Chapter 45. Bear with Me
A/n: The moment we have all been waiting for! Enjoy! 🐻💛
Doreen
I was fully submerged now, my heartrate was calm, but my mind was not anywhere near the tank.
My bare feet guided me through the twigs and fallen branches and leaves, my skin leaving to bask in the warm autumn sun. My hand pushed away another branch, to keep me able to follow my senses. My ears peaked up at an owl that was asleep in one of the holes of an old pine tree, as I could hear him snore softly. My eyes tried to focus on the sight in front of me, not knowing what they would come to see, but urging me on to find out.
A mouse on my left quickly dodged a pebble, that I accidentally shot its way by kicking it with my feet. A soft breeze flurried my hair aside, urging me to take in the scent of the dense forest, where I could smell the dampness of the earth. A bunch of leaves gently stroked my hand, as I kept on moving forward.
I don’t know where my mind was taking me, but this serene place was heaven to me.
A sudden roar came from my right, snapping me out of my calm state, forcing me to look at where the loud interruption came from. My mind got frightened by the creature that was soaring its way towards me!
A vicious black bear with elongated teeth, sharpened claws and greasy fur ran closer and closer! As if it was in slow-motion, I could see the bear’s paws land on the ground, snapping through branches and whirling up mud as they pounded through the dirt. Saliva drooled out of its mouth as it kept on growling and roaring, nailing me to the ground in fear.
I didn’t know what to do, nothing logical about this whole situation popped into my head. I just went blank on how to act about this raging bear and just kept standing in place, fearing that this bear was about to tear me apart.
At the last second, before I could see one of its paws reach my face, I closed my eyes and was about to accept my fate, before something else happened.
A soft brush of fur touched the top of my head and in astonishment I looked above me and could see the belly of a shiny golden brown bear surge over me, interrupting the black bear’s swipe with one of its own.
The black bear jumped backwards, growling fiercely towards the golden bear as it landed on its paws right in front of the black bear, shielding me from its wrath. They kept prowling around each other, each waiting for the other to attack first.
It was then that I could see that the golden bear was not drooling, not growling and not showing its strength. It was just calm, like the little breeze I had felt earlier, that had been brushing against my skin.
The golden bear was the complete opposite of the black one, as that one was still growling in anger and wanting to rip the golden bear’s throat out. And so it acted as it wanted. It charged towards the golden bear and lashed out one hell of a swipe along its side, gushing through the golden fur and made it roar in pain.
At the same time, I reached towards my own side, noticing that I had three cuts that were now oozing blood and creating an immense pain! I screamed in anguish and confusion, not knowing what it was that made this happen!
I looked behind me, making sure that there was no third bear that lashed out towards me, while I was watching the first two bears fight each other. But as strange as it may be, there was nothing behind me but a dense forest!
My gaze went towards the two bears again and I could see that the black bear had trapped the golden one against two trees that were standing very close together. The golden bear was growling now, as it received another blow from the black bear and this time I reached towards my face, where a bruise was building up, aching my jaw intensely!
What is going on? What is the black bear doing to me?!
I looked at both of them and their features, and started to notice something odd. I have seen Jack’s bear a few times now and due to his wide muscles, strong angled jaws and rough patches of fur, there had never been a doubt that his bear was a male, just like him. But these two bears didn’t show that same masculinity! Are they both females? They must be!
“Stop!” I yelled towards them both, hoping that they were other shifters, able to hear my commanding question.
I got the attention of the black bear and soon she was targeting me again, but this time I wasn’t afraid, because I needed to figure this out. And even though my body was half lacerated by one of her swipes, I was determined to finish this. So, I faced her head on! My feet steadied themselves and I crunched my fists, waiting for the black’s nose to get close and to administer some straight knuckle-blow towards it!
But who was I kidding? I’m a little female and the creature was one big ass black bear, ready to eat me alive!
She rushed her head against my body, lifting me up and throwing me against one of the trees that surrounded us! But all that I could feel was that my lungs were being cleared of air due to the impact, but there was no pain whatsoever! So, I quickly stood up, wanting to fight her black ass again, ready for hurting her body this time.
But when I looked around the black bear, the golden bear was lying on the ground, panting heavily, growling in pain! What had happened to it?
I ran towards the shiny bear and noticed that the ribs on one side of its body, were dented inwards, as if a truck just drove in its side… But I was fighting the black bear, I was the one that got smashed against a tree, not her… what was going on!?
The golden bear lifted its head, showing me kind dark blue eyes and it was as if I was looking in the mirror for a moment. Those dark blue orbs reminded me deeply of my own and I wondered if I was related to this beautiful creature.
But then it dawned on me.
Whenever the golden bear was hit, I received the pain…
Whenever I was hit, the golden bear received the pain…
She is me and I am her! We are supposed to be one!
“Let’s face our fury together!” I whispered to her, knowing that the black bear symbolized the fury that I had become, when I killed all those hunters in the barn.
She nodded to me and stood up again on her four paws and pointed her gaze towards the black bear. I stood right next to her and started to run, when the golden bear did too.
In full synchronicity my feet touched the ground, when her paws pounded in the dirt. Step by step I could feel more of her existence seep into my own. Eventually, I don’t know how or when, my vision shifted to the side and I could feel my body become heavier.
I could feel the wind rush alongside my body, but something tickled my skin as well. My eyes darted to the side, to see if the golden bear was running close by my body, brushing her fur against my skin. But there was no longer a bear in sight!
I looked downwards and saw strong, sharp claws stomp themselves in the earth, making me surge forwards! I am my bear!
A smile appeared on my face and I almost forgot what I came here to do, but finally lifted my head and looked how the black bear looked up in confusion. I have found the other half of my soul, my bear, my serenity, and no single foul creature is going to stop me from becoming one with my destiny!
Roaring wildly, happily to have succeeded my will, I surged forwards. And without any hesitation I used the magnificent power of the animalistic and primal creature that I have become now, to fight the black bear into oblivion!
With only one swipe I pushed its head to the side, shoving her body on the ground. Then, I opened my mouth, put my paws on her upper body and head, roared one more time and sank my teeth in the black bear’s throat. One heavy rip and her neck was broken!
I will never become something dark and evil like this black bear again!
The black bear suddenly began to glow, a white light succumbing her complete body, lifting her up from the ground and dissipating in the air, relieving me from a dark burden that I had been carrying with me all this time.
My body was convulsing, shaking violently as it wanted to gasp for air.
Jack
“Get her out of the tank!” I yelled towards the men around me.
“No, not yet! She has to do this on her own!” Giselle answered and immediately they all stepped backwards again.
Doreen’s body was glowing, a white light was slowly consuming her body and then filled the tank with its amazing illumination. Everyone around the tank had to shield their eyes from the light that became brighter by the second. Then, a loud pair of cracks were heard and I tried to look between my fingers, managing to see that the glass on the outside of the tank had been broken in two, forcing the water from within to be pushed out with force.
Then, as if an explosion occurred, with a loud bang all of the glass broke into a million pieces and shot its way into every direction. Every single person got hit by at least a few shards and they hissed from the impact!
But I didn’t care how much I was hit by it, I needed to make sure that Doreen was safe!
I went in closer and saw the metal frame of the tank had been bend outwards, the water from the tank had been spraying the grass and only left a small puddle in the remainder of the tank, there where the explosion had created a small indent in the ground as well.
But in the middle of all the rubble, there laid this beautiful, amazing, shiny and elegant golden brown bear and all my fears of her being boiled to dead, had been gone in a flash.
Her fur was wet due to the water and there were still some herbs slightly burning on her fur, so I reached out and brushed them off of her. Then I looked at the rest of her body and saw that every inch of her fur was as soft as the day that a cub would shift for the first time. She had never used her bear form before, so her fur was still untouched from life’s experiences. It was nothing compared to my own fur, where it was course all over from all the battles I have fought in my life.
There weren’t any calluses on the soft patches of her paws and there were no scars to be found either. Her pristine body is beautiful beyond imagination! And I even haven’t got the time to mention something in my mind about the rare colour of fur that she has!
Of course, there are white polar bears, brown honey bears and black bears like me, but her radiating golden brown colour, almost seemed to be glowing as if her fur was weaved with golden threads. She is the most regal creature I have ever seen!
As she laid there exhausted from the battles that she probably had to face inside her mind, I raised her head and put it on my lap.
“Sweetheart, wake up.” I gently said, while stroking the side of her face.
She opened her eyes and I could see her dark blue eyes come forward, focusing its vision onto me.
“You have done it, my love.” I continued and she widened her eyes. “Now, focus on shifting back, so I can carry you to the bed.” I said and she closed her eyes again.
Her body shook and shivered, knowing that she had to face more pain as she had to force her body to contort back into her original human form. “You are strong, you can do it.” I motivated her as I could see her claws slowly retract.
The golden brown fur slowly disappeared and as she was softly growling, her animal voice slowly turned into that of her human moans of pain. I could hear the bones in her body snap and contort into her tiny ones and finally she laid completely naked into my arms.
By now, Giselle had ordered for the men to leave us alone, shielding Doreen from prying eyes and I thanked her for doing so.
“She has to stay in bed for several days now, before she can begin her training. Make sure she uses her rest!” Giselle nearly commanded me, but I knew the intonation was meant for Doreen’s well-being, so I nodded in understanding.
A/n: The big black Alpha bear is losing some of that rough fur! Softy!💛 Although he is cute, and I can admire that too.🐻