A Bear Victory (9 page)

He burst into the forest off of the parking lot, giving the animal all of the control, all of the decisions. The man had failed him one too many times, after all. Wolf’s Eye Lake was circular, the roads leading to it treacherous and surrounded by drops and thick forests. On his runs, Cannon had come to know the woods and he knew just the path to take to cut through them the shortest possible way and reach the point where the backwater road fed onto the highway.

He ran like there were demons chasing him, massive muscles and the dizzying speed of a bear at peak physical condition taking him quickly through the snowy forest. He was like a tank, trudging through, almost flying across the mounds of snow despite his fantastic size. This time, he had something to run toward and he wasn’t going to fuck up again. He couldn’t afford it.

The trek through the woods seemed to take forever, and when the road came into view, he almost feared it would be too late. He didn’t even know what car she was in, but he had to take a chance, to try.

He reached the dirt road, iced over as it was, only a few moments before a big truck came barreling down the road. The driver slammed on the brakes hard, tossing the truck slightly, but staying in control easily enough. Living in a place like Shifter Grove made for damn good drivers, especially with shifters constantly running around.

Slate,
Cannon recognized with a start, rearing up on his back legs for a moment, to see Kimberley in the passenger seat.

The frantic beating of his heart steadied for a moment as he allowed the shift to take him again, wrestling power out of the paws of the grouchy bear and into the hands of the man once more. The bear gave it up more than a little reluctantly. No wonder. The man had been losing the puck at every turn lately.

Cannon stood, pushing his shoulders back and squaring his jaw as his blue gaze met Kimberley’s green eyes. She looked more than a little shocked, but Cannon figured her surprises were only beginning.

He held up a hand in apology to Slate, recognizing the pilot from a few pick-ups he’d done for the team now, and walked to the passenger side of the truck. Cannon pulled the door open.

“Cannon, what the hell are you doing?” she demanded, her voice shaky.

“I need to talk to you. Now.”

“Now? Fucking
now?!
” Kimberley asked, and Cannon was damn sure he could see the shimmer of tears welling up in her pretty eyes.

Guilt hit him like a ton of bricks.

“Now,” he repeated sternly, reaching over her and undoing the belt.

“Kimberley, you don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Slate said, giving Cannon a dubious look.

Sizing the man up, Cannon figured he could take him in a fight if he needed to, tiger or no tiger—it was easy enough to smell it on the man—but even the fact that he came to this thought felt ridiculous to him. He’d never do something like that. Or would he?

Guess I’m willing to go to any length for her,
he thought glumly, once more disappointed in himself that it took so damn long to come to this understanding.

“It’s okay,” Kimberley said, glancing at Slate before she slipped out of the seat, though Cannon got a good glare for his forwardness.

He didn’t care. He deserved far worse than an angry look from her, after all. Walking in the opposite direction of the highway, they strolled in silence a few paces as Cannon tried to gather his thoughts. The whole run there, he’d been so sure that he knew exactly what to tell her, but now he found himself stuttering and stumbling over thoughts that wouldn’t even form words.

Feeling that she was becoming antsy, he turned to face her, taking her hands in his and feeling the warmth of her skin, sending little flashes of bliss through him where they touched.

“Kimberley, I’ve been a fucking douchebag,” he said, giving up on finding the perfect words and settling for the ones that came naturally. “I’ve been meaning to explain to you why I did what I did when we broke up. I’ve been trying to make sentences that would make sense this whole time and failing miserably. That’s why I brought you here, so I could apologize and set things straight. And I know it’s taken me way too long.”

He took a breath, his ice blue eyes imploring her to understand. Kimberley’s brows were knit in confusion now and there was no doubt anymore that those were tears in her eyes.

“I was just having such a good time with you. I didn’t want to destroy it. I wanted… I was being egotistical, I know, but I wanted the happiness to last, even though I knew it wouldn’t. When we broke up, I thought… I thought I was going to hurt you. Hell, I knew I was. Do you know how werebears or any shifters get very hormonal when we come of age?”

Spirits above, the question felt awkward even now, and he was far older and more secure in his sense of self now than he had been back then. And still it made him blush a little.

“Yeah? But what does that have to do with anything?” Kimberley asked, her lips pressed thin.

“I got it in my head that everything that I’d been feeling for you, all of that love and desire and need, was just the hormones. I kept reading about it, how young shifters tell someone that they’re their mate and the shifter is completely convinced about it, but then it turns out not to be true and it’s the mate that suffers.

“I didn’t want that to happen to you. I couldn’t… I couldn’t bear the thought of hurting you like that, and in the end, I made it worse by taking that way than if I’d done anything else.”

His voice cracked now and Cannon squeezed her hands tighter in his grasp, his heart pounding in his chest. It was deafening.

“It sounds so stupid now, because essentially the moment I texted you I knew it was wrong. That I was lying to myself. That’s why I couldn’t face you. I fucking
knew
I was doing the wrong thing and still I convinced myself.

“The shit you saw in the tabloids, the blogs? I was doing anything and everything I could to put you out of my head, but I was never
with
any of those women. My agent made it look like I was screwing my way through the country but I haven’t touched anyone since you. I was depressed, my bear was pissed off at me, and the only thing that felt right was being on the ice.”

He averted his eyes, shaking his head. The memories of that time gnawed at him. It had taken years to scrape himself up from the bottom of the barrel and actually become some semblance of a man he could be proud of. But it was never the same, not without her.

“I’m not saying this to get you back. Spirits know, I want that more than anything, but above all, you deserved an explanation. I don’t think I did this right but Kimberley, Kimmy, please know… you are and always will be my mate. No other woman can come close, or ever will.

“Every fucking goal I’ve made has been for you. Every injury I took was in your name. I know it probably doesn’t matter to you and it doesn’t change anything, but I wanted you to know. I love you. I always will.”

Cannon held onto her hands for a moment longer, looking into those gorgeous, deep green eyes before he let go of them. There was shock there and when she breathed in, it sounded like the breaths didn’t go quite as far as they should have. He could feel the way she trembled and it broke his heart yet again to have brought her pain. But those things had to be said.

“I’ll let you go now,” he said, his voice barely over a whisper.

All he wanted was to kiss her one more time, but he’d already done too much to ruin her life. He didn’t need to add another insult to injury.

Cannon began to turn away from her, but Kimberley clasped her hands around his wrists and pulled him back with a yank that was far stronger than he’d expected from the curvy beauty. He looked back, surprised, to find tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Do you mean it?”

“Mean what?”

“The… the... all of it…”

“Every fucking word,” he growled, his eyes flashing dark brown for a moment as the bear rose up in him.

Kimberley stared at him, her expression blank and unreadable, but then threw herself into his arms and automatically he embraced her. It felt amazing having her against him again like that, with his heart thrumming wildly in his chest and his hands shaking as he stroked her hair, burying his face into her shoulder. She smelled divine.

“You’re such a fucking asshole,” she sobbed, clinging to him.

“That’s what I’m saying,” he agreed without a fight, allowing himself a small grin.

Kimberley pulled back, and though her face was splotchy with tears and she was shivering all over, she’d never been more beautiful to him.

“You have a lot to make up for, Cannon Wright,” she said sternly.

“And I plan on devoting every day of my life to do that, if you’ll let me,” he replied, his tone somber again.

She bit her lip and it drove him wild to see that little vulnerability. Though Kimberley’s eyes still shined, a spark of mischief returned to them now, along with a tiny grin playing on her lips. It didn’t matter how cold it was outside, that smile alone could keep him warm for years to come.

“You’ve used up almost all of your chances, Pucky. It’s now or never.”

“It’s going to be now then,” he said with a growl, pulling her in for a kiss that seemed like it would never end.

Every day from then on, he’d be working his ass off to be the kind of man she deserved. He’d hurt her once and it had ruined years and years for both of them. Cannon Wright was a changed man and his mate had given him a second chance he would not squander again.

So maybe sometimes a little bit of trickery was exactly what was needed.

EPILOGUE

Kimberley

9 months later…

“I’m telling you, you should change the name,” Kimberley said with a mocking sigh, leaning on Cannon’s shoulders as she peeked over his back at what he was doing.

With the surest, most careful of hands, Cannon was writing their wedding invitations. This huge, hulking werebear, a guy who could crunch jaws and break faces with one punch, getting his calligraphy on like it was nobody’s business. Kimberley shook her head in amazement and amusement, something she’d done a fair few times by now.

“I’m not lobbying to change the name of the whole goddamn hockey team just because you think it would look better on a wedding invite,” Cannon said with an exasperated sigh, sounding far more dramatic than she knew he felt.

“Why not? You named it the last time,” she teased, leaning forward to nip at his ear playfully with her teeth.

“I voiced a dumb opinion and it got up to the big boss. Not my fault my guys can’t keep their mouths shut,” he grumbled, adding the last dot to the last sentence, before he lifted the carefully chosen card and blew on it gently.

Kimberley grinned, topping her love-nibble off with a kiss before pulling back from him a little. Despite her loud, adamant and heartfelt objections on the matter originally, she’d found herself quickly falling in love with not only Cannon but his town and everything about his new life as well. After her first stay ran its course, she’d gone back home for maybe three weeks before she’d returned to Shifter Grove with bigger suitcases and an extended plan in mind.

A few weeks had turned into a few months and when the Shifter Grove Shovelers offered her a job as the head of PR for the team, she’d quit so fast it’d made her head spin. A few weeks after that, Cannon’s cabin in the woods got finished and they could move in together in earnest, without having to duck and weave around Heath – who admittedly wasn’t doing so bad as of late, but that’s another story in its entirety.

“I can’t believe we’re getting to this point, though,” Kimberley said with a dreamy sigh, standing upright.

“What point is that? Blissful happiness?” Cannon asked with a sly smile.

Kimberley was about to answer when two strong arms grabbed for her and pulled her down on his lap, cuddled closely against his strong, firm body. She laughed, dropping her head on his shoulder and snuggling up close, curling her legs up to her chest. Cannon fell back on the chair in a comfortable recline, making sure that they didn’t accidentally kick anything off the table. Far too much ink and careful craftsmanship had gone into those invites already!

“Yes. Well, you know. Girl meets boy, girl loves boy, boy turns out to be a horrific asshole…”

“Boy works hard to win girl back, girl is swept off her feet, girl turns out to be useless at the fine craft of handwritten invitations…”

Kimberley bumped him in the chest for that, grinding her knuckles in enough to make him grumble but not enough to hurt him. They’d inflicted enough pain on each other over the years of separation to be very thoroughly done with that part of their lives. Cannon’s hand rested on her knee, tracing some pattern on it dreamily.

“Hey, I’m from the digital age, okay? If we had it my way we would have sent online invitations. So much easier to handle the RSVPs!”

“I think you’ve been in PR for too long, Kimmy. There’s a fine, delicate balance to what we do here, you know. It has to be just right,” he said with a chuckle, kissing the top of her head.

“I thought I was the bride here,” she grumbled playfully, reaching up to peck him on the neck.