Page 24 of His Stubborn Bear

I chuckled at that. But honestly, though, I needed to teach my mate that a flight response sometimes was the way to go. Not that I would ever let anything happen to him.

“Are you hungry?” Kian asked. “I’m sure we have honey in the house.”

I chuckled, but it came out as a snuffling sound.

“I don’t know if bears actually like honey. Maybe that’s just Winnie the Pooh.” Kian shook his head. “Obviously, you don’t know who that is. You probably don’t even understand me.”

I laughed and nodded and batted a paw at him.

“Or maybe you do?” Kian looked confused. “You don’t look so scary. But I don’t think I should come any closer.”

I lay down so I didn’t terrify him.

“Awww, you don’t look so scary at all.”

I nodded, my big head moving up and down.

“I wonder, do bears feel like teddy bears?” Kian mused, taking a step towards me.

I tried to make myself as non-threatening as possible. My bear was dying to meet our mate in this form.

7

Kian

Every instinctin my body was telling me to run the other way, so why was I moving towards a wild animal?

When I was a couple of steps away, the bear turned to me, and I could swear he smiled.

Yeah, probably because you just made yourself dinner.

“I think maybe I should go back inside.” I backed away, but he growled, and I froze.

Yeah, this is it. This is how you die, Kian. Your obituary will read “He was too stupid to run from a bear. He actually approached.”

When the bear stood, I gulped. Holy fuck, he was huge.

“Please don’t eat me. Please.”Fuckity fuck damn. I should scream…or run or something, but my legs had suddenly stopped working.

When he, or maybe it was a she—yeah, because that’s what’s important right now—moved towards me, I stood very still, even as my whole body broke out in a cold sweat.

When the bear stopped right in front of me and put his huge head against my belly, I gulped. A voice in my head said, “All the better to gut you.”

It nudged me, and I gulped. Gosh, it was hard to swallow. Then the bear nudged my hand.

My head tilted to the side. “You want me to pet you?”

The bear nodded, its large head moving up and down.

Okay, Kian. You can do this. Pet the bear and then run like hell. Maybe this was a fever dream? Maybe I was in a hospital bed somewhere, and they were trying to save me, and my brain was having a Disney moment. Although I wasn’t sure there was any Disney fairytale with a bear. Was Goldilocks Disney?

Yup, definitely a fever dream.

I put my hand on the large head in front of me, and the bear let out what I could swear was a pleased moan.

I pushed my hand through the fur, and it nuzzled into my belly.

Was this really happening?