Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 81208 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81208 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
His mouth quirks as he stands by me on the curving staircase. “A little I can deal with. A little is easy to come back from.”
“I just… this is a lot to take in… and Hunter is an ass.”
Robert nods. “Hunter’s a man from another era. He should have been born a hundred years ago. He’d have fitted in perfectly.”
We walk side by side up to the second floor, and I’m relieved I'll be somewhere near Robert’s room.
“So how come you and Evan turned out normal, and Hunter still behaves like he’s wearing loincloths and carrying a club?”
Robert chuckles. “It’s because he’s the oldest. Our father put all the pressure on him. He was told all the family history and had the responsibility for finding our—”
He pauses, fumbling over what word to say next that won’t offend me.
“Your woman?”
“Yes. That pressure and the history… he’s been overwhelmed by the traditions so much that he can’t see that it’s not the way to be. That it’s detrimental and is going to push you away.”
“I don’t think that he even sees that as an option. He thinks he can just roll a stone in front of his cave and keep me captive.”
Robert nods. “Exactly.” He twists the handle on a large, dark wooden door about three doors down from his room. It opens into a gorgeous spare room with heavy blue drapes and a four-poster bed that looks imported from a Scottish castle. “Is this okay?”
“Wow.” I drop my case and pivot in an arc. All the furniture is heavy, dark wood, and very ornate. My shoes click on the wooden floor until I’m on the oriental-style rug that encircles the bed. I sit on the edge, and it’s a perfect mixture of a firm mattress with an exceptionally soft comforter and pillows. I could sleep in this room forever. I could become Sleeping Beauty and leave Goldilocks and her ridiculous fascination with the three bears behind.
“I’m sorry about everything,” Robert says, watching me with hands stuffed into his jeans and a furrow scored on his brow. “Just know that we’re not here to hurt you. We’re here to do right by you. For Hunter, that means helping you fulfill your destiny and ours. No woman born on the bear moon at the same time as our kind can be truly happy with a human man. We’re as made for you as you are for us.”
I want to ask him if that’s what he really believes or if it’s just a story that his kind tells to make themselves feel better about taking women against their will to procreate. How many women like me existed in Robert’s family history? Have all his ancestors cared so little for their mates as Hunter? Was the triplets’ mom taken the same way, or did she want to be with their father? My spiraling thoughts spark a question.
“Are there female bear people? Like, why do you not mate with your own kind?”
Robert shakes his head. “That would make life a lot easier, but it doesn’t work that way. Bears are only born into the male line, and bear unions only produce male children.”
“No daughters?” Ridiculously, my heart sinks. I’ve always wanted a baby girl, but I remind myself that I won’t be making bear babies with these men in this freakish situation. Sex is one thing. Creating half-human–half–bear offspring is a league away. My brain feels close to exploding like that stupid emoji.
“Anyway, I don’t know why I’m asking you about this,” I say. “In a couple of days, once I’ve spoken to the sheriff and the insurance company, I’m going home.”
Robert doesn’t reply, and I want to toss a pillow at his head to extract a response. What can he say, though? He’s told me I can’t leave. They believe I’m their whole future.
My chest feels tight, and maybe Robert can sense it because he comes to sit next to me on the bed and rests his hand on my leg. “Is there anything I can do for you? Anything to make things better for you?”
My throat burns because there isn’t. Sometimes life just backs you into a corner. In the end, only I can strengthen my resolve to come out fighting. That’s what I need to do. I need time alone to plan exactly how I’m going to fix everything that's broken.
“Can you leave me now?” I ask.
Robert’s eyes scan my face.
“Okay,” he says. “But I’ll be back.”
I watch him leave, already missing his quiet, solid presence before he’s fully out the door. And just like that, I’m alone.
Like the princess in the tower, my prison is beautiful, but a prison nonetheless.
24
ROBERT
Hunter’s lounging in the formal room, nursing a large whiskey when I descend the stairs. It’s early for the hard stuff, but I guess he’s feeling the effects of his argument with Goldie and his fury at his brothers. With his legs stretched out in front of him and his arm draped along the back of the dark brown leather Chesterfield, he looks so much like Dad, it hurts.