Wilde Bear (BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance) (Blue Bear Rescue) Read Online Free PDF Page B

He knew what it was like. Maybe she’d been wrong about him being the one to ruin her life. Maybe he was the only one who could help her keep it all together.
    “I grew up in an anti-shifter house. My dad was human and thought shifters were unnatural. My mom was a fox, but I could see how she hated that part of her. Probably ingrained from her own parents. They were hard on her about her animal. Always making her feel guilty. Even as a kid, she taught me to be stronger than my fox, to resist the shift. She said giving in made me weak, and a shifter’s weakness was discovery. When I couldn’t help it, she taught me to keep it out of sight. Keep it a secret, she said, so no one could use it to hurt me. Most of the time, I did that, but sometimes, the fox would slip out, and my dad would scream at me. I walked around in constant fear I’d shift by accident and others would find out and degrade me in the way my dad had. I left as soon as I graduated and I’ve been doing my best to keep it hidden since then. I only shift when I can’t stop it, and I always try to get away before anyone notices.”
    A life of hiding,” he murmured. “That couldn’t have been easy.”
    “I moved around a lot.”
    “Sounds lonely.”
    “I decided a long time ago; I’d rather be lonely than be with people who can’t accept my fox. Before I came here, I was in the city, which made it hard to keep my fox out of sight.” She gestured around them to the moonlit woods. “When DOT offered the transfer here, I jumped at it. I thought I’d have more space and maybe even people who could accept me as a shifter.”
    “Gerald’s got no problem with shifters. He was friends with my dad.”
    “I know. I guess I’ve been too scared after everything in my past to even tell him, though.” She blew out a breath; still half-terrified Xavier would scoff at her secret life. But he only stepped closer and stroked her hair, tucking it gently behind her ear.
    “You’ve always hidden yourself,” Xavier said. He sounded awed by it but underneath the words, power rumbled.
    Laurel ducked her head. “Until now,” she admitted.
    “You don’t ever have to hide yourself from me,” he said, and the authority of his alpha rang through the words. Laurel’s animal curled around the protectiveness in him, cuddling closer.
    The way he spoke of letting her animal be seen… she’d dreamed of this but never had it with anyone. She found herself smiling softly.
    “What is that look for?” he asked.
    “Say it again,” she said, inching closer to him.
    His arm tightened around her. “You don’t ever have to hide from me,” he said and pulled her close.
    She sank against him, her nipples brushing his chiseled chest. She sighed, reveling in the delicious tingle that ran through her. How long had it been since she’d let herself be like this with a man? Years, certainly.
    “I know we got off to a rough start, you and me,” Xavier said, his voice gravelly and breathy against her temple.
    “I was cold to you. It’s my version of professionalism, a way to remind men I’m equal. I’m sorry I was rude.”
    “I’d like to start over,” he said.
    She ran a hand up his arm, trailing her fingertips over his massive bicep. He shuddered, and she thrilled at the reaction she’d pulled from him so easily. “Me too,” she said.
    He drew her chin up, so their mouths hovered an inch apart. “I mean really start,” he added. “I didn’t want to, didn’t mean to feel this way for you, but my animal, it’s—”
    “Drawn to you,” she finished for him, and his eyes danced, the blue darkening to a steel gray.
    “Show me all of yourself, Laurel. The real you, no pretending. No hiding anymore.”
    Laurel’s breath caught. Her fox rose up, practically begging for this. In the back of her mind, fear threatened to ruin it. To make her second-guess the trust required to give herself this way. But in the end, she knew she couldn’t resist. Not when her animal