“So, how did you cope with being a bear with no support?” Bastian asked. “How did you learn everything it means to be a bear?”
“Lewis told me some of it. The rest I picked up off the internet. Although I realize some of that is just legend.”
“Weren’t you afraid the first time you turned? Doing it alone, I mean?” Bastian asked.
“I’ve never turned. I’ve been a bear shifter for ten years and never once have I actually let myself be a bear. Remember, I thought all bears were monsters. I was afraid that if I let that side of myself out, I would become a monster,” Rachel said.
“Oh, Rachel,” Bastian said. “That wouldn’t have happened. Your bear is an extension of you. If you’re a good person, then embracing your bear won’t make you a bad person. How did you keep it at bay? It must have been hard if you never let it out.”
“I learned to swallow it down, I guess,” Rachel said. She looked at Bastian and smiled. “Funnily enough, the hardest it ever fought to come out was when you and I were hooking up.”
Bastian smiled and nodded.
“It figures. While the bear is an extension of you, it’s still an animal and it responds to the basic instincts. Lust. Fear. That kind of thing. It would have sensed the bear in me too. I have been a bear for a long time and I am completely in control of myself, but when we were together, I had a hard time keeping my bear down too.”
“Really?” Rachel asked.
“Really,” Bastian agreed. “So now that you know we’re not all monsters, do you think you would ever consider joining the pack?”
Rachel shook her head.
“I don’t think so. I’m happy with my life the way it is right now, and even though I believe what you’re telling me, I have gotten by this long without feeling the need to turn and I can’t see that changing any time soon.”
“I understand that, but if you ever change your mind, the offer is there. It gets lonely being immortal if you don’t have immortal friends,” Bastian said.
“Thanks, but I’ll be fine,” Rachel said. “And don’t think for a minute Stephanie is going to have any part in this pack of yours. But if you still want to meet her…”
“More than anything,” Bastian interrupted.
“You can meet her on Saturday morning,” Rachel said.
“But it’s only Thursday,” Bastian said.
“I know,” Rachel said. “But when I get home tonight, it will almost be her bedtime. And I’m at work tomorrow. Is it really too much to ask for you to stick around for a couple of days?”
“No, it’s not that. I just really wanted to meet her as soon as possible,” Bastian said.
“Well, it’s Saturday at the earliest. And if I find out you’ve been to my house again, then I’ll leave and take Stephanie with me and you’ll never get to see her,” Rachel warned Bastian.
Bastian held his hands up in surrender.
“I swear I won’t. Saturday it is. But what do you mean come to your house again? I don’t even know where you live,” Bastian said.
“You said you’d already seen Stephanie. I figured you’d gone to the house and Lena, the nanny, let you in,” she said.
Bastian shook his head.
“No. I didn’t want to turn up at your door and scare you, so instead of trying to get your address, I waited here for you. It was just a strange coincidence that I met Stephanie. Lena, was it? She happened to sit down on the bench with me and we got chatting. Stephanie got fussy and she got her out of the stroller. And I just knew. My bear recognized her,” Bastian explained.
Rachel nodded and Bastian winced.
“What?” Rachel asked.
“I think I might have inadvertently scared your nanny. She’s bound to tell you about the weirdo she met in the park and I was that weirdo. Like I said, when I first saw Stephanie, my bear knew her. I knew she was my daughter. And I felt this overwhelming rush of love. I asked Lena if I could hold the baby.”
“Oh my God, Bastian, are you nuts? You can’t just go around asking strangers if you can hold their babies,” Rachel burst out.
“I know. I realized as soon as I said it. She made her excuses and got the hell out of there. I thought of going after her and trying to reassure her, but I figured if she thought I was chasing her through the park, it would only scare her more.”
“Well, at least I know she takes Stephanie’s safety seriously,” Rachel laughed.
“Oh, she does. At that point, she’d already given me the side eye when I told her none of the kids in the park were mine. I told her I was meeting my wife and son just so she didn’t think I was some sort of pervert,” Bastian laughed.
Rachel laughed with him and shook her head.
“You know,” Bastian said when his laughter faded away, “we haven’t seen each other in two years and yet I feel like we’ve never been apart. Is that weird?”
“Yeah,” Rachel said. She smiled. “But I was thinking the same thing.”
“I can’t believe a misunderstanding has kept us from doing this sooner,” Bastian said.
“Me neither,” Rachel said.
“Do you want to know what I thought when Brady first told me you were a bear and that you were pregnant after you’d been by the house?” Bastian said. Rachel nodded. “I thought you knew I was the alpha of the district and you’d purposely seduced me so you could have my baby.”
“Wow. Arrogant much?” Rachel laughed.
“Only a little bit,” Bastian grinned.
Rachel picked her cup up and drained the last of her cold coffee.
“I really
