Jillian looked back at him. Was she really going to do this?
It appeared that she was.
“Okay,” she said. “I can’t believe I’m doing this but…here goes.”
Then, slowly, she slipped her wounded left hand between the black lips and into the enormous creature’s mouth.
It was like slipping her hand into a warm, wet cavern. The Ursus’s tongue was soft and it curled up around the edges to engulf her entire hand and draw her even further in. Jillian bit her lip, wondering if those massive jaws were going to close over her arm and bite it off at the elbow. But she never even felt a single tooth—only the soft, warm tongue like a gentle cloud enfolding her.
“Well,” she said, after a long moment. “I’m not sure how long this is supposed to take but—”
Then she gasped, because a deep tingling had started in the stumps of her three missing fingers. What was happening? Was he just healing the wounds and sealing them over to stop the blood loss? Or was something else going on?
Her eyes flew up to meet those of the Ursus and she saw that he was watching her with that same, almost human-like look of concern in his deep, silver-green eyes. He was also holding perfectly still, as though he didn’t want to frighten her even as the tingling continued and grew.
“What…what are you doing to me?” Jillian asked him, still staring deep into his eyes. “Are you just healing the stumps—making them scar over? Or are you doing…something else?”
To her utter shock, the Ursus answered.
Not in spoken words—which would have been impossible, since he literally had his mouth full—but as she looked into his eyes, she could hear a deep, wild voice talking in her mind.
“Healing…you,” the voice said. “Hold still. Regrowth…hard. Takes…time.”
The voice didn’t seem to be used to speaking because the words were halting and hesitant, as though he was trying to translate his thoughts from another language—a more primitive speech that was felt more than heard.
“Thank you,” Jillian whispered to him. Tentatively, she reached up to stroke his enormous head with her right hand. “Thank you for healing me, Ursus.”
“I am…Brun,” she heard the Ursus say. “You are…Jillian. Also Mistress. Also sweetheart. We…belong…together.”
And then he followed up the words with a rush of emotion—an outpouring of concern and protectiveness and love that felt like a warm quilt being wrapped around her shoulders.
Jillian didn’t know what to say—she was overwhelmed by the sudden emotions she could feel pouring into her as Brun held her hand in his mouth and healed her. The last vestiges of fear, that had still clung like cobwebs to the corners of her mind, were brushed aside and melted away like ice in the warm sunshine.
“Oh,” she whispered. “Oh, Brun…you love me. You really do!”
“Love…want…need…care for…heal,” he assured her in that deep, wild mental voice of his. “You are…mine. I am…yours.”
“Yes.” Jillian stroked his thick fur—which was much softer than it looked—as she gazed into those wild eyes. “Yes, we belong together. You’re right—I don’t know why I couldn’t see it before.”
“Frightened,” Brun suggested. “Not frightened…now.”
“No, I’m not scared of you anymore,” Jillian told him. She felt her heart swell as they held each other’s eyes. “You’re amazing,” she whispered.
“Love…you, too. Healed now,” Brun informed her. “All…new.”
“New?” Jillian slowly pulled her hand from between his massive jaws and examined the fingers.
To her surprise and joy, she had five of them again!
“How? Oh my God, how did you do that?” she exclaimed, turning her hand from side to side and looking at it from every angle. Sure enough, she had three new fingers on her hand to replace the ones she’d lost. They were a little bit paler than the original ones, but they still bent and moved normally and when she touched the tip of each new finger to her thumb, the nerve endings were as sensitive as ever.
“All healed,” Brun told her again, making that soft, rumbling purr in the back of his throat. “Kalis now.”
Jillian dragged her eyes from her new, perfect fingers to the huge Ursus’s face.
“Wait, you’re going now? Going to turn back into Kalis?”
It was exactly what she would have wanted half an hour ago. But now, she was sorry to be losing the enormous beast.
“But will I see you again?” she asked anxiously.
He nodded his head in that decisive way of his.
“Soon.”
“Good.” Impulsively, Jillian reached for him and threw her arms as far as she could around the enormous, furry neck. “Thank you, Brun,” she whispered in one tufted ear as she snuggled close to the huge Ursus. “Thank you so much for healing me. I’m so sorry I didn’t give you a chance before.”
Brun nuzzled her very, very gently and she heard him say, “Love you, Jillian.”
Then he began to shrink in her arms and his fur grew shorter and shorter until, at last, it wasn’t fur but smooth, warm, naked skin.