Page 8 of Bear Facts

Shane’s inner brain knew there was something wrong with this thinking, but his bear wasn’t listening. He let out the roar of an alpha, which could halt any Shifter of lesser dominance in their tracks.

Didn’t work on this she-wolf. Not only did she tighten her grip on his neck, she started raking claws into Shane’s flesh.

A wolf could keep its jaw locked around its victim until either prey or predator were dead. Shane didn’t feel like waiting around for either to happen.

He stopped trying to dislodge her and shifted his weight to land on top of her instead. The wolf didn’t loosen her hold, but Shane was big, and soon he felt her struggling.

He pressed down until she had to release his throat to gasp for breath. A wolf whimper emerged and then a snarl, as though she was pissed off about being afraid to die.

Stop, Shane commanded her in the Shifter way. Shifters weren’t telepathic, but body language and growls said much. Animals were great at communicating, especially among their own species.

This woman wasn’t a bear, but she seemed to understand. She quieted under him, then to Shane’s dismay, she began to shift.

She struggled with it. Shane lessened his weight on her without lifting off completely—he knew better than to trust her.

She growled and cursed with the change, which for some Shifters could be painful. At long last, her human form took shape enough for her to speak.

“Get off me.” She shoved at him with ineffectual hands. A human was never going to lift a Shifter grizzly.

Without moving, Shane shifted back to his human form. As he lost fur and shrank down to his bulky human body, his reaction to her began to change. They were no longer animals battling for dominance in the woods, but two people, very naked, lying alone together on a bed of leaves.

With any luck, she’d be gnarled and hideous, not enticing at all. Or maybe so young she’d be little more than a cub, kicking in Shane’s protective instincts instead.

Shane gazed down at her.

Nope, not hideous, and definitely not a cub. The instincts kicking Shane now were more primal than protective.

A human man might not find her attractive, which would make him an idiot. The woman had a square face with a blunt chin and a long nose, hinting at that of her wolf. Her hair was currently so full of dirt and leaves Shane wasn’t certain what shade it was. Her skin was also plastered with mud and dirt, with lighter patches where her clothes had been.

Her eyes, on the other hand …. They were a cross between yellow and luminous gray, a beauty in them that caught him in their depths.

Shane stared down at her for a mesmerizing moment while she glared rage up at him.

“Stop.” Shane repeated the word in a low rumble, taking the sharpness from it. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Leave me alone, Shifter.” She spat her answer. “I’m busy.”

“Hey, you attacked me. I was running through the woods, minding my own business, and a feral wolf comes flying at me. What was I supposed to do?”

“I am not feral.” She screamed the word between her teeth as though stating it emphatically made it true.

Shane gripped her shoulders and leaned closer. “Why else would you attack a bear Shifter three times your size if you’re not feral?”

“I thought you were.” Her scowl told him she was sorry to be wrong. “Maybe I was defending my territory.”

“This isn’t your territory. I’ve never seen you here before, and believe me, I’d notice. If this is anyone’s territory, it’s mine. If you’ll quit fighting and tell me who you are, maybe I can help.”

Her glare intensified. “I don’t think so. Help me what? Become a civilized Shifter like you? With a Collar?” She poked at the silver and black chain around Shane’s neck, then quickly drew her finger away as though it burned. “Locked in a Shiftertown, where you should be now. I thought you must be feral, running around here on your own.”

“I do what I want,” Shane growled. Well, mostly. “Who the hell are you? What pack are you from? Why aren’t you in a Shiftertown?”

She wore no Collar and from all evidence, never had. Her throat, under the dirt, held no scar indicating that a Collar had been infused into her Shifter’s flesh. Shane wanted to run his fingers across her skin, enjoying the smoothness of the Collar’s absence.

“Because I’m not stupid enough to be in one of those,” she snarled. “Where I have to answer to a leader who’s not even in my pack or my clan, who thinks I can’t choose my own mate.”

She snapped her mouth closed, as though fearing she’d said too much.

Interesting. She spoke as though she was familiar with Shiftertowns but had somehow managed not to be rounded up into one. It was true that when humans had slapped Collars onto Shifters close to thirty years ago, some had managed to evade capture.

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