Miracle on Shifter Street

by Braylon Black

  I sat still in my seat for a while, taking it all in. After a long silence, I asked, “So you’re a bunny shifter, then?”

  “Well...” Marlie sighed. “Well, to be honest, I...”

  “That’s so cool. I haven’t met a lot of shifters in my life. And bunny shifter?! That’s awesome! I bet you’re so cute when you’re in your bunny form. I mean, not that you’re not cute now, but you know what I mean.”

  Marlie stared at me for a moment. He seemed to be wrestling with something. “Uh, yup. Bunny shifter. Heh. Yep, that’s me.”

  “You’ll have to shift for me some time,” I winked.

  Marlie smiled shyly. “Maybe.”

  He cleared his throat. “So, anyway. You can see why I’m so upset about this whole thing. I need to get my rabbit’s foot back. Otherwise, I might end up like... well. You know. My parents. When most people say they don’t want to end up like their parents, they mean one thing, but when I say it, I mean I don’t want to be dead.”

  He capped off his statement with a bark of a laugh that came across as slightly unhinged.

  I nodded. “Yeah. I get it. Don’t worry, I’m on it. And meanwhile, I’ll be like... your bodyguard. I’ll protect you from harm. I’ll make sure you won’t get killed, okay?”

  Marlie’s cute face brightened like a flower blossoming in spring. “Really? You mean it? Aw, you’re so sweet. You’ll really take a bullet for me?”

  “Of course!” I grinned. “Hey, I already saved you from being squashed by that truck, didn’t I? So don’t worry. You’ve got my full protection.”

  Marlie beamed. He seemed very satisfied by my proclamation, and for the moment at least, he was back in a good mood.

  We gazed at each other for a long time until it started to feel awkward. We broke eye contact and I sipped my coffee as I looked out the window. It was snowing steadily outside, and the sight of it relaxed me. Mariah Carey’s iconic Christmas album played softly through the restaurant’s speakers. Strangely, I wasn’t annoyed by the music. I bobbed my head to the beat and hummed along to the lyrics. Marlie’s presence radiated warmth and affection, and just being near him seemed to mend my broken heart and make me feel normal and whole again.

  Right now, I couldn’t think of any place I’d rather be.

  Maybe this wouldn’t be such a bad Christmas, after all.

  I just hoped I wouldn’t literally have to take a bullet.

  Marlie

  “Are you sure this is gonna work?” I asked, staring uncertainly at the stack of papers in my arms.

  “Do you have a better idea?” Logan asked. “We’ve only got two sets of eyes between us, but if we put the whole town on notice, we could utilize thousands of eyes.”

  “Uh-huh,” I muttered. The flyers had a color photo of my rabbit’s foot on the front, with the words “MISSING” and “REWARD: $500” followed by a description, and both Logan and I’s contact information. The fact that this flyer was for an inanimate object rather than a missing person or pet made it seem rather comical, but I really hoped that people would still take it seriously.

  We strolled together out of the university library and stopped to pin one flyer to the bulletin board in the hallway. When we resumed walking, I glanced up at Logan uncertainly. He towered over me by almost a foot. He had big square shoulders and he was as hard as a rock. He was certainly big and strong enough to make for a formidable bodyguard.

  “Everything okay?” Logan asked when he noticed my eyes on him.

  “Uh, yeah,” I said. “It’s just that, well...”

  Logan stopped and turned to face me. “What is it?”

  “I don’t even have five hundred dollars in my checking account right now.” I laughed to hide my embarrassment. “I mean, there’s more money coming in later in the month, but I need to make it last—”

  Logan held up his hand. “Hey—chill, all right? I’ve got it covered.”

  “Logan, please,” I said. “You’ve done so much for me already. I couldn’t ask you to—”

  “Shut your trap,” he grinned. “Seriously. I’ve got some money, and I couldn’t think of any better use for it than helping you get your rabbit’s foot back. So it’s all good.”

  My heart swelled. Geez, who was this guy? He didn’t even know me from Adam, yet he was already willing to do so much to help me.

  As we walked, we stopped frequently to hand out flyers to the students strolling by in the hallways.

  “You’ve got money, huh?” I asked. “You must be a pretty successful entrepreneur.”

  Logan chuckled. “Only because I had to sell all my shares when I got forced out of my company. I don’t have millions or anything, but I’ve got a nice little nest egg. After the holidays I’m gonna have to figure out what I’m gonna do next, career-wise. I’d like to start a new business, but I’m afraid I’m all out of ideas.”

  “What was your business? The old one, I mean?”

  He slowed to a stop and got a funny look on his face. “Well, you’re not gonna believe this.”

  I furrowed my brows. “What?”

  He laughed. “Gourmet rabbit food.”

  “What?!” I bellowed. “Are you serious!?”

  “One hundred percent,” He chuckled. “It’s a super fancy brand for rich people. Organic, locally sourced ingredients, extremely healthy. It’s kind of niche. Most people can’t afford to spend $55 on a bag of food for their pet rabbit, after all. But we found it was easier to corner a small section of the market instead of trying to compete with the big dogs.”

  “$55?!” I gasped. “Geez, what did you put in it? Gold flakes and truffle oil?”

  “Nah,” he laughed. “But I wish I knew you back when we were coming up with the recipe. You could’ve been my taste tester. We tested on rabbits, obviously, but... most rabbits can’t give actual feedback.”

  “I’m intrigued,” I said. “I wanna taste it.”

  “I’m not sure if any stores carry it around here,” Logan said. “But if you want, we can try to pick up a bag. You can shift for me and give it a taste test. I can forward any complaints to my business partners. Er, ex business partners. Actually, nevermind. Scratch that. They don’t deserve our help. Jerks. I hope the business crashes and burns.”

  I winced.

  When I’d told Logan I was a bunny shifter, his eyes lit up with so much excitement, like he thought it was just the coolest thing in the world. I didn’t want to disappoint him by telling him the truth… the truth that I was just some inept loser who couldn’t shift. I wanted him to think I was super cool and awesome and interesting. A shifter who couldn’t shift was the exact opposite of that.

  It was… sad. Pathetic.

  So I’d let him continue thinking otherwise. I just hoped he wouldn’t keep pushing the whole “shift in front of me” thing. Now that would be awkward.

  Over the next forty-five minutes, we passed out dozens of flyers and stapled several more to walls and bulletin boards around the university. Now it was time to move on and cover more ground.

  The freshly fallen snow crunched softly under our feet as we walked down the sidewalk back towards the center of town. The air was cool and crisp, and it perpetually smelled like freshly baked Christmas cookies and spiced eggnog. Vale Valley was so amazing this time of year. The entire town buzzed with positive energy, and I could viscerally feel the Christmas spirit everywhere I went. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy it to the fullest until I had my rabbit’s foot safely back in my possession.

  It occurred to me suddenly that a long time—an hour or more—had passed since anything bad had happened to me. That was strange.

  “I don’t want to jinx it, but...” I told Logan. “I haven’t been struck by any bad—”

  My left foot lost its grip on the slippery sidewalk. I waved my warms frantically as I careened backwards. My ass hit the pavement hard, the stack of flyers spilling out of my arms and scattering everywhere. I howled out in pain.

  “Oh, Marlie!” Logan
cried. He stooped down to help me, his own stack of flyers slipping out from under his arm and fanning out all over the ground around us.

  “The flyers!” I cried, my ass throbbing with scorching pain.

  Logan looked around frantically.

  “Fucking hell!” he spat as he scrambled to gather as many flyers as he could.

  From the woods across the street came an eerie howling sound. A gust of cold wind struck us like a slap to the face, blowing the flyers far away.

  “No!” I cried helplessly. I forced myself to my feet and tried to help Logan, but the wind was whipping so hard that it was hopeless. I only managed to retrieve three flyers in total before the next stroke of bad luck hit us.

  A snowblower turned onto the street. It pummeled us with a spray of ice cold snow and knocked us on our asses as it passed by.

  “Hey!” Logan screamed at the driver. “Are you blind?! We’re walkin’ here!”

  There was no comment from the driver—he seemed to be in his own little world, and I doubt he even noticed us. The snowblower continued down the street until it passed out of sight.

  We just sat there in the snow, rendered speechless by the sudden onslaught of bad luck.

  “We’re fucked,” I finally said.

  “No, we’re not,” Logan assured me, but I was no idiot. It was obvious what was happening here. Fate was conspiring against us. The forces of bad luck, misfortune—whatever you want to call it—had begun mounting their attack. This was only the beginning.

  Tears sprang to my eyes. Emotion welled up inside of me like a gurgling geyser about to explode.

  “Fuck, Logan,” I cried, my bottom lip wobbling. “Fuck, what am I gonna do? This is bad. This is really bad.”

  “Ah, it’s not so bad, is it?” He feigned an optimistic smile. “I’ll just go back inside and print out more—”

  “No,” I shook my head, tears spilling over now. “No. First it’s this, next it’ll be something else. I can handle spilling my coffee and falling on my ass, but what if it’s something worse next time? What if it’s something that actually hurts us?”

  “Nonsense,” Logan insisted. He scooted close and wrapped his big strong arm around my shoulders. He lifted my chin, forcing me to look up at him. I couldn’t really see him because my eyes were all blurry with tears. “It’ll be okay, all right? You just gotta have faith. You’ve got me now, remember? I’ll protect you. I admit I’m no rabbit’s foot, but I’ll do the best I can. I promise.”

  I nodded, sniffling. He held my gaze for a long time and my heart skipped a beat. Everything else in the world fell away like the last autumn leaves from a branch, and for the moment, at least, it was just the two of us and nothing else. Me and Logan.

  My breath caught in my throat as he dipped his head, and I realized what was happening. Unfortunately, he moved a little too fast. Instead of the soft, gentle brush of his lips against mine, our front teeth clanked together painfully.

  “Ow!” I cried.

  He pulled back immediately. “Ah, shit. Sorry. I, uh… damn.”

  He scrambled to his feet and shook the snow off his body like a dog shaking rain from its coat. “Uh, so I’m gonna go back inside and print off more flyers, okay?”

  He turned and trotted off as I let out a weak, “Wait for me!”

  I got up and followed him, shaking my limbs to get rid of all the caked on snow. Despite all my bad luck, I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. Logan just tried to kiss me! Holy shit!

  Was this really happening? Could Logan be my mate, I wondered? I mean, he really did seem like the perfect match for me. He was like my knight in shining armor. We’d only known each other a few hours and he’d already sacrificed so much for me, and devoted himself to protecting me and helping me find my—

  “Um, Marlie?” Logan asked, turning to face me.

  “Yes?”

  “Look, I’m sorry about, uh... what I just did,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “I don’t know what I was thinking. It just happened, I guess. But to be honest? I literally just got out of a long-term relationship. It hasn’t even been a full week yet. Needless to say, I’m not ready to start anything with anyone right now. So it’s best if we just stay friends.”

  I forced out a bellow of a laugh to keep myself from crying. “Hey, that’s cool! I mean, I don’t... I don’t want that. I’m not into that, either. I hate kissing, actually. Puke. Uh, no, it’s totally swell with me, man. Ew, relationships, am I right? Vomit.”

  Logan eyed me skeptically, and let out a cautious laugh. “Uh-huh. Yeah, I guess you’re right...”

  “Anyway, carry on!” I said, walking ahead. “Let’s print out more flyers. Time’s a ticking!”

  “Sure.”

  I picked up the pace and walked ahead, creating a space between us. I didn’t want him to see my fake smile disappear. I didn’t want him to see the sheen of tears in my eyes, or the way I had to bite my bottom lip to keep myself from crying.

  God, what was wrong with me? This guy was a stranger. I’d only known him a few hours, for Santa’s sake! Yet this “rejection” had me feeling like a jilted groom left abandoned at the alter on his wedding day.

  I knew Logan wouldn’t see it this way, but... this blow to my feelings only served as one more stroke of bad luck to add to the pile. Only this one hurt so much more than the others.

  Logan

  Over the next few hours, we handed out what felt like hundreds of flyers. We taped one on every door of every business that gave us permission, and we left not a single utility pole in the whole town spared, either. Meanwhile, we kept our eyes and ears on high alert in case that sneaky owl decided to make a reappearance, and we questioned every person we passed in the street in case they happened to know anything. Many people looked at us like we were crazy, and hell, maybe we were. I didn’t care—I was willing to do anything to help Marlie.

  It was dark now, and I discovered that Vale Valley at night was truly something to behold. Every tree was strung up with lights; elegantly decorated Christmas trees glowed from nearly every window. Somewhere off in the distance, carolers were singing. I heard the tinkle of bells, too. The air smelled like gingerbread cookies.

  “Well, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” I asked Marlie as we strolled together down the sidewalk towards the center of town where I’d parked my car this morning—what felt like a million years ago now.

  “Let’s see. You fell on your ass a few more times. You got a random nosebleed,” I eyed the unsightly splatter of blood on the front of his jacket. “Don’t worry, I’m sure we can get that drycleaned. What else? Oh, a bird pooped on your head. All in all though, nothing too horrible, right?”

  Marlie shrugged. “I guess not,” he admitted.

  “Now all we have to do is wait for someone to call,” I said.

  “Yeah, if anyone does,” Marlie added.

  “Stay positive,” I said. “I’m sure someone will call. Hey—this is me.”

  We stopped in front of my red Toyota Camry. Under the front windshield wiper was a collection of small yellow papers.

  “Ah, shit,” I blurted, grabbing them from the windshield. I flipped through them. “What?! $45 in parking fees? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  Marlie chuckled. “You’re supposed to pay for parking, you know. You can’t just leave your car parked here all day long for free. You’re lucky it didn’t get towed.”

  “Okay, right, but... I mean, I was distracted and all. By you.”

  I nudged him in the shoulder playfully. “And hey, you said lucky! See? We are lucky!”

  “You’re lucky,” Marlie grumbled. “Me? Not so much.”

  “Shush,” I said, grabbing my keys out of my pocket. “So, you want me to drop you off at your house?”

  “Sure, might as well,” Marlie answered. “I could walk, but it’s getting cold out here and I’m a wimp.”

  We climbed into the car and I held my breath as I put the key in the ignition. It purred to life w
ithout a hitch, thank Goddess. Not that there was anything wrong with my car, but considering this whole bad luck situation, I had to be prepared for the worst.

  Marlie pointed to the right. I pulled out onto Main Street and began to drive in that direction.

  “Um, Logan...” Marlie asked, chewing his bottom lip nervously.

  “Yeah?”

  “You said ‘drop me off’, but I hope you’re not gonna leave, right? I mean, you’re staying, right?”

  “Um, I hadn’t thought about it, actually. I don’t want to bother you. Oh, look!” I pointed. “The Dozing Dragon Bed and Breakfast! Maybe I can stay there.”

  “But you’re supposed to be my bodyguard,” Marlie said quietly, just above a whisper.

  “I know,” I replied. “And I am. But what could I protect you from at your own house?”

  Marlie barked out a laugh. “Um, a lot. Let me see. Carbon monoxide poisoning. Fire. Home invasion. Venomous spiders that want to eat my face.”

  “Fair enough,” I chuckled. “All right, I’ll stay with you, if you don’t mind.” I gave him a sidelong glance. “You got anywhere for me to sleep?”

  “Couch,” Marlie replied with a smile. “Don’t worry, it’s very comfortable. In fact, what am I thinking? I’ll let you take the bed and I’ll take the couch.”

  “Nonsense,” I waved my hand. “I’m not too good to sleep on a couch. It’s fine.”

  “Okay, great,” Marlie said. “It’s a date then. Wait—no. Not... no, that’s not what I meant. At all.”

  I laughed like it was a hilarious joke, but I felt my palms get sweaty against the steering wheel, as butterflies tumbled around in my belly.

  Was it a good idea to spend the night with an omega as attractive and enticing as Marlie? Did I trust myself to actually be an adult about this, and not hit on him? I was still embarrassed as hell over my botched attempt at a kiss earlier that day. I never meant to kiss him, honest. I just couldn’t help it. My lips had been drawn to his like a magnet. I really had no say in the matter. It just… happened.