shirt. The bright colors of the fabric popped against her dusky skin and made her hair seem even darker.
“You continue to work sorcery,” Callie said to her best friend.
Aimee grinned as she shimmied into her own outfit, a bodycon dress and cropped denim jacket covered in patches. They couldn’t look more different, thought Callie. It was a constant reminder that Aimee wasn’t actually blood. She was as close a friend as she could find, but not family.
Not a bear.
All her life, Callie had been told that family was the most important thing. First came blood, then came other bears. The Den was the heart of that family. It was where bears learned to tame themselves, where they discovered the wonders of what it meant to be a bear.
She knew the Den for what it was, even if those around her wanted to denounce it.
Chapter Six
Both Morgan and Aimee knew the date for what it was: a chance for him to get closer to Callie. He could feel Aimee’s appraising gaze on his cheeks as the truck coasted into town. He tried to focus on the glowing lights that rose over the town. The lights twinkled, but Morgan couldn’t help but wonder what Aimee might know about his history with Callie.
Would she know why Callie turned him away?
He reached behind the seat and pulled out a narrow box of chocolates, passing them to Aimee. “I noticed that you like cooking. I thought you would like the truffles from this bakery in town.”
It was a lie. Dominic was the one who’d noticed Aimee’s affinity for cooking. It was hard to ignore when she argued with every step he took to fry the turkey the night before. Oddly enough, it hadn’t bothered Dom. It’d been his idea to pick out the chocolates.
Aimee immediately opened the box, nose twitching as she scented them. In the rearview mirror, Morgan glimpsed Callie’s eyes watching him. As quickly as he noticed, she looked away again.
“These are amazing!” Aimee said around a mouthful of truffle. “Smoked sea salt and chocolate is the combination I never knew I needed in life.”
Dom laughed, a soft and nearly imperceptible sound from the driver’s seat. The roles should have been reversed, Morgan thought. Callie should have been in the back seat with him, but she kept to herself in the front. Aimee and Dom should have had a night to themselves. Even Morgan could see the chemistry between them, the possibility for so much more.
Already, the night felt like a failure. All he had to do was convince Aimee that he deserved a second chance. The bear inside him agreed. It was as simple as that. If her best friend could trust him, then perhaps she would, too.
Aimee ate all the truffles before they parked. Morgan helped her out of the truck, since the step between the truck and the ground was at least half as high as she was. He could feel Callie’s burning gaze on his skin when his hand touched Aimee’s. He licked his lips, wondering if she was jealous or just protective.
She’d thrown her friend under the bus, so to say, when he’d suggested the double date. Yet, when he looked to try to read her face, she’d already turned away, arm in arm with Dom. His own stomach knotted until Aimee grabbed him and tugged him along.
Once there was enough distance between the two so-called couples, Aimee leaned in close and whispered. He had to bend slightly to hear her hushed voice.
“Here’s the plan, big bear. You’re going to tell me exactly what happened between you and my girl. If I approve, I’ll do everything I can to push the two of you together tonight.”
“That’s awfully gracious of you.”
“I don’t know if she realizes it, but she’s miserable. I think she lives in some sort of fugue state, just rolling through every day without realizing it. If you can make Callie happy, then so be it. But first, you have to tell me why you cheated on her.”
Morgan ground to a halt. He stared down at Aimee, his head spinning. His thoughts ricocheted, back and forth, until his temples started to ache.
“Is that what she told you?”
Aimee cocked her head. He couldn’t read her dark eyes in the night, not with the lights of the festival glowing in them.
“I knew from day one that Callisto was my mate. I have never cheated on her--would never cheat on her.”
He searched for the shape of Callie and Dom in the night, but they’d disappeared into the festival. The urge to run to her and explain as much as he could hit him like a bus. He took one step before faltering.
“I guess we need to figure out who told our friend that you cheated on her.” Aimee’s words echoed Morgan’s thoughts. “Alright, big bear. Let’s go find the other bears.”
The air was filled with the smell of molten caramel, salty popcorn, and burning wires from the ancient rides. A Ferris wheel towered over the crowds, the lights dancing like stars. He and Aimee navigated the crowd of humans, doing their best to ignore sticky and shouting children as they searched for Dom and Callie. They found their friends at a ring toss booth.
This time, Morgan leaned and whispered in Aimee’s ear. The sensation of Callie’s eyes found him when his lips grazed Aimee’s ear.
“I’m going to win you a stuffed animal. Which one do you want?”
The bear was unhappy with him. He was with the wrong woman. This otter wasn’t their mate. Callie was their mate. She fit in their arms perfectly. They wanted to wake beside her every morning, to lay beside her every night.
“Get me that giant otter, or we’re done here, Moreno.”
He hadn’t noticed the stuffed otter hanging from the corner of the booth. His attention had been on Callie every time he looked up. The light caught h
er hair and painted it like the night sky. The fabric of her shirt made her look like the goddess of dusk.
The ring toss went well for both. Aimee walked away with a stuffed otter the size of her human form, waddling to keep the tail from dragging in the dirt. Callie held a stuffed dragon to her chest. Its shiny, fabric scales caught the light as she breezed past him.
***
Callie couldn’t enjoy the night. No matter how beautiful or vibrant the festival was, all she could do was look at Morgan, and she hated herself for it. No matter which way she turned or what she thought she heard, her attention always drifted back to Morgan.
She wanted to push her friend aside and sidle up to Morgan. The urge to touch him was maddening. She was glad to have something to hold and dig her fingers into after Dom won the stuffed dragon for her. Dominic didn’t seem bothered by the way she ignored him. He was patient, walking beside her with his hands in his pockets.
“What do you want to do next?” Callie’s voice was tight, nearly cracking. Nothing she did would loosen the tension in her stomach. It crawled up her throat and twisted her voice.
Dom paused while he looked over everything the festival had to offer. “We could watch the pumpkin catapults, but I feel like you’d be staring at Morgan the whole time.”
She sighed. Callie knew she was obvious, but she didn’t think she’d been that obvious. “I’m sorry if I’m ruining the night for you.”
He shrugged and smiled. “I had no expectations going in. Just let me know if you want to be closer or further from Morgan and I’ll do my best.”
She nodded, grateful for the incredibly patient man. As much as she would have liked to complain about Morgan, she knew he was Morgan’s friend. She wasn’t going to spill everything she both loved and hated about him into Dom’s lap.
Instead, she turned toward another topic. “Do you think the Den’s actions are…unfair?’
Dom froze. His head tilted back, and his gaze went distant. Immediately, Callie began to apologize. She hadn’t known what she was asking, that it would affect him like this, but before she could get a word out, he responded.
To Trust A Bear Page 3