Captivating The Bear. Jane Godman

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       Chapter 3

      Lidi viewed the first aid kit with suspicion. “I can’t take this robe off. I’m not wearing anything underneath it.”

      Ged groaned. “Comments like that aren’t helping me concentrate on the practicalities.”

      She knew exactly what he meant. They were sitting inches apart on the bed and his nearness was so tempting it was sinful. Inexperience didn’t count. Her imagination was going into overdrive, heat surging through her in waves that were pleasurable, tormenting and wildly inconvenient.

      Since Ged seemed determined to deal with her injuries, she reluctantly slid the robe off her left shoulder and down to the elbow on that side, clutching it tightly in place across her breasts with her other hand.

      She already knew the cuts on her arm were bad. When she had broken the tiny bathroom window of her prison and forced her way through, she had been aware of the jagged shards tearing into her flesh. Because she had needed to slither down a steep wall and get away from the palace as fast as she could, it had been some time before she was able to take a look at her wounds. All she knew was, as she ran, she could feel hot, wet blood soaking her sleeve. When she finally stopped, everything had swum out of focus and she lay panting on her side until the world righted itself.

      “How did you keep going with injuries like these?” Ged’s hand on her elbow was gentle as he bent closer to examine the damage to her flesh.

      “I had to.” That was what she had told herself at the time, forcing herself on, one pain-filled step at a time. “Once I had managed to get out of that cell, it would have been crazy to let anything stop me.” She managed a smile. “I was even wearing the clothes I’d been captured in. You don’t think I’d have chosen to make that journey in ankle boots and without a warm coat, do you?”

      His face was inches from hers as he raised his eyes to look at her. “This should have been stitched when you did it, and you’re lucky these wounds didn’t become infected.”

      “I bathed my arm in fresh water whenever I got the chance. And I’m a shifter. You know as well as I do that we heal fast.”

      “Are you always this stubborn?”

      Lidi started to laugh. “Let me see...my father once asked my mother if an evil spirit tricked them and substituted a mule shifter for their bear baby. Does that answer your question?”

      He smiled. “After three weeks, it’s too late for stitches. All I can do is apply a balm and put a dressing on your arm.”

      Lidi watched as he scooped lotion out of a tub. When his fingertips touched her arm, she flinched and Ged raised questioning brows.

      “Am I hurting you?”

      “A little.” It was true, but her reaction had been more about the impact of his touch. Or rather, the intention behind the contact. He wanted to heal and comfort her.

      Their DNA was half-human and half-bear. While bears were solitary creatures, shifters mated for life. Until they met their mate, they were free to live by human rules. But Lidi was a Callistoya noble, constrained by centuries of formality and duty. Their land had not moved in step with the mortal realm.

      Her mother, in particular, had been determined that her daughter should observe the traditions of the ancient name into which she had married. From the day Lidi was born, Olga, Countess of Aras, had sworn her only child would marry well. She would train her daughter to rise above her instincts and marry for convenience instead of love. Even if she found her fated mate, Lidi, as the daughter of an aristocrat, would not be allowed to spend her life with him. Her parents would choose her partner. With that in mind, Olga had raised her in the ways of the bear.

      There had been one problem with that plan. From a very early age, it was obvious that Lidi was unlike other bear shifters. Words like unusual and flighty were always attached to her. Her father scratched his head over her while her mother described her as overemotional, possibly the worst character trait she could conceive of. No matter how hard they tried to confine her spirit and mold her to their expectations, Lidi didn’t change. Among her werebear counterparts, she was quicksilver to their lead. Ruled by her powerful human emotions and intuition, she refused to conform, preferring a life of rebellion to one of compliance.

      During her early years, Lidi’s mother had played the part of a bear in the wild. Demonstrating affection, protection and devotion, she had remained close to her daughter only until Lidi reached an age when Olga judged she could survive on her own. After that, mirroring the actions of a bear mother in the wild, she had tenaciously cast her aside. It was a tactic that worked effectively for most werebears.

      But Lidi wasn’t like most werebears. She could still remember the shock and distress she had endured. The mother who had protected and cared for her one day was coldly turning her back the next. Her СКАЧАТЬ