Waking with an armful of warm, soft woman could definitely convince Jonas of the benefits of being mated. As could having his mate turn to him the instant she opened her eyes and wish him the best good morning he’d ever experienced.

In fact, it was such a good morning, he almost needed another nap by the time she finished.

Instead, he cuddled Annie to his side and simply savored the feel of her in his arms. His mate. Had those words really seemed so terrifying such a short time ago?

He snorted.

“What’s the matter?”

Annie tilted her head back to look at him. Her eyes remained heavy-lidded with sleep and sensual satisfaction, and her hair draped over the pillow in a wave of coffee-colored curls. She was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

“Absolutely nothing,” he said, and leaned down to steal another kiss. Several very pleasurable minutes passed. Yet more evidence in favor of mating.

In other words, additional proof that he really had acted like a flaming asshole.

“You know,” Annie said, tracing a pattern on his chest with the tip of a slender finger. “You never did let me give you my preliminary report.”

Jonas frowned. “What report?”

She snorted. “My report on your clan’s population issues. You remember. It’s the reason why we met in the first place. You needed my expertise to solve your complex fertility problems.”

“Oh. Right.”

Jonas felt a trickle of embarrassment. What could he say? He’d been a little distracted. He cleared his throat.

“So what did you find, Dr. Cryer?”

“You mean other than the fact that your clan doesn’t have a fertility problem?”

He pulled back to stare down at his mate in shock. “What are you talking about?”

“Well, it’s like I tried to tell you before I was so rudely kidnapped.” She grinned at him and shifted away to prop herself up against a pile of pillows, tucking the sheet up over her breasts. “While recent studies have shown that matebonded couples produce more children than nonbonded couples, since you brown bears do, in fact, mate like other shifters, that shouldn’t have too much bearing on North Lake’s situation.”

“Then what does? I told you, none of the bears in my generation have produced any cubs yet. Not one.”

“But that’s just the point. You’re bears,” she emphasized when he continued to stare at her. “Regular brown bears have the slowest reproductive rate of any land animal in North America. Aside from the musk ox. Females don’t breed at all until they’re between four and nine years old. Based on life expectancy, that’s roughly equivalent to over thirty for a bear shifter.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

Annie rolled her eyes. “Think about it, Jonas. You’re only thirty-six. How many of the female bears in your generation are much over thirty themselves? They’re just now coming into their reproductive years. I’d be shocked if any of them had managed to have cubs by this point.”

Jonas shook his head. “But—”

“Besides which,” his mate continued, “they have a female bear’s unique reproductive tricks to deal with, which might be something we could address if it really becomes necessary down the road.”

“Tricks?”

“Honestly, do you know nothing about your own species’ breeding habits?” she teased. “Female bears delay embryonic implantation after mating and fertilization occur until they achieve the ideal conditions for pregnancy. If those conditions aren’t met, implantation might not occur at all. With normal bears, that means until they’ve accumulated enough fat to carry them through hibernation. But with bear shifters, it would be any number of things—proper nutrition, low stress levels, secure finances or relationships. That’s what we could address, if the females wanted it. We could use drugs to encourage implantation regardless of outside circumstances. As long as adequate prenatal care is provided, it shouldn’t cause any issues.”

His mind blown, Jonas tried to deal with the idea that his concern had never been a concern at all. “But what about the lower birth rate in the previous couple of generations?”

Annie pursed her lips. “Well, I have a few theories about that, but I don’t see any reason to be all that worried at the moment. I have a feeling that since the adoption of greater emphasis on control and civilization among your clans there may have been a slight reduction in the percentage of matebonded pairs, so that could have had some effect.”

A wave of relief threatened to wash Jonas under. His clan really would be safe, and he had a certified genius around to ensure it.

He tugged her back against his side and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Honey, this is amazing news. I don’t know how to thank you.”

“I might have an idea about that.” She grinned and sent her fingers climbing up his bare chest. “Which brings me to the final part of my theory.”

Already distracted by his mate’s touch, Jonas just hummed and leaned down to nuzzle her neck. “Hmm, really.”

Annie shivered. “Yes, really. Inbreeding.”

“Inbreeding?” Jonas jerked back to frown down at his smirking mate. “You’re calling the brown bears inbred?”

“Well, if the chromosomes fit . . .” She giggled at his expression. “Okay, so inbreeding is an extreme term, but you said it yourself, sweetie. Brown bears keep separate from other bears. You might say you’re too different, but the truth is, I think you could use an injection of new blood into your gene pool. There really is such a thing as hybrid vigor, you know.”

He tumbled her back to the mattress and growled playfully against her newly healing mate mark. “I’ll show you vigor.”

“Mmm, good idea,” she purred. “I wonder just how vigorous the offspring of a wolf–bear mating would turn out to be.”

Jonas yanked the sheet away from her, leaving her bare and warm and waiting for him. “I wonder how long it will take us to find out.”

As it happened, it didn’t take very long at all.