by Amy Kyle
Gregory is part-bear. Oh God; he’s part-bear. How did this happen? How? How?!
This must be what Bella had felt; not that Nicole even liked that book series, but just the concept of discovering someone you cared for wasn’t…wasn’t fully human.
It was kinda exciting to be honest.
With all their clothes off, Gregory began kissing her shoulder blade, working his way up the neck. Nicole’s fingers dug into his back, enticing a guttural groan from his lips. She wrapped her legs around him as he began to thrust. Nicole cried out with passion, arching her body backwards and allowing her lover to enter deeper into her. As he kept going, Gregory began to smother Nicole’s neck with kisses some more. Her breaths were barely coming out in gasps now. Her eyes and mouth were wide open, unable to express recognizable emotion. She couldn’t even scream. She was caught up in the epicenter of it all. His touch felt even better than usual. It was ecstatic. It was heavenly. It-
It was right then that Gregory nibbled on her neck.
“Stop!” Nicole screamed, “Stop! Stop! Stop!”
Despite his large size, Gregory was off her in an instant.
“What?!”
Nicole couldn’t stop her body from shaking sporadically. When she looked at him, Gregory could see something in her eyes, something he didn’t want to see.
“Nicole, what’s wrong baby?”
“Why’d you bite me?”
“I’ve done it before. What’s the problem?”
“It’s just that you…uh.”
Gregory’s eyes narrowed.
“Because you know I’m part bear now, isn’t it?”
“I’m sorry.” Nicole said in a low whisper, “I’m not meaning to make you think that I care about that.”
Gregory looked at her, unable to speak. Nicole averted her gaze and began picking up her clothes. Gregory walked over and put his hand over hers.
“Let’s just call it a night. Clearly you need to process this some more, ok?”
“Ok.”
“You ok sleeping here tonight?”
Nicole nodded. Gregory lightly kissed her on the cheek and began to pull on his clothes. The two went off to bed and slept without another word being said.
***
Nicole rubbed the mark where Gregory had bitten for about the tenth time at work today, and she had only been there an hour. She felt conflicted about it all. Deep down, she really was ok with Gregory being who he was. It was weird, and didn’t seem all that possible, but this was who Gregory turned out to be.
Maybe he was one of those, what’s the word, furries. Maybe he had some furry bear costume in his closet that he walks around in when he gets those urges of his. I mean so long as he stayed his loving, loyal self, he could be into nearly any non-violent lifestyle he chooses.
But that bite, she thought as she rubbed it again, that was something else entirely. After being told he figured himself a half-bear, that bite just immediately conjured up some gory thoughts in her head. She had pictured him throttling her by her neck, blood flying everywhere. She shuddered at that thought, not wanting to think any more about that, or even how that ruined her feelings about Gregory. He was such a sweet guy, and it must have taken a lot of courage for him to reveal that about himself.
She looked down at her stomach and wondered, ‘What would a half-bear baby look like?’
“What are you looking at?”
Nicole turned to see her co-worker Abagail staring at her, a coffee mug in her hand. Nicole gave an embarrassed smile and straightened out her shirt.
“Oh, nothing.”
“Oh hey! How did that doctor’s appointment go? Did you get anymore news?”
“Well…”
Abagail gave a big, toothy smile.
“Oh my God!”
She wrapped Nicole in a big hug, shaking both her body and Nicole in a fit of excitement.
“You’re gonna be a mother! That’s so exciting!!”
A female customer passing by stopped and turned to the two customer service employees having their little moment. She gave a small laugh of amusement. Abagail saw this and slowly assumed a more professional stance.
“Sorry about that. My friend just found out she’s going to be a mom.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful. Congratulations.”
“Thank you.”
The two watched the woman leave before having a hushed laugh. Abagail made her way behind a register before turning back to Nicole. She was about to say something when a customer approached her.
“So have you told Gregory yet?” she asked once she was free again.
“Yeah. I told him right after I found out.”
“And what’d he say?”
“He was…happy. A little concerned about whether I wanted his child.”
“Would I hope he should! The two of you are dating!”
“He’s just recently been diagnosed with some stuff and-“
“What?! What kind of stuff?!”
Nicole shushed her before continuing.
“Just private stuff. I don’t think he’d like me talking about it.”
“Well if it affects the kid, then he better get himself checked or fixed or something.”
“I’m sure everyone is going to turn out fine.”
“Listen Nicole, I have heard you talk about a lot of guys who you just couldn’t click with. You’ve waited this long for the right guy and if he isn’t it, then you need to find the courage to get out.”
“No Abby. He’s not like that. It’s just we had this big talk last night and I learned some new things about him that I just need to think on.”
“Are you sure that’s all it is?”
“Yes!”
“Ok. I wish you two the best then.”
Nicole smiled and turned to face the customer who had just approached her register.
***
During her lunch break, Nicole grabbed a coffee and a croissant from the Starbucks in the store. As she was sitting down to eat, her cell phone vibrated. It was a text message from Gregory asking if she was doing alright, considering everything that went on last night.
‘Yes. Everything is fine.’
‘Are we still fine?’
Nicole replied that they were, but Gregory wanted to see her to make sure.
‘Maybe. Sometime later when I’m not so busy.’
‘Ok then. When are you free?’
Before she could respond, a second text message appeared.
‘I really want to get things straightened out. I need to know if this can still work.’
Nicole bit her lip, and then took a sip of her coffee.
‘Tomorrow we’ll talk about it.’
Nicole put her phone away and tried to finish her lunch and not think too negatively about what talking to Gregory was going to be like.
They were going to get through this.
They would be just fine.
At least, that’s what she hoped.
***
Nicole got back to her apartment around six in the evening. She carried the groceries up the stairs, unlocked the door and pushed it open. After putting everything away, she started cooking some dinner. Normally she would be satisfied with a half-hour of cooking some spaghetti or meatloaf, but tonight it was going to be some microwavable corn dogs.
Nicole stood watching the food turning around when she remembered how the microwave could radiate some things to give her cancer, and jumped away. She covered up her belly with her arms almost instinctively, and then slowly let them fall to her side. She lifted her shirt and rubbed her belly. She knew that the child wasn’t far enough along that they’d start kicking back yet, but there was still something developing in there. A week ago, she didn’t realize how much her world was changing. Nicole recalled how stunned she had been when she had missed her period after a few months. She had scheduled a doctor’s appointment as quickly as she could. They did their tests, and then they came back and gave her the news.
But they
never told her that the child she held was going to be half-human. She was already going to need to seek some advice for how to be a mother and she doubted they had self-help books on her current situation. What would it even look like when she gave birth to the child? Would it slide out like a baby, or maybe claw its way out with bear paws.
There may be a lot to this that she would have to ask Gregory when she saw him.
***
The drive the next day felt nerve-wracking. Never in her life did Nicole expect to have the discussion that she was about to have, and yet there were questions that were absolutely key to what her future was going to hold.
She knocked as confidently on the door as she could. Gregory opened it. There were evident bags under his eyes and his clothing seemed pretty ruffled. Despite this, he was smiling like everything was alright.
“Hey.” He said.
“Hey.”
“I appreciate you coming over as quickly as you did.”
“Of course. I know this is important to you, and it’s rather important to me considering…”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah.”
“Would you like to come inside?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
Gregory stood to the side as Nicole walked in. The two headed to Gregory’s room, which looked slightly better than Gregory did. The bed well-made and the carpet looked almost brand new as well.
Gregory headed over to the bed, Nicole following close behind.
“You can set your bags down by the nightstand.”
Nicole did as she was instructed, and then taking a spot on the bed opposite of Gregory after she was done.
“I’ll go first.” Said Gregory, “I feel that since I’ve told you about me being half-bear, that you’ve been very put-off with me. I get that this was big news and you can’t be expected to process this almost immediately, but this is more than just you and me. You’re pregnant and I don’t want you having to carry around this child if you don’t want to. So I need to know what you’re thinking about all of this. Please don’t be afraid to be honest to me, even if it’s not what I want to hear.”
“Gregory I…I just don’t know. I mean, half-bear? I don’t know if that makes you someone in serious need of psychiatric help, if this is just “who you are”, or if you’re some dangerous monster. I just, how do you expect this to work? Is this child going to be part bear?”
“I told you Nicole, I don’t know! I’m the only person I know who deals with this! I don’t know beyond what people tell me!”
“What people?!”
“My roommates. They came out a few nights and just watched me when I got the urge. I mean, they are very weirded out by this, but they aren’t going to rat me out. They say I’m harmless.”
“They have seen you turn into a bear?”
“Yeah.”
“So if I go out and talk to them, they’ll say they followed you somewhere-“
“To a park.”
“To a park, ok. They’ll say they saw you out there and that you turned from a man into a bear and back into a man?”
“Yes!”
“Do your friends bring any sort of drugs along when they experience this?”
“You don’t believe me!”
“Do you take drugs before you turn into this “bear”?”
Gregory got to his feet, “This is a pointless conversation if you are just going to deny everything being told to you.”
“Gregory, I don’t want to believe it.”
“So why did you come then, huh Nicole? You have no respect for me or who I am, so why bother even coming here?”
Tears began to form in Nicole’s eyes, “I mean I don’t want to believe that the love of my life can turn into this animal from time-to-time. I don’t want to believe that the child, the child that is supposed to be the light of our lives, is possibly going to go through the same things too. I don’t want to believe that out of all the faults that you could have, it is one that I can’t possibly hope to understand.”
Gregory seemed to look very unsure, watching as this supposed “accuser” was slowly making her way on her knees over to him.
“I want to understand Gregory. I want to know all that makes you tick and love every inch of you. I want to love your body. I want to love your soul. I want to love the features that this creation of ours will have from each of us, but I just can’t. I want to understand. I want…I want to see this.”
“See what?”
“Show me the transformation.”
“Why would you want to see it?”
“Because I will always be wondering about it if we find a way to stick together. Not knowing this side of you will haunt me always if I don’t see this. Gregory, I need to see this thing of yours.”
“Fine. If it will help with this whole thing.”
Nicole’s whole body seemed to ease itself up. She collapsed on the bed with a sigh of exhaustion. She scooted a little to the side as Gregory took a seat down. She curled up beside him, slipping her hand in his. He tightened his grip on her hand ever so slightly, stroking her fingers with his.
“I really do want this to work out Gregory. I really do.”
“I know Nicole.”
“So, when is the next time this urge of yours is supposed to happen?”
“I don’t. It comes at odd moments, but I know when it happens when right around the time that I get a really strong feeling.”
“A strong feeling?”
“Like if I’m really angry, sad or happy. You know, when I’m feeling an extreme emotion.”
“Extreme emotion huh?”
“Yeah.”
“Ok then.”
Nicole began to fiddling with Gregory’s zipper. Gregory, caught by surprise, struggled at first.
“What are you doing?”
“Just relax Gregory. I’ll get you ready.”
Gregory eased himself back as Nicole began stripping away his pants. She pulled his underpants around his ankles and wrapped her mouth over his cock. She began to suck on it, her tongue stroking it in unison. Gregory’s hands clenched his bedsheets tightly, his back arched back so his eyes were gazing upward. His breathing came in gasps for breath and pleasured moans. As he came into her mouth, Nicole raised her head, swallowed, and then went back for a second go at it. Gregory felt his cock growing harder again and began muttering the names of several Gods, Judeo-Christian and otherwise.
As Nicole raised her head again, He lunged forward and pushed Nicole onto the bed like a cat pouncing on a mouse. She gave a smile as he removed her clothing one by one, tossing them off the bed with hardly a thought. He thrust his cock into her and began moving back and forth on her. Nicole screamed with glee as the two of them hit their synchronized stride. She put her hands around his lower hips, teasing the ends of her fingers against his ass, while he put his hands on her breasts and began to lightly rub them with his fingertips. They locked eyes with each other, both grinning like crazy, young kids discovering love for the first time. The two of them continued to move as one, sweat dripping down their bodies and moans escaping their lips.
Suddenly, Gregory’s moan began turning into a very low growl. He began to stop, Nicole ceasing a moment after.
“Gregory?”
“It’s time.”
“The urge?”
“Yeah. We need to get me out of here. Fast”
The two of them sprang out of bed, pulling on clothes as fast as they can. They rushed out the door as they could, drawing the stares of the other roommates.
“Where you guys off to?” Lewis asked.
“Gregory’s got an urge. I have to see him turn.”
The roommates sprang up after them.
“We’ll take our car.” Lewis said, grabbing keys off the counter.
The five of them leapt out of the apartment and dove into the van waiting outside. They were speeding off before everyone had a chance to fully get their seatbelt.
***
“Why
did you get him on his urge right now?” asked Lewis from the passenger seat.
“I wanted to see this so I could understand who he is, so we had sex and-“
“I do NOT need to know that. My point is that he changes pretty fricking quickly after he gets his urge.”
Nicole looked at Gregory, who looked as if he was trying to hold something in. His teeth were grit tightly. His eyeballs seeming to bulge out of the sockets. There was also a lot of hair on his hands, but Nicole could not recall if that amount had always been normal or if it was more than usual.
“How far away is the park?”
“A bit farther.”
Gregory let out an angry roar, causing the person driving to almost swerve the van into oncoming traffic.
“Hurry up you guys!”
“You know, it’s not our fault we’re in such a time crunch.”
***
They soon made it to the park. Nicole reached over and undid the seatbelt on Gregory. Lewis opened the door, to which Gregory came barreling out of the van and ran off into the trees in the center of the park. Within seconds, he disappeared from view. Nicole ran to chase after him, but Lewis grabbed her and held her back.
“He’ll be right back. Trust me, you aren’t missing too much with the transformation. It’s pretty nasty to watch, speaking from first-hand experience.”
Nicole looked off into the trees, trying to get a glimpse of anything at all. The only way she was able to tell that Gregory was somewhere in there was the sound of his roaring. It was becoming more and more primal, until it stopped. Then there was silence. The roommates began to walk forward, Nicole following close behind them. As they descended into the tree line, they began to turn on their flashlights and slowly shine them around. Nicole was handed a flashlight, which she darted the light around trying to find Gregory. Lewis steadied her hand.
“You wave your light around like that, you’ll spook him.”
Nicole wrestled her arm away from him and shone her light on the ground. They kept walking, out of the trees and onto the other side of the park.
And there was Gregory, or at least a giant grizzly bear. Nicole offered a short yelp, covering her mouth in an attempt to not spook him. She began raising her flashlight to get a better look
“Don’t shine it near his face. That scares him.”
