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“No! That’s insane. Well, maybe, but a fist doesn’t do damage like a wild swipe from a bear. That could gut a man.”
“But I wasn’t a man when it happened.”
“That was probably a near miss.” Her eyes started to burn, and her chest felt tight. She was too early in her pregnancy for hormones to be getting the best of her, wasn’t she? No matter what it was, she was suddenly looking at Tavish through a sheen of moisture, his face distorted by the tears.
“It’s okay. I’m fine. We’re both fine. He went and brought me a set of clothes and new boots. They’re half a size too small, but they’re only until I get a new set for myself.”
“That’s not the point!” One hand flew to her chest, and she massaged the spot above her racing heart. “He could have hurt you. Badly. You were just walking through the woods, doing your job, and he could have killed you.”
“It’s not like that.”
“What’s it like, then?” she snapped. “Explain it to me, as someone who is going to have a child who might have to live here one day. Should I expect that my child could be disembowelled or gravely injured and left to bleed out if he takes one wrong step?”
“No.”
She swiped at her tears, but she when she could see clearly, she didn’t like the way Tavish was looking at her. Like she was something to be handled with care. Like she couldn’t handle her emotions. Worse, like she couldn’t possibly understand what it meant to be him. To be a shifter.
Why had she come here? Why did she think she’d find help here? Sure, she might, but this was a clan of men who all shared one thing in common. They could shift. She couldn’t. She’d never be able to do that. She’d come because she was thinking only of her child.
Alright, so there was a large portion of her that longed for Tavish as well, even after just a few weeks apart...
He’d only had time to send a single letter, which had made her smile and cry, even though it just described regular life in Greenacre, a silly story about one of the men who’d come to the clinic with an infected tooth because he was too scared to visit the new dentist that had just opened up in town a few months earlier, even though everyone else was quite satisfied with his work. Tavish and Kier had practically had to hold his hand and take him back to the dentist.
She didn’t want to think about how that letter made her smile at the time. It still made her want to smile, just the way Tavish had described the whole thing. A vivid snapshot of everyday life, and the kindness in the manner he and Kier had dealt with the scared man. When it came right down to it, what did she understand about Greenacre? She thought it was a haven, but what if she was wrong? What if there was more than anyone was ever going to tell her? Injuries or even accidental death out here? Could bears be violent? What happened when a man who was also a bear got angry about something? No one was perfect. Did things like that happen? Tavish had alluded to the fact that they’d done things as a clan in the past that he wasn’t proud of. No, he’d more than alluded to how the clan got their young from the human women. Bribery. Paying off doctors. Paying off women. That is, if the woman survived the birth at all.
Terror rose up inside her. She’d felt it earlier, talking with Josephine. She’d tried to convince her that nothing would happen to her, and she could trust her fully with her and her baby’s safety, but she had said that pregnancy and birth could be more difficult with a shifter child. She’d gone on to list all the wonderful ways they had of caring for her and how a specialist could be consulted if they needed. They wouldn’t have to know the baby was a shifter. She knew many great doctors and she’d be in good hands.
She’d been fighting with that all day. She was still grappling with the idea of being a mother. Not that she didn’t want to be, but just how much change was going to be involved. It was wonderful and terrifying. She knew she’d do anything to protect her child, but what if the greatest risk came from the very clan who was supposed to keep him safe?
“I can see that you’re upset. Just take a minute to calm down.”
Were there any worse words in the world, or a quicker way to accomplish the exact opposite? She stood up so fast she almost made herself dizzy. “I’m not going to calm down when it comes to the safety of my child, and neither should you.”
“Yes, I know, but I’m telling you that—”
“I think there’s a lot that no one has told me. You’ve all tried to convince me this is a great place, but I don’t know. I don’t think it’s safe. If I asked the people here and they actually gave me an honest answer, would they tell me that there aren’t injuries? There aren’t people who have been hurt or almost killed?” She was working herself up. Maybe it was rational and maybe it wasn’t, but there were zero chances that could be taken. She studied Tavish, daring him to lie to her.
He blinked at her in surprise, like he’d never expected to see her so feral or defiant. “I can’t tell you that and I won’t lie to you. Yes, things have happened in the past. Yes, there have been accidents. We take care that those things don’t happen, but we’re not perfect. Just like out there in the world, things happen. Accidents. Injuries. Broken bones. People hurt each other on purpose. We’re not perfect and neither are they. But would our child be safe here and loved? Absolutely!”
He stood and took her into his arms slowly, touching her shoulders gently first, and then curling her in. She stood still, like a statue. She wasn’t going to be lulled into a false sense of security just because it felt so good to be near him that it scrambled her brain chemistry. But then he stroked her hair. It shouldn’t have felt half so wonderful. He shouldn’t have been so impossibly gentle.
His touch might be gentle, but he was stiff against her too. Like he was afraid that she was going to walk out that door and take his child and never return. She wanted to hope, but that emotion felt so fragile and futile and dangerous. Hope turned to panic.
“What about me?” she said thickly. “Is it safe for people who can’t shift? How would I ever defend myself or protect my child if I found myself staring down an angry bear?”
Tavish cleared his throat. “I would be there to protect you.” His hands resumed combing through her hair. She tried very hard not to be distracted by the pleasure that it sent flowing through her, warm and thick as molasses on a cold winter morning.
“And if you weren’t?”
“You’re my mate. There’s never going to be a time when I’m not there for you.”
She raised her head and pulled back. “About that. We’re still so new. I don’t like hearing things like that. It makes me feel like I’ll never have my own life or my freedom. I’m too old to need a man, or anyone else, to do everything for me.”
“It’s not that. It’s just the mates thing. We sense things. Like if the one we’re mated to is in danger.”
Her eyes widened. “Are you serious?’
“I think so. Sam and Trace have both said so.”
