Page 2 of Matched By the Dragon

“MINE!” My bear roared inside my thoughts. “MY ALPHA!”

Durin turned, looking over his shoulder as if he heard my bear’s inner monologue calling out for him. He sniffed the air as the breeze shifted directions and then the fucker smiled.

Nope! Not happening! Had enough alphas in my life to last forever. Had enough heartbreak and babynapping and dead bears. Nope. Nope. Fucking nope!

“Go to him! Run! Run to him!” my bear growled into my thoughts from inside his inner sanctum.

Only I knew better. Only through routine and sameness could I keep my cubs safe. He was too many variables wrapped in muscles and a nice beard.

“Not a nice beard!” I grumbled under my breath as I sprinted back towards the trees. It didn’t take me long to reach the secret way up to my hidden den. I shrugged off the carrier and lay the babies on top of the wall and then scurried up. They woke up sniffing but stayed quiet because of how serious my scent smelled.

“Hello? Hey! Brad?” Durin’s voice called after me.

I cursed silently as my bear roared into my thoughts again. I hoisted myself up onto the wall with a silent grunt and picked up the carrier with my cubs inside not bothering to put it on correctly. I circled around until the wall gave way to dirt and grass and slipped past the old fallen tree that blocked the entrance to our little cave. I ducked inside, holding the babies to my chest in one arm and groping around for my walking stick and flashlight. Both made nice things to clobber someone with.

“Hello?” Durin called out again. He was too close to the cave. I was going to have to eat him. He needed to leave me and the babies alone. These were my babies. This was my home – my den! It didn’t matter if he was my true-mate or not! This wasn’t baby making season! This wasn’t invade Brad’s life season! This was raising these cubs – so leave me alone season.

“Hello? I didn’t mean to start—” Durin said, his face with his beard appearing in the opening of the cave.

I whacked toward his shins with my walking stick. It was a warning blow. I’d play pool with his testicles if he didn’t take the first hint.

“Ouch!” he grunted, having only managed to save one leg from the walking stick.

“Ouch is right!” I said, jabbing my stick out of the cave, but missing him on purpose. “Go on! Shoo!”

“I..” he said, bending down his hand still on his leg. “I… I am either losing my mind, or I am unfamiliar with the mating habits of bear shifters in this territory.”

I almost laughed. I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep the sound from coming out. If I laughed, he’d take it as an invitation to stay. That’s how alphas were. I only spoke to mated alphas and Raziel. I really didn’t speak to anyone who wasn’t Alby, Bennie, Raziel, or one of their relatives.

“You are Brad, right?” he squatted down, making the prospect of playing pool easier.

“Who’s asking?” I said, clutching the babies tighter and changing out the stick for the heavy flashlight. It’d do more damage if I had to clobber him at close range.

“Durin Weston. I think I may be your true-mate,” he said, reaching out to shake my hand.

“You are. So what?” I asked, staring at his hand.

It was big and his fingers were long and thick. He was a hairy man like most bear shifters were. In a different life, I’d probably jump into his arms and then jump his bones. Only this wasn’t that life in some alternate world where my parents were kind and my brother wasn’t a monster. This was here. This was now. I had babies to protect.

Durin nodded and scratched his beard. He sat down crossed legged in the grass and stared at me for a long moment as if trying to solve a riddle. I held my babies to my chest with one hand and the flashlight in the other. The cubs were starting to stir and I needed him gone before they woke up. They didn’t know him and I wasn’t sure they wouldn’t try to play with him. They loved to play with anyone who would give them the attention.

“Is this a test?” Durin asked, arching a brow.

“What sort of question is that?” I asked, the flashlight and cubs growing heavy in my tense hands.

“Did I do something to offend you that I don’t know about?” he tried a different angle.

I opened my mouth and closed it. I wasn’t about to explain my whole life to this alpha I’d only just met. It would’ve been easy to open my mouth and let the words stumble out but easy was dangerous. Easy would get us all killed.

“No,” I shook my head instead.

“Okay,” Durin nodded.

“Is there someone else here I don’t know about? A threat that I can’t smell?” he asked, resting his chin on his fist.

“Maybe there’s a whole house of people here. You don’t know who’s here with us.”

“My dead wife used to do that,” he nodded. “Even when I wasn’t home, she’d say ‘my husband’s in the bedroom’ or ‘they’re in the kitchen waiting on the food.’ I get it.”