Page 41 of Bear With Me

Gran rolled her eyes. “I cuss plenty, believe me. Now, what did my idiot daughter-in-law do this time?”

Before Bjorn could think of a good way to answer, Dennis did: “She brought over my replacement.”

“Your…what?” Gran coughed out, thumping a fist on her chest.

Dennis nodded grimly. “A guy named Kevin who’d apparently make a great father for her grandkids.”

She stared at him for a long moment, then looked to Bjorn as if she were hoping he’d tell her that had been a joke. Bjorn just shrugged helplessly.

“Right…” Gran said slowly. “Well.” She paused to take a delicate bite of her bacon, chew, and swallow. “You two are going to have to complete the bond sooner rather than later if you want her off your backs.”

Dennis stiffened, and Bjorn sighed. “Gran…”

“What?” she shot back. “You can’t say I’m wrong.”

“We’re taking this at Dennis’s pace,” he reminded her. “And I’m not going to let my mother force him into something he isn’t sure of.” Dennis made a small noise, the meaning of which Bjorn couldn’t ascertain. “Besides,” he forged on when Dennis didn’t add anything else after a second, “we’re only here for a few more days and then I can go back to not answering her phone calls.”

Gran snorted. “Wouldn’t be surprised if she turns up at your door even after you go home.”

Oh. Oh, no. That hadn’t even occurred to him. Bjorn winced and glanced at his mate, who was looking a little wide-eyed himself. As he watched, Dennis steeled himself and drew himself up. “We’ll fend her off,” he said staunchly.

We? Bjorn thought. They didn’t even live in the same state, let alone the same house. How could ‘we’ do anything? Maybe Dennis had been envisioning them together, after all? He opened his mouth to ask what Dennis had meant, but before he could, Dennis went on.

“Besides, when – if – we do mate, I’m hopeful that Bjorn might move in with me, since I can’t really move my bar. We wouldn’t even have to tell his mother where we lived.”

Hold the front door, what? Dennis really had thought about this to the point of thinking Bjorn would move in with him? Surely that indicated some kind of intention, right?

Dennis reached out and used one finger to close Bjorn’s hanging jaw with a wry smile. “I’m not saying we’re doing it today or anything,” he said, “but, well, it’s worth considering as an aspect of everything.”

Gran chortled and clapped her hands. “Oh, I like you, Dennis. You have my blessing to mate my boy.”

What the absolute fuck was even going on right now? “You’re…thinking about it?” he ventured tentatively, trying not to look too much like he was pleading.

Dennis nodded solemnly. “I’m thinking about it. Someone’s gotta protect you from your family, after all. And…” He shrugged. “You’re pretty cool.”

“I am?”

“And you’re not bad to look at,” Dennis added, a note of teasing in his voice. “And god knows I’ve been having no luck dating other people. So, you know.” He shrugged again. “It’s an option.”

Bjorn had no idea what to say to that. Luckily, at that moment, he turned into a bear.

14

Dennis

Bjorn stayed in his involuntary bear form for the rest of the day, snuffling along after Dennis as Dennis did his best to singlehandedly take care of Gran and keep her entertained in her bed. Sure, he could have found the Alpha and asked him to force Bjorn back, but that seemed like overkill when he could handle the daily stuff on his own, especially since he knew the shifting took a lot out of Bjorn.

The healer stopped by in the afternoon and the two women fussed at each other as usual, but the eventual verdict was that Gran was strongly on the mend and was likely to be allowed out of bed the next day.

“Another day?” Gran groused as Fiona let herself out after her visit. “I can’t feel my ass at this point, and she wants me to spend another day in this bed?”

“You need me to turn you over?” Dennis offered, already knowing the answer, which was given promptly.

“Hell no!” As Gran had gotten used to having them around, what little verbal restraint she'd started with had completely eroded; now, she could have given a trucker a run for his money. “Next you’re going to be trying to get me to pee in a bedpan, and let me tell you, young man: nope.”

Bjorn grumbled and nosed at his grandmother, and Dennis chuckled. “Careful, you’re setting off his protective instincts.”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, no, I think that’s you, if anyone. Did you see his face when he talked about his mother calling you a ‘human’?”