by Dianna Love
Pointing at a small boulder, Justin suggested, “Why don’t you sit there, Eli?”
Turning to look where he designated, Eli sat on the rock and offered him her standard content expression, which lacked any real emotion.
In fact, the only obvious emotion she had shown so far had been anger.
She hadn’t even seemed frightened during the attack in San Francisco. She’d been more resigned than anything else, and just thinking about it riled Justin again.
Did she think female shifters were attacked at random all the time here?
Who knew what she thought, when the strength of her vocabulary depended upon yes and no?
Mostly no.
Justin sat cross-legged on the ground in front of her, but remained a reasonable distance away.
She moved to the ground to sit in front of the boulder and mimicked his position. “Told you. Not fragile woman.”
“Uhm-hmm.” He got busy unpacking the backpack and handing her first water, then two energy bars and a handful of grapes. She’d have to eat a lot more once they made it back to the truck and drove to a restaurant.
This hike hadn’t been as demanding as he’d expected for her though. She’d stayed with him step for step to the point she’d run into his back when he stopped to get his bearings.
That had scared the crap out of him. As he turned, he expected to see her falling backward down the side of the mountain, breaking every bone in her body.
He shouldn’t have touched her with his adrenaline pumping. That touch had ignited a fire in his body that hadn’t died down yet. It was the strangest thing he’d ever experienced around a woman. He’d gotten hot and bothered with sexy and fun women, but he’d never had one flip his switch so easily, especially one that had yet to smile at him.
He’d been so surprised at the scent of her arousal in that moment, he’d just stood there like an idiot until his brain finally said to move her to a safer spot.
He might have chuckled at her surprise when he lifted her so easily, but his dick was hard and he couldn’t have pushed a word past his lips when all they wanted to do was kiss her.
What kind of male bear shifters were in her clan?
From the way she’d reacted, you’d think they took her at her word about not being a fragile woman. She was no wilting flower, but she was a still a woman. Even though the shifters in her clan were not as powerful as a Gallize, they weren’t weak like humans.
Those males should be able to pick up a woman Eli’s size without a major effort, unless they were a bunch of pussy bears.
Herc snorted. Pussy bears.
Justin’s bear had the same attitude as he did when it came to a male making a woman feel safe.
They didn’t have to be an alpha to protect a female.
Justin was starting to seriously question the kind of men Eli had been around growing up. Why else would she act as if she had to constantly fend for herself?
Just another puzzling part of her that did not make sense.
She was the alpha’s firstborn daughter. She might not like being called a princess, but coming from a royal line meant that title was her due.
“Why angry?” she asked after a swallow of water.
Her question caught Justin off guard. “I’m not angry.”
Pointing at her chest, she said, “Shifter. No got lie past me. All time you smile. Not now.”
“I could say the same about you, but you never smile to begin with.” The words were out before his brain kicked into gear to tell him that had probably sounded better in his head than it had falling out of his mouth.
She paused in chewing on an energy bar and gave him a wounded look. “Not angry.”
“I didn’t mean that you were. Just ... never mind.”
Herc said, Be nice. Good mate.
Justin had just taken a big bite of his energy bar and choked on it. He started coughing.
Eli jumped up and ran over to pat his back, and hand him her water. “Drink.”
He took the bottle and downed a big swallow, embarrassed to be choking on a damn energy bar.
He said, “I’m good.” Lifting his hand as a signal to stop, he repeated more firmly, “I’m good.”
Her hand snatched back as if he’d bitten her.
She returned to her spot, but kept her eyes cast down at the energy bar she nibbled on.
Herc growled, making the kind of vibration inside that Justin normally felt just before his bear was ready to break out and kick someone’s butt.
His bear was not upset with Eli, but Justin.
To calm Herc and make up to Eli, Justin handed a fresh bottle of water to her and said, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you. I was just ... uh ... ” Justin struggled for the right word.
Herc supplied, Pussy bear.
Fuck. Shut up, Herc.
Now his bear chuffed in humor.
Eli asked, “Who is Herc?”
Shit, had he really said that out loud?
Now Justin understood what Herc had found so funny besides insulting Justin. “My bear. He’s an annoying son of a gun some days.”
Her eyes rounded. “You name bear?”
“Sure. Didn’t you?”
She glanced down. “No.”
Why not? Thankfully, those words did not spill out of Justin’s runaway mouth.
Lifting her head again, she asked, “Why tell bear shut up?”
Relief smacked Justin at the hope he hadn’t said fuck out loud. “Because Herc has an opinion on everything, including things that are not his business,” Justin said, hoping his bear caught that message.
Mate my business.
Eli nodded, evidently content with that explanation, and went back to eating her bar while tossing occasional glances at Justin.
He closed his mouth before he started ranting at his bear, who had clearly said mate again and more than once. Justin had not misunderstood Herc back at the hotel after all, but what the hell?
Mind-to-mind, Justin said, What’s with this mate stuff, Herc? She can’t be our mate.
Mate.
Justin reminded Herc, You do realize she’s a princess from a royal line of bear shifters and we’re delivering her to Clan Boudreaux?
Bad clan.
Damn, Herc could be persistent. What the hell, Herc? You don’t like female bear shifters. You told me a long time ago you didn’t. What makes this one all of a sudden different?
Not grizzly.
Well, shit. Did that explain Eli’s blue eyes? What is she? he asked Herc.
Change and run.
His bear had a point. If Eli shifted, that would clear up all confusion. Had his bear forgotten that Eli still had a not-yet-completely-healed wound because she refused to shift?
Justin wouldn’t force her to shift even if he had any idea how to do such a thing. He would never push a woman to do anything she didn’t want to do.
But what about this mate thing?
Was Herc just being curious, or was there more to this primal reaction Justin was having to Eli?
She handed Justin the wrappers and empty bottle.
Justin put his second bar away, no longer hungry. Not for food anyhow. He wanted to find out one way or another what was going on between him and Eli before they got off this mountain.
He was a man on a mission he intended to accomplish.
Packing up the backpack, he stood and prepared for an argument. “I don’t know about you, but my bear needs to get out and run. It’d be nice to have company.”
She brushed invisible crumbs off her clothes and looked around, spotting a cluster of bushes. When she turned back, she said, “Need bathroom.”
His excitement at possibly seeing her bear deflated. “Sure. I’ll keep my back turned.”
This woman was twisting him into an emotional pretzel. He always let his pleasure show, but not what went on inside. He kept unhappy feelings and uncertainty out of sight.
The world was tough enough without sharing his disappointment, but
he was having a hard time stuffing it away this time.
He kept hearing the word mate in his head.
Herc’s fault, no doubt, but it wasn’t Herc’s fault this wouldn’t work between Justin and Eli. He should be glad she didn’t want to shift.
She had a destiny that didn’t involve Justin.
That was just the way life worked sometimes.
Our mate, Herc demanded.
Before Justin could reply, he heard the brush rattle in the direction she’d walked and instinctively turned to greet her.
No Eli.
A bear almost as big as Herc, with a winter white coat on top that blended down to brown legs, faced him. The shallow-faced shape said grizzly, but this bear had no hump on the top of her back. She had a polar bear shape.
That was the most unusual bear he’d ever seen from a shifter.
She took a tentative step toward him, then another.
Herc pounded at Justin for release. Out now.
Justin was too busy sorting through his thoughts to pay attention to Herc’s antics. The blue eyes and mixed coat all came together in Justin’s brain.
He said, “Ursid hybrid?”
The bear that had been moving steadily toward him froze.
She spun around and took off running.
CHAPTER 17
Elianna let her bear go. They both needed to run until neither one could move.
Ursid hybrid.
Justin couldn’t have hurt her more if he’d cursed her.
She’d expected him to ask about her coat or why she’d finally decided to shift, because the Justin she knew would be nice to her.
Not utter the words she could not escape.
She thought he liked her. Maybe even more than liked her.
Not that she had returned his interest even though she’d wanted to, but calling her an ursid hybrid was the same as saying bastard.
Her bear’s coat and her mixed-up body shape marked her as the king’s betrayal of his own kind. In her case, her father had also betrayed his mate by his infidelity.
That’s why Elianna could never be accepted in his clan.
Any clan.
She dropped back and gave her bear the lead.
Her bear ran, happy as a bumblebee bouncing through the woods.
Elianna would use this time to nurse her wounded heart and get her head together so she didn’t act like some weepy woman when she was in human form again.
Deep down inside, she’d hoped Justin would be different. He’d be that one shifter who would see that she wasn’t damaged goods, but just unusual. He’d proven to be a decent man, better than the ones she’d known. If someone as good as Justin could not look at her without contempt, no male bear shifter ever would.
This would prepare her for meeting her future mate in bear form, but she would not hurt so deeply over that one. Not the way she felt now.
She had solved her problem of Justin flirting all the time.
No more silly comments or smoldering looks.
This was awful.
Something bumped up against her bear, throwing her sidestepping. Her bear chuffed and came around, ready to see who it was, then quieted and backed up a step.
What? No back away from anyone. Elianna had never been submissive to any bear and would not allow her bear to do it now.
Those words fizzled in her mind as soon as she got a look at the largest shifted grizzly she’d ever seen. She was very big for a female, but that grizzly had to be another head taller, flatfooted.
Justin shifted into a monster bear.
If he attacked, he’d slaughter her.
Changing her mind in the hope of staying alive, Elianna instructed her bear, Drop head. Do not antagonize. We cannot win.
Her bear remained with her head up and fixated on that breathing mountain covered in a deep brown coat Justin had called Herc.
The giant bear lifted his head and opened his big jaws, roaring loud enough to make the trees tremble in fear.
Elianna’s big bear heart thundered with excitement. Her foolish bear clearly did not recognize a danger right in front of it.
Bear mate.
What did you say? Elianna asked.
Bear mate.
What was going on with her bear? No. You do not pick mate. They couldn’t choose one like that. Could they?
Yes, her bear answered.
Elianna might as well share her pain. She told her bear, Does not want bear like us.
Mate.
She and her bear had been communicating more than ever since arriving here, but Elianna could not get her bear to listen until she figured a way to pull her bear’s attention away from Herc.
Yes, Herc mate, her bear confirmed.
The Herc they were discussing had lowered his head from that almighty roar and padded toward them. He wasn’t frothing at the mouth or making deep sounds of impending attack.
Elianna had no way to make her bear move at the moment, so she prepared herself to be bloodied. Maybe Justin could stop his bear before he killed her.
When Herc reached them, he lowered his head and rubbed his cheek against her bear, who returned the affection.
Lost in the moment, Elianna became very still and soaked in the happy emotion rolling off her bear. That was when she realized she had never known her bear to show this kind of joy since being a cub.
Things had gone badly after Elianna’s first shift. She began noticing dirty looks from polar bear shifters in her mother’s clan once they saw Elianna’s animal form. She’d hidden her bear ever since.
Now, she felt shame over withholding joy from her bear.
When the grizzly nipped her bear’s neck, the party began.
The bears chased each other and played, sometimes tumbling over each other. The happy sounds coming from her bear warmed Elianna’s heart and made her take stock of their relationship.
She had to do a better job of keeping her animal happy. Elianna had spent so many years suffering shame and rejection, she’d lost sight of how much her pain affected her bear.
For the next hour, she let her bear have her head and romp through the woods with Herc, who appeared just as happy. When her bear finally found a spot in the shade and dropped to the ground, Herc settled right next to her, but kept his head up in a protective way.
Her bear placed a paw over Herc’s big paw and he licked her ear.
Climbing up the mountain and running all over the place had worn Elianna out as much as her bear. She closed her eyes and slept soundly, like she’d never rested before.
When she woke, someone was brushing fingers over her hair.
Hair? Her eyes came open and she stared up at Justin leaning over her, smiling.
He said, “Hi there, Eli, babe.” His voice reminded her of warm mornings snuggled under a thick blanket with the snow falling outside.
She felt so relaxed. Whisper soft, she said, “Hello.”
It felt so good to lie here on the thick grass her bear had pressed down. Oh, no.
His smile dimmed. “What’s wrong?”
“My bear not here. I am.” She took in his body that no longer had a shirt, and looked down to see she wore his shirt. Thankfully, it went to halfway down her thighs. “I wear wrong shirt.”
“A trained observer, are you?” He grinned again.
Was everything funny to this man? “You are wise mouth.”
“I think you mean a wiseass.”
“Yes, that.” She drew a shallow breath, enjoying his scent that surrounded her
His eyes lit with more amusement. “Better a wise-ass than a dumb-ass.”
“How did clothes come?”
“I had Herc grab the backpack as soon as I shifted. He dropped it close by once we found you. I knew I could keep you corralled in this area, but I had to go back to find your clothes. You were tuckered out so I just let you sleep.” His finger kept toying with her hair.
What had changed from when he saw her bear? “Why I wear your shirt?”
; “Because I like seeing you in my clothes, but I’d like your smile more.”
He acted so happy. She wanted to give him a smile, but she could not when he had called her a name she hated.
Her brain pounded with two words that gave her a headache. She had to address what he called her and find out why he was acting nice now.
Loading her words with plenty of accusation, she said, “You call me ursid hybrid.”
“Yes. Why did that upset you?”
“You know meaning?” she asked, unable to hide her anger. Was he intentionally acting dense or turning her into a joke?
“Of course, I do. It’s a cub that came from the cross between a polar bear and a grizzly mating. I just never expected to see one in my lifetime. You have the most beautiful bear I’ve ever seen. It’s like seeing a unicorn that is as magnificent as it is elusive.”
Tears pooled in her eyes.
His face fell. “What’d I say wrong, Eli, babe?”
She smiled and he stared at her as if she’d shocked him. Her lips trembled as she forced words out. “You ... you call my bear pretty.”
His eyes softened and his voice turned gruff. “No, babe, I didn’t call her pretty.” When her face crumbled, he explained, “Pretty doesn’t begin to describe you or your bear. You’re beautiful and your bear is spectacular. But your smile can bring me to my knees.”
Her heart thundered, pounding her chest.
She lifted up and kissed Justin, sharing all the happiness he had just gifted her.
He jumped in right with her, bringing her body up to him. His arms wrapped around her and he dove into the kiss, taking everything she’d give him. He had no idea how much she had bottled up inside her just waiting for this moment.
Not with just any man, because Justin wasn’t just any man or any shifter.
He was ... spectacular. She liked that word.
When a hand reached between them and slid up inside the shirt that smelled of him to touch her, she shivered in reaction. “Yes, that. I want that.”
“I love it when you talk dirty.”
She started laughing and his hand fell away.
He leaned her away and looked at her with such awe, she stopped laughing and asked, “What?” She was still happy.