“You kissed me, knowing you were lying to me!” Holly wasn’t going to let the smooth planes of his chest, his rippling bare arms, or whatever wonders lurked beneath her line of sight distract her. “You’ve been lying to me from the beginning!”
Keller made a sharp huffing noise, echoed by Garret.
“Yes, I kissed her,” Johnny snapped at them. “Don’t seem so shocked. You’ve both wanted to do it since the moment you met her.”
“Excuse me?” Holly sputtered. “Don’t drag them into this. This is between you and me.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Johnny said. “All of us. You, me, Keller, Garret, Loch, and who knows how many others are wrapped up in this mess together.”
“I’d ask what you’re talking about, but I know I can’t trust you to tell me the whole truth,” she snapped.
“Did it ever occur to you that I was trying to protect you?”
“That’s not something you get to decide on my behalf!” Holly exclaimed. “You don’t get to pick what pieces of information I’m exposed to. The only reason anyone ever does that is to manipulate a situation, and I will not be manipulated.”
Without meaning to, her gaze slipped down. Immediately, red hot heat rushed to her cheeks. She averted her eyes but not quickly enough to avoid seeing just how well endowed Johnny was.
“Can you put your clothes on?” she asked, looking everywhere but at him. “It’s hard to yell at you when you’re...like this.”
“That’s not a very good incentive for me to put anything on, now is it?” he shot back.
“Will you just—” Bright light stopped Holly from speaking. When she looked to the source, she saw Keller’s very bare and very toned backside disappearing into the woods.
“Don’t worry,” he called over his shoulder. “I always keep spare clothes up here.”
Garret, the only one still in his bear form, grunted his gratitude.
“Of course, he does,” Johnny muttered.
“What happened to the clothes you were wearing before?” Holly asked.
“What do you think happens when a bear wears a size medium T-shirt?” he replied, pointing to scraps of fabric that littered the ground. They looked brown around the edges like they’d been scorched.
“Magic is a powerful fucking beast,” he said just as Keller emerged from the woods, fully dressed and carrying two other sets of clothes. He set one set beside Garret, who gingerly picked it up between his teeth and lumbered out of sight. Keller tossed the other set to Johnny. It landed a few feet short.
“Thanks,” Johnny muttered before retrieving the clothes and tugging on a pair of worn jeans. “I was wondering where these went.”
“So, is that the big secret everyone’s been keeping from me?” Holly asked. “That you guys can turn into bears?”
“Yes and no,” Keller said. “I wanted you to see us transform so you’d believe everything we told you after.”
“There’s more?” Holly sputtered. How much more of this was she expected to tolerate. “What more can there possibly be? You’re bears!”
Johnny cleared his throat.
Holly turned on him with narrowed eyes. “I’d choose your words carefully if I were you.”
“Remember that marriage tradition I told you about?”
“Yes,” she said slowly, not liking where this is going.
“The bear thing is sort of...part of that.”
Holly pressed her lips together. “Pearl wants me to marry a bear?” Oh, this was hilarious. If she hadn’t seen them transform right before her eyes, she would be laughing hysterically.
“Want isn’t the right word,” Keller said.
“What do you mean?”
Johnny and Keller looked at her with serious expressions.
“There’s a prophecy that depicts the downfall of the Bear Clans. You’re part of that prophecy.”
Holly felt the world spin on its axis. Her gaze narrowed in on Johnny. “It’s just a weird town tradition, you said! Nothing to worry about, you said!” she shouted.
“Why do you keep coming after me? I’m not the one causing this!”
“I’m coming after you because you’re the only one here who lied to me!”
“I didn’t lie! I omitted details for the sake of your comfort,” he said.
“If you really believe that, then you’re dumber than an actual bear!”
“Oh, for goodness’s sake,” Keller groaned. “Both of you knock it off before I separate you.”
“I wish you would!” Holly snapped. “I don’t want to be near someone who can deceive me so easily.” God, she couldn’t believe she considered losing her virginity to him. Had she gone temporarily insane?
“It wasn’t deception,” Johnny argued. “That’s the truth of it, but if you don’t want to believe me, I can’t make you. Think what you want.”
“I will.”
“Enough!” Garret roared, emerging from the trees in dark jeans and a navy T-shirt. “This isn’t getting us anywhere. Johnny, you fucked up. Deal with it later. Right now, Holly needs to know what’s going on, and we need to tell her before shit hits the fan.”
Holly blinked at Garret in surprise. She’d never heard him say so much at once. Neither Johnny nor Keller looked like they wanted to argue with him. When he turned to her, his expression softened.
“Holly, if you’re ready to learn the truth about why you’ve been brought to Silver Spruce, we will tell you.”
Gathering all her resolve, she nodded. “I’m ready.”
CHAPTER 13 – Holly
Holly sat with her back to one of the stone slabs. Engraved on its smooth, cool surface was a woman dressed in robes with her arms raised up to the sky. Behind her, a bear stood on its hind legs. Both of them bore the same symbol on their foreheads, the rising sun. They were one and the same.
“The Bear Clans have occupied this territory since before people started recording history,” Garret explained. He sat directly across from her.
Keller sat to her right. Johnny stood against the nearest standing stone, wisely keeping his distance.
“There
