Page 53 of The Grizzly Situation
His chuckle was strained. “You like him, don’t you?”
Chaim’s smile was soft when his gaze drifted to me. “We’ve always thought of Brent as our own. Even though we weren’t much older than him, we wanted to protect him, to keep him safe from the bullies. When we were forced to leave, Benjy had to stop me from taking him with us because he, always the logical one, knew how hard it would be for Brent to be ripped away from his family.”
“It was harder to be taken from you,” I said. “My dad and I barely tolerated each other on most days before that. Afterward, he and I never really spoke. If you had asked me, I would have gone happily.”
“I know you would have, cub. But we couldn’t drag you into our mess. Especially after the threat to Benjy. I couldn’t risk it.And he left us alone, so I figured you were safe too.” His gaze hardened. “So you know, if he had hurt you, I would have torn him apart.”
And I can’t express how much that meant to me.
ULY
I wishI could say I was paying attention to their discussion, but the truth was I sat there stewing. First off, I didn’t understand this whole bear thing. I mean, I guess I couldn’t deny it, especially since I saw the boys change in front of me. Yet, here we all were, ignoring the conversation completely. Like I was supposed to be okay with it.
“Momma?”
I looked down into Eddie’s heavy-lidded eyes. “What’s up?”
“I’m sleepy,” he said, yawning for effect.
Jack was already dozing on my other arm, so apparently he was exhausted too. Still, when Eddie spoke, he woke up. At least a bit. “Okay, did you want me to put you to bed?”
Eddie shook his head. “Wanna sleep with you. Like we did before.”
When they turned into bears. Real live fucking bears. Those things weren’t possible. People didn’t shift or whatever they’d called it.
Yet you witnessed it with your own eyes.
I tried to tell myself I was tired or confused, but I’d watched as they changed, how they’d gone from being baby bears to little boys. And they weren’t slavering beasts. They were sweet and danced around me, trying to show off like they did when they weren’t bears. I wasn’t sure how I felt, but I knew that my attitudes toward the boys wouldn’t change. They weren’t mine, but they were… if that makes sense.
“How about if we go for a nap together?” I asked them, and their faces brightened.
“Yes, okay,” Eddie said.
“Me too,” Jack echoed.
I stood, needing to have a bit of time to myself. Well, more like with just the kids. “We’re going to go take a nap. The boys are tired and I haven’t slept well.”
“Uly? Are you sure you’re okay?”
I smiled at him, not really feeling it. “Sure. Hunky dory and all that. We’ll be back in an hour or so.”
I turned to direct the boys back to the bedroom when a big hand clamped on my arm. I spun to find Brent there, looking stricken.
“I am sorry about how this all went down,” he vowed.
“If it hadn’t, would you have told me?”
His eyes closed and he shook his head. “Probably not.”
So he wouldn’t have trusted me. “Then I guess we don’t have much to say, do we?”
“There’s a reason,” he whispered. “We try to stay away from humans. The general consensus is that more often than not, they wouldn’t understand, and we fear becoming a science experiment somewhere. It’s been agreed on for generations that outside of Ursine business we stay as far away from people as we can.”
“And that’s why you didn’t want me here. Got it.”
I shouldn’t be hurt. Brent’s reasoning was logical and more than a little sound. Yet, I was. To my core it stung. I took the boys’ hands in mine and we headed to the bedroom. Once there, the boys asked if they could sleep as bears. I wanted to say no, but also didn’t want to make them think I hated them.
“Sure, if you want.”
