by Mia Wolf
“You’re not human,” I say.
There’s a look of horror in Steve’s eyes which is unusual because he’s the one who has just turned into a bear.
“You saw?” he asks hoarsely.
I don’t speak.
He gets up and walks towards me, dangling the gun in his hand, and when his face is inches away from mine, he places the gun to my temple.
“Now you know too much, princess,” he says. He’s almost drooling. I can feel the cold metal against my skin, and I’m thinking that if this is how it ends, it’s not so bad. I’d much prefer this to being ripped apart by a bear.
“A bear shifter, it’s called,” Steve says, as if educating his victim before going for the kill will somehow absolve him of his crime. He presses the gun against my head and digs into the spot where it already hurts. My eyes are watering. “I can’t let you go now, you know that right?” he asks as if trying to convince himself.
I know that there’s nothing I can say to help me survive this. “Just tell Warren that I love him,” I mumble as tears are starting to fall down my cheeks. It’s surprising that near my end, it’s him I think of.
“Who’s Warren?” Steve spits out. “Oh, that paperwhite boy you’re dating? He looks like he’s twenty, Ashley. A more mature man would’ve suited you more. Mature men have more tricks up their sleeves.” Steve trails the gun down to my cheek then to my neck as though trying to pick a spot. He brings the gun back up to my forehead, apparently deciding that that’s where it’s going to be.
“It’s a real shame that I have to kill you, Ashley. None of this would have happened if you’d have just seen how good I could be to you. We could’ve taken the world by storm. You and me, and now you’re going to die alone in a basement.”
There’s a sound that makes Steve looks up. It came from outside. Then comes the howling.
Chapter 37 – Warren
We arrive at a large state-of-the-art house, where Andrew is already waiting for us. We both pull into the driveway and get out of our cars.
“How’d you get here so fast?” Rose asks him, slipping out of the driver’s seat.
“Drove fast,” Andrew replies then stares at me for a moment. “You okay?” he asks.
I reply with a jerk of my head.
“So what’s the plan?” Andrew asks. “We just walk in?”
“Think so,” I reply while I look around. I see no signs of security at the gate. “It’s almost too quiet.”
We walk towards the side of the house that seems to have some open space behind it. About ten steps further, we see a large empty field of grass that ends in the woods far in the back. The field seems to be well-maintained, the grass is freshly cut and smells of dew. The pale moonlight makes the ground look far more appealing than the circumstances would allow.
“He owns all of this?” Rose asks, astonished. We are all thinking the same thing. Steve Parera surely would have the means to buy real estate like this.
I see three men walking toward us, all of whom are dressed in black suits.
“Excuse me, you’re on private property. I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” the man in the middle says with authority. They’re all tall, and their hairstyles are the only things that make them look less like security guards and more like members of a cult. They have trimmings of different kinds, lines running criss-cross across their heads. The man who just spoke has the moon trimmed on the side of his head. Must be hard to maintain.
“Is this Steve Parera’s house?” I ask the man and he looks at his sidekicks for support.
“He’s not home at the moment, sir. I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” he repeats and approaches me.
“I’m afraid we can’t do that without talking to Mr. Parera,” I insist and stand my ground while at the same time sizing up the three men. They seem to be shining in the pale moonlight and keep stepping closer to us, as if they’re about to attack us. I feel my bear getting ready.
They stop a few steps away from us and look at each other one more time when the middle one lifts his head up and howls into the night. The two men beside him join in.
Rose, Andrew, and I exchange glances. It looks like we’re not standing against humans here.
“Wolf shifters,” Andrew says and steps away, as do Rose and I.
There’s a ripping of fabric and the men start transforming. They don’t look at us, they look at each other while they change. Rose, Andrew, and I watch them as they grow to the size of the largest dogs I’ve ever seen. Well, they’re no ordinary dogs, of course.
“Keep your paws off of me,” I say but the three of them inch only closer to us. There’s drool in their mouths as if they’re hungry for blood tonight. I really was hoping that this could be handled with a bit more diplomacy, but it looks like we’re going to use our claws tonight.
“Warren and I can handle them. Rose, you can go in and find Ashley,” Andrew says and I love the plan already. I get to get my hands dirty.
But Rose doesn’t step to the side, and as the wolves pounce on us, all three of us transform. In a second, we’re in our bear form. I let a roar escape my throat and throw one of the wolves to the side. We’re much stronger than them, but the thing about wolves is that they don’t give up and always get back to their feet.
Beside me, Rose lands a punch on one of the wolves, and it squeals with pain, making the other two wolves angrily hurtle at us. I feel a sense of pride, looking at the strong bear my sister has become.
But then my heart sinks in horror. Steve appears around the side of the house, holding a gun to Ashley’s temple. My eyes widen at the sight. I let the rage reach a crescendo instead of acting on it right away. One wrong move, and Ashley could get killed.
I transform back to my human form and walk up to where Steve and Ashley are standing. Steve’s staring at his minions wide-eyed, surprised that they’ve got company.
The look of horror on Ashley’s face when she sees me turning back to my human form breaks my heart in two. I hear the howling of the wolves then the thud of something or someone hitting a tree. I’m standing face to face with Steve holding Ashley at gunpoint.
I don’t give him a moment and leap at him turning back into my bear form as I do. Ashley runs to the side as Steve transforms too. I land a blow to Steve’s face before he can come at me and then I fall back. It takes Steve some time to hurl his giant body up. Even in his bear form, he has a fat belly. I take a moment to stare at Ashley and she is looking at me with terror in her eyes. I don’t have the time to soothe her, I’m already heartbroken that I have to do this in front of her, but I can’t take a chance and lose her. I stare at the gun that’s now lying on the grass, then at Ashley then back at the gun again. She understands what I mean. Albeit with a tear-stained face, she reaches for the gun. At least she can protect herself now.
My moment of absentmindedness costs me, though. Steve has gotten back to his feet and this time he manages to throw me off balance. His claw meets my jaw and I go tumbling backward, landing on the ground with a thump.
He growls and the sound echoes deep into the forest, his wolves joining in with their howling. I glance over my shoulder and see that Rose and Andrew are having some trouble taking care of the wolves.
I focus my attention on Steve and think of the wounded look in Ashley’s eyes. He made me do this. I unleash the rage and sprint towards Steve who is preparing to stop my blow. I keel over before he realizes my plan and roll towards his feet, then I stick one of my legs between his and pull, he loses his balance and doesn’t even see what came for him.
He crashes to the ground, his heavy body making dust rise up. He is still disoriented from the fall but I have too much anger in me to go easy on him. I let my heavy bear ass sit on him while I throw one hard punch at him after another. He winces and coughs with each blow but can’t move an inch because I have him pinned to the spot.
He groans and wails and tries to wriggle free from my grip. He flails his arms madly
and makes me go reeling to the side. I hit the concrete wall and the edge scrapes badly against my side, making me cough blood in an instant. I don’t waste a second and struggle to get up on my feet.
Steve is struggling to get up too. He’s completely upright when I turn around to face him. I can feel the broken rib move and knock the wind out of me, but it doesn’t stop me from going for the final blow. I get down on all fours, growl to the sky so loudly that I can see the wolves recoil from fear, and charge at Steve with my claws ready to pierce into him.
I jab my claws into Steve’s skin and he groans in pain and falls, stumbling on his feet. He's almost completely incapacitated but I don’t grant him mercy, I grab his head and feel no resistance coming from his side. I smash my forehead into Steve’s and his upper body falls backward limply on the ground behind him, barely alive.
My first instinct is to go and help Rose and Andrew but when I turn my back to Steve, I see the wolves running away into the woods with their tails between their legs. Rose and Andrew have crashed to the ground, too. They’re scrambling to their feet, back in their human forms already.
I turn around and try to find Ashley, but I don’t see her. Has she run away? It’s a momentary panic that makes my growl turn into a roar or perhaps it’s the pain in my side. I fall to the ground with defeated knees and when my face is lying flat against the grass, I see Ashley. She has passed out nearby. I turn back to my human form and use the final ounce of energy that I have left to crawl towards her and put my arm around her. Once I am near her, I let the darkness take over.
Chapter 38 – Ashley
I feel the coldness in my feet; it’s seeping up, making old injuries hurt as it continues to crawl up. I feel something wet under my feet, something moist and frozen. The grass rubs against the sole of my foot as I lift my toes, checking if I’m still alive. I’m supposed to be afraid for my life, I remember suddenly and look around myself. I see no one. Just an infinite field of grass and a pale moon coloring the landscape a shade of pastel yellow.
I hear a growl then another. Then comes the howling and I turn around to see bears and wolves fighting with each other, clawing at each other’s skin, bruising and biting and mutilating each other. The sounds of their paws hitting the ground shakes it and I can feel it in my cold legs.
Amidst the fight, I see Warren standing alone and smiling at me.
“Get out of there,” I want to shout. He’s going to die if he keeps standing in the middle of all the animals fighting. But he doesn’t hear me because no words come out of my mouth.
A mortal fear creeps into me, I look at my hands and realize they’re fading. I’m disappearing.
I wake up with a sudden jolt of panic. There’s sweat on my brow and a tingling in my legs as if only moments ago they were standing on a surface. It takes a while for me to catch my breath and come to my senses. I notice I’m in bed and then I see Warren sleeping next to me. I don’t know who’s house we’re in. There’s a bright sun outside, and out of the window I can see a gorgeous view of New York in the morning.
I shift in the bed and turn to face Warren. His sleeping face looks a lot like a child’s. Unlike when’s he’s awake, he doesn’t have any frown lines on his forehead. Pink lips, white skin, a stubble that makes me laugh. He hasn’t had the time to shave, I guess. I feel weird for some reason, like I should be afraid of him. He turned into a bear in front of my eyes and now he’s fast asleep next to me, and I can’t bring myself to hate him or think badly of him.
Is it because he saved my life? I instinctively lift my wrists. There are red lines running around them where Steve had tied my hands. My body is aching, swollen, and bruised, but I feel so content lying here next to Warren.
I softly touch the bridge of his nose but he shifts in his sleep, and I chuckle a little. I want to trace his features but I don’t want to wake him up so I trace them while leaving some space between my finger and his face. He looks so peaceful when he’s asleep.
“That’s creepy,” Warren suddenly says and I retreat my hand quickly.
He opens his eyes and looks at me. “What are you doing to an unsuspecting, sleeping person?”
I don’t have an answer. He tries to sit up straight but grimaces as he does. Something is probably hurting. He injured himself badly yesterday, for me. I pull the sheets away and look at his naked torso. There’s a black-and-blue wound on his side and it looks nasty. I frown at it but Warren takes the sheet and covers it up.
“We need to go to the doctor,” I say, tugging at the sheet again. Warren grabs my wrist to stop me, but accidentally touches the place where it hurts. I let out a high-pitched “ouch” and Warren drops my arm instantly.
“So sorry about that,” he apologizes and looks upset.
We don’t speak for a while and let the silence wash over the hurt. Nothing moves, nothing changes. It’s just us sitting side by side in the bed like an old married couple. The thought brings a blush to my face. It has been a long time since I gave up on the idea of marriage, but I also gave up on the idea of ever finding someone worth getting married to. Actually, in my mind, it was always going to be Warren or no one else. I see his face in my peripheral vision, wondering if he feels the same. What if he wants to be with someone who’s like him, someone who’s a bear? I don’t want to bring up the topic right now, hoping to make this moment last a lifetime.
“You saw me,” Warren says. “You saw what I am. Why aren’t you afraid of me?”
“Trust me, I’m asking myself the same thing,” I reply. “I saw you turn into a bear and it changed nothing.”
“A bear shifter,” Warren mumbles.
“Hm?”
“That’s what I am, a bear shifter,” he explains.
“Bear shifter,” I repeat. “It has a ring to it.”
We both laugh and then we both groan from pain because everything hurts. It makes us laugh even more and we groan from pain again.
There’s a calm that settles into me like warm light, going down my legs and up my arms and all around in my chest, placating me. I feel content, like nothing else in the world matters right now. I could get used to feeling like this. The bristling sensation on my fingertips tells me that life could be beautiful like this for a long time. The warmth that I’m feeling, this could be forever. I let myself believe the lie, because I don’t want to break the illusion. Sinking back into the sheets, I lay down and enjoy the fulfillment.
Chapter 39 - Warren
I would’ve taken my secret to the grave if that’s what it took. I wasn’t planning on telling Ashley about the village, about the clan, about bear shifters. I was ready to live a life away from it if that’s what Ashley wanted. I have learned to live like a shadow so well that I can hide anything. But when Ashley accepted me for who I am, something changed so deep down within me, it’s hard to describe.
She’s lying in bed next to me, tangled in a mess of sheets, her skin glistening in the early morning light. There’s a playful smile on her face even though we’re both bruised, wounded, and hurting. It aches when we laugh but we laugh anyway. I never imagined that something this pristine was ever in store for me. This happiness, this unadulterated feeling of joy is something that happened to others, not me. If it’s a dream I’d like to sleep for a little bit longer because if I wake up, I might break it. And this is too precious to put back together.
In the aftermath of the fight at Steve’s place, Ashley and I lay on the grass in each other’s arms and talked. But not like how we used to do; talking about work or food or the weather. We talked about none of that stuff. Instead, we talked about life, about the open wounds that still hurt like a punch to the gut, and about the universe and our place in it no matter how insignificant. We also talked about each other and what it means to us to have this, to be back together like we’re inseparable.
We should’ve gone out on a date, and we kind of did. We took ourselves to the hospital and got all patched up. I covered up most of my wounds with some clothes that Andr
ew had in the trunk of his car. It would have been hard to explain the deep gashes on my back to the doctor. Plus, my wounds won’t take much time to heal. I’m a bear shifter, after all.
Ashley, on the other hand, was the one who needed medical attention. Her wrists and ankles will take some time to heal, and she’s already told me that she’ll take it as an opportunity to build a wardrobe full of long-sleeved clothes.
“Do you fix everything with fashion?” I asked her.
“I do,” she had replied a little too proudly.
When the fight was over, we again notified the police, and they actually managed to find some time in their busy schedule to come over and arrest Steve this time. Steve’s lackeys were nowhere to be found. The police asked many questions about our deep wounds, but none of us told them about our bear fight, and I’m pretty sure Steve will take the secret to the grave, too.
Unfortunately, some of the journalists that were already hanging around the police office picked up on Ashley’s kidnapping and so it’s probably all over the news already. I wouldn’t know; the TV’s off and both Ashley and I have turned off our phones, too.
“Let’s go to the village,” I say. “It will keep away the media sharks for a little, and it will give you some time to heal and come to terms with what happened.”
Ashley agrees without a complaint and so after breakfast, we pack our bags and get ready to leave.
“You make me happy, do you know that?” I tell her and it’s not just Ashley who’s surprised at the words I just said; I am too.
“You make me happy, too,” she replies and throws a bunch of her clothes at me. I want to freeze this moment in time, cryogenically fix it into place and never let it go. What would it take to do that?
