Bearly Breathing (6 page)

“We’ll walk around. Find something for shelter. I’ll find some food.”

“You’re just going to find some food?” she asked, with a chuckle. “Like a granola bar tree or something.”

He flashed his dimples. “Something like that.”

They walked for awhile as it started to get dark. They chatted lightly about her work. She told him about her kids in her kindergarten class, how much she loved them, how much she loved not seeing them all summer even more. He listened attentively and asked pointed questions. He stopped every few minutes and picked at a plant.

“These are ostrich ferns,” he said, pulling up a handful of the small plants with the tightly curled heads. “They’re a bit bitter raw but you can eat them.” He wrapped them in his shirt and they kept walking. He stopped at another bush and waited for her to finish what she was saying. “This is a Jerusalem artichoke.” He pulled up the plant and there was a long root underneath that looked like a potato. “We’ll cook this up. It will be great.” He stuffed it into his already overflowing shirt.

Rebecca looked at him crooked. “Do you have a stove in your pocket?”

He smiled and pulled out more roots and stripped the plants off. Rebecca imagined how Mark would handle himself out here. He would probably be sobbing by the river praying that a more manly man would come rescue him. Actually she wouldn’t have been around to see it. She would’ve drowned without Connor there to save her. Mark wasn’t the best swimmer.

Connor rose slowly with his face still and serious. He stared over Rebecca’s shoulder into the forest. Shivers crawled up her neck.

She glanced back but saw nothing. Only trees.

Connor lifted his chin and inhaled through his nose, never taking his eyes away from that spot.

“What is it?” Rebecca asked, holding her elbow.

“Nothing,” he said, with a tight, forced smile. There was a hint of unease in his face. His dimples were hidden. “Let’s keep walking.”

He folded his t-shirt around the scavenged food and headed in the opposite direction of where he was staring. Rebecca had a sinking feeling that something was out there.

She looked back at the darkening forest and felt eyes on her. The frightened hairs on her arm raised up in attention.

She rushed to keep up with him.

Connor glanced at the sky. He had about an hour until all of the sunlight was gone and they would be pitched in darkness. He had to stop to make a fire and build some shelter for the night but he couldn’t. Not with an angry black bear on their tail.

He could smell him. They were in a dominant bear’s territory. He had been following them for the past twenty minutes. He must’ve smelled Connor’s bear and not liked it.

Connor was trying to leave his territory rather than pick a fight. He didn’t want to terrify Rebecca by changing into a Kodiak bear in front of her. How would that look for his company on Google Reviews?

Connor was having a hard time being himself. How could he try to be with another man’s mate? He glanced sideways at her. She had been keeping his fast pace, not slowing down and not complaining. She even seemed to be enjoying the hike, looking up at the trees, admiring them. How could he not try to be with her?

“I don’t have a boyfriend,” she blurted out, cutting the silence of the forest.

Connor almost tripped. “What?” he asked, feeling like somebody just shoved him.

Rebecca’s cheeks turned red and she looked at the ground, not wanting to meet his eye. “I don’t know why I just said that,” she said. She laughed nervously. Heaviness lifted off of Connor’s shoulders like a cloud. He was glad that she was looking away because he couldn’t stop smiling.

“I was engaged,” she said. “We were supposed to get married last month but he cheated on me. With my wedding planner.”

Connor felt fluttering in his stomach. He couldn’t believe the stupidity of some people. How could someone throw away a treasure like her?

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“Up until you pulled me out of the water I was always hoping that we would get back together. I blamed myself for what he did. I thought maybe I wasn’t pretty enough or not fun enough. I thought that if I could just have a second chance I would do whatever I could to make him happy.”

They stopped walking. Connor gazed at her, mesmerized by every detail of her face. Her long eyelashes, her cute ears. Everything disappeared around him.

“When I was under the water I thought that I was going to die. I made a vow to myself that if I got out of this alive that I would live my life for me. Not for him. But for me.”

Connor felt lightheaded in her presence. His inner bear was grumbling, moving around inside him.

“I’m not getting back together with him,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m done.”

Connor’s bear was running circles inside him. He was growling, fighting to be let loose.

Rebecca looked past Connor and her face dropped. Her mouth hung open and her eyes went wide as all the color in her face drained.

“Connor,” she whispered, quiet as a mouse.

A loud roar filled the air as Connor felt hot breath on the back of his neck.

Rebecca meant what she had said. She was over Mark. There was no going back. She was proud of herself, finally making a decision for her and not what was best for their relationship.

Rebecca saw a flash of black in the trees behind Connor and her heart skipped a beat. She thought that her mind was playing tricks on her until an enormous black bear burst out of the trees and stormed over with his head low and the hair on his back sticking up.

She froze. Her fight or flight instinct malfunctioned and she just stood there unable to move, like a car with a seized engine. She finally managed to whimper out Connor’s name right before the black bear roared. Connor’s hair blew forward. Little specks of spit flew into her face.

The bear’s terrible black eyes were focused on the back of Connor’s head. The bear’s teeth were the size of daggers. Her head could’ve fit into his mouth, and that’s probably what he had planned.

I survived a near death experience to die an even worse death an hour later.
Rebecca would’ve preferred drowning to being eaten by a bear.

Connor turned slowly and faced the bear. He raised his hand and pointed to the forest. “Go,” he commanded.

The bear lowered his head and growled. He stepped to the side, circling Connor. Connor pivoted, following him, never taking his eyes off the beast.

The bear circled and was coming closer to Rebecca. Connor leaped in between them and faced down the bear. “No,” he said.

Connor’s back ballooned as horrible popping and snapping sounds made Rebecca’s skin crawl. His body was swelling up as it shook. She gasped as long brown hairs sprung out of his skin. His head was expanding, his ears stretching up and turning brown. His bathing suit ripped as his hips expanded. It fell to the ground in shreds. A loud tearing sound made her cringe, and a Kodiak bear burst out of Connor’s body.

Rebecca’s heart stopped, her body froze.
What the fuck?!?
That bear was Connor.

The black bear reared up on his hind legs and roared louder than before. He was so tall. Taller than Rebecca. His paws were even bigger than Sidney’s head.

Connor lunged forward and smashed into him with a force that Rebecca could feel in her chest.

They wrestled on the ground, snapping and snarling in a gnash of teeth and claws. It was happening so fast. Rebecca couldn’t tell who was winning.

A tree shook as the two bears crashed into it. Leaves rained down on the savage bears.

She glanced behind her to the open forest and thought of running. A loud snarl ripped through the forest and she turned back. The black bear was retreating into the forest, limping with his head down.

The remaining bear turned and watched her with tender brown eyes. It was Connor. She could recognize him in those eyes.

He was bleeding. Bad. He had a gash along his shoulder. The fur around it was sticky and matted together. Blood was flowing down his leg and pooling around his paw, turning the dirt into a red mud.

The bear lowered its head and the long brown hairs began to retreat back into its body. It turned pink as it shrunk. His body shook and Rebecca gasped when Connor was back, lying naked on the ground.

He pushed himself up into a sitting position with a grimace. Blood poured down his arm from the deep, jagged cut on his shoulder.

Rebecca rushed over and dropped to her knees. “Oh no,” she whispered, inspecting the wound. She didn’t have anything to clean it or cover it with. A cut like that was sure to get infected throughout the night without the proper care.

“I’m fine,” he said, cupping her cheek with his hand. He was comforting her. “Watch.”

She held her breath in shock as the wound closed on its own and fused together. “How is that possible?” she asked in disbelief. The laceration looked like it was healing in a time-lapse video.

“I heal a little faster,” he said.

Rebecca’s eyes trailed down his body. His abs were flexed in his extended position. They always seemed to be flexed. She lowered her gaze down the perfect V of his pelvis to his exposed package. She inhaled hard as she watched him. He began to harden under her stare.

“Sorry,” she said, closing her eyes tight and shaking her head. “I didn’t mean-” she got up, flustered and tripped.

She opened her eyes and turned away as he picked up the shreds of his bathing suit and slipped them back on.

“Let me know when you’re-” Rebecca said. She felt her cheeks getting hot. She couldn’t erase the image of his naked body from her mind.

“Alright,” he said after a minute.

Rebecca glanced down and laughed. His bathing suit was destroyed. It was covered in knots, barely holding itself together. It lifted high up on his left leg, showing off his thick quads. It hung low on his waist and his mouth watering V thrust out in full view. The top of his pubic hair peeked out of his waistband. Rebecca turned away and gulped.

“Wait,” she said, suddenly remembering the events. “Did you just turn into a fucking bear?”

“Lets find somewhere to sleep first,” he said, “and I’ll tell you all about it.”

Rebecca felt her panties moisten.

“Right,” she mumbled to herself. “Sleep.”

Connor cracked a thick stick over his knee and tossed it into the fire. He had built a lean-to out of branches and leaves for them to sleep under, a roaring campfire and even built two chairs with some thick sticks that he held together with vines. They weren’t the most comfortable seats but it was better than sitting on the damp ground.

“And werebears can only bond with one person?” Rebecca asked from over his shoulder. She had been peppering him with questions for the last hour. He answered them all honestly, holding nothing back.

He nodded. Connor held the root over the fire with a stick. They softened a bit when they were cooked. Not much, but a bit.

“Do you have a mate?” she asked.

He glanced back at her, the glow of the fire lighting up her eyes into a brilliant orange. “Yes.”