Return To The Bear (Bear Valley Shifters #3)(6)

“You could do worse than get boned by the alpha whenever you want, Joanna,” Audrey said around a bite of pudding.

Why did everyone keep saying that? You could do worse…well, she could do a hell of a lot better than becoming first lady of a harem of shifter breeders, now couldn’t she? This was insane. She still remembered what normalcy was, and this was not it. She’d just watched Nathan boink one of his mates while staring at her lady bits. If she told Audrey that, would her roommate be surprised? No, because everyone here just went around banging anyone they pleased with no regard for actual affectionate feelings.

She would have tried her hand at finding romance with one of the other males around here, but Nathan would cut off their head. That wasn’t sarcastic. He would take a saber and lob off their head, then probably declare the deed done in her name like she’d asked him to do it. Barbarian.

She wanted to break everything.

“You look sexually frustrated, Joanna,” Audrey observed, then slurped another bite of pudding.

“Shut up,” she muttered and stomped to the front door. He wanted her to live with his mates? Seriously? She’d said no to him claiming her. And whatever big announcement Nathan was going to make at dinner tonight sounded about as exciting as cleaning a gas station bathroom.

He could force you to accept him. The thought made her sick to her stomach. He wouldn’t. It wasn’t his way. It wasn’t any of their way to force a pairing.

Marching down the lane, she ignored the odd looks and whispers. Throwing open the door to the big house, she barged through the kitchen where two of his mates, April and Greta, sat chatting quietly. From the dirty looks they tossed her and from the silence that doused the room, she could guess who they were talking about. In the bedroom closest to the kitchen sat her things. The room was cluttered with messy piles, and she swallowed down the fury that was clawing its way up her throat. This had been organized. It wasn’t like Nathan was banging Anya for hours. It was half an hour tops, and not enough time for one man to move all of her things.

She lifted an embroidered pillow her mom had made when she and Dad had first been mated. Love lives here, it read, and Joanna clutched it to her chest. It was one of the few things Nathan had allowed her to take from her old life, and now it had a big grease stain across the front thanks to some careless mover.

Anya poked her head inside the open doorway. “Hey you. It’s almost time for dinner. You want to walk with me?”

Joanna swallowed an angry retort. It wasn’t Anya’s fault Nathan was being a pain in her ass. Maybe Anya was a stolen shifter like herself and was just trying to make the best out of a bad situation. She didn’t really know anything about the woman, other than the fact that she was apparently cool with threesomes.

“Sure. That would be great,” she said with a sigh. She was still as naked as the day she was born, but nudity wasn’t a big deal. Everyone walked around naked before and after a change. Still, she wanted to wear clothes to dinner, so she rifled through a detached dresser drawer someone had tossed onto the twin sized bed in the corner. Anya was wearing a sundress, but Joanna didn’t own anything nice like that.

Clad and jeans, a black tank top and matching flip flops, she followed Anya out the front door.

“A woman came here this morning,” Anya said wistfully.

“A human woman?”

“Oh, no. She smelled like a shifter. She was really pretty and looked interested in our Nathan.”

Our Nathan? Yak. “What did she want?”

“I don’t know. Nathan asked me to leave before I could hear, but he made it up to me by asking for me when you were there. He’s nice like that. I haven’t been intimate with him in two days, and he does seem to try and be fair to his mates.”

Nathan and fair didn’t belong in the same sentence. “What did the woman look like?”

“Dark hair the color of crow feathers, and bright red lips. She was all made up like she was going to a fancy party.” Anya’s eyes looked hopeful and her delicate eyebrows arched. “Maybe she’ll be at dinner tonight.”

She wasn’t though. The mess hall where Nathan preferred to dine only held bear shifters she recognized. No mysterious dark haired woman with red lipstick, and Nathan didn’t act like anything was amiss when they walked through the front door.

April and Greta already sat on his right side at a table on a raised platform. A server set a plate of lamb chops, mashed potatoes and garden green beans in front of him. When his eyes landed on her, the sheer amount of possessiveness that dwelled there made her skin crawl.

He stood in a very chivalrous gesture, but when Anya approached to lay a chaste peck upon his cheek, he motioned for her to sit two seats down. Anya tossed Joanna a hurt look as Nathan guided her to the seat directly beside him. What a way for a man to treat a woman he’d just shared a bed with. Her stomach felt like it was filled with hot stones and she swallowed bile. Anya’s hurt would be her pain to bear someday too. She’d never be loved, only possessed.

A server set a plate of food before her and she wrung her hands beneath the table. It looked delicious but she’d be sick if she ate now. The announcement Nathan would make tonight weighed heavily on her, and she searched the other faces around the room. She’d never been to a dinner with Nathan. It was reserved for the highest ranking members of the clan, and though he’d elevated her rank as bribery, she’d never been invited.