The roommates watched this scene with looks of uncertainty.
“Maybe we should go wait in the car.” Said Lewis.
“Yeah,” said Seth, “Not sure I want to see how this goes.”
The three quietly walked away, leaving the two lovers to, once again, express their love for each other.
***
An hour later, Nicole and Gregory, now back in human form, lay side-by-side in the grass, smiling and gazing into each other’s eyes.
“I love you” said Gregory.
“I love you too. That was…wonderful.”
“Was it?”
“It’s strange, I won’t lie, but I think that I will be able to live with that.”
“And what if the baby turns out being like me?”
Nicole turned away and looked up into the night sky.
“Well then that will have to be something that you have to teach him or her about. I mean, I only saw you once in that form. I have no idea how it all works.”
Gregory reached over and grabbed Nicole’s side, pulling her back to facing her.
“I can’t believe how accepting you are of this. I…I am so lucky I found you.”
“It…It’s nothing Gregory.”
“No Nicole, it’s not. This has been such a big secret for me. I mean, it took a lot of courage to tell you that.”
“Well, you probably wouldn’t have told me if I wasn’t pregnant with your child.”
It was Gregory’s turn to roll over and face the sky, “Yeah. I guess so.”
Nicole reached over and squeezed his shoulder, “I didn’t mean it like that. I mean, this baby was a blessing for us.”
“Was it?”
“Yes. It brought us together as a couple. We’re stronger because of it.”
“But what about the child?”
“What about it?”
Gregory turned to face her, “What happens during its first transformation? What if we aren’t there when it happens? They will be ostracized, if not taken away and experimented on by scientists. One slip up, and this child’s life will be ruined forever.”
“Well when did you change first?”
“I was twenty-one, already living on my own. I didn’t have any family around who could be ashamed of or worry about me.”
“And what about your family now? What do they think?”
“They haven’t heard from me in a while. It’s better that for the both of us if they don’t even know that I’m still alive.”
“But Gregory…”
Gregory stood up and turned to face her, extending his hand.
“Come on. Let’s get back to the car. I’m sure my roommates have been waiting for a bit too long now.”
Nicole took his hand and allowed herself to be helped up. The two began walking back to the car, Nicole casting glances at Gregory. He had on a look of hurt, one that she felt she would be seeing from time-to-time for the rest of her life if she chose to spend it with him.
“I’m not ashamed of you at all. “
“Thank you Nicole. That means a lot.”
The way he said that, it sounded like he imagined she would soon be gone just like everyone else he had ever come to care for and love. By the time they made it to the car, it seemed like the intentions of brining her and Gregory together had just done the complete opposite.
***
Nicole had them drop her off at her home. She kissed Gregory on the lips before walking up to the apartment. As soon as she closed the door behind her, she finally gave into the tears that were rimming her eyes. She was doing her best to try and show Gregory her devotion to the two of them since the announcement of the baby, but this event only seemed to be dragging them apart from each other. The longer this went on, the more Gregory seemed to be trying to separate himself from her and the baby. She just did not know what else she could to prove that she would love him despite any differences he possessed, no matter how strange it was.
Nicole loved Gregory, there was no doubt about it. Despite finding out he was half-bear, nothing had changed with how caring he was, how much of a good listener he was, and the length of which he seemed willing to go to make sure Nicole was happy. And she wanted to be able to show him how much his happiness meant to her, how she wanted to do everything she could to show him just that. The problem was, everything she had tried thus far had seemed to only show him that his difference prevented him from being happy. She had exhausted almost every idea she could think of to prove him he was wrong.
Well she thought, pulling out her cell phone and moving through the contacts, almost every one.
***
The ringing of his cell phone awoke Gregory from his rest. Turning into a bear sapped a lot of energy out of him then he ever would admit. Luckily for me, his urges usually arose when it was in the evening, so he would appear normal if he slept into the early afternoon. He turned to the clock, which read that it was eight thirty-seven in the morning. He turned to see who was calling. No surprise, it was Nicole. Gregory sighed and let the phone go to voice mail. When it did, it showed that she had tried to call him several times already. His phone lit up again, saying that Nicole was trying to call him. It must be important if she was willing to continue calling him over and over again.
“Hello?”
“Gregory! Thank goodness you picked up.”
“Yeah…I usually have to sleep after the transformation. It takes a lot of energy out of me.”
“Oh. Sorry about that. I just really needed to tell you something.”
“Tell me what?”
“You’re coming with me to dinner with my parents tonight.”
There were a few seconds of silence from Gregory’s side, “What did you say?”
“You’re coming with me to my parents for dinner-“
“Why?!”
“Gregory, I understand that you do not think that someone can love you in the world because of your thing, but I want you in my life. I want you to come with me and do things that couples do, like meeting the parents of your girlfriend.”
“But Nicole, what if I go into my urge-“
“We will work it out. I’m not asking you to divulge to my parents who you are. I just want to feel like you can belong and be with someone who you love. You do still love me, don’t you?”
Gregory gritted his teeth, “Of course I still love you. I just…I don’t know if I can do this.”
“Yes you can. I will be there right you, supporting you through all of this. You aren’t going to be alone in this. So, will you come?”
Gregory held the phone in between his hands, thinking about what he could possibly say to save both of them from this tragedy waiting to happen. Deep down, he knew she would not accept anything but him to say yes. She wasn’t the same timid woman he had met on that first date at the movie theater. She had found something to believe in, someone to believe in.
He brought the phone back up to his ear and took a deep breath.
“Gregory? Are you still there?”
“Yeah baby, I’m still here. I’ll come with you to your parents. I’ll pick you up from the apartment and we can head over to their place. How’s that sound?”
“That sounds lovely! Thank you so much! I’ll text you the details later. I love you. Bye.”
“I love you too.”
A small smile spread across his face as the phone clicked. She had sounded very happy that he was coming. Now, it was time to get back to bed so he’d be well-rested to meet the parents.
***
Gregory pulled up to the apartment around four –thirty in the afternoon. He looked down to inspect the purple dress shirt he had on, hoping that he was dressed appropriately for this. He got out of the car and walked up to the apartment. He knocked on the door and waited, thrusting his hands into his slacks and bouncing on the balls of his toes.
The door opened and there stood Nicole, dressed in a white cocktail dress with matching pumps. Gregory’s eyes widened as he looked her over.<
br />
“Wow.”
“Wow, yourself. You also shaved the stubble off.”
“Yeah, well,” Gregory said, averting his gaze when she stroked his chin, “This dinner means a lot to you, so I wanted to look my best.”
Nicole retracted her hand and kissed him on the lips, “Thank you.”
Gregory linked arms with hers and led her to the car. After helping her into her seat, he got in and they drove off. He could feel her hand rubbing his thigh seductively. He sensed a boner beginning to form as a result of that. One of Nicole’s fingers reached out and lightly brushed against it. Gregory tightened up slightly and looked at Nicole.
“You’re feeling very frisky aren’t you?”
“I just can’t wait to introduce you to my parents. We’re all really excited that I finally found a man I can be comfortable around.”
“Is this what you call comfortable?”
‘I’ll show you how comfortable I am when we have a moment alone.”
Gregory chuckled and turned his eyes back on the road. This was going to be an interesting trip to say the least.
***
Nicole’s parents lived in a cream colored two-story house with large, rectangular windows facing out of the front of the home. The lawn looked fresh and newly trimmed which, complete with the white picket fence, gave this place the look of someone who was quite well off.
Gregory looked at it all from the car, mouth agape. A tap on the window brought him to his sense. He looked to see Nicole waving at him from outside the window. He grinned and got out of the car. He followed her up the paved walkway up to the front door. As Gregory knocked on the door, Nicole planted long, passionate kiss on his face. They were caught in the moment as the door opened and a man with well-combed graying hair stood in the doorway.
He harrumphed, which brought the couple back to reality.
“Sorry daddy.”
“While I am very happy you found a man sweetie, there is such a thing as too much PDA.”
“It’s nice to finally meet you sir.” Gregory said, extending his hand, “I’m Gregory. “
The man shook his hand, “Carl. Now, there’s no sense for you to be kept waiting out here, please come in.”
Gregory and Nicole walked in, looking around at the scenery. There were a number of paintings, probably from the Renaissance period, up on the wall. What really caught the eye of Gregory though was the bear head hung up over the stone fireplace. He looked at Nicole, who saw it as well and turned white.
“I completely forgot about that.”
Carl appeared from down a hallway with a woman with light brown hair. Nicole ran to the woman, the two embracing tightly.
“Nicole. How nice to have you back. And with a man too. I hope he’s been treating you well.”
“Oh he is just a dream in every way possible.”
“Well, isn’t that nice?”
Gregory stepped forward and shook the hand of Nicole’s mother.
“I’m Nancy, Nicole’s mother. I’m afraid dinner is going to take a little bit longer than expected to be ready, so if you would like to tell us about ourselves.”
“Actually,” said Nicole, “Gregory needs to take some medication and I have to assist him with it.”
“I do?”
“He doesn’t want to admit it, but it’s really important he does. Do you mind if we excuse ourselves?”
Carl’s eyes narrowed, “Be quick about it.”
“Ok daddy. Come on baby.”
Nicole grabbed Gregory and dragged him away from her parents.
“Carl honey, What sort of medication do you think that boy needs to take?”
“I don’t know, and frankly I don’t care to know.” He said with a huff.
***
Nicole tossed Gregory into the bathroom before closing the door behind her.
“I need you to take me now.”
“What-?”
Nicole began kissing Gregory, biting his lips as she pushed him into the sink. She started to climb on him, bending him over. Gregory slipped off her dress straps and slid it to expose her breasts.
“You know that we can’t do too much or else I’ll be getting another urge.”
“Yeah. Yeah. Whatever. They’re expecting us back soon anyways. Now take me Gregory.”
Gregory dragged his hands down Nicole’s back, causing her to arch back and pant a little. She began to thrust herself on him over and over again. Gregory’s hands had made it down to her ass and he began to squeeze firmly. Nicole gave an abrupt cry, doing her best to be quiet as soon as she could. She giggled a bit.
“Do that again.”
Gregory complied and she screamed in pleasure through gritted teeth. She went back to kissing him, her tongue teasing his. Gregory gagged a little, but soon had his moved moving around with hers. Nicole pulled her mouth away from him and guided one of his hands into her panties. She tilted her head back and began to gasp for breath as his hand was inserted into her vagina.
After several seconds of this, she grew still.
“Ok. I’m good to go.”
The two of them began straightening their clothes out.
“Where did that come from Nicole?”
“I don’t know. I just feel incredibly aroused by you right now.”
“But what will your parents think of me now? I think they knew what we just left to do. They’ll think we’re sex addicts.”
“Well at least they think you’ll be normal then.”
Gregory stopped and looked Nicole in the eye, “What?”
“Well if they think I found a man who I love to have sex with, that will just mean I got caught up with a bad boy. That’s normal.”
“Is that why you did this?”
“How’s it feel being just another guy?”
“Nicole, that won’t change who I am.”
“Then don’t think about that part of you. Please Gregory, I’m ready to commit. You, me and this child are going to be just fine. I’m not going to let you be ashamed by yourself. We’re in this together.”
“Why?” Gregory asked, tears rimming his eyes, “Why would you do all this for me?”
“Because I found someone who I want to live the rest of my life with and I am not going to let one massively different thing about you change how well we get together. If we run into problems, we’ll figure it out together. You being half-bear is no different than being a different religion than I am; it’s just new customs and traditions to observe. So please, I need you to walk out of this bathroom with me and go have a nice, normal dinner with my parents.”
Gregory wrapped Nicole in for a hug, holding her close to him. Tears flowed down his face as whispered the words, “Thank you.”
“Come on you big teddy bear, let’s go get some food.”
***
Carl and Nancy were just about done setting the table when Gregory and Nicole walked in with big smiles on their faces.
“You’re both pretty happy for some people just taking some medication.” said Carl, giving Gregory the stink eye.
“Oh, Gregory just needed a little encouragement that his illness is nothing to get so worked up about.”
“You’re a wonderful woman Nicole.” Nancy said, bringing a big pot of spaghetti to the table, “Now sit down everyone and let’s dig in.”
The four of them sat down. Carl was the first one to start getting food.
“You know Gregory, my daughter isn’t around solely to help you “take your medication”.” Gregory said, “She needs to be more than just that in your life.”
“Oh yes sir. She reminds me of that every day.”
Gregory grabbed Nicole’s hand from under the table and gave it a squeeze. She gave a reassuring squeeze in response.
“Now, as I imagine my daughter has told you, a number of men have already broken your heart. Now my Nicole is just trying to find someone to share her life with; someone to start a family with. Are you willing to commit to that, through the good and b
ad of it all?”
“You have my word on that. Your daughter is never going to be feeling like she made a bad choice for choosing me.”
“You sure talk a nice game,” Nancy said, “I sure hope you aren’t just talk.”
“He’s not like that mom. He actually has a big heart. He’s been the only one I’ve met who actually took an interest in me and wanted to help me find strength in being in who I am. I have been trying to return that favor recently, around the time I found out about Gregory’s condition, and I just want him to see himself in a more positive light.”
“Your daughter sure knows how to show love. I guess she was just waiting for the right person to share it with.”
“Well let’s hope that she can keep you an honest man.”
Gregory smiled and nodded. As it came his turn to serve his food, he caught Nicole looking his way subtly. She had been right. This was the most normal he had felt in a long time. His smile seemed to only grow stronger as he started serving the food to Nicole. Their gazes met for just a second, neither of them having the slightest desire to back out of this situation now. The two of them knew what awaited them.
“Thank you.” Nicole said as Gregory finished serving her.
“No Nicole, thank you.”
THE END
THE BEAR’S ARRANGED MATE
The heated mating instincts of the female bear-shifters in the herik tribe were at their highest the night before a full moon. Their pheromones could be smelled all throughout the small portion of the forest their tribe called home and far beyond it. It quickly became a custom to find all of the females and have them locked away and protected by the only males not affected, which were specially trained to deal with the hordes of lustful males. However, the males in their tribe weren’t the only ones affected—their rival tribe, the kubeba, were also greatly affected by the herik women’s state.
ROMANCE: HIGHLANDER ROMANCE: Seduced by highlander (Historical Mail Order Bride Time Travel Romance) (Military Fantasy Romance Short Stories) Page 70