Page 137 of The Cowbears of Curvy Bear Ranch

“Okay,” she said as she imagined scooping up ahandful.

“And now, tell your bear that she can have it as soon as sheshifts.”

“That’smessedup.”

“What?”

“Teasing your bear like that,”shesaid.

“It works,” he said with ashrug.

She refocused her attention on the imaginary cheesecake and willed her bear to come forward. As she concentrated, the first pop of disconnecting tissue fissured and pulled away from muscle to begin thetransformation.

Within seconds, fur sprouted on her body. Hands and feet morphed into paws and her face elongated. Although she couldn’t see herself, she knew when she’d finished shifting. A wildness entered her blood. The overwhelming urge to run through the snow took over and she bolted toward thenearesthill.

“Wait!” Logancried.

She turned and watched him shift into a magnificent silvery-brown grizzly. Stunned by the realization that she was looking at her mate, she sat down on her hind legs withahuff.

Hermate? Could it really be Logan? Was he the perfect man for her? Who better to understand her than anothershifter?

As he approached, she trotted forward to nuzzle his cheek with her snout. He returned her affectionate caress with his entire face. She brushed up against the side of him, then growled and tackled him to the ground. They rolled down the hill in a tangle of flailingclaws.

Even though her bear couldn’t laugh, it grinned with a light-heartedness that made her soar. She’d never been so happy to be with another person—err—bear. Well, his person was still insidehimtoo.

As they rolled to a stop, she pushed her paws under her and stood. She tossed her head back and roared at the top of her lungs. Huge chunks of snow fell down from the nearby trees. She backed up a step, frightened by the power of her voice. She glanced at Logan to see whathe’ddo.

When he tossed back his head and roared, breath whooshed from her chest. Relief flooded her muscles. If he could roar and shake the trees, then she could too. There was nothing wrong with her; this was normal bearbehavior.

She waited to see what he would do next. When he took off toward the lake, she followed. He headed to the left, toward the edge of the property. As they reached the ravine which marked the edge of her territory, shestopped.

Logan turned and waved a paw indicating that she should keep walking. She shook her head. He padded back to her and rubbed his face against hers as if telling her that she should trust him. She did, so when he started toward the ravine, she followed closely behind. He broke into a run along the beach, his paws occasionally splashing inthelake.

The scent of day-old campfire filled the air. Even with the storm, the charred wood stayed strong enough to attract her attention. She wandered off toward the scent. Logan walked alongside her until she spotted the source ofthefire.

An illegal campsite with a makeshift fire pit and a soft-sided popup camper appeared. She padded around the site sniffing the ground. Since the scent of humans wasn’t present, she nosed through their trash. They were supposed to put it in bear-proof containers, but they hadn’t even attempted it. She sniffed through the brown paper bag before tearing it open withherclaw.

Leftover eggs, bacon, tortillas, and salsa had been carelessly discarded. Her bear chuffed with approval before digging in. Logan nosed his way into the bag and soon they had the remnants spread out across thecampsite.

It would have been enough food if she’d been in her human form, but her bear was hungry. She clawed at the mesh screen on the camper until she was able to gain access.Jackpot!

The humans had cheese, crackers, peanut butter, fruit, and sausages laid out as if they’d planned on returning soon. Knowing that she wouldn’t have much time, she stuffed everything she could fit into her mouth then chewed with gusto. Beside her, Logan crammed a smorgasbord of food into his mouth. He stopped long enough to grinather.

She’d just swallowed another mouthful of food when she heard voices outside. She turned and looked at Logan who had a wicked glint in his eyes. He jumped out of the camper and roared at the top of hislungs.

She followed, just in time to watch the screaming humans scatter. It was all she could do to keep from falling over from chuffing so hard. She quickly recovered and ran after Logan who was chasing the humans through theforest.

After scaring them into a nearby campground, she turned and grinned at Logan. He grinned back. Who knew being a bear could be sodamnfun?

* * *

Later that night,after returning to their human forms, they cuddled together in front of the fire. She giggled as she remembered the looks on the campers’faces.

“It was kinda mean,”shesaid.

“It was hilarious. Did you see the dad? I thought he was going to shit bricks,”Logansaid.

“The mom was worse. I thought she was going to faint when she sawyouroar.”

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