Authors: Carmella Jones
Chapter 7
We were in the kitchen of Nik’s home now and he was preparing dinner. I was eating from a bowl of berries he had picked on the counter. He was serving fish he had caught that morning. I didn’t ask how.
My mind was still racing from the revelation that I had been dating a bear. I tried to recall things he ate when we went out and places he liked for days that I was off, but really I just always thought he was the outdoorsy, mea--and potatoes kind of guy.
“I keep thinking about the bear at your zoo that escaped,” he said.
His back was to me as he plated the fish and vegetables for us. One of the stairwells led to a cellar. He had been down shortly after his reveal to bring wine to help me relax. He opened a second bottle to serve with dinner.
“If that bear was like you, perhaps it has changed into a person again and left,” I said.
I wasn’t sure if it was Nik or the wine, but I felt calm about everything.
“Well, I would be inclined to agree with you, but there is something about that bear that doesn’t make sense if it is a werebear like me,” he said.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“Well, the bear was female, correct?” he asked.
I nodded and chased a handful of berries with a sip of wine.
“We are typically male. I have never encountered nor heard stories of a female bear shifter,” he said. “It’s part of the curse.”
He set the plates at the table and pulled a chair out for me. I grabbed my glass of wine and made my way to the table. I watched him take his seat as I placed my napkin in my lap.
“I mean, everyone on record in my bloodline has been male,” he said, giving it more thought.
“So, werebear? That’s a real thing?” I asked.
“Yes,” he replied. “You thought I was off doing who knows what each winter. I have been here. In winter, we cannot control a shift. We become full bear for the season and hibernate until spring.”
“That is why your relationships end just before or after,” I mused, understanding a bit better.
“Yes. Bears mate every two and a half to three years, and the male guards the female during mating season to increase chance of producing offspring. Werebears date as humans do, but like bears we are less likely to return to one mate. However, our humanity makes us long for one companion, so we never give up the search,” he explained. “I have not had a companion I wanted to share a second mating season with, so one way or another the relationships end.”
I nodded. I couldn’t fault him. People break up when one of them feels the other is not the one.
“Did the other women you dated know about your,” I paused to find words, “alternative lifestyle?”
“No, like you they assumed I had business in the winter, or affairs. You can probably tell which relationships ended in what way from the headlines you asked me about at dinner the other night,” he said.
We shared a soft chuckle. It was strange. I still I felt attracted to the man I shared my meal with, even if he was also a bear. I just didn’t know what this meant for our future. He was still Nik, right?
“So, how did all this even happen? You said this has been going on centuries? You are part of a line?” I asked.
“Yes, a long line of lovelorn changelings,” he said.
Chapter 8
We cleared the table and returned to his den. I switched to drinking water, hoping to clear my head a little. I sat in the chair I was in earlier. He sat opposite me in a large recliner.
“I will tell you everything, but we must start at the beginning,” he said. “Polyphonte was a young girl of Greece. She enjoyed her freedom and carefree life and had no desire to grow up and engage in more womanly pastimes.”
I shifted thinking of our own discussion of my choice to be a virgin and his acceptance at the time and over the course of our relationship.
“Word of Polyphonte’s determined abstinence reached Aphrodite, and she was not pleased,” he continued. “She insisted the girl would lose her virginity. To maintain her virtue Polyphonte ran away to join Artemis, virgin goddess of the hunt, but their time together did not last long.”
I sipped my water and continued to listen.
“Aphrodite made Polyphonte desire a bear. She could not resist and lay with this bear, giving him her greatest virtue and bearing him two sons that were both man and bear. Artemis ended their association before the children were born and turned the animals against Polyphonte.”
I frowned and moved closer. He stared into his glass and continued.
“Though Aphrodite was offended by Polyphonte, Zeus was fully enraged and disgusted by the sons produced from this coupling. By his order, Hermes was sent to cut off the hands and feet of the offspring. Apollo, Polyphonte’s grandfather, is said to have turned Polyphonte and her sons into various birds to hide them from Hermes,” he said looking at me again.
I sat up and leaned forward, fully engaged.
“In truth, Polyphonte could not be spared. She was turned into an owl. The boys however were allowed a different fate. A were curse was placed on them and their descendants. No one had seen them in full form as bear or man. They could not be unmade as one or the other. They were given a life as werebears, shifting from one form to the other, but never staying in blended ‘were’ state,” he finished.
“So each winter you are here?” I asked.
He looked me in the eyes, “In winter, we remain in bear form and hibernate. It is safest.”
“Safest?” I asked.
“Yes,” he nodded. “Hermes still searches for the bloodline to collect his debt from each generation. He wants to cut off our hands and paws. If he thinks that other bear is one of us, he intends to use you as bait to draw it out.”
“So, what do we do now?” I asked.
“Well, Hermes will be suspicious of me as well now, so I have brought you to my home where I can protect you. You will have to stay here until I can either rid us of him or he believes that Acidalia and I are threatened and no longer interested in you,” Nik said.
I nodded. I was going to have to trust him. If everything he said was true, I was in over my head.
“For tonight, we get some sleep. In the morning I’m going to look for Acidalia. I think she may be significant,” Nik said.
He showed me to the room I was meant to stay in. It was decorated similarly to the rest of the house with oversized everything, but this room somehow felt more inviting.
There was a large bed in the center of the room dressed in forest green linens. The stone walls and floors seemed to be better finished. There was an armoire and dresser with a large area rug on the floor. There was a chaise lounge opposite the bed.
“If this is the guest room, your bedroom must be amazing,” I remarked looking at the details carved into the rock of this room.
“This is my room,” Nik said.
He pulled a few things out of the armoire and the dresser.
“I don’t want to put you out,” I said.
“I don’t sleep in here often. I usually sleep in the den where we have spent most of our time this evening,” he said.
He laid a button-down on the bed and had a pair of lounge pants in his hands.
“I figured you could sleep in one of my shirts,” he said. “I will leave you to change. If you need anything don’t hesitate to ask.”
“Oh, thanks,” I said.
Just as he started to leave the room I called to him. He returned and looked at me.
“If this is all about a curse and bears, why would Herman – I mean Hermes – want me? You said he would want to use me as ‘bait,’” I reminded him.
“My kind has a strong sense of smell. The pheromones of a romantic interest can guide us for miles. Your pheromones will be highest when you are in heat or aroused. He will try to lead you somewhere that he can take advantage of that. Thief that he is, with you being a virgin Hermes may do more than use you to bait us. Surely, now he knows I love you and he probably assumes this other bear desires you. He’s probably been watching you interact with the bear since it arrived. Who knows if he knew about me before tonight,” Nik said with a shrug.
I frowned as the thought of unwanted advances washed over me. Then, I smiled in realization of something he had said.
“You love me?” I repeated.
I was shocked at the revelation and how smoothly it followed his train of thought and explanation.
“Of course,” he said.
He seemed surprised that I would ask.
We both stood in silence awkwardly for a moment. Then I crossed the large room to him and took his hand.
“I love you, too,” I said.
“I know,” he smiled.
Chapter 9
That night, I dreamed again. The same woman was there. This time she was bathing a larger bear that resembled Nik’s bear form in the waterfall. I stood on the shore watching until she beckoned me to join her. Once I reached her and the bear under the waterfall, she gestured for me to bathe the bear. As I began, the woman disappeared. The more I bathed the bear, the more the fur washed away leaving the exposed flesh of a man.
I cupped my hands and let them fill with water from the falls as she had done for me in my previous dream, then let it run down the bear’s face. When he raised his head and stood, Nik was the one before me.
I woke, startled and pleased from my dream, but with a bit of a headache. I had drunk heavily before, but the intoxication was gone and only the headache remained. By my watch, it was still night.
I wanted something for my head, but could not remember Nik directing me to a bathroom. I made my way back through halls and stairs looking for the kitchen for water and, hopefully, aspirin or Tylenol. I missed a turn somewhere and found myself in the den where Nik was sleeping.
I had never seen him sleep before. He lay semi-curled on his stomach with the recliner fully outstretched. He wore pajama bottoms only, and I couldn’t help admiring the form and tone of his back and shoulders.
I thought of my dream. I thought of our situation. I thought of Hermes possible plans. I thought again of the man lying before me and wondered if I ever really meant to go to the kitchen at all.
“Nik,” I whispered.
A low groan rumbled from him.
“Nik, please wake up,” I pleaded.
He groaned once more, but this time he stirred a bit. With his eyes closed he lifted his head in the air and murmured my name. He smiled, but he still didn’t seem fully awake.
I stepped closer and he sniffed the air, still smiling, and murmured my name once more.
“It’s me,” I said. “I woke up with a headache and meant to go to your kitchen. Instead, I ended up here.”
I reached to touch his shoulder, but he rolled swiftly and caught my hand. Startled, I lost my balance and leaned forward to catch myself as I fell into him. His recliner collapsed some and we sat face to face. We were both panting a little. I swallowed hard and he ran his fingers through my hair.
Then, he kissed me as though he had been hungry. Our lips and teeth pressed together and his fingers gnashed at my flesh through the shirt he let me sleep in. I reciprocated in kind, clutching him to me and digging my hands into his neck and shoulders, wanting to taste his kiss deeper. In truth, my appetite for him had been growing steadily, and this whole mess had only made me want him more.
He sat more upright and I wrapped myself around him. He pulled me in close and began kissing me in long savoring presses from my lips to my neck and collar where I had left the top button unfastened. With one hand he held my hair, guiding me so he could lay his kisses; with the other he varied gripping my buttocks and the small of my back, still keeping me pressed to him.
I felt my body was acting on its own as my hands travelled down his chest and back and circled his waist. I felt myself wanting him, grinding against him, wanting to fully experience him and the moment we were sharing.
Then, with a groan, he grasped my shoulders and sat me back.
“I smell you,” he said.
“I’m sorry,” I replied unsure what to say or do.
I was still sitting on his lap with my legs wrapped around him. He still held my shoulders.
“No, you smell amazing, but your scent is changed. Do you desire this?” Nik asked.
He looked in my eyes hopefully.
“I desire you,” I said.
He smiled and gave me a quick kiss. Then, he eased both hands under my bottom. I placed both my hands in his hair and clutched tightly as he moved to lay me on the oversized couch I had admired earlier. I heard a low, pleased rumble come from him as he leaned down on top of me and kissed me once more.
I played with my fingers around the top of his pajama bottoms for a moment then grasped them at each side of his hips. He followed my motion as I lowered them, eventually casting them to the floor. His kisses still felt hungry and savoring. He kissed and nibbled my body as he unfastened the buttons of the shirt I slept in.
His groans got deeper and louder along with my own moaning as we felt our flesh rubbing freely against each other. I rubbed myself against his cock to hint that I was ready. Truly, I needed him. I felt something warming in me that only he could quench. My signal was clear. He kissed my lips as his hands guided my hips higher above his. His hardness had been long and firm between us. Now I was wet and trembling with fear and excitement as he positioned me over the head.
He rubbed it back and forth against me a moment and I moaned from the stimulation. At the sound he called my name and pushed his way inside me. We both called out, clutching each other closer at the sensation. Then, with the deepest kiss, he kept his arms wrapped around my waist and I tightened mine around his shoulders. We rocked and ground our bodies together. Our passion became a catharsis of everything we had been feeling.
Our moment of release came upon each of us at the same time, but when we finished he held me close as he tried to catch his breath. As I attempted to separate, he shook his head.
“It’s not morning yet,” he smiled.