Page 122 of Grin and Bear It

“What did you fucking say?”

Knox’s voice was completely distorted, his eyes gleaming bright gold and his hands, when he shoved them into Steve’s chest, sending him flying, were contorted into claws. I didn’t know what was happening, what this meant. We hadn’t gotten to that stage, in whatever the fuck my relationship was, where the guys filled me in on how young bear shifters matured.

But I was about to get a hands-on lesson.

“You heard.” Steve’s voice was shaking now and I could see why. Knox and Maddox approached with an intent that didn’t seem human. Probably because it wasn’t. Didn’t stop the smaller boy from grabbing out his phone and unlocking it, then holding out the screen for us all to see.

If someone had dropped a bucket full of ice water over my head right then, I wouldn’t have felt worse than I did at what I saw. I saw the image, recognised it, because the last time I’d seen it, it had been on Cole’s easel. How…? My brain couldn’t finish that question. When…? Nope, not that one either.

“What the fuck…?”

When Knox and Maddox looked at me I saw real pain there in their eyes, along with a mirror of their confusion. The moment seemed to stretch out longer and longer, growing taut, until something finally snapped.

“How the fuck did you get that photo?” Knox demanded.

“I—” Steve started to explain.

“That’s one of my uncle’s paintings,” Maddox snarled and that’s when he lunged forward. “How the fuck did you get that?”

He grabbed Steve by his shirt and the altercation before in the hallway now made perfect sense. My fingers moved, but I could barely feel them, as I pulled my phone out of my pocket. I took forever to unlock it, I felt, fucking up the passcode once, twice, before gratefully navigating through to my contacts. I’d might have mistakenly rung Nash before, the first time I called him, but I did so with intent now, my thumb trembling as I put through the call.

Because there on the kid’s phone, was a painting of me, naked, having sex with Tyson.

“Delete it!” Maddox roared, as students came running from all over the gym to watch the spectacle. Teachers were yelling, shouting, but the kids were paying them no mind. Phones were out everywhere, recording everything that was happening. Maddox shook Steve, the other boy’s head whipping back and forth with disturbing force. “Fucking delete it, you little cunt!”

“Ellie…” Nash purred down the end of the line.

“Get here, Nash,” I begged, barely able to hear my words. My voice sounded weird and echoed around in my head. “Get here now. The boys—”

“What’s happened to the boys, love?” His change in mood was immediate. “What’s happened to the twins? Ellie?”

But he got his answer. We all did. A roar ripped through the whole gym, silencing everyone as two tall young men did what nature intended and became two massive grizzly bears.

Fuck.

The phone fell from my fingers and I rushed forward, right as everyone froze. You could’ve heard a pin drop, my ballet flats slapping down on the gym floor as I picked my way between the kids to get closer to the twins.

“Maddox…?” I said his name like a prayer, one bear swinging his head around to stare at me. “Knox?”

The two of them let out a low chuff, their heads weaving back and forth, but it was when one of them gave another roar, full of anger and threat, and violence and pain, that everyone started moving. Kids screamed, adults shouted and everyone rushed away from the two of them. Everyone but me. I dimly heard the gym doors slam open, and I was aware that Declan and a few other boys had stayed behind.

But no one else.

“You gotta calm them down, Miss,” Declan pleaded in a ragged voice. “If they don’t shift before the cops get here…”

“Ellie!” a tinny voice shouted from my phone speaker. “Ellie!”

But I couldn’t talk to Nash, not right now. I moved closer to these massive bears, freezing when one went up on his hind paws, another terrible roar echoing in my ears.

“Maddox. Mads…” I kept my voice soft, so soft. “Knox, I need you to change back now for me. Can you do that?” I felt like a fucking moron, pleading with a couple of bears, but what else could I do? “I think you can. The danger is over.” Steve had scrambled out of the room, just like everyone else, so there was only us. “Come back to skin, boys.” My fingers trembled as I reached into the space between us, one of the bear’s noses working as he sniffed me. “Come back to me.”

I closed my eyes, unable to do anything else as I closed the gap. I’d either touch fur or have my hand ripped off for my hubris, but I had to get these boys back to the state they were safest in.

“Come back, boys.”

“Miss…”

My eyes flicked open and I gasped as a dazed looking Maddox stumbled forward. His clothes were in shreds, some of the boys who’d remained pulling off their shirts or dragging out hoodies to hand to them. But I grabbed the boy in a violent hug, Knox taking skin moments later, tears filling his eyes.

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