to the house, she eased close to him the way she always did. She didn’t need him to protect her from anything—nothing on the outside, that is.
He wanted her here at his side where he could protect her even if the danger was inside her. He didn’t like thinking this baby could be a threat to her, especially since it was partially his. Even so, this whole incident weighed on his mind.
The Holly he knew and loved would never do anything as reckless and blatantly aggressive as to attack one of her own, not even in play. That didn’t happen. She relied on him and the other firstborns for support. She wouldn’t put herself in a position where one of them, especially not Garret, had to use his superior strength and weight to subdue her.
She slowed down when they crossed the last hill. Garret smelled the house up ahead. She must have sensed it, too, because she shrank even closer to him. The house waited for them down there. It called them with an irresistible voice.
“What do you think happened up there?” she almost whispered those words into his ear. She sounded like herself, unlike the wild, crazy whirlwind that ran to The Stones in the first place. “How will we explain it to the others?”
He couldn’t look at her. His attention ranged farther ahead, trying to probe a future he couldn’t foresee. “I have no idea. Maybe the pregnancy did it. I don’t know.”
“At least it isn’t dangerous to me like that hydra thing. At least it isn’t weakening me. It’s making me stronger.”
He swung around and peered down into her sparkling clear eyes. Her skin shone with an inner light. “That doesn’t mean it isn’t dangerous. It’s an unknown. It isn’t normal, and that means we can’t let our guard down around it—not for an instant.”
Her lips quivered halfway between a smile and a grimace. “Let our guard down around what, exactly? It isn’t a thing. It’s just a…a…”
He waited for her to say something. “A what?”
“Nothing,” she shrugged. “I’m just pregnant. How can that be dangerous?”
“I don’t know, but…” He took a fresh grip on her hand and led her closer to the house.
“But?” she prompted. “What are we supposed to do about it?”
“Nothing. Just keep an eye on it.”
She almost halted again when the house appeared between the trees. “Should we tell the others? Maybe Johnny and the witches can explain it.”
“Don’t say anything.” He scanned the yard searching for someone. “Not yet.”
He expected her to argue, but she only accompanied him the last few yards without a word. They emerged from the trees, but before they mounted the steps to the deck, she held him back.
She lifted her wide eyes to his, and color washed over her cheeks. “Thanks.”
“What for?”
“For…” she cast a fleeting glance toward the trees and broke into another lunatic grin, “for not schooling me the way I deserved. Thanks for…for taking it easy on me. Thank you for…for being there. I’m glad I wasn’t alone when…that happened.”
“You never have to deal with any of this alone. You know that.” He cradled her cheeks and touched his lips to hers. That kiss woke secret desires in his heart.
He could think of a lot of things he could have done up at The Stones to school her the way she deserved. If she’d been any other female bear shifter, he never would have hesitated.
This was different. This was beyond different. This was fucking unheard of. She wasn’t a shifter. He said it, and then she said it. The more he thought the situation over, he realized to the center of his being that it was true.
It would always be true. That was the fundamental problem that made the incident so disturbing. She wasn’t a shifter. She was never intended to be a shifter. If she was shifting into a bear, something was seriously off-kilter. He just didn’t know what.
He would give anything to talk to someone about this. Johnny’s name leaped to his mind, but even now, he blocked that out. He didn’t want to talk to Johnny or anyone else about this because he didn’t want it to be true. He wanted to wind back the clock to this morning when he didn’t think she was a shifter or ever could possibly become one.
She melted in his grasp. Her lips draped his in sweetness, but even then, he never wished for her to become a bear so he could get on top