Free Burden to Bear by Amira Rain Page B

they had before, except of course this time they would be lovers, not best friends.
    Even in her weakened mental state, Sarah recognized his anxiety.  She grinned at him affectionately.
    “You saved me,” she said simply.
    Douglas wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly.  Sarah murmured something unintelligible.
    “What’s that?” he asked, releasing her.
    “Don’t squash me with your big bear arms,” she repeated jokingly.
    For the moment, Douglas’ anxiety about his secret identity vanished.  Sarah knew what he was, and she was okay with it.  Perhaps everything would work out okay. 
     
    *
    A few days later, Sarah was able to walk around, with his help, and she moved over to a room at the big house.  She insisted, however, that he stay with her almost constantly.  Grandfather, despite his conservative notions about unmarried couples sharing living arrangements, agreed that this was a special circumstance.  Both Grandfather and Douglas knew that Sarah would be nervous about being alone for some time to come, given the supernatural events that she had witnessed. 
    A few nights later, while they were cuddled in bed together, Sarah began to ask questions.
    “Douglas, you were a bear,” she said.
    Douglas nodded.
    “I wasn’t imagining it?”
    Douglas shook his head. 
    “And Wilson, was he a vampire or something?” Sarah asked.
    “No,” Douglas replied.  “He wasn’t drinking your blood.”
    “What did he do to me?”
    “He was a reptilian predator, like a snake.  He was feeding from your life force – your soul.”
    Sarah thought about this for a few minutes. “He wanted to kill me?” she asked.
    “Well, you would have died if he had finished,” Douglas said. 
    “Do you eat souls, too?” Sarah asked.
    Douglas chucked.  “No, never!” he said.  “Wilson was a demon. He was evil.”
    “Wilson didn’t look like a snake or a demon,” Sarah observed.
    Douglas agreed.  “No, he wasn’t a shifter.  He used snake magic to charm you into getting you to like him, and he smelled to hell like a reptile, but he never took the reptile form.  In fact, even in his demon form, he looked more human than most supernatural creatures.”
    Sarah looked puzzled.  “But you looked like a bear.”
    Douglas sighed.  “Yes.  I am a shifter.  I don’t prey on humans.  My supernatural abilities just involve shifting into a bear sometimes.  I’m really quite harmless – except maybe to rabbits,” he added with a smile.  He looked at Sarah from the corner of his eye, hoping she thought it was funny, too.
    Sarah whispered into his ear.  “I never once thought you could hurt me, Douglas.  I know that you love me.  I love you, too.” She kissed him tenderly.  He kissed her back, slipping his tongue between her lips.  She enjoyed it for a moment, then abandoned the kiss to ask more questions.
    “Is Grandfather a bear, too?” she asked.
    “Yes.”
    “Was your father a bear?”
    “Yes.”
    “What about your mother?”
    Douglas squirmed a little uncomfortably.  “She was human.”
    Sarah pondered that for a bit. 
    “You always said she died giving birth to you,” she said.  “Is that true?”
    “Yes,” Douglas replied.
    “Did she die because of the bear thing?” she asked.  “Because you’re half bear.”  She hesitated asking the question because Douglas had always been touchy about the subject of his mother’s death, but she wanted to clarify Douglas’ background once and for all.
    Douglas nodded.  “Sometimes human women have really rough pregnancies carrying a were-bear child,” he said.  “My mother didn’t make it.” 
    “I’m so sorry,” Sarah said. “So you call yourselves “were-bears”?” she asked.
    Douglas nodded.
    Sarah climbed on top of him and kissed his nose.
    “I’m okay with all this,” she said simply.  “It’s all really weird, but I’m okay with it.”
    Douglas was wary.  “Most humans don’t accept our realm this