Chapter 2 #3
There was no holding their bear back now. Koda used every drop of willpower they had to only extend their hand, and not allow their bear to rip Jae off his feet and back into their arms.
Jae seemed to have other plans, though, because when he took Koda’s offered hand, he used it to pull himself right back up against Koda’s chest. Their bear huffed with pride, and Koda rolled their eyes internally.
It seemed they might have two overly eager—and slightly dramatic—creatures on their hands.
“It’s okay, sweetheart,” Koda said, and Jae’s entire body shivered.
They hadn’t meant to use the pet name, but Jae didn’t protest. If anything, he nuzzled his face harder into Koda’s chest. “We don’t have to figure everything out right now.
You can go back to your friends, and we can talk tomorrow. ”
Their bear roared like it had gotten its paw stuck in a trap, but Koda ignored it.
Jae, on the other hand, made a broken noise and pressed up on his toes so he could shove his head against the underside of Koda’s jaw.
When they were kids, Koda’s sister, Sierra, had a pet parakeet, and it would do the same thing, headbutting them when it wanted love and affection.
Koda hesitantly ran their fingers back through Jae’s hair.
He tilted his head, leaning into the touch.
“That’s sort of the problem, though. I don’t want you to leave,” he said, his voice steady even as it dripped with emotion: want, need, desperation, anguish. So many feelings for one person to hold.
“I really don’t want you to leave,” he repeated, “but I can’t stay here with you, either. I need to do the bar crawl with Hollis, and I need to make sure that I keep prioritizing our friendship even as you and I… I mean… if you want to… uhm… pursue something with me.”
Koda’s bear gave a very dramatic huff and fell forward onto all four paws, pacing around in a circle before settling down to rest. Sometimes they resembled an overgrown house cat. They could be temperamental like one, too.
“I would very much like to pursue something with you,” Koda said.
Kodiak bear shifters were very serious about fated mates. Once they met their mate, they would typically hole up in a cabin together for several days, not leaving until they were either mated or had decided to go their separate ways. Now didn’t seem like a good time to bring that up, though.
Koda’s eyes caught on the shirt they were still clutching. Their bear flicked their ear in interest, and Koda decided to take a chance. “Actually, I might have a solution to your bar crawl conundrum.”
Jae tipped his head up, his lips dragging across Koda’s beard.
Before Koda could stop to second guess themself, they turned their head and met him in a soft kiss.
Jae gasped, air rushing in between their mouths before he dropped Koda’s hand, cupped the sides of Koda’s face, and slammed their mouths together.
The kiss was like fireworks and summer rain.
It had been hard to get a clear sense of Jae’s smell at the bar.
Koda’s bear had been asleep, which severely dampened Koda’s sense of smell, and there had been so many other competing scents in the bar, just like the acrid toilet cleaner currently permeating the bathroom.
As Koda’s mouth opened to Jae’s probing tongue, however, he finally got to smell and taste his fated mate.
He tasted like—oddly enough—pine that was reminiscent of Koda’s own smell, as well as a sweetness that reminded Koda of drinking from crystal clear streams in their bear form.
Jae’s lips were soft and plush, and when Koda’s hands came to the small of his back, he arched into them, and the smell of his arousal flooded the room. It smelled like the first glass of water after a long run, crisp and refreshing with a hint of omega sweetness.
Jae rubbed his crotch against Koda’s thigh, and they both groaned. Before he could fully pull away, Koda pressed their lips together for one more kiss.
“Was that the solution?” Jae panted. The deep brown of his eyes was nearly eclipsed by his blown pupils, and the pale-yellow ring was back in place.
“No, I think that might have been more of the problem, but…” Koda shook their head, trying to clear it, before holding up the shirt. Jae wrapped his arms around Koda’s neck, but dutifully look at the shirt.
“Oh my gods!” he exclaimed, dropping back down so his feet were flat on the tile floor. “Where did you get that?”
“One of the bar staff gave it to me when I told her I was looking for my friend, because—” Koda winced. “It seemed like the bar crawl group might be moving on.”
Jae pulled out his phone, and thankfully his expression remained unconcerned. “I think we have maybe five more minutes. I texted Hollis when I got in here and told him I had to take a dump. He said he’d let me know when it was time to go.”
A laugh startled out of Koda, and Jae blinked up at him. “I like your laugh… a lot.”
Koda hoped their beard was mostly covering their blush. They handed Jae the shirt and cleared their throat. “I’m happy to go with you, and we don’t have to tell anyone about being fated mates. You can just enjoy the evening with your friends.”
“Are you sure? That wouldn’t feel like I was hiding you, right? Just hiding that we’re fated mates?” Jae asked, clutching the shirt even tighter than Koda had been, his knuckles turning white from the effort.
Koda shook his head. “This is all very new, for both of us. I have no problem keeping it to ourselves for now if that’s what you prefer.”
Jae chewed on the side of his lip, fanning out the shirt with a look of concentration that scrunched up his brow and made his bangs fall into his eyes. He held the shirt up against Koda’s front and his shoulders slumped.
“I was worried it wouldn’t fit,” Koda said, that tender part of them twinging at having to admit that to their new, tiny fated mate. “It’s alright, sweetheart. It was worth a shot. You should just enjoy your—”
Jae flapped his hand in the air, and Koda fell silent. “I’m sorry they didn’t have the right size for you. Would you be open to me doctoring it so it fits a bit better? You could wear it under your overalls?”
Koda’s brows lifted, and they glanced at Jae’s “doctored” shirt. “I actually really like crop tops,” they admitted, and the way Jae’s face lit up, it was like Koda had proposed to them.
Their bear snuffled happily, and Koda immediately knew where that thought had come from. As far as their bear was concerned, they’d now held, scented, and kissed their fated mate. They were as good as married.
Jae folded the shirt a few times, fussing with the sleeves, and then began picking at the seams. “This would obviously be easier if I had scissors,” he grumbled, and Koda closed their fist.
When they opened it again they held out their claws as if in offering and Jae’s smile grew somehow even wider. “You are a bear! When I first saw you, I thought you looked like a ‘big bear of a person.’”
“Well, you were right. I’m a Kodiak bear.”
Jae’s smile turned crooked. “Koda the Kodiak bear?”
Koda nodded. “It was how I referred to my bear in my head for years. My given name is very gendered and never sat right with me—or my bear. They knew long before I did but let me figure it out on my own.”
Their bear huffed through their large nostrils, flicking their tail in annoyance.
“Are you… do you mind if I ask about your gender identity?”
“I’m agender,” Koda said as they placed one claw on the seam connecting the shirt to the left sleeve. “I’m also an alpha, but I think I feel less attached to that than other folks. It doesn’t inform much about me aside from a few physical things.” Like their knot and rut.
Jae nodded, but that look of concentration had returned as he focused on carefully maneuvering the shirt around Koda’s claws until, with a final slice, the shirt was done.
In essence, they’d created a cropped tank top with large triangles ripped into the side to accommodate Koda’s chest. Koda pulled off the straps of their overalls and hesitated for only a moment before pulling off their t-shirt.
Jae sucked in a sharp breath and bit his lip, his eyes drinking in Koda’s naked torso.
They had a flock of birds flying from their right hip across their broad belly, surrounding their pierced belly button and up to their opposite ribs.
On their left hip they had their bear’s pawprint tattooed in blue ink.
Finally, they had a bouquet of wild flowers blossoming from the center of their sternum traveling down in a chandelier design.
Some of the flowers were hidden under the soft curves of their pecs.
In the past, their lovers had really liked the flowers because they only became visible when they were lying on their back, but Jae’s eyes caught and held on the flock of birds.
Amongst the bunch, Koda had almost forgotten there were several ducks.
“I want to touch you, but… I better not,” Jae said, lifting his heated gaze to Koda’s face. “Maybe later?”
Koda’s skin pebbled, and they hurried to pull on the crop top.
It was a little snug along their left side, so they flicked their claw and freed up more space until it settled easily across their chest. As they went to buckle up the straps, Jae’s hand stilled them.
“Leave this one undone so you can see the text on the shirt,” Jae said, their eyes glued to the strip of tattooed skin across their side that would also be left visible.
Koda bent down and kissed Jae’s forehead. “Thank you for making me a shirt, sweetheart.”
Jae’s skin heated under their lips, and he spluttered something about not having done much as they headed out of the bathroom.
He led them across the bar with a confidence Koda hadn’t seen in him yet. Before Koda could ask what they were going to tell Jae’s friends, he walked right up to a cute blonde omega and threw an arm around his shoulders.