Page 7 of Banishing Regrets

He just kept staring at her.

“That’s totally freaking me out,” Jane chuckled. “Come on, Kas. Talk to me rather than stare at me. I’m a normal, human female after all—I don’t understand all your silent communication.”

“Do you love Heath?” Kas blurted out.

Jane was shocked at the question. “I’m getting that way with him.”

Kas hummed a non-existent reply.

Jane turned her head back to the television. This wasn’t going well.

“Why is Bruce Willis so popular with the men in this pack? You all talk about him and want to be like him, but with the prowling around you all do, most of you are like him anyway.” Jane tried again to start a conversation.

“I’m a bear. I don’t prowl,” Kas replied.

“How do you move around then?” Jane questioned with interest.

“I walk with a steady, lumbering gait. Polar bears have a plantigrade stance. They walk on the soles of their feet with their heels touching the ground first. Like other bears, they can also stand on their hind feet and walk upright for short distances,” Kas informed her as he sat back on the couch, seemingly relaxing a bit more with her.

“I’d like to see that one day. I’ve seen so few shifters change. They tend to do it away from me. Heath is stunning when he shifts.”

“I’ll show you now.” Kas got to his feet, and Jane watched as he removed the jacket and tie he was wearing. He took off his shirt and lowered his pants. He folded all the clothes neatly and put them on a chair. Jane couldn’t help but notice the impressive bulge in his tight underwear.

“Look at my eyes, they are the first to change,” Kas instructed, and she raised her gaze.

Her mouth opened in amazement as she watched Kas shift before her. He was right— the first things to change were his eyes. The whites disappeared, and the irises grew until his eyes were as black as the night. His hands fell to the floor, and his skin started to transform from pale to black. His hands and feet grew long black claws as white fur started to sprout all over his body. Jane leaned forward on the couch. Heath was stunning as a snow leopard, but Kas as a polar bear was just as intense as he was in his human form. He was massive, and with one swipe of his paw, she knew Kas would be able to kill her. She rose tentatively to her feet.

“May I stroke your fur? I’d like to know how it feels.” she asked, not wanting to do anything that Kas found uncomfortable.

Jane had learned early on that shifters didn’t attack humans unless they were provoked and there was absolutely no other choice, but that didn’t mean she was going to risk doing something to antagonize one of them.

A low growl rumbled from Kas’ throat before he stepped forward and lowered his head to her hand. She couldn’t speak to any of the shifters when they were in animal form, but she’d always found they were expressive with their actions. The gentle nuzzling of her hand by Kas meant he wanted her to touch him.

She started at the tip of his snout, and brushing her hand up toward his ears, she gradually moved around his massive body, stroking all the way down to the tip of his tail. Heath’s fur was soft and fluffy to touch, but Kas’ was different. It was his protection from the cold when in the Arctic. It was coarse and a brilliant white. She moved back to his head and looked into his jet black eyes. They were full of expression, if that was even possible with just one color.

“You’re stunning. I think, if it’s possible, even more so than Heath because of your size and power. I don’t know how this is possible.” She started to kneel down before him, her hand resting on his cheek.

Silence flooded the room around them, and as she stared at the powerful animal, her entire body told her it should terrify her, but it didn’t. Something about it was calling to her, telling her that Kas was special and hers.

“I don’t think I’ll ever understand the forces that work in this place. It’s a magic I can’t comprehend.” Jane bit her lip.

Without warning, Kas suddenly leaped from the spot he’d been rooted to and headed straight for the lounge door. Jane jumped to her feet, but he’d already smashed his way through the door and disappeared from the room before she could stop him.

Her hands began to shake.

What had just happened? She was confused.

This entire magical world had drawn her in and welcomed her, but she couldn’t help wondering why? Destiny was everything to the shifters. How did she fit into the future?

Jane suddenly had a sinking feeling in her stomach that she’d been brought here for a reason, one that would lead to great happiness over the years but also great sadness.

She hoped she was strong enough to survive.

Four

Kas was sittingat his desk and staring straight ahead at a patch on the wall that had been repaired previously. He had a habit of making holes in the wall when he was angry, but he still remembered the day he made that one.

It happened not long after he’d turned into a polar bear in front of Jane for the first time. He couldn’t cope with the overwhelming need to mate with her and had run from the house, smashing a lot of doors along the way. That wasn’t the reason for the hole, though—it was because of a vision he’d been sent sometime later. He didn’t know where it had come from at first but later learned it was from Ethern, his then multi-shifter but now reaper friend. What Kas witnessed made him decide on a future course of action to ensure the best outcome for all supernaturals, even though he knew it would destroy him.

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