Without thought, she let her head drop back. She bared her throat to him, and she felt him lick her. Once. Twice. Wet and sloppy, and she chuckled.
Bonded. They were bonded.
She put up her hands to touch his face. Fur, muzzle, wet nose. She chuckled as she pulled them apart enough so that she could look into his eyes.
Liquid brown. But this close, she could see the flecks of gold.
And then more. She felt magic.
She watched as Mark twitched, jerking his head to her and baring his teeth. He was getting anxious and that wasn’t good. But something was happening to them. Something was happening to her. Over his shoulder, Tonya cursed but Julie didn’t have the ability to warn her off. She couldn’t speak at all.
Meanwhile, Mark was backing away. His eyes had gone frantic and his lips were curled back. Suddenly he reared upward while she tried to scream.
She heard the rapport of Tonya’s gun. Three rapid shots. If they hit Mark, there was no sign of it amidst his bellowing. Then Julie’s body seemed ripped from her. Her back arched, her hands expanded, and her face. Holy shit, her face was on fire.
She screamed as her entire body seemed to explode. Her teeth scraped her tongue. And her skin burned while her body flung wide with hairy arms and extended claws. And the loose bulletproof jacket choked her enough that she ripped at it with hands gone thick and uncoordinated.
She had no understanding of what happened. She knew pain and power as the grizzly in front of her wrapped his arms around her. They were grappling, and she was nearly his size. Lord, she was pissed, and she roared as loud as she could right in his face.
A bear, she realized, though dimly in the back corner of her thoughts. She was a freaking grizzly bear. Except when she looked at herself, she was not full bear. The fur was patchy and uneven, her hands were huge and her joints thick, but not quite paws, though not really human either.
And then she lost thought as he gripped at her. Another bear—her mate—clawing at her sides.
She fought because she was frightened. She bit at him and swiped at his nose. He was bigger and stronger as he pushed at her. She fell to all fours and roared in fury.
He wanted to mount her, but she wasn’t ready. Not yet.
But soon.
She growled, baring her teeth, and he backed away. She smelled his blood and worried at the scent. And when he dropped down to all fours, she paused, sniffing the air as she focused on his injuries. Blood, seeping slowly onto his fur. Pain that needed to be soothed.
She nudged forward with a low grumble. He responded with a dull moan. Her mate was in pain. She nudged his shoulder, nipping and licking at it as he thumped to the ground before her. Then gently, ponderously slow, he flopped back onto his side, exposing his raw belly.
She eased his pain. She licked his shoulder and then his belly. Tasted his blood in her mouth and knew that this was the way to healing.
She was still licking him when he shimmered. Tiny electric bolts of power hit her tongue, causing her to recoil. But the magic held them both together. When he trembled, she did as well. Their brown fur faded, replaced by pink skin. Bones contracted, muscles twitched and realigned.
Unsteady, she wobbled on her knees, her palms feeling cut by the underbrush. Below her, Mark’s naked body shivered, and his eyes blinked in a dazed pain.
Human. He was human, she realized. As was she.
His gaze caught hers. His eyes widened in shock, but then immediately softened. He smiled at her while she gaped at him. What the hell had just happened?
She tried to speak, but her mind was too fuzzy to hold on to words. She tried to move, but there was no strength in her body. So she wobbled and dropped face-first into his chest. His arms wrapped around her, strong and vital. He held her secure while her eyes fluttered shut and the darkness overwhelmed her. But even so, she had the strength to hear sound and understand its meaning.
“Julie,” he said. “My mate.”
CHAPTER 23
Three days.
Three fucking days, and she still hadn’t woken up.
Mark stared at Julie’s still body, counting the steady rise and fall of her chest. She was breathing. Her heart was beating. And most important, this was all completely normal after a first shift. New shifters sometimes slept for a week after their first change. Three days was average. Except nothing about what had happened to her was average.
She had bonded with him, thereby saving his life and his sanity. Somehow, she’d connected them and that had bled off enough bear so that he could think. Instead of being all consuming, the grizzly in him had settled, sharing space in his brain like never before. And from that place, he’d been able to come back to human.
A miracle for him, but for her? She’d been overwhelmed. She’d shifted but not been able to maintain the form. And now she was lying unconscious in a hospital room because of what she’d done to save him.
