Page 57 of Claimed By the Guardian

“My God,” he breathed.

“Nope,” Cecilia said almost cheerfully. “That’s your wife. Don’t be an ass and abandon her.” Then she turned to Brittany. “She did this for you, remember?” She squeezed Brittany’s huge furred arm. “She didn’t need to do this. It was really hard and scary for her, right?” Cecilia glanced at Hank.

He nodded. “And painful. First shifts suck.”

“But she did it for you both. So you would see that it’s not scary. It’s a good thing. Pretty cool, actually, right?”

He didn’t expect Abby to answer, but she did. The bear opened her mouth and did a kind of soft grunt—very restrained and very anxious—but it got through to Brittany.

“Mommy!” she cried then suddenly she was climbing onto the bed with her mother and throwing her arms around Abby’s neck.

Perfect, right? Would be except for the heavy bangs on the room door. “Dr. Lu! Dr. Lu! Open up.”

Cecilia turned to bellow out the door. “We’re fine! Stay back!”

Hank worried that they wouldn’t listen, but a moment later, things quieted down on the other side of the door. Apparently, Cecilia’s doctor voice carried true authority. Meanwhile, it was now up to Peter. Would he accept the evidence of his own eyes? Just how much did he love his wife and child? Maybe not enough, given how much he was staring.

It was as if the words were written on the man’s face. An endless stream of: This can’t be true, this can’t be true.

Hank wanted to shake him. He wanted to force the man to really accept what he was seeing, but he knew that any distraction would likely make matters worse. The battle was all in Peter’s head now and at the moment, it was fifty-fifty which side would win.

Mother and daughter noticed. Brittany still had her bear arms wrapped around her mother’s neck. Her lower half had gone bear, too, which was just as well given that she was in her hospital gown. Abby was nuzzling her child, making soothing bear purrs as her tongue licked long swaths across Brittany’s forehead revealing the girl’s bear ears. But the longer Peter stayed silent, the more the two noticed that he wasn’t part of them.

Abby looked at her husband and made a low moan. Brittany opened her eyes and turned to stare at her father.

“Daddy?” Her voice hadn’t changed much. A little deeper maybe, but Hank could still hear the little girl in that one word.

Apparently, so could Peter. He blinked his eyes and wiped away his tears. And then he took a deep breath as he squared his shoulders…and dove into the big hug.

All three, hugging it out on the bed. Bear, hybrid, and human. Hank rocked back on his heels and blew out a slow breath in appreciation. Family unity in the scariest of situations. It never failed to steal his breath. Cecilia seemed equally effected as she entwined her fingers in his.

“Sometimes life doesn’t suck in the least,” she murmured, her eyes sheening with tears.

He smiled. So did Peter who was now rocking backward to stare at the two women in his life. “I never want to hear one word about how I’m going bald,” he said. “Not when you two can do this whenever you want. It’s just not fair,” he said as he ran a hand over his nearly bald pate.

Brittany chuckled as she rocked backward. Abby, too, though the sound was more a rumble as it came through her bear body. Then there was another knock on the door.

“Dr. Lu? Mr. and Mrs. Randolph?—”

“We’re fine!” Cecilia snapped. “And you’re interfering with therapy!” She turned back to the threesome on the bed. “This isn’t going to last long. You need to change back.” Then she looked at Abby. “And I need to get behind you to turn off those alarms.”

The beeps and bings were continuing, but she’d have to climb over Abby’s back to get to them. Then Hank saw a better way. He scooted around and pulled the plugs. All of them. As many as he could reach.

The silence was heavenly. At least until Cecilia gasped at him in horror. “You just lost all the data!”

He looked at the suddenly dark machines. What could he say? “Oops.”

She blew out a breath, but then turned to the family. “Brittany, human now. Abby? Do you know how to do it?”

The bear shook her head and Brittany just stared at her hands and thick arms obviously starting to climb back into hysterics.

“Don’t you dare,” Cecilia snapped. “Remember how your mom got you out of it before? She got you to remember that day when you won that mathlete thing.”

Peter took up the reins. “Remember that day clearly, Brit. You won because you’re so smart. And that boy asked you out. What was his name?”

“Jordan,” Brittany said as she closed her eyes. “Jordan and I kissed,” she murmured as she clearly relived the event. And again, in that soft yellow glow, Brittany returned to human. Right at the exact moment her father drew up short.

“You kissed? What do you mean you kissed?”