Page 26 of Destined Bear

“Then listen to me.” His voice was firm. He wasn’t my friend right now. He was my Alpha. “Right now, you’re not trustingyourself because you’re scared of losing Finn. I get it—finding your mate the way you did, having him get sick so suddenly... that’s terrifying. But until you rebuild that trust in yourself, I need you to put your trust in me, in the den, in your co-workers, and most of all, in your mate. We all believe in you. We believe that you can do this, be the Beta, be a mate, and manage the diner. So, can you trust us?”

I took a deep breath, letting Aydan’s words settle. I hadn’t looked at it that way, not even close. But now that he laid it out there like that, maybe he was right. Maybe I just needed to let go of my doubt and lean on the people who’d stood by me all this time.Closing my eyes, I took a shaky breath, voicing the fear that had been gnawing at me. The one that lingered in the back of my mind like all of the other hateful words my father used to spew at me. “What if I fail?”

Aydan’s eyes softened as he shook his head. “What if you don’t?”

I nodded, feeling the weight of his trust. “Okay. I’ll review the application you mentioned, and I’ll talk with Archer and Stacy about changing my schedule. Maybe I can cut back on my hours a bit.”

Not that I was currently working full-time, but there was a guilt that came with leaving early. If the schedule was set up that way, it would be different. I wouldn’t be leaving them—it would be time to go.

“That sounds like a brilliant plan,” Aydan said. “And as far as your Beta responsibilities go, things have been running smoothly. Managing the diner is part of how you contribute asBeta. So give yourself some grace, Patrick.” He placed a hand on my shoulder, grounding me. “And also... talk with your mate.”

I smiled, feeling a little lighter. “Yeah. I will.”

And for the first time in a long time, my father’s words didn’t come back and taunt me.

Chapter 17

Finn

I sent Corey home, told him I was fine—because I was—but after the fight I had with Patrick, I was feeling guilty about it. I understood why my mate was overprotective, I did, but also, it was smothering me.

The grown-up thing to do would be to sit down and talk it out with him. But anytime the topic came up, we’d get emotional and either give up or stew in our frustration. That wasn’t good for him, it wasn’t good for me, and it wasn’t good for our baby.

I headed into the kitchen and pulled out a bowl of cookie dough I’d made earlier, then preheated the oven. Some days required cookies, and today was one of those days. I didn’t even really want to eat them either. That was the weird thing—I wanted to smell them. I’d been that way lately, just loving the way foods smelled.

Food-wise, one of my favorite things was when Patrick came home from work, and I could inhale his shirt and smell the hamburger grease and fries. It was probably considered gross by most people, but for some reason, that’s what this pregnancy called for. Which, honestly, was better than some things—like when I needed to sleep all the time or have help getting up and down. If the worst side effect right now was me wanting to smell cooked food, so be it.

It was getting near lunchtime, and I thought about going over to the diner. I could easily get someone to walk me, but there were only a couple batches of cookies left, so I decided I’d go later.

The front door clicked open, and I thought for a second that maybe Corey was back, that possibly my mate had seen him and guilted him into returning. But then I scented him—Patrick. He was here. I hurried over to him, hugged him, and then unashamedly scented his dirty clothes.

Pregnancy was so weird.

“You done with work already?” I asked.

“Yeah, something like that. Baking cookies?” He kissed the top of my head.

“Yeah, I thought maybe we could, I don’t know, give them to some of the people who’ve been helping us?” The den had been so wonderful to us.

“You don’t want them? They smell delicious.”

“No, I don’t. It’s that weird smell thing again.”

“I was guessing with the way you inhaled my shirt.” He hugged me a bit tighter. “I was thinking—you could send Corey home, and maybe we could maybe talk about my work.”

That hadn’t been what I was expecting. Work was one area Patrick felt most confident, and here, he hesitated as if something was wrong. But now that he said it, he had been feeling pulled in lots of directions lately.

“Corey isn’t—Corey went home.”

“Home?” He was clarifying, not upset. Interesting.

“Yeah, I sent him home. Sorry, I was feeling so smothered.”

“I get that.” There had been a time not too long ago that this would’ve led to an argument. Baby steps.

The oven timer went off, signaling it was time to take the cookies out. “I’ll be right back.”

It was nice to have a few seconds to think about our conversation before it started. I wanted to be as supportive as I could be with him. And if by some strange reason he was getting in trouble at work because of the time he was spending with me, I wasn’t sure I’d forgive myself. But whatever it was, I was going to stand by his side. It was the only place I belonged.