Betray the Bear (Bear Valley Shifters #4)(28)

Right as she was about to apologize, a slow, hopeful smile tugged his lips. “Say that again.”

Rolling her eyes to the lazy white clouds above them, she teased, “I’ll wait.”

Chase growled and grazed his teeth against her neck, then eased back. “You know what I mean.”

The words were scary. Ones she hadn’t uttered to a man before and now she’d do it twice in a row. But Chase deserved them. She didn’t know much about what was real and not real with the Long Claws, but here with Chase, the truth of her feelings was the easiest thing about her life. She was still learning who she was, but whatever that encompassed, she was his, body and soul. “I love you.”

“Jesus, woman,” he rumbled, lowering his forehead to her chest. “What are you doing to me?”

Grabbing the backward bill of his favorite baseball cap from his head, she tossed it to the table near the fence and roughed her hands through his short hair. It didn’t matter if he said it back right now. She could wait on that too because she was here to stay. She wasn’t running from the churning mass of emotion he conjured in her anymore, and she sure as hell wasn’t playing Nathan’s war games. She was in it, neck deep loving this complicated man. It was terrifying and exhilarating all at once.

Chase eyed his class as they passed, panting and grunting, knees high. Then, so fast it startled her, he turned and pressed his lips against her ear. “I love you, too.”

Those words were the most important of her life and she smiled against his cheek and hugged his shoulders tighter to keep him against her, unable to contain her happiness.

Whatever came next, she would be able to handle it because he’d showed her how strong she could be. She could bear any hardship because Chase was beside her, exploring her potential. She’d never felt so comfortable in her skin. As he pulled back and looked at her with those bottomless melted caramel colored eyes, like she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen, she’d never felt more in charge of her life, her future, and her happiness.

She was slowly coming to the realization that what Chase was doing to her might actually be magic.





Chapter Nine



Anya folded a cobalt colored fitted shirt and set it into the small pile of clean clothes on the guest bed. They were still warm from the dryer and she hugged a pair of jeans to her chest to absorb the heat. Cross-legged, she flung the pants to the side to encourage away the wrinkles, then folded them too. It was late, and the dinner dishes long ago cleaned.

The soreness in her back eased with a languid stretch as she reached her arms toward the ceiling. Everything hurt on her these days, but the intense training she’d been doing was making her stronger, little by little. She was proud of those sore muscles. They had been hard-earned.

The pipes to the bathroom made swishing sounds against her wall as Chase turned on the sink water, and she folded her last shirt double-time so she could catch him before he disappeared into his bedroom for the night. Snatching the glass jelly jar that she’d mixed the balm in from her dresser, she padded to the bathroom door and knocked on the open frame.

“Can I?” she asked. Shyness always crept over her when she put it on him for a multitude of reasons, but the main was that being vulnerable with his injury seemed to make Chase uncomfortable.

Tonight though, he smiled and jerked his head in invitation. “I was about to ask if you would.”

Oh. Relieved, she fingered out a quarter-sized portion of the cool, purple colored goo and waited for him to lift his arm to give her access. The star-shaped wound was silver on the edges like the rest of his scars, and red in the center where the muscle hadn’t been covered by healing skin. Every time she imagined the kind of pain he must be in, she had to swallow down bile. She couldn’t even tell he was hurting.

“It looks better already. Less angry.”

“It feels better, too.”

She applied the balm, then wrapped fresh gauze and bandages around his middle so he wouldn’t lose the medicine as soon as he lay down. Her fingers lingered on the course material of the wrap, then she trailed it down his stomach.

He flinched away when her hand brushed the elastic waist of his athletic shorts.

“I’m going to bed,” she said, to lift the tension. The sting of rejection didn’t hurt yet, but it would, and when it did, she wanted to be alone in her bedroom with the door closed so he wouldn’t see how much he affected her.

“’Night,” he murmured in a quiet voice.

Closing her door, she leaned her forehead against the wood. Inner horny bear had taken to wearing oversized flannel pajamas and eating chocolate pudding under a blanket as she’d been rebuffed time and time again by Chase this week.

“Anya,” Chase said, knocking softly.

Frowning, she stood back and opened the door. He stared at her forehead, probably at the red mark she’d likely just made from leaning against it while pining like a fool.

“I brought you this,” he said in a gruff voice. He handed her a glass of ice water and strode away.

Okay. She took a sip and jumped when his door slammed closed down the hall. Slowly, she made her way to the bed and set the drink on the bedside table near the lamp. The drawers creaked as she put away her clothes and when she turned around, Chase was standing in her doorway again, looking utterly lost. Opening his mouth to say something, he hesitated and abruptly left.