Total pages in book: 28
Estimated words: 26479 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 132(@200wpm)___ 106(@250wpm)___ 88(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 26479 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 132(@200wpm)___ 106(@250wpm)___ 88(@300wpm)
“No,” she says with a shy smile. “How did you know?”
“Most folks around here have come into contact with shifters before. Or at least, someone they know has. It seemed inconceivable to you that I had a grizzly bear hiding inside. You didn’t want to believe it.”
“I’m still not quite sure if I do,” she says with an adorable laugh. “I think I might be going insane.”
I smile as I raise my glass of wine. “That makes two of us.”
She clinks my glass with hers, but there’s no smile on her face. “Are those guys really going to kill you if they catch you?”
I nod slowly.
“I won’t let them,” she says with a fierceness in her tone that makes me fall even deeper in love with her.
I love her for that, but there’s nothing she can do about it. She got lucky back there with the pepper spray, but next time, the boys will be ready. There’s not much anyone can do against three bear shifters and a wolf shifter determined to take you out.
I don’t want to talk about this anymore. I want to see her smiling and happy. This may be my last night on earth. It might be our last night together. I want to make it a good one.
“So, tell me about Florida.”
She sighs. Shit, maybe that was the wrong topic to bring up.
“Maybe you’re not the only one running,” she says in a low voice.
My body tightens as my hand squeezes into a fist under the table. “Are you in danger? Is someone trying to hurt you?”
I’ll kill them if they are. I’ll skin anyone alive who tries to hurt my girl.
“No, no,” she says with a shake of her head. My body relaxes a little as I listen. “There are other things to run away from.”
I sit in silence, just listening and letting her take her time. She looks so raw and vulnerable, and I can tell she’s not like this very often, if ever. I feel so privileged to be the one she trusts with her story.
“There were rumors about me at school,” she says as she drops her eyes to her plate, her cheeks burning red. “Horrible rumors. I don’t even want to say them.”
I reach out and put my hand on hers. She looks up at me with a grateful look.
“You’re the most incredible person I’ve ever met,” I tell her in a soft calm voice. “You took me in when I was injured, you took on four shifters and won, and you cooked this elk steak to perfection.”
She smiles.
“You’re amazing, Hazel. You’re smart, resourceful, clever, funny, and you’re a goddamn knockout. If those assholes were making up rumors about you, it’s because they were jealous.”
She takes a deep breath and then sips on her wine. I can tell she’s feeling a bit better by the way she’s sitting up straighter.
“It was horrible,” she continues. “I played tennis at school and one of the guys was always hitting on me. Tanner Jones.”
I can feel the heat and anger pulsing inside. This is usually the time when my grizzly explodes out of me in a vicious rage and fucks shit up, but right now, he’s as calm as a cat lying in front of a roaring fire on a cold winter day. He’s actually sitting back and letting me handle it. Wow. This girl is changing everything. She’s what he needed all along.
“I told him to leave me alone,” she says as she gazes into my eyes. “I guess I bruised his fragile little ego, so Tanner told everyone that I was a huge slut who fucked around with everyone on the tennis team. The rumors got around the school. And then it got around the town.”
My blood is boiling. I want to leap out of my chair, run to Florida, find this guy, wrap my hands around his neck, and strangle him until his fucking eyes pop out of his head.
“My parents had a fit,” she says as her gorgeous green eyes begin to water. “They didn’t believe me that I hadn’t even kissed a boy, let alone done all that nasty stuff he claimed I did. The rumors followed me after high school. They even grew and took on a life of their own. Eventually, I became known as the town slut who fucked the entire football team too. So, I left. Moved across the country. What’s more opposite to the beaches of Florida than the mountains of Montana? It sounded perfect. Nobody in this town uses social media. I don’t think they even know what it is.”
She chuckles as she looks at the dead deer head mounted on the wall. “I mean, can you picture Lou with a Facebook account? It would probably be full of pictures of dead animals.”