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  “We don’t shift only at the full moon,” he said, resting his chin on the top of her head as she leaned back against his chest. “We can do it whenever we need to. Kids sometimes have trouble controlling it, so most werebear cubs are homeschooled until they’ve mastered the change. But most of our lives are spent in human form.”

  He explained that their numbers had dwindled to the point of extinction, but he worked for a coalition that helped werebears find suitable mates within their species. “Some of us think we shouldn’t discount the idea of breeding with humans, but there’s some strong resistance to this idea, usually from old-timers.”

  A flush rose up Bethany’s chest. The thought of a group of Max’s kind disapproving of their relationship worried her. Would they try to talk Max into dumping her?

  “Why? What’s their problem with it?” Her voice was small.

  He sensed her anxiety and tightened his arms around her. “Mostly bad information and prejudice. Many want to keep our bloodlines pure.”

  “And how do you feel about that?”

  Max lowered his head to her ear and whispered, “Haven’t you figured that out by now?”

  The flush continued to spread through her body, but this time it was the flush of love.

  * * * *

  “It’s only going to be for a few days,” Max was saying on the way to his truck. He’d been called out of town to arrange a meeting between a mucky-muck in the werebear world and a female that seemed like a promising match.

  “I know,” Bethany said, trying to keep the wheedling tone out of her voice, “but I honestly don’t understand why they can’t just go out for a cup of coffee like the rest of us do on blind dates.”

  He laughed as he threw a duffle bag on the passenger side floor. “We do things a little differently. There’s a hierarchy, a protocol that must be maintained.”

  The confused look on Bethany’s face begged further explanation.

  “Think of it like a religion. Some religions and cultures have very specific requirements for courtship and marriage. We’re just another foreign culture with customs that seem weird to you.”

  That made sense, then something occurred to her. “What about us? How do we fit into those customs?”

  The soft smile that lit up Max’s face melted her heart. He grabbed her hands and pulled her into a hug — not one of his patented ‘bear hugs’, but a sweet, gentle embrace. His soft lips descended on hers, wiping away any fears she had about their future.

  “Darlin’, we’re making our own.” He gazed down at her for a long moment, Bethany becoming lost in his hypnotizing eyes, then gave her one more quick peck and hopped in the truck. “I’m heading up into the mountains so my phone probably won’t work. I’ll call you as soon as I have bars. Be good!”

  “You, too,” she called jovially, though her stomach was churning at his departure. She didn’t want to turn into one of those clingy girlfriends that stifles her beau, but she still felt an ache deep down that she wouldn’t see him for so long.

  “Snap out of it!” she muttered on her way back to her apartment. She’d been on her own for her entire adult life; a few days alone wouldn’t kill her. In fact, maybe she could get some stuff done that she’d been ignoring in favor of spending time with Max.

  Like catching up with her friends. First she left a voicemail on Charlotte’s phone, then called Paul.

  “Girl, I can’t believe you’ve finally come up for air! That boy must be the lay of a lifetime!”

  Paul had a knack for making her laugh. “I know, I’m sorry I’ve been MIA, but I want to make up for it. Max had to go out of town and I thought it would be fun to get the gang together. How about dinner tonight? I know it’s short notice.…”

  “Hellz to the yeah. We’ve all been absolutely dying for the dirt on this guy. We’ll all be there, don’t you worry about a thing. Thank God it’s Friday so we can get completely trashed while you titillate us with all the gory details. See you around six!”

  Bethany was left staring at her phone. Did he just hang up? Sure enough, ‘call ended’. Shaking her head, she scrolled up to Kimmy’s contact and hit ‘call’.

  “Ohmigod, it’s about fucking time you called me! I’m on the phone with Paul. What can I bring?”

  “That was fast. I literally just hung up with him. I dunno, bottle of wine?”

  “Done! Gotta go!”

  Geez, had she really neglected them that much? Almost before the thought was finished, her phone chirped and the display flashed Charlotte’s grinning face.

  “Hey, did you get my message?

  “Yes, and I just hung up on a conference call with Dumb and Dumber,” Charlotte laughed. “They have a secret plan to get you drunk so you’ll tell us all about Max’s sexy-time skills.”

  Bethany dug her toe into a spot on the carpet, embarrassed that she’d shut out her best friends for a guy and grateful that they so quickly forgave her.

  “Tonight is Jacob’s poker night, so I’m all yours, baby. I’ve got to get to work, so see you tonight. Oh, and B?”

  “Yeah?”

  “He’d better be worth it. Love ya!”

  Chapter Eight

  “B, I haffa tell ya look…mahvelous!” Kimmy giggled drunkenly as she staggered to the kitchen to mix up another G&T. Bethany thought gin was disgusting but Paul and Kimmy loved it so she’d stocked up on her way home from work.

  She was still nursing her first margarita on the rocks. The anxiety of Max’s leaving and the guilt from ignoring her friends knotted her stomach so much that she just wasn’t feeling the boozy vibe. Instead she clutched her midriff from laughing too hard as Paul and Charlotte danced around to a rap song about a guy who liked shopping in thrift stores.

  “No, I’m totes serious,” Kimmy slurred when she slouched onto the couch next to her, a little of her drink sloshing over the side. “Love likes you.”

  “What?” Bethany laughed.

  “I think what our sobriety-challenged friend is trying to say,” interjected Char, breaking away from Paul’s energetic dance moves, “is that love agrees with you.”

  “Yeah, you’re fucking glowing,” agreed a breathless Paul. “You look like a dog that just ate its own shit.”

  The girls all groaned collectively at the imagary. Paul had apparently enjoyed one too many G&Ts as well.

  “And what this one is trying to say is that you’re walking around here with a shit-eating grin on your face,” translated Charlotte. “And that we’re all so happy that you’ve finally found a guy worthy of you but if you ditch us for a dude again, we’ll have to stage an intervention.”

  “Whashesaid…” Kimmy’s eyes were drooping and her head was lolling precariously to one side.

  “Uh oh, woman down! Houston, we have a problem! Woman down!” Paul ran into the kitchen and returned a moment later with a glass of water, which Bethany assumed was for Kimmy to drink. Charlotte managed to pull it from his hands before he let it fly in Kimmy’s slumbering face.

  “My darling,” she said to him. “I think you’d better drink this yourself if you don’t want to end up like Passed-Out Beauty over there.”

  He looked at her for a moment, swaying a little, then nodded. Five years ago he would have laughed and mixed himself another drink but one too many hangovers had taught him to listen when his friends warned him he’d had enough.

  Bethany helped Kimmy lie down and covered her with her grandmother’s throw, then the trio moved into the kitchen. Since her friends had arrived, they’d been laughing and dancing and drinking — a typical Friday night. But now they wanted answers.

  “So who is this guy?”

  “What’s he do for a living”

  “Is he good to you?”

  “More importantly, does he go down on you?”

  “Paul!”

  “What? It’s a valid question, Charlotte. Also, is he thick or long?”

  “Enough!” Bethany held her hands up in surrender. Her friends deserved some answers for
being so patient with her lately. “Charlotte, he’s a really amazing guy who treats me like a goddess.”

  She turned to Paul. “Paul, he works in international relations and yes, he does.”

  Paul raised his eyebrows. “And?”

  Bethany blushed and cleared her throat. “Um, both.”

  “Oh God!” Paul fell back in his chair, overcome with joy or jealousy, Bethany wasn’t sure which.

  “Okay, I have another question,” said Char. “Does he discourage you from calling or hanging out with us?”

  That got Paul’s attention. “You mean, like, is he isolating her?”

  “Yeah, I guess that’s what I’m asking, but in what I’d hoped would be a less obvious way, dufus.”

  Bethany was shocked by her friends’ suspicions. “No! No way. Not at all.” She dropped her eyes and used her finger to connect the water drops on the side of her glass. “I just got caught up, is all.”

  “Really, B? Cuz it seems like there’s something else eating at you. If this guy is hiding you away or trying to wedge himself between us…”

  “It’s nothing like that, guys,” Bethany protested. She wanted more than anything to tell them about Max’s genetic quirk, but first of all, they wouldn’t believe her and second, it wasn’t her secret to tell. But there were things she could share.

  “It’s actually Chet,” she started.

  “You mean your asshole landlord?” asked Paul.

  “Yeah. As it turns out, he’s Max’s uncle and he doesn’t approve of our dating.”

  “So? Who cares what that dick pig thinks.”

  “Well, Max comes from a very tight-knit community. They don’t believe in dating from outside their group. Chet found out we’re together and was definitely not happy. How realistic is it to date someone whose entire family hates you? Plus…” She shook her head, regretting she’d said anything else.

  “What? Plus what?” Char was like a dog with a bone. She’d gnaw and nibble away until she pulled the truth from Bethany, so she might was well just tell her now and save them both the trouble. But how to do it without making Max sound like a different species, which of course he was.

  “Well, I overheard Chet say something that implied their family had trouble procreating.”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold the phone, little missy,” Charlotte said. “You guys have already been talking about having babies?!”

  “No! Don’t be silly, it’s only been a few weeks.” She stood up and stalked over to the sink. The anxiety that had been building since Chet had implied humans and werebears couldn’t mate was finally being released and she needed something to keep her hands busy. She dumped out her drink and started furiously washing the glass.

  “B, talk to us.”

  Heaving a sigh, she set the glass on the counter and turned to them. “I want lots of babies, some day. I would love to have a big family. But if what Chet said is true, having kids with Max might not even be a possibility.”

  “So Chet went from terrible landlord to fertility expert overnight, or what?” Charlotte asked.

  Bethany waffled on how to respond, but finally came up with, “He has some inside knowledge.”

  Paul chuffed. “Who cares? So you don’t have kids. You’ll have the stupidly hot and awesome love of your life who will fuck your brains out every night of the week.”

  Charlotte didn’t take her eyes off Bethany as her head titled from side to side. “Are you sure, B? Have you talked with Max about this?”

  “Oh yeah, I’m just gonna bring up the subject of having his babies a few weeks into our relationship. That’d be smooth.”

  “Then you don’t know if it’s true, right?”

  “I have reason to believe it might just be.”

  Char was silent, staring at her friend with sad eyes. Paul’s gaze bounced between them until he gave an exasperated grunt. “I still don’t see what the big deal is. Isn’t finding true love more important than anything?”

  Char punched him in the arm. “Ouch! What’d I do?”

  “Don’t you get it, dork? B wants kids. She can’t just turn that need off, like a switch. The desire for babies will build and build until either she dies a little bit inside or resentment tears their relationship apart.”

  Bethany hadn’t really thought that deeply about it, but now that Charlotte was spelling it out for Paul, she couldn’t help realizing the truth of it. “But I really think I’m in love with him,” she said.

  Char shook her red curls again. “Oh, B, that’s tough.”

  “What should I do?”

  Paul just shrugged irritably and looked away, still pissed at being punched. Char finally said, “You should find out if what Chet said is true. If it isn’t, then great. But if it is, then you have a tough choice to make: Max or babies.”

  Bethany’s heart broke at the suggestion of having to make such a decision. It would be impossible. The more time she spent with Max, the more deeply she cared about him. But she’d always wanted a big family, and she couldn’t just give up on that dream.

  The maudlin mood was broken when Kimmy stumbled into the kitchen wearing nothing but her panties, her mane of gorgeous thick, brown hair jumbled into a rat’s nest of tangles and her makeup smeared every which way. Normally the most stunning of the three women, she was most certainly not the prettiest one in the room at that moment.

  Especially when she started projectile vomiting.

  Chapter Nine

  After Charlotte helped her clean up Kimmy’s technicolor display, Bethany had called it a night, handing out blankets and pillows to everyone except Kimmy, who got a couple of towels and a prime sleeping spot in the bathtub. Thankfully, no one made a peep for the rest of the night, a fact she could verify since she didn’t sleep a wink. She couldn’t stop thinking about their conversation.

  “Hey, B?” Charlotte was in the doorway of the bedroom early the next morning, keeping her voice low in case Bethany was sleeping…which she wasn’t.

  “Yeah?”

  “I’m gonna take these cretins home now, if I can wake them up long enough to get them to the car. You gonna be okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m good. Thanks for coming over. I’ve really missed you guys.”

  Char laughed. “After last night I’m not sure why.” Her tone grew serious. “Listen, I’m here if you ever need anything, okay?”

  “I know. Thanks.”

  Char nodded and left. Bethany could hear her dragging a mumbling Kimmy out to the living room where she and Paul struggled to dress her. Bethany just stayed snuggled under the comforter, not wanting to face the world. She heard their car drive away and then dozed off.

  The doorbell’s solitary bong woke her. Someone must have forgotten their keys, she thought as she shrugged on her robe and padded to the door.

  The last person she expected to find standing on her front porch was Chet. “Oh! Um, what are you doing here?” she asked nervously, looking around for potential witnesses.

  Chet’s expression was grim but he held up his hands in a gesture of peace. “I would just like to talk with you for a minute, if that’s okay. Can I come in?”

  Bethany gnawed on her lower lip, seriously considering slamming the door in his face, but found herself stepping back to let him in. Normally she would have offered a guest something to drink but she didn’t want to encourage him to linger so she crossed her arms and gave him a ‘Get on with it’ look.

  “Sit, please,” he said as he took it upon himself to take a seat. She lowered her bottom to the very edge of the couch, tense and ready to spring if he threatened her.

  “What do you want?”

  He smirked. “I know you won’t believe me, but I do like you. I like your spunk.” He could see her wariness and nodded.

  “Okay, so you know about us now. You know what we are, yes?”

  She nodded.

  “And you’re desperately in love, I suppose?”

  She just looked at him. That was none of his business.


  “Fair enough. Here’s the thing. Max is young and idealistic. He thinks anything can be overcome with love. And as much as he doesn’t want to hear it, you need to know that he’s wrong. About a lot of things.”

  He stood quickly, startling Bethany into jumping back into the embrace of the couch. He ignored her and started moving around the apartment, absentmindedly picking up knick-knacks or flicking imaginary specks off the walls. “Max and a few younger bears think that we should mix with humans. They think that since most of their lives are spent in human form, it shouldn’t be a problem And it wouldn’t be, except when it comes to breeding.”

  Bethany’s nose squinched at the clinical term. She’d never thought of babies as ‘spawn’ or ‘offspring’. They were babies, not a medical condition. But she kept her thoughts to herself and let him continue.

  “You see, these young bears don’t fully understand the ramifications of diluting our bloodlines with impure stock, such as yourself. No offense.”

  She almost laughed at the last bit because the first bit was so blatantly offensive. Instead she just stared at him.

  “I used to be like them, actually. I thought the same thing, but I’ve come to see how important it is to keep our bloodline untainted. But there’s more to it than just that.”

  His voice tightened a bit and he stopped fidgeting. He stood in the doorway to the kitchen and gazed off into the woods behind the duplex.

  “You see, I know firsthand how devastating it can be to mate with a human. Her name was Crystal, and I loved her more than I thought a soul could love.” He glanced over his shoulder at Bethany and gave her a rueful smile. “You probably can’t imagine me in love but I was.” He turned back to the view.

  “My parents forbade me to see her but I thought I knew so much. We eloped and lived quite happily for several years. We were pretty good about using birth control but one day she turned up preggers. I don’t know whose fault it was but it didn’t matter because we were both happy about it. Thrilled, in fact.”

  Bethany was enthralled with Chet’s story. He was right; she never would have imagined him as a young man in love. Her heart softened to him just a little, but she couldn’t understand why he would be so opposed to her and Max hooking up if he’d been in the same situation as a young man.