Bearing It Read Online Free Page B

you glare at them for touching your produce.”
    He laughed. “Is that a euphemism?”
    “No.”
    They arrived at the field, and the shift cabanas offered a bit of privacy that she hadn’t expected. “That is nice.”
    “It is arranged for our convenience. You enter the cabana, remove your clothing and shift. There should be room enough for you to exit, and then, the field is yours, run as much as you like.”
    “Will you be shifting?”
    “No, I am more of a day animal. I will wait for you, and after you work out the kinks, you can give me that dance.”
    She chuckled and headed for the cabana.
    After shucking her shoes, she slipped her dress over her head and removed her jewellery. Standing naked in the cabana, she let her transformation wash over her.
    Her hairline rippled and fur cascaded down her body, her muscles thickened and cracked as they took on the wider stance of a she-bear. Snuffling, she wandered out into the night on her hind legs.
    Hektor was waiting for her a few yards away. His surprise was evident.
    Her mobile nose twitched as she took in his scent. She backed up and dropped to all fours, still sniffing at him until his essence was stamped in her senses.
    She felt his hands on her, and she huffed low in warning. Touching a shifter without asking was dangerous. His hands slowed their exploration but continued to pet her head. The moment he touched her ears, she huffed and head-butted him to the grass.
    Fred turned away from him and ran across the meadow, her body and fur rippling with each step. Her claws dug into the ground and propelled her far faster than most campers could imagine. She did love scaring trespassers by chasing them just fast enough to make them sweat. They had no concept of how easily they had gotten off. If she weren’t prowling her perimeter and one of the family gatherings found the trespassers, she would be filling out incident reports at the local fish and game department, as well as the police department.
    She thundered through the meadow, feeling the turf beneath her paws. When she reached the copse of trees, she turned and pounded back to the cabana. She entered the space and sat on her haunches while she caught her breath.
    She couldn’t imagine why she had head-butted him, but his scent was firmly on her forehead. Fred shook her furry head and resumed her human form. Damn it.
    With a disheartened sigh, she put her clothing and shoes back on. She ran her fingers through her hair a few times and exited the cabana with her jewellery tucked in her cleavage.
    She stopped short when she saw Lee. “What happened?”
    “Oh, honey, you broke his arm.” Lee was apologetic. “Come with me. He didn’t want you to worry.”
    Fred was humiliated. In one night, she had lost control of herself in a strange place, and then, she had broken the arm of a man with feathers and the wind in his scent. She had crippled a flier and that was one of the worst things she could have done.
    “Is there a way for me to just go home?” Fred was sunk in misery. The day that had started with hope had ended with disaster.
    Lee took her hand and tugged at her. “Come along, Fred. Things aren’t as bad as they seem.”
    “I really don’t think that you are telling me the truth, Lee.”
    “He is resting, but he wants to see you. By tomorrow, he will be up and around. No worries. This isn’t the end of the world.”
    No, but it was the end of hope. Silent and moping at her gauche beast and her lost possibility of a mate, she let the lioness lead her back into town, to a building with the standard red cross in a white circle that indicated medical aid.
     

Chapter Five
     
     
    Hektor was reclining on an exam bed, his arm in a sling with a splint on it. He smiled as she came in. “It isn’t that bad.”
    “I broke you.” She blurted it out, and Lee chuckled but busied herself in a back room.
    “You did, but I deserved it. We barely know each other and I touched your beast. That was beyond