“No,” Holly said firmly. “I’m not leaving him.”
She reached for the necklace around her neck and drew the six-pointed star forward, out from under her dress. The opaque gem in the middle caught on a sliver of light and seemed to glow in the darkness of the cave.
“I’ll be damned,” Brent said. “You found it.”
“We protect each other,” Holly said, clutching the star.
“But if you’ve got it,” Brent said, “how come he ain’t human right now?”
Holly shook her head, her heart sinking. “I don’t know.” She’d come this far, she’d found the medallion, but now, she had no idea how to harness its power and reverse the effect. Or if she could reverse it at all. Maybe it only worked before he turned into a bear…maybe it was too little, too late, and now he was lost to her. The thought was almost more than she could take and Holly held on to the talisman as she took a step towards Jacob.
She stopped when Brent snagged her arm. “That ain’t Jacob,” he told her. “That’s his Beast. The same one that’s been caged up inside of him all this time. He might not be so nice.”
“I can handle him,” Holly said firmly, even when she saw the reluctance in Brent’s eyes. “Trust me.”
He couldn’t argue with that. Brent took a step back and then said, “I’m right behind you.” She saw the golden flash in his eyes, ready to protect his Alpha’s mate, even if that meant protecting her from his Alpha.
Jacob’s bear was huffing, head hanging, and pacing with heavy steps. Holly could see a limp on one of his legs and it made her stomach twist up, knowing that he was hurt and there was nothing she could do about that, not unless he let her get close.
“Jacob…” Holly whispered as she stepped closer.
The animal turned on her and growled.
Holly lifted her palms up towards him, a small peace treaty. “It’s just me,” she murmured, keeping her movements slow and deliberate so not to spook him. “Holly.” He panted wetly, dark eyes flashing gold. Carefully, Holly drew her long red hair back to reveal the scar on the side of her throat, his bite mark forever on her skin. “I’m your mate,” she said, firmly now. “You know me, baby.”
The bear grunted and hung its head suddenly, as though it were ashamed. It stepped backwards, into the shadowy recesses of the cave as though it meant to disappear completely, away from Holly.
She knew those eyes. The weight of guilt and fear in them. Now, it was as though there was no one else here but Holly and Jacob, trapped in the burly form of a bear. Gently, Holly lowered herself to her knees and sat down. He would have to come to her now.
“You don’t have to hide,” she said and then added, “You can’t hide from me. I know you. And I love you. I love all of you, even the parts you aren’t proud of. Unconditionally. Maybe we’ve never been normal or like everyone else, but I don’t want normal. I want you. I want this baby. I want our family.”
His grunts and growls stopped, replaced by the soft beat of his breath. He was listening.
Maybe, before she came to Red Moon Ranch, Holly would have trembled with fear to be this close to a hulking, full-grown black bear that could take her head off with one clean swipe of his paw. Instead, she felt nothing but calm in her heart, and strength, as though all of her fear and anxiety had belonged to another woman, or in another life, perhaps. “I’m not scared of you,” she said and then, as though to prove it, extended her hand, reaching out to him. “Come out where I can see you.”
A moment passed. Holly heard the waves crashing below, and a gull cried out in the distance. Finally, the bear let out a huff, and a grunt, and then, slowly, ambled out from the shadows of the cave. In the pool of sunlight, she could see his shaggy black fur, his soft brown muzzle, and his round ears flattened back. Where before he had seemed capable of tearing the cave down stone by stone, now he seemed gentle, tamed. He sniffed her hand once and then took a step closer. Holly gasped when she felt the large animal nuzzle the side of her face and breathe in her hair…just like Jacob. Holly felt her eyes burn and she closed them, a few stray tears escaping as she clung to his neck and buried her face in his fur.
“I love you,” she whispered. The bear let out a small noise deep in his throat, as though he were trying to form the words to return to her.
Please, God, she prayed to herself. Bring my husband back to me.
Then Holly felt it, like a weight off her chest.
No. A literal weight off her chest.
She glanced down and her breath caught when she saw the talisman on the ground. The string was frayed as though it had simply snapped and fallen off her neck. She turned the star around and saw that the gem in the middle had somehow cracked, a hairline split running straight through it. When Holly brushed her thumb against the gem, it fell apart under her finger, small iridescent shards sprinkling the stone floor.