Locked in a room with a man that brought a knife. Those were the basics that were running through her head. This could be like the scene in a horror movie or one of those scary cop crime shows.

Ever the rational thinker, Zara quickly reminded herself that the door locked from the inside. She was standing closest to it by a number of feet from Finley. The knife he grabbed was also within arm’s reach of her not him. Although her heart was pounding she didn’t immediately bolt out of the room. It might be a stupid mistake, but then Zara was never comfortable around mysteries. This was a huge one right in front of her.

“Fin, what’s with the knife?” she asked cautiously. He was acting a little manic, but not all the way crazy. Like all the way crazy was a recognized diagnosis.

“I wanted you to feel safe.”

“Safe from you?”

“No, from my bear. He won’t hurt you. He can’t. It would kill him to ever harm you. He loves you and wants nothing else but to protect you from everything else out there.”

“So the knife is for me?”

Finley nodded.

“I have mace in my purse, but thanks for thinking of me, I guess. Why are you on the other side of the room?”

“Because what I just did was impulsive and rash considering you don’t know me very well. I need to show you who I am, but I need you to feel safe while I’m doing that. Now I’m in this bathroom thinking we should walk out and I should get you home. But then you’ll never want to see me again. If I show you my bear, you might believe what I’m saying and give me a chance.”

“Well, logically, this is not something that any woman would feel comfortable with. We are in the bathroom of a restaurant, which you realize people think we are doing it in here because why else would we both come in at the same time.”

“I didn’t think about that.”

Zara shrugged. “Not my problem, I don’t know these people. So now I need to decide whether or not I leave or I stay and see what you have to say?”

“It’s your call. I apologize, I really do. It’s hard when your animal wants something so badly and you have to keep him from it. You know my bear stopped talking to me for a year because I was being a jackass?”

“He talks to you?”

“He doesn’t exactly talk, but he makes his presence known. I can tell what he’s feeling. He often urges me one direction or another.”

“And what does he say right now?”

“Imagine a giant bear shaking his head at you like you’re an idiot.”

“I’ve seen a bear wave at the zoo, so I can imagine that.”

There was a lull as they stared at each other. Zara took a seat on the toilet lid, ignoring the knife and crossing her legs. “Okay, how does this work?”

Finley stayed in his crouched position. “You want to see him?”

“I believe what I can see, Fin. That means I need to see that you’re telling me the truth. Either you’ll be right and I’ll have to rethink my take on the world, or I’ll make use of the door.”

“Fair point. I—uh—need to strip down. Shifting in clothes is dangerous and uncomfortable. I’d apologize, but I’m a bit of a show-off.”

Zara actually laughed. “Well, good for you for being confident. I’ll try not to stare.”

Finley unfolded from his crouch and very slowly and deliberately started disrobing. When he got to his boxer briefs, he paused and Zara couldn’t help but smirk.

He might be crazy, but so far she was getting a free peep show, and it was a good one. Finley was tall and his body was tanned like he’d been out in the sun over the summer. He had only the lightest hair on a chest that was firm and well muscled. Everything about him was trim and fit. She could tell that he was strong. It was just under the surface and you couldn’t really see just how strong he was until you saw that muscle and sinew stretching under his skin.

Finley pulled down his boxers and kicked them aside.

Zara couldn’t help herself. It wasn’t like she hadn’t seen plenty of naked bodies in her life. She was going into medicine after all. Finley Rochon was built like an Adonis and she didn’t think there was a better comparison. Even the statue of David didn’t compare because Finley was sporting way more under his fig leaf than good old David was.

“Just don’t scream. I won’t be able to shift back fast enough if someone busts in. Remember he won’t hurt you and he’s very friendly.”

“Got it, friendly bear.” Zara knew her tone was a tad mocking but she couldn’t help herself. The stress of this strange situation was getting to her.

Finley gave her a long look and then Zara watched as the area over his skin started to blur, or maybe it was a shimmer. Like the heat waves coming up from a road in the summer. She blinked a few times and the shimmer didn’t disappear. The shimmer turned into a myriad of colors that swirled against each other, altering the shape of the man standing in front of her. A burst of sparks shot off him and then he was gone.

Leaning against the wall, sitting on his back legs was a bear. A large bear, the color of dark earth.

Zara blinked then blinked again. She reached up and rubbed her eyes quickly because her gut told her to not take her eyes off a dangerous animal. Opening them again, he was still there.

His head was enormous; she probably never realized that a bear was that big in person. You rarely saw them in comparison to a person. This animal took up a good portion of the room. His mouth was huge and she was sure there were some ferocious teeth inside.

Zara pinched herself, and then she waited to see if her perception changed.

It didn’t, there was still a large brown bear sitting on the floor of a bathroom in a Pho restaurant.

“Holy, shit. I’ve gone insane,” she muttered.

The animal huffed and shook its head.

“You did not just shake your head at me.”

The animal nodded and made a funny chuffing noise again.

“I don’t know if I’m ever going to recover from this. I’m a rational person because things can be rationalized. This is not normal! Shit, now I’m talking to you. But you’re here so why wouldn’t I? Fin was here and now he’s not. So, logic tells me he went somewhere, but we’re in a locked room.”

The animal shook his head then almost shrugged. He leaned back on his back legs, his body taking up most of the wall to the ceiling and he proceeded to pat his stomach.

“Nice, you ate him?”

The bear made another sound that wasn’t far from being annoyed.

“He’s inside you because you were inside him?”

The bear dropped back to his paws and nodded enthusiastically again.

Zara’s heart was racing, partly because any sane person would be terrified to be in a room with a dangerous animal. It was also racing as she thought about the possibility that she’d lost her mind and was in the middle of a psychotic break. On the plus side it might make her mother back off a little on the matchmaking, down side they may have her committed.

“What the hell am I supposed to do now?” she whispered. She said this to the bear and he almost sighed. The air around his fur started to shimmer much like it did when Finley was standing there naked.

In a moment Finley was there, pulling on his boxers and jeans before he walked over and squatted down in front of her.

“I’m sorry; there really wasn’t any other way you’d believe me.”

Zara looked deep into his eyes, he was there in front of her but a moment ago he wasn’t. That yellow flare rolled over his pupils again, like the animal inside was making his presence known again.

“I don’t understand, Fin. I really feel like I’m going insane here. It’s not a good feeling.”

“I’ll answer all your questions. I will. Anything you want to know. Let’s go back out there and get something to eat, and maybe you’ll feel a little better.

Zara didn’t think a little soup and noodles were going to help, but she felt that her options were limited at the moment.