Page 5 of Bears Not Included

“And the third said, ‘She sleeps in my bed, where I dream of a soft woman’s body to heat my loins.’

“And so it was decided.

“‘This makes her ours,’ they all said together.

“Bernard, Barrett, and Bruin tended to her scrapes and bruises. They fed her meat and vegetables and kept her warm and safe, and it was almost immediately that she fell in love with each of the three men who took her as their bride.

“But something troubled her three husbands, and Goldenia wasn’t going to rest until she discovered the reason, they would turn somber after telling her they loved her as if they were hiding something from her. She soon pulled the reason out of them.

“They were both men and bears. At first, she didn’t believe them until they showed her, shifting from their human forms into the bodies of bears.

“Bernard, Barrett, and Bruin were wrecked with the worry that Goldenia would flee from them in fear. But their sweet, gentle bride stood her ground. She bravely reached out and touched their thick fur. She said their names and smiled when they growled softly against her.

“She loved them in any form, and nothing could change that.

“Goldenia was convinced she had found her happy ever after with her three bears. Their cottage was so deep in the woods that no one would ever find it.

“But someone did find her.

“The cruel man she was supposed to marry had come to collect the bride he had paid an exorbitant amount of money for, and he wasn’t leaving without her. He brought with him hundreds of men, crazed and hungry for a kill, driven by the promise of a huge reward.

“To protect their beloved Goldenia, Bernard, Barrett, and Bruin had been forced to fall back on their true selves. They were forced to bring out the bears in them to fight off the men who were going to take away their beautiful bride. There was nothing they wouldn’t do for her.

“But the cruel man would not be bested, and he brought more and more men. And they were more and more menacing.

“He quadrupled the rewards for the heads of the three bears and the heart of their bride for making a fool of him. The town below the mountain became deranged and obsessed with killing the bears and their bride for money.

“Soon, the three bears found the cruel man who hid in a tower while other men fought his battles for him, and they killed him.

“But that did not stop the war.

“Men who changed into bears were considered the devil’s work, and Bernard, Barrett, and Bruin had to die. Knowledge of their existence became widespread. Men from a hundred other villages came to fight them. The war against them grew relentless. Their message was clear. Give the men back their human bride, and the bears’ lives would be spared.

“But Bernard, Barrett, and Bruin could not bear to see their bride under such duress. Her gentle heart couldn’t take the never-ending violence the cruel man brought to the door of her husbands.

“And as the melodious stream that ran near their cottage turned crimson with blood, their bride lapsed into an inescapable melancholy. She wanted the war to end. She didn’t want any more bloodshed.

“Weakened by her sorrow, she prepared to have her heart broken in three when she decided she was going to hand herself over to the men to end the dark war between them.

“But the three bears were not going to let her go. There was only one thing they could do to keep the light alive in their beautiful bride’s eye. They put aside their pride and during a lull in the battle, they packed up only what they needed, and set sail across the ocean.”

I pause, and can’t help the smile on my face when I finish telling Faith the original story of the three bears.

“That is the most beautiful love story I ever heard,” Faith sniffs, her eyes sparkling as she holds her hand against her heart. “A perfect fairytale. But then what happened?” she asks eagerly.

“Well, they landed on English soil,” I say, “And also learned their bride was expecting their first child. The three bear shifters decided it was best for their family that they didn’t draw any unwanted attention to themselves, and by that, they meant no one could know they were bear shifters.”

“How did they do that?”

I smile at Faith’s enthusiasm now, but she still believes it’s a made-up fairytale.

“They decided to lock down that side of themselves for good by never shifting again. Eventually, they lost more and more of their ability to shift until it became impossible to do so again.”

“They lived happily ever after?” Faith asks.

“Oh, yes. They became merchants, which made them some of the richest men in the world, and their bride, whom they loved more every day, couldn’t have been happier because her family was finally safe. The end.”

“I know you did a lot of research, but it feels personal. How did your fascination with this start?” Faith is really curious now, and I can see the look in her eye that says ‘Do I even know you?’

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