It was my turn to laugh.

“So say you’ll marry me already and stop fucking stalling,” Bear said, looking down to me with a big boyish grin on his face.

“Yes,” I said, because there was no other answer. There never was.

Just yes.

Just Bear.

Just me.

Just Forever.

In that rickety old farmhouse, in my parents’ old bedroom, with my father’s dried blood staining the floor and an open-eyed corpse looking on, Bear had proposed.

I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

’Cause life is just fucked up like that.

I realized that all my past worrying had been pointless, because not only did I fit into Bear’s world.

He kissed my temple and dragged me against his chest.

I WAS his world.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Bear

“HOW COME I’M not dead?” Thia asked, lifting her sleepy head from my chest.

“’Cause you’re not fucking supposed to be,” I said with more bite than necessary. My girl was very much alive, in my arms, and full of my cum. Which was exactly where she was supposed to be.

When I came into the room and saw Ti’s lifeless body on the floor, it was like a switch turned on in my mind. A kill switch. I thought she was dead but I wasn’t going to tell her that. It wasn’t until I saw her peek out from behind the bed when I felt as if I could breath again.

The second I knew she was alive, I knew that after I put Tretch down that I was going to fuck her. It was a messed up part of me that needed a reminder that we were both alive.

I meant it when I’d told her it was the best fuck of my life. I’d came harder and longer than I ever had before, and from the way Ti was moving underneath me when she came, the way she tightened around me, I’m pretty sure she didn’t have any complaints either.

“You know what I mean,” she said, elbowing me in the ribs. Besides the body on the floor, you would have thought we were any other normal couple, laying in bed recovering from intense orgasms.

But we weren’t normal.

I fucking loved that about us.

“Pancakes,” I told her, watching with amusement as her face scrunch up in confusion like I knew it would.

“Huh?”

“It seems that your non-dog decided to act like the coyote he is. He tore that massive hole Tretch’s arm before I’d even got here.”

“My Pancakes?” she asked. I knew she was having a hard time imagining the coyote she thought was a dog, who licked toes and liked to watch us fuck was capable of that kind of violence, but it was true.

That coyote was the perfect dog for us.

“Yes, your Pancakes. Unless you know of some other non-dog coyote named Pancakes, hell bent on defending you.” I laughed. “Also, I need to warn you not to freak out when you go into the other room, ’cause our non-dog has blood all over his face and fur, and right now he looks a lot less like a regular dog or a coyote, and more like motherfucking Kujo.”

“He’s the best dog,” she said sleepily, her eyelashes fluttering against my skin.

“He’s a coyote,” I corrected softly.

“He’s the best coyote,” she muttered.

“He sure is,” I said, kissing her softly on the lips. She moaned and I could tell by the way she was tossing her head around that she was trying to fight off sleep.

“Did you find her? Your mom?” Ti asked through a yawn.

“No,” I answered. “We looked in every shelter up and down the coast but there was no sign of her. Stone’s lead turned out to be a dud. We have time to figure out another plan though. Chop and the MC are out on a ride. Looks like they won’t be back for a couple of weeks or so.”

She opened her eyes, although barely, glancing up at me through little slits. “This was kind of fucked up.”

“Nah, this was nothing,” I said, waving her off. “If you want to know what fucked up is, you need to meet Jake.”

“Who’s Jake? Is he a friend of yours?” she asked.

I shook my head. “Jake is… Jake helped us when Ray was in trouble.”

“That doesn’t sound so fucked up,” she said, trailing soft lazy kisses all around my chest.

“No, but that’s why he’s the most fucked up person I know. You never know what side he’s on. Also, it doesn’t help that he looks like sunshine. Blond hair and blue eyes. The kind of looks you’d see on one of them TV shows all the teenagers like these days. But that kid’s got the devil in him. Only human lives he values are his wife Abby’s and now his kid. Jake’s the only person in the world who scares the shit out of me. You know, besides you.”

“Sounds a little like Rage,” Ti said. “And if he saved Ray, then Jake’s okay by me.” Ti linked her leg over mine, her little thigh resting over mine, her knee grazed my cock which should be as exhausted as Ti but was seriously thinking of how hot another go-round would be.

I mouthed a silent “Thank you” to Tretch as I stroked Ti’s wild hair. After all, it was because of him my girl realized what I’d known all along.

How strong she was.

How resilient she was.

She was going to be a great old lady.

Ti’s eyes danced behind her eyelids like she was watching a dream unfold.

In the stifling Florida heat, we only had a few hours before Tretch started to smell, but cleanup could wait for a little bit, while Ti napped.

I wasn’t anywhere near tired.

Besides, I had no use for dreams when mine was already lying on top of me, fast asleep.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Thia

RAGE SHOWED UP to grab some of her things and when I said good-bye to her she just shrugged and walked off into the grove. “Where is she going?” I asked Bear. Who ended his call to Wolf and shoved his phone in his pocket. Wolf was going to be the one who was going to be running ‘cleanup’ on Tretch’s body.

Bear shrugged. “Don’t know. Never do when it comes to her.”

I followed him over to the truck, “Can I ask you something?”

“Shoot,” Bear said, hopping in. I got in the passenger side and slammed the door. Pancakes, without having to be told, hopped in the bed.

“Why her? Why Rage? Why not have some big security dude or big bouncer guy look after me while you were away?” I asked the question that had been nagging at me since the day I’d met Rage.