His gaze narrowed. “Like a werewolf?”
“Nothing like a werewolf at all.” I fought my reaction to the word all shifters I’d ever met hated. “In fact, I am a bear shifter.”
He broke out into laughter, but when I didn’t join in, it faded away. “Sothea, tell me you’re not serious. I mean, sure there are shifters in books, books and movies, but you have to know they aren’t real. Just the stuff of stories. Romance books mostly, right?”
“And where do you think the ideas come from?” At least, I assumed that the authors of the better books got their information from other shifters. “Omega, I am a bear shifter, and until you meet my bear, we’ve taken this relationship as far as we can.”
“So you are breaking up with me after all?”
“Only if you can’t find it in your heart to accept my bear. He already loves you.”
“This whole thing is so strange. But, if you insist, bring him on. I’m ready.”
“We’ll have to go outside. I’m afraid he’s a little big for the living room.”
“Whatever you say.” He stood up and followed me through the kitchen and out the back door. “You have to know how hard this is to believe.”
“Just give me a minute to get undressed.”
“Your clothes don’t ‘shift’ with you?” He perched on the top step of the back porch, arms wrapped around his knees.
“No, they shred.”
“Then by all means. You look too good tonight to ruin your outfit.”
He still didn’t believe me, but it didn’t matter because in thirty seconds, he’d have visual proof. I prayed Fate and the Goddess grant that he wouldn’t run away or hate me for being something so “alien.”
Clothing off, I stood in front of him. “I love you.” And I let my bear take transcendence. While in the shift, my awareness was limited, so I couldn’t see his reaction until the bear’s vision settled, terrified that I’d find an empty porch.
But then, standing on all four paws, I saw him. Still sitting there, jaw dropped, and offering no indication of how he’d react. I was still scared, but my bear side was fearless and, like me, deeply in love. He lumbered up the steps and flopped down next to the omega, giant head in his lap.
Could have gone really bad, but my bear did not ask my opinion, and the cry from my omega’s lips was anything but bad. “Is it okay to touch you?”
The rumble was a yes, and Altan seemed to understand as he stroked the big furry head. We stayed that way for a while, and I thought we were there—past any worries. But when I took my skin, Altan looked troubled.
“Are you okay, omega?”
“I am…sort of. Your bear is the most magnificent thing I’ve ever seen, but it’s still a lot to process. In books, shifters don’t marry, they mate, right? And it’s a much bigger deal than something with paperwork that can be unwritten?”
“Yes.”
“Would you be mad if I asked you to take me home? I have a lot to think about.”
Chapter Twelve
Altan
Once the initial shock wore off, I began to work things out logically.
As logical as a human could be when the man they loved told them they turned into a bear. An actual bear. Like a werewolf, but bear. Or rather, nothing like a werewolf. He’d seemed to hate the term. A shifter.
I’d read plenty of shifter books. Got obsessed with them at one point in my life, so the whole concept wasn’t foreign to me but reading the pages and seeing Sothea turn into an animal right in front of me were two completely different things.
Did that change how I felt about him?
No way. Loving someone meant accepting everything about them, including turning into a bear.
I picked up the phone and called him. He was probably worried out of his mind.
