Page 34 of More Than I Can Bear

“Yeah, I can’t talk about that right now.”

She heard the hysterical note in my voice and came to attention.

“What the fuck is happening there?” she asked. “Where are you, Frey?”

“North Terrace,” I replied, taking another step, then another, the bear making a sound that seemed like it was a warning. “And… And…”

“And what, Frey? What the fuck is going on? What’s that sound… Shit, do you have a bear there with you?”

Where else in Australia you could legitimately ask someone a question like that, I didn’t know. But surely it wasn’t apt for a fucking penthouse apartment in the middle of Adelaide?

“How’d you know about that?” I snapped. “Seems like a pretty bloody weird question to ask.”

“Jesus, girl, that’s what I rang to tell you. They’re werewolf bear things, each one of them.”

“You knew about this?”

I stared down at the phone and then did the only thing I could think of. I ran for the lift to the sound of the bear’s roar. The doors opened almost immediately and I threw myself inside, punching the close doors button as the bear lumbered closer. I found the fob and with shaking hands, activated the lift sending it down to the ground floor.

“Meet me on North Terrace,” I said, glancing around me wildly as I tried to think of a way out of this mess. “I’ll be out on the footpath, down near the university end.”

“On it,” she said.

“Freya!” As I stood at the bottom of the building, near the street, Kaine emerged from the lobby in human form. He strode out onto the footpath in just his pants, looking wild and dishevelled, but stopped when I stepped back. “It’s OK. I’d never hurt you.”

People turned to look as they walked past, wondering what kind of drama they’d stumbled into, but I just stumbled back towards the curb.

“I don’t know what the fuck you are.” The mark on my neck throbbed almost painfully. “Or what you’ve done to me.”

“Frey!”

Jack rolled up beside the curb, window rolled down so she could call out to me, and I jumped into the car.

“Let’s talk about this,” Kaine said.

“Not right now, bear boy,” Jack said, revving the engine. “My girl needs a G&T, stat, and I’m gonna make sure she gets it.”

Chapter18

Freya

“I…” My hands rose and fell uselessly into my lap. “And he…”

“Lemme guess, becomes a fuck off huge brown bear?” Jack said as she expertly manoeuvred up through traffic.

“A brown bear? No, a polar bear,” I replied with a frown. “And how do you–?”

“Adam showed me a whole other side to himself,” she said with a shake of her head, “and by the look on your face, Kaine showed you something similar.”

“They’re bears…” I searched the side of Jack’s face, waiting for her to turn to me and go ‘surprise! It’s all fake.’ A prank I could cope with, but this? It was as if everything I thought I knew about the world was wrong. And where the hell did that leave me?

“Bear shifters,” she corrected, “and if both of the guys are showing you their furry side, what does that mean? I’m assuming Kaine didn’t show you his bear because he wanted to help his brother out.”

“No, he…” I swallowed hard. “Apparently they were raised to share the same woman.”

“Men who turn into fucking bears and are polyamorous,” she ground out, jerking the car to the left and slotting it into a car park. “Fuck my life, how am I going to keep a lid on that? For fuck’s sake, tell me they’re not also banging their housemate, River, as well.” She just gripped the steering wheel for a second, then looked over at me. “Sorry, that was a shitty thing to say and bi-phobic as hell. Frey.” She grabbed my hand then and gave it a squeeze. “How’re you holding up?”

“Didn’t you say something about gin and tonics?” I squeaked out, because each time I blinked I could see it, Kaine’s bear, standing there before me. My brain was fighting the evidence of my eyes, unable to reconcile things inside my head, and the subsequent tug of war was exhausting.

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