Free Laid Bear by Marina Maddix Page A

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.
    “But, as it turns out, werebear babies don’t gestate well in human women. I didn’t know this at the time, or I would have been more careful. No one warned me, you see…”  
    He trailed off. She remained quiet so he could compose himself.
    “I lost them both. The baby killed her, then died before the clan’s doctors could get him out. He wouldn’t have lived long anyway — he was a mutant.”
    Bitterness had crept into his voice, and Bethany could tell he was fighting back tears. Hell, she was fighting back tears. She couldn’t imagine the devastation he must have felt. Her heart broke for his loss. When he turned to face her, the trauma he’d gone through was etched on his face. This was not an easy story for him to share.
    “I’m so sorry, Chet.”
    “Don’t be sorry for me, girly,” he snapped. “Listen to me instead. I like you. I don’t want to see you hurt. I don’t want to see my nephew hurt. But if you continue down this path, that’s exactly what will happen. You’ll be injured or killed and my nephew will…” He sniffed back his emotions. “I’m afraid he’ll end up like me.”
    Bethany was speechless. Chet moved back to the chair across from her and just sat there looking at her. What was she supposed to say to all that? Was he saying there was no chance for a human to carry a werebear baby? That was the question she was finally able to ask.
    “I’ve never heard of a successful mating between a human female and a bear male. You humans are too delicate to handle our babies. Now, bear females should have no problem carrying a half-breed baby but why would they want to?” He shuddered with disgust at the mere thought.
    “How can you say that when you mated with a human?”  
    “Like I said, I’ve come to realize that I was wrong. I don’t have anything against your kind, but I just think we need to remain separate species.” He shrugged matter-of-factly.  
    Bethany tried to absorb what Chet had just told her. Her stomach was knotted up and she felt ready to puke. Her suspicion was true. She’d never be able to have Max’s baby, so what was the point in continuing their relationship. If Chet hadn’t been sitting there, she would have been sobbing already. She did her best to maintain a tiny shred of dignity.
    Chet reached across the divide and patted her knee. She still didn’t like him much but he was trying to be kind, and she would take what she could get right now. It hit her like a ton of bricks: she was at that critical point Charlotte had warned her about. She was going to have to choose between her man and the possibility of a family.
    The tears she’d been fighting back refused to be