Chapter 8

The man stepped away. I stayed pinned to the wall, unable to move an inch of my body. All I could do was watch in terror as a large, impossibly-sized bear entered the cave.

When its large incisors came into view, a loud, guttural scream escaped my body, echoing off the cave walls. This animal was going to kill me. I was about to die.

Before I could scream anew, the man grabbed me, placing a hand over my mouth to stifle my cries of terror. My fingers grabbed his hand, trying to push it away, desperate to get free now that I once again had control of my body.

“That’s not a wild bear…” The man whispered in my ear. His words broke through my fear, stopping my struggle. I stilled, melting into his grasp. “It’s the Leader.”

This man was nuts. This was a bear. A huge, man-eating bear if I ever saw one.

“There’s no need to be scared.” His voice was soft and reassuring like he meant what he said, but I just couldn’t accept that the bear was going to leave us alone. Every natural documentary I had ever seen on TV replayed in my mind. I could almost imagine those large teeth sinking into my flesh, tearing me limb from limb.

Finally, the man let go of me and I scrambled out of harm’s way. I couldn’t head for the exit so I rushed toward the back, effectively backing myself into a corner.

I tried to melt into the wall, pressing my body hard against it. Holding my breath, I watched as the bear got closer and closer, his giant paws crashing into the earth.

Grizzly grunts roared from his maw, dominating the air around him. His head was low as he sniffed the air, his jowls moving with his heavy breaths.

He looked just like the bears I had seen in zoos and movies. There was no way he could transform into a human, no matter how much that nutcase tried to convince me.

Suddenly, in the dim light of the cave, the bear’s bright yellow eyes flashed, catching my attention. Our eyes locked and I felt my heart skip a beat. I couldn’t breathe as his honey-colored eyes stared into mine with a level of intelligence and warmth I had never seen in an animal before.

With a loud roar, he rose onto his hind legs. I craned my neck, maintaining eye contact. It was like I was under a spell, my whole body frozen in place. I gulped, his powerful body towering over me. He had to be at least eight feet tall, possibly even nine.

His claws curled and his muscles tensed right before he let out a loud, ear-piercing roar. His teeth flashed in the torchlight, looking menacing and deadly. I pushed myself even further into the wall, my terror crippling.

This bear was going to kill me.

***

I closed my eyes tight, trying to brace myself for the moment when the bear would finally take a chunk out of my body, but it never came. Even when his roar ended, nothing happened. Carefully, I opened one of my eyes and peered at my surroundings.

The bear was still on his hind legs, but something was happening. He was starting to become blurry. It was like his body was vibrating and disturbing the air around him, making it difficult to focus on him.

My fingers twitched with fear, but at the same time, I couldn’t keep my eyes away.

To my utter shock, he started to change. He roared once again, the sound deafening. In the process, his snout became smaller and smaller, his fur started to disappear, his claws slowly turning into fingers.

I couldn’t believe what was happening. I watched as he grew shorter, his waistline tapering, his legs becoming longer and packed with muscle. His stomach rippled with abs.

I blinked and all of a sudden, a living, breathing man was standing right in front of me. I could hardly believe it.

A bear had just transformed into a man before my very eyes.

He stood very still, and for a moment, I thought that maybe, he was a statue. My eyes roamed his body, eventually noticing his nakedness.

Blush rose in my cheeks as I noticed just how well-endowed this shapeshifter was. His manhood hung between his hips, thick and long.

Feeling my cheeks growing hot, I looked away quickly, focusing on other features of his body. He was well over six feet tall, his shoulders broad, and his chest buff. A curly tuft of hair decorated his chest.

I felt my heart speed up as I tried to edge away from the man that had just transformed from a bear. My head was spinning, trying to find a logical explanation for what I had just witnessed.

This couldn’t be real. This had to be some kind of messed up dream, an illusion. Bears didn’t just turn into men like this.

I tried to connect all the pieces together, but none of this was making any sense.

I hugged the wall, tip-toeing my way toward the exit. As I did, I accidently bumped into the man from before. He held out his arms and kept me from tripping over. “What… What’s going on?” I asked in a whisper. The man who stood in the middle of the cave had yet to move. Maybe, he wasn’t real. Maybe he was just a figment of my imagination.

“He has transformed. Now, you’ll be with him. You’ll satisfy his sexual appetite.”

At these words, the shapeshifter turned and faced me. His lips curled, showing off a set of pearly white teeth. His amber-colored eyes locked with mine.

This couldn’t be happening.

Unable to comprehend what was going on, my body collapsed to the ground as I fainted.