Mate Fur Hire (Bears Fur Hire #3)(40)

He loved her for the effort, but he hated himself for her pain.

Here in the dark, as her shoulders sagged in defeat, he couldn’t help but regret the time they’d wasted avoiding his hibernation. Now it wouldn’t matter. He would sleep until April, and he’d missed all of that bonding time with her while she’d juggled lab work and constant Changes into her animal.

“Come to town with me?”

“What?” she asked.

“I want to take you on a date. A real one.”

“I don’t have time, Tobias.”

“You do. Vera, I have to leave soon.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m not safe when I hibernate, and I can’t go to sleep around here. Not around people. You know how your fox used to be dangerous around humans? That’s how my bear gets in winter. I have to fly out to Kodiak Island soon, and I don’t want to waste our remaining time together watching you drive yourself into the ground to avoid the inevitable. I want to be with you.”

“Tobias, no,” she cried, tears streaming down her face. “You can’t leave me. You can’t.”

He was to her in three long strides. He fell to his knees in the dirt beside her and pulled her hard to his chest. “Listen to me, Vera. You are strong. Look what you’ve done! You compromised with your fox, and you’re present every time you Change. You have control, Vera. I can see it. And I’m so f*cking proud of you. You will get through this winter, and hopefully it’ll be our first and last apart. I can’t watch you wither anymore, though. Do you understand? It’s not worth it to me. I’m going to sleep this winter, and that’s okay.”

“But your family—”

“Our family will hold another winter. You know why?”

She shook her head against his chest. “Why?”

“Because Lena and Elyse are strong just like you. Go on a date with me, woman. I want to talk about wedding planning and girly shit.”

Vera laughed a surprised sound and wrapped her arms around his neck. Then with a heartbroken sigh, she said, “Okay, McBeefcake. Take me somewhere fancy.”

The relief Tobias felt at hearing that nickname after so long was almost as tangible as the soft breeze through the trees. He would take her out, and they would have a good night, and in the morning, he would leave to fight the bears on Kodiak Island for his den. He didn’t tell her how close he was to hibernation but the first tendrils of sleepiness had already begun, and his time was out.

He had one last night to spend with the woman he loved before he left her alone, and he wanted to give her a night she would remember. This date would have to keep her warm for the next six snowy months.

Tonight would be the memory Vera would have to draw on when things got hard because as much as he hated it, come tomorrow morning, he wouldn’t be here for her anymore.





Chapter Sixteen


Vera was nervous, but for no good reason. There was a shift in the air between her and Tobias. Over the last couple of months, she’d grown to adore him. To love him. But there had always been this underlying feeling of panic. From the day she’d met him, she was losing time and had been helpless to stop it. She’d never suppressed an animal as big as a grizzly bear, and it had been a brutal awakening. If her serum wasn’t strong enough, it could hurt Tobias. It had been much easier figuring out how to suppress her own animal. If she died, or got sicker, who would care? Not her at the time. She had been half-dead inside already.

But Tobias was hers to protect, and his life meant everything.

As she’d dressed for their date, he’d asked her to do one thing, just for tonight. “Let time go. Just be with me.”

As hard as it was to flip that switch from sheer panic to letting something so important go, she had to accept she hadn’t made the cure in time. And she had to give him this—his last request before hibernation. She had to spend time with him while she could.

Tonight, she wouldn’t cry or fight what was happening anymore.

Tonight she would show him how loved he was so he wouldn’t go into the inevitable winter slumber upset and worried about her.

Tonight, she would be the strong mate he deserved.

Tobias looked over at her from the driver’s side of the Bronco. His arm was hooked over the steering wheel, relaxed as he drove them into Galena. And despite their impending separation, his smile was smooth, easily transforming his face to a thing of beauty. He hadn’t shaved in a couple of days, and his jaw sported that designer scruff she found so damned sexy on him. A soft ballad played at low volume. Tobias lifted her hand, kissed her knuckles, then intertwined their fingers as he settled their hands on top of her leg.

Vera had dressed in her favorite dark gray, body-clinging sweater dress, tights, and black snow boots. Her hair was loose on her shoulders because Tobias liked to play with it. He did it absently, when he was thinking or when he was hugging her. He played with it late at night when they stayed up talking on their palette on the floor.

He’d voiced his regret they had spent the summer living rough in Link’s outbuilding, but he didn’t see what she did. She had no regrets. This had been the best summer of her life. She had Tobias, and with his patience, she was gaining control of her animal in ways she never imagined possible. And she’d found an unexpected friend in Link. Compared to Perl Island, Wolfland, as Fox called it, was comparable to heaven.