Page 19 of Saved By the Grizzly Bear

I know that he’s stalling, but I let him.

“What did you make? I never asked.”

“It’s called chicken tetrazzini. It’s basically cheesy spaghetti with chicken. It sounded good this morning when I was freezing,” he says with a laugh.

“Mmm, it sounds good right now, and I’m nice and toasty warm,” I agree.

He makes each of us a plate, and then we sit together at the kitchen counter and dig in.

“This is so good,” I say around a moan.

Alec is frozen and staring at my mouth and I grab a napkin, swiping at my lips.

“Do I have cheese on my face or something?” I ask when he doesn’t look away.

“No, no, you’re… you’re good,” he says, his voice coming out kind of hoarse.

We eat in silence for a few moments, and then I glance at him.

“What did you want to talk about?” I ask as he eats the last of his food.

“I need to tell you something.”

I finish the last of my food and turn to face him, giving him my full attention.

“Okay.”

He takes a deep breath, and I wait.

“Have you ever heard of shifters or fated mates?” He asks, and I’m caught off guard.

I don’t know what I thought he was going to say, but that wasn’t it.

“Um, no. What is that?”

“I… I’ll start at the beginning,” he says, and I nod. “A shifter is someone who can change between human form and an animal. There are all different kinds of them. Wolf shifters, bear, hawk, rabbit, you name an animal, and there’s a kind of shifter out there of that.”

I blink, trying to wrap my head around what he’s saying.

“I’m a bear shifter,” he goes on. “A grizzly bear. The guys that I work with? They’re all shifters too. Mostly wolf, though Gunner is a black bear and Ash is a polar bear.”

“Um, okay,” I say hesitantly.

“And shifters have fated mates. It’s their chosen one, the one person they are meant to be with, that they’ll love forever.”

“Like a soulmate?”

“Exactly, but with shifters it’s a little bit different. We don’t date; we don’t even notice the opposite sex. The only person that we’re interested in is our fated mate.”

“Sounds nice,” I admit. “To be sure that you’re with the right person.”

“Exactly!” He says, sounding relieved.

I nod, staring at him, and he takes another deep breath.

“You’re my fated mate, Morgan. I knew it the moment you ran into me at the resort,” he admits. “I didn’t tell you because I know that this is a lot to take in.”

“That’s why you agreed to my proposal so fast,” I murmur, and he nods.

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