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

Because to be honest, you’re quite pretty; if a bit… heavy.” 
    It growled.
    He grimaced. “Did I say heavy?I meant sturdy. Sturdy is most definitely the word for you. And if I may add—”
    The cold wet nose that pressed to his is what truncated Maddox’s words.
    “Okay,” he softly stated. “You’re fucked off because Cree leashes you, all of you. I understand that, really I do, but thisis not the way to endear yourselves to her because let’s be honest—you need one another.”
    That muzzle pulled back a bit as the panther’s ears twitched. Its head lowered, maw opening and then it roared. The echo of it seemed to shake the very floor beneath them, sounding off its frustration as aggression made its fur stand on end.
    Irritated, his grizzly shoved against its own confines and he didn’t cage it this time. No, he allowed the panther to feel the full force of his own resentment—his disappointment — as he leaned forward and met its roar with one of its own. The bed frame trembled along with Cree’s dresser. Maddox felt tension that had been steadily mounting for days pour out with every reverberation of sound that left him.
    The feline froze in its place, looking as though it wanted to recoil. But it stayed, obviously determined not to show any vulnerability.
    “Yeah,” he sneered. “My angst is a lot fucking louder than yours. A competition in grievances is notwhat you want so simmer down and do something else besides tempting my bear into making an appearance that won’t be enjoyable for any of us.”
    Amazingly, it quieted, clearly sensing that funny Maddox had traipsed off somewhere getting lost in discontentment. His brave face and joking manner was gone. For Cree he’d keep that up but in the presence of what was causing a huge shit storm in her life, he couldn’t be bothered. He’d had her, he’d had her close and she hadn’t wanted him to let go. The way she’d clutched onto his forearm in sleep had soothed the doubt that she’d run the first chance she got.
    Far from an idiot, Maddox was well aware that’s what she’d been up to after coming home in the middle of the night. He’d scented her the moment she was close to the cabin and waited until her boots crunched just feet away to gage which door she’d creep through. The guarded expression she wore finding him in her home told him all he needed to know.
     “You scare her,” Maddox quietly told the panther. “You scare her because she’s afraid of what may happen once she fully accepts you again. And to be bonded to something that’s unpredictable—sporadic — is terrifying. Your annoyance is palpable but you need to grasp that her safety and the safety of others is needed before she can accept what can’t be changed.”
    There were no more roars, snarls or the like. He slowly reached upwards. “So let me help.” His fingertips stretched, finding the beast’s nape. It flinched but didn’t move away. Swallowing, he ran his hand around to its chin and lightly scratched. “Let me show her why she shouldn’t hide you; why she shouldn’t be afraid to connect. Let me show her why this is a gift.”
    A purr tumbled out and the panther’s paws fell from Maddox’s shoulders, hitting the floor with a soft thump . He rubbed harder, watching as the fierceness began to shed; giving way to something that wasn’t mindless rage or irritability. Pleasure from the affection began to radiate from the beast as it shuddered.
    Maddox’s lips started to curl as he rubbed its chest. “When I told Cree I wanted to pet her pussy, this is notwhat I had in mind.”
    The feline snorted and he laughed in response. “Exactly why did you come roaring out?”
    Cree’s panther rose—because essentially it did belong to her whether she liked it or not—trotted away from him and towards the ruined door. It stopped and cast a stare over its shoulder in his direction as though asking for permission.
    “Ah, you want to go hunting ,” he