Kylie twisted her ring as she waited in the stands for the event to start. It was night, and lights lit up the super pipe at the X Games that were happening right in front of her. Leslie took her hand.

“It’s going to be fine,” she said.

“Yeah,” Riley said. “What are the chances he’d fall and smash his head again?” Janna and Leslie turned to glare at him and he put up his hands. “Sorry, sorry. I just meant that I’m sure Ryan trained to avoid the same mistake.”

It was almost a year since they’d gotten engaged. She felt like she’d been living in a dream. She’d married him, officially completed the mating ceremony, and was his in every way. She rubbed her hand over her swollen midsection and thought about how true that was.

Now he just needed to be careful and not ruin everything for their little family by falling again. He’d promised this was the last X Games. He wanted to go back and medal so that he knew when he walked away it was because he wanted to retire, not because he’d been forced to give up because of an injury. He’d been training frequently and she loved watching him. She’d even flown to Australia with him over the summer. He’d commented that it was much more fun that way, and he should have done it like that the first time.

Damn straight he should have.

But she could let bygones be bygones, now that the gorgeous figure getting ready to enter the pipe was hers. The announcer commented on it, and then the camera zoomed in on her, talking about how Ryan Hart’s wife was here to watch him in his first X Games since the accident. She smiled for the cameras and tried not to look as nervous as she felt. He’d already gone through qualifiers and completed a good first run. But this run would have the difficult tricks. The real crowd pleasers.

“Sorry, ladies,” the announcer said jovially. “Looks like someone locked down Hart’s heart.” The other announcer chuckled and she saw Ryan’s head turn to glare at them. They shut up. “Looks like he’s ready to start in 3, 2, 1 and go!”

A beep sounded and Ryan pushed off and entered the pipe. Her heart thrummed against her ribcage and she twisted Leslie’s hand in hers. Riley looked as concerned as she did, but Ryder had his usual, difficult to read expression on. But she suspected that underneath it all, the severe looking billionaire was just as worried as the rest of them. Janna had her hand on his neck, soothing him.

They’d left the babies with sitters so they didn’t have to be out in the cold. Kylie touched her stomach and pictured the little being inside her. She hoped it was a girl. One who could run around with her cousins and give the boys what for. One who looked like a perfect mix of Ryan and her.

Ryan had already completed her first trick, and was now heading across the pipe for the second. This was when he’d crashed last time. She closed her eyes and heard the crowd hold their breath as he went into the air. Then she heard the roar of the crowd and opened her eyes to see him gliding smoothly back to the other side. She let out the breath she’d been holding. He looked calm and relaxed and totally focused. She knew it was the bear in him helping him.

Ryan felt that it was partly denying his bear that had caused him to crash in the first place. He felt it had possibly locked away some of the instinct that had always made him so great. Perhaps.

All she knew is she loved watching him ride, loved watching him take to the air like he was weightless, loved watching his powerful body twist and then stomp down into a landing. Loved how easy he made it all look. She admired him as much as she always had, but it was different now that she was his.

She squeezed Leslie’s hand and ran down out of the bleachers to meet him the end of the pipe. She was on the other side of the boundary when he pulled up at the bottom, stopping his board with a swoosh of snow, looking up for a moment to see the scoreboard. The scores went up, and his eyes met hers, excitement plain there. He took off the board and ran to kiss her, sweeping her off her feet with the plastic boundary between them.

He set her down and climbed over to be with her. “Thanks for being here,” he said. “I love you.”

She hugged him right back. “I’m glad you’re okay.” She shook her head. “My heart was going a mile a minute. You’re done right? It looks like you’re taking home the gold tonight.”

He put his arm around her and looked down into her face. “Damn right I am.”

She laughed and hugged him close. “Damn right you are.” She made a face and put a hand to her stomach. “I felt a kick.”

“Really?” he asked, putting a hand there too. “Are you sure you don’t want to know the gender?” he asked. “We could have known for months now.”

She shrugged. “As long as it’s healthy, I don’t mind.”

He scratched his head. “I guess I shouldn’t tell you that I already know, then.”

She looked back at him in mock offense. “How could you? I told the doctor I didn’t want to know.”

“Hey, hey, blame the bear. He can sense that kind of thing.”

“For how long?” she asked.

“Only a little while,” he said. “I was purposely trying not to hear it.”

She sighed. “I guess if you know, I may as well.”

“It’s a girl,” he blurted out. She could tell he was super happy about it and her heart warmed with excitement was well. But it truly didn’t matter as long as the child was theirs. She didn’t know if it would be able to shift, if it would look like her or like Ryan or like some other ancestor altogether.

All she knew was that as long as he was with her, life would be an adventure. This was just the next one.

---

---

Thanks for reading Bearthlete! If you enjoyed it, I hope you’ll leave an honest review for other readers to help them find it!

If you haven’t read Ryder or Riley’s story, they are here:

(Ryder)

(Riley’s book)

Special .99 boxed set extravaganza!

If you liked reading about my sexy bear brothers, you’ll probably enjoy reading about my three sexy wolf brothers, Rafe, Hawthorne, and Lindon, a super-rich family of alpha wolves. They are on sale right now as boxed sets for 75% off. This is just something I’m doing for my fans to say thank you for all of the support and reviews.

An alpha female returns home to the pack mates she left and finds herself choosing between three alpha males in this paranormal romance serial from Terry Bolryder

An MMA fighting shifter meets his match in his exciting paranormal romance serial from Terry Bolryder.

A average human woman finds out she’s a desirable female alpha and ends up in a mansion with ten possible suitors in this paranormal romance serial from Terry Bolryder. (BWWM)

Thanks again for your support and the reviews! I couldn’t do it without you!

Feel free to visit me here:

Or, you can visit my webpage at

Or write me at

I’ll be hard at work on the next story!

Thanks!

Terry