Hunter thought it was a good idea to go out drinking that night, both because everyone could relax and have some fun after a stressful day and because he just wanted to get in another few dances with his mate.

Grayson and April had joined a poker game and were currently making some locals cry over their wallets, and Garret and Dawn were talking to Mina at the bar.

Hunter was sitting with Kelly, enjoying the flush on her cheeks as she seemed to finally be accepting that she was safe and not alone.

Mina had agreed to let Hunter keep a shotgun behind the bar just because it seemed to make Kelly more comfortable. She’d said it might help to deter drunks anyway.

Drunks were the least of Hunter’s worries tonight. Not that he actually thought the bear would follow them to a bar, but he was ready if it did and hadn’t yet imbibed any alcohol.

He wasn’t sure if the bear would even show up anytime soon, or if he was the type to go away and come back after a little while, satisfied he’d scared people away from his supposed mate.

Well, that bear could go fuck itself if it thought it was going to take Kelly from Hunter. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been so pissed.

Kelly smiled up at him warmly, sipping a beer from the tap. Well-being spread through his whole body every time he saw her enjoying herself, free of threat.

“How’s the beer tasting?” He sat next to her with a grin.

“Great,” she said. “Best beer ever. Though, it may be the company I have.” Her brown eyes twinkled.

“Maybe,” he said, putting a hand on the counter. “Mina? Another lemonade.”

“No drinks at all tonight?” Mina asked, coming over from where she’d been helping Garrett.

“Nope,” Hunter said. “Gotta keep an eye on this little lady right here.”

Mina’s green-brown eyes twinkled. “I had a feeling you two would be good for each other.”

Suddenly, shoving erupted from the card table, and Hunter heard Grayson let out a snarl as he got between his mate and a poker player who had clearly had a little too much.

“Cut it out, Barnaby,” Mina yelled at him. “Don’t play if it makes you pissed off.”

“She cheated!” Barnaby slurred, swaying slightly as he jabbed a finger in Grayson’s direction. Two of his friends stood at another booth and walked over, clearly intending to back him up.

Also clearly just as drunk.

Grayson sent a look at Hunter and Garrett, and both of them stood and came to stand at Grayson’s side.

Barnaby was the first to take a swing, clumsily, but Grayson just side-stepped him, grabbed him by the collar, and began to drag him outside as April stepped out of the way, covering her mouth with her hands.

The other two stumbled forward, and Hunter and Garrett followed suit, grabbing and dragging the men out by their scruffs.

After they’d deposited the men roughly in the dirt, Mina came over to lock the door and bolt it shut.

“I’m sorry,” she said to the rest of the bar. “Don’t know why this always happens. I’ll unlock when they’ve headed off.”

“Mina!” Barnaby’s voice carried through the doorway. “I’m sorry! Let me back in! I won’t gamble again!”

“You’ll never learn if you don’t get consequences!” Mina shouted back, leading to grumbles from Barnaby and his friends behind the door.

Grayson sat back at the card table with the three other people he’d been playing with, along with April, and calmly began to deal out the cards.

Slowly, the bar returned to normal, with banter and drinking and music playing overhead.

Hunter noticed Kelly swaying slightly and bobbing her head to a certain song, and he stood, reaching out a hand to her.

“Can I have this dance?”

She looked up at him, and her sparkling brown eyes were clearly a little buzzed. Probably just enough to give her that warm, relaxed feeling she needed so bad.

She nodded and practically fell into his arms. He smiled, propping her up with one hand on her back and the other hand clasping hers to the side.

Her body was warm, and her cheek against his shoulder felt extra flushed. She smelled amazing, like vanilla and wild violets, and he hummed as he held her close, enjoying the feel of her in his arms.

Then a scream broke the quiet of the moment, and Hunter jerked up his head in alarm.

There was pounding on the door, followed by more yelling.

“Mina! Let us in! There’s a goddam bear out here! For the love of God!”

Mina rushed to the door, trying to unlock it even as it rattled from the force. When she got it open, Barnaby and his friends piled in.

Hunter led Kelly to a stool right by Dawn and Garrett and then walked over to where Mina kept the shotgun.

He pulled it out from under the counter and slung it over his shoulder as he headed for the door, knowing he wouldn’t need it but it would make Kelly feel safer.

Truth was the gun wasn’t good enough. When Hunter killed that bear, he wanted to use his claws and his teeth.

As Hunter exited the bar and pushed the door shut behind him, hearing people still panicking inside, he looked out across the road, almost thinking the bear would have vanished.

To his surprise, it was there, standing on the edge of the road, lit by moonlight, calm as could be.

It had soulless black eyes and was truly gigantic, the size of a shifter bear.

So that answered at least one question.

It paced, staring at Hunter, then glared past him at the bar, raising its nose to sniff the air and looking agitated and eager to go over there.

Over Hunter’s dead body. He felt the cougar rising inside, the shift just a second away.

But he couldn’t right now because Kelly and the others might be watching.

He took another step forward, shouldering the shotgun and aiming it at the bear, more for show than anything else.

As much as he wanted to take on the bear, this wasn’t the right place to do it. No amount of human ammo would take this thing down or stop it from regenerating, and fighting it in cougar form in plain sight of humans was against every shifter law.

So right now he just needed to scare it away.

Hunter took a step forward, letting just a partial change take over. He felt his canines elongate as he bared his teeth in a frightening smile. He let his claws extend, knowing they would glisten, attracting the bear’s attention in the moonlight.

The bear stared at Hunter, clearly confused and off-kilter, and then took a step back, scenting the air.

That’s right, douchebag. You can’t smell what I am at all.

A power unique to cats.

The bear huffed and paced side to side, then made as if to charge Hunter.

Hunter let a low growl emanate from the center of his chest, signaling that he was not going to run. His teeth extended even farther.

The bear stared for a long moment, going eerily still. Hunter scented the air and felt the bone-deep sensation that whatever this animal was, there was something not right with it.

If evil had an aura, this was it.

Hunter took one more step of warning, ready to engage if the creature didn’t back off.

But apparently, it also didn’t want to fight tonight, and it turned and rumbled off into the bush.

Hunter waited, using his excellent hearing to make sure the bear was really heading off, not just going a little way to hide and ambush someone.

Finally, when Hunter couldn’t hear or scent the bear any longer, he walked back to the bar, ready to face whatever people wanted to say to him there for going out to face a bear alone.

When he opened the door, the bar went quiet, save for Kelly who was struggling against April and Dawn who were trying to hold her back.

Tears were streaming down Kelly’s face, and when Dawn let her go, she went running to Hunter, throwing her arms around him and burying her face in his chest.

“What were you thinking just going out there without any backup?” Mina asked, looking at him in disbelief. “You should have stayed here with us. You could have been hurt.”

“I had my reasons,” Hunter said. But he regretted doing anything at all if it had caused Kelly pain. He stroked her hair back. “Shh, I’m okay.”

“I was so worried. They wouldn’t let me go to you, and I didn’t know if you were all right. If anything happened because of me…”

He tilted her face up, cupping her cheek. “Hey. It wouldn’t be because of you. I made my choice to face that bear. If anything, it’s his fault. But anyway, he’s gone for now.”

Her eyes, now that they weren’t fearful, had a hint of disappointment. “But he’ll be back.”

“Not tonight. I don’t think,” Hunter said. “I think he wants to catch you alone. I don’t think he wants to fight if he doesn’t have to. I don’t think he wants an audience as well.”

She sighed. “Okay, then. How are we going to draw him out?”

“Stupid bears are pretty patient, but eventually, he’ll see I’m not leaving and he’ll have to go through me to get to you. And then I’ll destroy him.”

Her arms dug into the back of his shirt as if his words weren’t any real comfort to her. “I don’t want you to be in danger for my sake.”

He pulled her in close against his chest again, glad that talking was resuming in the bar and people were letting him and Kelly just recover in their own little corner by the front.

No one was listening in.

“It’s my choice, Kelly. You can’t take it from me.” He loved the feel of her curls as they grasped at his fingertips like little springs. “Please say you won’t.”

“If you got hurt, I wouldn’t be able to take it. Not for the rest of my life.” She shook her head against his chest desperately.

“Hey, you think I’d lose to a big, dumb bear? When the woman I love is at stake.”

She looked up at him slowly, brown eyes luminous from the recent tears. Little droplets hovered at the edges of her eyelashes, clinging on. “You love me?”

“Of course,” Hunter said. “I know that’s fast, but I felt something the minute I saw you. I want to date you. I want this to go somewhere. And, Kelly, no matter what you say, I’m going to get rid of this bear. I want there to be no more fear in your eyes. I won’t stop until he is done.”

She rested her cheek against his shoulder, her whole body melting in. “I… I’m grateful you want to take care of me, but I’m worried because I’m… I’m falling for you, too.”

She’d said it. It was almost more than he could have hoped for. More than he’d pictured in a million years.

He now understood how his friends felt when they found their mates, how urgent the pull was, how the length of time didn’t matter.

You could know the wrong person forever and never fall for them or meet the person your soul was made for and know instantly they were everything you could want.

That you were going to be together forever.

“I think I was meant to find you,” Hunter said, wrapping his arms around her and swaying slightly. “I think I was meant to keep you safe.”

She held tightly on to him, shivering lightly. “I think I want to go back to your hotel with you. I want the night to be just us.”

Hunter looked over at Garrett, who was sitting with Dawn. “I think that should be okay for one night. Let me just tell them, and we’ll head out.”

He could hardly wait to take her in his arms again and show her everything he felt.