“No, no, no no.” I nudge him, trying to encourage him to get up. “Cole, we can’t rest now. The bear—”
“There’s no bear,” he murmurs sleepily, and lazily tongues one of my nipples. “Damn, Adelaide. You have pretty tits.”
“Cole!” I smack his shoulder. “I heard the bear!”
“There’s no bear, I promise.”
“But—”
He lifts his head and looks at me. “Baby…I have a secret.”
I stare at him, eyes wide. We forgot condoms and now he’s going to tell me he has a STI. Which is awful, but not quite as awful as getting eaten by a bear. “Now is not the time, Cole. The bear—”
“Is me.” He nods slowly. “That was me you heard. I’m the bear.”
I stare at him. A snort escapes me. “Oh, please.”
His eyes narrow and he shoots me a wounded look. And I realize…he’s serious. He thinks he’s a bear.
Oh God. He’s a furry. That’s why such a hot, sexy man has been single for so long. He’s got a bear thing or he thinks he’s a bear in a man’s skin or some craziness like that. I thump his arm. “Can we please not talk about your fetishes when there’s a real bear about to eat us outside?”
“Adelaide!” He pins both of my wrists in his hands. “You’re not listening to me. I am the bear. That is my secret. I’m a shifter. That’s how I was able to chase off Samson. That’s how I knew he was gone. That’s why the bear never came back. The bear is me.”
I frown. “I…don’t understand. How can you be a bear?”
“You ever hear of werewolves?”
“Like the guy from Twilight?”
He visibly flinches. “Ugh. Kind of. I’m a bear shifter. I transform into a bear. Everyone in my family has the ability. It’s passed down generation to generation. In fact, most of the locals in town are shifters of one kind or another.”
I gaze at him for a long time, digesting this nugget.
“Well?” he asks, releasing my wrists. “What are you thinking?”
I smack his shoulder with a fist. “I think this is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard of, Cole Braxton! Seriously! If you want to nail and bail, just freaking say so! Honestly, the nerve of you thinking I’d believe a stupid story like this—”
He sighs heavily and rolls off me. I immediately feel…lonely…the moment his body parts from mine. He gets to his feet and kicks his pants off his ankles, then rips off his shirt.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m going to show you,” he says. “Come on.”
I watch in surprise as he storms out of the tent, buck naked. Where on earth is he going? That damn bear is still out there. I tug my shirt down over my loose breasts and try to stretch it over my ass since I no longer have panties. That’s a losing proposition, though, and I roll out of the tent a moment later with a pillow held in front of my girl bits. “Cole! Come back!”
He’s walking a few feet away, his gorgeous bubble butt flexing in the darkness. Then he pauses, glances over his shoulder at me, and crouches.
What is that crazy fool doing? I’m about to ask this aloud when I hear the bear snarl again…
…And it’s coming from him. As I watch, his skin ripples and I hear the crack of bones. Oh my God. I squeak and immediately press my face against the pillow because I can’t watch this. Hell, I can’t even watch Grey’s Anatomy without flinching. All I know is something is happening to Cole’s body.
I hear several disturbing bone cracks and the rustle of grass, and I peek over the pillow a moment later to see Cole’s hand change into a big, furry paw. Then, I slowly lower the pillow, utterly shocked by what I see.
It’s a bear. An enormous grizzly bear. Fear shoots through me, but then it sits on its hind legs and flops onto its back, waving a paw in greeting.
That’s Cole.
He wasn’t lying. My eyes feel as big as saucers.
He rolls in the grass, and then lumbers to his feet and approaches me. I clutch the pillow and take a step backward, until I run into the side of the tent. I shouldn’t be scared. It’s just Cole. Who’s a bear.
Totally normal.
He noses me and then licks my arm.
“Can you change back now?” I ask in a small voice. I really don’t know what to make of this. Most of the locals in town are shifters of one kind or another.
No wonder I’ve always felt like such an outsider. I’m completely, totally human. There’s no way I can do anything like that. I watch as Cole’s shoulders hunch and he starts to change back, and I cover my eyes once more. I don’t want to see that.
A few minutes later, big hands grab the pillow and toss it back into the tent, and Cole grins down at me, his hair slightly tousled and sweaty.
“You’re a bear,” I breathe.
“I am.”
“Not a furry.”
“Nope.”
I digest this for a moment as he gets back inside the tent and then tugs on my hand, indicating I should join him. I follow, and he lies back down on the now-flat air mattress and relaxes. I sit next to him, still stunned. He pulls me against him and begins to nibble on my shoulder.