Free Scottish Werebear: A New Beginning: A BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (Scottish Werebears Book 4) by Lorelei Moone Page A

informing him that the caller cannot be reached, there was a click and a second of static, before he finally heard a voice.
    "Hello?" a female spoke softly at the other end.
    He wasn't sure what to say. It was like he'd somehow drifted out of reality, and he wasn't actually on the phone with her.
    "Leah?" he finally asked.
    "That's me."
    Oh God
. She sounded irritated. Or nervous. Or both. He wasn't sure, not without looking at her.
    "I'm so sorry," he blurted out.
    "You vanished. No response to any of my messages, except just once, which was just plain odd,"
    "I know. And I can explain; not that I'm trying to make excuses for any of this, I'm not..." Matt rested his forehead in his palm. How was he going to make this right?
    She didn't respond immediately, just sighed.
    "What did you mean they're spying on me?"
    "It's a long story. Probably best we don't do this now. Who knows if they're listening in somehow, despite the new phone."
    "Okay..." She didn't sound convinced.
    How strange. This was the first time they'd spoken on the phone. He couldn't shake the worry that he'd say something to fuck it all up, but still her voice seemed familiar to his ear. Like he knew her way better than was possible after merely talking via Whatsapp for a couple of weeks.
    "I know it doesn't seem like it right now, but I really care about you. I just hope you'll give me the chance to make things right," he said.
    She sighed again, and the thought that he'd hurt and disappointed her affected him deeply.
    "I'm not someone you can toy with. Just know that."
    Her words stung even more. Matt closed his eyes and tried to focus, but his emotions were all over the place. He had to do something more than this. Something compelling, that would show her the real him.
    "I wouldn't do that. Please believe me."
    "If you say so."
    While he was away, he'd thought he'd just come back and explain, but this was way harder than he could have imagined. Her resistance was making him realize how fragile relationships could be. How one misstep could unbalance everything and destroy what trust they'd built up between them.
    Was there even any hope? He didn't know the first thing about love or women even. He'd been away from it all for too long to know the rules.
    He needed to think, to devise a plan to make it up to her. This was too impersonal, too distant.
    "May I come over?" he asked. The question surprised him as much as it might have done her.
    She didn't answer straight away. Matt wondered what would be worse, if she rejected him, or if she said yes, and he had to follow through on his word.
    "Let me be totally honest," she started. Her voice was still soft but also determined. "The reason I answered your call was mainly to tell you that you just can't do stuff like this. You can't just disappear and expect things to be the same when you return. Things are definitely not the same for me."
    Matt wasn't sure how to respond. "Just let me explain." He pinched the bridge of his nose to ward off the growing tension in his chest.
    He'd trained so hard to get back home, to get this crazy urge to shift under control. He'd been kept locked up in a cold cell, even beaten up by his own brother, but none of that came even close to the amount of stress he was under right now.
    He'd enjoyed his conversations with Leah; they'd made him feel normal. Knowing that they'd talk every night had made him feel wanted. The idea of losing all that was too much to bear.
    "It's not the same. I understand that," Matt had to force each word to come out calmly when all he wanted to do was scream. "Leah."
    "Yes?"
    He could hardly hear her response through the haze that overwhelmed his senses, the rush of blood that tried to deafen him. It took all his focus, all of his strength to keep himself from shifting.
    "Words can't explain how important you are to me. Allow me to prove it."
    The silence between them seemed to last forever.
    "Fine. Come over," she said.
    Matt breathed a sigh of relief.