her, the more comfortable she looked around him.
“How long have you been alpha?” She looked at the fire again, her gaze lingering on it.
“Not sure. Four… five decades maybe.” He studied her profile, wanting to gauge her reaction to that, sure she would piece together his age from the information he had given her.
If she did, it didn’t shock or disgust her, because she continued to gaze at the fire, her eyes growing hooded. Maybe she was too tired to care about his age.
She had told him that she had matured. How recently? Long ago enough to have participated in the spring mating that took place at Cougar Creek every few years?
Hell, the thought of her taking part in it, inviting suitors to fight for the right to her, made him want to roar and kill every male in that pride.
He gripped the back of his neck instead, pressed his claws in and focused on the pain, shutting down his urge to lash out. She wasn’t his. He had no claim to her. He doubted he ever would, and he deserved that lonely fate for what he had done to her.
Was there any way he could right his wrongs with her?
The war inside him reignited as two paths stared him in the face, one that was tempting and one that made him want to growl and rage.
Taking her back was the right thing to do.
But that meant letting her go.
“I think I’m secretly a bear too,” she murmured.
He frowned at her. “What makes you say that?”
She yawned. “All this snow is making me sleepy.”
Her little smile hit him hard, damn near punched a hole in his chest and seized his heart.
She sank against the back of the couch, resting her left arm along the top of it, and her head on that arm. “Tell me about the winter sleep. Cougars don’t sleep through winter.”
“Not all bears do.” He relaxed a little further as he thought about what to tell her. “A couple of the bears in the pride don’t. They head to the city for winter, enjoy the bars and restaurants, and the benefits that civilisation has to offer.”
“You never do that?” She blinked at him, her eyelids heavy, and then opened her eyes wide and sat up a little straighter.
Trying not to fall asleep on him.
He wanted to tease her and ask if he was so boring that he put her to sleep, but didn’t have the courage. “It’s not my style. I need to be here to protect the territory and those who choose to stay here, and I prefer to sleep the winter away. Sometimes I’ll stay awake longer, but once the snow sets in, the furthest I’ve made it is a few weeks before I succumb to the urge to sleep. As soon as Knox and Lowe are sleeping, it rolls up on me pretty fast.”
“You don’t miss being awake?” A small frown formed a wrinkle between her fine eyebrows. “I think I’d miss being awake. If you fall asleep when the snow sets in, how long are you usually sleeping for?”
He chose to answer her second question. “I sleep maybe… early November through to late May most years. Sometimes longer.”
“Gods, that’s what… six months? That’s half the year!” She looked horrified by that, pulled a face that was almost a pout. “I can’t imagine sleeping for six months. You must miss out on so much.”
He grunted and gestured to the window. “Yeah, I’m missing a lot by sleeping through this kind of weather.”
She leaned to her right, towards the log burner, her black hair swaying away from her slender shoulders as she peered past him. “I suppose you’re right. It does make me sleepy. There’s been so much snow that I’ve spent most of my time at the Creek curled up in front of the fire with a book.”
“A book?” Colour him intrigued. “What kind of book?”
“Well. Books. Multiple. Many, many books. I have them on my phone.”
He arched an eyebrow at her. “On your phone?”
She smiled and looked as if she might laugh, so he frowned at her, showing her he wouldn’t like it.
“You can get books on your phone now.” She sagged into the back of the couch on a long sigh. “I think I’ve read five… maybe six… since I arrived.”
“What kind of books do you like?” He was enjoying this, how relaxed she was around him and how she was telling him more about herself. “Any you can recommend?”
“If you like