Scrooge's Bear (Erotic Shifter Fairy Tales) (8 page)

A look of shock crossed her features
as she seemed to come to her human senses and stared, appalled at the two empty
plates on her side of the table.

“Oh, my gracious. I’m-m-…why….” She
gazed up at him. “I’m not sure what came over me.”

He relaxed his features and smiled.
“No worries, sweetheart, I can order more.” He handed her a cloth napkin.

Wiping her mouth, she murmured
shyly, “That is so good.”

“So you like it do you?”

She lowered her head then met his
eyes again. This time she was smiling. “It was good, especially the stickiness
of the honey.”

The sight halted the beating of his
heart and restarted it again. The stretch of her thick, full mouth made his
core tighten. “Oh, shit…just beautiful.”

Her face darkened, but the grin
held. “Thank you.”

He moved their plates to the side
and picked up the pie and set it between them. Handing her back the fork, he
took her hand in his and held it to keep her restrained for a minute. He’d been
a witness to what she had done to the food with a taste and now that her bear
was unleashed and hungry he had to be cautious when he set something before
her.

“Before we
both
take care of this pie, do you know why I ordered it?”

“Because it’s your favorite, right?”

“Yes and no.”

A single eyebrow quirked up at his
response as she stared at him.

He took a deep breath as he stroked
the back of her hand. It was time to start them down a road they needed to
travel. “I saw your vision.”

Now she was frowning, but he could
feel the slight quiver in her hand. “What vision?”

“The one you had while I had you
against the wall and my tongue inside of you. We were making love in a field
and there were pies floating down from the sky around us.”

She snatched her hand away, her fork
clattered onto the table. “You’re crazy.” She rose to her feet.

He stood.

“Ebony…sweetheart, listen to me.”

“What are you some David Angel
character or something.”

It didn’t matter to him that she
mixed up the names of two different illusionists, what he cared about was
getting her to remain calm, things never went well when an untrained Were’s
emotions were high.

“Please sit, and allow me to
explain.”

She folded her arms over her
breasts. “I have a better idea. How about you leave and we forget we ever met?”

“No!” he roared, louder than he
intended, but his bear was fretful inside of him. The beast didn’t want to lose
its mate when he’d finally found her.

Startled she jumped back.

He took a deep breath. “Sorry.
Remember you never have to fear me.”

“I don’t even
know
you.”

“A part of you does.” He sighed and
sat. He was fucking this up royally. When he got home he was planning to put in
a petition with his Mayor to create some kind of manual…guide or course on how
to handle situations like this.

“That is not possible, for me to
know you but not know you.”

“I’m going to tell you something
that is going to be hard for you to believe and understand.” He gestured toward
her vacant seat. “It would be best for you to hear it sitting down.”

Ebony didn’t seem like one of those
females that passed out at the sound of shocking news, but he wasn’t taking any
chances in her hurting herself.

She hesitated for a moment, but
finally took the seat across from him.

“The second vision was mine. I know
you saw it. The two bears playing in that field. They were us.”

She shook her head. “Do I look like
a bear to you?” She questioned, holding her arms out wide.

“Yes.” He didn’t even hesitate. “I
see you as the beautiful woman that you are before me, but when I look at you,
I also see your secondary form. Some of our kind says it is our true form.”

Nodding, she said, “I was right, you
are a loon.” Tossing her head back, a cackling laugh exploded from her.

“I could prove it to you.”

She went silent and pinned him with
a suspicious, squinted stare. “How?”

“Before I do, I want you to
understand something. You’re not the only person who has had their whole life
and self-awareness flipped upside down.”

“Are you going to try and convince
me that something like this happened to you?”

“No, I’m not. I was fortunate enough
to be raised in a sleuth that is located in a place called Den County. We’ve
been there for many, many years.  We are very private and keep to ourselves for
the most part. Both to enjoy our way of life fully and for security and safety
of everyone.”

“Understandable if what you say is
true.” Her voice was still filled with disbelief.

“It is,” he declared. “There is a
woman in our county. The Mayor’s wife, our new First Lady of Den. Rena was
raised away from the county and made to suppress her bear-side even though she
didn’t even realize she was doing it. She was both shocked and horrified to
determine who she truly was. But, she came to embrace being a Were-bear. I want
you to come home with me for Christmas and stay through the New Year. Take the
days to meet my family, talk to Rena.” He hoped she would decide to stay a lot
longer. Permanently.

“I don’t thin—”

“Don’t think, Ebony.” He slid out of
his seat and kneeled before her, his great height still placed him on eye-level
with her. “Being a Were isn’t a thought, it’s instinct. Whether you accept what
you are or not, sooner rather than later your bear will come forth. I’d hate
for that to happen in a mall, or at your next job…anywhere that something could
happened to you.”

Taking her hand, he pressed it to his
heart. “You feel this?” He remained still so she could feel his heartbeat. “It
would stop if anything happened to you. When a Were loses its mate, it can tear
them apart, cause them to go mad and even kill them.” Raising her hand, he
placed it on the side of his face absorbing her warmth. “Honestly, I never
wanted this, sweetheart. I thought I was happy living as an unattached male.
But now that my bear has found you and I’ve had you in my life…don’t make me be
without you.”

“I’m not sure what to say…or even
how to feel about all this, Dainton.” She brushed her thumb over his mouth.
“This seems like an odd dream that I’m going to wake up from at any moment.
Truthfully, a big part of me is hoping it is a dream and I’m screaming at
myself in my head to wake up.”

He could hear the trembling in her
voice, fear and apprehension present.

“Is there another voice? One that
may be softer, one located in your belly somewhere?”

Her light brown eyes darkened and
her brows creased with perplexity.

Placing a hand on her stomach, he
rubbed it slowly. “What is the voice saying, sweetheart? That tiny roar is the
one I want you to listen to.”

“I don’t know…”

“Fair enough.” He couldn’t push her.
Moving away, he stood. “Will you at least give me a moment, trust me, and
promise not to yell or run from the room?”

She licked her lips and fingered the
gray lock of hair behind her ear. “I’ll try.”

He gave her a small smile. That was
all he could hope for right now. Removing his pants, he tossed them toward the
bed then stood before her nude of body and bared soul.

Holding her gaze, he inhaled deeply,
once…twice…three times then shifted. His legs shortened, dropping him to all
fours as the trunk of his body expanded. His skin tingled as every hair of his
body grew longer, covering him. The change wasn’t painful, but dizzying as his
internal temperature increased and the strength of his senses sharpened. He
could see the tiny spider crawling in the corner by the door. He could hear the
laughter and discussion of a group of people in the other suite—writers and
readers discussing books. His nose even detected the stench of oil and the musk
of the elevator mechanic who was walking passed their suite door.

All of those things his bear turned
off and tuned out until he only saw, smelled and heard the woman before him—his
mate. The intoxicating, rich smell of her apricot and clove scented musk made
his core hum and his soul fill with peace. She was his life. It didn’t matter
that he’d just met her last night, or that she hadn’t even performed one single
shift, her bear was his bear.

Resting on his hunches before her,
seeing her light brown gaze take in all of him, he waited. A half whine/half
roar croak from his throat. He wanted and needed her acceptance. Ebony didn’t
know it, but she held the power to destroy him emotionally; cause him a grief
he could never recover from—the rejection of a mate.

She moved on trembling legs,
extending a hand toward his bear. Her breathing was coming out rushed as she
placed hesitant fingers on the top of his head, far away from his mouth.

He licked her arm.

Squealing, she pulled her hand back
and stared at him.

He whined and leaned his head
against her stomach, trying to show her that he meant her no harm.

Her body was quaking, but this time
she gingerly touched him with both her hands. She slid her fingers from his
crown around the back of his ears, in a way most people pet their dogs. It had
the same effect on bears, his skin tingled and he pushed his bulk closer to her
and whimpered for more.

“Whoa, big fella.”

The quivering of her laughter
started in her belly before it ever came out of her mouth. She scratched him on
the back of his neck between his shoulder blades…the sweet spot that all bears
searched out trees to reach. His bear became putty in her hands at the moment.
It took all of his strength not to drop, like a big lump at her feet.

Kneeling before him, she gazed into
his eyes as if searching for the man inside.

From within his bear, he could see
the tears streaming down her cheeks. He could sense how mystified and confused
she was.

“Dainton…Can you hear me?” Concern
shadowed her features.

Closing his eyes, he inhaled deep
and shifted back to human form on the exhale.

She gasped when he was kneeling
before her in an instant.

Cupping her face, he whispered, “I’m
here, my Ebony-girl.”

Her body shook and a loud cry came
from her as more tears poured from her liquid brown eyes.

He pulled her to him, burying her
face against his neck as he held her tight. As she cried, he continued to
stroke her back and murmur words he hoped were reassuring. He wasn’t sure how
he’d react if the situation was reversed. His heart beat with hope that she
wouldn’t allow her fear to cause her to run from her true self.

“I don’t know who I am. I feel like
my whole existence has been a lie.”

Leaning back, he looked into her
face. “No. It was unfortunate and you got sidetracked a little from your
expected path, but all that led you to me.” He placed a light kiss on her mouth
before continuing. “I think that your parents were in those woods on a run.
Maybe their first run of the spring before you were going to be born.”

“Why did someone have to kill them?”

“That, we may never know. People
harm animals a lot of time out of fear.” Brushing the tears away with his
thumbs he went on to say, “I’m just sorry it had to happen to your mother and
father.”

Sinking her teeth into her lower
lip, she nodded. Perhaps she was thanking him for his words or just trying to
make a little sense out of something that was senseless.

“I’ll do it?”

“Do what?” He didn’t want to make
any assumptions where Ebony was concerned.

Resting a hand over his heart, she
said, “Go with you to Den County, meet this Rena bear person.”

“Are you sure this is what you
want?”

Lifting a hand, she grazed a finger
along the stubble on his chin. “I’m not sure of anything right now…but the fact
that I want to trust you. I’m going to trust you. I want to know who I am, not
what some file down at the county says about me. But the real me. Will you
teach me, Dainton?”

Rising, he scooped her up in his
arms. “I will teach you everything you want to know and help you discover the
wonders of each item on your ‘I don’t’ list.” He winked at her as he sat down
in the chair at the table with her in his lap.

Wrapping her arms around his neck
she giggled.

A sound that he was sure the old
Ebony Scrooge had never made before.

“You have changed me this Christmas,
Were-bear.” Pressing her breasts against his chest, she asked, “So, where do we
start?”

“With your first taste of pecan
pie.” He leaned in and laid his lips along her ear. “Then I’m going to spend
the rest of the morning buried deep inside of you and showing you our bears at
play again.”

“I do so like the way your mind
works, Dainton Armel.”

Dainton gazed at the woman in his
arms. Now different than the one he’d met downstairs, the one with no reason to
smile. Now there was life reflecting in her eyes. There was so much for her to
learn and he looked forward to showing and teaching her all the wonders of
their kind. He and his bear were aligned, understanding that one day the time
would come for the final bond, the third bite. Until then his bear was at peace
that she had accepted him. Dainton couldn’t ask for anything more.