Betray the Bear (Bear Valley Shifters #4)(18)

Anya’s ragged voice dipped to a whisper. “So you think I can still have cubs?”

“You’re young and smell healthy. Time will tell, but yes, I think someday, when you are in a more relaxed atmosphere, your body will start working the way it’s supposed to again.”

Daria had given her a lot to think about. She did want children someday, but if she went back to the Long Claws, would she ever be relaxed enough to resume her regular courses? There was so much pressure. If she didn’t, Nathan would find a way to banish her, even if she did succeed in gaining information on Bear Valley for him. And every minute she was here, she wanted to return to her old life less and less.

The brown paper wrapped parcel with all of the herbs she needed for the balm crinkled in her hand as she stepped outside and greeted Hannah and Jo.

“Are you okay?” Jo asked.

“I think so.” Kind of.

The others chattered happily on as they hiked through a narrow trail in the woods. She thought they’d take her to Chase’s house, so she was surprised when the trail dumped them into a clearing with what appeared to be a fighting arena instead. Her gaze found Chase immediately.

His baseball cap was turned backward and his tight gray shirt accentuated every movement, every ripple of muscle. He was yelling at a couple of brown bears who were fighting in the center, and they halted what they were doing at his command. He held a clipboard in one hand, and with the other, mimed encircling the other bear. His face was serious, focused, and she was struck by how attractive his profile was.

Of course he was a battle trainer. The silvered scars on his torso made perfect sense now. No wonder he was one of the ones in the woods fighting Nathan’s soldiers when Riker had gone after Hannah. And he wasn’t just a fight trainer, but the trainer, from what it looked like.

A dozen or so shifters in human form stood in a half circle around the grizzlies, listening carefully to Chase’s instructions.

“Okay,” he called. “Try it again, but this time, protect your necks.” His eyes slid to her, then away, then back as they widened in surprise. He said something low to the man beside him, then jogged toward the fence line.

“Hey,” she greeted him, flustered and unbalanced.

“You should come in here and take this lesson. You have to be here with me anyway, and it’ll be over in half an hour.”

Her mouth dropped open and she looked at Hannah and Jo to see if they’d heard him too. “You want me to fight?” Nathan never would’ve approved this. What if her skin was marred?

“Yeah. You need to get stronger. You’re a bear, Anya, not a sloth. Take off your clothes. You’re up next.”

“Take off my…Chase, I don’t know about this.”

“You want to be pampered all your life, Anya?”

She definitely did not want that. “No.”

“Then let me teach you to be strong.” A helpless noise left her throat. No sexier words had ever been uttered to her before now.

“Jo,” he called over his shoulder as he sauntered back to the fight. “You too. She’s an Andean so you’ll be similar in weight.”

“Wait, did you change together?” Hannah asked. “How does he already know what kind of bear you are?”

“He asked.”

“Nosy man,” Jo accused as she peeled her shirt off and climbed the fence. She unzipped her shorts and cast Anya a mischievous grin. “He’s going to freak out when he sees your bear.”

Great, like she needed the reminder. Everyone would stare at her and she’d be embarrassed, and she’d be lucky if her pansy bear didn’t go hide under a log.

****

The woman was slowly undoing Chase and he needed to rein it in—quick. It didn’t help that she stared at him as much as he wanted to look at her, with her big, soft brown doe eyes and lips too sensual for her own damned good.

He couldn’t read her. Submissive, definitely. She wouldn’t even be able to hold middle of the clan if Nathan hadn’t chosen her. Usually he took dominant women to bed with him, but he housed what seemed like a constant erection around Anya. Even submissive though, she had a smart mouth that confused and intrigued him. He liked her sassy, and the day had done her good. She wasn’t avoiding his gaze or hunching her shoulders like she had last night. Now she had straightened her spine and spoke more clearly. The change in her made a sliver of pride surge through him and he tried to stomp it down.

He wasn’t going to do this again. He’d learned his lesson the first time and he’d be damned if he put his heart in the path of a woman again.

But…

Anya was needy, and caring and she always smelled aroused, like she wanted him to take her across the nearest table all the damned time. Her smell was probably what was driving him slowly to insanity.

Jake and Tessa had separated, exhausted from three fights in a row, and he waved them off. They had done well enough for today. He jotted Anya’s name onto the list and made notes on who would be best to pair her up with until she was strong enough to take a bigger bear. He would list all of her struggles on here, then come up with a plan to work on them.

Did he think she was a spy still? Maybe. He didn’t know anymore. He certainly wasn’t as confident as he’d been yesterday, and he couldn’t just go treating her like a pariah her entire probation. Her little fists-of-fury show last night had been pitiful. It wasn’t just acting either. She was really trying to hurt him with punches that felt like cotton ball blasts, and that shit wouldn’t fly in the upcoming war. She’d be killed for sure.