Shifters of Grrr 2 (5 page)

I opened my eyes and looked at him.
 

"Shit, Henry?"

His eyes were wide open and he stared above me with an empty expression.

I put my fingers to his neck. There was a pulse, he was fine and I remembered the night before and the fitting and supposed illness he had.

"I'm going to get help!" I shouted, touching the side of his face. He looked at me and I jumped as his hand reach up and grabbed my arm.

"Henry...?"

The sound of an alarm in the room drowned out my voice and before I could ask what was happening, the room filled with people and I found myself pushed to the back of the crowd again.

"
Quick, hurry!
" I heard someone shout.

"
Get the chains quickly. I think we're losing him!
"

Nobody noticed me as I slipped in-between them and looked at Henry.

I watched them clasp a thick metal cuff around his neck, arms and ankles. They were attached to the chains I'd found in the room previously.

What the hell were they doing to him?

I saw his eyes scan the crowd and they stopped when they saw me.

"Caleb." He mumbled but nobody paid attention as they busied themselves fussing around him.

I wanted to reach out and touch him, tell him it would be all right, but I couldn't. Something was happening and I didn't know what it was.

I saw Margie in the corner with a large silver key in her hand.

"Right everyone, let's go!" she demanded ushering everyone out.
 

I discreetly slipped into the closet before she saw me, hiding away.

I couldn't leave Henry like that. Maybe they could but after the connection we'd just shared, how could I leave him when he needed me the most.

The room emptied with people and suddenly, it was just the two if us. I waited until the door closed and then I opened the cupboard and walked out.
 

I saw Henry's eyes catch sight of me and he sat up in panic.

"Caleb?" he said again. I nodded.

"What the hell is happening?" I asked.

He panicked, pulling on the chains.

"Get out." He bellowed. "Now! It's not safe.
Just go
!"

"Go? I'm not going until I get some answers. How can I leave you chained to a bed like an animal?"

He tugged on the chains again only this time he let out a large cry causing me to step back.

"I can't hold on Caleb. You need to get out now."

He curled up and I walked more towards him but he looked up and glared at me.

"It's not safe.
I'm
not safe."

"I won't leave you." I said as I watched him curl up in pain and grit his teeth. "Look, I'm going to get help."

"Don't!" he shouted. "They've done everything they can. Just leave, okay? Go now while..."

He didn't get to continue as he doubled over in pain again, wincing and holding his head.

"Just tell me how to help you," I shouted, scared and concerned. I saw his eyes glaze over and I no longer recognized him. He had the look in his eyes of a wild animal and it was as I backed away from him that I saw the features in his face change right before my eyes.

"Henry?" I asked, but he didn't or couldn't answer, I wasn't sure. All I could see was the man who only several minutes ago I'd been locked in a passionate embrace with, changing n front of me.
 

What the hell?

Prince Henry

I tried to tell him to go quickly, but I couldn't get the words out and every inch of me burnt like fire from my veins.
 

I couldn't stop the change, it was out of my control now and if Caleb didn't leave, I wouldn't be able to stop myself from hurting him.

I felt and heard the pounding in my head and I was almost sick with the pain. That was the worst part and I felt myself starting to drift out of consciousness.

I saw Caleb standing near the door and he looked at me, shock etched over his handsome features and I knew the transformation had started.
 

I tried to shout at him and tell him to leave but it came as the loudest growl I'd ever known to escape from me in the midst of changing.
 

I watched as he stumbled backwards, grabbing for the door and I tried to get up and reassure him but it only panicked him more and I collapsed on the bed again, powerless. I stared at him
 
desperately as he unlocked the door and ran away. It was the last thing I saw before again, everything went black.

Chapter Five

Caleb

 
It had been so long since I'd woken up in my old room at my parent's house and as I lay still in bed thinking about Henry, I realized just how stupid I was to get mixed up in his world.
 

Everyone for years and years even way before I was born had spoken about the secret that had surrounded that family and I knew there was something odd going on, I just didn't figure it would be something like
that
. Was it even possible? Could humans really do that?
 

I closed my eyes again and rolled over, pulling the duvet up over my shoulders. It wouldn't have been so hard to deal with if I didn't care so much as he was all I could think about and every part of me ached with regret that I'd left him. That I was miles away in bed hiding when all I wanted was to stay by his side and understand what it was that I'd seen.

I heard the doorbell ring downstairs and I looked at the time. Nine o'clock. Far to early to contemplate even getting up so I ignored it. If my parent's were up and needed to pick up their parcel, they could. I wasn't ready to wake in my new reality.
 

I'd quit my job and that meant there was no way I was ever going to be able to get close to Prince Henry again and apologize or reassure him that his secret was safe with me. I'd never tell the world what he really was...what his family were.

That was it. I had to forget about him and get on with normal life and the thought of ignoring the intense connection we'd shared was almost sobering.

Why did things have to be so hard and complicated? Why was it that when I found someone who I thought could make me happy, there had to be something in the way trying to stop us.
 

The real question was, how could I be with a human bear? How was it even possible?

I saw my muddy overalls on the chair by the desk and suddenly everything that had happened seemed so surreal and I felt the weight of the secret on top of me.
 

How could I go through life knowing that I'd had a brief 'something' with the Prince of our country
and
found out he was a bear. Of course, I'd never tell, but really up until that moment, my life had been pretty ordinary. How could I go back to normal now?

My bedroom door knocked and I turned over onto the other side to hide my face and pretend I was sleeping.
 

Staying at my parents had been a last resort with nowhere else to go since I'd left my job. I didn't want to go back there.
I couldn't
.

"Caleb, honey?"

I heard my mom call, but I didn't answer. The sooner she went away the sooner I could get back to my thoughts. She lived for her visits from me and the last thing I wanted was to go for a morning walk with her. Not when my head was all over the place.

She knocked again and this time, without waiting for a response, the door opened. I turned round to glare at her, but she wasn't standing there. I gasped in shock, jumping from the bed and darting over to the other side of the room, my heart beating wildly in my chest.

Prince Henry

I saw the fear in his eyes as he stood on the other side of the room and we watched each other for a moment until his mother came through behind me, smiling excitedly.

"Look Caleb! Look who came to get you!"
 

Caleb looked at me, puzzled.

"Get me?"

"Yes." I said, still focusing my attention on him. "When you didn't show up at work this morning, I came to see if you were okay."

"You're so down to earth!" His mother chimed from my side. "Don't you think so, Caleb? He cares about every employee. He came all this way to check on
you
."

I looked at her and nodded then turned back to Caleb.
 

"I can't believe you came here..." He whispered and I noticed he was holding onto the back of the chair so tight that his knuckles had turned white.

"I had to see you..." I replied, taking a step closer and judging his reaction.

"Don't be so frightened. Are you okay?" his mother asked him and he nodded slowly at first before standing taller and braver.

"Yes, I am, Mom can you give us a moment?"

"Oh right, sure." She rested a hand on my shoulder before leaving and I closed the door behind her, waiting to hear the sound of her footsteps on the stairs before I spoke, but Caleb beat me to it.

"Henry! You can't just turn up at my house like this!" he hissed, still in a slight whisper.

"I had to see you, apologize, clear things up. I just couldn't leave it like that."

"But..."

"Don't be afraid of me." I said quickly, interrupting him. "What you saw, what happened was under control. It's..."

"Under control?"
 

He walked towards me and for the first time, I noticed he was wearing nothing but underwear and seeing the bulge at the front sent a jolt of pleasure through me. He saw me looking and picked up his clothes to cover it before continuing.

"When I saw you the other day on the floor, you were changing, right?"

"Right."

"How was that under control? If I'd have been any slower or any later at your side, I could have been..."

He trailed off.

"Forget that," he said shaking his head, "the real question should be, what the hell are you anyway?"

I nodded. He had every right to be angry and annoyed and finding out that the person you were starting to fall for wasn't entirely human had to be scary and uncharted territory.

"I don't expect you to understand." I said quietly in case there were other ears listening. "There are things going on here that the world don't know about and things that are way out of my control."

"Is that the big royal secret?" he asked.

I nodded, scared the reveal would come back to bite me, literally.
 

I took another step towards him and thankfully, he didn't flinch.

"That night when we were outside talking, I've never met anyone like you before. I could have stayed talking to you like that forever."

I remembered our kiss and the electricity I'd felt as our lips brushed together.
 

"Don't make me leave here without letting you know how I feel." I whispered.

I saw the expression on his face change and I knew he felt the same. He had to.

"What do you want from me?" He asked, his voice wavering slightly.

I thought about it, thought about the sacrifice I was going to make when I told my family that I wasn't going to marry a Winchester and that the Bear Rulers line would end with me. I took a second to imagine myself telling them. Was it realistic? Was I brave enough to do it and tell Caleb that I wanted to explore whatever it was that we were trying to start?

I walked up to him and slid my hand through to the back of his neck, feeling his soft skin with my fingers. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Why are you doing this to me?" he asked without looking at me and I pulled his head towards mine, pressing our lips together.
 

I felt his hesitation and then he gave in, opening his mouth to received me. I felt his strong arms wrap around my waist, pushing his body harder up against me.
 

I moaned as I felt the excitement rush through me. I'd wanted this moment for a long time; all I'd ever thought about in my teens and early twenties was finding the person that awakened the senses in me.

I felt the bear inside tearing at my veins and I pulled away, panting, breathless and looking at him and at the clearness of his eyes. I'd never wanted anyone more in my entire life than I wanted him.

Caleb
.

I felt the raw pleasure ripped away from me as we stared at each other, my lips still tingling from his touch.

"I know what I want." He whispered to me and I pulled him back towards me urgently.
 

Forget his parents, forget Arabella and forget the fact that he turned into something only ever seen in an English zoo, he had me. He was the person that I'd subconsciously saved myself for.

I kissed him hungrily, devouring the small moans that escaped from him lips and I felt my own cock twitch against his leg. Before, such a feeling would have confused me, but now, with him in front of me, I too knew what I wanted.