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

opportunity to show Maddox—the brother she’d always wanted—before they found themselves spiraling.
    “You did the right thing,” her mate murmured.
    “Did I?”
    His hands ran across her shoulders and forearms. “You can trust him, baby. Trust him to love her the way you trust me to love you .”
    She closed her eyes, thought about the steely resolve in Maddox’s gaze. She’d seen no disgust there, no repulsion. There was an eerie calm and some sadness but no condemnation. Fallon could only pray that it remained that way.
    Turning in Ransom’s hold, she put her head to his chest and wrapped her arms about his waist. “In that case, I trust him with everything that I have.”
    He didn’t speak but the kiss he dropped on her hair was more than enough.
     
    ***
     
    She was the worst kind of coward, couldn’t even face any of the people she loved the most for fear of too many questions and too many lingering stares; so she’d run. Cree had left a note for Anoki in the main office to take over for her activity sheet and she’d gotten as far away from the lodge as possible without leaving Colorado completely.
    It really hadn’t mattered though. The further she drove up the mountain side the higher her anxieties mounted. Maddox hadn’t come after her. Cree couldn’t claim that she wouldn’t have done the same after what he’d seen. No amount of deductive reasoning could make sense of how he’d discovered her. No amount of deductive reasoning could erase the way he’d looked at her when she’d taken off. So what did she do now? Fallon wouldn’t let her leave; that much Cree knew and it didn’t matter how many times she outlined the facts for her friend; the answer would still be no.
    There was a fork in the road for Cree. What path she took was irrelevant because she’d lose either way. However, losing was a far better option than opening her eyes another morning and finding herself at the head of something ugly, something she couldn’t take back. She didn’t see any other way. Cree had to leave and it had to be now.
    It was well after 2 a.m. when she slipped back onto lodge grounds. Shoulders low, she took the trail less followed to pack quarters and wove in and out of trees and underbrush until she finally reached her cabin. Creeping up the back stairs, Cree reached the door that would lead into her kitchen but before she could even twist the knob it was jerked open. Her breath caught at the sight of Maddox standing across the threshold, sweatpants hanging low on his lean hips, his hair mussed and his feet bare.
    “Oh good,” he rumbled casually. “You’re home.”
    “Maddox—” Cree’s words were cut short when he reached across, gripped the front of her sweatshirt and yanked her into the cabin, slamming the door after her.
    Without missing a beat, he kept that hand where it was and made his way through her home, only stopping once they reached the sitting room. He waved towards the previously damaged front door. “Fixed it.” With that said, he moved her about as though she weighed no more than a toy poodle and placed her on the couch. He then took a seat on the coffee table after moving an empty plate and glass along with a notebook out of the way.
    Cree’s brows shot upwards. “Exactly how long have you been here?”
    He leaned forward, placed his elbows to his thighs and answered, “A while.”
    And he looked pretty fucking comfortable! “You—”
    “We’re not discussing me,” he interrupted smoothly. “We’re discussing you.” His gaze narrowed. “Allof you.”
    It was the tone of his voice, his intent stare, which told her he knew. He knew everything. Shards of ice slid through Cree’s veins. “Fallon,” she whispered.
    He nodded. “Fallon.”
    She went to stand but his hands smacked against her thighs and sent her tumbling back onto the couch. “No,” Maddox growled. “No more running. No more fucking hiding from me. You don’t get to do that anymore. You don’t