Adelaide

“Gunnar,” I cry out as the wolves loom closer, snarling and vicious, circling us completely.

He’s still outside of the truck.

I try to open my door so that he can get inside, but he slams it shut again, and growls out, “Stay inside.”

I’m about to argue with him, but before I even have a chance, one large wolf jumps on the hood of the truck.

I scream, terrified for Gunnar, knowing that no matter how strong the man is, there’s no way he can fight off six wolves. Paralyzed with fear, I have no idea what to do, but my first instinct is to search the glove compartment for a gun. A glint of metal in the back has me reaching for the handgun I find there, but as my finger wraps around the grip, a deep growl outside the truck has me twisting in my seat.

And what I see rips a scream from my throat. Where Gunnar was standing just a half second before, stands a large bear, it’s fur glistening in the moonlight. It’s mouth wide in a battle cry before slamming its front paws down and knocking one of the wolves back with its enormous head.

“Oh God.” Where the hell is Gunnar?

Tears burn my eyes and I desperately check the gun’s barrel, finding it fully loaded as the bear cries out when one of the wolves bites down on its back flank. It’s then that I see the ripped clothes in the dirt - Gunnar’s clothes.

What is happening? Nothing makes sense.

My fingers shake around the gun and when I realize that the windows are automatic, I think about opening the door a crack and firing the weapon. Maybe Gunnar is under the vehicle, hurt, bleeding.

But the bear is doing a better job than I could at taking out each of the wolves, and it isn’t long before the wolves retreat back into the shadows from which they came, tails between their legs, whimpering.

Gunnar, Gunnar, Gunnar. My heart beats rapidly. What did the wolves do to him? And what will the bear do if I don’t fire the weapon.

It turns then, and I swear the animal stares right at me.

See me. The thought seems to come from somewhere deep inside me. See me, Adelaide.

I blink, knowing I need to help Gunnar, but it’s like the bear has me in a trance, like the creature is trying to communicate with me. Like the voice isn’t my own, but the bear’s.

It’s shock. That’s all. I push away the familiarity that I feel, and re-focus on the wild animal in front of me, taking in the deep scars along its flank.

I was right. It is familiar, because it’s not just any bear, it’s the bear. The one that fought the grizzly on the mountain the day we arrived...the one that killed my grandfather. And now it’ll kill Gunnar.

Unless I do something.

I take the safety off the gun, then open the door.

The bear doesn’t move. Not until I lift the weapon.

I’m about to pull the trigger back, when from somewhere deep inside of me, I hear, Addie, no.

It’s like a growl that vibrates through my whole body, and it makes me pause long enough for the bear to begin to change form.

I watch, mesmerized and terror stricken, as the animal shifts into human form.

And not just any human form, into the one I recognize all too well - Gunnar.

A small whimper catches in my throat. I drop the gun and take a step backward, unable to wrap my brain around what is actually happening. Because it isn’t real. Can’t be real. In no reality does what I’m seeing make sense.

But Gunnar now stands in front of me, naked, his muscles taut, his scars gleaming in the light of the full moon. As I watched his body change back into the skin I kissed and touched and felt against my own, my heart seized with panic. Each pounding beat harder and faster than the last.

It can’t be.

But it is.

I gave my virginity to this animal - this bear. And I was offering him more. I would have given him my heart in its entirety. But now? Now I see Gunnar for what he really, truly is.

A liar.

A monster.

A killer.

I take another step back, scrambling away as he steps toward me. I manage to get inside the truck, but Gunnar stops me before I shut the door.

“Let me explain,” he says, eyes desperate.

I’m curled in on myself, wanting to be anywhere but here. I flinch when he reaches for me.

“Addie, please listen—”

“No.” I shake my head and pull even farther back. “There is nothing you can say that can make this right.”

“I know what you just saw is scary—”

“Scary?” I blink at him. “It’s insane. Maybe I’m insane for believing my own eyes. But...”

“You’re not insane,” he says softly.

“So, you’re...a bear?”

He takes a deep breath in then inhales slowly. “The animal is part of me, yes.”

“Oh my God.” I wrap my arms tighter around my chest. But it isn’t even the whole bear thing that has me the most freaked out. It’s the scars. The evidence of what he’s done. Of the brutal animal he really is.

Tears roll down my cheeks and I don’t wipe them away, I’m too stunned, seeing him so close to me. No longer knowing who he is.

What he is.

It hasn’t even been an hour since Gunnar and I made love. Since I whispered the single word that matched his own. Mine.

Now I know there couldn’t be anything further from the truth than that.

How could I belong to a bear? This bear. The one who killed my grandfather, a man I loved so fiercely.

“Adelaide, we can make this work.”

I laugh, the sound is sharp and high pitched. A laugh that reveals just how scared I am. I push past him, moving from the truck, standing on my own two feet, inching away from him as I speak.

“We can make this work?” I echo his words, knowing they’re the furthest thing from the truth. “I could possibly handle this—” I motion to him, then look away, because he isn’t a bear anymore, he’s a gorgeous, well-endowed man, that despite my mind’s protests, I’m still insanely attracted to. “But you’re not just a bear-man, or whatever you call yourself—”

“A shifter,” he mutters.

I shake my head, not caring about the label he puts on himself, because there’s only one that I can give him - murderer.

“Tell me...” My knees are weak, my vision blurry from unshed tears. “Tell me the truth. Did you kill my grandfather?”

He runs his hands through his hair, his biceps flexing, his body firm and strong. But now I know it is more than strength in those muscles. It is destruction.

“Yes.” Guilt is heavy in that one word.

My shoulders shake and I reach for my purse, my shoes. I need to get away. Now. But that damn voice I’d heard earlier stops me.

Don’t run from me, Adelaide.

I glare at him, starting to wonder if he doesn’t have some bear-type mind control. It wouldn’t be the weirdest thing that’s happened to me tonight.

He steps toward me, eyes dark and focused, full of desperation and fear. “The first time I saw you, you were in a yellow dress. Remember? Your hair was so long, past your waist and you saw me.” He brushes his knuckles across my cheek. “I know you did.”

I shake my head, squeezing my eyes shut. Not wanting to accept that Gunnar was there on the worst day of my life. That he was the bear who I’d felt a connection with. The bear who took away my innocence. But he already admitted the truth.

“It’s true, Adelaide,” he says, dropping his hand and then moving to the truck and grabbing a new pair of jeans before pulling them on.

“Why?” I ask, my voice shaking with emotions.

He turns back to me as he buttons his fly. “It’s been years since that terrible day, but there hasn’t been a second of my life that the memory isn’t etched into my soul when I have thought about it...about you. And now I know why. You are my mate.”

His mate.

At those words, I let out a sob. It was meant to be a laugh. But it so clearly is not. It’s fear and it’s racing through me.

I push back my hair and begin to run, even knowing it’s reckless, that it’s a half mile to the Red Barn, but I don’t care. I’d rather take my chances here in the wild than be with Gunnar.

“Adelaide, stop,” he calls after me and I turn, my hair whipping around my face.

“Don’t you dare follow me,” I scream into the black night.

“No one can know, please, Addie,” he begs. “Don’t say anything. It’s not just me you’d put at risk...”

I hear the words, but I don’t stay to listen to anymore. Instead, I turn around and run as fast and as far away as possible.