by Moxie North
Having a man look at you like you hung the moon gave you a sense of pride that carried over into the rest of your life. Becca had never felt more womanly and powerful as she did when she was with him. In or out of bed.
Eddie and his wife Gemma welcomed her like Angel’s parents had. No judgments, just open arms and hearts.
Their home was a mix of new, expensive looking furniture with items that were probably found at garage sales or thrift stores. Where there wasn’t furniture, there were toys. Half of the living room was laid out with pastel foam mats for kids to play on. Random stuffed animals littered the room. The toys and family pictures told the story of how happy they were.
Their children, Dash and Talia, were amazing. Dash was totally precocious, reminding them frequently that he was five and a half. Not to be confused with just five. He would take breaks from being with the adults to run around the room chasing after his dog.
Talia was a chubby, little blonde cherub. Her bright blue eyes looked just like her daddy’s. They were always taking in the room even though she couldn’t understand the conversation. She was so sweet and patient as they all talked. She’d be happy to play with a toy or just swing her little head back and forth as if she was listening to everyone talk.
Becca had never been around babies much. She knew she wanted kids, but the whole baby side of it wasn’t something she thought too much about. Now she was thinking about it. Babies with Angel and the idea of her pregnant was overwhelming. The soft weight of a baby in her lap was almost too good.
“I think you have a new friend,” Eddie remarked when Talia cuddled into Becca’s lap. The sweet little girl smelled like baby powder and milk. The smell did things to Becca’s ovaries. She felt like the machinery was shaking off the cobwebs being so close to a miniature human.
“Hey, she loves me best,” Angel said. He was hanging Dash upside down by his ankles as the boy giggled and swiped at his uncle’s legs.
“Who are you talking about? Becca or Talia?” Gemma asked bringing coffee into the living room where they were sitting. Eddie had ordered five pizzas like it was a totally normal thing to do. When she’d asked about it, the family busted up laughing.
“We don’t agree on pizza toppings. Easier to get everyone what they want,” Eddie explained.
Eddie was an absolute crack up. His sharp wit had Becca in hysterics. Even funnier was that his wife Gemma would just look at his antics like he was the cutest thing in the world. It was a look of indulgence and love.
At one point, little Dash started running around the room growling at everyone and curling his fingers like claws. “I’m a bear. RAWR!” he’d say before running to the next person. Nervous glances were flashed between the Rochons while Becca’s attention was on the little boy and not the adults.
Becca thought it was cute he had such a great imagination.
She couldn’t help but notice the similarity between Eddie and Gemma and the boys’ parents. The couples were similar in their constant attention of each other. The looks that would pass between them was like they were reading each other’s minds. Eddie would hand things to Gemma without her asking, like Angel’s mom would adjust her husband’s napkin during dinner. It wasn’t anything big, but it spoke volumes about how in tune they were to each other.
It wasn’t like her relationship with Angel needed work. She was beyond happy with what they had. She figured it would take a while to get the kind of ease that these couples had. Although Eddie and Gemma hadn’t been together that long, you would have thought they had been together for decades instead of a shy two years.
It made her long for that with Angel. Maybe she was being greedy. She had a guy that loved her, thought she was sexy as hell, and told her so multiple times a day. Wanting more would be like asking for the moon.
Chapter 44
As they drove back to her house that night, Becca couldn’t help but remark on it.
“They are so in love. It’s almost like there is something else that I can’t put a name on between them. It was the same with your parents. Do you think that is just luck? Finding someone so perfectly matched with you that you’re like two halves of a whole?”
Angel and his bear were thinking the same thing this time. He needed to tell her. Adjusting his direction, he started heading towards his cousin’s property where he knew he could show her his bear in privacy.
“No, you are right. It is something more; something so rare that most people have never seen it before. Love is enough for almost everyone. There are a small group of people that need more. My family is like that. We have to have a connection with the one we are with that transcends love. It’s something akin to being soulmates but in the truest sense of the word.”
“I believe in soulmates. There are some people that are so alike that they are like the same person,” Becca agreed.
“It’s more than that. My family, myself included, believe that the universe put those people in front of us on purpose. That fate brings us the perfect partner; that match that you were talking about.”
“Well, I don’t know if I believe in things being preordained. It sounds a little hokey to me.”
“Hokey or just something you can’t quantify?”
“Angel, I don’t believe in destiny. I think you have to make the best choices you can, and sometimes, you make the wrong ones and other times you get lucky. That some cosmic entity has decided my future without me seems a little unfair.”
How in the hell was he going to explain this to her?
“Would you be willing to suspend your disbelief for a little while so I can show you something?”
“That depends. Are you going to take me to some mystic tree in the woods that tells fortunes?” She was trying to be funny but wasn’t sure it came out that way.
Giving a laugh, Angel said, “Not that I know of. If I find one, you’ll be the first to know about it.”
Becca saw that they had turned down a long dirt road. “Okay, so you are leading me out into the woods for a particular reason?”
“I just wanted some privacy to talk.” Angel was nervous. The last few days he’d even contemplated how long he could even get away without telling her. His bear wasn’t riding him that hard about biting her and completing their bond. He wanted it, but he was letting Angel set the pace.
What if they continued as they were? He realized that wasn’t fair to his animal, so he pushed the thought aside. His bear deserved to be known and to meet their mate.
Pulling up to a clearing well off the road, Angel hopped out of his truck and came around to open her door.
“Trust me?” he asked as he took her hand.
“Of course.” There was no worry about being out in the forest alone with Angel. He was her protector, and she was in no safer hands.
He had left the lights on shining into the woods. Walking her to a fallen log, he gestured for her to sit down.
When she took a seat, looking up at him expectantly, Angel faltered for a moment.
“Becks, do you believe in things that can’t be explained?”
Becca frowned at him. “What like the Loch Ness Monster?”
“Okay, sure, Nessie would fit in that category. What about other things, things they make movies out of?”
“Like vampires and mutants?” Becca wasn’t sure where he was heading with this line of conversation.
“Well, maybe,” he hedged.
“Angel, is this some kind of Rochon family initiation? Are your cousins going to pop out of the trees and scare me?”
“Possibly,” he said under his breath.
Becca just gave him a look that made it clear she wasn’t amused.
“Alright, so here it goes. Have you heard any rumors about my family?”
“Well, other than your gene pool is unfair. The number of good-looking people in your family is a stroke of luck. I had also heard that when a Rochon man picks a woman he goes after her with a focused intent. I didn’t believe that one until I experienced it
myself,” she admitted.
“There is a good reason for that; the need to find the right person and not let them slip away. In my family, we only get one chance to find the perfect person for us. We believe that the fates give us that one person that is made for us. They are our One.”
“So it’s like a family tradition?” Becca was struggling to understand how a family as large as theirs could all believe the same thing. Maybe it was a crazy cult like thing.
“No, it’s a truth that we’ve seen repeated for generations. I’ll admit that I wasn’t completely sure about it either until I met you.”
Oh shit, he was being for real.
“Thank you. I mean, that’s very flattering.” Becca was at a loss of what to say to him. He had squatted down in front of her, and he didn’t look like he was joking.
“Becca, there are—people—in this world that aren’t entirely human.”
She knew tilting her head to the side in confusion made her look like a puppy dog. Did he say not human?
“What does that mean, Angel?” Becca wasn’t about to start a guessing game at this point. She loved the man squatting in the dirt in front of her, and she wasn’t going to rush to judgment. No matter how crazy he sounded.
“It means that my family, the Rochons, are shifters.”
Becca wracked her brain trying to figure out what that word meant. Shifting to what?
“Shifter?”
“We are, I mean I am. We are bear shifters.” Angel thought saying it would be a relief. Instead, he saw the confusion in his mate’s eyes and knew he was failing at his explanation.
“Becks, I can turn into a bear. I was matched with the soul of a bear before I was born. We share this body. I can turn into him or actually he just kind of takes over. It’s hard to explain.”
Becca was trying hard let his words sink in. She didn’t want to say anything that would hurt him. He was trying to tell her something, but it wasn’t possible that what he was saying was true.
“Angel, how am I supposed to believe this?” She had to ask to make it clear that she wasn’t getting it.
“Can I show you?”
“What that you can magically turn into a bear?”
“It’s not magic, but yes. Trust me?”
Damn, the magic words. She’d give her man the support he needed.
“I trust you, Angel.”
He nodded at her and stood up. He took a few steps back and started to disrobe.
Crazy or not, she was liking where this was heading. He kicked off his boots and pulled off the black t-shirt he was wearing. His jeans and boxers came next. Becca took in the ripped man that was standing a few feet from her. He was devastatingly handsome. It didn’t hurt that his long, hard cock pointed right at her. Maybe when he was done playing strip tease in the dirt, they could make use of that dick.
“Just don’t run off or anything, promise?”
“Sure, sure,” she said with a small laugh.
Angel took a few more steps back then gave his bear a reminder to just play it cool.
He looked at her and told her, “I love you.”
“I believe you.”
Angel gave her a nod and let his bear take the lead. His body started to shimmer, his vision moved, and he could see that his mate’s face sported a shocked look before he looked at her from all fours.
Becca kept blinking, trying to see if what was in front of her would change. Angel had been there, and now he wasn’t. In his place was a large black bear, looking at her with a very focused expression. Not that she was sure a bear could even have an expression, but this bear looked very intent.
She was glad she was sitting down for this. Everything he said before started rushing back to her. The family was different; they looked for only one partner. Did bears mate for life like ducks? She couldn’t remember.
“I—uh—wow. Angel?” She felt silly asking a wild animal anything. There was a part of her that wanted to turn and run as fast as she could away from the dangerous animal. Sharp teeth and claws were not something that one should be flippant about.
The bear across from her made a chuffing sound, and Becca took that as some form of affirmative.
Becca didn’t know what her next move would be. The bear was big, his head massive, and those black eyes were directed straight at her. Her brain was trying to rationalize that something supernatural was clearly alive and well in her world. The world that up until this moment did not include things like shifter bears or humans that could be something other than human.
She was a logical person, and nothing about this was logical. Naked Angel equaled big black bear. Okay…
As her mind raced, Becca started to feel her heart rate pick up. Her breath came fast, and she watched as the bear’s head cocked to the side. See, it was cute when he did it.
A panic attack was on its way. Becca could feel the pit of her stomach start to twist. Her heartbeat echoed in her ears. Shit, she just might pass out in front of a bear. She hoped he wasn’t hungry. Did bears eat people? She should have paid more attention in school.
The big animal took a step towards her, and Becca’s breath caught in her throat. There was a fast spark of color as the bear shimmered, and his edges blurred before Angel stood there. He knelt down in front of her, which in another situation, Becca would appreciate the statue-like body in front of her. Instead, she searched his human eyes for any sign of that bear.
“Breathe, baby.” He brought his hands up to rub her arms. Angel was clearly worried, and she appreciated the concern.
“You’re a bear,” she stuttered.
“I’m a bear, Becks. I’m human most of the time, obviously.”
“Is everyone a bear?”
“My family all are, unless they are humans that are mated to a shifter. We are different kinds of bears too. Not everyone looks like me. My brother is a polar bear; he looks ridiculous roaming through the woods here.”
Angel was trying to make a joke to lighten the situation. He wasn’t sure what the rules were for this, although it was a running joke in his family that no one does it right.
“Shifters aren’t like humans,” he started.
Becca snorted.
“What I mean is our rules of living are different. We have to live our lives with two souls inside us. And when it comes time to find a partner, both souls have to find the right one. That means agreeing on the perfect mate. So our mate is picked by the fates. We only get one, just one chance to find that perfect person that can make both man and animal happy. You are my perfect mate, Becks.”
Shit, he was in for a surprise. “Angel, I am not perfect.” For some reason, she felt like she needed to make that abundantly clear.
He gave her a laugh, “Not perfect like that. Perfect for me. The fates gave me the most beautiful woman in the world. She’s smart and funny and incredibly giving. You were willing to put aside any chance at happiness because you thought you’d be holding me back. You are a kind soul, Becks. I understand why the fates chose you for me; you are fucking perfect. I don’t understand why they think I could be that for you.
I don’t have my shit together. I am just now realizing how much time I’ve wasted, not going to school or learning the family business. I think that maybe the fates wanted me to find you first before deciding which direction to go. I needed you to figure that out.”
“Angel, what if I can’t be what you need? I have no idea what a bear needs.” Just saying that out loud sounded insane.
“Babe, my bear takes care of himself. He has the same needs as me. He wants you to be happy; he would love to get to know you, but that will take time.
“What do I do with this? I mean, do we just keep doing what we have been doing?”
Becca felt the panic start to rise again. Was she supposed to pretend that the man in bed with her couldn’t sprout fur at any moment?
“Yes, we keep getting to know each other, letting what we have grow. Then, when the time is right—” Angel hesitated.<
br />
“The time is right for what? Angel, what aren’t you telling me?”
“Becks, there are a few other interesting things that go along with being a shifter,” he said.
“Like…” she said, swirling her hand in the air.
“Well, we age slower than humans, by a lot actually.”
“Shit, shit, shit! Great. I thought being older than you now was bad. What are we going to do if I look like your grandma some day? Is this what chicks in vampire stories have to worry about?”
“There is a way around that. Normally, when two shifters find their mates in each other, they bond through a mating bite. It seals them together forever.”
“And what if one of them is human?” Becca wasn’t sure she liked where this was heading.
“Then, if and when the human decides to be permanently bonded to the shifter, the mating bite takes place. It’s just one-sided. But the bonus to that is the bite allows a little of the shifter in. The human starts aging slower, so they can spend their lives together. It also helps with the babies,” he said.
Becca was mentally playing out what he said but couldn’t stop the image of a caped vampire with pointy teeth gnawing on her throat. Wait, did he say age slower?
“So we would kind of always be this far apart in age?”
“Technically, but at some point, I’ll slow down enough that we will look the same age for a long time.”
Becca liked that. There was hope for her not feeling like she was picking up dates at the local community college.
“Uh—what about babies?”
“Well, our babies, which I really hope there will be, would be shifters like me. Bears gestate much like a human, so that would be the same. Just when they are born, they will shift on the fly for a while. It’s not as bad as it sounds. My family is practiced at keeping our kids home and happy for the first few years until the shifting slows down.”
“So little Dash and Talia?” Becca was thinking about how cute the little girl had been and the possibility that she could have been a bear sitting in her lap.
“Not Dash, he’s human. But Talia, yes. Normally, we wouldn’t introduce someone to her this young. But so far her bear has shown an amazing ability to read a situation and not shift. My other cousin’s kids shift so fast and often, they let them run naked to save on clothing. Talia’s bear is an old, cautious soul so we took a chance.”
