Bear with Me (#2, Completed)

16. Regrets

SCARLETT

What was he going to do now- shift into a bear?

Contrary to my sarcastic thinking, he didn't. Of course, he didn't because shifters did not exist.

I watched him as he unwrapped all of the makeshift bandages that I'd made and lifted his clothes to show me his injuries. But instead of the bleeding holes that I had seen earlier, all there was now was perfectly smooth skin. I was drawn to run my fingers over it to ensure that I did not imagine things because I knew that the gunshot wounds were there earlier. I saw him bleed with my own eyes and now they were just....gone. There was nothing left even to suggest that he had ever been shot.

"What the fuck?" I was so stunned that my manners went right out of the window. "How the hell did you do that?"

"Shifters have super healing."

Ugh, not that story again!

But I couldn't deny that what I was seeing now was impossible. No human could heal this fast and definitely not like this from three bullet wounds which were bleeding just an hour earlier.

I looked up to give him my most disbelieving look, yet what I saw made me gasp. His eyes were glowing feral gold as if some beast possessed him. What shocked me even more was that I was not even remotely scared by the abnormal sight in front of me. Quite the opposite- I was intrigued, even attracted, by what I was seeing. Those eyes were so familiar, almost like they were beckoning me home.

"What is going on, Callum?" My bewildered tone reflected the confusion inside my head—none of this made sense.

"It's my bear, Mahon," he explained while I watched those captivating ice-blue orbs return to their normal colour. "He wants to come out and meet you properly."

His what?

If I weren't sitting already, I would have certainly been on the floor by now, my mind dizzy with all the strange sights and statements.

Yet, before I could respond, there was a commotion on the other side of the door, where our captors were most likely plotting their next move. Their voices and heavy steps were nearing with every second that passed.

My heart pounded hard in my chest, and my body stiffened- these guys meant business. I knew it from the two agents in London and even more so from the way they had shot Callum multiple times. What if they decided to hurt Callum again? Fear trickled like ice water through my veins at the idea that anything could happen to him because of me.

"Listen, Callum- these men, they just need me," I whispered, my voice resigned to my fate. There was still hope for him though. "If I go with them, maybe they will let you go because you have nothing to do with this craziness."

His eyes flashed yellow once again, his soft expression replaced with a beastly look. But I did not have time to dwell on his bizarre behaviour- they were going to come for us at any moment and I needed to make sure that he was not going to do anything stupid, including risking his life to stop them.

"Like hell I am going to let them hurt you," he barked, his voice an angry threat. "I will protect you until my dying breath, mate."

Jesus, this was the opposite of what I had just told him. Couldn't he listen to me for once! Not to mention that he sounded a bit dramatic and weird with this whole dying-breath and mate business.

I contemplated how else to tell him to stay out of what was probably about to happen but his warm, rough hand cupped my cheek, interrupting my thoughts. The tenderness of his touch softened my attitude. It was like I was ready to melt in his arms.