3. Mak

mak

. . .

“That’s a bite mark!” My teeth ground together as my eyes flicked from Cody back to the human—the formerly human woman—lying unconscious in the middle of our den. In a nest Cody’s Kodiak had obviously constructed for her—clumsily, if the overturned basket next to the pile of random blankets, pillows, and freshly washed clothes was any indication.

My chest tightened, a low, guttural growl rising from deep within me. Both my bears stirred, restless and agitated, their awareness sharpening as their noses caught more of her scent. It wasn’t just the usual sweetness of a fresh bond bite; it was… intoxicating. Dangerous. My black bear rumbled hungrily, and even my usually cold and aloof polar bear thrummed with an unfamiliar urgency to claim the curvy little Fresh Bite.

But…

"I'm the Tuk'mara!" I snapped, trying to push down the primal heat building inside me. "Our maul can't just mate anybody! What the hell were you thinking, bond biting her? Giving her a mate mark without talking to me or Ash first?"

“I wasn’t thinking—obviously,” Cody shot back, his voice defensive, though the edges of it wavered with guilt. “The last thing I remember was deciding to leave the Bronco at the diner with the keys inside and walk home in bear form, just in case someone else needed it during denning season. Then, I had this dream about finding a beautiful woman passed out in the snow. At least, I thought it was a dream....”

He turned to Ash, his amber eyes wide and pleading. “Is she okay? Tell me I didn’t hurt her.”

Ash, who’d been frozen in place since we walked in, finally sprang into action, pushing past me with his medical bag. He knelt beside the makeshift nest, but the moment he leaned over her, his shoulders stiffened, and his nostrils flared.

“Ursa’s Claws,” he murmured, his voice low and strained. “She smells good.”

Understatement. The Fresh Bite’s scent, rich and warm, wafted through the den like a drug, clinging to the back of my throat and making my pulse thunder in my ears. The two bears inside me growled in unison, their voices blending as one.

Claim her. Protect her.

Holy fuck…my blood heated, thick and molten, and the ache in my groin tightened with alarming speed. My nostrils flared as the scent of her filled my lungs, sharper now, undercut with something primal that made my bears snap their teeth and demand action.

I forced a growl low in my throat, trying to focus on anything but the unbearable pull toward her. “Ash,” I bit out, my voice rough. “Can you handle this?”

Ash didn’t respond right away. His hands trembled as he pulled a stethoscope from his bag, and his pupils were dilated when he glanced back at me. “I’m fine,” he said, nonetheless.

“She probably had a concussion if you found her passed out in the snow,”Ash said, his clinical tone faltering as he started his exam.“Not to mention frostbite. It’s lucky you bit her, or she might’ve died of hypothermia on top of her concussion.”

“Lucky isn’t the word I’d use.”My glare locked on Cody.“Do you have any idea how bad you’ve fucked up, Little Bear?”

Cody hated when I called him that—which was why I was calling him that.

"I can't believe you went behind our backs and brought a Fresh Bite back to our den,"I growled at the slightly shorter Kodiak.

“Calm down, Mak,”Ash said as he rebagged the stethoscope.“He probably saved her life.”

“By turning some random human into a bear?”I shot back.

“You think I had a choice?”Cody’s voice cracked as he stepped closer, his hands clenched at his sides.“Smell her, Mak. You know what she is.”

I didn’t want to, but I couldn’t help myself. My bears growled low inside me, pushing me to do just that. Smell her . I took a deep breath—and immediately regretted it. The rich, dark chocolate scent hit me like a punch to the gut, thick and sweet, curling around my senses and setting my bears alight.

My cock swelled against the zipper of my jeans, the reaction so fast it was painful. So fierce it made my bears snarl inside me. Ours. Mate. Ours .

I clenched my fists, fighting the instinct to claim her. My voice was rough when I finally managed to speak.“You think this justifies it? You think this is okay?”

Cody’s shoulders slumped, but his voice was steady when he answered.“I couldn’t stop myself, Mak. And if you’d been walking your polar bear instead of me walking my Kodiak, you wouldn’t have been able to, either. You’d have put your bite on her, too.”

My fists tightened further, and I took a step forward, closing the distance between Cody and me. That was a mistake. The scent of her hit me again, mingling with the faint trace of Cody’s bond bite, and it took everything I had not to place my own mark on her. My bears roared, but I shoved the need down hard.

“She’s a human outsider,”I said, my voice sharp and clipped.“She was probably just passing through on her way to Vancouver. What makes you think she’d want to spend the winter with us, much less mate us? Not everyone’s down with the Four-Direction Spirit.”

Cody flinched, but I wasn’t done.“We need to get her back to her car and on the road before any of us get too connected to her. Especially you.”

“Would that be so bad?”Cody’s voice was soft, but there was an edge of defiance as he stood up straighter, raising himself to his full Kodiak 6'5”. His amber eyes flashed with hope as he glanced toward the woman.“We could finally have a mate to den with for the winter. Someone to spend Christmas with.”

“Are you fucking kidding me with this Christmas shit?”I growled. My hand tightened over my nose to block the scent of her, but my voice still came out pained—not to mention muffled and weak.“She doesn’t belong here. We don’t even know her name.”

But even as the words left my mouth, my bears growled in protest. Ours. Mate. Ours.

“You need to get back to your room before you do something we’re all made to regret. Again.” I glared at Cody, masking how close I was to losing control as I fell back into command mode. “And, Doc, you need to take her back to her car, and?—”

“No, no , Mak,”Ash insisted.“She had a concussion, and bear healing isn’t an exact science. We can’t put a newly bitten bear with a recent head injury back behind the wheel a few days before the next full moon.”

My chest tightened at his words, and my bears roared with the primal instinct to protect, clawing at my insides. She needs us. She’s ours to guide, ours to keep safe.

But then I reminded myself and my bears—she wasn’t ours. Not really. Which made my voice even sharper when I turned back to Ash.“Well, she sure as hell can’t stay here!”

“Why not?”Cody demanded, sounding every bit the whiny kid he still was, despite co-owning a bar and having turned twenty-seven a few months ago.

“Why the fuck do you think not?”I snapped, heat rising in my chest.

“What’s going on?”a soft voice asked, cutting through our argument.

I froze, my gaze snapping down to the Fresh Bite stirring in her makeshift nest. Her dark eyes blinked open, a mixture of confusion and wariness flitting across her face. She struggled to sit up, but then bolted upright when she noticed Ash crouched beside her.

Her head smacked into the edge of the nearby couch, and she winced.

“Careful,”Ash said quickly, his tone gentle but steady.“One concussion’s enough for the day.”

“Who are you?”she demanded, her eyes narrowing on him suspiciously.“Where am I?”

“You’re in a village above a town called Bear Mountain,”Ash explained, his calm professionalism kicking in.“We believe you were in a car accident. Let me just check your?—”

“No, don’t touch me!”she cried, shoving his hands away.

"Who are you people?" Her voice wavered between fear and anger as her gaze darted around the room before dropping to herself.“And why am I naked?”

In a panic, she drew up her knees and crossed her hands over her chest to shield her large breasts and sweet-smelling pussy from our sight. Her actions sent a wave of conflicting emotions surging through me—protectiveness, frustration, and something much darker and more primal, demanding that she never hide herself from our maul's hungry eyes.

My bears growled low inside me, their displeasure radiating through the maul bond. Ours. Ours to protect. No one else touches her.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,”Cody said, his voice rushed and full of guilt. Of course, instead of retreating to his room like I’d told him, he stepped around the couch, trying to soothe her.“You were in the snow, knocked out—I think from a car accident. And then my bear—it must have bitten you and dragged you here. And then your bear?—”

He cut off suddenly, his amber eyes widening. Not because it was ill-advised to info dump on a newly awakened stranger who probably had no idea that Bear Shifters were a thing that actually existed.

But because of the sudden change in her scent

My nostrils flared, and fire flooded my veins when a new smell filled the room. Enticing, heady, and completely unmistakable.

My bears surged forward, snarling in primal response and a fire ignited low in my human gut.

But I clenched my jaw, forcing the beast back as I turned on Cody, whoseexpression was a mix of awe and something far hungrier.

“See?"I accused our third maul, my fury boiling over. "See what you've done?"

Estrus .

The Fresh Bite, who had no business being naked in our den, had just gone into heat at the first sight of the male who had bitten her.

And if she stayed, it wouldn’t just be Cody who lost control.