“Agreed. I’ll call you if we need to go.” Garrett cast him a smart-ass grin. “Now get to the mating.”
Sam barely kept from flipping him off and then ducked out of the way when the door opened wide and a lumbering bear shifter walked out of the cabin, snuffling. “Whoa.”
“Sorry.” Rody Flapper was a three-hundred-year-old shifter built like the solid base of a thousand-year-old pine tree. “I didn’t mean to run you over. You’re a good male.” He patted Sam’s shoulder. “Bye.” He sniffed a few more times and then leaped off the deck, shifting into a bear.
Sam ducked inside and shut the door. “You okay?”
Honor looked up from the sofa. The soft light fell over her high cheekbones, and her topaz eyes contrasted nicely with her lovely skin tone. “Hi.”
“Hi.” He shut the door. “What just happened?”
She shrugged. “Rody was having some problems getting in touch with his feelings about a few things and came to me for help. I wasn’t able to get into his mind like I can humans, so I fell back on my schooling.” She rubbed her jaw. “I need to do some more research into PTSD and also try harder to work with his brain next time. I just helped him to understand his feelings, which was what my psych degree was all about. Do grizzly bear shifters usually cry?”
“No.” Sam shook his head. He had more important things to worry about, so he dropped into the adjoining chair. “Any problems?”
“If you’re asking if I’ve created fire or had parts of my body pulled into other dimensions, then no. No problems.” She set down the book. “We need to talk.”
He’d rather just fuck, but he’d appease her. “Sure. No doubt you have questions about our mating.” Not that the brand had appeared on his hand, because it hadn’t. What was wrong with him?
“What if this fire thing that you passed to me is like a bug? Like some sort of infection?” She rubbed her eyes.
He nodded. “Could be. Or we’re fated to be mated, and that’s why you took on my problem. Or, with your enhancement, you take on everyone’s problems but have been able to deal with that because they were all humans before. There are several explanations, and we don’t have a solid answer, except to say that I haven’t passed fire on to anybody else.”
“Hmm. Well, I don’t want to put anybody else in jeopardy, but we need to find out if we can pass it along. How about to a witch or dragon or someone who already deals with fire?” She kicked her feet out on the coffee table, putting them closer to the crackling fire.
It was a decent idea. He liked how her mind worked. “I already tried with both Bear and later Flynn with no luck,” he admitted.
“Also, I’d like to continue exploring this relationship we’ve started, but I am not ready to commit for eternity. I like you, Sam. But I’m not ready to mate.” She met his gaze evenly.
Should that hurt or piss him off? It did both. But she was being honest and she had every right to choose her own path in life. “Okay.” He kicked off his boots and laid his head back, shutting his eyes. It had been a hell of a day. “The mating mark hasn’t appeared yet, anyway.”
Her soft indrawn breath surprised him. “Should I be hurt or insulted by that?”
He couldn’t help the smile that crept across his face. “No. Chances are my system is completely screwed up by whatever is happening with the fire and dimensions and everything else.”
“Or I’m not the right girl,” she said softly.
He opened his eyelids. “I can’t imagine anybody else being more right.” He liked his life, and he liked himself. Yet sometimes, it would be so much easier if he had Garrett’s attitude. G would just tell her they were going to be mated and to get on board. Of course, G would already have forced the mating mark onto his hand. This feeling of uncertainty was new, and it was beginning to tick Sam off. “Take your time and figure out what you want and need,” he murmured. Of course, he was going to help her reach the correct conclusion, but everyone wanted a feeling of control.
He’d give her that.
Yeah, he was more like Garrett than he wanted to admit.
Even so…no marking.
Her chuckle swept over his skin and fired his nerves. “That has to be driving you crazy.”
He let one eyebrow rise. “How so?”
Her grin was both impish and challenging. Quite the combination. “You know. You come across as totally chill while pretty much controlling every situation without seeming to do so, and you can’t control this one? Your own hand and your own marking and your own body? It’s a miracle you aren’t accidentally burning the entire nation down.”
Sometimes he didn’t like how well she saw him. Irritation ticked along his neck. “You offering to help burn off some energy?”
Her smile slid right to siren range. “You up to it?”
A guy could only take so much of a challenge. He moved fast, tossing her over a shoulder and heading into the bedroom. Her peal of laughter unfurled the hard knot in his gut. She was a handful, wriggling and smacking him on the ass. By the time he flipped her onto her back on the bed, he was smiling, too.
“You’re a brat,” he murmured.
She propped herself up on her elbows, her hair springing around her shoulders. “What are you going to do about that?”
“Spank you or kiss you,” he admitted.
Her eyebrows rose, and interest flashed across her expressive face. “Hmmm. I’m in the mood for only one of those items. Tonight, anyway.” She really was a brat. “My leg is all healed, you know.”
“I know.” He grabbed her ankles and slid her toward him, causing her to fall back on the bed. She laughed again. He could listen to that sound every night for the rest of his life.
A sharp rap on the outside door had him growling. “Go away,” he called out.
“Sorry,” Garrett said. “Six fresh kidnappings out of Portland, and we’re the closest team. The Seven is on the move, and if we hurry, we’ll get there first. I called in a favor and have a copter waiting outside Grizzly territory.”
“I can’t go,” Sam called out.
“Flynn is creating some sort of dragon tent around the place so fire can’t get in and other worlds can’t try to claim her,” Garrett yelled back. “He said the protection can last for twelve hours, tops.”
Sam shook his head. “I thought I felt something odd in the air.” He leaned over and pressed a hard kiss to Honor’s hip bone. “Looks like I have to go. Keep that thought. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”