The bear's head turned, its keen brown eyes landing on me. For a moment, I thought I had gotten through to it - that the sweet, gentle human guy inside the bear had heard me and had taken notice.

  Then the bear's lips drew back. It bared its fangs, snapping at me viciously.

  I screamed and ran forward, taking my place by the tree beside my friends. It wouldn't be that easy to tame Asher.

  “What are you doing?” Ben demanded.

  “Just wait, you guys. Just wait. It's Asher,” I choked out. “He's going to come back to me. Just wait and see.”

  The bear paced around us, its stare as cold when it looked at me as it was when it looked at my friends. Was Asher even really inside there? The animal seemed so truly wild, I almost started to think Asher had turned back and gone home and that this was another bear, a real bear, in his place. There was no humanity in the animal that stood before me.

  “Asher,” I said. I had to reason with it somehow. “Asher, listen. This isn't you. You're a person, not a bear.”

  “Eden, whatever you're doing, it's not working,” Luke muttered.

  I ignored him, continuing to address the wild bear. “It's me, your girlfriend. You don't want to hurt me. You don't want to hurt my friends.” I paused, on the verge of tears. “Don't you know me at all?”

  My words had no effect. Next to me, the guys were nearly whimpering.

  “You know me, Asher. I pet you. I cuddle with you. Don't you remember my scent?” I reached out to the animal, then recoiled as it snapped at me again.

  But after its initial reaction, it sniffed again. Seeming to do some sort of bearish double take, it nosed at my hand until I reached out again. It smelled me, looking up at me with its big brown eyes.

  Something was getting through to it.

  “It's me, Asher, it's me.” My voice was choked up, but I continued to speak. My friends had gone silent, staring at me. “You know my hands, you know my smell. I've petted you before when you were a bear, and I've done other things with you when you were a man.”

  I glanced at the guys beside me, unsure of what reaction they would have to the innuendo. But in their state of fear, they didn't seem to have noticed anything particular about what I had said. “You've felt these hands all over your body,” I told the bear. “Your back, your chest...” I lowered my voice. “Your cock.”

  The bear's pink tongue came out, licking timidly at my hand. “That's right, Asher! You can lick me. You remember doing that last night, don't you?” My clit twinged as I remembered his human tongue on a different part of my body. “You licked me all over. Not just there.”

  I had almost forgotten the guys next to me. I was just focused on getting Asher back to his normal state. Whatever they heard or didn't hear, it would be better than the alternative if I couldn't get Asher back to human.

  The bear nosed at the hem of my shirt, its cold snout finding the bare skin underneath. “That's good, Asher!” I said, petting the bear's head as it nosed at my stomach. Its tongue ran along my belly. “You know me.”

  The bear seemed to like my body, and I was willing to do anything to get Asher back. If my scent helped, more of it could only be better. I lifted my shirt over my head, feeling the cold air on my bare torso. My friends gaped at the sight of me in only my bra, my curvy body nearly fully exposed.

  It was okay, though - they didn't matter. The bear, jumping up on me now with its paws on my torso - that was what mattered.

  “Run, guys,” I said quietly to them. “He's calm for now, but I can't promise that he'll stay this way.”

  Ben and Mike made as if to leave, but Luke stopped them. “What? We're not leaving you here with a bear!”

  “It's not a bear, it's Asher. Can't you see that?” The bear's paws were all over my bare belly and chest as I spoke, as if it was just being playful. I almost wanted to giggle as I tried to push them away, but I knew we weren't quite at the giggling stage yet. “I'll be fine.”

  The three of them looked at each other. “We can't leave her here,” Luke said again. The other two stayed silent. Ben's eyes were glued to my boobs, I noticed - clearly this experience hadn't terrified him too much.

  “You can, and you will,” I said. “I'm the only one who has half a chance of dealing with him. He doesn't know you guys and he doesn't like you. Not that your behavior toward him helped.”

  “She's crazy,” Luke interrupted. “It's a bear, it's not Asher.”

  “I don't know,” Ben said. “She's calmed the thing, and it seems to be listening to her. It did come out of the car right after Asher was in there with her.”

  “You really think this is a werebear?” Luke asked mockingly.

  “Guys, this is no time to debate! Just go!” I exclaimed. “Whether you believe this is Asher or not, I'm safe. The car I drove here is over there. The keys are in the ignition. Take it back to the college and leave it in the parking lot beside Mike's car, and take yourselves home.”

  The guys stared at me, then at each other. It seemed that none of them wanted to be the first to move.

  “I'll see you guys at our board game night.” The bear pawed at my bra, nearly exposing one nipple. Three pairs of human eyes were fixed to my chest before I reached up to pull up the cup. I had no idea how this whole thing must have looked to them. “Get out of here!” I told them once more.

  That seemed to spur them into action. Tiptoeing their way to the car, Mike took his place in the driver's seat and the other two collapsed into the passenger seats.

  Now it was just me, alone with a bear. I had to get him back to himself - had to talk to him. He was already halfway back from the wild beast he had been a few minutes earlier, but the physical transformation was still left to go through.

  I knelt, putting myself at eye level with the bear. “Asher, are you listening to me?” I asked.

  The bear's ears perked up, but it didn't look at me.

  “Asher. I need you to listen.” Even though the bear still nosed at my body without seeming to pay attention, I continued to speak. “You went wild, Asher. I don't know what happened - I don't know if you thought you were in danger or that I was, but you lost control of yourself completely.”

  The tears that had been choking me up since he had first burst out of the car started to spill out of my eyes. “You scared me. You scared the living shit out of me. You could have hurt my friends, or even me. Maybe you turned because you thought there was some danger. But you ended up being the danger.”

  The cold snout no longer poked at my belly. The intelligent eyes looked up at me as I wiped tears from my own. “You told me I could trust you. And now, I don't think I can. I love - I mean, I adore you. But how can I go out with someone who turns into a wild animal and hunts my friends?”

  I sank lower on the ground and put my hand to my forehead. I wasn't talking to him anymore, I was talking to myself - finally admitting the things I hadn't wanted to think about before. “I can't.” I lowered my head into my hands, finally letting the pain balled up in my chest come out. “I can't! It doesn't matter if you're gorgeous, you're funny, and you're just overall the best friend I could have imagined.” The bear probably couldn't even hear me at this point, my head covered by my arms and pointed toward the ground. “I need a person, not a bear.”

  “Eden.” At the sound of his voice, I lifted my tear-streaked face. He was as handsome as ever, still shirtless from the night before, and his brown eyes were full of a pain I had never seen in them before.

  He had already knelt beside me. I allowed him to place his arm around me, but my body was tense. I wanted to leap into his arms and cry how happy I was to have him back, but with the realization I had just had, I couldn't.

  “Eden, I'm sorry...” He trailed off. His fingers stroked my bare shoulder, and despite myself, I felt my private parts respond to his gentle touch.

  I ignored it. I ignored him. I just cried.

  “I can't really explain myself,” he said. “You know what happened as well as I do. In fact, probably better. I can't remember everything from when I let go - when I lost control.”

  “What do you remember?” I choked out.

  “I remember turning and getting out of the car,” he said quietly. “And then next, you bringing me back.”

  So he had truly been a bear for all that time. A real bear, with no human sense to guide him. He had put my friends in some serious danger. If I hadn't arrived when I did, who knows what could have happened?

  “I'm happy you're back,” I said. “But... I guess you heard what I said a minute ago.”

  He nodded slowly. “Can we go somewhere and talk about this?”

  It was true that half-naked and dirty on a forest floor might not be the best place to have this conversation. “It's a long walk back to town.”

  “We might need a long walk.”

  Swallowing hard, I nodded. I grabbed my shirt and put it back on, trying to cover myself as best as I could. I wasn’t comfortable with him seeing me naked right then.

  It felt strange to be walking next to him without holding his hand. Like something was missing. But I couldn't tell myself to just grab his hand and act normal with him when I knew what he was - and what he had done.

  I should have known better to start with. Dating a werebear isn't some fun adventure. I had been playing with fire, and I had almost gotten burned.

  We were silent for a long few minutes. My legs were already getting tired by the time he spoke. “Eden,” he said, “I did hear what you were saying back there. And I want you to know, first, that I love you too.”

  I looked at him in surprise. “I didn't say I loved you!”

  “Yes, you did.”

  I pursed my lips. “Fine. We love each other. But I can't be with a werebear.”

  “I didn't think you would give up on us so easily.”

  “How could I not?” I meant the question seriously. How was any girl supposed to date someone who could put her and her loved ones in grave danger any minute?

  “Other people do. Other werebears have children. It's usually genetic, remember? Werebears have children with other werebears, and with humans.”

  It was true, he had said that. “So what?”

  “So there's a whole werebear community out there that I haven't been a part of - because I didn't need to be. But for you, I would look into ways that I could learn to have better control of myself. So that I would never turn without meaning to again.”

  I blinked. That sounded like a better option than losing him, that much was for sure.

  “And you,” he continued, “you could do some research and find out about how to be a werebear's girlfriend. Other people have gone through the same thing. Maybe they know some ways that you could support me in times like that.”

  My pace slowed a little. “Maybe,” I said.

  Hearing my partial agreement, Asher sounded even more excited. “Think of it this way, sweetie. All relationships have challenges Some girls have to deal with boyfriends who hit them, or cheat on them, or call them fat. You would never have to deal with any of that. Ever.”

  “Just a boyfriend who occasionally turned into a bear and threatened to attack people.”

  “Well, yeah. It's not the easiest challenge out there, but it's something we can handle. Together.” He paused, waiting for my response. I kept my gaze on the ground ahead of me. “What do you say? Are we in this together, or do you want to give up right now?”

  I was quiet.

  “Sweetie?”

  I don’t know how I would have responded. I might have walked there alongside him for hours without knowing how to respond. I was that lost, that confused.

  But whatever would have happened otherwise isn’t relevant, because the screeching of a car on the pavement ahead of us brought us to a halt.

  “Luke!” I yelled.

  And, dear Diary, that’s not all that happened, but I need to take a pause here. My eyes are closing, I can’t stop yawning, and my wrist hurts from writing. Let me take a nap and come back to you. I’ll tell you absolutely everything after.

  Four

  Dear Diary,

  I’m so sorry about the delay! I managed to sleep a little bit, and I’m feeling a lot better now.

  So, where was I? Oh, yes. I was just about to tell you all about how my crazy-ass best friend jumped out of a car with a gun!

  Luke stopped when he heard me yell his name, but only for a second. He had a look on his face that I had never seen before! It was almost like seeing Asher as a bear, because again, someone I knew had suddenly become terrifying.

  He brandished the gun, a small gray one that glinted sharply in the sunlight. I don’t know where or how he got it. But from the look on his face, I could tell he wasn’t screwing around. That gun was no toy!

  “Eden,” he said. “I came back to save you. I couldn’t let this bear hurt you.”

  Asher was still in human form, though. Wasn’t he?

  When I turned to check, the gorgeous young boy beside me was gone. Instead, a few feet away, was a roaring, hulking bear.

  “Asher,” I said helplessly. “Change back, Asher. It’s okay.”

  Scowling, Luke stepped forward with his gun trained on Asher. “That’s not a man, Eden,” he said. “That’s an animal.”

  “My boyfriend’s brain is inside that animal,” I protested. “I told you that. I promise you it’s true.”

  If Luke didn’t believe me, there was nothing I could do. He had the gun in his steady hand. I could talk as much as I wanted, but if he chose to pull that trigger, there would be no way of stopping that bullet. If he shot, nothing would keep that small piece of lead from finding its way directly to the heart of the man I love.

  “Seems to me that that’s a bear,” Luke said. “I don’t know what he’s done to you, what he’s told you. But that’s no man.” He kept the gun pointed at the bear’s head. His hand never faltered, never shook.

  “He is. I swear he is!”

  Asher roared and snarled, dropping down to his four feet and backing a step away from Luke. Luke glanced at him, then finally dropped his arm.

  “You need a real man, not an animal,” Luke said quietly, his eyes on me and the gun aimed toward the ground. “Someone who will treat you right. A man who isn’t only interested in your body.”

  That was different from what he had just said. I thought he was there to save me. Now he seemed to be saying…

  “What exactly are you saying?” I asked. In the corner of my eye I noticed the bear pacing away. He almost seemed to be giving me and Luke privacy.

  “I’m saying you need someone who isn’t this asshole,” Luke said. His eyes were sad now, pleading. “Bear or not, he isn’t good enough for you, Eden. You need someone else. Someone who’s been there for you through thick and thin. Someone who’s loved you all along.”

  My eyes widened as I began to understand what he was actually saying and why he had come. “Luke, I… You’re my friend.”

  We’re good friends, for sure. I’m closer to him than to any of my other nerdy board game guys. In all the time I’ve known him, though, he’s never given me the slightest clue that he was interested in me.

  He never flirted with me. Never told me I was pretty. And he definitely never asked me out. How was I supposed to know? Did he think I would just guess and make the first move myself? Or did he not realize it until Asher came along and took his dream away from him?

  It didn’t matter, though. “I never saw you like that,” I finished. Where was Asher now, I wondered.

  Luke’s eyes turned up and he looked directly at me again. First there was a great sadness in him, as if the worst thing that could have possibly happened to him had happened.

  Then those eyes filled with anger, as blazing and intense as he had shown a minute earlier. But now that anger was aimed at me!

  He raised the gun. “If you won’t love me, you’re not going to love anyone.”

  I stared into the empty depths of the barrel. Was this it for me? Were things really going to end here, like this? I wouldn’t regret much, but there were some things I wished I could change. I wanted more time with Asher, for one. This love I had nearly admitted was just beginning to blossom. I wanted to see it in full bloom.

  The barrel, cold gray metal, stared back at me. There was so much I would never do. Never get married… never have sex… never have a baby… With Asher…

  My eyes were fixed on that tiny metal black hole. So I didn’t see the bear as he swept in. I can only assume that he swatted Luke off his feet with one mighty paw.

 

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