She froze. Her heart skittered around in herchest.
“Abby, it’s Cody. Please let me in. I need toexplain.”
“Go away,” sheyelled.
“Please, it’s not what youthink.”
“You’re a fucking bear. Like a werewolf, but a bear. Howthefuck—”
“It’s still me. Please let me in so I don’t have to yell through the door. I don’t want to disturbMadison.”
She looked around the room for a weapon. In the closet, she found a long handled broom. Brandishing it like a sword, she tiptoed to the door. After swiftly unlocking it, shescurriedback.
“Leave it open,” she said as Cody enteredtheroom.
“Okay,” he said. “You don’t need thebroom.”
“Sit in the chair over there.” She swung the end of the broom toward a chair in thecorner.
As he walked, she kept her gaze riveted on him, scanning for any sudden movement. When he slid into the chair, she relaxed a notch. The door to the bedroom stood open, as instructed. If she needed to escape, she could make it out before hecaughther.
“Please sit down,”hesaid.
“No.”
“I won’thurtyou.”
“Soyousay.”
“I wish you hadn’t seen me shift,” he said in a broken voice. The pain in his tone almost made her drop her defenses.Almost.
“I was just trying to give you what you wanted,”hesaid.
“A fucking monster? You think I wanted amonster?”
“No, not a monster. You wanted to paint a bear, so I shifted so I could poseforyou.”
“That’s the most insane bullshit I’ve ever heard,”shesaid.
“It’strue.”
“How?” she asked. “How is that possible? WhatIsaw—”
“What you saw was another side of me,”hesaid.
“Noshit.”
“I didn’t mean toscareyou.”
“Whatareyou?” sheasked.
“I’m a bear shifter. I can transform from human to bearandback.”
“Like awerewolf?”
“Kind of like a werewolf. I don’t howl at the moon or anything like that,”hesaid.
“Then what do you do?” sheasked.
