Chapter 19
God, he hated her. With a fury that startled him for its boiling intensity. She just wouldn’t freaking let up. Love the animal. Imagine the good things. Blah, blah, blah. Did she think he hadn’t tried? That part of him hadn’t been searching for a way to make peace with his monster?
Goddamn it, she was getting away. Her grizzly was a golden brown she-bear with liquid eyes and a pert behind. A freaking pert behind. On a bear! But it was cute and it wiggled in a completely feminine way as she pranced about in her animal form. Apparently even grizzlies could prance.
He wanted to bellow at her. He for damn sure was growling deep in his throat.
But damn it, he wanted to run with her. He’d been wanting to run with the bears since his first Gladwin clan picnic.
He’d sat with his mother while they watched man and woman strip naked and leap into their grizzly bodies.
Like the most amazing magic. Pink flesh shifted to brown or black.
Faces lengthened, and the roar that echoed through the forest was the most joyous thing he’d ever heard.
Laughter inside a roar. Even he’d felt the happiness inside the normally terrifying sound. And he’d been excluded.
Until now.
So why was he fighting this? Why wasn’t he already with her, running amok in a national park?
Because he wasn’t going to be a full bear. He was going to be a half-shifted bizarre thing, and he didn’t want her to see it. Except that was stupid. She’d already seen him shifted. Hell, they’d already fought. Which meant, why not? Why wasn’t he grabbing what joy he could when he could?
He toed off his shoes and stripped off his shirt, tossing both inside the open trunk. Did he go full commando? Put some new life into all those Big Foot legends?
Again, why not?
“Fine,” he bellowed as he shoved down his shorts. “But if I catch you, I’m not going to be gentle.”
He stopped long enough to slam down the car’s trunk, and then he took off, shifting fully before he left the parking lot.
Sensations abruptly became clearer as his thoughts skittered away. No more complex sentences. No more thinking and rethinking his decisions. All those things became too hard or simply unimportant when compared to the wind on his skin. Coolness through fur. Soft ground to grip with toes and claws.
He scented her easily. Cinnamon spice even as a bear. He heard her, too, a low murmur almost like a purr. Definitely not human, but all Tonya.
He cleared the brush easily and spotted her scratching herself against a tree. Her back was arched and her eyes seemed to dance. She turned her head and bared her teeth. Was that playful or was she reacting to him?
Both, he realized, because as he closed the distance between them, she reared up enough to swat him.
He swerved, but not fast enough to evade the other paw.
She caught him on the shoulder and he stumbled, dropping to one knee.
She dropped down onto all fours, sniffing him uncertainly. But that was exactly what he wanted.
He sprang up, jumping on her back. She reared up, obviously startled, but she recovered quickly. Before he could settle, she slammed him against the tree. Not hard enough to break anything. Just enough that he felt the impact in every bone.
She paused a moment, obviously concerned as she twisted her head to look at him.
He grinned at the liquid beauty of her golden brown eyes and the sweet contours of her face.
He saw so clearly in this form. Even though the moonlight ducked in and out of the clouds, he could still pick out the individual strands of her fur.
The way her nose bunched when she sniffed.
And the bright pink of her tongue as she licked him.
Wet. Hot. The roughness of her tongue on his leg was like sandpaper, and it made him laugh as he pushed her away.
She nipped as his fingers. He punched her nose.
She hip-checked him and sent him rolling.
And while he was still finding his feet, she started running.
Bears didn’t look like they could move fast, but even the most ordinary bear could outrun a human.
Make the bear a shifter, and suddenly she could chart the terrain quickly, crossing distances with remarkable speed.
He couldn’t catch her, except when she tired.
Good thing at her size, she tired relatively quickly.
So began a wild romp through the park. She would outdistance him quickly, lengthening their separation by inches, then yards.
But then she would slow, turning to watch him as he came at her.
At some point, he was close enough to launch himself around her neck and then they would fight or roll for a while just for the sheer joy of touching each other.
He loved the feel of her fur against his coarser hair. He loved her bulk because it gave him something to grip. And he loved that he could squeeze her with all his considerable strength and she would growl at him but not break.
And then came the time when he caught her just right. She’d been stepping over a rock and he’d leapt at just the right moment. His arms wrapped around her middle and pulled her sideways.
Got ya!
He’d meant to say it out loud, but he’d long since lost the ability to use words. She roared in response, but she didn’t throw him off. Instead, she nuzzled into his neck, licking his torso. A lot of poundage in that nudge. But then she raised her head.
Eye to eye, he saw her. Not just the golden liquid of her eyes or the jut of her nose. In that moment, he felt like he saw her soul. Open. Loving. And completely at one with his own.
How beautiful she was. And then she shimmered. Right there in his arms, he felt the prick of magic, the sudden burst of heat as she released her grizzly form, and suddenly he held a naked woman.
He started to draw back. He needed to match her, man to woman. But she touched his face. “You’re beautiful just like this,” she said. She stroked her hand across the hard jut of his mouth and nose. Then she stroked through the fur that thickened his back.
He tried to speak, but his jaw wouldn’t work right. He could force garbled words if he needed to, but she stopped him.
“You’re just fine like this.” Then she pushed him onto his back and straddled him. His hips, his dick, even his thighs were the most human part of him. His feet had never fully shifted. But like this, he couldn’t kiss her. Not like a man. And if he grew too impatient, he could hurt her.
He scrambled to pull his thoughts together but coming back wasn’t easy. The wild tumult still gripped his soul. And when she rubbed herself against him, his thoughts splintered away. He only felt her. Wet. Hot.
Open.
“Stop thinking,” she said, jerking his shoulders enough to startle him. He focused on her face. Smelled the sweetness of her hair and the spice of her body. “Just feel.”
No other choice. Not with her so beautiful above him. So strong. So...
Tonya.
* * *
Alan woke to the sound of birds and the rustle of a squirrel inches from his face. He was snuggled around Tonya. Even in August, night in the woods can be chilly and the heat of her body was especially delightful.
She stirred when he did. Then he felt her stretch. All woman. All naked. Caught in his arms.
“Good morning,” she said against his chest.
“Yup.” It was all he could manage as he rolled her on top of him. It took him less than a moment to realize he was as fully human as she. And that it was daylight and they were naked somewhere in the middle of a national park.
Even so, certain parts of him didn’t seem to care. Neither, apparently, did she.
She slid down on top of him, and suddenly he was engulfed in sweet, glorious Tonya.
Impossible not to thrust. Inconceivable to slow down. Not when she squeezed him in that slow roll of inner muscles. Not when she arched up and played with her own breasts. And certainly not when he slid his thumb between them to stroke her clit.
He knew now when she was about to come. Her breath caught. Her head arched back. And everything stilled for a split second before she went wild on top of him.
Then his own climax roared through him, and he poured everything he was straight into her.
And the entire world seemed to join them in a single, glorious, yes.
He barely noticed when she collapsed down on him. He was still partially blacked out, still boneless and milked dry. He had enough energy to cradle her with one arm. To press a kiss to her forehead. And to smile when she licked the side of his neck, right below his ear.
They lay like that forever. Or maybe it was two minutes. Hard to tell given the situation. She stirred first, stretching up and off of him as she lifted her face to the morning sun. Gloriously naked. Amazingly unconcerned.
“We should get back before it gets too hot.”
“Or some hikers stumble across us and get an eyeful.”
She waggled her eyebrows at that. He flushed as he rolled over. It wasn’t until he felt the wet on his dick that full memory kicked in. They’d made love so many times last night. Shifted, unshifted, he didn’t even know. But one thing was abundantly clear.
Neither of them had thought about a condom.
“Um, Tonya...are you on the pill?”
She stilled, then slowly turned to look at him. She didn’t speak while he struggled to tell her what he was thinking. And then slowly her brows rose.
“We’ve been humping like bunnies for three days, and you’re just now thinking of birth control?”
Of course not! He was the man, damn it. It was his responsibility to remember these things, and he took that seriously. Except he hadn’t. Which meant...His gaze dropped to her belly.
She rolled her eyes. “Relax. I’m not fertile.” And at his surprised look, she chuckled. “Shifters know these things.” Then she hedged. “Well, I know these things. Don’t know about other women.”
“You’re certain?”
“Which way you hoping, Alan? That I’m wrong or that I’m right?”
He didn’t know. Damn it, a baby wasn’t exactly in his plans right now. But hadn’t he warned her how many nights ago? Hadn’t he told her that he was going to fuck her without a condom and not care about the results?
And she had said okay. Okay.
He gaped at her. “You want my child?”
Her expression softened into vulnerability. “Yes.”
“But they screwed with my DNA. It could be born with fur and claws.”
She shook her head. “They activated your DNA. No gene splicing. No fundamental change. Just a turning on of the DNA you already had.”
“And if the kid is born turned on?”
“Then we’ll love him or her just as much.”
God she was insane. Completely insane. “That’s a fucking huge risk to saddle on a child.”
“Is it? Any bigger than any of the other risks with a baby? There’s no guarantee that any child will be normal.” She said normal with her fingers doing air quotes.
He swallowed. “But it’s my child. My...” He held out his hands, feeling the prickle of fur and sharp spike of his claws.
“And mine. And I want it.”
God, it was too much. How could she be so casual about such a huge thing?
“Relax, Alan. I told you. I’m not fertile.
” Her words were tight, her shoulders slightly hunched.
Then she started walking away. How she knew what direction to go, he hadn’t a clue.
Was that a grizzly ability or just one of her special skills?
Either way, he fell into step behind her, his thoughts spinning in on themselves until he felt dizzy.
“You want a baby?” he finally said, not really asking as much as trying out the feel of the words.
“I told you that days ago.”
“You want my baby?”
She shot him a glare. “Did you see me rolling around the woods with anyone else?”
No. But...his? “Why?”
She sighed, the sound coming from deep in her belly. “Goddamn it, Alan, you’re such an idiot sometimes.” Then she broke into a run, streaking through the woods. But instead of catching up to her, he held himself back. He ran a step behind as he tried to process the truth of it.
She wanted his child. The idea thrilled him down to his toes. Almost as much as it terrified him.