Husband Fur Hire (Bears Fur Hire #1)(29)

“For our date?”

Ian dipped his chin once and eased out of her embrace so he could better see the green and gold in her eyes. Damn, she was beautiful.

“Maybe it should just be us today,” she said, scrunching up her petite little nose. He wanted to kiss it, but big tough bear shifters didn’t do cutesy shit like that.

“Good,” he rumbled, picking up the pup.

The dog nipped him, and without thinking, Ian latched his teeth onto the scruff of his neck and let off a low snarl as a warning. Miki’s growl died in his throat, and he hunched in submission. Good pup. Ian released his neck and nuzzled his little face as a reward, and got one timid lick on the nose in return. Then he set the puppy into the small enclosed stall he’d cleared out for him to sleep in until Miki was big enough to wander the yard when they weren’t home.

“I can’t believe biting him worked,” Elyse muttered when he turned around. Her eyes were round, and she stood frozen in the same position she’d been in, her hands still out like she was surprised he wasn’t hugging her anymore.

“Mmm,” he said noncommittally, not about to explain dominance or how he knew so much about animal behavior. “Miki will be a good watchdog, but he has to learn who is boss. You ready?”

“After we fix the fence. I don’t want the horses getting out while we’re gone.”

“Yep.” Ian grabbed a box of nails and a hammer and followed Elyse out of the barn. They would need to hurry if he was going to take her to his favorite fishing spot. He was all about a date, but it would be the kind he understood. The multi-tasking sort where they brought meat home at the end of the day because winter was coming up, and fast. Hopefully she liked what he had planned.

One of the posts was rotted and leaning heavily to the side, so Ian clipped the wire and pulled it out while Elyse blocked the horses from escaping. He replaced it with a log he’d brought up this morning with the four-wheeler, all the while calculating how much lumber Elyse’s wood burning stove would require for the winter. He didn’t want her running out and having to go too far alone to haul and chop more. Not while he was sleeping and couldn’t help her with the heavy work.

And when they were done, Ian packed the back of the truck with his nets and fishing poles, then opened the door for Elyse and laughed at her as she practically hummed with excitement.

“I know what we’re doing! We’re going fishing. Where? The Yukon? There’s a stream off it near here that I’ve caught fish in before.”

“This will be nowhere you’ve been and up in bear country.”

“Bear country? Black bear or brown bear?”

“Both.”

Her delicate eyebrows jacked up, creating little wrinkles of worry across her forehead. He wanted to kiss them smooth. “I’ll keep you safe,” he promised.

“Against a grizzly?”

Ian swallowed his smile down as he pulled out of the homestead. “Yes, Elyse. Against a grizzly. I brought the right weapons.”

Sure, his high caliber rifle sat in the back of the truck, ready to be loaded and emptied into a bruin if they were charged, but that wasn’t the weapon he was talking about. Ian had claws and teeth and had fought many a wild bear in his adventures in the Alaskan wilderness. Sometimes, his inner monster required a good fight.

He was much more afraid of what Elyse was doing to his insides than what a bear could do to his outside.

“Ian, I saw a bear once. A big one. It was the scariest moment of my life.”

“Relax.” He slid his hand over her thigh and squeezed it reassuringly. “Elyse, you’re mine to take care of, and I wouldn’t put you in a situation that was dangerous or that you couldn’t handle. We probably won’t see a bear, but if we do, you do exactly what I say, and I promise, I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“You are dangerous to date,” she accused.

“It’ll be fun. Plus we need to start filling that empty freezer of yours.”

“Freezer of ours.”

Ian pulled onto the main dirt road toward Galena. His plane was stored near the landing strip just outside of town. “Ours,” he agreed, though he wouldn’t be eating meat out of it this winter. He would be sleeping deep in a snowy den on Kodiak Island. The thought of being so far away from her suddenly socked him in the gut and stole his breath away. Kodiak Island was the natural choice that would make it hardest for Miller to track him, but the closer he got to Elyse, the more his instincts screamed to stay here, deep under one of those old cabins on the back of her homestead near his mate. His mate? Fuck. Tobias had been right about pairing up. Ian was deep, deep in this now. There would be no turning back or pulling away from her. Not after today.

Now the thought of her finding out about his bear was more unacceptable than ever.





Chapter Twelve


Elyse pulled a hiking backpack from the floorboard and unzipped the biggest pocket. Ian seemed to need to eat constantly because he was built so muscular, so she’d packed him extra food for today. She pulled out an apple and handed it to him. “Here.”

With a grin, he took it and bit a piece off, then handed her the apple, and she crunched off a bite. With a giggle, she gave it back and wiped the juice from her mouth with the sleeve of her thin sweater. Ian ghosted a hungry glance at her lips that turned her middle to churning hot metal.