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“…I’m a what???”

Sadie

I was so, so incredibly confused.

“You think I’m a what ?”

I’d just gotten used to the guttural Scottish accent, and though Tadhg’s deep and resonant Irish one was much easier to understand, I could only assume I’d heard wrong.

“I’m sorry, but it almost sounded like you called me a bear.”

Tadhg’s eyes drifted upward and to the side, and I realized he and the Shadow King were exchanging a look over my shoulder.

Even though the whiteboard was still lying on the table, it felt like the two males had an entire conversation before Tadhg said, “I did call you a bear, Sadie. Because that’s what you are—a bear, just like us. You were aware of this fact before now, no?”

“Fact?” Disappointment filled my chest, and I yanked my hand back, suddenly not caring about keeping to the strange customs of the people who’d kidnapped me.

So, these two males were bear shifters, and the only reason they’d “arranged this meeting” was because…

“You honestly think I’m a bear? I mean, I know I smell odd.”

“You don’t smell odd,” Tadhg insisted with another glance toward the Shadow King over my shoulder.

“You smell like a bear. A bear covered in strawberries and heather, for certain. But a bear, unmistakably.”

“What?” I shook my head at him.

“What would make you think that? I’m a she-wolf. I’ve always been a she-wolf, and I do not understand or like this game you’re playing with me.”

That’s what this had to be—a game.

Some sort of horrible trick, worse than anything the cruel boys in St. Ailbe ever pulled.

“Why? Why would you say that?” I gasped out, because suddenly I couldn’t breathe.

“Why are you doing this to me?” The room was both spinning and attempting to suffocate me at the same time.

I had to…I had to get out of here.

I cut toward the dining room’s window door, running blindly, desperate to get outside.

Desperate to get some air.

Why would Cian and Tadhg play this trick on me?

Bring me all the way here just to make me feel like a freak who didn’t belong with the other Wolfennite brides?

“Sadie, don’t run!” Tadhg had the nerve to chide behind me.

“You do not run from bears.”

I was still too much of a Wolfennite to use foul language, but I threw him an extremely dirty look over my shoulder and, yes, continued running as fast as I could toward the dining room’s glass door.

Just as I was about to make it there, a black bear appeared in front of me, rising to its hind legs to reveal a large Celtic knot medallion shaped like a bear hanging over its chest, which was covered in light-brown fur.

It was huge at full height, but the smell of lemons emanating from its fur-covered body let me know this was the Shadow King.

Other than blocking my way in the scariest form possible, he didn’t make a move to harm me.

Still, I reeled around, crying out like a trapped animal and running in the other direction.

But then there was Tadhg.

Huge and mountainous, even in human form.

“Sadie, we’re not trying to scare you. But you can’t run from us, Strawberry,” he said patiently, as if he and the huge black bear standing right behind me hadn’t completely trapped me between them.

“It sets off our predator instincts, doesn’t it? And gods know, we’re already having a hell of a time keeping ourselves polite and sane around you. You’ve no idea how long we’ve been waiting for this opportunity.”

Was he…

? Was he crazy? Were all the Irish shifters crazy?

Actually, the answer to those questions didn’t matter—only getting myself out of there.

“I’m not a bear shifter!” I replied, cutting left around him toward one of the dining room’s interior doors.

But the Shadow King blocked that path, too, and this time he dropped down on all fours to growl at me, revealing a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth.

Even if he still held a “Don’t Scream” sign, I wouldn’t have been able to stop the shriek that erupted from my mouth.

I wheeled back, only to hit something big and broad.

What turned out to be another bear.

But this one was wearing glasses and sported brown fur all over its head and neck, which appeared to be sitting on top of Tadhg’s still-human body.

I immediately stopped screaming, but only because I was so shocked.

Apparently, not only was there such a thing as bear shifters, but they could also partially shift just one part of their body if they chose to do so.

But that didn’t mean…

it couldn’t mean…

“I am not a bear!” I insisted.

I’d never been as emotionally sturdy as my mother or best friend.

They would have kept it together, but hot tears burned in the back of my eyes as I told the two scary bears—told myself…

“I live in a wolf village. I shift into a wolf every full moon.”

Suddenly, the bear with Tadhg’s body became a full male again, its face collapsing back to that of the kind-eyed redhead I’d met previously—only with messier hair.

“I’m sorry, Strawberry.” His hazel eyes filled with contrition, and he rubbed the back of his neck.

“We’re not trying to terrify you. But explaining your very own nature to you wasn’t on my possible scenarios list when we sent the Irish Wolves to fetch you from Faoiltiarn, was it?”

What?

What?… All the what’s rained down.

“Are you saying that you two are the ones responsible for the Irish Wolves’ attack on Faoiltiarn?”

Instead of answering that question, Tadhg reset his face to the calm, agreeable expression he’d worn when we first met.

“Are you one-hundred-percent sure that you are what you think you are, Strawberry?”

That nickname.

Another one I didn’t ask for.

But somehow, it felt the exact opposite of Sadie Schaduw.

My heartbeat calmed a bit, even as I answered, “Yes, I’m sure I’m a she-wolf! I don’t know why you think I’m one of you, but I’m not. I promise you, I’m not. I’ve never, ever done…” I waved my hands toward the face that had just been a bear’s a few moments ago.

“…whatever that was with any part of my body. Because wolves can’t do that, and I’m a wolf!”

I was refuting everything he’d told me, but for some reason, Tadhg’s expression remained infinitely patient as he asked, “Okay, then, are you able to go without eating or relieving yourself for long periods of time—days to weeks, if need be?”

“Yes, but…” I squinted, wondering how this particular topic of conversation was coming up again so soon after my weird discussion with Amanda.

“All wolves can do that.”

“All wolves cannot do that,” he assured me, and he didn’t give me a chance to answer before asking, “Have you been feeling sleepy as of late? And unbelievably hungry?”

How did he know?

I scrunched my forehead.

“Yes, but that’s just because I’m gluttonous and prone to sloth when the weather gets cold.” I stared at him blankly.

“My mother told me that because she had a child outside of wedlock, I was born with those two stains on my character. And it’s something I must fight within myself every season.”

“Why would she…?” To my surprise, Tadhg’s expression darkened.

But only for a moment or two, then it softened into sympathy.

Like he felt sorry for me, even though I’d just explained that I was a she-wolf who’d been cursed from birth.

“I don’t know why your mother told you that. But it’s nothing to do with your character, Strawberry. It’s in our nature. Because we’re bears living in a world that doesn’t hibernate. That’s part of the reason Cian opted out of living in The Above, so he did.”

He indicated the Shadow King, who now sat on his bottom.

Technically resting, but his back paws were on the floor, putting him in a crouch, and his two front paws were also braced between his bent back legs.

That and his chosen position directly between me and the glass door made me suspect he was ready to come after me with that maw full of teeth, if I tried to run again.

“Cian normally takes a sabbatical around this time,” Tadhg told me.

“Finding out about you is the only reason he hasn’t already retired to his castle for the next season. And even after over a decade of living in the human world, Declan, the other Irish Bear King, and I still have a hell of a time in the winter.”

Tadhg sighed.

“Imagine our company would be twice as profitable if we’d been born wolves, like Iain Scotswolf.”

A wholly unusual sensation of feeling understood rushed through me.

How many times had I gotten down on myself because of the Winter Sloth?

I’d had a harder time with school when the weather got colder.

Also, keeping up with my community duties, staying awake in church, or even during quiet conversations with Naomi—sometimes just day-to-day functioning felt like a chore.

One I couldn’t do well in the winter.

“But that doesn’t mean I’m a?—”

“Give me your hand,” Tadhg suddenly said.

“What?”

“Give me your hand, and I’ll leave off trying to prove it to you until the next full moon. My sister’s pregnant with her husbands’ cubs at the moment, so she’ll be able to take a picture of you when you turn.”

Finally, something familiar.

I understood the concept of shifters not shifting while pregnant.

His kind must have that built-in protection measure, too.

But did he say she was pregnant by her husbands ?

As in, more than one?

I fretted my bottom lip, remembering what Malcolm and Gavin had claimed about the Irish Wolves mating in pairs.

…

“Sadie, will you give me your hand?” Tadhg’s insistent question interrupted my meditation on what other strange customs Irish Bears might have.

I swallowed. “Okay, if it will put an end to this conversation.…”

I held out my hand.

Which Tadhg took and turned over, his grip light but firm.

I understood why when he reached inside his shirt collar and pulled out a medallion with a knotted Celtic bear, just like the one around the Shadow King’s neck.

“A least two of the Irish Wolf Kings also have these, but theirs are made of bronze.”

I immediately began tugging to get my hand back.

Whereas the Shadow King’s lemon smell had covered what his knotted bear was made of, the scent of the medallion’s pure silver hit my nose.

“Don’t. Don’t!”

Tadhg’s grip tightened.

He turned my palm over, promising, “This won’t hurt.”

“But it will!” I told him, tugging back on my hand as hard as I could.

Did he not know? “Wolves are highly allergic to sil?—”

I broke off when he laid the medallion in my hand and…

…nothing. The beautifully knotted medallion was slightly larger than my entire palm, yet the only warmth I felt was the faint heat from Tadhg’s body.

But how…?

I looked up from the silver medallion to Tadhg to ask, “How is this possible?”

“It’s possible because you’re a bear, like Cian and me. And unlike wolves, bears are not allergic to silver.”

His words hit me like a bucket of ice-cold water.

I wanted to deny it again.

Everything I’d been taught, everything I was, depended on me proving him wrong.

But the proof I was looking for stared me in the face.

Large as what he was claiming I actually was…

hadn’t known I actually was on the inside…

Remembering all the times I’d felt a strange tingling in my hand when someone said something to me that made me violently angry, I made myself visualize…

.

Reuben denying me in the barn…

Amanda commenting on my full plate at the breakfast table…

The other Wolfennites laughing at me at Tara’s wedding reception…

“Oh, my heavens! Oh, my heavens!” I nearly dropped the silver medallion when my entire hand and forearm disappeared underneath a long mitt of jet-black fur and a palm covered in what looked like some kind of worn dark-gray rubber.

“Hiya, so you’re a black bear, then—not a brownie, like the High King and me.” Tadhg raised his red eyebrows on the other side of my shifted paw.

“I’m certain the Shadow King’s line will be impossible to deal with after they find out we’ve finally got another black bear who isn’t related to them.”

Tadhg tucked the medallion back into his shirt.

“By the by, not to sound too superior, but wolves can’t turn just one part of themselves, either. That’s a special power, Strawberry, just for us bears.”

He was still trying to convince me, but I didn’t need it as I clamped and unclamped five claws over a spongy palm that was no longer light brown but a dark and dusky black.

This is not a wolf paw , I realized, staring at the one piece of me I’d turned just to see if I could.

It was too big. Too fierce.

Too other. Just like me.

No more denials. My throat clogged with tears, and for several moments, I couldn’t even talk.

All these years…

All these years of feeling like a freak of wolf nature, and here was my answer.

I’d never been a wolf.

I’d been a bear. One of Tadhg’s and Cian’s kind all along.

Another epiphany hit me.

My mother must be a bear, too!

That would explain so much.

Why she almost never talked about her past or my father.

Had made me large portions of food, despite complaining about the outrageous expense of my out-of-control gluttony.

Of course, she had lied to me.

Hidden what I was from me with shame and criticism.

That was clear now.

And relief…

Relief like nothing I’d ever known, even when I released my bladder after months of being shut in my room, filled me up like a bottle of maple syrup.

Sweet and sticky in a way that clung to the container, even after it was emptied.

At the warm thoughts, the violent tingling faded, and I once again found myself gazing upon my human hand.

“I’m a bear,” I whispered.

“You’re a bear,” Tadhg confirmed.

“Even the Shadow King is trying to tell you.”

He nodded in a new direction near the table, and a shout of laughter burst from my mouth when I found the Shadow King, still in bear form but once again holding the whiteboard between two paws: You’re a BEAR!

!!

Bear was in all caps and underlined three times.

But wait…

I stopped laughing and scrunched my forehead when I realized, out loud, “That still doesn’t explain why you kidnapped me.”

“Oh, well, actually…” The chagrinned look returned as Tadhg explained, “That was the story I’d planned to lead with, but then this weirdly existential conversation came up. You see, Sadie?—”

The blare of dual alarms, loud and even more piercing than a rooster’s crow and a kettle’s steam whistle combined, cut him off.

I found out where the terrible sounds were coming from when Tadhg pulled out a phone, and the Shadow King’s bear lumbered over to the leather remnants of the pants he’d shredded through to presumably do the same.

Tadhg’s expression went from laughing to serious in the next moment.

“Gods, I didn’t expect them to suss it out so fast,” he said before pressing something on his phone screen.

Muffled clunks sounded from all around.

Locks closing, maybe, all at once?

Alarm bells sounded inside my head as I asked, “Suss what out? What’s going on?”

“The Scottish Wolves.” All the room's windows tinted to black, casting Tadhg’s face in shadows as he informed me, “The Scottish Wolves are at our dock and headed toward the house.”