6. Cooper

6

COOPER

S he's right. As much as it kills me, the smartest move is to hang back and wait, wait for a moment with no witnesses, wait until I have my human form back.

I'm so fucking stupid, why didn't I remember I brought the SAT phone? Why? She can't get too far on that ankle . I was so foolishly confident.

I chase the helicopter. I'm sure with her injury and being lost in the woods for an extended time, they're taking her to the hospital to check her out, but still, I can't stand to let that helicopter leave my sight. Why couldn't I have had a shifter mate?

Most shifters would have accepted me without question or struggle. I've been to more than my fair share of Find Your Mate mixers where we hope to nudge fate a little. At every single one of those events, any of the female shifters in attendance would have been thrilled if I was their match.

But no, it just had to be a human. I remember Rosalie's address from her driver's license. Maybe it would be better to wait at her apartment, but I can't bring myself to do that. Instead I chase the helicopter all the way to the hospital.

The nearest hospital is only about five miles from the edges of the forest and still outside the city limits—plenty of wooded areas to hide in around the parking lot. But of course I don't do anything so smart as that. I wait near a dumpster, trying to ignore the smell of a half-eaten cheeseburger someone threw out.

Keep it together, Cooper. I'm not about to dumpster dive to stress eat.

The wait is long. I pace out in the parking lot, watching her sitting in the waiting room. She's not in an official emergency but I'm glad she'll get an X-ray and a real doctor visit. Technically even with the toe wiggling, she could have a hairline fracture, and it's just better to get it checked out.

When they finally take her back I prowl around the hospital, sniffing at all the windows until I find the room they're seeing her in. The clock on the wall says it's only ten o'clock. Fuck, I need my human form back right now. I can't do shit as a bear—not useful shit anyway. The sun won't be up for nine hours.

After another hour, they put her in a boot and release her to her roommate who came to pick her up. I can't directly chase the car so I take back roads to beat her to her place. I narrowly escape being spotted in the parking lot by the headlights of her roommate's car.

Her apartment is on the third floor of her building. I clumsily climb the fire escape to get to it. She doesn't realize her window is open a crack, and either way I doubt she'd consider a bear could get up here. Even normal bears are surprisingly dexterous and resourceful—especially when properly motivated. And I am definitely motivated. My mate is in there.

"I don't understand this," her roommate says.

"I have to get out of here, Nikki."

"But why? You're not making any sense. You said there was a man in the woods? Just call the police. Get a restraining order."

"He knows where I live. And how many women get restraining orders and die for their trouble?"

She's walking much better with the boot as she throws clothes into a suitcase. I watch the screen light up when she opens her laptop.

"What are you doing now?" Nikki asks.

"Booking a last minute flight. I need to get out of here tonight."

"No, what you need to do is sleep."

Rosalie shakes her head and types quickly to pull up a site for airline tickets. "I'll take a red eye and sleep on the plane. I'm going to have to use my savings and fly first class though, so I can elevate my ankle." She types and scrolls. "Dammit, If I want first class, there's a layover in Phoenix."

"Won't it be safer to go during the day?" Nikki says.

"No."

I wish she didn't have a roommate. I could so easily get into this apartment and corner her until morning. But I can't do it now, not with a witness. No one else can see me shift back.

Fuck.

Rosalie books her flight and steps away from the computer. She's flying across the country to Los Angeles. And there's no way I'm going to be able to either be on that flight, or catch her tonight. Her flight leaves in three hours… and I'll still be a bear then.

"Be rational, Rosalie. You have your first big gallery opening in a few weeks. You can't miss that. It could be your big break in the art world."

"I can't get a big break if I'm dead," she says.

And I feel a little insulted. I know she can't tell her roommate the full truth, but dead? She knows I'm not going to kill her. That's what she's afraid of—that she'll live a good long time—as my mate.

What a horror show… having to be pampered and loved and spoiled and living in an expensive penthouse with a rich age-appropriate guy that most women would kill for, who would never harm you and only protect you. What a damsel. What a nightmare. How does she get through it? I'm still so annoyed that she's being this dramatic about this. That she's… rejecting me. She should just accept her fate like I have.

Fucking humans.

"They don't know what I look like, you can go in my place," Rosalie says. "Or maybe I'll be back by then. I'm not sure yet. I just know I can't stay here right now. I need to get away and think."

I wait outside the window until she's about to leave, then I climb down the fire escape and wait in the parking lot. Maybe I could drag her off. But could I do it without hurting her? She'll fight me. I know she will.

I watch her load her bags into the trunk of her friend's car. She's made arrangements for her own car which is still in the forest, probably parked somewhere near mine. She's convinced her friend not to drive her to the airport. The excuse was… "It's really late, you shouldn't be out driving by yourself this late." A neighbor will take Nikki to pick up her car at the airport parking garage tomorrow morning.

I know the real reason though. Rosalie worries I'm out here, she worries that her friend might be in danger from a crazed bear intent on staking a claim. I would like to say she's wrong about that, but I'm not sure. The longer the mating goes without completion the more unhinged I'm starting to feel.

She scans the parking lot and finally her eyes lock on mine. It's as though I'm her worst fears realized, and I hate that look on my mate's face.

I wish I could talk to her.

"Don't go, Rosalie. Please." But all that comes out are animal sounds.

"Cooper, is that you?"

"No, it's another random bear," I say. I don't know why I bother speaking when the words won't come out human.

"Forget about me. I'm not your mate. This is crazy."

She backs slowly toward her car door, and I can't stop her without hurting her, so I just watch helplessly as she gets into the driver's side and drives away. It takes everything in me to ignore the instinct to chase her. I need to get back to my own car and wait for the sun to come up.