Page 25 of A Very Beary Christmas
Chapter 14
Chloe
I waited for Sam’s laugh, or worse, like some expression of disbelief, but neither came. Instead, he continued to hold me, his large, rough paws—I mean, hishands—making gentle strokes on my arm.
Minutes passed by with only the crackling of the fire breaking the silence.
“Say something,” I whispered.
“You’re not crazy, Chloe.”
“No? If I’m not crazy, then what am I?”
“Perceptive. Intuitive.” He slid me gently from his lap and stood, scratching the back of his neck while pacing in front of me. “Chloe, what do you know about shifters?”
I blinked, sure I had heard him wrong. “Shifters? You mean people who can turn into animals and back again?”
“Yes, exactly.”
“I know they’re fantasies crafted by gifted storytellers to sell books and movies. They’re not real.”Unfortunately, I added silently.
Sam came over to the couch and knelt in front of me. Taking both my hands in his, I looked into his eyes and was stricken by what I saw there. Concern. Worry. Was Sam changing his stance on my mental stability? Did he thinkIbelieved in shifters? I know some people did, mostly people like Mr. O’Malley who had lived around the mountains his whole life and swore he had seen his share of things he couldn’t explain. But outside of my dreams, they didn’t exist.
“What if they were?” Sam pressed.
“I think that would be wonderful,” I whispered. “To be able to change into something else, something bigger and stronger. I would envy them that.”
“Chloe, shiftersdoexist. They have for thousands of years, if not longer. They live among humans, work with them, marry them, and have families.”
My heart started pounding as my mind leapt ahead, conjuring the possibilities of where he was going with all this. “And how do you know this?”
“Because I am one, Chloe.”
Part of me wanted to lash out at him for making fun of me and my soulful confession. Another part felt the truth of his words resounding deep within my heart and soul. His voice and the expression on his face were serious, earnest.
“Show me,” I tested.
He inhaled deeply, then nodded. He stood and backed away from me, positioning himself behind the kitchen island. Sam started disrobing, and the sight of his bare chest once again made my core heat and my mouth go dry. I could only see him from the waist up, which was probably a good thing. If I caught a glimpse of what was below that counter, I was fairly certain I would go into some kind of nuclear-core, hyper-lust meltdown.
“Don’t freak out, okay?” he warned. “I’m always in complete control. I’m still me. I’ll just be a little ... furrier.”
Unable to speak, I nodded. Then I watched in fascination as Sam’s bones began to pop and rearrange themselves. His muscles grew larger, expanding outward, even as a thick coat of brown fur tipped in gold covered his skin. In less than a minute, the largest grizzly I had ever seen was peering uncertainly over the island at me.
I should have been terrified—I was in a cabin with a bear, ahugebear—but I wasn’t. Excited, in awe, breathless, yes. But in no way scared.
“Come out from behind there and let me see you.”
The bear ambled out, his movements slow and controlled. On four legs, he stood nearly as tall as Sam stood on two, and almost as wide. His head alone was half my size. If he opened that powerful maw, he could probably devour me in two bites.
“Sam?”
The bear chuffed, then sat down with a plop in the center of the room. He reached down with his massive front paws and began to play with his toes. For some reason, that seemed a very bear-like thing to do and it made me smile.
“It’s really you, isn’t it?”
He chuffed again and nodded.
I approached with small, cautious steps until I stood right in front of him and looked directly into familiar golden-brown eyes. Intelligent eyes, filled with hope.
