“And what exactly is that?” Her voice rose slightly.
“A shifter,” Spencer said, keeping things simple. “I can change from a bear to a man and back again.”
Meryl looked up at him, her eyes searching his face as if seeing the real him for the first time. “How long have you been able to do that?”
“Since puberty.”
She shook her head slightly, disbelief warring with the evidence of her own eyes. “And the rest of your family? At dinner tonight? They’re all...?”
“Not all. My brothers and my father.”
He was not ready to tell her about Estelle and Adara. That was a story for another day.
Meryl fell silent, and Spencer’s heart constricted. This was the moment he had feared — her pulling away, her mind constructing walls between them.
“I should have told you sooner,” he said.
“Why now?” she asked.
Spencer moved closer, stopping a few feet away. “Because I think you might stay. Here at Pine Cottage. And if there’s any chance of that, you deserve to know who I am. All of me.”
The words hung between them in the night air.
Slowly, Meryl stepped closer. Spencer held his breath, afraid he might say something or do something to ruin this.
“I don’t know what to say,” she said.
“You don’t have to say anything.” His voice was rough with emotion. “Just... don’t leave. Not tonight.”
She looked at him for a long moment, her eyes reflecting the starlight. Then she reached out, her hand trembling slightly, and touched his arm as if to make sure he was real.
“I’m not leaving,” she said.
The relief that washed through him was so powerful it nearly brought him to his knees. His bear rumbled with joy.
She’s staying. She knows, and she’s staying.
“Can we go inside?” Meryl asked, her teeth chattering. “I think I need to sit down.”
“Of course.” He held out his hand, and she looked at it before taking it. He closed his fingers around her hand and held it tight, never wanting to let go.
As they reached the cottage, Meryl turned to face him. “I have a thousand questions.”
“I know.” Spencer remained near the doorway, not crowding her. “I’ll answer all of them.”
“Tomorrow.” She took a breath. “Right now, I just need...”
She didn’t finish the sentence. Instead, she closed the distance between them and placed her hand on his chest, right over his heart.
Spencer stayed perfectly still, hardly breathing. His heart thumped under her palm.
“You’re still you,” she murmured, almost to herself.
“Yes.”
Her eyes lifted to his, then she leaned in to kiss him.
Only now did Spencer’s restraint finally break. He wrapped his arms around her, drawing her against him as his mouth found hers. The kiss was different from the ones they’d shared before — deeper, rawer, stripped of pretense.
