Free What a Bear Needs (The Wild Side) by Nikki Winter

threat before she came back with Ransom in tow.
    The older bear took a seat at the nook and Fallon cozied up to his side. Finally settled in, she regally motioned to Maddox. “Begin.”
    Ransom snorted. “Someone’s feeling haughty now that they have a cappuccino machine.”
    “Don’t mock me in front of guests, mate,” she quietly warned. “ You have to stay behind when Maddox leaves. Remember that.” Smirking as Ransom grew quiet, she nodded to Maddox.
    He leaned forward. “What—in all fuck—is wrong with Cree?”
    His brother burst out laughing and Fallon paused mid-sip, eyes narrowed and beginning to glow faintly around the irises.
    Waving his hands, he rushed out, “I’m not insulting her. This is a serious question. Is she sick?”
    Ransom laughed louder.
    Glare canine gold now, Fallon coldly assessed him from the opposite side of the small table.
    Maddox pounded a fist on the surface. “Shut. Up!”
    The other grizzly stopped, blinking wide. He clearly saw the frustration on his younger brother’s face and decided to keep any further amusement to himself.
    Sucking in a deep breath, Maddox sat back and focused solely on the only woman who could help him. “As every day passes something changes in her, Fallon. She’s different; noticeably different. She separates herself, rarely interacts with the pack anymore. Her avoidance of me isn’t anything new but I’m beginning to get the feeling that it has a lot more to do with her than what Anoki has referred to as my low brow and dead eyes.”
    Ransom snorted.
    Fallon’s eyes shifted back and she rolled her mug between her palms. “She’s having a bad transitional phase.”
    She wouldn’t meet his gaze and he knew it was because she was giving him half-truths. He and Fallon had developed a friendship over the last year, a connection that was a bit different. As someone who’d never had a sister, the fact that he could get along with his brother’s mate pleased him. She was perfect for Ransom and vice versa. The same way Cree was perfect for him .
    “Fal,” he breathed, nearly pleading. “I found her asleep at least a mile away from the lodge this morning.”
    Her stare slowly rose, a question in it.
    “She hunted but it was more so like—”
    “—she’d ravaged,” the she-wolf finished.
    “Yes ,” Maddox replied. “When she opened her eyes I wasn’t looking at Cree. This was…something else. Something dangerous. I decided not to mention it because I knew she’d bolt. The only thing that stoppedher from bolting to begin with was the fact that she was naked but my question is, why didn’t she just shift and trot back to the lodge? Why doesn’t she shift anymore, Fallon?”
    Clearing his throat, Ransom nudged his mate with his shoulder and the pair locked eyes. Maddox knew then that they were privy to what was happening to Cree. “I think you should tell him, baby.”
    She chewed her lip. “Ransom—”
    Her mate shook his head. “No. Tell him.”
    “Fallon?” Maddox coaxed.
    The she-wolf met his stare.
    “Please ?”
    Exhaling, she closed her eyes and whispered, “What I’m about to say doesn’t spread to the rest of the pack ever. Unless explicitly given permission by Cree, you say nothingto anyone else.”
    And he knew then that this was much deeper than he’d originally thought; much, muchdeeper.
     

Six
    Fallon watched from the window above the kitchen sink as Maddox walked down the path that led to Cree’s cabin, head low, hands stuffed into his pockets. He’d listened to every word without interruption, without judgment, and without comment. Stoically he’d sat and taken in every detail that she could give him and then when she was done, he’d gotten up and silently left.
    Now here she stood, wondering what would happen next. Ransom’s arms encircled her waist, his chin coming to rest on her head as his fingers played with where her engagement ring now sat. An engagement ring that she hadn’t even gotten the