Once Upon a Shifter (6 page)

“What a perfect day,” Raina said with a happy sigh.

Then a terrifying roar split the air. Raina gasped and spun around. Owen jumped in front of her, protectively.

A huge black bear came crashing through the woods, roaring and snarling. Its bared fangs gleamed white, and its eyes were maddened and red.

Raina screamed in terror.

Owen stood tall and waved his arms at the bear.

“Go away!” Owen bellowed. “Get out!”

His voice was so loud and frightening that Raina was briefly calmed. He’d told her while they were hiking that bears were more scared of humans than humans were of bears, and that yelling at a bear would drive it away.

But this bear didn’t seem scared. It roared again, then reared up on its hind legs, towering even taller than Owen. Then, with a snarl, it raised a gigantic paw to swat at Owen’s head, claws out.

Raina screamed again, this time in horror. No matter how big and strong Owen was, one blow from that bear’s paw would rip his head off.

“Run!” Raina screamed.

But Owen didn’t run. Instead, he seemed to stand even taller… and broader. Before Raina’s shocked eyes, his shirt and jeans became a coat of shaggy brown fur. In the blink of an eye, Owen had become a gigantic grizzly bear.

Raina stood staring, unable to believe her eyes. Owen— her sweet billionaire Owen— had just transformed into a bear. The man she’d started to fall in love with wasn’t a man at all. He was a were-bear!

She watched, paralyzed with shock, as the bear that had been Owen stood up on his hind legs, looming over the black bear. The Owen-bear was far bigger than the black bear, a giant hairy animal with gleaming white fangs.

The Owen-bear let out a terrifying roar of fury.

Raina’s paralysis broke. She had no idea what was going on, but she wasn’t going to stick around and see which bear would be the first to eat her. She turned and fled into the forest.

Raina’s heart banged like it would smash through her ribs. Her lungs burned. Twigs whipped into her face, but she didn’t dare stop. She’d never been so terrified in her life.

But beyond her shock and terror, she felt grief and betrayal, anger and shame. She’d been such a fool to think that a man who was sweet and sexy, handsome and brilliant, would ever look at her twice. Owen wasn’t Prince Charming— he was the Big Bad Wolf.

The Big Bad Bear
, Raina thought with a hysterical laugh.

Then bitterness overcame her. Women like her didn’t get fairytales, let alone fairytale endings. They didn’t get true love. They got betrayal and disillusionment. They dreamed of princes, and fell for monsters.

Tears ran down Raina’s cheeks as she bolted through the woods.

***

Owen roared his protective fury at the attacking bear. He had his back to Raina, but heard her run away.

Good
, he thought.
She’s getting to safety
.

Then Owen’s paw lashed out to block the other bear’s blow. Furious that the other bear had frightened his mate, Owen struck out. His paw hit the black bear on the side of his head, knocking him to the ground.

The bear turned and bit at Owen’s leg. Owen jerked aside, and the black bear’s heavy jaws snapped shut on air.

The black bear rolled away and stood again, snarling at Owen. Then it dropped down and lumbered off into the forest.

By then Owen’s bear was in full control of him. Owen could think of nothing but his fury at the enemy bear for threatening his mate. His animal rage cast a scarlet haze over his vision. He had to protect his mate. He had to avenge his mate’s fear. No mate of a bear should ever be afraid of anything!

Red rage in Owen’s heart, he pursued the black bear through the forest. His protective instincts were fully roused. His great paws sank into the earth, and he crashed through branches. Nothing would stand between him and the bear who had attacked his mate!

The black bear fled before him, darting into a thick grove of trees, growing very close together. Owen’s size hampered him. Unable to squeeze through the trunks, Owen was forced to go around. By the time he reached the other side of the grove, the black bear was gone.

Still seething with protective fury, Owen tracked the bear to a stream. There his scent vanished. He’d gone into the water, and who knows where he’d come out.

Owen roared in frustration. His roar echoed through the woods.

But then, as he stood at the stream, his rage slowly faded, allowing human thoughts to return.

The black bear was gone. Owen had left Raina behind. He had to go back to her.

He started to retrace his steps, then remembered that he was still a bear. He’d scare her if he showed up as a grizzly.

Owen became a man again. The moment he did, a very human thought hit him like a ton of bricks: Raina had seen him shift.

He groaned aloud. After all his plans to wait for the perfect moment to explain that he was a bear shifter, answering all her questions and soothing her fears while in human form
before
he ever let her see him shift, he’d turned into a bear right in front of her, with no build-up whatsoever.

What in the world did she think?

Then he remembered the sound of her running footsteps. Now that he was a man, he could think like a man thought, and guess what Raina might have been thinking. Had she really been getting to safety, away from the attacking black bear? Or had she been fleeing from
Owen?

Owen bolted back toward the clearing where he’d left her, desperate to find her and explain. Raina was his mate, his match, his everything. There was no way he was going to lose her over a misunderstanding.

***

Raina staggered, exhausted. Her legs hurt, her chest hurt, her eyes burned, and a stitch pierced her side. She was forced to stop to catch her breath, leaning against a tree and gasping for breath. Once she could breathe again and the pain in her side and lungs had subsided, she realized that she had no idea where she was.

Other than the middle of Owen’s forest,
she thought grimly.

And he’d driven her there. Her car was still parked in the city. If she could find the road, she could flag down a car, but she didn’t know where the road was.

“Raina Williams, you’re in deep, deep trouble,” she muttered to herself.

A polite cough made her whip around with a scream.

“Owen!” Raina gasped.

Then she saw that it wasn’t Owen. She had a completely irrational sense of disappointment. Owen was a monster. He’d probably brought her to the woods to kill her. She should be relieved and happy that it wasn’t him.

She peered at the man standing in front of her. He looked vaguely familiar. “Have we met?”

The man smiled. It was a perfectly ordinary smile, but something about it chilled her. Instinctively, she stepped back. Then she realized where she’d seen him before.

“Austin Stroud!”

“Raina Williams,” he returned, again with that unnerving smile. “What a coincidence. I hike here all the time, but I’ve never seen you before. Are you all right? Do you need help?”

Raina bit her lip, confused and uncertain. Austin had been creepy and pushy at the bachelorette auction. She didn’t want to ask him for help. On the other hand, he wasn’t a were-bear.

“Yes,” she said. With relief, she saw something simple he could do to help her. “Can I borrow your cell phone?”

Apologetically, he said, “I didn’t bring one. Are you lost? I’ll walk you to your car.”

“I didn’t bring my car,” she admitted.

“Then I’ll give you a ride home.”

Raina hesitated. He still gave her the creeps. But she was probably being unfair to him. So he’d said some things once that had rubbed her the wrong way. He was the one who was going out of his way to help her. And her judgment of men was obviously terrible. She’d liked and trusted Owen, and he’d turned out to be a terrifying monster. Since she disliked and distrusted Austin, he was probably a good guy who was just a little socially awkward. Besides, she could hardly stay lost in the woods.

“Thanks, Austin,” she said. “I appreciate it.”

She stepped toward him. He smiled. There was something strange in his eyes… Something that reminded her of something…

Owen burst into the clearing. As he looked at Raina and Austin, she saw relief, then alarm in his deep green eyes. “Raina! Thank God you’re all right.”

Raina’s treacherous heart yearned toward him. He must have some explanation of why he wasn’t a
bad
werebear…

No!
Raina told herself.
You’re being stupid again. A man who seems great and says he’s crazy about you has to have something wrong with him. Like being a monster who wants to eat you.

“Don’t come near me!” Raina said.

“Did you hurt her?” Austin demanded. “Stay away from her!”

Austin put his arm around her. She flinched away, then forced herself to keep still.

“Don’t you dare touch my mate!” Owen yelled. His booming voice seemed to shake the entire forest.

“She doesn’t want to have anything to do with you,” Austin said. “Do you, Raina?”

Miserably, Raina said, “No.”

The look Owen gave Austin made Raina surprised that he hadn’t dropped dead on the spot. “Raina, I can explain.”

“Okay,” Raina said. She knew it was stupid, but she couldn’t help hoping that he did have an explanation that would convince her that he wasn’t a monster after all. “Explain.”

Owen gritted his teeth. “I have to do it in private.”

“No way am I letting myself be alone with you,” Raina said. “I’m not an idiot. Explain here, or don’t explain at all.”

Owen clenched his fists, looking from Raina to Austin. Then he looked back at Austin, seeming to realize something. “Austin, what are you doing here?”

“I hike here all the time,” Austin said blandly.

“This is private property,” Owen said.

Austin shrugged. “Sorry. I didn’t see the signs.”

“And there aren’t any black bears here,” Owen went on, his eyes narrowing dangerously. “A grizzly lives here; its scent scares them off.”

“That’s nice,” Austin said sarcastically. “Come on, Raina, let’s go.”

Owen looked straight at Raina as he spoke. “Raina, I’ll explain now. I’m not going to hurt you. I’d never hurt you. Yes, I’m a bear shifter. I know I looked scary, but all I was doing was defending you against the black bear— Austin Stroud, right here.”

“You’re insane,” Austin said.

Raina looked at the two men. She wanted to trust Owen. Every fiber of her being told her that Owen was trustworthy and honest, and would never hurt her. But what if she was wrong?

“Think about it, Raina,” Owen urged her. “You know that bear shifters exist. You’ve seen one. Is it impossible that there could be another?”

“No…” Raina said slowly. She took a step away from Austin. “It is awfully coincidental that you showed up just in time to rescue me, in the middle of someone else’s forest.”

Owen said, “And it’s just as coincidental that a black bear would attack you, in a forest where there are no black bears, so I was forced to become a bear to save you.”

At that moment, Raina was certain of the truth. “So I’d run away from you, and then Austin could save me!”

“This is ridiculous,” Austin said.

Hot fury filled Raina. She whipped around on Austin. “You played with my feelings! You nearly broke up the best relationship I’ve ever had. Why?”

“I saw you at the bachelorette auction, and I knew I had to have you,” Austin said. “But you went off with Owen. So I followed you here. You belong with me, Raina. I want you for
my
mate.”

“You son of a bitch!” Raina yelled. “What were you going to do once you got me alone in a car with you?”

Austin smiled his creepy smile. Then he hastily wiped it off. “Nothing!”

Before he could finish his sentence, Raina jerked up her leg and kneed him in the nuts.

Austin bellowed in agony and doubled over. Then he grew, looming taller. His clothes became black fur. As Raina started to bolt, the black bear lunged at her.

A colossal grizzly bear bowled him over, roaring in protective fury. As Raina watched, amazed, the two bears rolled over and over, clawing and biting in a frenzy.

Owen’s shaggy grizzly bear easily overpowered Austin’s black bear. It wasn’t just that the grizzly bear was bigger, it was that Owen’s bear was a better fighter. And Raina somehow knew that Owen’s bear was filled with righteous rage and protective fury.

The grizzly bear beat the hell out of the black bear, while Raina watched with vengeful delight. Owen’s bear was ferocious, but she no longer feared it. She knew that his size and strength and rage would only be used to protect her, and never to hurt her. Once she believed that, she could see how magnificent the bear was.

He’s not a monster
, she thought.
He’s Beauty’s Beast
.

The black bear broke away. It stumbled to its feet, bleeding from bites and slashes. It was also hunched in pain over its groin. Moaning pathetically, it staggered off into the woods, and was gone.

The great grizzly bear roared his triumph.

Raina’s heart pounded. But after she’d run from Owen, she had to make it up to him— prove to him that she saw him as her true love, not as a terrifying monster. Before the bear could change back into a man, Raina ran to him and pressed a kiss on his furry cheek.

The magnificent bear rubbed his face against her. Then he shrank. Fur became clothes and bare skin. Then Owen stood before her, a man again. He was sweaty and scratched from his fight, with trickles of blood outlining the muscles of his left forearm and staining his shirt. His black hair was rumpled and damp. He, too, looked magnificent.

“I’m sorry—” They both spoke the same words at the same time, then broke off with a laugh.

“I’m sorry I ran away from you,” Raina said. “You were only trying to protect me.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner,” Owen said. “Of course you were scared.”