Bear Shifters: Hunt Collection #2 (25 page)

Chapter Nine

Alexander was pacing the floors come Saturday. It was only after waking that he realized they had never finalized a time to meet. He sat there in his kitchen and watched the clock over the stove tick away the hours, wondering how many of them would be counted before she arrived. He kept thinking of how to start this conversation; a conversation he had never had to have before with the women he had known. But this wasn't just any woman. Brooke was his mate and he knew he owed her the truth and hoped that she could still love him afterwards.

When he couldn't pace the floors any longer, he went to his home gym and started working out, anything to release the nervous energy that was plaguing him. He wondered if this was going to be the final nail in the coffin of their relationship or its saving grace.

It was only noon when Brooke knocked on the door, startling Alexander out of his intense thoughts. He ran to the door, flung it opened, and suppressed everything in himself that wanted to pull her close to him. Instead, he stepped aside so that she could enter, unmolested.

She took a seat at the table, hands folded, nervously twitching her foot. Alexander sat opposite her, so that he could look at her when she spoke, and waited. He knew she needed to begin. He sat, breathed her in, completely and irrevocably happy to be in her presence again. He loved his woman to his very core.

"Alexander, I just... I just need you to explain to me what I saw. What you are. How this could ever work."

"I will do my best, Brooke. I've two lives. My human is successful, lonely, and prone to all the faults men can have. My bear comes out in periods of intensity, whether that is anger or passion. If I get riled up, it is hard to keep him inside. When we were making love, I wanted you so badly, I wanted to experience it all, and I shifted a little during. I didn't mean for you to see. I know I'm not the most gentle during that time and I really tried to keep it under control."

"You don't kill people, do you?" she asked of him, genuinely concerned about the answer.

"I've never killed anyone. I don't hunt. I've used my bear senses to track before as evident with Ian. I've used my form for its strength and the ability to scare, but I've never killed anyone. Just as I've injured as a human, I've done so as a bear as well."

She nodded, still twitching her foot, clearly taking it all in and trying to make sense of it. Her mind had so many questions that she dared not even ask him about at this stage.
Do we have kids or pups
was a thought that kept rearing its head to her.

"How did the other women in your life react?" she asked quietly.

"They never did. I've never mated before. I've had cheap and meaningless sex with girls that meant nothing to me, so I was fully capable of staying in human form."

She didn't think she'd be as happy as she was hearing this. Alexander could hear her exhale, as if a weight was lifting off her body.

"And now, what?"

"And now, if you'll have me, I'll spend the rest of my life making you happy. Keeping you safe. Making sure you are loved beyond measure," Alexander said, leaning over just enough to take her hands in his, hoping that the small gesture would show his heart without scaring her again.

"I do love you Alexander. It was just a shock, and I still have so many questions, and..." she began before the sobs overtook her.

"And I will answer each and every one of them as many times as you ask them, whenever you ask them. I promise you," he said, pulling her up for a hug. He wrapped her up in his arms, brushed her hair back and nestled his face in her neck.

"I love you so much Brooke. I will always be here for you."

"I love you, too," she said, "and I'm here for you too. Always. No matter what now."

About the Author

Ava Hunt was born in the mountains of Southwest Virginia, where stories of the mysterious and unknown echo among the hollows and quiet ridges. She lived out her later teen years in Georgia, where the summers are long and slow and the nights are sultry and hot.

Now living in the Southeast, she pens stories of paranormal romance, infused with plenty of real life mysteries and steamy, scintillating sex. She’s particularly fond of gruff, growly bear shifters and the women who tame their hearts. While most of her tales have happy, joyous, romantic endings, sometimes there’s an element of mystery left, some unsolved riddle – much like life.

When she’s not writing, Ava spends her time walking through the forest, or lying under the skies at night, staring into the starry expanse, thinking about her next bear shifter hero…

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