Page 17 of Beared at Christmas
I shuffled closer until I was able to wrap my arms around him. “They just weren’t the right people for you. I think I am, that we’d be good together.”
He shook his head against me. “You’re still getting over the loss of your husband. You said it yourself.”
Holding on to his shoulders, I met his gaze. “I came here to try to move on. It was supposed to help me heal and mend my heart. I didn’t expect to meet someone I wanted to be with here. Turns out, I did. Brody, I would really like to—”
“But I’m needy. I need too much affection.” He stepped backward. With our snowshoes on top of each other, he ended up falling back into the snow.
I laughed and offered a hand to help him up. “That you are. And I’m willing to fulfill that need.”
After he got to his feet, he brushed the snowy patches from his coat and snow pants. “That’s why you were so distant at breakfast? You didn’t think I would want an actual relationship with you?”
I shrugged, stomach churning with the inevitable confession. “Well, yes, but there’s more.”
He wrinkled his nose. “More? Like what? Do you have a kid or something?”
With a deep breath, I shook my head. “No, it’s quite different than that.”
Tilting his head to the side, he furrowed his brows. “Do you have an STD you failed to tell me about? Is your family part of the Mafia?” He leaned closer, his eyes set in concentration. “I know. You’re an alien.”
The last guess was the closest, leaving me more worried about how he would react. There was only one way to find out. “I think it’s something you have to see for yourself, because you probably won’t believe me otherwise.”
I unzipped my coat and laid it in the snow before putting my hat and gloves on it. Then I removed my snowshoes.
Brody waved his hands in front of himself. “You don’t have to get naked. It’s too cold for that. And I saw everything last night. I know about your polar bear tattoo on your ass. It’s really sexy, but I would rather see it indoors.”
I kept taking clothes off, set in my resolve. “It’s not that. It’s something much bigger.”
With his hands on his hips, he shifted his weight to one side. “C’mon. You’re big and all, but you’re not massive. And I would prefer to see your cock indoors, too.”
I tried not to choke with that comment as I finished taking off my boxer briefs. “There’s a reason I have a polar bear tattoo. I was born with it.”
His eyebrows narrowed as I released my bear. My skin rippled before white fur sprouted all over me. Then my bones and muscles shifted inside my limbs, and I fell to the ground. I could feel the rapid growth throughout my body, and the elongation of my face. It was a pain I’d never grown used to but could handle better than when I was a child.
When the transformation finished, I lay still to catch my breath. Then I stood and faced Brody once again.
Terror filled his eyes as his face paled. He glanced all around him as his feet danced in place. I expected him to run. Instead, he lifted his hands up in the air and stared at me. “Go!” he shouted. “Get away! Ro-o-oar!”
I lay in the snow and put my paws over my head. Choosing a human as a mate had been a horrible idea.
Chapter Fourteen
Brody
My heart tried to leap out of my chest as I stared at the polar bear in front of me. Then I worried I shouldn’t look at it. It might see that as a sign of dominance and attack. Instead, I glanced around for somewhere to hide. There was nothing. No place other than trees. And bears climbed trees, didn’t they? I wasn’t so sure about polar bears. Since the shoulders of the one in front of me were at the same height as mine while it remained on four legs, I didn’t think I stood a chance of climbing away from it.
I suddenly remembered reading somewhere that if I made myself look bigger than the bear and yelled at it, I could scare it away. Raising my arms in the air, I shouted, “Go! Get away!” Then I waved my hands around and roared at it.
The bear didn’t attack, only cocked its head to the side as if examining if it should put in the effort to eat me. Instead of charging, it lay in the snow and put its paws over its head.
I dropped my arms and took a few steps back, figuring it was safe to make my escape with the bear not paying attention to me. Without looking where I headed, I tripped over my snowshoes and fell on my ass. I expected the bear to lunge at me with the cry I let out. When I glanced in the direction of the creature, I saw Ulrik putting on his clothes while laughing at me.
What in the world?
I blinked my eyes a couple times to be sure it really was Ulrik. Then I wondered if I had seen the bear at all. Maybe I’d hallucinated the entire thing.
I lay back in the snow, not sure what to believe, simply letting the sun shine down on me while I tried to comprehend what had just transpired. “Ulrik?”
“Yeah?” he answered, suddenly standing over me.
