Free Bear the Heat (Fire Bears Book 3) by T. S. Joyce

something she couldn’t quite hear.
    “He doesn’t look hurt.”
    “Look closely at how he swings his arms. Cracked ribs and bad fractures would be my guess. Boone doesn’t show pain. Never did. Food will get him feeling better. His attitude though? He’s been like this for weeks, and I suspect it has something to do with you. Be patient with him. Boone’s a hard one to crack.”
    “I can fuckin’ hear you, Cody,” Boone said, his voice deep and gravelly.
    “Good,” Cody snarled, turning so fast Cora almost ran into him. “Then play nice, because like it or not, she is right in the middle of this shit storm now. Pushing her away like you’re doing? If I did that to Rory, she’d filet me. Push Cora, and she’ll do the same damned thing to you.”
    “I can fuckin’ hear you, Cody,” Cora repeated Boone’s words in a soft voice, followed by a nervous laugh. She hated creating a riff between the Keller brothers. It didn’t feel right to create fault lines in a family she respected so much.
    Cody arched his blond brow and stared at her for a moment, then jammed his finger toward a bathroom sign. “Go clean up, Boone. I can’t stand staring at you when you look like a murder victim.”
    Cora turned and gritted her teeth in an apologetic smile. She hadn’t meant to get Boone in trouble with his brother…or no, his alpha. She didn’t really know how all of this worked. The hierarchy was something she was going to have to ask Boone about later when he didn’t have the face of a pissed-off berserker.
    Boone dipped his chin to his chest, his hair falling forward across his face, and then lifted his gaze to Cora before he strode off toward the bathroom Cody had pointed to.
    “I’ll heat up the food,” Gage said low, head canted and neck exposed to Cody.
    Electricity crackled through the air, making the room seem much smaller than it really was. Cora struggled to take a deep breath and took a step back from the alpha of the Breck Crew just to escape the heavy feeling that pressed against her chest.
    “I’m going to go check on him,” she whispered, unable to hold Cody’s gaze. She spun and speed-walked after Boone, following him right into the men’s restroom. He’d charged her private bathroom session earlier, so she gave exactly zero fucks if he disapproved now.
    Except when she pushed open the swinging door, Boone didn’t stop walking until he reached the other side of a row of urinals. He shoved another door open and left the bathroom. “Oooh, disobeying Cody’s orders,” she sang out low. She had the distinct feeling Cody could hold his own in a row with Boone, even after she’d seen him fight that IESA agent with deadly accuracy.
    Boone didn’t look back at her, though he must have known she was following. She was basically a drunken rhino when she walked, and her legs still felt wobbly on her high heels. He disappeared through a door but left it open.
    Turning the corner, she halted, uncertain, then stepped slowly inside. It was a small room with a single bed and a closet. White walls and white tile ceilings, and the entire place looked sterile and bland.
    Inside, Boone searched in a potted plant and then under the single table and desk chair. He narrowed his eyes and froze, head angled as if he was listening to something above her senses.
    She closed the door with a soft click and leaned against it as Boone dragged the chair to the middle of the room and stood on it. He pushed a ceiling tile out of the way and yanked out something too small for her to identify. When Boone dropped it to the floor, she gasped at the small bug someone had planted in here. He stomped on it once, shattering it to dust, then slapped the back of the chair, blasting it against the wall.
    She jumped at the explosive sound, but held her ground. Boone sank down onto the naked mattress and put his face in his hands. Back tensed, he screamed against his palms.
    She hated seeing him like this because he was hurting.
    She