Redeem the Bear (Bear Valley Shifters #5)(10)

It was a simple set up that didn’t require instructions, so while the boys were unloading supplies, she and Jo put up the tent, and Hannah built hers right next to it.

This would be fun if death weren’t imminent.

By the time camp was set up, the smells of cooking stew simmering over several fire pits wafted through the woods. Corin was so hungry, her stomach hated her. The bear inside of her was kicking up her instincts to find the nearest blackberry bush and take food matters into her own hands, but she needed more than fruit if she was going to have enough energy for tomorrow. She needed protein.

“Snake,” Juan said casually as he pointed to something at her feet Corin screamed and fell backward off the log she was sitting on.

“That’s your defense mechanism?” Juan asked through uncontrolled laughter.

Corin sat up and brushed leaves from her hair. The snake in question was actually stick, which made Juan a floppy cock-face for scaring her like that.

The gargantuan shifter seemed to be enjoying himself, his shoulders shaking as he spooned stew from the iron pot over the fire. She wanted to kick embers at him.

“It kind of looks like a snake,” Anya said with her nose scrunched up.

The branch was covered in leaves and didn’t look like anything other than a tree limb. “It doesn’t, but thanks.”

Hannah snatched the metal bowl from Juan’s hands. She looked positively green and Corin frowned. “Hannah, are you okay?”

“Yes,” she said, sitting heavily onto a log Chase had pulled near the fire. “I’m just nervous about tomorrow and my stomach is in knots.”

Joanna was staring at her with this calculating expression, then she shot Anya a significant look. “Maybe you should go see Daria. She can give you something to calm your nerves. Ask her for some ginger.”

Hannah was shoving stew into her maw like she hadn’t eaten in three days, and Juan was still sitting there with his hands hovering in the air like he didn’t understand where his food had gone.

“Ginger,” Hannah scoffed. “I’m not a pregnant—” She retched over the back of the log, and Corin rushed to hold her long hair out of the way.

Juan’s annoying face appeared beside her. “That was my food.”

Exasperated, she gritted out, “Make another plate. and go tell Riker we’re taking Hannah to Daria. She’s not feeling well.”

“Oh my gosh, I’ve turned into such a *,” Hannah groaned.

“That would be gross and weird,” Juan said, scooping another bowl of stew.

“What?” Corin asked.

He licked a drop of broth off his thumb. “If Hannah turned into a *.”

“God, Juan, just stop talking,” Joanna said, helping Corin lift Hannah to her feet.

A smile touched the corners of Jo’s lips though, and Corin fought hard not to laugh. The man didn’t need encouragement.

“I think I have a tapeworm,” Hannah groaned. Sweat dotted her brow and she looked pale and shaken. Her hands trembled when she reached out to Corin for balance.

“I think what you’re carrying is much cuter than a tapeworm, love,” Riker said from behind. “At least, I hope it is.” He scooped Hannah up in his arms and with long strides, made his way toward the medical area.

“Uh, is Hannah pregnant?” Corin asked.

Anya and Joanna were watching Riker’s retreat with the strangest expressions, joy and hope and disbelief all rolled into one.

“I hope so,” Joanna breathed.

“I thought she couldn’t get pregnant,” Anya said in a small voice. “She’s human.”

“It’s harder to breed, but not impossible,” Juan said from right behind Corin, successfully scaring the piss out of her.

“Stop doing that,” she said, punching his arm. Now her hand hurt and the man didn’t even budge, which just pissed her off more. “And since when did you become the baby whisperer. What, you read a book on shifter-human breeding and now you’re an expert?”

“No.” His dark eyebrows drew down like he was offended. “Chase told me.”

Anya spun with her mouth hanging open. “Chase told you what?”

“That Hannah was pregnant.”

The shock on Anya’s face was almost comical. “And how did Chase know she was pregnant?”

“Because Riker told him. You look mad.”

“Run,” Joanna advised from the side of her mouth.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Corin said, shaking her head to clear it. “How would Riker know, when Hannah obviously doesn’t?”

“She tastes pregnant when he eats her out.”

Joanna’s eyes rolled back in her head. “Jesus, Juan.”

Corin bit her lip hard so she wouldn’t laugh. The man got an A plus for bluntness.

“Who all knows?” Anya asked in a dangerous voice. “I mean, Hannah should probably know first, then her mate, then her friends, but apparently the knowledge has only been reserved for big dumb gossiping idiots.” She yelled the last word, and Chase turned from his place talking to a group of shifters near his jeep.

“What did I do?” he called.

“Hannah,” was all Anya said.

Chase slid a pissed off glare to Juan. “Thanks a lot, man.”