Bearly Hanging On (A Werebear Shifter BBW Romance) (Laid Bear Book 3) by Marina Maddix

explain. “You know Amber was, like, my B.F.F., right? She was my only human friend who totally knew all about us and was chill about it. The other night, this boy—“
    “Oh, God,” Chet moaned. “This was all over a boy ?!” Thump-thud!
    “Bag your face, buttwad!” she hissed. He had to chuckle, his first since the other night.
    “Anyway…this boy, Sloan, came over to our table and started flirting with me. I’d seen him in town a few times and thought he was pretty cute, so I flirted back. Amber never told me she had the hots for him?!”
    “Uh oh.”
    “Right? She got mad and told Sloan that I was a freak of nature. I thought she was my best friend! My stupid bear jumped out to defend me, and it only made things worse.”
    “No shit, Sherlock. You’re old enough to control your beast by now, Sandy. You should know better.”
    ”Don’t talk to me about knowing better, Mr. I’ll-Date-A-Human. You know how anti-human our clan is.”
    He certainly couldn’t deny that. “So why do you hang out with them? Why not stick with weres your own age, like everyone else?”
    Sandy studied the flaking polish on her nails for a moment before answering with a shrug. “They’re, like, the cool kids at school, you know? I mean, I know I don’t go to their school, but…I wanna be like them. I want to be…normal.”
    “Aw, kiddo.” He wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. “It’s no use chasing that dream, you know. You are who and what you are, and that’s nothing to be ashamed of. You’re not a freak, but you’ll never be totally human. You’ll always be different, and that doesn’t have to be a bad thing.”
    She tilted her head to look up at him, an eyebrow raised questioningly. “Even when you fall for a human and are told you can’t be with them?”
    Darkness swept over Chet again. He dropped his arm and recommenced the ball chucking. Thump-thud! Thump-thud! Thump— With preternatural speed, Sandy’s arm shot out, snatching away the ball mid-air with a grin. “It’s all bunk, you know.
    “What is?” he asked as he tried to grab the ball back, but she held it out of reach.
    “That B.S. about weres and humans not being able to mate. The mutant babies and stuff? All lies and I can prove it.”
    It felt like a giant had punched him in the stomach. “H-How?”  
    “These,” she said, pulling a stack of envelopes from her pocket and tossing the bundle at Chet. Sorting through them quickly, he saw they were all addressed with the same handwriting, and all had a return address from the U.S.S.R.
    “What are they?”
    “Letters from my pen pal, Tatiana. She lives in this really tiny town in eastern Russia where humans and werebears not only mingle, but they mix, if you get my drift.”
    Chet’s pulse quickened. “Really? Are you sure?”
    “Sure I’m sure. You can read them, if you want. She’s a half-breed herself. Mom’s were , Dad’s human. Almost everyone in the village has some were blood running through their veins, and everyone gets along just fine.”
    Sandy thumped the tennis ball against the wall while he skimmed through several letters looking for confirmation. Sure enough, Tatiana wrote openly about their Siberian village where interspecies breeding was not only accepted but often encouraged. The more he read, the more excited he became.  
    “This is incredible,” he breathed, hardly able to contain himself. His bear was out of its hidey hole and prowling around, chuffing at him like it was saying ‘Told you so, moron.’  
    “Thought you’d find it interesting reading. I feel bad for not giving them to you sooner but, well, like I said, I was being a bitch. So the question is, what are you going to do about it?”
    He saw himself running down the hallway, elbowing his aunt and uncle aside as he raced for the door. The moment he was outside, he’d shift and run straight for Crystal’s house. She’d run out, wrap him in a tight hug, climb