Read Online A Spark to Bear (Fire Bear Shifters Book 2) by Sloane Meyers - Free Book Online

for several more moments, not saying anything. Hunter silently pleaded with her to accept him. Or at least to give him a chance to prove that he was still a respectable, lovable man, even though he was a bear. He wished he could somehow make her see how much he cared about her. His whole life, he had been judged by nearly everyone who had discovered that he was a bear shifter. He had been called a monster and Frankenstein. He’d even had an old lady in Georgia try to cast the evil spirit out of him. But he had always brushed it off. He tried to always see the best in everyone, and when someone acted unkindly toward him, he told himself to give that person grace and remember that they probably had a lot of difficult things in their life to deal with. He had never cared that much what anyone else thought of him, until now. He desperately wanted Riley to accept him for who he was. He could handle it when a random stranger reacted to him with fear and disgust. But he didn’t know how he would cope with the blow if Riley hated him now.
    When she finally spoke again, her voice sounded less afraid, and more doubtful. “You can’t be serious,” she said softly. “Shifters are just legends. People can’t actually turn into bears. Are you sure you didn’t inhale too much smoke the other day, or something? I think maybe we need to get you to a doctor. How much water have you had to drink today?”
    She stepped forward toward him again, and put her hand on his forehead as if feeling to see whether he had a fever. Her eyes were full of concern as Hunter shook his head at her.
    “Riley, I’m not sick. I’m telling you the truth.”
    “You feel a little warm,” she said, ignoring his comment. “I think you might have a fever. Maybe we should radio your boss and see if they have a helicopter ready yet that they can send in to get us.”
    “Riley!” Hunter said, reaching out to pull her hand down from his forehead. “You’re not hearing me. I’m not sick. I’m telling you the truth. This is a really hard conversation for me to have, because I love you, and I don’t want to lose you. But I need you to understand the truth about me. I need to be able to trust you, and I need you to trust me.”
    Hunter held Riley’s hand as he looked into her eyes, trying to convey to her how seriously he meant his words.
    “You…love me?” she asked, her voice shaking a little.
    Hunter winced inwardly. Maybe this hadn’t been the best time to drop that little nugget on her, but he had meant what he said, and he wasn’t going to deny it.
    “Yes. I love you.”
    “And you really think you’re a bear?” she asked.
    Hunter let out an exasperated sigh. “Yes, I really think I’m a bear. I know I’m a bear. Do you want me to show you?”
    Riley looked like she wanted to roll her eyes. “Okay,” she said. “Fine. Show me.”
    “Stay where you are,” Hunter said. Then he backed up away from her until he had nearly reached the shore of the river. He rubbed his forehead once in frustration and tried to calm his nerves. This wasn’t how he had envisioned this conversation going. Maybe he should have seen it coming, but it had somehow never crossed his mind that Riley would want him to prove he was a bear by shifting. And the fact that Riley hadn’t said “I love you” back to him weighed on him. Maybe he would never hear those words from her. But he didn’t regret saying them to her. If his time with her came to an end after she realized he was a bear, at least he’d had a chance to say he loved her.
    Hunter breathed in deeply and then began to shift. A whoosh of powerful wind rushed across the river as his human flesh started morphing into thick, dark fur. Where his fingers had been only moments before, large paws covered in black fur appeared. Sharp claws extended out from the paws, glistening wet as they splashed into the river water. His face was the last part of him to change. His green eyes remained the same, but his nose