Stop it. Becky shook her head and wiggled herself deeper into his arms. He doesn't have to do any of this. If he says I'm sexy, then I'm sexy.
She really needed to work on her self-esteem. It was high time the damage done to her by her upbringing started to heal. And maybe it wouldn't go away all at once but she was her own worst enemy, always setting herself up for failure by not believing in herself. She was a best-selling author, dammit, what else did she need? As far as being sexy… she didn't need a man to tell her she was worth it. She was worth it no matter what anybody said.
But, she had to admit as she drifted off to sleep, it does feel nice to have somebody else tell me that I'm beautiful… and sexy.
Chapter Six
She was running. He could hear her panting with fear as he scrambled after her. He tried to call after her, to tell her that it was okay, that it was just him, but the only noises to come from his mouth were grunts and growls. He glanced down at his feet–paws. Concentrating, he tried to shift, to retake his human form. He couldn't. Becky was still ahead running toward a cliff. He tried to go faster, tried to warn her but for every step he took, she took two. He was stuck in mud, dragging him back. And then there was fire flickering all around him.
No! Come back!
A roar erupted from his mouth and she screamed, throwing herself forward. She tumbled off the cliff and—
They weren't alone.
Isaias jerked from sleep, heart in his throat. The fog of his dream hung briefly, confusing him, but the scent that hit him quickly drove sleep from his body. Bear. Thick. Strong. He knew instantly it wasn't his own scent. His arms were still wrapped around Becky, his fingers twined with hers. There were two other scents. Two bears.
With a growl, he leapt from the bed, ignoring Becky's startled cry as he jostled her from her slumber. He quickly scanned the room but it was empty. Flaring his nostrils, he followed the scent to the window and glanced down. The porch door was hanging open. His heart thudded as he raced back to Becky and pulled her to her feet.
"Isa? What's going on?"
"Somebody broke in," he said in a low voice. "Try to be quiet, I'm going to get you to the panic room and then go for Adela."
"Somebody broke in? How? You have security?" Becky tripped over her own feet as he pulled her to the door.
As soon as he opened the door, the scent of bear hit him hard. He cautiously stepped out–a roar greeted him, accompanied by thunderous footsteps down the hallway. With a shout, he pushed Becky back inside the room but it was too late. The other bear was already there, a huge paw swiping at his head.
He reacted without thinking. His bear roared and charged to the surface; he didn't fight it. It burst through his skin, his rational mind sinking down as the primal force took over. The only thought in his mind was to protect Becky at any cost.
The other bear's blow struck his face hard, sending ripples down his side. Isaias roared and threw his whole weight forward, claws tearing at his enemy. His jaws clamped down on the other bear's neck and he was able to throw him back using sheer bulk. The other bear dug his claws into Isaias's flesh, causing a metallic tang to fill the air.
Another snarl and Isaias threw himself over the other bear. He pinned him to the floor, chomping and tearing, trying to get a good angle at his neck. His enemy kicked him in the belly, causing pain to shoot through his abdomen. Isaias was forced to retreat. The bear scrambled to his feet and rushed towards the staircase. Isaias followed. He dug tooth and claw into his enemy's flank and with a great heave, flipped him through the bannister. The bear made a strangled noise as he fell, landing hard on his back.
Becky screamed.
Too late he remembered there were two of them.
He whipped around, knocking a hole in the wall as his head collided with it. Becky screamed again. A bear was half in the bedroom, moving backwards. When its head appeared, Isaias saw her leg in its mouth. He charged, not making a sound and threw himself at the bear that dared hurt Becky. His momentum carried them both into the wall, knocking through the drywall and into one of the studs.
The bear shouted. Another scream from Becky. Isaias stabbed the bear with his claws, mounting its back to bite at the back of its neck. This one was bigger than he was and threw him off. Its black fur glistened in the night.
The two circled each other while Becky scrambled deeper into the room, watching with huge eyes. Isaias wanted to tell her to get out, to run, to go through the window if she had to, but the only noise to come from him were the grunts and growls of his bear. The familiarity of his dream made a low moan reverberate through his chest.
She limped to one side of the room and pressed herself against the wall. "Put him through the window! Throw him out!"
Both bears lunged for each other at the same time. Isaias managed to get under the other bear's bulk and drove him towards the window. It bit and tore at him but he pushed through the pain. Claws tore through the expensive carpet. Becky shouted his name and he gave one mighty shove. His enemy teetered up onto its hind legs. Isaias lunged at it again. This time sending it crashing through the window and wall into the pool below.
There was no time to shift and explain his situation to Becky. He rushed to her, shaking his head and crouching down. She whimpered in her throat but climbed onto his back. Isaias tore from the room, headed for the panic room. The bear he'd pushed over the stairs was just limping back onto the second floor.
Adela was already in the panic room, no doubt having heard the noise. Luci screamed and Adela pulled Becky from his back. She handed the baby to the writer before diving for their defence supply. Isaias shifted just in time to catch the bottle of bear spray she tossed to him. Both of them pointed their canisters out as the other bear charged at them.
The door slid shut, sealing them in and it out. The house shook as the bear slammed into the door.
"I've already called the cops," Adela shouted. "They'll be here in five minutes!"
The shuddering stopped.
None of the cameras or controls were working. Isaias swore under his breath as he sat at the computer and tried to boot it up. Nothing. They didn't have any independent source of electricity in here. Clearly a flaw in the design.
Adela turned on a flashlight and put it on the desk before taking Luci back. The baby flailed in her arms and screamed, her tiny face red. Becky collapsed onto one of the beds. Her face was pale, her jaw hanging loose. She kept rubbing her arms and Isaias saw that there were goosebumps standing up over them. He retrieved the first aid kit and knelt in front of her.
"I'm going to clean out these bites on your leg now."
Becky stared at him and another shudder shook her but she nodded. She stared silently at him as he pulled rubbing alcohol from the first aid kit and inspected her leg. There was a lot of blood but the wounds looked superficial. Scrapes rather than the deep punctures that would have been there if the bear had really clamped down on her. It was a relief–hopefully it meant there were no broken bones.
"How did they get in?" Becky pulled away slightly as he went to take her leg in his hands.
"I need to clean your wounds."
She nodded but pulled away again. Her eyes were huge in her skull. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to do that. I'll hold still."
Isaias held his hand out. "Put your leg in my hand."
She did without so much as a shiver. He gripped her ankle tight as he swabbed the bite marks. She hissed between her teeth and gripped the blankets.
"How did they get in here?" She repeated. "What happened to your security system?"
"I don't know. I checked to make sure it was on." He didn't say that whoever did this probably had security codes. Somehow, their attackers knew exactly what to do to shut down the system.
"But how did they get in?" Becky insisted. "Bears can't open doors."
Adela, who had managed to calm Luci by this point, made a choking noise. Isaias ignored her, keeping his voice calm. Becky was in shock, after all. "They were shifters.
Just like me."
"Shifters." Becky gulped in a deep breath. "Okay. Did they attack us because they don't want you to marry a non-shifter? Wait. You're a shifter? Of course you are, I saw you change into a bear. Oh, God. You're a bear. A bear shifter, I mean. Sorry. I nearly had sex with a bear!"
The words stung. Becky sucked her lip between her teeth, a flash of regret crossing her face. Isaias started to wind a bandage over her leg and Adela gripped his shoulder. Whether she was trying to make sure he would stay calm or trying to comfort him, he didn't know. He gave her a brief, reassuring smile and turned his attention back to Becky.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I shouldn't have said that. I shouldn't have even thought it. I just… I'm sorry."
"You're in shock. But no. You didn't almost have sex with a bear. In case you don't remember, I told you no."
Becky nodded, looking so miserable that he had to soften towards her.
He moved to sit beside her, putting a bracing hand on her shoulder. "Hey. It's okay. You got a little scraped up but it's nothing serious. You're safe now. I won't let anything happen to you. Okay? I promise. Nothing is going to hurt you."
She stared silently for a moment before she pointed at his shoulder. "You're bleeding."
He glanced down to see blood dripping from his collarbone. His head swum a little as the adrenaline started to fade, letting him know about all the pain radiating through his body. He groaned as he braced himself against the bed. Becky grabbed the first aid kit and began to clean him up. His tense muscles relaxed. Well. Maybe there was a chance that she wasn't going to run screaming for the hills then. That would put a damper on their fake engagement.
"I need you not to say anything to the police about our attackers being shifters," he said, glancing up at her. "We have enough bad press as it is. And this is not the way I want the world to find out that I'm a bear. Please. I need to be able to control my own image."
She winced as she got blood on her fingers from his wounds. "I promise."
"Thank you."
Adela rocked Luci, her gaze distant. And Isaias understood why. The larger bear, the one he'd put in the pool… it was Marcus Haught, Luci's father. What was that low-life doing, attempting to steal Becky? Was it all revenge?
"What did they even want?" Becky wrapped her arms around herself again. "Why go through all of this trouble to break in and attack? Did they want to kill you?"
Isaias grimaced. "I don't think they were here for me. I recognized one of their scents from when your house was broken into. Becky, I think they were after you."
Chapter Seven
Her head didn't hurt as bad as she expected it to. Becky laid still, her eyes shut tight as consciousness came trickling back to her. Her head felt a little stuffy but she wasn't sure if it was a hangover or… She inhaled deeply. Nope. It wasn’t a hangover. And, it wasn’t just a weird drunk dream. Being attacked by bears, finding out Isaias was a bear as well, continually putting her foot in her mouth, and then the cops showing up and Isaias getting a condo-style hotel suite for the four of them… It was all real.
Her leg throbbed and Luci babbled. Becky swallowed hard as she sat up. Her stomach churned as she glanced at the bandage on her leg. Across the room, Adela was stirring in her queen-sized bed. The baby lay in a cradle beside that bed.
"I can get her," Becky said, testing her weight on her leg. It ached but not so much that she couldn’t walk on it.
Adela smiled at her before worming her way deeper under the blankets. Becky picked up Luci and carried her out, careful to make sure to keep her balance. There were noises from below and when she went down the stairs she found Isaias already up, mixing some pancake batter.
"Hi," Becky said awkwardly, limping towards the diaper bag sitting on the floor. "How… how are you?”
"Fine."
He was shirtless, revealing that the bloody tears in his skin from last night were nothing more than puckered, scabbed lines now. Of course. Shifters healed significantly faster than non-shifters, and could even regenerate dead tissue, to a point. She sat on the floor to change Luci's diaper while watching him. He didn't look at her, something that made her wince. Even if they were only fake engaged, she didn't like that it had come out like this…
"Isaias…"
He glanced at her.
"I'm sorry for what I said last night. I might have been drunk and in shock, but I still shouldn't have said it. I'm really sorry."
Isaias continued to mix the pancakes, not looking at her. She ducked her head, blinking away tears. Even though she didn't remember exactly what she had said, she knew that it had been somewhat aggressive. She finished changing Luci and washed her hands before looking in the fridge for a bottle. Her leg throbbed and she let out a pained hiss.
"Go sit down, I'll get her bottle."
Isaias gripped her elbow and walked her to the couch before returning to the fridge. He prepped Luci's bottle and returned. Once she was settled, feeding the baby, Becky glanced at him. He crouched beside her.
"So. Now that you know my secret, what happens now?"
Becky stared at him. "What do you mean?"
"Well, are we still fake engaged? Or are you upset that I hid that from you?"
"Uh…" She shifted Luci slightly, not sure how to respond to that. "Well… I mean, you were under no obligation to tell me. There are things about myself that I’ve never told you. So I don't think it would be fair of me to be mad at you, you know? There are things that I've never told anybody. Not even my own family."
Her expression darkened as she considered it. Her secrets were different from his, but she at least had a small idea of what he was going through when he had decided to keep his nature hidden from the world. There were plenty of people who thought that shifters ought to be forced to take part in some sort of registry, as though they were dangers to society. These people loved to point out all the well-publicized crimes that shifters committed. For each of those shifters that broke the law, they never mentioned the many thousands of shifters who just wanted to live their lives. Not to mention that non-shifter crimes weren't toted as 'Non-Shifter Commits Heinous Act' like it was with Shifters.
Isaias nudged her knee with his closed hand. "You know my secret. Tell me one of yours."
"Oh." Becky ducked her head, mind whirling. There were a few things that she could tell him but nothing that was at the same level of his. She sucked in a deep breath. "Okay. I'm… I'm bisexual. I can be attracted to both men and women, although I have a strong preference for men. For a while I thought I was demi but then I realized I was just repressing my natural inclinations due to the way I was brought up. Where anything vaguely sexual was evil and being called 'hot' meant that you were dressing too provocatively."
Isaias' brow furrowed. "Demi? Like a god?"
"What?" Becky had to laugh until she saw he was serious. "No. Demi sexual. It's when somebody requires a certain level of emotional intimacy before they develop a sexual desire for someone."
"Wait, there's a name for that?" Isaias's eyes widened. "I just thought that there was something wrong with me."
Becky's eyes widened. He was demi? "Well, you know, the way society is… sex is so often portrayed as the end all to relationships."
Isaias tilted his head. "Huh. Well it's something to think about. But that's beside the point. Being bisexual and being a shifter are two different things. Maybe some overlap, but your parents would never be murdered for your sexual orientation. Mine were. Because I'm a shifter, because my father was a shifter. My mother wasn't, but that didn't matter to their killer. She was killed anyway. Have you ever been afraid of being killed if you revealed your secret?"
Becky shook her head. "No."
He turned away.
"But I've always been afraid that my family will cut contact and disown me if I told them," she was quick to add. "We came from a very religious background and they have no tolerance for anybody who's not heterosexual. It's one of the reasons I decided to distance mys
elf from them. But for so long they were the only support system I had and even now I just… I know it's not the same. And that wasn't really the point. But if I can't share that part of me when it's becoming more acceptable to be openly LGBT, then how can I expect you to share the fact that you're a shifter with me? I mean… we're not even a real couple."
Isaias studied her for a moment. She ducked her head again, checking how much Luci had left in her bottle. The baby stared up at her with amber eyes, so trusting and innocent. Adela would probably be up soon but Luci had been awake until nearly three and so the longer Adela could sleep, the better. Especially after the night they had.
She let out the breath she was holding when Isaias returned to the pancakes. He ladled some batter onto the griddle, washing and slicing fresh strawberries while the pancakes cooked. Luci finished her bottle quickly and Becky played patty cake with her for a little bit before setting her on her feet. She was still wobbly as she took a few tentative steps to the coffee table and started to bang her hands on it.
"Do you want me to put her in her highchair?" Isaias put a few strawberries on a small plate for Luci.
"Maybe. Yeah. Please. My leg's still pretty tender."
They had gone to the hospital to get it professionally cleaned and bandaged. She shifted, putting it up on the sofa and sighed. "I really am sorry for what I said last night. I didn't mean to freak out the way I did. It was a surprise but…"
"I know. And it's not the worst thing that's been said to me. We were all stressed and I might have read into your words too much." Isaias settled Luci into her high chair and gave her the strawberries before returning to Becky. He picked her up, earning a yelp, and carried her to the table before setting a plate of pancakes in front of her. "So, your family was religious?"
She didn't really want to talk about them, but she knew something that he didn't want to talk about, either. "Highly conservative religious. So much so that when my mom first caught me reading a book with a vague sex scene in it she refused to let me read anything but the bible for a month. But then, they never did seem to care about me unless I was straying from their path."
The Bear Shifter's Virgin (Fated Bears Book 1) Page 4
