Brock’s inner bear wouldn’t shut up. From the moment he’d laid eyes on the curvy, freckled redhead, his bear had started going off. Part of him thought it was some kind of bear clan conspiracy to get him to settle down with a mate on the very day that he had taken his place as the clan leader. Considering no one had any kind of power over his inner bear, that was a completely paranoid thought.

However, it was far too big of a coincidence that his inner bear roared inside his head, telling him that Ginger was his mate. What he had told her about wanting to get away from town was true, but part of him wanted to get away from her as well. All the pressure his family and clan put on him was nothing compared to the pressure of the bear inside of him growling and roaring to mate with the curvy little human.

Brock wasn’t ready to mate, especially with a mysterious, disheveled woman who he’d never met before. She might be the cutest little thing he’d seen in ages, but he was too suspicious of everything going on around him to take any of it very seriously. He couldn’t even take his bear seriously.

What he needs was some time out in the woods. Once he came back into town, he knew he’d have a clearer picture of what to do next. The fact that he was going out into the wilderness with a woman his bear claimed was his fated mate was just an added bit of confusion for him at an already confusing time in his life.

Since everyone, including his inner nature, wanted to pair him up, he might as well spend some time getting to know this girl. She seemed sweet and determined. He admired those qualities. If anyone was going to be his mate, he was glad that she appeared to be the kind of woman he could fall for.

Not that he was ready to fall for her. Far from it. He was determined to prove to his inner bear that he was not ready for mating, and he could take his own sweet time finding someone to settle down with, eventually.

As they made their way into the backcountry, he had to stop far too often to wait for Ginger to catch her breath. It was a hard trek for even the most seasoned hikers to make. Ginger didn’t seem out of shape, or unhealthy, she just seemed unprepared for such a hard hike in the wilderness. She leaned against a moss covered boulder, panting. The rain forest of the southern Alaska was green and damp, not the kind of thing that most people thought of when they thought of Alaska.

Even in the fall, the emerald rain forest grew up under a thick canopy of lush greenery. Ferns and vines crawled up the hillsides and wide-trunked Sitka pine dominated the forest. This was Brock’s home. It was the place that made him feel most comfortable in the world. A few miles up from here was a river where salmon ran every year. It was one of his favorite places for fly-fishing, a solitary activity he enjoyed doing for days at a time.

He handed Ginger a canteen of water, which she accepted gratefully, chugging it down into her pumping chest.

“Take it easy there, tiger,” he said, pulling the canteen away from her. “Pace yourself.”

“My lungs are so raw, and my legs are already starting to feel numb,” she panted.

“Are you going to make it?”

“Of course I am. I just need to, pace myself, like you said.”

“Are you ready to start walking again?”

“Yeah, I’m ready.” She wiped the sweat from her brow and pushed away from the boulder.

Brock glanced over his shoulder at Ginger as she followed him up the trail, trying to keep pace with his long strides. He slowed slightly, trying to make it easier for her. As the trail narrowed and became rockier, he scrambled up first and then reached out to her to help her up the rock face.

She slipped her hand into his and a spark of sensation flooded his senses. Even after half a day of grabbing branches and rocks, Ginger’s hands were smooth and soft. His inner bear roared that he wanted those hands all over Brock’s body. He had to quiet the urge roaring within him if he wanted to retain his sanity for the rest of this trek.

Even if he agreed that Ginger was his mate and he wanted her to be his, there was the little issue of Ginger’s feelings about the whole matter. She was a human, and therefore would not understand shifter mating instinct.

When a shifter like Brock encountered his fated mate, the beast within did not hesitate to scream that fact inside a shifter’s mind. Right now Brock’s inner beast was doing the bear version of screaming, which sounded more like a strangled, panicked roar. He could feel the beast pacing around inside his mind, bumping up against the edges of his thoughts, and generally making a nuisance of himself.

Brock was generally on good terms with his inner bear. He let him out regularly, at least once a day, especially when he spent time alone in the woods. As a grizzly bear, he was an apex predator and could roam the wilds at night without much fear of anyone or anything.

He had never known his inner bear to behave in such a manner. Unlike Brock’s brother Keaton, Brock was in control of himself, and generally behaved in a socially acceptable manner. His inner bear was just as well behaved, even though he preferred to spend his time alone. To have his grizzly clawing at the back of his eyes was disconcerting to say the least.

The longer he listened to his grizzly roar, the more he wanted to just take the little woman right then and there. Everywhere he looked as he walked up the trail he saw new places where he could bend her over, pulled down her pants, and thrust himself into her warm center. He put his hand to his forehead and shook his head, trying to drown out the visions his bear was projecting inside his mind.

Pulling that kind of a start with a woman like Ginger was never going to happen. If he was going to do this mating thing, he was going to have to do it right. First, he had to figure out if he wanted to do it at all. If Ginger went away and never came back, this would be his only chance to ever be with his fated mate. He could mate with someone else, but it would never be the same.

If he wanted what his parents had, this was his one and only chance before she went back to wherever she’d come from. The parts of himself fought violently inside his head as he walked up the trail.

The purpose of this journey had been to clear his mind, not to become more confused than ever. Even with Ginger several paces behind him, he could smell her sweet scent. He could hear the sound of her breathing and her footfalls on the trail behind him. Ridiculous little things like that were exciting him so intensely that he had to readjust himself inside his pants as if he was some kind of teenage boy.