Page 19 of Warlander Grizzly

“How did you know?” she whispered.

Landon scooted a foot closer and rested on his knee. “I guessed. You don’t got the baby anymore?”

Lucia looked up at the sky and heaved a sigh, and the sound drove the knife deeper into his chest. She shook her head. “Lost it right after I found out it was even happening.”

“My mom lost a baby.”

Lucia turned and looked at him over her shoulder. The hurt in her eyes made the pain almost unbearable.

He didn’t know how he knew, but Lucia wouldn’t accept a hug, so instead he scooted closer and rested his forehead onto her shoulder. “She lost a baby right before she and my dad tried for me. Broke her heart for a while. Her bear didn’t come back for a long time. She still talks about it. No one outside our family knows. Now you know.”

“That’s how you guessed?” she asked.

Landon rested his knuckles against her leg and nodded. “Your bear ain’t broke, Lucia. She’s sad.”

“She’s gone.” The words had been uttered so quietly, so thickly.

Landon wrapped his arms around her and dragged her into his lap, and she struggled for a moment. She struggled, and then she pushed him. He released her and waited. She shoved him harder, her eyes flashing with anger. It wasn’t anger for him though. He didn’t know how, but he could tell. Her anger was something built up that had been sitting inside of her with no release until now. She pushed him and pushed him and pushed him, and he allowed it. She clenched her fists and beat on his chest. After the third hit, he put an end to it.

“Enough,” he said, yanking her against him. “It ain’t me you’re mad at. You’re not going to hurt me.”

Suddenly, Lucia wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed him hard.

“She ain’t gone,” he assured her. “The bear just thinks she’s still protecting something that isn’t there anymore. You got a good grizzly.”

Shifters couldn’t Change when they were carrying a baby. It would hurt the baby. That she-bear just didn’t know how to stop protecting.

“I didn’t want it,” she said, pushing out of his arms. “Just so you know. I didn’t want it when I found out.” She stood up and glared at him. “I’m fine.”

He nodded. “I know.”

“I don’t need your pity.”

“You don’t have my pity,” he said, confused.

“Is that why you asked me out?”

Landon stood and pointed to his dick. “Boner, remember?”

Lucia’s glare faltered. She glanced at the zipper of his pants, then back to his face. She crossed her arms over her chest and shifted her weight to the other side. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore. I don’t want to talk about it ever again.”

He nodded. “Do I need to…” He cleared his throat. How did he say this without pissing off a she-bear? “Do I need to hurt anyone?”

“Hurt anyone?” she asked.

He swallowed hard. “Did someone hurt you? Did a man hurt you? I’ll kill him if he did.”

She inhaled and then let out an, “Ooooh. No. We were dating, and then we weren’t dating, and then we were messing around every once in awhile when we got bored, and then we were…expecting a future neither of us wanted.”

“You lied on that last part,” he pointed out softly.

“Well, I didn’t want it until I figured out it wasn’t there anymore. I was…” She shook her head. “Forget it.”

“You could tell me, and maybe it’ll feel better.”

“Nothing will make it feel better.” Truth. She believed that. The knife went deeper.

“I’ll stop putting mice in your house if you tell me,” he bargained.