"What's wrong? What hurts?"
She froze as Simon, wild and wooly hair sticking out in all directions, appeared next to the bed. The beeping accelerated. Zoe stared at him, mouth full of cotton as she tried to come up with a response. He looked on the verge of panic, searching her face for a clue as he patted her arm and checked the IVs.
Zoe tried to force words out but her voice didn't work. She managed to whisper, "Water?"
"Water." Simon nodded, almost chanted the word as he moved around the dim room. He returned to her bedside and held a small cup to her lips, his hand cradling her cheek as he dribbled water on her lips. "There. Careful. Just a little."
She watched him as she swallowed, the water cold and crisp and tasting like it came straight from a mountain spring. Something had changed. Something felt very different, all of her senses sharper and more in-tune. Zoe closed her eyes and turned her face into his hand, wanting more contact. Comfort. Warmth. She wanted to curl up against his chest and sleep.
Simon made a sharp noise and then his other hand cupped her face, his thumbs stroking across her cheeks. "Are you okay? Does anything hurt? Are you hungry?"
Zoe wanted to laugh at him for the barrage of questions, but the desperation in his tone softened her heart. Poor Simon. He didn't sound so self-assured any more. She wondered what set him so off-balance. She took a deep breath and hoped her voice worked. It did, but sounded rusty and rough. "Where am I?"
"At the lodge." He exhaled in a gust, and eased to sit next to her hip on the wide hospital bed. He still held her face, still caressed her cheeks. His gaze warmed, sparked something deep in her chest. "We have an infirmary."
She moved uneasily. Infirmary. But it made sense, if she lay in a hospital bed with censors attached to her chest. Her naked chest. A flush heated her cheeks and Simon smiled. Zoe cleared her throat, studying his rugged features to distract herself from the delicious friction of his skin on hers. "What happened?"
His beard almost hid his frown, but she caught enough of it to know she wouldn't like his answer. Simon eased a little closer, his heat and solid bulk comforting rather than threatening. "You swerved to avoid a deer and ran off the road."
She laughed, but it came out all rusty. "That's impossible. If I ran off the road, I'd be dead."
"You almost were." He brushed her hair back, studying her hairline and tracing her features with the tips of his fingers. She felt like he tried to memorize her, to learn everything about her face. "Luckily Ethan is a medic, so he was able to keep you stable."
Zoe frowned and reached to touch the same path his hands traveled, then froze. Her glasses. She wasn't wearing her glasses. But she could see everything in the room with perfect clarity. Razor-sharp precision. Better than the best glasses. Her chest tightened and she tried to sit up. "What else did you do to me?"
Simon caught her shoulders, kept her from dragging the wires and tubes out, and he talked faster, low and calm but still with a hint of unease. "We didn't have any other choice, Zoe. You were dying. So I gave you a blood transfusion."
"What does thatmean?" Other memories came back, a bit spottier — the bears, him turning into a grizzly, the video on her phone. She remembered reading the rumors online, that shapeshifters were actually real, but everyone knew it was just a hoax. Some crazy conspiracy shit that rational people wouldn't buy. Like UFOs and Bigfoot. But at least one website insisted that humans could be turned into shifters via blood or bites or weird magic shit. A blood transfusion might do it. Her heart leapt and sank at the same time, and the monitor next to her bed started going crazy.
Simon took a deep breath. "I'm a bear shifter. You saw it in the meadow, when I changed. My kind — our kind — heals faster, better. We can survive things that kill humans. I needed to save you, Zoe. It was the only way I could save you."
She stared at her feet, hidden by clean white sheets, and tried to understand. It felt like her software was buggy andjust wouldn't compile. A glitch in the system. A loud noise in her ears distracted her as she struggled, torn between wanting to get the hell away from him and needing to turn to him for comfort. He looked so desperate, touching her face and shoulders and hands, that it took a while before she realized the noise came from him — a rumbly grumbly bear sound. A worried sound.
Her eyes prickled. "I'm going to turn into a bear?"
The worried sound got louder and he moved closer, leaning to wrap his arms around her so he could hold her tightly and nuzzle in her hair. He whispered, "Please don't cry. Please."
She stared past his shoulder, wanting to hide her face against his neck and sob.
Simon kissed her cheek and eased back enough to check her expression, stroking her hair back. "Eventually, yes, you should be able to turn into a bear. And turn back human. We'll help you with that. We'll help you with everything."
She wanted to be grateful that he saved her life, but the pain medication dripping into her veins made everything fuzzy and disoriented. And the idea of being part animal, being a bear, being less than human... As if she wasn't enough of a freak already, as if blending in and figuring out how the hell to talk to people weren't hard enough just as herself...
Her hands trembled as she covered her face and her breath came faster, catching in her chest, and tears burned her sinuses. Zoe couldn't think, couldn't do anything butfeel.
Simon made a strangled sound and pulled her close once more, rocking her back and forth as he rubbed her back. "I'm sorry. I'll fix it, I promise. I'll make it better."
He kept talking, soft nonsense that blurred into a soundtrack of reassurance, and some wild part of her stirred awake. Zoe didn't know what it was or what to call it, but somethingin her liked him. A lot. Wanted him closer. Wanted him forever and always.
But that wasn't a part of herself she'd ever met before. Which meant it had to be the bear, or she was going completely crazy. And he'd said 'we.' 'We'll help you.' So everyone was a bear. A house full of bears. The hysterical giggle built in her chest again but she knew if she started, she'd never stop.
The tears kept falling and Simon kept talking and rocking her, but eventually her eyelids drooped and whatever kept her awake faded away. Darkness crept over her, and Zoe slept with the sound of Simon's voice still in her ears.
9
SIMON
When Zoe finally slept, Simon untangled himself from her and the wires and the sheets. He retreated to the door but watched her the entire time, holding his breath, to make sure she didn't wake and think she was alone. His chest hurt with the power of her confusion and pain and sadness. His bear wanted to stay, to sleep next to her, but Simon needed a moment to compose himself.
