Read Online Hard (The Bear Chronicles of Willow Creek #2) by Emily Minton, Julia Keith - Free Book Online Page B

just make-believe. My mom was one. She was the most beautiful grey wolf I’ve have ever seen. She was majestic and strong,” I say, picturing my mother in my head. 
    “Seriously?” she asks as I nod. “What happened to her?” Liza asks, turning her head to look into my eyes. 
    Scooting back, I lean against the headboard and turn Liza around in my lap so she is straddling me. “She was killed by hunters when I was a boy. They took her tail as a trophy and left her body in the woods to rot.”
    Her anger and fear are forgotten for a moment as she reaches out and cups my cheeks. “I’m so sorry, Eli. I know what it’s like to lose a parent. The pain never fades.”
    Leaning into her palm, I briefly close my eyes. “No, it doesn’t.”
    I have to get the conversation back on track, so I open my eyes and start telling her all I know about shifter history. “No one really knows how shifters were created. It’s a lot like humans; there are a million different theories, but no one knows what is true or not.”
    “What do you believe?” she asks, forgetting her promise to not question me until I’m done. 
    “My mother and father are both religious, and they’ve passed that down to me. We were at church every Sunday before Mom died. Our preacher taught us that we were created by God, just like you were. He said our shifter side is a gift we were given, for being such loyal subjects. I’m not sure if he’s right, but I like to think he is.”
    Liza simply nods, waiting for me to continue. It takes me a minute to think of what to tell her next. “There are shifters for every animal you can imagine, from iguana to hippo.”
    “Oh, wow. A hippo shifter, I’d love to see that.” She lets out a little laugh.
    I chuckle along with her. “My father and I visited Africa a few years ago, and we met an elephant shifter. He was huge. I swear, the man weighed four-hundred pounds and was seven feet tall. He was as slow as molasses, too.” 
    She looks at me, searching my face. “So, the human looks like its shifter side.”
    “That’s what I’ve always been told, but I don’t think I look much like a bear.”
    She smiles at me, still studying my face. “You do in a way. You’re hairy and you’re huge. You’re also grumpy as a bear.”
    I smile at her, glad she is starting to relax and attempting to joke. “Every shifter is different. Even if they are both the same animal, they can be the exact opposite in their human forms. Still, they share some of the same animal traits. As bears, Ethan and I both eat a lot, and we also sleep more than a cat shifter would.”
    She nods her understanding. “I can see that. You and Ethan are different, but I see a lot of similarities.”
    “There is one thing all shifters have in common. We all need a mate,” I tell her, looking into her eyes. “We spend our entire life looking for that one person who will make us whole. If we never find them, we live a lonely life.”
    Her body goes stiff, but I push on. “You are my mate. I knew it the moment my eyes landed on you. Your smell and your taste only proved I was right.”
    Looking up at me with startled eyes, her body goes stiff as she asks, “So, you mean to tell me that we’re mates? Like, we are meant to be with each other for the rest of our lives?”
    Nodding my head, I reach up and begin rubbing soothing circles across her back as I give her a moment to let everything soak in.
    “So, what you’re telling me is that, not only do I have to accept the fact that you’re a bear, but I also have to accept the fact that you’re the only man I’ll be with for the rest of my life?” she asks, her voice rising as she continues.
    Before I can answer her, she jumps from my lap and starts pacing across the bedroom floor. Deciding it’s best to just stay put and give her some time to process everything, I keep my ass on the bed and fight my natural urge to go to her and sooth her.
    She paces back and forth, mumbling to