Bear My Babies

“Idiot,” she hissed in the empty car before grabbing her purse and stepping out of her car. That bath couldn’t come soon enough. It was impossible to be around Bruce without leading him on. He was such a good guy, and she knew the flirting would continue. There was no way she could do that to him when the feelings just weren’t there.

When she entered her apartment, she had a strange feeling that made the hair stand up on the back of her neck. Someone was in the apartment. She turned to run back to her car, but someone slammed into her, pushing her into the door. She screamed in pain and tried to fight but they had her hands locked behind her and their leg was in between hers making her unable to move.

“Shhhh… baby, it’s just me.”

Some of her fear dissipated when she heard Nathaniel’s voice. The putrid smell of alcohol rushed past her nose, but even in his drunken state, she knew he wouldn’t go any further than handling her a little rough. He usually punched a hole in the wall or broke a bunch of her stuff, but he never hurt her severely.

“Nate, what are you doing? Let me go so we can talk.” She tried to twist her wrists to get out of his hold, but they didn’t budge. He had a tight hold on her.

“Shut up,” he yelled at her as he grabbed a fistful of hair and started to drag her toward her bedroom. Melissa screamed and writhed around trying to get out of his hold. For the first time, she was really scared he might truly hurt her.

He turned her head so she had to really look at him. Forcing his mouth onto hers, he kissed her hard. It didn’t feel very affectionate. He turned her body over and put her arms above her head. He climbed on the bed beside her.

“I just need you to listen to me for a little while, Melissa. I don’t know why you’re screaming; I’m not going to hurt you.”

The way he said he wasn’t going to hurt her was cold and it made her feel like he meant the exact opposite of what he was saying. His eyes were hard as he looked into hers. She’d never seen him the way he was in that moment, and it was really scaring her.

Her door burst open and Nathan looked up, distracted. At first Melissa thought Thomas had come to save her, but when she got a look at the hulking man blocking her door frame she noticed the only thing he had similar to Thomas was his size. No, he was wider than Tomas.

The large man assessed the situation, his eyes locked on Nathaniel’s hand tangled in her hair.

“What the fu*k do you want?” Nate put Melissa’s body in front of him as a shield.

The larger man bellowed loudly and ran toward both of them. Melissa was disoriented when she landed on the floor. Another sound caused her to turn the exact moment Nate crumbled to the ground, knocked out cold.

“Thank you,” Melissa wheezed out, a panic attack knocking at her lungs. The man reached down to help her up, but when she stood, he didn’t stop there. He threw her over his hulking shoulder and ran out of her apartment.

“What are you doing?” she screamed, beating on his muscled back, hurting her hand. “Let me down.” She beat at him with both fists and every corner he turned she hit her head on a wall as she struggled. She wondered why there was never anyone in her building to see when she was in trouble.

He didn’t say a word as he threw her into the back of an idling black SUV. She reached for the door only to find the child safety lock had been engaged.

“Let me out of here!” she screamed, beating at the window as the SUV burned out into the street. She was thrown into the side of the van hard as they took off. Searing pain split the back of her skull before blackness took her over.

***

Thomas was pissed by the time he made it to his apartment. The fact that someone had tried to run him over couldn’t just be a coincidence. That was what he tried to tell himself the whole way back. Janet was going to give him grief when she found out he needed a new phone. He had been doing so good taking care of his phones.

Normally he lost or crushed one every other month. The disadvantage of being a were-bear. He realized he hadn’t had any mishap with his phone since he met Melissa, because some days that was his only connection to her. Now some crazy driver ruined his record. And now he wouldn’t be able to find out what Blair might have discovered without going to his office.

Because Thomas was fuming about his phone, he didn’t notice Hilary leaning against his door until she spoke.

“Hi,” she waved at him, and if he wasn’t mistaken, she looked nervous.

“Hey, Hil. I thought you were done with me.”

He usually wasn’t so harsh, but he had almost been run over by a car, and he lost his phone.

“Can I come in and talk to you?”

He opened his mouth to tell her no, but she stopped him by putting her hand up. “I haven’t been exactly honest with you. There are things I need to tell you.”

Thomas felt all of his energy seep out of him. He unlocked his door and motioned for her to come in.

“Would you like something to drink?” he asked, getting a bottle of water out of the fridge.

“No, thank you.”

She sat on his couch and patted the cushion next to her. He sat down on the recliner facing the couch and as far away from her as he could be without being rude.

Her face scrunched together and she pursed her lips together. “Really, some human doctor?”

Thomas’ eyebrow shot up with surprise. “What do you mean by human?”

“Exactly what I said.”

“I’m still not following.”

“I’m a were-bear. And I really thought you were going to be the one. Do you love her?”

“I do.” Thomas was stunned how fast he answered, but he wasn’t surprised by the answer. He did love her. Now it was a matter of figuring out if he loved her as a friend who was giving him a child, or a romantic partner. That was what confused him.