Bear grunted an understanding sound, and she scooted over, snuggling against his neck.
“This is why you and your brothers can’t get along.” God, what a hard life, keeping a massive beast tucked away. No wonder he preferred to be out here in the wilderness. He’d found the perfect job. As a guide, he only had to deal with people for a short amount of time, and he had the excuse to be scouting when his animal needed to roam. This was the perfect way to make a living for a bear-man like Jenner. And no wonder he was so good at guiding—so sought after. He could find game because he was a freaking bear. He was one of the animals that belonged out in these woods.
Lena inhaled his scent and committed it to memory. Jenner the man had always had a distinct scent of pine, soap, and something she hadn’t been able to put her finger on, but now she realized it was this. Animal fur. And as she snuggled closer to him, burying her face against his neck, she fell for him even harder. There were no barriers here in the evening shadows, out here away from anything or anyone that would judge her relationship with a wild man like him. Here, she was safe with her bear-man and could say anything she wanted because no one could hear her but him, and he couldn’t respond to reject her. Not like this. Not in bear form.
“Jenner?” He snaked his face closer to her in the dirt, so she dipped her lips near his ear and whispered, “I’m not running. I like you more because you shared this part of yourself with me. I…” She swallowed hard and closed her eyes tightly as she said the words that had been murmuring through her mind. “I love you just the same, maybe more now.”
Jenner froze under her, and for a moment, she thought she’d been wrong. Jenner didn’t need words to reject her. But as the first tendrils of regret unfurled in her chest, Jenner pulled her closer with his massive arm, his claws gentle against her fragile, paper-thin skin, and his satisfied hum was back in his chest, rattling against her.
And it was enough.
Even if Jenner the man couldn’t say the words or perhaps didn’t feel as deeply as she did yet, Bear adored her just fine.
Chapter Ten
Jenner couldn’t take his eyes off her. Her. His mate. Lena didn’t understand the mark he’d put on her shoulder yet, but she would. He just had to find the right time to tell her.
Across the fire, Lena had that absent smile that was so fucking adorable he wanted to take her in the tent and make her gasp his name. She was noisy when she came. Perfect. Perfect mate. Telling him just what she liked and training him to understand her body. He’d never felt so deeply about anyone. Not even Brea could touch what was forming between him and Lena.
“Tell me what you’re thinking about,” she said softly. She hadn’t said much since he’d Changed back, but it wasn’t the bad kind of silence. The smile on her lips had been constant since he’d come out of the woods a man again, and he’d held her as long as she let him. Until her stomach growled, and his inner bear snarled that he needed to feed her. That he needed to take better care of his mate.
“You,” he said simply.
“Oh yeah? Well I’m thinking about me, too, like, I want you to meet my family, and I’m already thinking of excuses for your growls and changing eyes.”
“You want me to meet your family?”
Now that blush was back in her cheeks as she dropped her gaze to the fire. “Does that bother you?”
“Bother me? Hell no.” It would have to be in the summer, though, and not this year. It was the end of July, and he had two months until hibernation, three max. He was homebound until April because he couldn’t risk falling asleep for the winter without a den and where he could be caught. “I like that you’ve already met one of my brothers.”
“About Tobias. You said he scarred you up, but I didn’t understand how. He’s a bear shifter too, isn’t he?”
Jenner nodded once. “We were sixteen and on one of our first Changes, out in the woods and alone and didn’t know what was happening.”
“Why didn’t you know what was happening?”
“Uh, my dad is a bear shifter. All of the men in my lineage are, but unfortunately, Dad wasn’t too keen on explaining what we would be going through when we came of age. He was more of a hands-off parent. He thinks that good bear shifters just know how to handle themselves because of instinct.”
“But you didn’t?”
Jenner shook his head and set his plate down, then stood and walked around the fire just to be closer to her. He couldn’t stand not touching her right now. Not after today’s close encounter with Titus. Not after what he’d shared with her. Lena hadn’t run, and that thought still shocked him. Lena was still here, looking at him like he was a man and not a freak.