Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 54814 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54814 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
“Well, it’s still early, but we’re not punching any clocks here and no one is here to stop us. How would you feel about afternoon margaritas by the lake and grilling some steaks? I picked up the stuff at the store earlier. I didn’t know the day was going to go to shit, but we can still salvage it if you promise me you won’t do anything else stupid. If things work out, you might be going home tomorrow anyway.”
“Oh? I thought he wasn’t giving you what you want?”
“He’s not, but you never know about people. He might change his mind if he gets spooked enough in the last hours of my ultimatum.”
“What did you tell him you were going to do if he doesn’t give you the information?”
Fergus grinned down at her. “I told him I was going to fuck his girl.”
“But you already did that.”
“He doesn’t know that.”
For the first time since she’d been abducted, Eimear felt a small sense of joy at the prospect of how this might end.
“Will you do me one favor?” she asked him.
“It depends on what you want.”
“Before he dies, will you let me be the one to tell him that you fucked me?”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m positive.”
“I’ll do my best to make that happen then.”
“Thanks,” she replied, then looking back up at him with a slow smile, she added, “I won’t try to run away again. I’m ready to just sit by the lake and drink for a bit. You want me to help you make them?”
“Sounds good,” he replied.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Fergus
Mistake or not, this time he believed Eimear when she said she’d behave and not try to escape. The terror of meeting his bear, of learning what he was capable of, seemed to have reset her thinking. She was content enough just to roll with the punches until this was over. No doubt she’d come to terms with the fact that the man she’d intended to marry wasn’t who she thought him to be and was, in fact, much worse than she could have ever dreamed.
The afternoon had been pleasant, the two of them just sipping drinks by the water while the charcoal burned down to the perfect embers for grilling their steaks. He’d made a salad while she’d worked on the drinks, carrying a pitcher and glasses out to the table by the water.
“What is it like being a bear?” she asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Like, how does it feel when you are a bear?”
“I’m always a bear. I just don’t always look like one.”
“It’s simply crazy. I never thought I’d meet anyone who could shift into an animal.”
“You’d be surprised how many you’ve met without knowing it.”
“Really? There are that many?”
“It depends on where you are. We are the only bear clan in Boston that I know about.”
“So, there are shifters for distinct kinds of animals, then?”
“Yes.”
“How do you know?”
“Scent. Just like normal animals, we can identify our own by scent. In some cases, we can smell our rivals, as well.”
“I wonder how many I’ve met without knowing it,” she mused.
“Well, a bunch, I’d say. For instance, my brothers and the people at the diner.”
Her eyes lit up with the realization of why he’d been so cavalier about taking her in there. “That’s why they wouldn’t help me. They knew I was human and that you were a shifter. But what if I had been in trouble? What if you’d been a bad bear?”
“Wouldn’t have mattered. Shifters do not cross their own without a reason.”
“Protecting a woman in trouble isn’t a good enough reason?”
“Not their business is the way they look at it. No one wants to get in a match with another shifter over some woman they don’t even know. You never know what you might be up against. If you’d been a wolf shifter, for example, a wolf pack might have put up a fight for their own, but otherwise...not their problem.”
“You can only tell that another is a shifter, but not what kind?”
“Mostly, you can tell what kind. For instance, that diner was full of wolves, but the owner is a tiger and there was a human in there too, likely the spouse of one of the shifters, or you might have gotten a reaction. There were only a few bears, but not from my clan.”
“Shifters can marry humans? It’s not like some sort of interspecies thing?”
“Well, now I’m just insulted. Did I feel like a different species when we were together?” he laughed.
“No. You felt perfect,” she said, then blushed when she realized she had blurted it out. She quickly moved on. “What happens if a human gets pregnant by a shifter? Is the baby human or a shifter?”
“In some rare cases, the baby can be human, though if they are, they’ll usually have some other ability. Telepathy, psychokinesis, enhanced speed, or a number of other abilities. Mostly though, they are shifters—some with extra abilities and some without.”