Page 34 of Cold Foot Croc

He was like a furnace, and her skin warmed. Slowly, she rested her head against his side, making sure to keep her body relaxed.

A low rumble emanated from Garret, but it wasn’t a growl. He seemed to be making the noise on his exhale. His body was relaxing next to her, and Raynah smiled at the woods. When he looked over his shoulder at her again, she smiled at him. “I knew you were good.”

The rumbling sound picked up and vibrated through her body.

His Change back was sudden, and shocking. One moment she’d been leaned completely against him, and the next she was pitching to the side with a squawk of surprise. And in moments, Garret was in his human form, on his hands and knees, face winced in pain.

“Oh my gosh,” she uttered on a breath. Raynah struggled to her feet and strode for his discarded clothes that were still piled several yards away.

Garret muttered a curse and sat back on his bent knees, head aimed for the sky, his Adam’s apple on display. “That was intense,” he whispered.

“You did so good. You did so good!” she exclaimed as she gathered his clothes with fumbling fingers.

“I did it,” he said in a hushed tone, his bright, glowing teal eyes boring into hers. The smile sat on his lips so subtly.

“You freaking did it!”

He stood in a blur, and caught her in a kiss that shocked her to her bones.

His arms were gentle but firm around her, and as she unfroze and melted into him, he angled her to the side to let the pressure off her stomach. Oh, she loved this. Loved this comfortability with a man. It had been so damn long since she’d just felt…safe.

He ended the kiss and eased back, searched her eyes, and shook his head. “I never thought a Change would be like that. You touched me. You touched my fur. I could tell. I was there. I was present.”

She brushed her fingertips down the two-day scruff on his chiseled jaw and smiled. “It’ll get better and better.”

“I could Change again. I could do it if you asked me to.”

“Yeah?”

He nodded jerkily. “Yeah, I really could. I think I can do it again.”

“Do it one more time, and then we’ll feed you again.”

“I can do this.” There was this heart-wrenching hope in his voice. He wasn’t confident yet, and she longed for that for him, but he was hopeful, and hope was the beginning of everything meaningful.

Garret rushed to grab her jacket, and dusted the snow off it before he slid it over her shoulders. She’d never had someone think of her comfort so much before. He was a gentleman, and she wondered about the way he grew up. Did he have sisters? He learned to be caring for women from somewhere.

He turned and strode away, and she couldn’t help a glance at his ass. Look, she was a shifter. Nudity was the norm, and she’d never cared about what people looked like before or after a Change, but Garret’s Changes made his muscles taut, and made the veins in his arms and biceps pop. His abs were chiseled like she’d never seen on a man. His dick was thick and at half-mast, and was a thing of masculine beauty, which made no damn sense because it was cold out here. He looked like a demigod walking the earth, and it was her he kept looking at over his shoulder with an excited smile.

“Come on,” he murmured to himself. “We can do this.”

A long, low vibration rattled through her entire body as she watched him Change even faster than the last time. Hercrocodile was watching. She was here. God, she missed her. “It’ll be our turn soon,” she promised the animal, sliding her hands protectively over her belly. They just had to get this baby to air first.

Soon,she whispered again in her mind as Garret stood on all fours. Goodness, his bear looked even bigger this time. He really was a massive bruin, and she wondered again about his Maker.

Sasha and Timber were polar bear shifters, but they weren’t as big as Garret’s grizzly. Usually it was the other way around. Polar bears were usually bigger in the shifter world.

The bear paced into the woods, and when he turned back for her, he charged.

With a gasp, Raynah stumbled backward, but a popping sound rippled through the air as Garret Changed back, skidding to a stop in his human form just a few feet away from her.

His grin was contagious. He looked down at his hands and clenched them into fists. The muscles of his arms were shredded, and his vascularity was improving with each Change, as if he’d just had an intense workout.

When he looked up from his fists, his teeth were still sharp in his smile, and he smelled like fur and dominance.

“Having fun?” she asked.

“Yes. Yes, I am having fun!” he crowed, his voice echoing through the forest. His voice was still gravelly, and didn’t sound human yet. “I can see and hear everything right now.”

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