by Unknown
Those eyes, she thought. Something about those eyes seemed familiar. And the lush rust-red fur rippling along the beast’s back struck a chord in her memory, too. Was this another werebear? Suddenly, she knew.
“Ursula?” she whispered hoarsely. Those hypnotizing eyes answered her by narrowing into mere slits. The bear’s upper lip curled up in a snarl. This was the woman who had taken Max to Charlotte’s party!
“Why are you doing this?”
Max had told her that werebears were still sentient while in bear form, so Bethany knew Ursula could understand her. She’d purposely stalked Bethany during her walk. But why? It couldn’t be over Max, could it? They’d only gone out on one date after all.
Slowly, Bethany backed away, her hands out in front, somehow thinking that would calm Ursula’s apparent rage. But the bear matched her movements step for step until her feet fetched up on her log bench.
“Please, Ursula, I don’t understand.” She hated the weak, pleading tone in her voice, but it seemed she couldn’t control that either. There was no use hiding it — she was terrified.
Then Ursula reared up onto her hind legs, threw her head back and bellowed a scream so loud and full of fury that the world stopped moving. Only then did Bethany know true terror.
Her knees buckled at the unholy cry, thumping her ass onto the log. Her vision greyed out, threatening to take her away from this place, and she welcomed it. Please make it quick, she silently pleaded with Ursula…or maybe it was God, or even herself. She didn’t know, but she understood completely that this was the end of the line for her.
Bethany watched in a daze as Ursula dropped to all fours and charged at her. She concentrated on the bear’s beautiful eyes. Even though they were filled with hate, she wanted to believe there was something beautiful inside the monster bearing down on her.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of brown shoot past her and launch itself at Ursula, knocking the bear off balance. Wait, two bears. There were two bears rolling around in the underbrush, growling, biting, clawing.
Ursula managed to break free and lunge for Bethany again. Again, the much bigger brown bear attacked, batting Ursula aside. It turned its head and caught Bethany’s stunned gaze. Cinnamon eyes looked into her soul.
Max.
He was caught off balance when Ursula threw herself at him, sinking her canines into his shoulder. He roared in pain and surprise as he fell to the ground. But instead of turning on Bethany, as she’d done before, Ursula beat at his head with her massive paws, howling at him as he struggled to gain his feet.
Before he could, Ursula backed away and turned sad eyes on Bethany. Were those tears? They were blinked away in an instant. Then she turned and loped down the trail.
Chapter Eleven
“Bethany! Baby, are you okay?” Max’s voice reached her ears from a great distance, or so it seemed. A foggy mist shrouded all sight and sound, and she felt herself tipping over into blackness. But when his strong arms wrapped around her, the world came back into focus.
She searched for his eyes, and when she found them, a profound sense of love and safety washed over her. Tears spilled down her cheeks while huge, gulping sobs wracked her body. He pulled her head into the nook of his bare neck, his fingers fisting in her hair, murmuring soothing words she couldn’t hear over her own weeping.
He was here, kneeling in front of her. She’d resigned herself to never see him again, but when Ursula was bearing down on her, all she could think was that she would give anything for just one more ‘bear hug’ from Max.
Clutching at his bare back, she breathed in his intoxicating musk. Slowly the shakes and sobs eased, allowing her to finally speak. “What happened?”
He pulled back, holding onto her shoulders with a firm grip while he searched her face. “I was going to ask you the same thing,” he replied softly. “I came back early only to find movers hauling everything out of your apartment. Your car was still there, so I knew there was only one other place you would be. As soon as I picked up your trail, I caught the scent of another werebear, so I morphed, just to be on the safe side. I’m so glad I did.”
Fear crumpled his face, and he clutched her to him again. “I don’t know what I would have done if I’d lost you.”
They were quiet for a moment, just reveling in each other, grateful for the other’s presence. Then Max asked the question she knew was coming. “Have I already lost you?”
The shock of the attack was fading a little, but Bethany knew he needed answers. She’d planned on doing this over the phone so she wouldn’t have to look in those eyes, but there was no turning back now. Except the gift of speech always seemed to abandon her when their gazes locked, so she focused on the waterfall.
“I…,” she started, clearing her throat in an effort to buy enough time so she could organize her thoughts. “Chet came by this morning—“
“Shit,” Max interrupted. “Shitshitshit!” He stood and grabbed fistfuls of his dark hair like he wanted to tear it out.
“Damn him!” He wheeled around to her, kneeling at her feet and grasping her hands. “Please don’t tell me you believed any of his bullshit. Please say you told him to fuck off and to mind his own business.”
He was in a full-blown tizzy, standing and pacing in front of her, raging about his nosy, misinformed, meddling uncle. She couldn’t even get a word in.
“I suppose he told you that I’d be kicked out of our clan or some shit like that, didn’t he?” The look on her face must have answered his question. He nodded and continued.
“And that werebears and humans can’t breed, right?” He stopped and gave her a shrewd look. “Did he tell you that you’d die if you had my baby?”
She glanced away to the waterfall, revealing everything in that moment. Chet’s warning broke her heart all over again. Who knew a person could have so many tears in her?
Then Max was beside her, cradling her in his arms and nuzzling at her neck. “No, baby, don’t cry,” he whispered into her hair. “He’s got it all wrong. Chet’s wrong.”
Hitching her breath, Bethany turned to face him. “But…but he said…”
Max thumbed away the tears from her cheeks. “He told you about Crystal and the baby. Said that any human woman who had a werebear cub would die, as would the baby. That our relationship, if it could survive a shunning by my clan, would have to be a childless one. I know what he said, Bethany. And I’m telling you he’s wrong.”
Sniffling, she said, “I can’t believe he’d lie like that just to get me to move.”
“Oh, I don’t think he’s lying. He genuinely believes that garbage. But that’s what it is: garbage.”
Bethany thought for a moment, her thoughts still muddled from the trauma of the last few minutes. “How do you know?”
“How do I know what?”
“How do you know he’s wrong? Have there been lots of bear-human unions?”
Max looked away and chewed on his luscious lower lip, a mannerism that normally drove Bethany wild with desire. But now it only made her sad.
“There have been a few, Chet’s being one. Yes, it ended badly, but that was because the baby was breech and Crystal hemorrhaged before the clan doctor arrived. When she died, the baby died. It was horrible and tragic, but it could just as easily have happened if her husband had been human.”
“But Chet said the baby was…not right.”
“Mutant. He called him a mutant, didn’t he?”
She nodded. Max shook his head sadly, using his finger to trace the veins and tendons on the top of the hand he was holding.
“Poor Chet. He was crazy with grief. Doc had to use forceps to deliver the baby after they’d both died, and his head was misshapen in the process. That baby would have been perfect.”
A rustling in the underbrush made Bethany jump and tense. They both spun toward the noise only to see a squirrel scamper across the path. For the first time in what seemed like days, the birds started singing again.
&nb
sp; “She won’t be back,” Max soothed, stroking her back in long, languid movements.
“I don’t understand why she attacked me in the first place.”
Max was silent for a moment, stroking her and watching the woods come back to life. “Male bears will often fight over the affections of a female, but occasionally it works the other way. She made no qualms about offering herself to me, so I’m guessing her instinct to fight for a good mate got the better of her.”
Bethany felt a tug of sympathy for Ursula. “She probably feels humiliated and maybe even betrayed that the love of a mere human could entice one of her kind away.”
Max’s hot gaze searched her face. “Wait, did…did you just say you love me?”
More tears pricked the back of her eyelids. Would they never stop?! She couldn’t find her words so she settled for an embarrassed nod-shrug combo. She hadn’t meant to tell him that, hadn’t wanted to make him uncomfortable.
But instead of pushing her away, Max smothered her face with kisses, breathing in her scent and taking her breath away at the same time.
“Bethany, you know I feel the same, right? I’ve loved you almost since the moment we met. I was just afraid you wouldn’t want to be with, you know, someone like me.”
He was afraid of being rejected by her? She couldn’t have been more shocked if he’d told her he rode a unicorn to work. Clinging to his neck, breathing him in, her tears turned to giggles, then to full-on laughter.
“What’s the joke?” Max asked, pulling back. He was smiling but perplexed, which just made her laugh even harder. The emotional rollercoaster she had been on all day was finally taking its toll. I’m losing it, she thought as another round of laughter doubled her over.
Max seemed to understand that she just needed to let it out so he patiently held her while she rode her hysterical laughter to its inevitable end. Hiccuping and gasping for air, she finally got control of herself and wiped the wetness from her cheeks — which ached from laughing so hard, by the way.
“I’m sorry,” she gasped. “It just struck me as funny and ludicrous and wonderful that you were feeling as insecure as I was. I would never have guessed.”
His eyes softened as his rough hands cupped her cheeks, pulling her forward. Suddenly, she didn’t feel like laughing any more. Suddenly, her chest filled with love for this man who had saved her, in more ways than one. And gratitude for realizing that she’d saved him back.
Max’s lips traced lightly across her brow, down her cheek until they found her waiting mouth. His hot breath mingled with hers, pushing all lingering fear and doubt from her mind. He tasted salty, the sweat from his fight with Ursula seasoning their kiss.
He moved from her lips to her ear, sending shivers of desire down to her core, a sigh escaping her lips. “Oh, Max,” she breathed. His response was a low growl and a tighter grip on her.
He loves me, she thought as he fingered the buttons of her blouse loose and eased it from her shoulders. That’s all that mattered. As long as they were both willing to fight for their love, the rest were mere details.
The cool air of the forest hit her skin, pebbling her nipples and drawing a sharp intake of breath. Max warmed them instantly with his hands and lips and tongue, drawing more sharp breaths from her. Cradling his head in her arms, she buried her face in his hair, breathing in his masculine scent. It was time to show him how she felt.
Bethany stood and shrugged out of her jeans and underwear, turning Max around so his back rested against the log bench, his erection eager for the attention it was about to receive.
She kneeled between his legs and leaned forward to plant a soft, lingering kiss on those sweet, full lips. “I love you, Max,” she breathed into his mouth. His chest hitched under her hands.
Trailing her lips down his neck, she kissed her way down his chest, carefully avoiding his injured shoulder. As her tongue neared his belly button, he stroked her hair away from her face, tucking it behind her ears. His fingers lingered, lightly touching her head, as she kissed the head of his shaft and flicked her tongue down to the base.
“Mmmm,” he groaned. Bethany glanced up at the look of bliss on Max’s face. As he’d done to her their first time together, she smiled and dipped her head to take him in her mouth. Another sharp intake of breath, this time his. The sound thrilled her. That she could make him growl and groan did something to her, flipped a switch inside.
Using her tongue, her lips, her hands, she swirled and sucked and kissed and stroked until he was on the brink of oblivion. His hands were fisted in her hair, not guiding her movements but just holding on for dear life. His breathing was labored. His pulse raced. He was nearly there.
But before she could take him all the way, he grabbed her under the arms and pulled her up to him, locking his lips on hers and pulling her hips down onto his. Straddling him, Bethany lowered herself until he was firmly and fully planted inside her inner walls.
Their lips never broke apart as she began rocking her hips, Max gripping them firmly. His lips found a breast while Bethany tilted her head back to enjoy the sensation of riding him in the woods. Birds flitted along the treetops and sang to them while they loved each other completely.
His hands never stopped moving, caressing her ass, cupping her breasts, running down her arms to entwine his fingers in hers. Tension was building inside Bethany, and when Max’s thumb found the engorged nub of her sex, she could sense the end was coming close.
Her rhythm increased and his thumb matched it. Her hands clutched at his knees for support but her arms nearly gave out as she reached the edge and toppled over. Falling forward into his arms, Bethany rode the wave — and Max — and her body convulsed and tightened around him.
He tightened his hold on her, wrapping one arm around her rump, and moved his hips into her, seeking release. When he found it, a deafening roar filled the air. Birds and squirrels scattered and chirped in protest, but Max and Bethany didn’t notice. They were consumed by their love.
Chapter Twelve
“Where should I put this?” Bethany was holding up a tacky seashell lamp she’d picked up at a garage sales years before. She was trying hard not to smile, but Max saw through her.
“In the junk pile, where it belongs, smart aleck!”
He pulled her into his arms and gave her a peck on the tip of her nose. “I can’t tell you how happy I am you’re moving in.”
She beamed up at him. “Me, too.”
He took a deep breath of her scent, holding her for a moment longer as if deciding whether to let her go, before releasing her and picking up the raggedy old afghan from her grandmother. The worry that he would want throw that out too must have been etched all over her face because he gingerly spread it along the back of his designer couch.
“Hey all!” Paul’s voice pierced through the sweet moment as he sauntered through the door, a bouquet of red roses in hand. “When’s the housewarming party?”
Bethany threw a wad of packing material at him. “Geez, let me get finished unpacking first, would you?”
“You should know better than anyone, little missy, that patience is not one of my many virtues.”
Charlotte poked her head around the doorframe. “Everybody decent? I brought pizza!”
“Thank God, I’m ravenous,” Max said, lunging for the box.
“Who wants a beer,” Bethany asked as she walked into the kitchen. It was unanimous.
“I’ll help, B.” Charlotte followed her in and cornered her at the fridge. “You know, we haven’t had much of a chance to talk over the last few days, and I have to tell you I’m a little worried. First the concern over being able to have babies with Max, then an out-of-the-blue phone call asking to stay with me, then a cryptic message that everything had worked out and to nevermind. What the hell, B? You know I try to keep my nose out of things that aren’t my business but I think I deserve some kind of explanation.”
Bethany nodded, ashamed that she hadn’t filled Char in. “I know, I’m sorry. I
should have called, but things have been kind of a whirlwind.”
“Well, I’m here now.”
“Yeah, I know. You’re sweet to worry. Okay, so after you left, Chet dropped by and he told me that there was no way Max and I could have babies. Plus his family and friends would ostracize him for being with someone…outside their community.” She still wasn’t sure how much of Max’s reality she should reveal and felt safer being vague.
“So what happened?”
“He offered to pay for me to move. I was tired because I didn’t sleep at all that night from thinking about our conversation. I didn’t really think I’d be faced with having to make a choice between Max and a family so soon, but that’s how it played out. Like I said, I was exhausted and Chet’s offer seemed like a good idea at the time. That’s when I called you.”
“Yeah, you sounded pretty out of it.”
“Totally. Then Max came home and talked some sense into me and here we are.” Glossing over the whole Ursula attack seemed wise.
“What about Chet? Wasn’t he pissed?”
“Oh, like a wild animal. When we told him that I would be moving into Max’s place, he went ballistic. Yelling, screaming, cursing.” Bethany shrugged, also leaving out that she was sure Chet was crying when he stormed out of Max’s apartment. “There’s nothing we can do to change his mind, and hopefully he comes around soon. He’s actually a good guy beneath that gruff exterior and Max really loves him.”
“And this problem with fertility? You can’t give up on your dreams of a big family, hon. You just can’t.”
Bethany smiled at her friend. “Don’t worry, sweetie. It’s not a problem. Chet got it wrong.”
“You sure?”
Her smile faltered a tiny bit, but she nodded to cover up any concern she might have. “I mean, there’s always a risk, right? But I’m sure things will work out fine.”
“Hey, where’s my beer?” shouted Paul from the living room. Char rolled her eyes as Bethany grabbed a six-pack from the fridge.