Page 11 of Wrong Number, Right Grizzly (Dial M For Mates #7)

NIX

Damn, double damn, and triple damn. That wasn’t supposed to happen.

I took my skin behind the large oak tree in my backyard and grabbed the clothes I'd left on the patio table. Why did I let my beast shift in the back yard? Why? We’d never done that.

Yes, my garden was protected from nosy onlookers by thick hedges and trees.

And my closest neighbor was fifty yards away, but it was a foolhardy exercise.

Ronan's expression when he came around the side of the house and witnessed my grizzly. He froze, with horror etched on his face. He backtracked and banged into the car before opening the door with trembling hands, jumping in, and locking the door.

He pressed his face to the windshield, but I lost sight of him in the seconds when I got dressed. Racing toward his car, his face registered… I wasn’t sure. Confusion, I guessed. But he stayed in the vehicle, until I knocked on the door.

He wound the window down a tad, his eyes narrowed with suspicion. “Nix?”

“Yeah, it’s me. I didn’t expect you.”

“I can see that.”

“Wanna come in for coffee?”

He gazed around my garden and glanced over his shoulder and even in the back seat, as if he expected my beast to be hiding there.

“You have questions.”

“Ya think?” By the time his voice reached the question mark it was a screech.

“Come inside and I’ll explain.”

I tried to put myself in his position. If I’d been human and witnessed the man I slept with and loved transform into an animal—a scary one—I’d have driven off and never returned.

I’m not scary. I’m a teddy bear .

There was no time for a heart-to-heart with my beast about how humans regarded what they believed was impossible to become reality.

Ronan clutched his phone close to his chest and got out of the car.

When we got inside, Ronan hunkering down on the couch with a cushion pressed against his chest.

I made coffee while I talked to him about superficialities like the weather and work and which mug he wanted. I needed to keep him focused on something other than me changing into a wild animal.

His hands shook as he gripped the warm mug and took a sip. After a second sip, followed by a gulp, he blurted out, “Can you explain what the heck just happened?"

My first instinct was to sit beside Ronan and comfort him, but he was still jittery and his head twisted at the slightest sound.

His glazed eyes and pale cheeks were a sign he hadn’t recovered from the shock.

The poor guy had been traumatized by being caught in the floodwaters, and now this?

His sanity was probably hanging on by a thread.

“There are things in this world that humans are not aware of.”

He snorted, but on studying my face, he sat back on the sofa and grabbed another cushion. He was building a soft fluffy wall of protection against me and what I was about to tell him.

Trying not to make any sudden movements, which was hard because my grizzly was pushing me to mate the guy, I told him that while I appeared human, there was another side to me.

“Are you an alien?”

My grizzly was aghast, saying he was part of the earth, just as the human part of me was and Ronan.

He’s clutching on to the only thing he knows. He’ll understand eventually . At least he didn’t run .

Bah!

“No.”

"So I didn’t hallucinate a grizzly bear in your garden?”

"Nope.” I reached out with both hands, and he gave me one hand, the other one gripping the cushions. "I'm a shifter, and I can take the form of a human or a grizzly bear."

He asked where the bear was and patted my chest.

“Are you one-of-a-kind? About to take over the planet?”

I launched into an explanation of how shifters had lived alongside humans for centuries. We were earthlings just as he was.

“Why?”

Why what? Why did we live here or why didn’t we reveal our true identities?

I rambled on about people who were different and how they were treated, giving Ronan historical examples. He hung his head and whispered an apology, and when he finally looked at me, there was no fear in his gaze.

“You’re right. Humans treat other people who exhibit the tiniest difference to the norm badly, whatever normal is.”

I took his other hand. “There’s no need to apologize. You’ve had a huge shock.”

He lowered his voice. “But where do we go from here? You’ve had your dick in me.”

“And I hope to again.”

A small smile tugged at his lips. “Do all shifters have a grizzly inside them?”

“No.” I told him there were as many shifter beasts as there were animals on the earth. And a few mythical ones as well.

Tell him the rest .

I’ll get to it .

My beast was right, now that Ronan had half the information, it was only fair to fill in the remaining details.

“There’s something else.”

My mate pulled his legs underneath him and got more cushions. He didn’t have a wall but a fort.

“Hit me with it.”

There’d be no hitting unless I spanked him. But a mental hand grabbed my mind and focused it on Ronan and who we were to one another.

“When I met you, I experienced a pull toward you.”

There was a sharp intake of breath from my mate. “Are you messing with me?”

“No.” I patted my chest. “This comes from my heart.”

“That’s… that’s what I felt too. What did you do to me?”

“Nothing. It’s the universe sending a message.”

He quipped that he wished the universe used a messaging service so he could read it on the phone. Him joking gave me hope that he would be receptive to what I was about to say.

“Shifters have fated mates. Not all, but many do. It’s instinct, so when a shifter meets their one and only, they establish a connection.”

“Again. A text would help.”

I suspected Ronan’s jokes were him warding off what I was telling him. He was refusing to admit what he sensed was true.

"When you came to find me. That wasn't just you being a good guy, was it?”

I wanted him to think I was and I really had no sense who he was before we met.

“Not sure I’m a good guy, but when you got my number, I was worried. Maybe fate was guiding me, just as it had a hand in you dialing the wrong number.”

"I thought I was losing my mind."

To heck with keeping my distance. I invaded his fort, with his permission, and we huddled together behind the cushions. I held him close as I repeated that he wasn’t losing his mind. It was fate messing with us.

“When were you going to tell me?”

It wasn’t an easy conversation to have because I’d just had it, my first time. “Eventually.”

“Like when we retired?”

I sighed. “Before that if I’d plucked up the courage.”

We sat, each with our own thoughts, until he asked if he had to be worried my beast would appear in bed or at the dinner table or in a restaurant?

“I have control over my grizzly, most of the time.”

Now he retreated from me. “Please explain.”

“He listens to me, but the pull was so strong, he wanted to shift and mark you.” I added, before Ronan freaked out even more. “That’s what two shifters do when they meet their one and only.”

He hugged three cushions before asking me if I agreed with arranged relationships. “The universe put us together and is insisting we belong together. That isn’t right.”

My confidence deserted me, thinking Ronan was rejecting me, rejecting us. I had one chance to do this and I had to get it right.

“Yes, fate put us together, but if you hated me, you could have walked away.” I didn’t add how I’d go through life knowing he was out there somewhere but refused to be with me.

“So fate was the matchmaker but it was up to us to make it work?”

That was close enough, at least for him.

“Exactly.”

He put his face close to mine. “You’re not telling me something.”

That was one problem associated with having a mate. They could tell when you were fibbing. They were sneaky like that.

I took a deep breath because the last thing I wanted was for him to be with me out of guilt. That would be worse than us being in a loving relationship.

“For me there is no one else, ever.”

Ronan rebuilt the pillow fort and snuggled into me. “Good thing it’s the same for me.”