Yawning, Honey stared at the cloudy sky. It was quite a gloomy day to celebrate Easter. And after what happened the previous day, no one was really in the mood to do it either. Without the eggs hidden in the forest, they all felt something was amiss and couldn’t muster the enthusiasm to fake it.
A few minutes later it began to rain, and she sighed. Maybe she should leave after breakfast and spare everyone having to put up with her any longer. She blamed herself, feeling everything that had happened was her fault.
Even though Nana sat her down and explained everything related to mating, Honey couldn’t help but feel sad. If what the old woman told her was true, then fate had royally screwed her over because it gave her the one male that was entitled to have resentment towards humans. And she couldn’t blame him for it.
Cleaning a lone tear from her cheek, she hurried to make herself a cup of tea. The sooner she finished, the sooner she would be able to leave Kodiak territory. No matter how the thought broke her heart, it was for the best.
A knocking on the door distracted her until she remembered Amy had asked for more eggs. Since the owner of the grocery shop was a badger, and good friends with the family, he promised to deliver them first thing in the morning.
“Honey, there´s something here for you, I think.”
Leaving the kitchen, she stepped out on the porch.
“There must be a mistake.”
Honey wasn´t sure what she was staring at, but it seemed like someone had put bunny ears on a young bear. Not only that, but as she approached the shifter — because she was sure no real life bear would be caught dead wearing something like that — she also noticed the gigantic pink bow around its neck and a turquoise basket in his mouth.
“Killian?”
The bear grumbled in response, turned around and showed everyone a fluffy white tail on his rear that caused everyone to laugh.
“I think he wants us to follow him,” Nana said, right before shouting for everyone to join them.
Nothing in life had prepared Honey for the surreal moment unfolding before her. She never before thought she would be following a bear wearing a bunny costume on Easter morning. Shaking her head, she couldn’t help but laugh softly. She had no idea what Killian´s intention was, but either way it was sweet of him to try and bring back the Easter joy for them.
After a 20-minute walk, they came into a small clearing and Honey stood mesmerized by what she saw. Standing in the middle of it were two huge bears, both wearing bunny ears and surrounded by different sized colored eggs. A large table was covered in Easter decorations.
“What? How? Who?” She didn´t even know what to ask. That was the silliest and sweetest thing she had ever seen.
“Happy Easter, fluffle and Honey,” the first bear turned into human and smiled at her.
“We stayed up all night, and although we know they aren´t as good as yours, we hope you like the surprises in them,” said the second bear, now in his human form.
“Kody came up with the idea. We just helped him out” an overenthusiastic Killian informed her while dashing back to join them — still wearing his bunny ears… an carrying clothes for all the males to cover themselves with.
Touched, Honey tried unsuccessfully to blink back tears, which proved to be impossible as she heard the Lapin children squealing with happiness as they kept on finding more hidden eggs in different places.
“Where is ….”
A soft growl to her left told her that Kody was approaching her and when she turned slightly and saw him, she threw herself on the bear’s large body and covered his snout with kisses.
“This was supposed to make you happy. Why are you crying, love?” Turning into a human, Kody held her close.
“Because I am happy!” she beamed at him among her tears. “This is the best Easter ever! And you all looked so cute with bunny ears!”
“We are so never living that one down, Kody. You own us big time,” Micah mumbled while shuffling embarrassed from one foot to the next.
Kody was shifter enough to recognize he freaked out big time when he saw Honey crying. For a moment, he thought that that was it, she was leaving him, until she covered his bear in kisses and proved she was not the least bit afraid of getting closer to the huge monster he knew he was.
“Why did you do it?”
“Because I don´t want to lose you, and it was unfair of me to treat your friends the way I did just because I wasn´t bear enough to deal with my hang ups.” He knew he screwed up big time.
“So …”
He could sense Honey´s nervousness and he knew what she wanted to hear, but now he was the nervous one. What would he do if she still wanted to return to the city? Could he really do it?
“I heard that Kodiak territory is as wild as the bears it was named after.” She blushed.
“And what else have you heard?”
“That every season has its own charm, and that shifter bears don´t hibernate like their counterparts.”
“True …”
“Kody! Just ask her already! I want to take these fucking ears off!” Several males’ voices reached them from the forest and he saw the rest of his clan, still wearing their bunny costumes, approaching them.
“OMG! You made all of them wear the ears?” Honey seemed genuinely surprised.
“Of course! It’s not every day our alpha meets his mate, screws up and has only a few hours to get back in her good graces,” an older looking male with salt and pepper hair informed her.
Blushing, Kody noticed the way she was looking at him, like he had suddenly hung the moon and the stars.
“So …”
“Would you stay with me, Honey?”
“Do you promise never ever to behave again like a moronic ass?”
“I do.”
“In that case, I do too.”
Hitting him on the shoulder, she managed to topple him over and covered his entire face with kisses.
“For real?
“Not. I´ll just leave tomorrow instead of today.”
Laughing, Kody tickled her until they were both laughing so hard they could barely breathe.
“So, I guess we can now finally congratulate you, Kody,” the silver-haired man told them as he kneel next to him. “And to you too, Honey, you´ll be an amazing mother.”
“Thank you, but isn´t it a little too soon to be congratulating us about kids?”
“I´m sorry. Is there a human tradition we are not aware of?” All the bear shifters seemed confused about that turn of events.
“We usually wait for the couple to officially announce that they are pregnant before congratulating them.”
“Oh! My apologies! We thought Kody already sensed your three cubs growing in your belly.”
Dazed, Honey turned towards him and Kody knew he was probably wearing the same expression she did because, suddenly, Honey´s eyes rolled back and she fainted into his arms.
“That was one hell of an Easter surprise, brother,” Killian joked while bumping his arm.
“And just wait until you explain the rest to her.”
A laughing Nana soon approached him and helped him get Honey comfortable until she woke up. And afterwards, stayed with them to answer any and all doubts she had about the shifter´s nature.
“You´re lucky I love you because if I didn´t you would be in so much trouble,” she grumbled like a true bear´s mate.
Smiling broadly, he picked her up and drew circles with her until he smashed their mouth together.
“I love you more, Honey. And I promised to make it worth now and for the rest of our lives.”