I gaze at him for a long time, digesting this nugget.
“Well?” he asks, releasing my wrists. “What are you thinking?”
I smack his shoulder with a fist. “I think this is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard of, Cole Braxton! Seriously! If you want to nail and bail, just freaking say so! Honestly, the nerve of you thinking I’d believe a stupid story like this—”
He sighs heavily and rolls off me. I immediately feel…lonely…the moment his body parts from mine. He gets to his feet and kicks his pants off his ankles, then rips off his shirt.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m going to show you,” he says. “Come on.”
I watch in surprise as he storms out of the tent, buck naked. Where on earth is he going? That damn bear is still out there. I tug my shirt down over my loose breasts and try to stretch it over my ass since I no longer have panties. That’s a losing proposition, though, and I roll out of the tent a moment later with a pillow held in front of my girl bits. “Cole! Come back!”
He’s walking a few feet away, his gorgeous bubble butt flexing in the darkness. Then he pauses, glances over his shoulder at me, and crouches.
What is that crazy fool doing? I’m about to ask this aloud when I hear the bear snarl again…
…And it’s coming from him. As I watch, his skin ripples and I hear the crack of bones. Oh my God. I squeak and immediately press my face against the pillow because I can’t watch this. Hell, I can’t even watch Grey’s Anatomy without flinching. All I know is something is happening to Cole’s body.
I hear several disturbing bone cracks and the rustle of grass, and I peek over the pillow a moment later to see Cole’s hand change into a big, furry paw. Then, I slowly lower the pillow, utterly shocked by what I see.
It’s a bear. An enormous grizzly bear. Fear shoots through me, but then it sits on its hind legs and flops onto its back, waving a paw in greeting.
That’s Cole.
He wasn’t lying. My eyes feel as big as saucers.
He rolls in the grass, and then lumbers to his feet and approaches me. I clutch the pillow and take a step backward, until I run into the side of the tent. I shouldn’t be scared. It’s just Cole. Who’s a bear.
Totally normal.
He noses me and then licks my arm.
“Can you change back now?” I ask in a small voice. I really don’t know what to make of this. Most of the locals in town are shifters of one kind or another.
No wonder I’ve always felt like such an outsider. I’m completely, totally human. There’s no way I can do anything like that. I watch as Cole’s shoulders hunch and he starts to change back, and I cover my eyes once more. I don’t want to see that.
A few minutes later, big hands grab the pillow and toss it back into the tent, and Cole grins down at me, his hair slightly tousled and sweaty.
“You’re a bear,” I breathe.
“I am.”
“Not a furry.”
“Nope.”
I digest this for a moment as he gets back inside the tent and then tugs on my hand, indicating I should join him. I follow, and he lies back down on the now-flat air mattress and relaxes. I sit next to him, still stunned. He pulls me against him and begins to nibble on my shoulder.
“How…”
“Like I said, it’s in the bloodline. It’s just something that my family’s always done.” He brushes my hair aside to reveal my neck, and lightly sucks on a patch of skin. “Damn, you smell nice.”
“Is this why you never hit on me? No matter how many times I flirted with you? Because you’re a bear and I’m not?”
“Humans are off-limits,” he admits, and he doesn’t sound pleased about it. In the next moment, though, he squeezes me against him. “No one’s taking you from me, though. You’re my mate.”
“I am?” I squeak.
He nods and his hand goes to my belly. “I took you and I might have given you a baby.”
“So?”
“So, I want to be the father of your child. If you have one,” he adds. “We don’t have to start a family right away.”
“Gee, thanks,” I say sarcastically. I’m trying to be mad at him, but it’s so difficult when the man I’ve lusted after for three long years is kissing my skin and talking about starting a family together. “Cole?”
“Hmm?” He nuzzles the curve of my breast.
Shivers move through my body, and I feel my pulse picking up at his touch. “Are you going to be in trouble for sleeping with me?”
“I don’t care. As long as we keep the secret, I’ll manage things. I’ll talk to Eli.”