Red's Bear (Erotic Shifter Fairy Tales) (17 page)

Please let me wake up or open my
eyes and see that I’m still snuggled in bed beside Cord.

“Rena, it’s okay.”

Hearing his voice, she sighed and lifted
her lids. However, when she did nothing had changed. He was still on the edge
of the bed staring at her like she was a skittish kitten. She shook her head,
feeling another scream starting to well up.

“Sweetheart, it’s not a dream.”
His voice was low, cautious. “I’m a bear…a shifter.”

Her head shook hard.
No
. He
was either crazy or she was having a full blown meltdown brought on by her
year-long illness. Hell maybe her mother was correct, she
was
allergic
to honey and seafood, but it didn’t cause hives but insanity.

Please someone direct me to the
nearest mental institution.

Leaning forward, he slipped his
feet to the floor at the side of the bed. “I need you to listen to me. Calm
down.”

Oh, hell no, this was not a calm
down moment, but a get the fuck out of dodge moment. Taking her own advice she
started edging slowly toward the archway of his room.

“Stop, Rena!” he commanded.

Angry at his tone, she snapped her
head in his direction and pinned him with a look.

“I didn’t want you to find out
this way…” Frustrated, he rubbed his hands back and forth over his hair. “It’s
not uncommon after a night like we had that our bears take over while we sleep
to help restore our strength. I need you to change so we can talk.” He rose,
standing.

He was speaking gibberish,
nonsense.
Change
?
Oh, don’t worry buddy, I plan to get my clothes on
and leave.
She scooted closer to the exit.

“I didn’t want to do it this way
but I’m not the only shifter in the room. Look at your hands.”

My hands? What is he trying to
pull—

Her thoughts broke off as she
glanced down. Before her eyes weren’t her hands as she had expected, but paws.
Large brown paws covered in fur. As her gaze continued to travel along the
strange form she seemed to be encased in, she saw a great girth.

No, no, no, no…
The sound
ripped from her chest was a half cry/half whine.

This wasn’t any kind of dream,
this was a nightmare. She needed to get out of here. Turning, she bolted.

“Rena!”

She refused to stop. Instead of
heading through the archway she raced to the patio doors still wide open from
their lovemaking session there last night. Not concerned that she was on the
second floor, she launched herself over the railing.

Sailing through the air, her paws
hit the ground with a thud. She felt a jolt in her muscles from the impact, but
uninjured she kept moving. Sprinting into the woods she ran, no thought to
where she was going she just needed to get far away from this bearman…from
herself.

“Reennnaa!”

There was an agony in his voice
that squeezed at her hurt, but she kept up the fast pace through the woods.

~YH~

Seeing his life mate jump from his
porch and run away from him, Cord vaulted into the air and shifted mid-flight.
He was running the instant his four large paws hit the ground.

Shit
. This was not how he had
seen this day going. He’d wanted to awaken Rena with slow loving then hold her
and slowly explain about their kind. Yesterday, she’d started exhibiting all of
her Were traits, but he never anticipated that they would shift during the
night. That she would shift. He’d told her right about why they’d taken on
their bear form, but now he had to get her to calm down and listen to him so
that he could guide her into shifting back.

Keeping his mate in sight, he
raced through the woods for miles, following her lead. She ran in an odd
pattern, going first in one direction only to zigzag around and head the
opposite way. He knew she was confused. She didn’t know these woods and had no
clue where she was going. Finally, she arrived at the river. He saw her look from
left to right, then lift her snout in the air deciding on a direction.

He figured she’d picked up a
familiar scent, her grandmother’s cabin. He kept the distance between them wide
so that she was far enough away that she wouldn’t spook and end up doing something
that may get her hurt, like running into the road. Even that thought caused his
gut to ache. He needed to have faith in them. They’d work this all out.

They had to.

When he finally arrived at Genma’s
home, Rena was standing by the front door whining and pawing the handle. It
broke his heart to see her struggle to get inside the only place that was a
safe haven for her.

Approaching slowly, he waited
until she saw him and then he shifted. Letting her see the simplicity of the
action.

Her crying grew louder and her
scratching at the door more urgent.

“Rena, I need you to listen to
me.” He moved in closer.

The door opened with Genma
standing in the opening. “Rena...?”

Unsure, he saw Rena edge back from
her grandmother.

Genma was joined by his grandmother.
Octavia looked past the bear on the porch to him. “Cord, what’s going on? What
happened?”

How was he supposed to explain the
last two days to his grandmother and her best friend? With all of his
concentration and focus centered on Rena he had missed his grandmother’s dark
green SUV parked in the driveway. Exhaling he knew this was not the time to be
concerned with anyone but Rena.

“Red, come inside—” Genma began.

“No!” he barked, he needed to see
this through. When Genma and his grandmother eyed him, both women with their
hands on their hips looking like they were ready to issue out lectures, he
said, “Give me a moment.”

Moving to the steps, he gazed up
into the scared eyes of his life mate. He had to do this. She may not want to
be anywhere around him, but if he walked away now, there may never be a chance
for him to win her trust.

“Red, sweetheart, I know you’re
confused and afraid.” He spoke low, keeping all the tension he felt coiled
along his spine out of his voice.

She glanced toward the woods. He
thought she would bolt again, but she slowly returned her gaze back to him.

“You can retake your human form,
the first time you do it…it will feel odd, strange and your bear may try to
fight the shifting, but you can do it. I know you can.” It broke his heart to
know that Rena had been so unprepared for this moment. Why her family hadn’t
told her who she was, what she was, he didn’t understand.

Her multicolored eyes still locked
on him, he continued. “I need you to imagine yourself. Your human form. See your
long thick ebony curls and your beautiful limbs and sienna-brown skin that’s
smooth, supple and lovely.”

He noticed the slight shimmer
around her. It started and stopped, but he could tell she was trying hard to
follow his words.

He was thankful the two older
women stood in silence, allowing him this time to help his mate alone.

Continuing to guide her through
her first shift, he went on. “See your oval face with its perfect nose and
wide, full mouth. Your high breasts and the sensuous curve of your hips that
flow beguilingly into the thick thighs that a man could find solace between.”

One final quiver of her fur and
his Rena was sitting on the porch before him. Tears were running down her face.
Those eyes that had been hazel were still. Not the trademark onyx. He wanted to
reach out and pull her in his arms.

Before he could, Genma squatted
down beside her and helped her to her feet then wrapped her supportive arms
around her. “It will be okay, Rena. Grandmother is here.”

Burying her face in her grandmother’s
shoulder, Rena’s cries became louder.

The sound racked his soul. He
wished he’d been the one she’d turned to.

When she was led into the cabin
out of his sight, Cord moved his gaze to his grandmother. So many questions
rolled around in his head.

Octavia moved to the top step.
“Cord, you should come in. We all need to talk.”

He shook his head. “Not now, Nana.
I’m the last person she wants to see. You all take care of her.” Turning, he
headed back toward the lake path then stopped and glanced over his shoulder.
“Nana, I’m not sure what the story is here. Why Rena was sequestered away from
her Were identity, but she should have some answers. The truth.”

With a slow nod, his grandmother
held his gaze. “She’ll have it.”

Inhaling, he shifted and took off.
He dragged his bear away from the one place he wanted to be, with his life
mate. However, Cord knew this was not the right time. He just hoped that this
wasn’t the last time he saw Rena like when they were younger and she’d been
ripped from him.

That thought shot an
arrow of pain into his heart causing his paws to stumble. Even as apprehension
gripped his heart, he had to believe in them.

Chapter
Ten

Opening her eyes, the first thing Rena did was glance
at her hands. Relief showered down on her mind. Still human. Unsure of how long
she’d been asleep, she pushed her body into a sitting position. She was in her
room at her grandmother’s house. Waking up without Cord caused her heart to
ache, but there were too many questions that lay between them for her to seek
him out. She needed to discover who she was. Get truth were there had been an
abundance of lies.

Not wanting to play the convalescent any further, she
tossed the covers away and got up. In the bathroom she washed her face and
paused as she saw that there was a different set of eyes that stared back at
her. All her life she’d seen her own reflection and had seen hazel eyes, the
same color as her father’s looking back at her, but no longer. Her irises were
still hazel, but there were flecks of red in them. A color that had not been
there before she’d taken a bear’s form. She noted it wasn’t the same coal black
as her mother’s, her grandmother’s, Cords or everyone else’s in Den County. She
wondered if they would become golden like Cord’s did when he desired her. One
clue, their eyes, had been staring back at her this whole time and she’d missed
it. What else have I missed?

Brushing her teeth, she opened her mouth wide and
checked them. Everything seemed to be the same. Then she recalled the situation
in the truck with Cord, the cut on his finger and how she’d had the instinct to
place it in her mouth to heal it.

Just the thought of what happened made her gums tingle
and a small burn started around her teeth. When she opened her mouth again she
saw them, six of her teeth had extended in length.

Incisors
.
Canines
. Confirmed the
voice that had been speaking to her since she’d arrived in Den.

She knew what that voice was now, her
bear
. An
animal that was a part of her, but held its own identity at the same time.

Seeing her bear’s teeth and thinking of the cut on
Cord’s finger, her mind flashed an image of her and him making love. Recalling
his strong arms around her as he thrust deep inside her sex while his teeth
sank into her shoulder, her body shuddered. She’d thought he was giving her a
deep hickey. Twisting to the side, she looked at her right shoulder and sure
enough there was a bite mark there. Healed but very visible. 

Unsure how to get her teeth to retract at first, she
stood there then recalled Cord’s calm voice telling her to imagine how she
wanted to change. Trying it again, she pictured her human teeth and was
impressed with herself when the sharp points were gone.

She needed answers. Quickly, she showered and dressed
in a blouse and jeans. Leaving the room, she went in search of her grandmother.
She located her and Octavia in the living room sipping tea.

“Good morning, Rena.” Turning to gaze at her as she
approached, her grandmother greeted her, softly.

“Hello, Rena.” Octavia nodded, a kind smile on her
face.

Rena didn’t care for the look either woman was giving
her, as if they thought she was fragile and may fall apart at any moment. It
was how her mother had always treated her.

“I want to talk, and when I’m finished with my
questions I need to go into town,” she explained.

“Okay, please sit.” Her grandmother pointed to the
vacant seat on the couch that was closest to her.

Octavia had been curled up on the far end, but she
rose. Walking over to Rena, she took hold of her shoulders. “You look wonderful.
I’m so glad you’re better. Now, I can leave.”

Frowning, Rena asked, “How long have I been asleep?”

Cord’s grandmother cupped her face. “Just since
yesterday morning. But, I’m sure you and your bear needed that time to align.”

Having to take her word for it, Rena just stared at the
sympathetic woman. “You don’t have to leave. I don’t think any of my questions
would come as a shock to you.”

“Probably not. However, I have some business of my own
to take care of at the moment.” Kissing her on the cheek, Octavia walked over
to Genma and hugged her best friend.

Genma rose and escorted Octavia to the door, her arm
around her friend’s waist as they walked. “I appreciate you staying until she
woke.”

“Of course, I promised I would help care for her. We
both have some explaining to do. I’ll talk to you soon.” Octavia pulled the
door open.

Genma waved her friend away, then closed the door.

Rena felt too agitated to sit, but she did it anyway.
She needed to show her control over her emotions. Even though inside she felt
like a cherry bomb had been let off inside of her and was spinning around
waiting to explode.