by Elle Thorne
And there was a scent. A sweet, sweet scent that was distinctly female and could only come from one place. He inhaled deeply, relishing the scent of her arousal, loving the way she squeezed her legs together but didn’t seem to realize she was doing it.
Man, oh, man. He had it bad for her. His bear roared in agreement. Dunn pushed his desires and his bear to the background and concentrated on the matter at hand. Convincing her. Doing it without endangering her baby.
Doc had cautioned him about how much she might be able to handle because of the baby and the amount of stress she’d been under.
“It’s true. I’m a shifter.”
Her hands trembled as she raised them to her temples, massaging them with eyes closed. “No. No. No.” Her voice was soft, a low chanting of disbelief. “I don’t believe you.”
“But you know it’s possible. You saw him turn into a wolf.”
“But you…not you. You’re…” She looked him up and down. “You’re human.”
In his mind, his bear grumbled softly, not fond of her characterization.
He shook his head, smiling wryly. “Showing you could scare you. And I don’t want to hurt your baby.”
“How’d he know? How did Griz know I was expecting before I even knew?”
“Same way I knew in the first few minutes after I met you.”
She tilted her head, studying him. “How’s that?”
“Shifters have extraordinary hearing. We can pick up heartbeats.” He took her hand in his. “Remember when you had me put the sheet over my head to fool Wheeler?”
She gave one soft nod. “Yes.”
“I heard three heartbeats. I assumed Wheeler had someone with him. Then I realized he didn’t. Plus, that heartbeat was faster. Most babies’ heartbeats are.”
“Can you show me how you turn into a wolf?”
“Wolf? No. I’m a bear shifter.”
“Show me?” She put her hand on his arm when he stood. “Wait. Will your bear hurt me?”
He scoffed. “My bear would be the last one in the world to hurt you.” The bear rumbled his pleasure at that. “Promise me you won’t be afraid?”
She sucked in a deep breath. “I won’t be. I trust you.”
“It’s not a long process. Usually a minute or two, but it’s a bit intimidating. And the sounds may make it seem like it’s painful—”
“Is it?”
“Oh, hell yeah it is. It’s excruciating.”
A rosiness bloomed upward from her neck to her cheeks. “And do your clothes shred?”
He laughed. “Why? You want to see me naked?” He teasingly reached for his fly.
“Ohmigod. No.” Her hand flew to her mouth. “I mean…”
“It’s okay. I’m playing.” He stepped away from her a couple of paces to allow her some space when his bear shifted. “Ready?”
Chapter Twenty
Ready? Meri couldn’t have been ready for what she saw next if she’d had a century to prepare herself.
There was a series of crunching, creaking, stretching noises. Much like she’d heard when the bald man had become a wolf, then, in a couple short minutes, before her stood a massive dark-brown bear with golden-brown eyes. The bear snuffled gently, watching her.
She realized she’d been holding her breath. “Hi, Dunn’s bear.” What the fuck? Was she talking to a bear? Did it understand her? Had she lost her mind for thinking it could understand her? “Tell Dunn I believe him.” Wait, could the bear tell him anything? Where the hell was Dunn, anyway? “Can I touch you?” She was glad she didn’t say pet you. How rude would that have been? Did you say that to a shifter?
The bear took a step forward. It took a concentrated effort for her not to retreat. She forced her feet to stay rooted to the spot and reached out a shaky hand. The bear placed his massive cheek—would you even call that a cheek, or a jaw—against her palm. She didn’t want to pet him. He wasn’t a dog—god, this was awkward.
The bear made a chuffing sound, which of course, made her jump out of her skin, though it wasn’t an unfriendly sound. Just a soft welcoming noise that seemed to come from deep within his chest.
Then it hit her. “You’re the reason he helped me as much, aren’t you?”
Chuff.
That must mean yes. But if that sound meant yes, what is no? “Thank you.”
Chuff.
Okay, perhaps it passed for you’re welcome as well. “Is it rough having to share a body with someone?” Okay, now where the hell did that question come from? Must be the scientist in her.
Snarl. No teeth showing.
So maybe a snarl meant no, then. “I wish I could take a sample of your blood while you’re in bear form and compare it to Dunn’s in human form. Think he’d go for that? Would you?”
Chuff. Chuff. Accompanied by a head nudge and the bear stepping closer, planting its muzzle—god, he was huuuuge!—against her shoulder and breathing in deeply.
Holy crap, and what was he doing? She felt perfectly safe, but whatever he was doing… Was he taking in her scent?
For a reason she couldn’t have named, nor ever understood, she wrapped her arms around the bear’s thick neck and tears started to pour out. Serious waterworks. Before she knew it, she—her face all ugly-cry and shit—and the bear—were on the plane’s floor, and the bear was practically wrapped around her.
“I’m sorry. Jesus, I’m not usually such a crybaby. It’s…well, fuck, it’s been such a hell of a few weeks. I’m pregnant, you know…well, not that you’d know, but I mean. Fuck. Yeah, so, I’m carrying some asshole’s baby and other assholes are trying to kill me—well, I guess they’re trying to kill you, too—and Dunn I suppose, by default. Or maybe they’re trying to kill Dunn and you by default. Who are they really after?”
Shit. She was babbling. The bear breathed in deeply, then chuff, he made that sound again.
“Thanks for understanding.” And as if she hadn’t already babbled enough, she told the bear all about Josh. How he’d cheated on her. How he was sending money for an abortion. How very alone she felt in that situation. How much it sucked not having a mother. And how her mother had died because her dad did some secret military shit and these guys broke in and killed her. “Right before my very eyes. I was just a kid. And I hid in the closet. And I did nothing to help her. Not a damned thing.”
Chuff. Chuff.
“Yes, I know I couldn’t have stopped—” Shock made her freeze. Holy hell! She was actually having a conversation with a bear? Sure as hell looked like it. And the bear was patiently listening, his dark eyes with their amber flames fully focused on her and everything she’d spilled to him. And man-oh-man, did she spill the tea. All the damned tea.
And she kept on spilling, until finally, spent, she could spill no more, and there, against the warmth of the massive bear and his soft fur, she succumbed to a sleep so deep that, as she drifted off, she thought of Rip Van Winkle.
* * *
Meri startled. She’d been dreaming, that— Wait, nah, that wasn’t a dream. She’d really met a bear. Befriended a bear. Who does that? Eyes still closed, she pondered the marvel while she enjoyed the warm body next to hers. The vibration of the plane was relaxing, the in-and-out breathing of the body next to hers—
Wait a damn moment! Where was the fur?
Her eyes flew open. This was no bear she was cuddled up to. Dunnigan Youngblood. In the flesh. All hard muscles and sex-on-a-stick face. She gulped.
His eyes opened. “Hey.” His voice. Gawd. It had a sexy, just-woke-up timbre that made a certain part of her tighten up and flood all at the same time.
Gulp. “Hi.” Oh, lovely. He sounds sexy when he wakes up, and I sound like the bullfrog in the middle of a fucking swamp. And then the event hit her, coming back full force. “Ohmigod. I met your bear! I. Met. Your. Bear!” Of course, she didn’t tell him how much she’d confessed to his bear. That was between her and the bear. She sat up.
He quirked a brow, his smile lopsided, and way too sexy. “A
nd?”
“And…” Yeah, she couldn’t tell him everything she’d told the bear. And what about the things she’d not told him. Like the feelings she had developed for Dunn. “He’s nice.”
Dunn laughed softly. “I’d have never thought to describe him that way.” His face became somber. “You know how I told you about being a shifter and stuff?”
She frowned. She wasn’t sure she liked where this was going. Like maybe there was more. “Uh-huh…?”
“There’s more. I guess I should have told you this before I shifted into my bear.” He plucked at the blanket that had been covering her. Where did that come from anyway? Did he put that on her while she was sleeping? He cleared his throat. “So, I’m a deathbender.”
“Deathbender.” Was that what they’d been talking about when they wouldn’t explain to her? “What’s that mean, exactly?”
He rubbed his thumb over the corner of his bottom lip. “I know swallowing the whole shifter thing was difficult. This one may even be more so. It defies logic a hell of a lot more.”
She grabbed him by the shoulders. “Would you quit stalling and just tell me?”
Chapter Twenty-One
Meri, looking every bit as luscious as ever—if not more—with her sleep-face, shook her head slowly. Dark curls swung to and fro. “That is not possible. It is not fucking possible.”
Dunn remained silent while she absorbed what he’d told her about being a deathbender. How he was able to take someone’s death onto himself, sparing their life, and then come back himself after a few days. He couldn’t explain it. Of course, he couldn’t. But the fact he couldn’t explain it didn’t mean it wasn’t so. She’d come to it. He knew she would. Question was, would her feelings—and he knew there were some feelings for him—go away?
Realization dawned on her face. Acceptance as she ran through events in her mind. “He shot me—that bald guy. I was dying. I know I was.” More headshaking. “But then I woke up, alive—shirt bloody as all get-out, but alive—and Mae and Griz were there. And you were dead. And…”
“Right.”
“Oh, shit. You saved my life. You really did.”
“It was nothing, really. It…” He shrugged.
“The fuck it was nothing. You—” She rose to her feet and began to pace back and forth. “Do you realize what you are?” She waved her arms, maybe for emphasis.
“I told you what I am.” Where the hell was she going with this?
“No, Dunn. You don’t understand. You’re a scientific marvel. Hell, in more than one way. I mean, shifters! Gah!” More stomping around the plane’s hold. Kicking the blanket out of her way. “Shifters, that’s amazing. But this deathbending thing!” She froze, turned to him. “Oh, fuck. You can give people immortality.”
He’d never thought of it this way. “But—”
“Seriously, look, every time someone dies you can give them their life back. No wonder you’re hunted—wanted—whatever. Can you imagine how much people would pay to have you by their side to guarantee them immortality?”
Well, no, he hadn’t thought of it that way.
“Billionaires would want you to be part of their bodyguard entourage. Presidents, too. Heck—” She began handwringing. “Everyone would want you. You are a guarantee of immortality. Not as valuable as a fountain of youth, but…yeah.” She finally flopped down next to him, clearly having worn herself out with all the exuberant arm waving, flailing, and pacing. “God, I’d love to study you.”
“And my bear,” he added.
“What?” The color began to drop from her face. Gone was the rosiness she’d worked up while circling and flapping. “What do you mean?”
He could see clearly she knew what he meant. She just wanted him to say it. So, fine; he would. “You told my bear you’d like to study him and me.”
Her head dropped. “He told you.” Betrayal colored her voice.
Two fingers beneath her chin, he tipped face up and made sure she locked gazes with him. She had to know this. He had to tell her. “Just because my bear is out doesn’t mean I’m unconscious or gone. I’m there. I’m in there. So, when you tell my bear something, you’re telling me.”
She nodded, accepting, then, “Thank god I didn’t tell—” She clamped her lips shut.
What hadn’t she told him? “What?”
Headshake. “Not important.”
Could have fooled him if she was glad she didn’t tell him… Still, a person had a right to their secrets and their privacy. Of all people, he got that.
“Why’d you tell me about being a deathbender? Why did you share anything with me?” Her eyes were clear, focused, and held purpose.
“Because I trust you. And I want you to trust me.” And because her life would never be the same again. Because now she was wanted. She’d be hunted, just like he was. She’d need someone to trust, and how else to gain trust with her than by sharing his innermost secret?
His bear roared so loud Dunn grabbed his head, though doing so did nothing to silence the bear.
“Fine. I told her because I love her. Okay?”
Another roar threatened to split his skull.
“No. I’m not going to tell her how I—we—feel about her.”
The bear replaced the roar with a snarl.
Meri put her hands on his shoulders. “What are you—” She gasped. “Are you talking to your bear?”
If you want to call his almost driving me out of my mind, yeah, I’m talking to him. Couldn’t say that. “We’re communicating. Yeah.”
“What’s he saying?”
There was clear fondness in her tone. A familiarity that actually sparked a pang of jealousy in Dunn. What the hell? Since when was he jealous of his bear? In his mind, his bear chuffed with amusement.
“Doesn’t matter what he’s saying. He’s a damned fool.” He turned his conversation to his bear. “You better not blast me again.”
A knock brought all conversation to an end.
Griz opened the door, peeking his head in. “We’re landing at Bear Canyon Valley.” He closed it again.
“Oh, and by the way,” Dunn told her, “there’s a shit-ton of shifters there. Evidently, Mae’s been building a community of shifters. So be prepared. And there are other types there. Like witches, elementals.” Then he remembered. “Oh, and my brother’s woman is a seer. In fact, that’s how Griz knew where to find us. She saw you being shot. Saw us running away.”
“That’s some unbelievable crazy shit. All of it. Shifters, witches, seers, deathbending. My god. What’s next?”
“Well…” He laughed. “My brother’s a bear shifter like me, but he’s a skilljacker, not a deathbender.”
“Skilljacker. Is that what it sounds like? He jacks—actually steals—skills?”
He retrieved the blanket from the floor. “Yup.” He rolled it up. “It is some crazy shit, I suppose. You’ll get to meet my brother’s woman when they join us in Bear Canyon Valley. Sometime next month.”
“Join us?”
Shit. He’d gone and said that, hadn’t he? “Yeah, well, it’s safe at Bear Canyon. People will protect us there. Keep us hidden.” Then he wondered if it was the us part that had her questioning him. He wasn’t trying to push her into something… Yeah, well, maybe he wouldn’t mind if she wanted something. His bear let a low rumble fill his mind.
“Whoa,” she uttered, staring at him.
“What?”
“That sound. It came from your chest. It sounded like—please don’t think I’m crazy here—but it sounded like your bear.”
“It was my bear. I didn’t think you could hear it though. Could you hear it roaring earlier? Anything at all?”
She tossed him a weird look. “No.” She took the blanket he’d set on the jump seat, folded it, then planted herself in the seat and held the blanket in her lap. “You might want to take a seat. Even a deathbender can get hurt.”
He scoffed but joined her, fastening her belt then his. Then, as if it were the most n
atural thing in the world, he took her hand.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Dunn held her hand. She tried not to read too much into this, like maybe he was just trying to be her friend. Like maybe he wanted to comfort her, as a brother would. But damn, she couldn’t keep her heart from skipping a beat.
She squeezed his hand as a thank you because, what else could she do?
As the plane started to descend, her phone—she’d forgotten about it—slid down the floor and stopped at Dunn’s boot. He picked it up and handed it to her.
She glanced at the screen. The battery was almost dead. She should find a charger and let her father know she was okay. When she had a signal, which at 30,000 feet in the air she didn’t. When her father had touched down in Chicago, which she was sure he hadn’t. Tucking the phone into her back pocket, she put that on the list of things she should do—reach out to him. Too long of a list, it seemed. And maybe the phone wasn’t the top priority. That would be managing to evade the ones who clearly had ill intentions toward her.
The plane’s landing was smooth, thank goodness, because, for some damned reason, a bout of nausea had decided to reach out and grab her by the intestines, making them roil and flip.
“You look a little green around the gills,” Dunn said.
She couldn’t speak; she was afraid she’d lose the lunch—and dinner and breakfast, which she hadn’t eaten. Pure stomach bile churned, threatening to make a projectile exit using her throat as passage.
“Shit. You haven’t eaten. We found the pizza, turned the oven off, course you wouldn’t want to eat it the way it looked. I’ll make sure we get you something. He fished a cell from his pocket while the plane was still taxiing. One click, a few button presses, then, “Hey, Mae. We’re here. Yeah, all’s fine. She’s okay.” He paused. “I should have figured Doc would have told you we landed. Say, can you help out?” Silence, then, “Yeah, Meri needs food.”