Page 35 of Bear’s True Mate

“Let go,” I said.

“When you calm down.”

“Let go of me.”

“Rose—”

The front door blew open.

Nolan filled the frame. He must have heard us through the wall—my voice, or Evan’s, or maybe he’d just spotted the car in the driveway. He stood there with his chest heaving, and his eyes locked on Evan’s hand wrapped around my wrist. His face changed. The easygoing, loud, beer-on-the-porch Nolan I’d gotten to know was gone. What stood in the doorway was someone I hadn’t met yet.

“Get your hands off her.” His voice was low, rough, and I swore it sounded barely human.

Evan didn’t let go. He turned to look at Nolan—a slow, measured look, the kind Evan gave everyone. Sizing him up. Cataloguing. Deciding how much of a threat he was.

“This doesn’t concern you,” Evan said. “This is between me and my girlfriend.”

“I’m not your girlfriend,” I said, but my voice cracked on it.

Nolan stepped farther inside. “I said let her go.”

Evan’s grip tightened on my wrist. Not enough to make me cry out in pain, but enough to bruise. “Or what?”

A smirk twisted at Nolan’s lips. “You don’t want to find out.”

Evan laughed. It was short and dismissive. The laugh of a man who’d never been physically challenged and didn’t believe it was possible. He looked at Nolan like he was an inconvenience. A nuisance. Something to be dealt with later. He was so wrong.

Even I could see that much.

Suddenly, the air changed. It happened so fast I almost couldn’t track it. One second Nolan was standing there—tall, broad, furious—and the next, an energy unlike anything I’d ever felt before filled the room. It was thick and electric, pressing against my skin, and making the hair on my arms stand on end.

And then Nolan’s body twisted.

His bones cracked and the sound echoed through the space. His muscles stretched and expanded beneath his skin as he doubled in size. His clothes tore and fell away in shreds as brown fur erupted across his skin. The coffee table flipped sideways as his massive frame filled the space. A lamp crashed to the floor. The couch skidded back against the wall, and so did I.

An enormous bear stood where Nolan once had.

It was impossible, but true.

Nolan had turned into a bear.

His fur was dark brown, thick across his shoulders and neck, and his paws were the size of dinner plates. He stood on all fours, his head dipped low so he didn’t bust it on the ceiling, and a roar tore out of him so deep and loud that my chest vibrated.

Evan let go of me then.

I hadn’t even realized he was still holding on to me. His hand flew open like he’d been burned, and he stumbled backward until his back hit the wall. He slid down it, his legs giving out, and I glanced at him, noticing his face had gone white. A dark stain spread across the front of his khakis, and the smell of it hit the room a second later.

He’d wet himself.

Nolan’s bear stepped forward, hovering over Evan. I’d never seen Evan so scared, and even though I shouldn’t be focused on him, he was all I could look at. Nolan’s bear released another low growl, and my attention snapped back to him. Evan said something, but I couldn’t make out what. He was shaking too badly. Then as Nolan’s bear stepped even closer to him—close enough for his breath to move Evan’s hair—he drew his knees close to his chest and lifted his hands in the air.

Evan wasn’t going anywhere.

I wasn’t sure why, but an idea came to me then. I grabbed my phone and dialed 911. My voice shook when I gave the address, but the next words were firm.

“There was a break-in. My abusive ex found me and he trashed my rental,” I said.

The dispatcher said units were on the way.