Page 29 of Bear My Heart

Pete let out a startled laugh, too. "I've never seen a chicken shifter. The bird shifters are mostly eagles and hawks. Birds of prey. And they're much bigger than true birds, but they've still got hollow bones. People are just too heavy to ride them."

"Well, what about pegasuses? Dragons? Oh, what else is big and flies? Gryphons?"

"Mythical shifters. There aren't many. Even by comparison of shifters to true humans. They exist, but…" Pete's eyebrows drew down thoughtfully. "I really don't know if they're rideable. They shouldn't be, at least not for flight, but who knows what magic might mean."

"This is wonderful," Shanti said abruptly. "All of it. You're wonderful. You're magic and I'm glad you exist and I'm glad you're mine." Then she blushed hard enough to turn the warm brown of her skin even warmer and clapped her hands over her face. Fortunately she dropped her fork at the last moment and didn't poke herself in the cheek, but it all made Pete's heart leap and thump and generally do a joyful dance.

"I'm glad too. I know fate is lending a hand, but…I think I'd have fallen for you anyway. You're…you'll argue with me if I say 'perfect,' won't you?"

Shanti, behind her hands, said, "Yes!" and Pete grinned.

"Then I'll go with 'wonderful,' too." Hoping to spare her at least a little more blushing, he made a performance of looking around at the food and thinking heavily. "I'm guessing we're not going out to dinner tonight?"

"I just ate half a quiche," Shanti said almost indignantly, dropping her hands so she could give him a disbelieving look. "You'll probably be hungry later, but I definitely won't be. Well. Maybe hungry enough for a snack."

She did not strike him as the kind of woman who made snack jokes about attractive people, so for a moment Pete, not wanting to make her uncomfortable, had to fight down the urge to make one himself. Something of it must have showed on his face, though, because her eyes widened and that blush warmed her skin again. "I. Oh. Oh. Um."

"I know," Pete said hastily. "That's not what you meant." Unless it was, he thought hopefully, but the truth was, their relationship so far hadn't been particularly flirty, and he didn't really expect it to escalate suddenly over dinner just because he'd cooked.

"Well, it's not," Shanti whispered. "But it's not a bad idea, either. A little…snacking."

We could get her some nice berries, his bear offered hopefully. Or a big salmon!

Pete choked on a laugh and Shanti's expression went mortified. "No!" he half-shouted. "No, God, no, I'm not laughing at you. My bear—it has a voice, thoughts that it shares with me. It was offering to find you some berries or a nice salmon! For a snack!"

Shanti squeaked, "Oh," and stared at him speechlessly for a moment. "I don't know what to do with that information," she finally said. "Your bear…talks to you? I thought you said you couldn't talk as a bear!"

"I can't, but I can talk to my bear. And it can talk to me. It's trying to help. It wants you to like me. Us. So…salmon and berries."

"And a nice den to sleep in all winter?" Shanti asked quite seriously.

Yes!!! If a bear could have heart eyes, Pete's did. I'll dig her a nice cozy den!

"It says it'll dig you one," Peter offered, and her serious expression turned to a brilliant smile.

"I've always wanted a dugout. Other kids wanted tree forts, but I thought a dugout would be so cool. When I was very little, almost every summer I started to dig one, but it turns out it's a lot of work."

Pete's bear puffed up. Not for me, it isn't! I'll dig a nice den and she can sleep all winter!

Pete couldn't help smiling. "It says it'll dig you a nice one and you can sleep all winter. It's usually pretty quiet," he added with another smile. "But it's had a lot to say since I met you."

"Does that mean it likes me?"

"I'd say so," Pete said over his bear's indignant Of course I do! "It hasn't ever offered to dig a den for anybody else."

Somehow the discussion had moved so far away from 'snacking' that Pete didn't even know how they'd lost it as a topic. But then Shanti, standing up to clear dishes away, said, "Maybe a movie? That would be a nice way to spend the evening, and it's compatible with…snacking…"

"I'll make the popcorn," Pete said, and Shanti gave him a smile full of shy delight.

"Sounds perfect. I'll choose the movie."

CHAPTER 15

Shanti fled to the living room to find a movie. Any movie. Anything that would give her a minute to recover and wonder what on earth she thought she was doing, making sly comments about 'snacking.' Or maybe who on earth she was, making comments like that. Shanti did not 'snack.'

She slowed in her examination of movies, suddenly aware of how true that was. She'd had a few short-term boyfriends, but nothing that had gone anywhere. She'd always told herself it was because she was much too busy, but the truth was she'd never felt enough of a connection to want to…snack. Hopefully Peter would understand, and not think she was…well, weird.

Because he was snackable. He was easily the most snackable man Shanti had ever met, with his dark eyes and warm smile and amazing hair that she bet would sift through her fingers like silk.