The forest was right behind him. Thick and green. It went on for miles and miles. Thousands of acres. Beautiful and terrifying. Alice was about to go into the wilderness. To live in the middle of nowhere. Her hands shook a little, so she clenched them for a few seconds.

“Ready?” Ash asked.

She shrugged. “Are you sure I can’t just walk?”

“Very sure.” Ash half-smiled. Something in her belly clenched. “It’s far. The terrain is rough. We’ll stop often.”

“I’m not good at riding.” That didn’t sound right. “Animals.” Oh shit. Now she’d referred to him as an animal. Was that okay? “I tried to ride a horse once and it ended in disaster,” she said, talking far too quickly.

Ash laughed. “I’m not a horse though. I’m a bear. Big difference. I should also mention that I keep my intelligence after I shift.” He smiled. “I’m interested in hearing about what happened that day. Your horseback ride?” He removed his sweater and then the shirt that was underneath it.

What had they been talking about? Oh yeah! Horses. “It was on one of those trail rides. The horses normally follow one another. Well …”

Ash unsnapped his jeans and her throat went a little dry. She glanced down and then back up. Her mind had gone completely blank.

“Are you okay?” The edge of his mouth twitched. “It’s not like you haven’t seen me naked before. Don’t tell me that you’re shy all of a sudden?”

“It’s been a long time since,” she widened her eyes, “since I last … since we last …” Shit! Why was she talking about this? Why had she brought it up? “Um … a lot has happened. This happened.” She rubbed her belly.

“Yeah, it has been a while and a lot has happened.”

“Talking about … um … sex,” she tried to stay calm, “I don’t think we should have it … sex that is.” This was not how she had meant to approach this. He hadn’t once tried to initiate anything. Heck! He had barely even looked at her. Certainly not in that way. When Ash didn’t say anything, she obviously felt the need to fill the quiet because she blabbered on. “I mean, if we’re going to try to see where this goes ‒ us ‒ then we need to get to know each other first. It would be better if sex stayed out of the equation.”

Ash nodded once. “Okay.” He nodded a second time. “Sure thing.” Then he turned and pulled his jeans down.

That had been too easy. He hadn't tried to change her mind. She was so stupid to have brought it up. What if she brought it up so that he could argue with her? Well, it had had pretty much the opposite effect. It wasn't like she wanted sex with Ash. Even if she did find him ridiculously attractive, it wasn't true. Only now he would be convinced that it was. Oh brother!

There was a cracking noise, it drew her attention back to him. Ash’s muscles seemed to expand and bulge even more. She watched in fascination as his jaw elongated and fur sprung up all over him. Her mouth fell open as thick nails sprang out where his fingers used to be. Within seconds, an enormous grizzly bear stood in front of her. He had such thick fur. Ash roared, his teeth were enormous. Then his eyes locked with hers. They were the same dark brown. So dark that they almost looked black. His irises were circled by golden flecks.

“Wow,” she whispered.

The bear that was Ash crouched down.

Alice put a hand on his back. His fur was long and thick. She was amazed at how soft it was. It certainly didn’t look nearly as soft as it felt.

Ash turned his huge head her way and made a growling, grunting noise. He was clearly telling her to get on. She didn’t have to hear the words to understand what it meant.

“Even bossy in bear form.” The words just slipped out.

The glint in his eyes changed. She was sure there was a humorous edge. He grunted again, softer this time.

“Okay, okay.” Alice climbed aboard. She had a backpack with an extra jacket and some water.

Ash began to walk in the direction of the forest. Alice threaded her fingers through the long hair on his neck and held on tight, just as they'd discussed. He went slowly at first but quickly picked up the pace until he was almost running. She had to hold on with her legs. It wasn't easy with her sense of balance out of whack. Her belly wasn't all that big yet, but it still got in the way. She had hours of this ahead of her. Not her idea of fun. She couldn't complain though. Ash was doing most of the work. She just needed to sit tight.

* * *

Her back ached. Her arms shook, as did her legs. Alice was completely exhausted. She straightened up, stretching her muscles, which protested in response.

Ash growled. Alice watched in fascination as the bear before her seemed to fold into itself. His hair pulled back into his skin and his jaw shortened. Within a few seconds, a very naked Ash stood before her. His hair was tussled. There were a couple of dirt smudges on his rock-hard abs. And on his thick, really beautiful, thighs. Huh! She was losing her mind. She gave an internal sigh. She had to admit though, Ash did have amazing thighs. She wasn’t looking at the rest of his nakedness.

Not going there.

Swallowing hard, she looked away. The village was right there. She could see smoking chimneys through the trees. She could hear someone talking.

“This way.” Ash took the right fork in the path. “I stay in a small cabin in town. It only has two bedrooms.”

What did that mean?

Did he expect her to sleep with him?

She was excited by the concept, which irritated her. They couldn’t sleep together and not end up having sex. She was going to have to decline.

“I’m building a bigger place for us to stay. We’ll need it once the babies come.” He looked uncertain. Like her silence was a sign that she wasn’t happy.

“We’ll be fine in the two-bedroom place.”

He smiled. “It’ll have to do for now and maybe for the first month or two after they come, but the cabin is way too small long-term.”

She nodded. “Wow! This is quaint.”

The village was comprised of rows of cabins with neat little gardens. There was quite a bit of space between each house. Plenty of the gardens were growing herbs or vegetables.

“Did you tell Ethan about me?” she asked.

“He knows you’re coming.”

“Does he know about the babies?” She glanced his way.

Ash shook his head. “I didn’t think he would understand, so I didn’t tell him anything about the twins. I told him you’re a friend of mine and that you’re staying with us for a while.”

“A while?” She raised her brows and then smiled.

“He’s still too young to grasp the concept of time, besides …” Ash let the sentence die.

“Besides what?”

“We still haven’t figured things out.”

Ouch!

Again, at least he was being honest with her. She definitely needed to guard her heart. They could not share a room. Before she could tell him, they arrived at a cabin.

A little boy burst out the front door and hurtled down the stairs stopping dead. Eyes on her. “Hello.” He waved.

Her heart instantly swelled inside her chest. It felt like the organ was almost too big for the cavity. Alice swallowed hard, and then she smiled. Couldn’t help herself. “Hi! You must be Ethan.”

He beamed, nodding his head. His cheeks were plump, his hair overgrown. It was the same color as Ash's. The boy was the spitting image of his father. Just the eyes, she thought with a pang. They were big and striking. A mossy green.

His eyes were definitely from his mother. “I’m Alice,” she said, “and I’m very pleased to meet you.”

“Why is your tummy so big?” His eyes darted to her belly.

Ash chuckled.

Alice rubbed her belly using both her hands, she looked over at Ash. Not sure what to say. Ash stopped laughing and nodded.

“I have two babies growing inside me.”

“Oh!” That seemed to appease Ethan. “Come, I’ll show you your room. It’s actually my room.” He beamed up at her. “I’m sleeping with my daddy.”

So much for her worrying about their sleeping arrangement. Thank goodness she hadn’t ‘set the record straight’ or she would have sounded like an idiot. Just like she had sounded when she had forbidden sex. She really was only here because she was pregnant. Ash was so far from interested it was scary. Despite the unexpected pain that bloomed, she forced herself to smile at the little guy. “That would be great.”