A Change To Bear (A BBW Shifter Romance) (Last of the Shapeshifters) by A.E. Grace

out. You’ve got a nice bar, thanks for the good night.” She walked toward the entrance off to the side, but he shifted into her path, hands out in front of him. Terry was beginning to feel that she was heading for trouble, and she was telling herself not to panic, despite the fact that her heart was hammering in her chest. She wondered how she should play this. Should she scream? The door was open and someone on the street outside might hear. Should she make a run for it? Should she play nice with the men and chat with them for a while until they got too drunk to stand up. That might work.
    It wasn’t the first time she’d had trouble with drunk men before, but all alone in a foreign country, it was the first time she felt she wouldn’t be able to handle it. It alarmed her that she actually didn’t know the emergency number for the police, and even then, she wasn’t sure if the operator would be someone she could communicate with.
    Her mind went to Liam again, and not for the first time that day, she wished he was with her. She hoped he would just show up, that like in a movie he’d be in the right place at the right time. And he did. And she couldn’t believe it.
    “Liam!” she called, her voice shaky and bordering on a scream. He was walking on the other side of the narrow street. “Liam!” This time, the tremor of fear in her voice was audible. He looked up at her, surprised, and then his eyes went to the man standing in between her and the door. Something in his demeanor, his stature, ignited.
    “Your boyfriend?” the man asked, turning around to look at the approaching Liam.
    Relief flooded through her. “Yes.” She looked past Gold-Tooth to Liam again. He was scowling. “Sorry, boys, but like I said, I’ve really got to go.” She pushed past the bar owner, and found the hot and still air outside strangely refreshing. Already, her nerves were calming, and her heart was slowing.
    Liam walked quickly to her, and he took her arm and guided her away from the entrance to the bar. “These guys giving you a hard time?”
    “No,” she lied. “No, everything’s fine.” They stopped just meters away. The bars were shouting loud overlapping music at each other across the street, and Terry was quickly growing sick of the din.
    “I see.” Liam looked at the three men still in the nameless bar with a banana logo, and then back at her. “You sure?”
    “Yeah,” Terry chirped. She looked at them, too. Paul, the bar owner, was grinning.
    “You sure you don’t want to come in and have another drink with the boys, love? Your friend can come, too.”
    Liam left Terry’s side before she could stop him. “Christ,” she said to herself, pinching her brow and watching him approach the bar owner. If there was one thing she didn’t want to have to go through, it was watching men act like boys.
    “Liam, wait,” she said, but he waved her down. He walked toward Paul, dwarfing him. But the bar owner had his buddies, who were both squaring up. Terry started at them with every intention of pulling Liam away. She was happy that he had chanced upon her, had pretty much rescued her, however inadvertently, but that was enough. They didn’t need to do this.
    “I wouldn’t,” she heard Liam say. Before she could reach him, he leaned closer to the bar owner, glaring, and said something. She couldn’t hear what he said, but the man called his two friends down, and Liam turned and started walking toward her.
    “Oh good,” she breathed. “I thought something was going to happen.”
    “He wanted it to.” Liam gestured behind him.
    “What did you say?”
    “Nothing. Come on.” He put out his hand, and it was such a natural. She knew he’d done it without thinking. But moments later he realized, and he pulled it back. “Come on,” he repeated. The two walked until the incomprehensible noise of music was just a murmur in the background.
    “Did you know that guy?” Terry asked, replaying it all in her head.