Page 34 of His UnBearable Touch

The bears needed to know and move away, or suffer for their mistakes.

He felt Allegra loosen her hold on him as his body began to shift. He wanted to tell her to move back, to give him room, but he didn’t have his own voice, only the bear’s roar as it ripped through his throat.

One of the bears made the mistake of moving closer instead of backing away.

The bear pushed through, making the rest of their shift in the space of a heartbeat.

Valerio felt muscle tear and reform, bones cracked and reset in a different configuration. His heart pushed higher volumes of blood through his body as fur covered him like a cloak had fallen over him.

The curious bear bared fang, but stepped back once and then again. He put a little bit of distance between them but it wasn’t enough. Rolling his enormous shoulders, Valerio surged forward, teeth bared accepting the challenge, a roar ripping from his body as he leapt.

The bear found himself on his side, legs pushing out to run, but finding no purchase on the smooth ground. He tried to twist his neck but couldn’t.

Valerio had his jaws around the bear’s neck. Pinning him to the ground.

The second bear was smart enough. Having backed up into a cave-like rock feature that gave the bears some privacy from prying eyes. Head down, the bear waited for the end of the fight.

Under his massive jaws, the bear gave one more twisting movement, trying to dislodge the hold Valerio had on him, but only succeeded in pushing his fangs through the thick hide covering his neck.

A whine reached his ears and Valerio felt the bear go limp in his grip.

He pressed his teeth in, just a fraction of an inch, enough to let the bear know that could have happened if he hadn’t given up. Once that was done, he let go. The bear’s head slumped down against the ground, making him whine a little more, but he didn’t move, not even to move away from Valerio. He laid still, beaten. Done.

Satisfied that he’d made his point, Valerio stood and turned.

His eyes saw through the darkness and caught sight of Allegra, still on her knees, her hands reached out toward him. He saw the worry on her face, the pain pinched at the corners of her eyes.

He opened his mouth to call her name and only made a soft growling noise.

She tensed before him, her hands pulling back the littlest bit as she bit into her lip.

Valerio didn’t want to frighten her. She’d already been through enough. How long had she been alone with those bears while he lay unconscious? He hoped it wasn’t long, but even just a few moments was too much. He wanted to comfort her, to hold her close. But he needed some time in his shifted state to heal the damage that was caused by the hit and the fall.

Still, he couldn’t leave Allegra literally and figuratively in the dark.

Sitting down on the hard floor of the enclosure he tried to still his movements, readying himself for the shift. It was going to hurt with all of his injuries, but it would be worth it to ease her worry.

“Wait.”

His bear turned to look at her, watching as she felt for the wall and put one foot up on the ground.

“Wait.” She shook her head and walked both hands up the wall while she managed to get herself up off of her knees. “Don’t shift yet.”

She swallowed a laugh, he could almost feel it rushing up inside of her.

“You feel it too, right?”

Then she laughed for real.

“Not that you could tell me if I got it right.” She shook her head as if she needed to clear her thoughts. “Patricia, my therapist, she told me something about how it works. Somedays telling me little bits and pieces about what it’s like to be a shifter was the only thing that got me to try something again after I walked into a wall. You need to heal and it’s faster as your bear.” She let out a huff. “Just don’t let them eat me and you can have all the time you need before you shift back.”

He started to move toward her at a slow walk, but he heard pounding footsteps above them and rushed closer to put her at his back.

The steps ended in a crunch of gravel and dirt under a heavy foot. “Valerio?” Salvatore’s worried voice called down from the upper level.

“We’re down here!” Allegra answered for them and he heard the other bears retreat into their den.

Valerio sank down to the ground with a low groan of pain.

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