Free Bearly Hanging On (A Werebear Shifter BBW Romance) (Laid Bear Book 3) by Marina Maddix Page B

Even she had stopped struggling, her wide eyes pleading for Chet to help her.  
    There would be no peaceful resolution to this situation. Derek was going down tonight. Chet just needed to pick his moment carefully or Crystal might get hurt. He tried to communicate with her silently but he had no idea if she understood.
    His question was answered in a flash of teeth as she bit down hard on the arm Derek had wrapped around her neck. Screaming with pain and fury, he pushed her away from him and dropped the bat so he could clamp a hand on his arm to staunch the bleeding. He was so focused on the blood slicking down his arm that he didn’t notice the giant bear hurtling toward him from where Chet had been crouching only an eyeblink before.

CHAPTER TWELVE

    Crystal was still in shock, Chet could smell it on her. She huddled herself into the farthest reaches of the passenger seat, as far away from him as possible. Her shoulders shuddered uncontrollably but Chet wasn’t sure if it was from shock or if she was crying. Probably both, he decided, his gut twisting in shame and regret.
    “Derek’s going to be fine, you know,” he finally said after several minutes of silence. Why was the drive back to town taking so much longer than the drive out? “I just wanted to scare him so he wouldn’t hurt you.”
    Another shoulder shake. This wasn’t going well at all.  
    The moment Derek had released Crystal, Chet attacked. But he’d held his bear in check, even though the beast wanted to tear the dude limb from limb. All he needed to do was get Crystal away from the guy, and scare him off for good.  
    All it took was a nice, solid bump to send Derek flying off into a massive stand of poison oak. Chet prowled in front of the shrubbery as Derek struggled out of it. Other than a bad case of the itchies tomorrow, the whackjob was fine. One deep, menacing growl and he was on the run back to wherever he parked his truck. He didn’t even stop to grab his baseball bat, Chet noticed with a satisfied curl of his lip.
    “Freeaaaaaak!” Derek screamed as he ran.  
    A flash of movement caught Chet’s eye and he spun around, prepared to defend his mate to the death if he had to. But all he saw was Crystal, darting behind a rock.  
    Oh, shit.
    There was no way around it. He had to shift in front of her again, if only to prove he was really still himself. Coaxing his bear back into his cage, Chet felt each hair as it retreated into his skin, every inch of size sucking back into himself. It wasn’t exactly painful but he was acutely aware of the entire process.  
    He knew from experience that all Crystal would see was a shimmer and wobbly effect, like asphalt on a hot day. It was probably all her mind could process, especially the first time. And the second.
    Before he’d taken a breath, he was himself again, if slightly less clothed. He glanced ruefully at the shredded Armani suit lying in a pile near where they’d been sitting. Being a werebear could get expensive, if you weren’t careful.  
    This wasn’t exactly how he wanted Crystal to see him naked for the first time, and he didn’t want to scare her any more than she already had been so he hustled back to his uncle’s Caddy and rummaged around in the trunk. All weres carried spare clothes with them, if they could, for such occasions, and his uncle didn’t disappoint. They were close in size and the Adidas track suit fit him well enough that he wouldn’t be embarrassed picking up Sandy at the pizza parlor.
    “Crystal,” he cooed. “You can come out from behind the rock now, babe. I know this must come as a…um, surprise but I’m still me. I would never hurt you. You’re safe.”
    At first, he didn’t think she was going to come out but finally she eased into view. All color had drained from her face and her eyes were bugging out. Ignoring Chet completely, she shambled past him and climbed into the Caddy, buckling her seat belt and curling into a ball. She’d barely moved