Page 86 of Trusting Her Bear

We want to live peacefully in our world. We don’t want to have to defend it, but we will if we are forced to.

I am protecting on a different level today. The world could implode, and I wouldn’t care if my mate was not in it. I would light the fuse and say fuck the humans if she was taken from me.

I have seen many of my friends find their mates. I sat back and watched the lengths they would go to keep them safe and happy. I felt like an outsider watching their journey. I was happy for all of them, but it didn’t affect my life.

I was comfortable alone.

I am not anymore.

I see a flash of fabric miles in front of me through the trees. I stop abruptly and put my back on a tree. I center myself and concentrate.

A lion.

The whisper of his scent is in the air. He’s not close enough yet.

I hear the pads of his feet in the earth. He’s not wearing shoes but is still in human form. Our scent is stronger in our shifter form. Every one of us has a signature scent. A lion smells different than a bear. All bears have the same underlying smell, but at the same time, we have a touch of something that is our own. Lions are the same as all the other shifter breeds. With just a pull from our nostrils, we know who is who.

This lion is the one who took out his anger on my mate's bedroom.

My claws emerge, digging into the bark.

He will die.

I look around the tree in his direction.

He said he wanted to play hide and seek. He is hiding. The lion wants to toy with me, and I will let him think he is.

I push away and move in his direction. I didn’t bring a weapon because I didn’t need one. If my claws don’t kill him, my teeth tearing into his neck will, or if all of that fails, I will shift. My bear's body is big. And powerful. And determined.

I walk deeper into the dark of the forest. I haven’t been this far in this area before. There are thousands of trees in every direction. I hear the tinkle of water somewhere, and the smell of it is clean and draws the wildlife to its depths. This place would normally be a haven for shifters. Humans would be turned off by the darkness that lush and dense trees cause. There would be minimal risk of running into one if you were to shift.

It is easier for me to blend in when I am in bear form, which is hard to believe because of my bulk, but bears are something that humans can explain. It is not as natural to run across a panther, lion, or especially a dragon in the woods.

Unfortunately, coyotes are typical here. Natural ones, and the shifter kind.

No one wants to be in either of their company.

I don’t attempt to quiet my steps. He knows I am here. All I can do is be ready for the attack. I refuse to step lightly, hide, or seek aggressively. He has a plan. He started this game, but I will finish it. I just have to wait him out.

I drag my claws over the bark of the trees I pass, marking my trail, but it is also a sign of fearlessness. I don’t fear this lion. He stepped into my world, intent on harm. He is the one who should be afraid.

Bears have been labeled as slow, lazy, and weak because of it, but they are wrong. Most shifters are quick to attack and think later. We watch, we gauge the opponent carefully, and plan our attack.

I am a mated bear, whether a bite mark has been made or not, and I am doubly dangerous.

I start to whistle as I walk and feel his anger mix in his scent.

I grin. “Come out, come out, wherever you are,” I sing and hear a hiss.

So predictable.

The leaves crunch under my boots. I reach up and grab a leaf, twirling it.

“You wanted me to hide,” I say, watching the rotation of the green vegetation. “Yet, you are the one running from me,” I taunt.

“You have no clue what’s going on,” is yelled from in front of me.

“So, why don’t you inform me,” I say, eating up the distance between us. He stopped.