Healing the Bear Read online

  Her head slumped down on her chest and her shoulders began heaving. Dane threw his arms around her, running his fingers through her hair and touching her scalp.

  “They’d planted a bomb in his car and I suppose they thought we’d both be in it. I should have been in it, but I was running late that morning.”

  “Oh, Melanie, it’s okay. Just let it out and have a good cry.”

  “They decided to put me in the Witness Protection Program until the time where they could get more evidence on this man, but it looks like it’s never going to happen. They’ll probably get me before the Feds get him.”

  He squeezed her tight. She was going to be safe. He wouldn’t let anyone hurt her.

  “The agent in charge of my case came to see me and said you were fishing around and were probably working for this man.”

  “No, baby, no. I was just curious as to who the man was and why you didn’t have the photo on display and hadn’t told me about him. I guess I was jealous.”

  Yeah, he had been. Stupid but that was who he was.

  “I hate the fact that I have this awful secret and that I had to keep it from you.”

  It was time she knew about him and then nothing would be in their way ever again.

  “Baby, your secret’s nothing compared to the one I’ve been hiding.”

  She looked up at him. “You’re not a widower, you have a wife somewhere?”

  He shook his head. “No, my Lucinda is definitely gone. Have you ever wondered why I like honey and salmon, and have a good sense of smell?”

  “Lots of people like salmon and honey and can smell things miles away.”

  “Yeah, but I bet not everyone can shift into a bear whenever they want.”

  Melanie burst out laughing. “You’re the sweetest guy I’ve ever met, coming up with something as ridiculous as that just to make me feel better about my secret.” She leaned over and kissed him.

  Besides transforming into a bear how else could he convince her it was true?

  “And like you I’m not originally from around here. None of us are. I mean no one at the wedding. Well except for Emily, Lilly and her daughter and relatives, Charlotte, who are all human.”

  She laughed some more. “Dane, you’ve made me feel better, really you have.”

  “Melanie I’m serious. We’re not from here, not from this planet. Our own one, Nereskila, came crash landing to earth about twenty-five, well almost twenty-six, years ago. Talk about you keeping a secret, we’ve done it for a quarter of a century.”

  Her mouth was now open and she was giving him the sort of look people do when they’re sort of convinced you’re telling the truth but still not sure you’re not messing with them.

  “Another planet. Have you thought about writing books?”

  Damn, he thought he had her believing him.

  “It’s true and you can’t tell anyone, okay? You have your secret. I have mine.”

  “Dane, it’s okay. You’ve made me feel better and I know you can keep my secret.”

  “Damn it, you have to believe this is real because I don’t want anything else to come between what we have, and what we’re going to have.”

  He got out of the car.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’m going to shift into a bear, over in that wooded area there just in case the Fed guys are spying on me.”

  “Dane…”

  He walked away. She came running after him just as he began taking off his clothes.

  “You don’t have to do this,” she said. Was she mocking him or what?

  He wasn’t going to argue with her any longer. He went on all fours and let every muscle in his body relax. He closed his eyes feeling his hands change into paws, then his feet. He arched up, being able to count each strand of fur as it emerged from his back and belly. Dane glanced over at Melanie who had both her hands over her mouth. She stepped back when he moved toward her and tumbled back on a rock, which caused her to fall to the ground. He ran over to her. There was fear on her face so he nuzzled against her leg like a dog would do to its owner. She pulled away so he nuzzled her again, this time putting his paw on her thigh. She was shaking which was understandable. She’d seen the guy she’d been dating shift into a bear and here was a huge monster of one close to her, touching her.

  She lifted her hand and stroked his back.

  Mmm, that felt pretty good. He nuzzled against her body, letting her run her hands down the thickest fur on his back. He felt like a good run followed by a back rub on a tree to let everyone know this was his mate and his alone.

  However, he needed to talk to her. They needed to discuss what she’d just seen. Dane walked away and relaxed again, feeling his claws retreat and fingers reappear, the fur sliding back into his body and then his human self emerged again. He pulled on his pants and turned around to see her standing behind him.

  “You weren’t joking with me. I don’t understand it. I’m lost for words.”

  She rested her butt against a tree as he walked over to her and pulled her close to him.

  “See it’s not just you who’s got a secret to hide.”

  “I have so many questions I want to ask you.”

  “I’ll do my best. Let’s get to the boat because I’m starving.”

  “Wait, I think I need to tell the agent that he needs to call off his guys.”

  “You can’t tell him anything about this.”

  “I’m not going to, but I’m going to let him know that you’re one hundred percent the real deal.”

  The real deal. He liked the sound of that.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Melanie still believed she was dreaming. Fast asleep in the safety of her bed, imaging everything that had happened to her was being played out in her mind. Mike dying, her being placed in the Witness Protection Program, meeting Dane, him being a bear shifter from outer space.

  She punched herself on the arm, hoping that Dane didn’t see her do it. It hurt like hell and proved she wasn’t asleep. Wasn’t even in bed, but on the boat he’d so nicely arranged for them to borrow for the afternoon. She’d told the agents she didn’t need them, but they’d said they’d stick around the area and were just a phone call away should she need them.

  Don’t think so. She’d seen Dane as a big strong grizzly bear, felt his muscles underneath his fur. Noted the size of his paws and those claws. Well she wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of them. She passed him a slice of salmon mousse that she put on a paper plate along with some crackers. He took it from her.

  “You mind if I ask you more about your group of people,” she asked him.

  “No problem with that.”

  “Are you all bears?”

  He shook his head, a shower of cracker crumbs falling onto his t-shirt as he took a bite.

  “Some are cougars, some are wolves. We even have some polar bears, tigers, lions, but our local shifters are mostly bears, cougars, and wolves.”

  “So it’s just by chance that you’re born one or the other?”

  “Depends on your ancestry and where you were born on our planet.”

  “Tell me about it?”

  She still couldn’t believe she was asking him to describe someplace other than earth.

  “It was beautiful. Crystal clear blue lakes, mountains, fields, no pollution, hardly any crime.”

  “What happened to it?”

  “I can’t remember much because I was a young kid but there was this huge explosion and next thing we knew it was like a ball of fire had hit us and we were hurtling through darkness and then we crashed landed here.”

  “All of you?”

  “Nope, we all went to different places and just so happened a whole bunch of us landed near Kalispell.”

  “Did you ever check if anyone here saw anything?”

  “Sure, they said solar flares had been reported. Some forest fires too.” He pulled the bottle of wine out of the water and poured her a glass.

  “And the planet wa
s destroyed?”

  “We couldn’t see it anymore. Not that we’d ever figure out how to go home.” He poured her a glass of wine.

  “How did you get on with things like jobs, school?”

  “We had to survive and adjust. And yes, we learned to fake birth certificates, driver’s licenses, and anything else humans need.”

  “You have lived a lot like I’ve been forced to.”

  “Yeah, and it stinks having to keep a secret, but if people were to ever find out about us, can you imagine what they’d do?”

  She could. Probably lock them up, experiment on them. Her stomach turned just thinking about that happening to Dane.

  She lay back on his thigh and looked up at the sky. “Tonight when it gets dark I’ll show you where our planet used to be. Well, that’s if you’re interested.”

  “I am. And you are one cute, sexy bear.”

  He tickled the end of her nose. “Only one person’s ever said that to me and that was Lucinda. I told you the two of you are a lot alike. You and your husband didn’t have any kids?”

  She shook her head “It was next thing on our list of things to do before we turned thirty.”

  “I’m so sorry.”

  “I forget to ask you…I mean I know you have a job now and everything but that men’s retreat that’s coming up, well we can’t find a wilderness guide for their day and night out hiking and fishing. You think you’d like to take them?”

  “As Dane human, or has Dane bear guide?”

  “I can just see their faces.”

  They both burst out laughing.

  “Yeah, I’ll do it, but just for you. Might be fun too.”

  She turned around and looked up at him.

  “I know this sounds weird, but I feel a whole lot better knowing you can change into a bear whenever you want. You could protect me. Not that you’d hurt anyone.”

  He suddenly went quiet.

  “There’s one more secret I have to tell you.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  This might be the deal breaker. Dane topped up his glass of wine and drank the whole thing in two gulps.

  “I didn’t go away to do some traveling like I first told you. Aiden and Trent banished me.”

  She knitted her eyebrows together and didn’t blink.

  “I told you my wife was shot. We were running as bears. It wasn’t bear season. I guess grizzlies scare some folk and he took a shot. It was meant for me but he got Lucinda instead.”

  Dane tried to swallow the lump in his throat, but he couldn’t. It was always the same when relived that awful day. “I was beside myself seeing that he’d killed her and our unborn child, so I went after him, chased him through the woods and attacked him.” He hung his head down.

  “You were acting out of instinct. That’s what a bear does,” said Melanie, putting both her hands on his forearms.

  He shook his head. “I was in my human form and I beat him and beat him.”

  “Oh, Dane, he’d killed your wife. I know if I could get hold of the person who planted that bomb, I’d do the same.”

  “But that wasn’t me. I’m not a killer.”

  “I know and it wasn’t your fault.”

  “Aiden wanted to send me away forever, but Trent had recently been shot by a guy out hunting off season, so he persuaded Aiden to give me a second chance by banishing me and giving me a chance to think about what I’d done.”

  “And did you?”

  “More than you can imagine.”

  “And what happened to the man?”

  “By the time I was done with him, I had shifted into my bear form and I hit him with the back of my paw…”

  He put his hand over his mouth, sure he was going to throw up remembering what the guy looked like lying underneath him.

  “Aiden works for Natural Resources. He called it in as a bear attack, but he’s warned me anything like that happen again and I’m sent away forever this time, no more shifter group. I’m on my own.”

  Melanie put her arms around him and squeezed him close to her. “You are kind and gentle. It was a spur of the moment reaction to him killing your wife. No one can ever blame you for that.”

  ****

  They were under the night sky. No more secrets between them. Dane lifted his arm and pointed to the space between two bright stars almost directly overhead.

  “Close one eye and focus on the spot right there. I’m pretty sure that’s where our planet used to be,” he said.

  She did just that, seeing a gap and that was all.

  “So some of you came here from there and others were born here?”

  “Yep, that’s right. Not many have been born here though. Seems like we have trouble reproducing, but I guess it’s enough so we don’t die out.”

  “If you discovered that your planet was still out there and you could find a way to go home, would you, wouldn’t any of you?”

  The thought that maybe he’d find a way home scared her. Losing him after she’d taken so long to find a man she trusted.

  “I can’t speak for any of the others but I guess I would.”

  He must have seen the sullen look on her face. “Only if you came with me.”

  “Really?”

  “Absolutely. I’m your protector now.”

  She liked the sound of that. He rolled on top of her and kissed her.

  “We have sighting gatherings every month. Some shifters have brought telescopes and we look up there hoping to find home or what we think might be home. I guess we haven’t given up looking to get back there. In fact, there’s one next week if you want to come.”

  “I couldn’t. I mean, what would the others think?”

  “Charlotte, Lilly, and Emily all come along so I don’t see why they wouldn’t welcome you too.”

  He kissed her again. “You’re my mate and as that special human you are welcome in the shifter’s group.”

  Dane pushed her hair away from her eyes and kissed her again, his tongue running along her lower lip and then passing its threshold into her mouth. He was hard and his rigid cock pushed against her belly.

  “If you don’t stop this I’m going to want sex.”

  “That’s the whole idea,” he said, pulling down the zipper on her jeans. Dane pushed his hand inside, pushing her panties to one side.

  “And your great skill as a lover. Is that part of the shifter thing?”

  “Great skill? I’ve just been doing what comes naturally.”

  “So you’re all able to wiggle your dicks?”

  Dane laughed. “Not what we call it, but yes. And I love this little feature.” He touched her clit.

  “Your female shifters don’t have them?”

  He shook his head. “Or all this hair which I love too,” he said, pulling it.

  “Wish the hair on top of my head could be that color again.”

  He pulled down her panties and jeans, working them off the bottom of her legs and feet. He threw them to one side and parted her thighs.

  “Dane, someone could catch us.”

  He shook his head. “A bear knows the ideal place where he’s not going to be bothered by anyone else, but if you’re that worried, how’s this?”

  He grabbed the blanket she’d brought along thinking they’d need it to sit on to watch the concert that by now they’d missed. He flung it over their bodies and the next thing she knew he was kissing her mound, moving south and lapping at her pussy opening.

  She lifted the blanket to see if she was dreaming. She and Mike hadn’t been the most adventurous of couples, and while she’d given him blow jobs, he’d always said he was squeamish about putting his mouth near her pussy. She’d accepted it, not liked it because all her friends had told her how great it was, but she’d never pressured him.

  Now she was about to experience it for the first time. Dane flicked his tongue around the very edge of her pussy, making her drift off to a far off place called pleasure island.

  She lifted her butt off the grass, wid
ened the gap between her thighs, and felt Dane’s tongue slip into her channel. He tongue fucked her, well she hoped that’s what it was called.

  She gripped the edge of the blanket as he slid it in and out, catching the very edges of her opening as he did so.

  She groaned and murmured, thinking how much she’d missed by Mike not wanting to pleasure her this way. She lifted the blanket again, seeing Dane’s head bobbing up and down between her legs. That in itself turned her on. The feeling traveled up her legs, starting at her toes, zooming past her knees, and then into her pussy. It was almost as if someone had shocked her with a high voltage current, but in a good way. She looked up at the sky sure her orgasm had made her add imaginary stars.

  Dane kissed his way up her belly. She’d been unaware he’d unzipped his pants until she felt his cock slide deep within her.

  “You like that?”

  “I loved it.”

  “Bears can get a little crazy under the stars, be forewarned.”

  “I like crazy and after we’re done can I run with you? I mean with you as a bear?”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Dane hadn’t felt this way since he and Lucinda had moved from being buddies to girlfriend and boyfriend. Melanie made him feel comfortable in his own skin. She accepted all his faults. Best of all she was a human who didn’t mind the little fact that sometimes he transformed himself into a bear.

  She couldn’t keep up with him, but then neither had Lucinda. He turned around, watching Melanie huff and puff as he waited for her. When she was within a twelve foot distance, he began running again. He slowed up so she could run beside him. She glanced at him and smiled. Did she realize he was smiling back and not grimacing? Wouldn’t it be great if he could teach her how to comminute through their minds, reading one another’s thoughts? It was a lost art among the shifters, the ones born here on earth were letting it dry off which he hated. If he ever had another opportunity to be a parent, his offspring would be taught it from day one.

  He stopped and Melanie did too. She ran her hands through the fur on his back, making him arch it because it was so damn sexy and turned him on. He had to shift back no question about it because he wanted to touch her and kiss her. His clothes were back there about a mile away but as long as no one was about he’d be just fine.