It just stood there, staring at me. There was something in its face that read annoyed, but that had to be the hysteria I was feeling. I was going to die and it would be Alex’s fault. If he’d just kept his pants on, things would’ve been different.
I made a movement to step backwards and the bear grunted at me. It reached its paw out at me and I had a vision of it hurting my baby. I snapped and reached out and slapped its paw away. “You’re not killing me. Not today. I have a baby in here and I will fistfight a bear to keep him safe if I have to.”
It backed up a step and then Alex appeared in its spot, naked and grinning. “You’d fistfight a bear for our cub?”
CHAPTER 16: Elizabeth
I blinked a few times, unsure if I was still alive.
“Wha… what just happened?”
He looked sheepish and ran a hand through his hair and blew out a long, slow breath. “No more secrets.”
I leaned against the tree. My mind was slowly trying to make sense of what I’d just seen. The bear had just… become Alex. One second it was a bear; the next second it was Alex.
“I’m sorry, Elizabeth. I didn’t want you to find out like this. My bear just smelled you and came towards you.”
I shook my head to clear it and then looked up at him. At Alex, the guy that I’d somehow fallen in love with without even knowing it. Alex, the bear-man. Man-bear? Something in me snapped back into place and I reached out and smacked him.
“I thought you were cheating on me! I saw your clothes and your truck and thought I was going to find you out here with another woman!”
He raised an eyebrow. “I just revealed that I’m a bear shifter and you’re pissed because you thought I was cheating?”
I thought about it. “Yeah. You scared the hell out of me. I just verbally whipped your brother for even suggesting you didn’t care for me and then I come out here and thought I’d find you… the way I did Sam. I was scared. Terrified.”
“Which one?”
“Huh?”
“You said you had words with my brother. Which one?”
“Matt. He’s an ass.”
“Did he touch you?”
I rolled my eyes. “Does it matter? Can we get back to the matter at hand? What the hell is a bear shifter? Am I dead? I feel like this whole thing is surreal.”
Alex caught my shoulders and pulled me against his naked body. He wrapped his arms around me and held me tight. “I’m a bear shifter. And no, you’re not dead. Feel my heartbeat?”
I pressed my ear to his chest and listened to it racing away. “Why is it going so fast?”
“Because I’m afraid you’re going to run away from me.”
I leaned away from him and shook my head. “I’m still here.”
“I’m a shifter. I can turn into a bear…”
It all made sense. As much something like this could make sense. I’d seen his eyes take on an inhuman glow multiple times. I knew there had to be something special about him that would explain that. I just never in my wildest dreams could have imagined it would be this. I’d watched True Blood like half of the rest of the country. I knew what shifters were. I just didn’t they actually existed. Like in real life. “Do it again.”
He moved away from me and in a blur of movement, his body contorted and he was a bear again. He huffed and went down on all fours so he was closer to my height. He was huge. Ginormous.
I reached out and slowly rested my hand on his head.
“Holy shit.”
He made a sound that was so similar to laughter that I couldn’t help but laugh myself. I stroked his head and neck, feeling the coarse hair beneath my fingertips. It was either real or this was hands down the most vivid dream I’d ever had.
“This is amazing, Alex. Can you understand me?”
He huffed again and nuzzled his face against me. A small flutter in my stomach surprised me and I looked down at it with shock on my face.
Alex was instantly standing next to me again. “What’s wrong?”
“He just kicked, I think. It’s early, though. When you put your face against my belly, he moved.” I laughed. “Is he going to come out a bear?”
He looked appalled. “Of course, not!”
I laughed even harder. It was all so crazy. “I’m kidding, Alex. He will be like you, though, right?”
He nodded and watched me curiously. “He will. And one day he will feel the same pull towards someone as I feel towards you. My whole family is like this. I’ll explain everything better later.”
I nodded. “Yeah, you will.”
“How are you taking this so well?”
“I don’t know. I think all of this has just been crazy enough that I’m more stunned than anything. Maybe I’ll freak out later. Maybe I won’t. How do people normally take this news?”