Bear Shifters (Book 2)

Chapter 7-Tommy

"Tag you're it," Bo laughs as she pokes my side and sprints off.

I stare after her in shock. She tricked me! I let out a small chuckle as I run after her. I sprint through the kitchen and out the backdoor, following after her. She is giving Max a piggyback ride as they sprint into the woods, laughing.

My heart flutters as I see her laughing with my niece. When she first saw Max, I could tell she wasn't use to children, but looking at her now, I see how good she is with children.

Will we have children some day? I shake my head and continue to chase after them, quickly catching up. I tag Max and she lets out an annoyed huff, before tagging Bo and jumping off.

"You're it," she calls to Bo, taking off in the other direction.

Bo smiles after her and turns to face me with a devilish smirk. I hold my hands up and start backing away from her. She takes a few steps towards me, before lunging at me, laughing.

I let out a chuckle as she tackles me to the ground, straddling me. I place my hands gently on her hips and watch as a blush spreads across her face and a smile takes over. She pokes my chest with a laugh.

"You're it," she laughs, but lets out a shriek when I pull her down to meet my lips.

She quickly gives into the kiss, her hands sliding into my hair. I smile against her lips, knowing I have that effect on her. She pulls back and looks at me with a shy smile, before climbing up. I let out a groan, but get up beside her.

"Wow, that was interesting," a high-pitched voice says from beside a tree.

I look over and see Valerie standing with her arms crossed. She looks over Bo with disgust, making me want to hit her, but I know I can't. Valerie is dressed in a short mini skirt and a tight fitting crop top that hugs her body. Her blonde hair falling down in delicate waves down her back.

"Who are you?" she asks Bo, making me growl at her.

"She's my aunt," Max says coming out from the trees and grabbing Bo's hand.

I smile down at their joined hands. I was glad that she got along with at least one member of my family, though I know that Minnie and Jay not liking her, isn't her fault.

"Your aunt? Who is this, Tommy?" she asks me, accusingly.

"She's my mate, Valerie," I say with a soft smile to Bo.

Bo looks angry, and I can tell why. Valerie was my girlfriend for two years, but I caught her cheating on me a few months ago, so I broke up with her. I knew it wouldn't be anything serious, but Valerie had this delusion that she was my mate.

"No, I'm your mate," she snarls, making Bo growl and take an intimidating step towards her.

Valerie gulps and takes a step away from Bo. Bo was very intimidating and powerful, though it didn't affect me because we were mates, equals. You could definitely tell how strong she was because of how large her wolf is. It's the biggest wolf I had ever seen, which is saying a lot. Bo was even stronger than my dad!

"You aren't his mate, I am. So I suggest you leave," Bo growls through gritted teeth.

I have to admit, she is hot when she is angry. No, bad Tommy, now isn't the time! I shake my head, trying to clear my thoughts and deal with the problem at hand.

"Valerie, leave. We ended four months ago when I caught you cheating on me with Nick," I growl, trying to get her to leave.

"Tommy, baby..." she never got to finish, because Bo rushed up to her and gripped her throat.

I understood what she was feeling and doing, I would be the same way if someone said that to her. I walked up beside Bo, holding Max's hand in my own as she smiled at the scene in front of her. I mentally chuckled at how much Max was enjoying this.

"If you ever hear you call him that again, I will kill you. You need to leave, now!" Bo said, releasing Valerie.

Valerie shoots me a panicked look, which I just shrug off and she scurries away. I turn around to find Bo glaring at me. I gulp as Max lets go of my hand and goes to stand with Bo.

"You dated her. For how long?"

"Um...about two years," I say truthfully.

"What! You didn't wait for your mate...for me?" she says brokenly. "You know, you were my first kiss. I was waiting to be in a relationship for if I ever found my mate," she tells me, making me feel extremely guilty.

"I'm sorry, it wasn't serious, I..."

"Tommy, that's not the point. The point is, that you know that there was someone out there who was made for you, your mate, yet you dated someone else," she growls.

"I couldn't find you," I defend.

"I couldn't find you either, but I didn't date anyone else," she says and turns to walk away, Max following her.

I stare after her, my eyes stinging. She was right. I shouldn't have dated anyone else when I knew that my other half was out there, and not to mention suffering. While I was living happily without a care in the world, my mate was struggling with her life, trying to be free of her father and protect her pack. I was a terrible mate. I should have thought this through. I should have been smarter.

I trudged back to the house, my hands shoved into my pockets. I couldn't help the tear that fell from my eye at the thought of my mate mad at me. I knew she wasn't over reacting, because if she had dated someone else, I would have killed them. One thing about mates was that they were extremely overprotective and easily jealous.

I walk into the back of the house to find Minnie standing there with her arms crossed over her chest and an angry look on her face. She raises her eyebrows at me.

"What did you do? Bo came in here with Max and she looked like she had been crying!"

My heart shattered at the thought of Bo crying because of me. I let out a sigh, running a hand through my hair and shake my head.

"Something I did in the past is coming back to bite me in the ass," I growl.

"Let me guess, Valerie?" she asks with disgust.

I nod my head and look up at her. Wait, how did she know that?

"She has always followed you like a hawk and appeared in the most inconvenient of times. I can tell how seeing Valerie would make Bo upset, especially after the life she's had," Minnie says, shaking her head.

She didn't have to make me feel worse about it, I already felt like shit.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Go figure out how to make it up to her," Minnie growled at me, shooing me out of the kitchen.

She was right. I need to fix things with Bo, because she was my mate, and I'm pretty sure I love her even after a day. I leave the kitchen, determined to figure something out.