"Shift?"
She shuddered. "Is that what you call it?"
"I have to shift in order to heal." He lifted his arms to the side. "See? The scrapes are gone. I had a real bad one here, just above my hip." He leaned to the side to show her.
Her eyes widened, then she looked away. "I believe you."
"And my cracked ribs are completely healed."
She turned back to him with an alarmed expression. "You had cracked ribs?"
"Yes." He ran his hands over his chest and across his abs. "I was in a great deal of pain."
Her gaze followed his hands. "I'm glad you're better now."
He lifted his leg nearest her. "I had some scrapes along my calf, and even here on my thigh."
A glazed look came over her face.
"Of course, you saw all my injuries when you hid behind the tree over there like a Peeping Tom."
She stiffened. "Excuse me?"
"I believe you gasped when I pulled my underwear off."
She gasped. "I did not! I was very careful not to make any noise - " She winced, and her face turned pink.
He grinned.
"You have some nerve!" Her eyes flashed with anger. "Making it sound like I'm some kind of pervert, when you're - you're a beast!"
He narrowed his eyes. "Maybe you shouldn't follow men into the woods."
"Maybe you should have warned me!"
"How? For the past week, you refused to talk to me!"
"If you knew I was behind that tree, you should have warned me." She crossed her arms and glared at him. "You scared me to death."
"A warning would have scared you, too." He raked a hand through his hair. "Try to see this from my point of view. I was in a lot of pain, so I needed to shift. I didn't ask you to come along and spy on me, but when I realized you were there, I thought why not shift in front of you? I was going to have to tell you sooner or later, and I thought I could show you how harmless the bear is."
She snorted. "Harmless? Why would I think a grizzly bear is harmless?"
"Because it's me! Couldn't you see it was me?"
She bit her lip. "I was too scared to think very well."
"I've been scared since the moment I met you, scared that you would run away from me once you knew the truth." He winced. That was more than he should have admitted. He grabbed his wet briefs and shook them out.
"You cooled down my birthmark with your underwear?"
He gave her a wry look. "They're clean. Reasonably." He'd showered and put them on just over an hour ago. "Do you want to watch again?" He dragged the cotton briefs up his legs.
With a huff, she turned her back to him. "You really are a beast."
"That's true." Smiling again, he stood and pulled his underwear up. He was still semi-aroused from holding her, and the wet material clung to every contour.
"You were so big," she whispered.
"Thank you. I like to think I'm fairly well endowed."
She scoffed, turning to face him. "I meant the bear!" She glanced down at his underwear, then away.
His mouth twitched. He'd known what she was referring to, but it was too much fun teasing her. "I'm actually a Kodiak bear. That's the biggest of the grizzlies."
"Great," she muttered.
He pulled on his trousers. "And in case you're wondering, I'm proportional."
"Huh?" She slanted a suspicious look his way.
"By that I mean - " He carefully zipped his pants up. "I'm big all over."
She snorted and looked away. "As if I'm interested."
"Aren't you?" He leaned against the boulder to pull on his socks. "You followed me here."
She planted her hands on her hips and glared at him. "Fine. I acknowledge your bigness. You have a big chest. And big shoulders."
"Thank you." He tugged on the last sock.
"Big muscles."
"Yes." He stuffed his feet into his shoes.
"An enormously big ego."
He grinned. "That, too." He slipped on his polo shirt. It was ripped in places and still damp.
She lifted her chin. "But I'm not sure you'll do. I hate a man with a big butt."
"I love a woman with a smart mouth." He strode toward her, still smiling.
She stepped back, her eyes widening. "What are you - "
He pulled her into his arms.
She stiffened. "Your shirt's wet."
"Relax." He wrapped his arms around her and rubbed his chin against her hair. "It's me. Whether I'm human or bear, it's always me."
She groaned. "A man who becomes a bear? It's too strange."
"Stranger than being a Guardian of the Forest?"
"I didn't ask for that."
"I didn't ask to be a were-bear."
She leaned back to look at him. "Is that what you call it?"
He nodded. "Or a shifter. Actually, there are a lot of shifters who didn't come from Scandanavia, so they're not berserkers. I know some panthers and tigers - "
"What?" She pushed away from him. "Are you telling me people turn into those things?"
"There's more to the world than you would normally - "
"I don't want to hear it!" She lifted a hand to stop him. "I'm having supernatural overload. I want a nice, normal world."
"Fine. Then look at it this way. Right now, I'm a man. You're a woman. One hell of a woman." His gaze dropped to her chest, which had been dampened by his wet shirt. Her T-shirt was molded to her breasts, her nipples clearly defined. "And the feelings we're having are completely normal. The attraction. The desire."
She sucked in a deep breath. "I'm not sure I can handle this."
"I want you." He moved closer. "I've always wanted you."
"No," she whispered, but her body betrayed her. Her nipples puckered, the tips growing tight as beads.
"You want me, too." He cupped her breast, and she stepped back.
"Please. I need more time."
"Elsa." He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tight. "I'll give you all the time you need, but please don't spend it convincing yourself that I'm dangerous. Or that I'm going to hurt you. How could I hurt you when I'm falling for you?"
"Oh, Howard." She rested her head on his shoulder. "I do want to believe you, but this were-bear stuff is so . . ."
"Amazing?"
"Frightening." She leaned back to study his face. "What if you lose control?"
"I'm always in complete control. Of the bear, that is." He glanced down at his swollen groin. "Other parts seem to have a mind of their own."
She gave him a wry look. "Beast."
"Goldilocks." He kissed her brow. "Will you admit the truth?"
"What truth?"
He leaned close to whisper in her ear, "You liked my butt."
She swatted his shoulder. "Would you get over yourself?"
He chuckled. "I would actually prefer to talk about your naked body. If you could give me something to go on." His hand slid over the curve of her rump. "Oh, yeah, this is - "
"Will you stop?" She shoved him away with an exasperated look. "I'm still in shock, and you keep trying to feel me up?"
"Right." He nodded. "My apologies." He gave her a forlorn look. "I'm a bad little bear."
Her mouth twitched. "Can you ever be serious?"
"I'm serious about you." He smiled. "Seriously."
She gave him a bemused look. "And this is the personality of a grizzly?"
"Think of me as a big, cuddly, honey bear."
She snorted and turned to walk up the hill. "I don't know what to think."
At least she didn't seem afraid of him anymore. He caught up with her. "Can I see you tomorrow?"
"I don't know." She slanted him an annoyed look. "Can you manage to stay human for the entire time?"
"Yes. But it would be fun to act like animals."
"Beast."
"Goldilocks." He took her hand to help her up a steep incline. "So I'll see you tomorrow morning?"
"Maybe." She sighed. "It would have to be secret. My aunts would shoot you on sight."
"I understand."
They reached the top of the hill. The walk back to the house would be easy now, but he didn't let go of her hand. With a smile, he realized she wasn't pulling away. Even though she knew he was a beast.
Chapter Seventeen
A beautiful man came to her in the night. Large and powerful, he covered her body with his. His big hands roamed over her skin, setting her on fire. She wanted him. She cried out for him. She burned for him.
His hands were magic. Skimming the length of her legs. Fondling her breasts. Stroking her neck. Tightening their grip.
Choking her.
She thrashed against him, but he was too strong. Too powerful.
His face, half hidden in shadow, twisted in rage. Transformed. He roared like an animal.
She gazed up at him in horror. In the flicker of firelight, she caught a glimpse of his head.
A bear.
She woke with a strangled cry.
"Elsa?" Great-aunt Ula clicked on the bedside lamp.
She covered her eyes while her vision adjusted to the bright light. "I'm fine."
"Are you sure?" Ula asked in Swedish.
"Ja. It was just a bad dream."
"I'll get you some water." Ula headed toward the vanity.
Elsa sat up and leaned against the headboard. A week had passed since she'd last had the nightmare. Seeing Howard turn into a beast must have kicked her subconscious back into action.
"Were you dreaming about berserkers?" Ula asked as she opened a bottle of water.
"Yes." One berserker in particular, although Elsa didn't want to admit that. Why had the dream come back? Was she simply freaked out over Howard's ability to shift into a grizzly? Who wouldn't freak out over that? Or was her subconscious trying to force her to accept a truth she'd been avoiding? That Howard could be dangerous.
He could betray her and kill her. Just like the berserker who killed the original Guardian of the Forest.
She shuddered. How could she be so attracted to Howard, when he was a beast? How could she fall for a real-life berserker who might kill her?
Even her subconscious had succumbed to the attraction. At the beginning of the dream, when the man was making love to her, she writhed beneath his powerful body, hungry for his touch. And in her mind, she knew who he was. Howard. Huge, handsome Howard. When his hands cupped her breasts, she arched up to him, begging him to suckle her. When his hands stroked her legs, she opened her thighs for him. She was dying for him. Hot Howard.
She'd actually enjoyed the dream until he'd started choking her. Horror-show Howard.
"Here." Ula offered her a glass of water.
"Thanks." She took a sip.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Ula asked.
"Not really." She set the glass on the bedside table. "Can you tell me about my grandmother?"
"Of course." Ula perched on the side of her bed. Her face softened with a smile as she remembered. "Birgit was a beautiful woman, much like you. She grew up knowing about the curse, but she never feared it. She loved being the Guardian of the Forest. I tried to keep her with me on the island, where she would be safe, but she never stayed for long. She had a cabin deep in the woods, and she would go there often to be with the animals. They were her dearest friends."
Elsa recalled how she had apparently communicated with the deer earlier that day. "My grandmother could talk to the animals?"
"Yes. As her powers grew, she was able to do even more. One time, I saw her heal a deer with a broken leg simply by touching it."
Elsa's breath caught. Would she actually develop powers like that? "That's amazing."
"Birgit was amazing. The animals would gather around her, wildcats sitting alongside rabbits without harming them. They were at peace with her. They were devoted to her." Ula sighed. "Some of them died trying to save her."
A chill skittered down Elsa's back. "How . . . how did she die?"
"We're not sure. No one was there to witness it, but she was mauled to death by a wild animal. There was a herd of deer scattered around her, also mauled to death. They'd tried to protect her."
Goose bumps prickled Elsa's arms. Mauled to death by a wild animal? It would have to be a big and ferocious animal to take out a herd of deer. Ferocious enough to kill a herd of feral pigs?
She swallowed hard. "You think the animal was a berserker?"
"Yes." Ula nodded. "Birgit had met someone a few weeks earlier who made her birthmark burn. According to family legend, only a berserker can make it burn. And the murder happens soon after that."
"But you don't have actual proof that it's a berserker who commits the murders?"
"Who else could it be?" Ula asked. "The guardian and berserker are forever linked together in a cruel dance that has repeated itself over and over through the centuries. The guardian made the berserkers, dooming those men to roam the earth as beasts. And they, in turn, are doomed to seek out their creator and destroy her."
Elsa grimaced. So she was doomed to die?
She rubbed her brow. Surely they weren't robots preprogrammed for disaster. They had free will. Couldn't they choose a different destiny? What if they loved each other? Wouldn't that break the curse? Howard had suggested that on the voice mail he'd left her.