AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He was an animal. I’d married a bear.
But why had he charged at me? My eyes followed the direction the bear had been looking when I spotted him. The larger, second barn stood in the distance. Rather than trees for walls and branches for a ceiling, this one was made of brick. From this angle, I could see no windows at all. It was a cage. A shudder rippled down my spine.
“Hello,” I said, my voice small and shaky. I bit my lip.
My skin tingled all over, the way it did when I used to watch my father’s horses race—all jittery anticipation and bottled nerves. I’d wanted to know where Rafael went during the day, and now I knew.
“Can you understand me?” I asked, feeling a little foolish about talking to a bear. Just how bear was he during the day? Not bear enough to attack me, surely.
The bear dropped to all fours.
“I'm not sure if that was a yes or no,” I snapped.
The bear moved toward me. I remained perfectly still, as I did when allowing a new horse to size me up—though a lumbering bear was nothing like a tall stallion. My instincts told me to run, but my mind told me this beast was the handsome prince who’d reached for me when I stumbled and who had saved me from leaving with Sinsorias.
The bear sniffed up and down my frame with its massive nose. I scoffed and stepped away.
“Excuse me!” I crossed my arms.
Its snout traveled up from my feet and, to my surprise, gently bumped my elbow, loosening my folded arms. I twisted away from his dry nose.
As my body instinctively jerked away from him, Rafael’s golden-brown eyes peered up at me, looking almost forlorn. A stab of pity pricked my chest. He was used to this, to being reviled.
Before I could will myself to stand still, he emitted a strange bearish grunt and ambled a few steps away, where he proceeded to flop unceremoniously onto the ground and roll onto his back, rather like a dog. I half-laughed as he rolled back and forth a few times, scratching his back along the ground. Then he flipped over, stood, and shook his entire body, causing hair and dirt to fly off him.
“Gross,” I spat as fur flew toward me. “Now how will I get the horse to come to me?”
The bear—Rafael—tensed and stood on his hind legs once more. I stumbled back, my heart pounding against my breastbone. Then he slammed down to all fours and walked between me and the back pasture, blocking my way. I guessed this was his way of telling me I wouldn’t be collecting any horses today.
“All right,” I said, holding my hands up, “but I doubt if Javier will be pleased I abandoned his orders.”
As I started back toward the barn, the bear walked alongside me, but not close enough to touch. I appreciated being given some space. And every so often, he would cast another glance at me. Rafael was in there somewhere; I had to keep reminding myself, willing my racing heartbeat to stop just shy of sheer panic.
As soon as we entered the paddock behind the barn, the horses cantering along the fence closest to the back field whinnied and slowed, as if calmed by the bear’s presence. I cast them a nervous glance.
The noise drew the attention of Javier, Hector, and Sinsorias, who stood in the smallest paddock adjacent to the barn. As their eyes discovered us, I nearly tripped at the force in all three gazes. The weight of their intense scrutiny made me feel as though everything I’d hoped to keep hidden inside was on full display. A sudden urge to steady myself overwhelmed me, and I placed a hand on Rafael’s hide, my hand sinking into his fur.
The bear froze. All three men watching us pinched their brows. I’d done something wrong. Glancing at my hand, I wondered if there was some taboo against touching a fae in his shifted form. My hand slithered back to my side.
Hector raced forward, fingers on his dagger hilt. Javier tilted his head and crossed his arms, his expression entirely inscrutable. Sinsorias, on the other hand, grinned with exceptional delight, like he’d just witnessed me eating another orange.
Rafael walked past Hector and bumped him with his furry hide, nearly toppling him over. When he’d recovered, Hector eyed Rafael’s retreating form and said, “Lucky for you, he can’t seem to leave you alone.” Hector flashed me a smile, as if we were sharing some dark secret.
Oddly enough, my heart fluttered at his words. But the man whose affections were in question was currently a bear. I’d talked to a tree-woman in the kitchens, and I’d seen winged horses pulling a giant flower. Wolves the size of horses existed in this world, as did homes with built-in beehives. Rafael was a shifter. It was not what I’d hoped for in a spouse, although…there were certainly worse things.
Hands propped on his hips, Sinsorias cleared his throat, drawing everyone’s eye but Rafael’s. “Well, now. This is most interesting. Despite all reason, it appears she does not fear you, Romero.” He turned to speak to Rafael, who continued to amble back toward the main house. “I set that hideous wingless dragon loose, knowing you’d go after her.”
Rafael froze. A wingless dragon…lived here? I remembered the barn—the bear had stared at it after racing across the field toward me.
“I wanted her to see you as you are, but I can see that it wasn’t enough to instill in her the proper distaste for your kind.” Sinsorias was nearly shouting now at Rafael’s retreating form. “Your brother has entrusted me with a single task, and I will not fail. Already the hounds make haste.”
The enormous bear whipped his large head around, leveling his eyes at Sinsorias. In that moment, the bear was fully monstrous. Sinsorias flinched, tucking his arms at his chest. Hector stepped forward to stand beside me, his hand still poised over his dagger.
All eyes hung on Rafael, waiting to see what he would do. The fae courtier poured out scents of curdled fear. The bear had been my protector, but in that moment, I, too, sensed he was dangerous, lethal even.
The bear took several steps toward Sinsorias. The sunlight bore down from directly overhead, and sweat ran down my back. In a rather strange motion, Sinsorias lifted a hand straight up, as if to grasp the sun itself.
Rafael snorted and kept walking. The courtier, whose suit of the day was a bright blue the color of a peacock’s chest, staggered backward, one arm upraised.
