17

Cedric stood at the foot of the bed, feeling like a creeper, but unable to look away. Bethany was now asleep, curled up on her side, still wrapped up in his shirt. She looked so small in his large mattress, and he wanted to climb in with her, wrap her up in his arms, and keep her safe and warm. He wanted to soak in her scent, and his scent now flowing off of her, and chase the delicious scent he could now sense was on the verge of blooming.

Bringing up the fact that she was close to ovulation was likely not a good idea, but he needed to tell her before they had sex again. If they had sex again. Fuck.

If she never let him touch her again, he would understand, but now that he was so close and left to wonder...

The storm outside has begun, as the darkening sky had promised, and there would be no leaving for her. He suspected that was what she wanted, but it made him question why she wanted to stay.

He had lied to her, that was true, but fuck, they barely knew one another. To humans, this was more or less a casual thing, wasn"t it? Yes, it meant more to him, but...

Was it possible she felt the same way he did, or had she, as she yelled at him earlier, just wrapped up in the moment?

He couldn"t stand there watching her sleep forever, so instead, he journeyed back downstairs to tend the fire. With the weather dropping outside thanks to the dark skies and icy wind, the cabin was sure to drop in temperature, no matter how well insulated it had been built. The temperature fluctuations had never bothered him before, but she was a human, and if she didn"t want him to touch her, and in turn keep her warm, then the least he could do was be certain the fire below was kept burning, warming the loft.

The fire was still going, with no room for him to add another log, so instead he headed into the kitchen and lit the woodburning stove. When she woke up, he would have something hot to feed her, and to drink as well. Then, once she was ready, he would sit her down and tell her everything.

Fuck it, he would even confess his love to her, if she asked him again. She had demanded to know what was going on between them, and what she was to him.

The answer that immediately popped into his head terrified him. Everything. She was everything to him.

He needed to run, but there was no possibility of him leaving her with the weather as it was. He thought about sorting her bags, maybe unpacking some of them, but that felt like an intrusion on her privacy, particularly when she was unaware of how the weather had turned, and that the possibility of her leaving was now gone.

But he had to do something, and so he tugged on a coat he was pretty sure he would need and shoved his feet into boots to start the trek to Gareth"s house.

He and his brother needed to have a few words, before his twin interacted with Bethany again. Otherwise, his twin was bound to lose whatever brain cells he had left, and probably his balls as well.

His Bethany was a force to be reckoned with, and now that Cedric had her rage facing his direction, he knew he needed to get a handle on things so they could return to how they were before, with him allowed between her thighs, and her delighted to be in his bed.

Fuck. She was in his bed, and he wasn"t, and all he wanted was to be wrapped up around her once more, keeping her warm and soaking in her sunshine and their mixed scents.

His brother was in the barn, which was good, because he knew his twin"s cabin didn"t have the best scent all year round, but only grew worse in winter when bears were in their hibernation phase, and because he wanted to stand on equal ground. The barn was the halfway point between their two territories, although they did overlap heavily. It was a good place to set his brother straight, and maybe mark a perimeter around Bethany.

No, he wasn"t jealous of his brother, but something about having a woman he was mating with in his cabin made him feel territorial.

"Sleeping on the couch tonight, brother?" Gareth asked as Cedric entered the barn and shut the door behind him. "Shit, if I had realized she didn"t know yet, I would"ve—"

"You would have done as you did, because you found it funny. Don"t tell me you didn"t know she was in there."

"Naw, I knew she was in there, but had no idea she would only be wearing your shirt and—"

"Finish that statement, and I"ll surround your house with bear traps."

The easygoing nature Gareth had been carrying himself with before quickly faded as he seemed to realize how serious Cedric was, and he turned around, one eyebrow arched. The look was nearly comical, given that his twin was only wearing loose shorts and his boots, probably planning to head back out in bear form once the chores were done, but this was no laughing matter.

If Cedric had to pick between Bethany and his twin, he would choose his brother, but he would also hate the other man for the rest of his life for ruining the only good thing to ever happen to him.

"Shit, brother. Sounds like you might be serious about her."

"I am," Cedric snapped, crossing his arms over his chest. "She"s mine."

"Yeah, yeah, your lady for winter, I get it, she"s—"

"She"s going to be the mother of my cubs, and maybe something more, if she"ll tolerate me long enough."

Gareth let out a long whistle and shook his head while picking up the brush for the cow, who was shuffling a little in her stall, likely from the scents coming off them both. She was pretty good around bears, given she had been raised since a calf in this very barn, but never before had they fought like this. He knew, without a doubt, that his scent was sharp and bitter.

"Well then. I"ll be sure to give y"all the space you need this winter."

Gareth"s words felt like a dismissal, but Cedric wasn"t done talking.

"I"m serious, Gareth. She"s important to me. More important than she knows. She"s the best thing I"ve ever had happen to me. She makes me want things, like a family and to share my cabin and—"

"And maybe you should be telling her that, rather than me. How the fuck are you worse at this than Owen?"

Gareth"s words were like a slap in the face. Cedric knew how to talk to women. He had actually fucked women before, unlike Owen who hadn"t probably spoken to one for the last five years until Cordelia. Cedric knew how to convince one to mate with him, and probably could have convinced a few to have his cubs in the past. He knew all about talking to and fucking women.

But no one in the past had ever been like Bethany. None of them had ever meant anything to him. None of them had ever made him want something more, something deeper.

No one in the past had ever made him feel things like love.

"Fuck. How am I worse at this than Owen?" Cedric muttered, now angry with himself. "Told myself we wouldn"t turn out like them, after I saw her crying on Bethany"s bed and found him splitting every tree he could fell. And now, here I am, with her in my bed and mad at me, and me out here talking to you."

"Yep."Gareth had his back facing him, which was probably a good thing, because Cedric just knew his twin was wearing a shit eating grin. Bastard. "Now, you gonna keep standing out here bitching to me, or are you gonna go in there and tell her how you feel?"

"You know what, fuck you," Cedric cursed, shaking his head as he turned around and headed for the door. "I"m serious, though. Don"t push her. She has a rage worse than Mom"s."

"Yeah, I figured that out when she had a shotgun in her hands. Nice tits, by the way, and—"

Cedric grabbed a shovel that was leaned against the door frame and nearly chucked it at his brother, only to remember he was in the stall with Dorothy. Fuck, he might hate his brother, but he could never hate their Canadienne cow. Dammit.

"Shut the fuck up, and never mention that again," Cedric muttered, slamming the shovel against the wall before reaching for the door. "Thank Dorothy for your life, or I would have chucked this at your head."

"Yeah, yeah, all talk."

"Bastard."

"You too."

Cedric shook his head against as he trekked back to his cabin, shuddering a little from the onslaught of wind and snow. He didn"t really notice the temperature itself, but the wind was enough to nearly knock him down, and the snow felt like pellets on his exposed skin.

He was going to need to keep the fire going all night long to keep Bethany warm, if she didn"t let him back in the bed. Maybe she would let him hold her for the sake of comfort and warmth, if nothing else.

With his boots and jacket left in the entryway, Cedric pushed open the inner door to a delicious scent flooding his nostrils. It was enough to nearly knock him on his ass, and his cock filled with blood as he looked up towards the balcony, where Bethany was still asleep. Fuck, he knew she didn"t want to talk to him still, but they now had to talk, because if he kept this from her, what was happening to her right now, she would get mad about it later.

No more keeping shit from her. He was going to tell her everything, whether she was ready to hear it or not.

The climb up the stairs was painful, given how his cock was trying to break free of his pants, but the allure of Bethany and her changing scent was too much for him to resist. He didn"t know everything there was to know about women and how things worked, but between his pheromones and her missing that birth control pill, her body was ready for him to breed her, and he wasn"t going to ignore the call if she was still interested in him giving her the baby she longed for.

A rustling came from the bed as he reached the last step, and he watched, enamored, as she stretched her arms over her head and blinked a few times, starting to wake up. He told himself it was his scent growing closer that had woken her up, despite it more than likely being the sound of the door closing and his footsteps or the wave of cold air that had followed him in. A bear could hope and dream, when a woman like Bethany was in their bed.

"Hey," he said slowly, standing at the top of the stairs and not moving closer. His hand pressed against the wall to keep himself in place, lest he involuntarily move forward before she was ready. "I know you might not be in the mood to talk, but I got something kind of important you need to know now, so you don"t get mad at me for keeping things from you later."

She sat up in the bed slowly and wrapped his shirt tighter around herself, not looking at him, before letting out a long sigh. He wished he knew what she was thinking, as she was now pretty closed off to him, but she gave a nod and shifted on the bed to sit back against the pillows, and beckoned him with one hand.

It was all the invitation he needed, and he moved forward to sit on the foot of the bed, too afraid to move any closer.

If he touched her... Fuck, he didn"t know what he would do, or how she would respond, and he wasn"t quite ready to find out.

"What is it?" she asked, looking over his shoulder and towards the window. "Let me guess. A storm has rolled in?"

"Yes, there"s that," he confirmed, remembering his warning from earlier. She was definitely stuck there for a few days, until the storm settled down and he could take her back into town on the snowmobile, but that wasn"t what was important. "But there"s something else. Something about you."

"Okay." Her voice was hoarse and her gaze was lowered, looking down at her hands in her lap. "What"s wrong with me now?"

"Fuck," he muttered, resisting the urge to brush her hair from her face and lift her gaze back to him. No, he couldn"t do that, but his hands were itching to move. "Nothing is wrong with you. You gotta stop thinking like that. It"s a good thing, or at least I"m hoping it is, if you ever decide to forgive me. I don"t know how else to explain it, so I"ll just say it. You"re ovulating, or about to. I could smell it as soon as I walked in the door. Your scent is calling me to breed you, if you"re still wanting it."

He held his breath, waiting for her to answer him, if she had forgiven him and if she still wanted to have a baby, but instead, she lifted her eyes while shaking her head. "No. Any time I stop my birth control, I have my period. And it"s not that fast. Probably a few days, and I"ll start my period."

"You"re ovulating, Sunshine. I don"t know much about women or birth control, but I can smell your hormones. Probably has to do with my pheromones. You"ve been getting used to them, and now your body is open to it."

"Don"t tell me how a woman"s body works, Cedric."

"I"m telling you I don"t know how a woman"s body works at all, but I know what my pheromones can do to a woman, and I know the scent of a woman who is receptive to breeding. If we fucked right now, it would take."

"Cedric, I"m—"

"If you think I"m wrong, then okay, but I figured I should tell you what I can smell."

"And I"m not like you. I"m a human. It takes people months of trying to get pregnant most of the time, and that"s without my problems. So, you think I"m ovulating? Okay then."

He could tell she at least partially believed him, but she wasn"t reaching for him, and now looked wary and uncertain.

Fuck. His cock was going to fall off if he couldn"t touch her, but he would grin and bear it while he tried to sort out the shit between them, and convinced her to trust him again. He had a few days, at least, until she could return to town, so—

"I want to go back to town," she said, her voice now clear and determined. "If I"m ovulating, then I shouldn"t be here."

"Sunshine, you can"t—"

"You said I"m not a hostage, so take me back into town."

"You know I can"t," he said, once again resisting the urge to reach for her hand. "The storm nearly knocked me flat on my ass trying to walk back from the barn. Wouldn"t be safe on a snowmobile for either of us. I don"t know if I would even try it as a bear."

"Then I want to talk to Cordelia," she snapped, her arms now crossed under her breasts and his shirt on her body separating slightly to reveal the top of her breasts. Fuck, her skin was so inviting, luring him in to lick and touch and suck and cover her in marks.

"I"ll take you to see your cousin as soon as the wind calms enough for us to make it there."

"You don"t have a phone? A radio? Something?"

"I have a phone, but Owen doesn"t get service at his place. You have to walk a little down the road to get it. Been telling him for a while he needed to set up phone lines, but we normally walk over to talk to him. You can try texting her, so as soon as she has service, she"ll see it."

That was a good idea. As soon as she climbed out of the bed, and after she had a shower and clean clothes on, she would do just that.

"But until we can leave this cabin, you and I are gonna talk. We ain"t gonna be like Owen and Cordelia. They refused to talk about their problems or listen to one another. I"ve always thought myself to be smarter than my big brother. I"m not making the same mistakes he did."

"Owen and Cordelia are in love. You and I were only having sex and planning to have a baby."

Fuck. He hadn"t told her his feelings for her yet, and now that she had mentioned it, he was pretty sure any love confession he gave her, she wouldn"t believe.

How had he reached this point, where he was ready and willing to tell her everything, but she was closed off to anything more from him?

He really had fucked this up worse than Owen.

"Think what you will, but our connection is more than just sex, Sunshine. Try and tell me no, I won"t believe you. You feel something for me, like I feel something for you. Ask yourself, honestly, if you"ve never felt something for me. Tell me you don"t want something more. You and I are stuck in this cabin until the weather clears, so at some point, we"re gonna talk about it, whether you like it or not."