Mate Fur Hire (Bears Fur Hire #3)(11)

“So why stop the medicine now?”

“Because I’m tired of running.”

“You mean you’re tired of being scared of yourself.”

She lifted one shoulder up to her ear in a half shrug. “Yeah, that.”

Tobias didn’t say anything. His expression got real thoughtful as he poured a bottle of water over his skin and toweled off. He even put on a set of extra clothes he’d retrieved from the back of the plane without talking to her. Maybe she should’ve waited until after they’d left to tell him. Had she just screwed her chances of escaping? Maybe getting rid of the bear for half a year wasn’t worth staying awake. She didn’t know. Vera didn’t know anything about him. She’d assumed hibernation was a terrible experience for bear shifters, but perhaps she’d been wrong.

But when the silence got uncomfortably thick, and she began to think up ways to convince him to take her with him again, he loaded up her things in the plane and buckled her into the passenger’s seat before putting a headset over her ears.

After a rough take-off, when they were past the building storm and into smooth airspace, Tobias finally spoke to her again. “We’ll figure everything out.”

Those four words meant more than he could ever know. He was still in this. And even if it wasn’t a love match and he was only willing to trade his protection for her cure, Tobias still felt important. Now, he wasn’t just some man she’d dreamed up. He was a flesh and blood shifter who had gone protective for her back in the village. He’d called her his mate and went after Harlan. The stranger had taken quills for her.

Sure, Tobias saw their pairing as a means to an end—an impersonal mating that got them both what they wanted, void of emotions.

He was a survivor—that was for sure and for certain.

But Vera was beginning to become highly suspicious that Tobias Silver was also a decent man.





Chapter Four


“This is where you live?” Vera asked, trying and failing to stifle the disappointment in her voice. “In a hotel?” She adjusted the strap of her purple bag and followed him inside room 1010.

Tobias clicked on the light and set her suitcase down. “This and a number of other hotels. Are you disappointed?” His tone was odd and low, and he wouldn’t meet her eyes.

In that moment, she wanted to lie because her opinion on his “home” seemed to matter to him, but he would hear if she was dishonest. Damn his shifter senses. She looked around and explored the room, stalling. It had a single queen-size bed with a green and navy floral print comforter. There was a nice on-suite bathroom with granite countertops and a sparkling white tub, even a little sink near a mini-fridge in the corner. The smell of cleaner was harsh against her hypersensitive nose. “A little. I guess I imagined a little cabin somewhere off in the woods. Some stability.”

“You had that on Perl Island.”

Vera sat heavily onto the plush mattress. “It wasn’t the same. I wasn’t with—” She clamped her mouth shut and cursed herself silently.

Tobias leaned against the door he’d just closed. “You weren’t with what?”

Clearing her throat uncomfortably, she murmured, “I wasn’t with you. I know that’s weird because I don’t really know you, but for some strange and stupid reason, I feel safe with you, and the whole plane ride here I was excited about seeing your place.”

His striking green eyes held steady on her, his face a stoic mask until at last he said, “I hibernate in a den on Kodiak Island during the winters. I guess that’s home for me. The hotels are just a place to sleep between deliveries.”

“Oh. What does your den look like?”

A small smile curved his lips, and he got a faraway look. “It’s nothing fancy and nothing you would be impressed with. It’s just a deep cave, with evergreen branches where I sleep. It’s the best den, though, and every year I go to battle with the wild bears for it.”

“You fight them?”

Tobias dipped his chin once, his eyes sparking. “My bear needs it.”

“Do all grizzlies need to fight?”

“Do you want to shower first?”

“Oh, no, Mr. Secrets.” Vera flipped onto her belly on the mattress and crossed her ankles in the air. “Spill them beans.”

A soft noise rumbled from Tobias as he lifted his gaze to the ceiling. “My brothers don’t need to fight. I do. You tethered yourself to a monster. Congratulations. I’m going to take a shower.”

He strode toward the bathroom door, but Vera launched herself at him like a flying squirrel coasting to another tree.

Tobias grunted and stumbled, then straightened and said, “Lady, get off.”

He was pinned with his arms at his side as she clung to him Koala style. “No,” she said, shaking her head for emphasis. “You can’t run from my affection. Not until you hear what I have to say.”

“Then say it and let me go.”

Leaning forward, she whispered into his ear, “I’m a monster, too.” Gooseflesh rippled up his neck, and before she could stop herself, she kissed him there just to feel the texture and inhale his sexy, masculine scent. “Admissions like that won’t chase me off, and it will take some time getting used to hotel living, but I’ll write down a list of pros and feel better about all this in the morning.” Loosening her grip, she slid down his body like a stripper pole and snatched her purple bag from the floor. Bolting around him, she said, “I call shower first!”