7. EXQUISITE TORTURE

LUKE, EXQUISITE TORTURE

“She’s perfect – that’s all there is to it!” ‘Chase’, my bear proclaims as we go for a ‘run’ after dropping her and the babies off at their cabin. The storm doesn’t bother ‘Chase’ like it does me but we still can’t be out indefinitely, however, he has some energy to burn. “Don’t put this all on me!” He stubbornly growls while rolling his eyes at me – literally since we’re in his form.

From the moment she walked into the diningroom, we knew she was the one destined for us – our bond mate. I’m immensely proud of us, it took every ounce of self-control I had to not jump across the table and claim her on the damn spot, she smelled so good – raspberrrrriiiiiesssss. Seeing her with two babies threw me but only for a moment – and only because I worried she would have a husband with her. Seeing as she’s human, she clearly didn’t sit around pining for her mate like most shifter females do but she’s here alone – there is no partner with her which is unusual.

Especially when she has two young children with her.

Short of asking outright what her situation is, I wasn’t able to learn much beyond she lives at the camp year-round now which means she won’t be returning to a husband – there is no man. Something clearly happened and whether he’s out of the picture permanently or not remains to be seen, I’ll just have to wait and learn as much as I can without scaring her off.

Because she’s amazing! She has an understated sense of humour – like something is holding her back from being her true self, she is nice and the little I saw showed me she is a good mother to her daughters.

“She’d be a good mother to our cubs too,” ‘Chase’ helpfully points out and I agree wholeheartedly. Motherhood seems to come easily to Juliet, especially since she appears to be doing it completely alone which has to be exhausting – maybe even frustrating at times. She’s a fucking hero in my books – all single parents are.

‘Chase’ takes a seat outside Juliet’s cabin which is now dark except for one window – likely one light she leaves on as a nightlight with the babies. There is smoke coming out of the chimney and images of the tiny interior of her cabin from earlier flash through my mind, except I’m there and we’re cuddling together on the tiny loveseat with the babies asleep contentedly in our arms. The entire time I was in her cabin when I was dropping them off, all I wanted to do was take her into my arms and kiss her until she begged me for more – and I’m sure she felt something too.

“Let’s hope the storm lasts for days,” ‘Chase’ quips and I can’t help but chuckle. We both want to spend more time with Juliet but know our time is limited – the minute it is clear enough we’ll be returning to our camp with our supplies, not to return until the next pick up in roughly four months. “Yeah, that won’t be happening,” ‘Chase’ informs me.

I foresee a lot of travelling back and forth on my own in my future.

Tomorrow I’ll see about spending more time with Juliet – try to establish a base friendship so I have an excuse for coming to visit her. As much as I would love for her to fall madly in love with me and decide she wants to go home with me, I know that isn’t going to happen – shit like that doesn’t happen in real life. I need to be patient – ‘Chase’ needs to be patient and appreciate the fact that Juliet is human and we’re going to have to court her. Our situation is going to be completely different from typical mate relationships because with her not being a shifter, I not only have to win her over I’ll also have to tell her about us – winning her trust first is going to take time.

“I want to be with our mate now!” ‘Chase’ pouts, seemingly oblivious to everything I just said about being patient. “I heard you fine, I’m choosing to ignore you,” he huffs. I hope we get a few days here before we have to leave because it is going to be tough leaving her behind, especially with a grumpy bear giving me attitude about it the entire time. “Win her over and I won’t give you attitude – it’s simple,” he remarks with a shrug of his massive shoulders.

I don’t know why I bother.

Finally starting to feel the cold, ‘Chase’ turns toward the lodge and plows his way back. We have our work cut out for us – earning Juliet’s friendship to start, in whatever time frame I have. Then ‘winning her over’ as ‘Chase’ so eloquently put it – but it isn’t just her, which makes the challenge even more difficult. Juliet is a mother which means she’ll be worrying and thinking for three, not just herself and I have to remember that. They’re a package deal – I get Juliet, I get all three.

I can’t wait to get started.