Un-Bearable (Biker Bears #2)

Chapter 1

Chapter

One

“So what are we going to do today, Race?” Connal Price kicked his feet up in the air, flexing his toes as he stared at the ceiling. He liked a roadside motel, really. Especially a clean one. Nice mattresses. Weird snacks. Roadside attractions and diner food.

He did miss his own bed. And his brothers. But he was traveling with Race.

Race needed him.

Race arched an eyebrow at him and rolled his eyes. “Same thing we do most nights, Pinky.”

Connal grinned. “Ooh, yummy! But what if the kangaroo won’t wear the garter belt, Brain?”

Race flipped him off, but it did earn him a chuckle, so Connal counted it as a win.

“Seriously, what’s the plan?” he asked. They were on the road, their motorcycles parked in front of the room where they could see them out the window. There was some sort of rescue mission; there was always one with Race. And Con was here for it.

Race shrugged. “There’s a bunny shifter who needs help. He’s trapped in some warehouse. Intel says we’ll have to carry him. Apparently he freezes when he panics.”

“A bunny? Are you serious? A bunny?”

Race nodded. “I’m serious. Apparently, he’s kinda fuzzy.”

“You know that old joke about whether poop sticks to rabbit fur—”

Race shook his head. “Don’t. Just don’t talk. No talking. You are now barred from talking.”

“Can I sing?” He hummed a few bars of a pop song that was stuck in his head.

“No. No humming, singing, talking. Zip it.”

Connal made his best sad face, then started signing his words. He started with, “You suck.”

He’d learned sign language one summer because he was bored. YouTube was amazing, but he’d also taken classes online from a community college.

To his utter shock, Race signed back. “You wish, Bear. You’ll never know how well I suck.”

Oh, who was Race kidding? He was gonna know.

They were totally into one another. Race was just playing hard to get.

Con got it. He did. Race was worried. He saw a lot of omega abuse. And he didn’t believe in mates. He’d said so while they’d all been at Con’s brother Ryder’s place, rescuing Race’s brother.

The twisty name game in that sentence made his eyes cross.

Still, he could be worried and wanting at the same time, and Connal would be patient.

And right the fuck here. He wasn’t letting Race out of his sight. Nope. Con was stuck like glue.

He wiggled his toes some more, then swayed his legs from side to, doing a little yoga flow to warm up his body. Unlike his brothers, all of them grizzly shifters, he didn’t sleep a lot. Oh, he could nap, but he didn’t snooze for days.

“Are you okay?”

He glanced over at Race. “Yeah, why?”

“You just look uncomfortable.”

Oh, Race cared. How sweet. “I’m used to moving around a little bit more.” He had a workshop out behind his cabin, and he did metal work and sculpture and pottery.

“Have you tried yoga?”

He arched an eyebrow. Wasn’t that what he was doing? “Have you?”

“Yes.” Race sighed. “You’re talking again.”

“You asked me a direct question.”

Race made a sound reminiscent of a loaded freight train trying to stop on too short a track. It was sort of a fascinating noise, and Connal had to smile at his toes. Such a fun noise.

“I think I’m going to kill you now.” Race threw something at him. He had no idea what, but it bounced off him without damaging him.

It turned out to be socks wadded up together.

“You could feed me instead. I’m pretty hungry.”

“Why are you even here?” Race had these fascinating eyes. Some shifter’s eyes, like Connal’s, were golden brown and could flash with little highlights of pure metallic color. Race’s were black, the iris almost indistinguishable from the pupil.

“I want to spend time with you, and I’ve decided you need help.” That was good enough, wasn’t it?

Race needed his help, and he needed Race’s attention.

“I do a solo act.” Race rose from the other bed, grabbing clothes. “I’m taking a shower, but then we can go get food.”

See? Race didn’t want him to go away. He snapped and snarled, but he wanted Con there.

“You need any help with that shower?”

Race grunted, teeth snapping. “No.”

“Have you heard from Nolan? He seemed pretty happy when he and Rye called me last.” Nolan was Race’s little brother, who was paired up with Connal’s brother, Ryder…

Race growled. Actually growled. God, Con loved this game.

“He’s fine. He thinks he’s mated.”

“That’s because he is.” Connal rolled off the bed to stalk over to Race and get in his space a little.

Just enough.

“It’s utter bullshit,” Race spat. “I swear to god, so many of these omegas get in trouble because they’re looking for some sort of fucking magical connection with an alpha, and it’s bullshit!”

Con frowned a little. “That’s harsh, but true. But when it happens, it’s real. Look at Quin and Thiago.” Their friend Quin was a wolf shifter mated to a jaguar. It was hot as hell.

“At least they’re wolves. At least that kind of makes sense.”

Con arched an eyebrow. “Uh, Thiago? Not a wolf.”

“You know what I mean. I just find it super unnerving.”

“I know, and given your line of work, I kind of get it, but what the guys have? It’s real.” He didn’t doubt it at all. Those two looked at each other like he wanted Race to look at him. “Ryder really loves him.”

Race rolled his eyes. “And Nolan really loves him. Idiots.”

“They’re not idiots. Trust me. Ryder’s smarter than me and War put together.” Warrick was his other brother, the oldest, and while he was brilliant, it was in weird ways sometimes. Ryder was the one who was practically smart, the one who everybody thought was wicked cool.

Connal, they all just thought was goofy. Maybe a little stupid.

Race rolled his eyes. “There’s nothing stupid about you. Irritating, yes. Maddening, absolutely. Crazy-making, uh-huh, but you’re not stupid. You are smarter than the average bear…Yogi.”

“Am I gonna start calling you Boo Boo now?” Con teased.

“If you do, I might hurt you.”

Con winked over. “Promises, promises.”

“I’m going to take a shower.” Race spaced out every word and stomped the rest of the way to the bathroom, turning his back on Connal, who wanted to goose him in the ass, but he didn’t.

That might actually get him smacked in the face or something at this point.

While he waited for Race to get out of the shower, he texted his brothers.

Connal

Boo, what are you guys doing?

Warrick

Well I was just about to sit down to some food. What are you doing?

Connal

Oh food. Poor me. I’m starving. What are you eating?

Warrick

What do you think?

Ryder

Salmon with some sort of sauce and stir-fried greens and some bread with honey

Warrick

Am I really that predictable?

Ryder

Yes

Connal

Yes

Warrick

Screw you both. Where’s Race, Con?

Connal

In the shower, and he wouldn’t let me come. I am in a pit of despair

Ryder

Hang in there, bro. Nolan says he likes you a lot

Connal

Does he? How does he know?

Ryder

You’re still alive

Connal

Yes, but I’m booooored

Warrick

Then go get in the shower with him

Connal

Then I might not stay alive

God, he missed his brothers. He talked to them all the time, and they texted just like they were doing now, but he was used to being with them daily.

Physically. He was used to being in the same territory.

Their houses were only a football field apart maybe.

Okay, so more than that, because he really couldn’t see Warrick’s house from his cabin.

He could see the pitch of Ryder’s roof but…

The bathroom door opened, steam pouring out, and he got an eyeful of Race wearing just a towel. Oh wow. That was stunning and amazing and wonderful.

Honest to God, he could watch that for days. Race was lean and, as a black bear, much smaller than Connal was, but he was all tight muscle and gorgeous golden skin, and Con could just look at the guy and drool and forget about going to have dinner.

“I forgot my underwear,” Race muttered.

“Well don’t put on any on my account,” Connal told him. “We could stay in, you know. We could order a pizza and have dinner here.”

Race flushed a fascinating pink from the tips of his ears all the way down to where the towel bisected his hips. “Shut up.”

“But I don’t want to.”

Race stared at him. “What do you mean you don’t want to?”

“You heard me. I don’t want to.” He rocked from side to side, bouncing a little bit. “I think you’re beautiful.”

“Stop it.” That blush just got darker, and he swore he saw that towel just kind of jump a little bit as Race’s cock tried to fill.

“I don’t want to,” Con repeated.

“This isn’t about what you want.”

“Not even a little?” Connal winked at him. “I could put on a towel, too, and we could order a pizza, and we could both eat with our towels on. It would be like being in a sauna, but with pepperoni.”

Race stared at him. “You are insane.”

That was, admittedly, not outside the range of possibility, but he could live with that.

“You aren’t the first bear to tell me that.” Con shrugged, then tugged off his sweater.

Race’s eyes went wide. “What are you doing?”

“Getting ready to wear my towel.”

Race blinked at him. “What if there aren’t any towels left?”

“Well, I could take up one of the top sheets and wear it like a toga.”

Race stared at him. “You are a weirdo.”

“I know. But I really like you.”

Race shook his head, and then he started to laugh. “I don’t want to like you, you son of a bitch. Why are you so damn cute?”

Was he cute?

Did he feel cute?

Cute seemed a little… lame. He wanted to be intensely sexy, but he would take cute, he supposed.

Cute was absolutely something he could work with. As long as Race liked it, anyway.

Connal stripped off his pants too.

Race leaned back against the door, watching him now, eyes focused and interested. “So, what do you want on your pizza?”

“Everything. I like a deluxe.” He was trying really hard not to suck in his gut, just in case. He was the smallest of his brothers, but he was still a grizzly bear, which still made him big.

He stopped at his briefs, and Race tilted his head. “No, no, no, I want to see it all.”

“Yeah, but you have a towel on.” That didn’t seem fair. Although it did feel hot as fuck.

“I do.”

“I don’t have a towel. You going to get me one?”

Race stepped aside so he wasn’t blocking the bathroom door anymore. “Nope, I think you should strip down and go get yourself one.”

Oh, the butthead. He wanted to see everything, for real. Connal pretended he had way more confidence than he did and stripped out of his boxer briefs, letting everything hang loose.

Well, not exactly loose because he was sort of firming up nicely.

In fact, his cock bounced as he walked because he was totally interested in the way Race was staring at him.

“Nice.” Race never looked away, the gaze sending happy little jolts all the way up Connal’s spine.

“I could skip the towel…” Race didn’t need to know he was feeling pretty damn self-conscious. This was a seduction. Which was why he was not going to rotate his hips and make his cock dance.

Nope. Notty not. Even if it would be hilarious.

He jutted one hip instead and asked, “It’s hard to eat pizza with your cock just out and swinging in the wind. Would it be inappropriate to suggest that you could keep it warm and covered for me?”

Race nodded. “Absolutely, totally inappropriate.”

“Good to know.”

Race stepped into his personal space and put one hand on his hip. “You know you are a giant pain in my ass.”

“Not yet.” Connal leaned down until they were eye to eye. “I promise that I won’t make it hurt.”

Race’s pupils dilated, blowing out most of the iris. Even with those black eyes, he could see it.

“I don’t want that.”

“Are you sure? Because I can smell how wet you are.” And it made his mouth water. And made his cock fully hard. Sproing.

Race waved a hand to the bathroom. “Towel, Connal.”

He sighed, dragging his feet as he went into the bathroom. The towels were… small. Especially for as badly as he wanted to knot Race. “I’m going to need a bigger towel.”

“Improvise, Bear.”

He arched an eyebrow. Improvise, huh? He pulled down the shower curtain and wrapped it around his waist. Ooh. Chilly.

“Wow.” Race sighed. “We’ll end up paying for that.”

“I can. No biggie.” He liked this. It was clean, or he wouldn’t have done it, and he kind of made it into a modified kilt.

Very stylish.

“I should take a selfie to send War and Rye.” He struck a pose, flexing, and Race groaned.

“Give me your phone; I’ll do it.”

That was probably a bad idea. What if Race saw the texts?

But then, did they really say anything that he hadn’t said to Race’s face? So he headed back to the bed and picked up his phone to hand to Race, striking a pose.

Might as well be hanged for a wolf, right? Even if he was a bear.

“Wow. That’s impressive.”

He was not going to be embarrassed. Not. “Thanks. I try.”

Race gave him a tiny grin when he lowered the phone. “You’re welcome. Now, did we order pizza?”

“Nope.” He held out his hand for his phone. “I can do it. I grabbed a menu from the front desk when we checked in. A local place, it said.” He tilted his head. “I wonder if they have cinnamon roll knots.”

Oh, he didn’t need to remind himself of knots…

“I love knots.”

That didn’t help.

At all.

Connal rolled his eyes and nodded. “I’ll order some.”

“And some kind of salad. See if there’s one with fruit in it. Even if it’s olives or craisins.”

“I can do that.” His fingers flew. Cranberry pecan salad. Supreme pizza. Cinnamon roll minis. Not knots. Nope. For such a lean little bear, Race could eat.

He added a couple of Cokes and a portion of lasagna. He loved lasagna.

“Anything else?”

“Get two pizzas, for later.”

“Okay, cool.” He got a sausage and onion and pepperoni and mushroom. That meant they were going to be in the area for at least a day or two…

Race played information close to the chest.

Connal was becoming a master of reading Race. That sounded like it could be a band name…

He beatboxed a little, then hummed a tune, making up a song to be their theme music.

“What on earth are you doing?” Race stared at him.

“It sounded like a band name in my head, so I was making up a song to go with it.”

“What sounded like a band name?” Race was squinting now, and he kind of hated to see that expression on Race’s face because a lot of people looked at him like that. It meant they didn’t get him, and they were starting to get frustrated.

So he just wrapped his shower curtain around him and went to sit on the bed, waiting for the pizza with his phone in his hand. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter. I was just lost in the moment.”

Race’s face changed again, this time maybe sympathetic. That was even worse because clearly he was showing that his feelings were a little bit hurt, and now Race was pitying him.

“Don’t lie to me, Con.”

“I’m not. It’s fine.” And it was great, because his cock had gone back down, and he didn’t have to worry about embarrassing himself.

“I didn’t mean to upset you,” Race said softly. “I really didn’t.”

Connal summoned a bright smile and shook his head. “Of course you didn’t. No one ever does. It’s no big deal.” He pulled the shower curtain around him more tightly and just waited for the pizza to arrive.

It was time to regroup.