Joel (BBW Bear Shifter Wedding Romance) (Grizzly Groomsmen Book 5) by Becca Fanning Page A

we can see them if they pop out from the same place."

    "And if they don't?" Iris asked, gesturing for him to lead on. Ian paused, and looked over his shoulder at her for a moment before continuing.

    "We have to pray to God that someone else sees them before they get here."

    And that’s how Iris came to be sitting in that hotel room, staring across at the man sitting opposite her.   This wasn't exactly an ideal situation, well, she didn't have to be reminded of that.   The most exciting thing that had happened to her in the last two years was seeing her daughter's soccer team win a county-wide trophy, and even then, that had had nothing to with her. This wasn't exactly the kind of excitement she was looking for, but still, she felt useful, outside of her daughter, for the first time in a while. And that was a really good feeling. It had been so long since she'd felt like anything other than just a mother, not just to herself, but to everyone else. She had this nagging feeling that that was part of the reason Dina had invited her along to this wedding, it was a way to guarantee some time away from home, a way to force Iris to get out of her comfort zone and do something for herself. Dina was always perceptive like that, even if her methods weren't always the most subtle.  

    "Ian," she began, breaking the silence between them for the first time since they had arrived up at the room. "Do you think…well, do you think everything's going to turn out okay?"

    She knew it was a childish question, but she needed to hear from someone else that this was not as bad a situation as her senses were telling her it was. He turned to her, and plastered a reassuring but obviously fake smile on his face.

    "Iris, I know this is really scary, but trust me, I've dealt with worse," he looked back out the window, and she furrowed her brow at him.

    "What worse have you dealt with?"

    "Before…before I was with this pack. There was another group of bear shifters I was associated with, and they weren't quite as clean-cut as these guys. We got into some shit. It's not worth talking about now."

    "Well, if I'm stuck in a room with you for the foreseeable future, I think it's only fair that you tell me what you're capable of," she snapped, her words a little harsher than she had intended. She was just on edge, and knowing he had hidden something from her only exacerbated her emotions.

    "It was just a dumb thing. A couple of years back, there was another pack, and they were moving in on our territory. So we dealt with them." He refused to make eye contact with her, pointedly avoiding her gaze.  

    "You fought them?" She prompted him.

    "Yeah. No-one was badly hurt but it was…scary, seeing what shifters can do to each other. Seeing Win like that downstairs, it just reminded me…" he shook his head, as if trying to dismiss the thoughts from his brain.

    "Is that why you didn't go out there to fight in the first place?" Iris nodded out over the hills. It had been odd-seeing pretty much everyone else run out into the storm as soon as they heard there was something wrong, while Ian stayed behind. It wasn't that she thought he was a coward-just that it was strange he didn't go out to fight with his pack.  

    "Yeah," he mumbled. "It never really, it scared me, seeing that much power, seeing the power I had when I didn't keep it in check."

    "But that doesn't happen every time you shift, right?" She cocked her head at him curiously.

    "I don't know," he admitted. " I haven't shifted since then."

    "What? You said it was…?"

    "Three years ago." He nodded, and Iris' mouth fell open.

    "Isn't it bad for you? Not to shift for that long, I mean?"

    "I don't think so, but sometimes it feels as if it's going to burst out of me when I least expect it," he shook his head. "It's….I just keep remembering how much I lost control, and the thought of that happening again really doesn't sit right with me."

    "So what will you do if you have to fight them?"