Bear the Burn(20)

He hadn’t done this before, Changed someone. He hadn’t ever wanted to. This wasn’t something he wished on anyone, to spend the rest of their lives wrestling with a force of nature hidden away where people couldn’t see the struggle.

Dade strode up the hill through the pine forest, Quinn in his arms as a screech of brakes sounded behind him. He cast a glance over his shoulder just in time to see Boone Change into his bear. Well, that was one way to distract the crowd. With a little luck, he wouldn’t get shot this time.

A roar rattled the trees, and Quinn gasped and scrabbled out of his arms. “Is that Boone?” she asked, horror in her voice as she stared down the trail at his brother who was now scratching his back against a pine tree like he hadn’t a care in the world. He was about to bore the shit out of the news crews. Dade would’ve laughed if Quinn’s mouth wasn’t hanging open in terror.

He bent to pick her up again, but she swatted his hand. “I can walk myself.”

“But…your burns—”

“Don’t hurt like they should. And yeah, I should probably be thanking you for whatever bear-man healing super powers you gave me because I saw my legs bent the wrong way under that beam and know what they felt like when that hot metal burned through me to the bone. And this,” she said, waving her hands at the red, putty-like gashes across her legs, “is nothing compared to what I was supposed to deal with. I’m still angry, though, and I don’t want you carrying me around like I’m helpless.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “You think I’m weak, don’t you?”

With a growl, Dade scrubbed his face and sidled around her. He wasn’t having their first spat within filming distance of the crews behind them.

“You do. You think because I had a soft heart at the vet clinic and that you caught me on a bad day and saw me cry a couple of times that I’m some sniveling, pathetic weak…human!”

“No, you’re a bear shifter now.”

“Eaaah!” she screeched. “I didn’t ask for this, Dade.”

He shook his head, fuming as they crested a hill. The news crews disappeared behind them, and now all he could hear was the soft noise of their vans and the cars coming up the road.

“You’re walking too fast.”

“I thought you didn’t want me to coddle you.” His angry words whipped past his lips, but when he turned, she was even paler than when they’d left the car. “Dammit, I’m sorry,” he rushed out, gripping her under her elbows. He was emotional, and she threw him off-kilter every other minute, but the cold hard fact was she was still hurt and likely in shock from what she’d just learned.

“On the video, it seemed like you used me to come out to the public with what you are. Please tell me I’m not some springboard for your…people’s...agenda. Please tell me my life will be normal again.”

“My people are good, Quinn. They’re families and hard workers who are just trying to make it, like everyone else. You weren’t planned. I just couldn’t watch you suffer knowing I could make it easier.”

Her voice dipped to a ragged whisper as she leaned heavily on a tree. “This isn’t easier.”

“There wasn’t time to get the human onlookers out of the way before I bit you.” He held his hands out, pleading with her to try and understand. “I know I fucked up. Hell, I even knew it at the time, but I’d do it again. You were bad off. I didn’t know if your back was broken, and I thought surely you had internal bleeding, and your breathing was so shallow. I’ve been around death, Quinn. Lots of it. You were toeing the line, and I didn’t want to lose you before I even got to know you.”

She inhaled deeply and shook her head. “So Moira was right. You did save me.”

Dade shrugged. “Kind of.”

“No, there’s no kind of. You gave me the bear so I could live.”

“I ruined your life with the bear so you could live.”

Quinn looked defeated as she slunk down against the tree. She hissed as she brought her knees up to her chest.

Dade knelt in front of her and picked up a twig from the forest floor, snapped pine needles off it one by one. “I know I have no right to ask you now because you’re still figuring out the hell I shoved you into, but someday, when I’ve worked hard enough for it, I’m going to beg your forgiveness.”

“And someday,” she whispered through a tremulous smile, “I’m going to give it to you.”

“I won’t let anything happen to you, Quinn. I swear it. My body was made to keep yours safe. You don’t have to worry about any kind of danger, okay?”