We Are Bear

TAVIS

Nice going, Orson.

He’d dumped a ton of information on her. Overload. She was lying there, her head turned towards him, her face blank.

He’d spent all this time patching her up, and now, he might have just killed her with a single, thoughtless sentence.

But it wasn’t thoughtless. He wanted her to know he was a bear. He wanted her to grasp the bigger picture.

But how could she when she was just waking up and couldn’t remember anything else?

Yep. That was a bad move. Shouldn’t have said that.

“Don’t panic,” he said, sounding like an idiot. It was the second time he’d said it since she’d woken up.

The only thing she said back was, “What?”

“I mean—I can explain some of—”

“You’re a bear?”

“Um.” He looked at her. She didn’t seem judgmental, just confused. “Yes. A big black bear. Like the one you described.”

She was clearly trying to wrap her head around this. “So…you’re a shifter.”

“Right.”

Okay, so she knows about shifters.

That was more than he’d expected.

Does this mean she’s a—?

“I thought only wolves were shifters.”

He took a breath, opened his mouth, but the words just wouldn’t come.

“Are you part of a bear…pack?” She turned her head away, struggling. “I mean, that’s probably not the right term, but— And are there other bears? Out there, in the world? Any other animals I should know about?”

“Whoa, whoa.” He touched her shoulder, and she shrugged his hand off. “Take it easy. Yes, I am part of a sleuth. A sleuth of bears, that’s what it’s called. A group of bears is a sleuth, just like a group of wolves is—”

“Don’t mansplain to me.” She tried to roll onto her side and cursed again, louder this time.

“Sorry.” He was still struggling to find the right words, even though there was so much he needed to explain.

“So, you guys have land here?”

“Yep.”

“Are…?” She lifted her head to look at him, looking as scared as the first time he’d seen her. “You’re not the…the Alpha of your…sleuth—are you?”

The serious look on her face made him laugh despite himself. “Sorry, sorry,” he apologized again, as she scowled. “No, I’m definitely not. We’re actually part of a larger wolf pack. They’re more open-minded than most. The Beta of the pack is—”

“So, how did you find me?”

He sighed. “That’s…a long story. I don’t want to stress you out while you’re recovering.”

She glared at him for a few more moments before shaking her head and lying back down. He adjusted the pillows under her feet.

“I still can’t believe you’re a bear.”

“My last name is a clue.”

“What?”

“You know.” He picked up the half-empty bowl of salt water and stood up. “Orson. From ursus. Latin for ~bear~.”

“Well, aren’t you fancy.” She pulled the blanket tightly around her.

He went into the small kitchen, poured the water down the drain, and left the bowl in the sink. Then, he opened the medicine cabinet to see if there was anything that might help.

“I could use a pillow in here,” she called from the living room floor.

“Oh, right!” He rushed back in, grabbed two large cushions from the couch, and propped her upper body up on them. He was careful not to touch her bare shoulders, just to hold them through the blanket.

“Do you want to put on a shirt?” she asked.

He closed his eyes. It was like his every move gave away his thoughts. “Give me a minute. I’m trying to take care of you first.”

“I mean, I could also lie on the actual couch.”

“I…yeah, you’re right.” He helped her up onto the couch. “You still need these pillows under your feet, though. Just to...keep the blood flowing, or something.”

She looked at him, a hint of amusement in her eyes. “If you say so, Mr. Paramedic.”

“Listen, I’m going to be in there,” he said, pointing to the kitchen, “looking for any medicine I have that might help you. Just shout if there’s anything specific you need. And I’ll go to the store to get whatever I don’t have.”

For the first time, she smiled. It was a small smile, but he couldn’t help but stare at it. “Thank you.”

“You’re…welcome.” He swallowed, trying to hide the tremor in his voice, and went back to the open cabinet. He was trying to push away certain thoughts when—

TAYLEE

What had happened to her?

What was she doing?

She never acted like this. Not around guys who weren’t her dad. Especially not around strange guys who were using their own shirts to clean her up after saving her from what would have been her last night alive.

Not around guys who looked pretty good without said shirt. Even if their abs weren’t the most defined.

And yet here she was, teasing him, talking back to him. Being mean and then not mean. Angry and then not angry.

She had every right to be startled. She had woken up in his house. She had found him shirtless, tending to her inner thigh.

Wow.

That wasn’t an everyday sight. Or a sight for any day, really.

She pulled the blanket tighter around her, shivering. The floor was hardwood and a bit chilly. Or maybe it was just the lingering cold from outside.

She was truly grateful to this man. Tavis Orson. Despite his already annoying habits, she felt indebted to him. He had saved her life.

Maybe this was her new way of expressing gratitude. Her post-near-death-experience way.

Don’t mess with me. I almost died.

She rehearsed the line in her head, the way she’d say it to anyone who dared to cross her now.

I’ll rip your heart out. I’ve been running with the bears.

The bears! How had she not known about bear-shifters? Had her parents, Nathaniel and Gretchen, really failed to mention something so crucial? There were bears in the neighboring state!

Did Charlotte know?

Charlotte probably figured it out on her own, without any help from their parents. She knew everything.

Taylee wished she could shift into her wolf form right here and now, for the first time, to show Tavis she wouldn’t need saving anymore.

She wished she even knew what her wolf form would look like.

Her parents’ wolves were both silver; her mother’s tail darkened into black at the tip. They looked so similar in wolf form—it was a sign they were soulmates.

Charlotte didn’t have her wolf yet, but she still had a few years. Taylee was running out of time.

Maybe it was an Asian thing.

Nathaniel and Gretchen had adopted Taylee from Vietnam when she was eight months old. She’d always wondered what her biological mother had named her, if she had named her at all.

Now, she was more concerned about what her wolf form would be like.

“Taylee.”

She blinked. Tavis had poked his head through the doorway.

“Do you have a headache?”

“Uh…yeah, a little.”

“I’ll bring some Advil.” He disappeared, only to reappear moments later with a small bottle and a glass of water. “Here.” He helped her sit up and tilt her head back as she drank.

She was so conflicted about what she thought of this man, of his hand supporting the back of her head. She pushed it out of her mind.

Then, she jerked forward unexpectedly, knocking the glass out of Tavis’s hand and spilling water on the wood floor.

“Shoot,” she croaked, coughing, but Tavis calmly picked up the unbroken glass and used his shirt, once again, to mop up the water.

“It’s okay,” he murmured, “it’s okay. We’ll take it slow.”

He asked, without looking at her, “Did you have a flashback?”

The fact he could be so accurate unsettled her. “I—Yes.”

“Can you tell me about it?”

She looked down. “Do you promise not to judge me?”

“I will never judge you, Taylee.”

The conviction in his voice made her look up, and this time, his eyes were meeting hers.

And this time, she felt a tremor inside.

“There was a man…huge, with a lot of hair. But his eyes were the most striking...wild. The same eyes as…as…”

Her mind shot out far, like a boomerang, and came back.

“As what?” said Tavis’s distant voice.

“As the eyes of…the bear that attacked me.”

There. That was it. Two pieces of this terrible puzzle had clicked into place. She found herself shaking on the outside now, overwhelmed by shock and sorrow.

Without thinking, she reached out, and Tavis took her hand and held it tight.

They sat like that for what felt like forever.

“What does it mean?” she whispered finally.

His gaze was fixed on her hand. “You weren’t attacked.”

She shook her head, unsure she’d heard correctly. “Excuse me?”

“You were—” Leaning forward on his heels, he touched the scar on her collarbone. She gasped. He was so close, and yet it felt like he was barely there. “You were marked.”

“Marked?” The word left a bitter taste of fear in her mouth. Old fear, but new fear too. “What does that mean?”

Tavis lifted his eyes to meet hers again. But there was no magic.

“It means you’re one of us now, Taylee. You’re going to become a bear.”