Dawson Fur Hire (Bears Fur Hire 5) by T. S. Joyce

“There’s a cure. Too late for my baby, but Link got his.”
    “Oh my gosh,” she murmured, pulling him in close as her heart ripped apart. To miss the cure by so little, and now his alpha had a girl baby.
    As heartbreaking as his loss had been though, Kate wasn’t capable of giving him what he desired so soon. She wasn’t ready, but maybe someday. “Dalton, I want breakfast in bed with you. I want you to hold me, make me feel safe in that incredible way you do, and then I want to sleep beside you. Then I want a second date and a third, and I want to keep growing this bond between us because you feel so important to me, like we could have a great love story. Take care of me, and I’ll take care of you, and someday, maybe, we’ll get to the life you deserve.”
    Dalton cupped her cheek and kissed her. There was promise in it. Forgiveness that she’d denied him, gratefulness that she hadn’t run, and adoration above all.
    I love him. Oh, she did, but it was scary feeling so attached this soon. But with every tender kiss she could almost hear his feelings, and they ran as deeply as hers. They were just as terrifying, and yet he was still here, falling with her.
    She wouldn’t admit it now because they’d both been burned by betrayal and needed time to build trust, but she could imagine him holding their baby, and growing a family together. She could imagine his gold eyes in their smiling child’s face.
    Dalton’s wants and her wants were one in the same. Only she wasn’t governed by animal instincts, so she would be strong for them both until they were ready.

Chapter Nine
     
    Kate smiled at the other nurse at the medical clinic. Lacy had been a godsend over the last few years as Dr. Vega’s mood had plummeted. She could always count on an understanding smile from Lacy and occasional drinks at the bar after particularly brutal shifts.
    Lacy grinned brightly. “Guess who just walked in?”
    “Mr. Danvers?” He was a bit of a hypochondriac and came in most days with some imaginary ailment. Yesterday, he’d been convinced he was filled with bot flies, which didn’t even live in Alaska.
    Lacy giggled and shook her head. Shoving her hands in the pockets of her purple scrubs, she twitched her blond ponytail off her shoulder and leaned against the hallway wall. “Someone tall, dark, and sexy as fuck just asked for you up front. I think Janice will have to be admitted for exploding ovaries after this. You should go save her.”
    Kate laughed at the mental picture of Janice sitting at the front, trying to check Dalton in while flirting shamelessly. She was on the north end of sixty, but she was proof that age was just a number.
    “So this is the second time he’s come in here in a week,” Lacy said conversationally. “And you’ve been smiling to yourself a lot.”
    “He makes me happy.”
    “Good. I approve of any man who gets you living again.”
    Kate let off a shocked sound. “I have been living.”
    “You’ve been working and throwing yourself into caring for everyone but yourself. It’s good to see you back to your old self.” Lacy winked and pushed off the wall.
    Kate stared after her as she disappeared into the only occupied room at the moment, her sneakers squeaking loudly across the tile floors. Huh. Over the last week, she’d felt the changes in herself. The opening up, the laughing, the feeling comfortable in her own skin again, but Lacy was right. She’d found a bit of her old self again.
    With an absent smile, Kate made her way to the front entrance and stifled a laugh as she saw Janice leaned against the counter, outside of her station, hand on Dalton’s bicep, petting his muscles like a cat. Dear goodness, she was incorrigible. Dalton looked up and gave Kate a good humored help-me look before he returned his attention to Janice’s open affection and responded to something she’d said.
    He held a bouquet of red tulips at his side as he leaned on one elbow against the sterile, white