Page 37 of Goldie and Her Bears (Dirty Paranormal Fairytale Haremlan 3)

He shook his head before taking off into the woods. His mess of hair bounced behind him. It didn’t take long for him to disappear into the growing shadows of the trees. The second his form faded, I let out a shuddering sigh.

My vision was constantly blurred through the tears that kept falling down my cheeks. My whole world was falling apart. I had nowhere to go. My leg wouldn’t support my weight yet, and I had no idea how much longer it would be before I could walk.

Until then, I was a prisoner. Trapped.

Though I’m covered by a blanket keeping me warm against the cool showers spraying the forest around me, I still felt chilled. The cold was the kind that reached deep inside me and made my bones feel like they were covered with ice.

Because I was forced to live with monsters. Everything I thought I had known about the world was ripped apart right before my eyes. And that was almost a literal definition considering the violent way Chase and Kai had turned into those bears.

I shuddered.

My hot chocolate had turned cold, though I still clutched the mug in my hand. I wished for something warm again. The swing was becoming uncomfortable. My head was starting to throb. My sinuses were swollen from the tears and the rain.

I was a seriously hurting unit.

I closed my eyes, propping my elbow on the armrest of the swing, and covered my eyes with my hand. I focused on deep breathing. But the coping mechanism was doing me little good.

Footsteps shuffled toward me, whispering barely louder than the soft rain.

I looked up into the smiling soft, kind eyes of Chase. He smiled as he held out a steaming cup toward me. I blinked away the tears to focus more on him.

“I thought I would bring you some tea, but I can see that was already taken care of,” he said.

I shook my head. “It was hot chocolate but now it’s cold. Jasper brought it to me before he left.”

“Well, then allow me to switch that out for you,” he said holding the mug out to me. “It’s too cold out here to be drinking something less than hot.”

My hand shook as I reached out to take the mug. My fingers slid around the handle, and I carefully brought it toward me. My hands were instantly warming thanks to the heat of the liquid inside the cup.

Chase took the hot chocolate and dumped the contents over the edge of the porch railing before setting the mug on the edge. He then turned and faced me. He leaned against the ledge, crossing his feet at the ankles, keeping himself propped up with his arms. He seemed so calm and relaxed. I was almost jealous.

Scratch that, I wished I could be oblivious to the world of monsters again.

To distract me from the thought he was a monster too, I blew into the mug before taking a sip. The bitter contents were combated by a sweet undertone… almost like honey but with a slight twist I couldn’t put my finger on. The liquid was also spicy and herby. Not what I was accustomed to, but the taste was delicious.

Like everything else he created. If I didn’t know any better, I would say he was a god.

“I’m so sorry you had to experience all of that,” Chase said after a few moments of easy silence. “I’m sure you’re shocked, and you have a lot of questions.”

I sighed. “I appreciate your apology, Chase. And I’m grateful for the tea… But I’m still struggling to get over how you all are monsters.”

He nodded. If he was affected by my calling him a monster, he didn’t show it. He kept his cool and shrugged off the comment as though it was nothing more than a huge misunderstanding.

“I understand completely why you would think of us like that,” he said. “Something like that is a lot to take in unprepared. You probably had no idea we existed and were sort of pushed into what we are and it wasn’t fair to you. I wish we could have done things differently.”

“That’s easy for you to say. You’re not the one on the other side, watching all of this happen,” I said and then took another sip of my tea. I clung to the warmth filling me. “I was so terrified. You’re right. I had no idea monsters were real. I thought they were only the stuff of nightmares, figments of imagination that only come to life within books.”

More tears fell down my cheeks. My hands started to shake again. I tried to force myself to take deep breaths, but it was pointless.

“I understand how you can feel that way, but some of what you said isn’t necessarily true,” he said. “Not all of us were born this way. Some of us were forced into this life. Some chose it. Regardless of the method of how we all got here, being a shifter is still a lot to swallow.”

“Shifter?” I asked, settling my gaze on him. I wasn’t sure when I took to staring at the floor of the porch, but when Chase said the word, my attention was pulled to him.

He nodded. “That’s what we are, Cas. Not monsters. Well, most of us aren’t. But the same could be said of humans too, can it not?”

“What do you mean?” I asked. How could he even think of comparing what he was to a human? We weren’t the stuff of nightmares. He was. Him, Kai, and Jasper.

“Murderers, rapists, warmongers, you know. Monsters,” he said with a smile teasing his lips. I was confused on what was so amusing until I remembered this was just who Chase was. He was so easy to be around, I almost forgot he was a bear not too long ago. My heart flipped erratically.

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