Free A Bride For The Bear (Bear Brides #1) by Natalie Kristen Page B

Alpha if you have a ton of guilt sitting on your shoulders.”
Cole gripped Dalton's shoulder. “As Beta, your job is to
command your men and carry out your Alpha's order. You did that.”
    Dalton nodded and blew out a
rough breath. “If you weren't my cousin and my Alpha, I'd have
punched you.”
    Cole slapped his back. “You
can punch me some other time. Now get the clan home. I have to go
home to my mate.”
    “What?”
    “What did he just say?”
Tony scrambled up and yelled.
    “Mate, he said mate.”
    There were loud gasps as his
clan crowded round excitedly.
    “Cole has found his
mate?”
    “Really?”
    Over his shoulder, Cole saw
Brad staring at him with unblinking, hopeful eyes. He nodded and
mouthed a 'yes' to his brother. Immediately a wide, impish grin
split Brad's face. His baby brother was so happy for him.
    “Is it that human lady
we saw at his house earlier?”
    “Did you see his mark
on her?”
    “I wasn't look for a
mark. I was a-roarin' and a-revvin', getting ready to kick some
Blood Shadow butt!”
    “You're an idiot, you
know that?”
    “When are we going to
meet Mrs Alpha?”
    “Hey, how did you meet
her, Alpha?”
    As he loped off, Cole shouted
over his shoulder, “Through that dating site we signed up for!”
    A volley of questions were
fired at him, followed by loud guffaws.
    But Cole didn't stop to
answer them. He had to get home to Abby.
    His clan members gleefully
hollered after him. “Dating site? We want to sign up too.
Sign us all up, Alpha! The whole lot of us! Maybe we can get a
group discount!”

CHAPTER
TWELVE

    Abby held her phone away from
her ear and grimaced.
    “You did what?”
Terri's voice screeched over the phone.
    Four pairs of dark, brown
eyes looked up at her. Cole, his younger brother Brad, and his
cousins Dalton and Tony were all crowded round the kitchen counter,
huddled over a laptop. Cole had made them come round to his house so
he could make them log in and spruce up their profiles on that dating
site. And he wanted to make sure they read every single message they
received.
    “Abby's message was
right at the bottom,” he'd told them. “I missed it
completely. I don't want you to make the same mistake. You have to
go through every message. You've got to hunker down, put in the
effort, find your mate.”
    “Yes, Alpha.”
Dalton and Tony had rolled their eyes and groaned when they opened
their inbox and saw the deluge of messages.
    “We'll never finish
this by dinner time,” they'd grumbled.
    Tony had narrowed his eyes at
Cole as he jerked his thumb at Abby. “You didn't have to
hunker down and put in the effort. Your mate came looking for you,
you lucky sod.”
    Abby wasn't intimidated by
Tony's loud voice and scowling demeanor. The big, grumpy werebear
had been the first one to tell her gruffly, “Welcome to the
family, sister.”
    Abby gingerly put the phone
back against her ear. “I took a bus to Moonstone Creek, and I
met him,” Abby repeated to her best friend.
    “You should have called
me. I'd have gone with you! Do you...”
    “You were away,”
Abby cut in quickly. “I'm here, and I'm fine, aren't I? Don't
worry, Terri. Cole is a great guy. I've met his clan, his family.
In fact, they're standing behind me in the kitchen right now.”
    “You said Cole is a
bear shifter,” Terri said slowly.
    “Yes. He's the Alpha
of the Nightfire clan.”
    “You've had sex with
him?”
    “Terri!”
    “Has he marked you?”
    “What...”
    “Abby,” her
friend said seriously. “I've dated plenty of shifters. I know
that shifters love sex. Heck, who doesn't? But they only mark their
mates. And once you're marked, that's it. You're mated, bonded,
bound—for life! There's no escape, Abby.”
    “I don't want to
escape. I love him, Terri!”
    There was a collective intake
of breath behind her. Abby glanced over her shoulder and saw Dalton,
Tony and Brad staring at her with a mixture of surprise, delight and
approval on their faces. They grinned