Page 9 of Bear Facts

An entire secret compound of un-Collared Shifters lived in the middle of Texas, led by a white tiger called Kendrick. Shane wondered if this woman had been one of those Shifters. Maybe she’d run away from Kendrick’s group or one like it.

“You have a name?” he demanded. “Mine’s Shane.”

She didn’t want to tell him. She wriggled under him in annoyance but finally answered grudgingly. “It’s Freya.”

Shane waited but she didn’t give him more than that. The single name had been dragged out of her, and she wasn’t about to reveal anything else.

“Nice to meet you, Freya. If I let you up, you promise you won’t try to rip out my throat again?”

Freya’s lip curled. “Your Collar tastes nasty.”

“Is that your way of saying yes? I’m not letting go until you give me your word.”

“My word?” Freya stared at him as though he’d lost his mind. “You’d take my word for it?”

“Sure. Why not?”

“Because you think I’m feral. I don’t wear a Collar or bow to a Shifter leader, so I can’t be trusted.”

“Don’t do my thinking for me,” Shane said in a hard voice. “Makes me nuts. I’ll take your word as a Shifter, period. You don’t attack me, then we’ll figure out what to do.”

Freya ceased struggling, but Shane wasn’t foolish enough to think she was submitting to his will or any such bullshit.

“Okay then,” Freya said with a glower. “I give you my word. I won’t attack you, as much as you deserve it.”

Shane believed her. Freya, whoever she might be, was desperate, scared, and using belligerence to cover her fear, but she’d already learned she couldn’t best a bear Shifter with physical strength.

She’d try to get away by cunning instead. He’d have to watch her.

Shane, Goddess save him, wanted to help her. Stupid Shifter instincts.

He carefully released her but seized her hands as he stood and heaved her up beside him. Freya found her feet with swift agility. Once they were both standing, he slowly let her go.

Shane became more and more aware, as they regarded each other warily, that he and Freya were both nude, and she had curves that would stop traffic.

Shifters didn’t pay much attention to nakedness when they first shifted into and out of their animal forms—too much going on at that moment to worry about it. But once the change was over, and human hormones began to wake up, they noticed in a huge way.

Freya studied Shane in distaste. “Are all bears as big as you?”

The question had no admiration in it whatsoever. “Yep,” Shane answered. “The ladies too. You should see my mom.”

Freya’s eyes flickered from golden to gray and back. “You have a mother?”

“Most Shifters do.” Shane decided to keep things neutral and not interrogate her about her own family, as much as he wanted to. “Don’t you know any bears?”

“I grew up with Lupines. No other species.”

“Goddess, you poor thing. But at least you didn’t have to put up with Felines.” Shane flashed her a grin he hoped would soften her, but she remained rigid. “I have a cabin nearby. Want to go get warmed up? There should be food there too.”

Freya’s eyes flickered again at the mention of food, the yellow glowing more strongly.

“Why would I go anywhere with you?” she demanded. “For all I know, you have a dozen more bear Shifters waiting there to lock a Collar on me.”

“There aren’t actually that many bears in our Shiftertown,” Shane said without heat. “There’s me and my mom, Brody, Cormac—he’s my stepdad—Peigi down the street, a few more bear Shifter women I helped rescue a while ago, and a couple of their cubs. That’s pretty much it.”

“You rescued them?” Freya eyed him in disbelief. “You mean you put Collars on them and shut them in a Shiftertown. How is that a rescue?”

“They’d been in a very bad place.” Shane let his voice grow somber. “Now they have houses to live in and are surrounded by people who care about them. And no, we didn’t put Collars on them.”

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