Page 84 of Healed
Her big, block head canted slightly when he told her how amazing she was.
Charlie smiled. “And there’s the woman I love, right there, in those eyes.”
Daisy shifted back to her human self and stood before him, completely naked. “That’s it? No freaking out and running to save your child from my father so you can make a quick getaway?”
Charlie’s eyes were wider than they’d been when she shifted into her Bear. “Daisy, you’re naked!”
“Well, yes.” She gestured toward the torn remnants on the ground at her feet. “They’re too small for my Bear and were ripped to shreds!”
“Oh, no. No, no, no,” he muttered as he pulled his own shirt off over his head and hurried to her, holding it up so he could slip it over her head. He held it still as she slipped her arms inside, then tugged it down her body. It just barely touched the tops of her thighs. “What if somebody saw you?”
Daisy laughed. “Charlie, we’re all shifters. We’ve run and played together since we were toddlers. We are all naked when we shift back from our beasts. Nakedness is nothing to a shifter. It’s just another state of being.”
He pursed his lips and focused on her face. “Forgive me for being a little possessive, but I haven’t even seen you naked yet, and we’re standing in your front yard.”
Daisy smiled at him. “This is the gist of it, Charlie. My Aunt Avaleigh used to say that we’re just people like everybody else. We just have a little extra umph thrown in. I’m no different than I was an hour ago, or a week ago, or the first time you met me. But I get it if it’s too much and you don’t want any part of it. I’ll take care of it so you won’t have to remember any of what I’ve told you if that would make it easier for you.”
“Wait, you would wipe my memory?”
“If you have an issue with me, with us, I don’t have much choice.”
“You can do that?”
“Well, not me personally, but Brandt’s mate can. You’d never know, there’s no pain, she’d give you the suggestion that I’m just a nice lady from the art school that you are definitely not attracted to.”
Before she even finished speaking he was already shaking his head. “I don’t want to let this go. I have no doubt that I’m going to be stupefied later, but I’m okay with that. All that matters to me is that I want you in my life. I want to be a part of yours. I don’t care what you are, as long as the soul inside you at any given time is you. Truthfully, I already figured out that something very unusual was happening. There’s been whispers of supernatural creatures rampant on social media since its inception. People believe in ghosts, Bigfoot, and the Loch Ness Monster, why not shifters? Native Americans have believed in skin walkers since the beginning of their civilizations. So, really, how far out of the ordinary is it?”
“There are more mysteries in the world than either you or I will ever encounter,” she said.
“True.” He stood there for a few seconds, hands shoved awkwardly in the pockets of his jeans. “So, everybody is a Bear shifter?”
“My immediate family is as well as others, but we also have Foxes, Lions, Wolves, and even Dragons. Oh, there’s also an Alligator who’s recently joined us.”
He stood there, his mouth slightly ajar, before he started laughing.
“Why are you laughing?” she asked. “I’m telling you the truth.”
“Havoc,” he said, still chuckling.
“Yes?”
“He’s a Wolf, isn’t he?”
Daisy grinned. “Yes, he is.”
“And Lucien is the Alligator.”
“He is.”
“Okay, so here’s the thing. It’s your soul that I’m drawn to. You’re as beautiful inside as you are outside. And everything that you are or have ever been exposed to, makes you who you are. So, as wild as it sounds, for me it’s simple. I’m involved with a girl who’s a Bear shifter.”
Daisy watched Charlie with a bit of awe flowing through her. He was taking this unbelievably well. “I know it’s not fair to you, but I couldn’t tell you before. It’s not exactly something we walk around advertising. It’s just not safe. Some people would consider us a threat that had to be eliminated, so I couldn’t tell you until it was clear to me that we weren’t just casually dating. And then we happened so fast that I didn’t have time to work it all out before everybody else just decided to assume you knew and talked in front of you like they did. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before you had to find out this way. If you want to just go…”
He stepped forward quickly, took her face gently in his hands and kissed her. Not just a peck, he kissed her slowly, tenderly, taking the time to let her feel the power of the emotion he held inside for her. When he finally gave her a chance to breathe, he looked deeply into her eyes. “Again, I’m not going anywhere. Kind of freaked out a little, but not enough to let it keep me from having you in my life.”
“If at anytime you change your mind, you’ll tell me?”
“Can’t you feel how sure I am?”
