by Unknown
“But, as it turns out, werebear babies don’t gestate well in human women. I didn’t know this at the time, or I would have been more careful. No one warned me, you see…”
He trailed off. She remained quiet so he could compose himself.
“I lost them both. The baby killed her, then died before the clan’s doctor could get him out. He wouldn’t have lived long anyway — he was a mutant.”
Bitterness had crept into his voice, and Bethany could tell he was fighting back tears. Hell, she was fighting back tears. She couldn’t imagine the devastation he must have felt. Her heart broke for his loss. When he turned to face her, the trauma he’d gone through was etched on his face. This was not an easy story for him to share.
“I’m so sorry, Chet.”
“Don’t be sorry for me, girly,” he snapped. “Listen to me instead. I like you. I don’t want to see you hurt. I don’t want to see my nephew hurt. But if you continue down this path, that’s exactly what will happen. You’ll be injured or killed and my nephew will…” He sniffed back his emotions. “I’m afraid he’ll end up like me.”
Bethany was speechless. Chet moved back to the chair across from her and just sat there looking at her. What was she supposed to say to all that? Was he saying there was no chance for a human to carry a werebear baby? That was the question she was finally able to ask.
“I’ve never heard of a successful mating between a human female and a bear male. You humans are too delicate to handle our babies. Now, bear females should have no problem carrying a half-breed baby but why would they want to?” He shuddered with disgust at the mere thought.
“How can you say that when you mated with a human?”
“Like I said, I’ve come to realize that I was wrong. I don’t have anything against your kind, but I just think we need to remain separate species.” He shrugged matter-of-factly.
Bethany tried to absorb what Chet had just told her. Her stomach was knotted up and she felt ready to puke. Her suspicion was true. She’d never be able to have Max’s baby, so what was the point in continuing their relationship. If Chet hadn’t been sitting there, she would have been sobbing already. She did her best to maintain a tiny shred of dignity.
Chet reached across the divide and patted her knee. She still didn’t like him much but he was trying to be kind, and she would take what she could get right now. It hit her like a ton of bricks: she was at that critical point Charlotte had warned her about. She was going to have to choose between her man and the possibility of a family.
The tears she’d been fighting back refused to be contained any longer. Big dollops spattered the lap of her robe as she struggled with this new information.
“Why are you telling me all this, Chet?” Her watery blue eyes met his. For the first time she saw the resemblance between Max and him. It was in the eyes; the same gold and cinnamon flecked irises. She’d never noticed before because he was usually scowling so hard at her she couldn’t see what color they were.
“Like I said, I’m worried about the both of you if this little ‘relationship’—“ he used actual air quotes, the jerk — “continues. Max is too stubborn and selfish to end things, even though he knows full well what the outcome will be if you get knocked up. So you need to do it. You need to man-up and break it off before it’s too late.”
Bethany’s entire body was trembling. She couldn’t break up with Max. He was the best thing to ever happen to her. He saw her for who she really was, and liked her all the more for it. How could Chet ask her to give that up?
“Why now?” Her voice was barely a whisper.
Chet crossed his arms and cast a frustrated glance in the direction of Max’s apartment. “Honestly, I thought he’d do the right thing and end it a long time ago. I waited till Max was gone because I knew he’d pitch a fit if I tried to tell you the truth. You needed to know what was at stake.”
Her life. Her life was at stake. So her choices, as laid out by good ol’ Uncle Chet, were to live childless with the love of her life, die in childbirth, or move on and hope to find someone she loved as much as Max. They all sucked balls.
She was drained of all emotion. A void seemed to have eaten her heart, which wasn’t as painful as trying to choose between Max and some fictional rugrats, so she welcomed it. Then Chet drove the nail home.
“And of course there’s the shunning.”
“The what?”
“The shunning. When a werebear chooses a human mate, they’re shunned from the community. Happened to me. They only let me back in after Crystal and the baby died and I pledged to push for strict breeding rules.”
“So Max gets kicked out of your little werebear club if he chooses me as his mate?”
Anger flashed in Chet’s eyes. “Don’t be snide, girly. I’m trying to help you. And Max. Can you imagine every member of your family, every friend you’ve ever had, suddenly never speaking to you again? If you loved him half as much as you seem to think you do, you’d let him go so he could continue being part of the community he belongs to.”
It was true, Max was dedicated to his fellow werebears. And the thought of all of her brothers, her parents, her friends turning their backs on her was unimaginable. She couldn’t believe he’d never told her about the repercussions of their love. But then maybe he only saw this as a short-term fling. If that was the case, it would behoove her to end it now before her heart was shattered.
Even if he didn’t feel that way, ending it seemed to be the only option. She couldn’t ask him to give up everyone and everything he held dear just to be with her. That would tear him apart, and he’d probably end up resenting her for it sometime down the road. But she knew him well enough by now to know that he’d resist Chet’s attempts to control him, regardless the outcome.
No, as much as she hated to admit it, Chet was right. But how could she live next door to Max and not be with him. It would be impossible to see him without her heart breaking over and over again. The hot tears burning down her cheeks turned into sobs of grief.
Chet leaned over and roughly patted the top of her hanging head, doing his best to comfort her, but she was inconsolable. For several minutes, the only sound in the apartment was her crying. When the heavy sobs eased to a few hitches and sniffles, Chet handed her a handful of Kleenex he’d pulled from his pocket. She had to give it to him, he came prepared.
“Listen, I can help you. You know I’ve kinda been wanting you to move out for a while, right?”
Bethany nodded and blew her nose. “Yeah, you’re not very subtle.”
“Well, now you know why. I knew Max would think nothing of dating you because he has these crazy ideas about interbreeding—“ He looked at her sharply. “Which are just plain wrong.”
She nodded again, tears threatening to break through the dam again.
“Anyway, you obviously can’t stay here now because you know you’ll just go back to him. I can see it in your face.”
Looking him in the eye wasn’t an option because he was speaking the truth, which she couldn’t admit. They both knew it, that was enough.
“So here’s the deal. Max is gone for a couple days. You find some friend to stay with and I’ll pay for movers to get all your stuff out. I’ll even rent a storage unit for a couple of months till you find a new place. And I’ll write a glowing recommendation about what a great tenant you are, so you shouldn’t have any trouble.”
Wow, he’d really thought of everything. Had it all planned out. Her head was still spinning from all of this, but here was Chet, ready to get the ball rolling.
“Thing is,” he said, surveying the apartment, “we gotta start now if we’re gonna get you out before he comes back.”
“I can’t just leave without saying goodbye!” Bethany protested. “That would just be cruel.”
“Crueler than letting him watch you move out? At least this way, you’re gone, outta sight. You can talk to him when he gets back but this way there won’t be any dramatic scenes during the move. Plus,
I won’t pay if you want to wait. This is a one-time offer, take it or leave it.”
What kind of cold-hearted bastard was this guy? After what he’d been through, he should have more compassion for Max, forget about her. How was she supposed to make this kind of decision so quickly. Exhaustion leaked out of every pore and all she wanted to do was curl up into a ball.
But she knew he was right about doing it while Max was gone. She wouldn’t be able to leave if he was there, and he (hopefully) wouldn’t let her go. If she was going to do it, it should be now.
Bethany stood, clutching the robe tight to her like a life preserver, and wandered into the kitchen. She’d miss the woods, but that was nothing compared to how much she’d miss Max. Was there any other way?
No, she decided. Babies had always been in her vision for her future and she didn’t want to give up on them. And she didn’t want Max to have to give up on them either. They were still young, they’d both find other, more suitable partners. It wasn’t too late. But if he wriggled his way any deeper into her heart, it would be.
She turned to Chet, who’d been watching her every movement, and gave him a tiny nod.
“Great! I mean, um, I’ll get the movers over here right away. You get dressed and pack what you need, then find somewhere to stay. Hell, if you can’t find anywhere, I’ll even put you up at a hotel for a few days.”
Bethany was crushed at Chet’s glee over her decision. She was anything but happy right now. As he called someone on his cell, she wandered back to her bedroom and curled up in a ball on the bed. Through her tears, she punched Charlotte’s contact.
“Hey, B! Had a total blast last night…well, until we had to clean up puke. I hope we didn’t ruin your night.”
“No.” She was having a hard time holding herself together enough to form words. She could hear her voice hitch and jump as she spoke, and was powerless to stop it. “Um, could I come stay with you for a couple of weeks?”
The request was met with silence. “Bethany, what’s going on?”
“I can’t talk about it right now, but I need to get out of here. Can you put me up?”
“Of course!” Charlotte was pretty good about respecting boundaries. She’d let Bethany mope until she was ready to talk, even though it would kill her to do so. “The spare room is already made up so just come over whenever you want, okay?”
“Okay.” Her voice was cracking, ready to break at any moment. “See you later.”
She lay on the bed, allowing the waves of grief and loss wash over her and pool on her pillow. Time had slowed to a crawl, or sped up to lightspeed, she wasn’t sure which, nor did she care.
Moving in a daze, she threw on some clothes and packed a suitcase with everything she might need. Or, rather, she hoped she was packing everything she needed — she was in such a fugue state that she had to look at her moisturizer three times to figure out if it was important enough to take.
A knock on her door made her jump. Chet poked his head in. “They’re ready to start packing. It’ll probably be easier if you’re not here. Ready to go?”
She nodded and weakly pointed toward to suitcase. Chet grabbed it and left the room. “I’ll put it in your car,” he yelled on his way down the hallway. Man, he really wanted her gone.
She shuffled through the apartment like a zombie, heading for the front of the house, as movers wrapped and packed her life into brown boxes, but she couldn’t resist stopping to get one last look at her woods before she left them for good. There really was no option to come back for fear of running into Max. She’d have to find some other park or forest to explore. Not to mention some other man who would care for her as much as he did. He’d set the bar high, and she wasn’t sure she’d ever find someone who could compare.
Before she knew what she was doing, Bethany was sliding open the back door. “Where the hell are you going?” Chet growled. “Your car’s out front.”
She looked back over her shoulder, her eyes sunk deep into her sockets, her normal color drained to a sickly grey. “I need to say goodbye to my woods.” She wasn’t asking or pleading, just stating a fact. Chet could fuck right off if he didn’t like it.
“Just don’t take too long,” he called after her.
As she pushed open the squeaky back gate, she thought, Fuck you, Chet.
Chapter Ten
An overwhelming sense of peace flooded over Bethany as she entered the woods. They’d always brought her comfort when she needed it most, and she needed it now more than ever. The last few hours had been torment for her so the calm that settled on her heart as she walked her favorite trail was a welcome relief. She felt like she could breathe again.
At the end of the path lay a tiny waterfall that spilled over a rock wall into an equally tiny pool. It was too small for any fish to live in, but frogs liked to hang out there, and sometimes deer and other animals could be spied drinking from it. A nearby fallen log provided an excellent bench from which to watch the goings on, and that’s where she headed now.
Birds chirped and squirrels skittered up the towering pines as she passed. She’d always meant to take a birding class so she could figure out which ones were singing to her in the woods, but she’d never gotten around to it. It was just one more regret to add to the growing list.
Being proactive in life didn’t come naturally to her. She always seemed to let things just happen to her. Jobs, boyfriends, whatever, and rarely had any of them turned out well. Never had she made a conscious decision to take a specific course of action, do something that would change her life. Now she had, but for some reason, that didn’t make her feel better. Only the cool, dark closeness of the trees gave her any solace.
Lost in her thoughts, Bethany tripped over a root that stretched across the trail. She thudded to the ground, snapping the root. A split second later, she heard another snap come from the undergrowth nearby.
She whipped her head around, unsure of where the sound came from. Fear shot through her system, setting her on high alert as she waited for another noise. But none came. The birds resumed chirping and the wind rustled the tops of the trees.
There had never been any sign of predators in these woods — she’d always kept her eye out for scat and other indicators — and she’d never seen another person on her little trail before. She chuckled nervously at her own skittishness, shook off the sudden anxiety, brushed some pine needles off her jeans and continued on. The waterfall was just a little way farther down the path.
Gurgling sounds reached her just before the musty, mossy smell hit her nose. This was her spot, her place to think. She’d puzzled out any number of problems at her hidden sanctuary, and though she’d already made her decision, just sitting on the spongy, rotting log comforted her.
She’d fallen hard for Max, no doubt about it. That a man like him even existed in the world was a shock to her system, and that he cared for her had surprised her even more. Over the course of the last several weeks, she’d started to see herself through his eyes, and was absolutely stunned by her own awesomeness. It took this amazing, strange, beautiful man to make her realize her own value, and for that she’d be forever grateful. For that alone, she would love him forever.
But because of that, she also knew what she was doing was the right thing, even though every fiber of her being was screaming that she was an idiot for letting him go. Not only did he deserve a family of his own, Bethany realized that she did, too. As much as she loved Max, a family was non-negotiable. And she couldn’t be party to his being tossed out of his clan, as backward as that practice seemed.
Oh, and there was the little matter of her own life. Her time with Max had made her realize how precious life was, and how much of the world she had left to see. There was too much life in front of her to risk it — and her heart — so recklessly. Breaking it off was the best thing for everyone concerned, no matter how difficult it would be.
The fact that he was a werebear never entered her thought process. Other than the repercussions of
a human-bear union, it was a total non-issue.
Sucking in a deep, cleansing breath, she brushed away the tears that streaked her cheeks. Well, there’s nothing for it, she thought. Better get a move on.
“Goodbye, waterfall,” she whispered. “Bye, trees. See you later, birds.” It suddenly dawned on her that the birds were silent. They normally chattered away quite loudly. She wasn’t sure how long they’d been quiet, and it was unnerving. A feeling of unease, of being watched, creeped over her, setting all her hairs on end. Was someone out there?
“Hello?” She could hear the quaver in her voice and tried to convince herself it was nothing. That it was just like the noise she heard earlier.
That noise! What had made that noise? An irrational — or maybe a very rational — urge to run screaming down the trail nearly overwhelmed her. Instead, she tried to control her racing heart and slowly moved toward the path, every sense running in hyperdrive.
The smell hit her first, a familiar feral scent. It reminded her of something, but her mind didn’t have time to make the connection before a monstrous form emerged from the thick brush ahead of her, stopping her dead in her tracks.
The bear turned its pale golden eyes on her, lowering its massive head in a threatening pose. Bethany heard a low rumbling, and her confused brain wondered how a semi truck had made it all the way out in the woods. It took a moment before she realized it was coming from the bear.
Her feet felt as if they were cemented in quicksand. She was paralyzed. Even if she could move, she had nowhere to run. The bear was blocking her only escape route. Behind her lay the rock wall.
The beast swayed back and forth in place, that horrible noise coming from someplace deep within it, its mesmerizing eyes locked on hers. Her stomach threatened to spill its entire contents, as did her bladder, but she managed to control both. It was her pulse and breathing she couldn’t control. Oh, and the violent shaking that suddenly seemed to consume her body.
