Another volley of pops sounded, but now the air was growing heavy and too thick to breath. A great weight settled across her shoulders and fear nearly froze her in place as she slowly turned her attention onto Jenner. She didn’t understand what she saw. He was hunched forward, heaving breath, but with each inhalation, he jerked and grew bigger. And bigger and bigger until he threw his head back with another pop.
Breaking bones. The sound was breaking bones. Lena clapped her hands over her mouth as she arched her gaze up and up, following Jenner’s transformation. Tears stung her eyes as fur that shone silver in the evening light covered his skin in a wave. Eight-inch white claws shot from his fingers, and his mouth elongated as curved, razor sharp teeth replaced his own. In the span of a few seconds, it was done, and Jenner stood on his hind legs and rattled off a long growl. That sound—as familiar as her own heartbeat by now because it had been constant since she’d met him. His eyes were dark brown, and so familiar still, but she didn’t know this Jenner. This Jenner was massive, as big as Titus, and now he was stalking closer to her, dragging his weapon-like claws through the earth with each powerful stride.
Don’t run!
Jenner hadn’t lied. He hadn’t been teasing her or making something up to push her away.
Jenner was a damned werebear! Bear shifter! Bear! Whatever!
Lena closed her eyes as he came within clawing distance of her. She sure knew how to pick them. Adam had broken her, and now she’d given her heart to a man who was going to eat her. She hoped he choked on her.
She squealed a high pitched, terrified sound as Jenner…er…Bear…snuffled her stomach. But when seconds dragged by, and he just rested his head there, waiting, she cracked one eye open and whispered, “Good Bear. Don’t eat me. I’m tough and my bones splinter easily and I taste like piss and gristle.”
Bear huffed a breath, and if she wasn’t mistaken, it sounded the equivalent to a laugh.
“I’m going to pet you. Yep.” She reached out, hands shaking badly. “I’m really going to touch you,” she warned, closing her eyes again. She squealed again as her fingers brushed his coarse fur right by his ear.
Bear rubbed his head against her, and she yanked her hand back again, thinking he didn’t like it, but no. Apparently Jenner’s giant fucking grizzly bear was a snuggler. And now there was a humming in his throat she didn’t recognize. Was he purring? She touched him again, just a quick pet, there and gone, and since he still didn’t seem inclined to devour her and pick his teeth with her bones, she ran her palm over the top of his enormous head.
His body was overwhelmingly enormous and blocked out the entire forest behind him. The muscular hump over his shoulders was taller than she was and, intimidated all over again, she began serial petting him in jerky strokes, trying to stifle the whimper in her throat. At this rate, if her heart beat any faster, it would just explode in her chest, and she would drop like a log.
Bear, apparently sensing her distress because clearly he could sense everything, eased off her and plopped down to the ground where he rolled to his back and wiggled this way and that until the dirt kicked up and made her cough a laugh.
He reached out for her with one giant paw roughly the size of her head.
“Belly scratch?” she asked in a pitch one decibel down from dog whistle.
He huffed a hard breath and wiggled closer, looking more like a giant corgi begging belly rubs than a murderous brown bear.
Lena let off a surprised laugh and stumbled forward on legs that had gone numb and noodle-like. “Right, I’m going to pet your belly now, you massive grizzly.” This was not where she imagined her life would end up.
Primly and carefully, she bent at the waist and reached out for him, standing as far away as possible. Bear had a different idea, though, because he curved his paw around her backside and pulled her forward until she fell onto his belly. There she froze, waiting for him to murder her, but nope, he just made the purring noise as she lay like a star on top of him.
“I’m going to make a fur angel,” she said in a muffled voice against his belly.
Another Bear laugh, and she was off, arms waving slowly against his massive shape. Her emotions were all over the place as she laughed. Spinning slowly, she slid down his belly and sat on the ground against him.
“This is an awful big secret to keep all this time, Jenner,” she whispered, wiping her clammy palms onto her jeans.
Bear curled protectively around her and lay his enormous head next to her, then sighed a sad sound, kicking up dirt again.
“This is why you can growl and your eyes change colors. This is why you can smell everything. I’m sorry I didn’t believe you, but you have to understand this isn’t in the realm of what I thought could possibly be reality for anyone.”