Page 3 of Mating Season
I shake my head out of this madness.
He just smirks. He’s one of those guys who knows exactly how hot he is.
“I’m sorry… what?” I could swear while I was ogling him, he said he was the bear, which is crazy so obviously I’m dreaming, or dead, or hit my head, or randomly developed a complex delusional disorder. Who really can say?
“Rosalie, I’m the bear.”
“What?” I say again. My brain refuses to compute this. Okay so he’s the crazy one. Yay formysanity. But that doesn’t explain how the fuck he got the bear out of here.
“You are not a bear. What did you do to the bear?” I say.
“Look around.”
I do, this time really taking in my surroundings. The sunlight that was shining down on my face… in a cave… is explained by the hole in the… ceiling? There’s a fire pit right under that hole for air flow from cooking. There are bear skin rugs all over the cave floor. He kindly drapes one of them over his dick. Too little, too late, there buddy. There’s a cabinet with drawers on one side.
“Do you think I somehow killed a bear and built some cabinets in the middle of the night without you waking up?”
I shake my head. “You cannot be a bear. That’s not real.”
He sighs. “I guess you’ll see tonight. Until then, I’ll let you believe what you want.”
I laugh, “I’m not going to be here tonight.”
I slip my cell phone and bear spray back into my pocket and put on the backpack, trying not to wince from my ankle.
I limp out of the cave, not knowing what direction I’m going in. I am still lost, after all. A few minutes later, the man who seems to think he’s an actualbear, is following me. He has kindly put on some jeans.
I mean, I understand that cave I slept in is clearly a human dwelling. And yet the bear dragged me right into it… unless I dreamed that last bear part. How do I know I even woke up in the night? Maybe that part was a dream.
Yes! That’s what happened. Maybe after I fainted, this guy who also just happened to be in the woods nearby, somehow killed the bear and got my stuff and took me back to his… person cave where he sleeps naked in the fall. Sure, that sounds way better.
I flinch when he grabs my arm. “Rosalie, you’re injured. And I can’t let you go, anyway.”
I swallow the lump quickly forming in my throat. I mean, yeah, sure, he’s hot and all, but also clearly troubled.
“Look, I appreciate whatever you did to save me from that bear that was clearly going to kill me after he killed my would-be rapist, but please… I really have to go.”
He sighs. “I’m sorry but I think you’re my mate, so letting you go would be quite impossible at this point.”
I just slow blink at him. “Do you mean mate like Australian friend?”
“No. I mean mate like… Fated Mate.”
Okay, someone has been watching some teen paranormal TV dramas. Hey, no judgement. I just laugh at him because really what else can I do?
“Just wait, you’ll see tonight. I’m a bear. It’s the third and final night of the full moon, then we can go back to my place in the city and get you moved in.”
“What? No, I’m not living with you. I don’tknowyou.” Yes, let’s just move in with the mentally ill forest man who thinks he’s a bear. What could possibly go wrong?
“I’m Cooper.”
“Great. I’m leaving.” I try to hobble a little further, but he swoops me up in his arms and carries me back to the cave.
“Hey! Put me down!”
He does put me down—on a small chair next to a table inside the cave.
“I really don’t want to tie you up, Rosalie. You cannot leave. You are mine, and I can’t let you go until the mating is complete.”
