Her smile faltered. “What does that mean, exactly?”
“It means,” he said, drawing her closer, “that from the moment I saw you, I knew you were the one I was meant to find. The one I was meant to love. Forever.”
“Forever is a very long time,” she whispered, but she didn’t pull away.
“Not long enough,” he replied, his voice rough with emotion. “Not when it’s with you. I know you feel it too.”
“I felt something,” she admitted quietly. “From the moment we met. Like we shared a connection.”
“We do,” he said simply. “An unbreakable connection.”
She stepped closer then, barely an inch, until her body brushed lightly against his. He felt it like a seismic shift. And though she didn’t speak, something in her posture softened. As if she’d made a quiet, internal decision she wasn’t ready to put into words.
James exhaled shakily, lowering his forehead to hers.
The connection hummed between them, binding them like a promise the universe itself had made.
He closed his eyes for a moment, memorizing the feel of her against him, the certainty settling low in his gut. This was the beginning. Their beginning. And he would spend the rest of his life proving she’d made the right choice by not running.
Chapter Fifteen – Doreen
What just happened?
The question had echoed through Doreen’s mind as she stood in the moonlit garden. When James asked her to go home with him, she had never expectedthis.
How could she? A man—James—shifting into a bear. A creature of pure power and primal instinct.
And yet… she had seen it with her own eyes.
At first, Doreen’s thoughts had spiraled as she struggled to reconcile the impossible with the familiar. The cold air had seeped into her bones as an owl hooted in the distance.
She should have been terrified. Any normal person would have been. But something deep inside her, perhaps a primal part of herself, told her she was safe.
Then he touched her. Gently. Softly.
And she’d been…unafraid.
Because she knew. Knew with every fiber of her being that this bear was James. They were one and the same.
And they were hers.
It was as if all the feelings, the deep emotions she’d experienced whenever he was near, made sense now.
“You’re shivering.” He slipped his arm around her shoulders, and she welcomed his warmth.
“I am,” she admitted quietly. “But I’m not afraid. Not of you.”
“I can’t tell you how relieved I am to hear that,” he said, turning her around and guiding her back toward the cabin, which was all in darkness.
Her teeth chattered uncontrollably, her body betraying how the cold had seeped deep into her bones. James pulled her closer against his side, his warmth a stark contrast to the biting night air.
When they reached the cabin’s porch, he swept her up without warning, cradling her against his chest. Doreen instinctively nestled into him, drawn to his heat and the steady rhythm of his heartbeat.
Inside, the darkness gave way to soft light as James carried her to the sofa. He settled her down gently before grabbing a thick blanket from nearby, tucking it around her with surprising tenderness for hands so large.
“Don’t move,” he murmured, disappearing from her sight.
She clutched the blanket tight, eyes following him across the room where he kneeled at the fireplace. Within moments, a small flame flickered to life under his careful attention, growing steadily until the fire roared, casting dancing shadows across the walls.
