Page 81 of Have a Bear-y Little Christmas
I raised one of my large paws, and I was surprised by howgoodit felt to be in my larger, hairier body. It was like I’d forgotten what it was like to be a bear. A travesty, really. Why had I let myself go so long without shifting?
I didn’t know, but that didn’t matter. My paw connected, and the young bear went backward, ass over tea-kettle, until he ended up slumped over against a tree, groaning miserably.
I could press the advantage and rip out his throat, but I didn’t need to. Instead I opened my maw wide androaredso the entire world would know that this wasmyterritory.
Honestly, I wouldn’t have been surprised if there were a few folks at the main cabin who heard me, no doubt thinking I was reconnecting with my wild side. But the juvenile in front of me certainly heard, because he struggled to his feet, yelping all the while, before running off into the tree line away from our land.
Good.
I let out a few very grizzly huffs before turning back to the house. I was so satisfied with how things had been going that I half forgot I had just shifted in front of a human. And not just any human, but one who had no idea that our people even existed.
Oops.
Sure enough, there Jeannie was, standing in the doorway and staring at me, her face ashen.
Shit. I’d fucked up.
Chapter 21
Jeannie
Bearly a Surprise
I—
He—
Bear!
I stood there, blinking, hardly able to breathe. When Remy and I had stepped into the cabin, I thought I’d been transported into my own personal rom-com, but little did I know, I was actually about to rapidly slide into an animal attack documentary.
There were no words for the terror that shot through me when a literalwild bearkicked our door in like he was a landlord coming to collect overdue rent.
It was insane, and the sort of thing that I figured would happen to me with my terrible luck, but then something more impossible happened.
Remy exploded into a giant bear.
Well, I supposedexplodedwasn’t entirely accurate, but it was pretty close. All of a sudden, cracking and rippling soundshad issued from him as he fell forward, his body rapidly bulking out and nearly doubling in size while fur spread over him in huge, sloughing waves, regardless of whether there was skin or clothing in the way.
It had been the world’s most ambitious speed run in body horror, with his jaw lengthening, his head widening, everything becoming more andbiggeruntil finally there was truly a massive grizzly standing next to me.
I had no idea how I didn’t faint. Watching the man I was developing feelings for transform right in front of my face was a shock to the system that I never could have anticipated.
And it wasn’t just that he was a grizzly, which were massive, apex predators all on their own. It was that he was agiantgrizzly! His butt was pressed up against the wall behind us, and his muzzle nearly reached past the table where we’d eaten. He had to be at least seven feet long, and I knew that if he stood up on his hind legs, he would be over ten feet, which was considerably larger than what grizzlies were supposed to be.
It was like he was a relic of an ancient time, a primordial version of a bear that hadn’t adapted to be smaller with the change in atmosphere after the Ice Age. Or maybe he was just plain magic, because after all,he had been a man a few seconds earlier!
It wasn’t like I’d never heard of such a thing before. In fact, one of my major clients wrote paranormal romance, so I’d read hundreds of stories about werewolves, shifters of all sorts, and other magical beasties. But it was quite different when you were confronted with something that was supposed to be fiction!
The grizzly in front of me made a sort of beseeching sound, and I was pulled back to the present. And what a present it was. The comparatively tiny black bear that had unceremoniously invited himself in had run off, leaving me standing in the doorway and staring at what was supposed to be Remy LeBeau.
“You...” Whatever parts of my brain handling the speech center were failing entirely. Honestly, what on earth was I supposed to say?
The bear took another step closer, and if it didn’t seem completely ridiculous, I would say that it was almost cautious. Placating. My gaze went from his truly gargantuan paw that was now a few inches closer up to his eyes, and finally, I saw something that eased the rapid pounding of my heart.
What I saw wasRemy. It sounded crazy, because after all, there was a prehistoric bear in front of me! But at the same time, when I stared into the deep, brown depths of the giant creature’s eyes, I saw the same kindness, the same soul, I had been developing feelings for ever since that fateful meeting in the ice rink.
“Remy?” I murmured, still locked in place, but happy that I’d managed to finally get a real word out.
