Blackjack Bears

by Amelia Jade

  Mila was small, though he assumed for a human woman that she was probably about average. He didn’t really have anything to base that off of though. Roughly a foot shorter than his six and a half feet, she had thin golden blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail that was now swishing from side to side as she steadied herself on her feet.

  Cat-like eyes of a delicious shade of mocha caught and held his attention, eyelids blinking languidly as she returned his frank gaze.

  Shyly she gestured back down the path, he guessed in the direction from which she’d come. Not having any better sense of where the hell to go, Pierce nodded, following her. His gaze tracked up and down her figure, outlined perfectly in the form-fitting activewear she had on.

  A thick, muscled frame was the first thing he noticed. Obviously she kept herself active, and quite possibly in some sort of power sport. The way her leg muscles bunched and pushed her rear from side to side had him so hypnotized he didn’t see the tree branch she walked under until he slammed his forehead right through it.

  “Ow!” he said, cursing out loud as the branch separated from the tree, hit him in the chin, and then landed on his foot as he fell.

  Mila spun, the initial look on her face one of concern, but as she took in what had happened to him, the concern was quickly replaced by laughter that she tried vainly to keep contained.

  Eventually he took pity on her and gestured at her. “Go on, laugh it up. I can tell you want to.”

  Mila snickered several times, but otherwise she kept quiet, shaking her head at him.

  “Keep your eyes on where we’re going,” she advised, as if she’d known exactly what he was staring at.

  “Where are we going?” he asked curiously, stepping up alongside her and watching ahead of him for any further dangers.

  She flashed him a smile that revealed a very lovely set of dimples in her cheeks. “My place for the moment. It’s not far from here.” There was a pause. “If that’s okay with you?”

  Pierce couldn’t see any reason to say no, so he nodded. “Sure, that would be great. Lead on.”

  Ponytail bouncing from side to side, Mila did just that.

  Chapter Three

  Mila

  They walked for a little while in peace, much to her relief.

  When Mila had first run up to him and begun trying to wake him up, the last thing she’d expected was for the big man to almost choke her to death. But once he’d recovered his wits, he’d apologized profusely, and she could see how he might misinterpret her actions.

  “I can call the police when we get there,” she suggested as they walked.

  “No,” Pierce said quickly. Too quickly.

  She cast him a curious glance, and he bit his lip, looked away, then back at her before sighing.

  “No human police,” he said firmly.

  “Why not?’ she asked, curious as to his reasoning.

  “Because, Mila.” He cursed so softly she barely heard it. “I’m a shifter, okay?”

  “Well, that explains your rather large size, and the strength and reaction speed when you choked me out,” she commented dryly.

  He smiled regretfully. “Yeah, sorry again about that.”

  She waved it off. “Honest mistake, I get it. I’ll be tender there I’m sure, but no lasting damage done, promise.”

  “I’m glad.” Then his voice grew serious. “But we’re way outside of Cadia. I don’t know how much you know about shifters, but we need permission to enter human territory.”

  “Permission you don’t have,” she guessed, filling in the blank.

  “As far as I’m aware,” he confirmed. “So if we get the police involved, then I could be in big trouble. Hell, all of Cadia could get in trouble. I really don’t need to be in any trouble with them.”

  Something in his voice hitched over the word trouble, causing her to wonder if perhaps he’d already been in trouble with Cadia over something. She wondered what he’d done.

  “Okay,” she said slowly. “So what would you prefer to do?”

  “Eat. Sleep. Find my brothers,” he replied. “Then we’ll go home, and never bother you again, I can promise you that.”

  “You mean you’ll never pass out in the middle of a forest and attack the first person who comes upon you?”

  His shoulders sagged. “How long am I going to have to pay for that one?” he asked.

  Mila shrugged. “I dunno, how long you gonna be around?”

  Their eyes met as she spoke, and something flashed between them. Mila immediately looked away, regretting how her words had sounded. She barely knew him, and now she was trying to subtly figure out how long he planned to stay? That assumed he was going to do more than grab a drink and be on his way!

  The odd part of it all was that she found herself rather upset at the idea that he might just up and leave so quickly. Like part of her wanted him to stay for longer.

  Ignoring her irrationality, Mila brought her focus back to reality.

  “No police then, got it.”

  The pair lapsed into silence as she followed the trail back toward her cabin. It wasn’t far, perhaps fifteen minutes. Mila had barely been into her jog when she’d reached him, and it felt like even less time than that before she took the side trail that led to her place.

  “And here we are,” she said as they emerged from the forest, the log cabin appearing ahead of them.

  “Looks cozy,” he commented.

  “Very.”

  The cabin was a simple rectangular affair, stretching out lengthways to their left and right. Set up on several large tree trunks to keep it off the ground, a set of stairs was attached to the left side leading up to the door. Pierce followed her as she took the six steps two at a time, pulling out a key and slipping the oak door open.

  Pierce followed her in, closing the door behind him.

  It wasn’t a big thing. They emerged almost directly into the eating area, with the kitchen behind that against the far wall and wrapping around slightly to the left. A hallway to the right led to the two bedrooms and bathroom. That was the extent of the place.

  “You live here?” Pierce asked after a moment’s surveillance, sounding doubtful that anyone did.

  “No, no,” she replied. “I just rent the place on weekends when I want to come out here to get away.

  “That makes a lot more sense,” he replied. “I was going to say, this place doesn’t look very homey. Comfortable and relaxing, sure. But not enough stuff around it to be considered home.” He paused, looking like he was thinking. “Today is Sunday, right?”

  She nodded. “Yep.”

  “So you have to head back then. This will be your last day here.”

  “Correct again,” she said, shedding her light jacket, hanging it up on the hanger above the shoe rack behind the door.

  Pierce didn’t have a coat, just a plain white shirt with odd orange and black bands around the sleeves. He was also wearing some rather military or tactical-esque black pants, and steel-toed boots that also looked comfortable and designed to be worn for long periods of time.

  “So you’re a shifter,” she said, rummaging in the cupboards for a pair of clean glasses and filling them with water. “Where are you from then?” she asked, handing him one of the cups.

  “Thank you,” he said, draining half of it in one go before replying. “I don’t see how it hurts to tell you. So, I’m from Cadia, west of here, though I’m sure you suspected that.”

  She nodded. “Yeah, a little. You could have been from Kronum to the east though.”

  Pierce gave her an approving look. “Yes, I suppose I could have. It’s a little farther than Cadia, but I suppose not enough for it to matter. But no, I’m not from that territory. Cadia is home.”

  He looked a little wistful at the words, and she thought for a moment he was going to say more, but he didn’t.

  “Any ideas why you ended up in the forest?” she asked cautiously, unsure if that
was a topic she was allowed to speak about.

  “Not a fricking clue,” he replied angrily. “But boy do I wish I did. Then I might have an idea of where to begin the search for my brothers.”

  Mila turned away, rummaging through the cupboards as he spoke.

  “Do you have any enemies?”

  He shrugged. “None that would bring us all the way out here,” he said. “That I know of at least. It’s not like I’m exactly out of reach of going home, right?”

  “Right,” she agreed quickly, then pulled out a cardboard box. “So, they’re not from scratch, but how do you feel about pancakes?”

  “Got syrup and butter?” he asked.

  “Of course.”

  “Then I feel thankful indeed. And perhaps a tad hungry at the idea,” he admitted a second later.

  Mila grinned as she grabbed a bowl and poured some of the powdered mix into it, then began adding water. “Good, then you can stir this up properly while I get the stove going.”

  She thrust the bowl at the surprised shifter, who took it with good grace and began to beat it with a fork. Mila crouched over the stove, turning the gas on and using a long match to light it. “Well I’ll be,” she said in amazement. “This thing never works first time around. It must like you.”

  “It probably knows I’d beat it into a useless piece of junk if it didn’t work properly,” he quipped, flexing for her as a joke.

  Mila laughed, though she had to admit he was rather impressively covered in muscle. That had been impossible to miss, but then again, from what she knew, that was completely normal for shifters. They were naturally muscled and yet cut to the point that she could see each of his individual abs underneath his shirt as it adhered to his stomach.

  So hot.

  The thought surprised her, and yet even as it burst into her mind and refused to leave, she found herself looking him over as he worked the batter around in the bowl with a careful ease, almost as if he had to focus on not accidentally shattering the bowl with his strength.

  He was rather attractive-looking, she had to admit. Or would be if he cleaned up, lost some of the untamed scruff, and most importantly, got a haircut. But beneath some of the rough and haggard exterior, there was still an attractive physique and the facial features to match.

  “So what do we do after we eat?” Pierce asked.

  Watching him talk, Mila admired the way his strongly defined jaw moved, hidden though it was by the thick golden-blond beard he was sporting. But most of all, she watched his eyes.

  Bright orbs of azure blue which were now staring at her.

  Coughing, Mila turned back to the burner and waved a hand over the fry pan. It was hot enough. Taking the mix from Pierce, she slowly poured some of it out, allowing it to settle into a vaguely circular pattern.

  “Umm, I guess you could come with me?” she said lamely, glad her back was turned to him at the moment.

  “To the city?”

  He sounded dubious.

  “Yes, why not? It might be the best place to search for clues to your brothers.”

  “Maybe,” Pierce said, but he didn’t sound convinced. “Where else are you going to go?” she asked.

  There was no response.

  Mila moved to the big jar next to the sink and selected one of the spatulas from it. Once the pan was warm, pancakes didn’t take long at all. She waited a few more seconds, and then inexpertly flipped it. It slid slightly as it hit the bottom, and ruined the perfect shape of it, but she didn’t really care. It would still be more than edible, which was all that mattered.

  “I don’t know,” Pierce finally admitted. “I guess maybe you’re right. I should go with you.”

  “It’s settled then.”

  “We can’t stay here?” he asked hesitantly.

  “No,” she said. “I only have it rented until end of day today, and they usually book up well in advance.”

  “Oh, okay. I guess that makes sense. Gotta go back anyway. Work comes first, right?”

  Mila nodded, keeping her unhappy expression facing the wall so he couldn’t see. “Yeah, pretty much.”

  “To the city then. I guess.”

  Chapter Four

  Pierce

  The car jolted over another bump in the road, and Pierce tried to steady himself.

  Why did you agree to this again?

  At that particular moment, he couldn’t think of a good reason for having agreed to come along with her.

  Everything about the car either scared him, or made him uneasy. The constant rumble of the engine. The smell of the exhaust. The blaring music from the radio. The whistling of the air outside and the way it bounced and jolted as they went, a moving mass of metal that could explode at any moment.

  Why did humans insist on using these contraptions, he wondered, making sure he didn’t grip anything so tightly he crushed it. It wasn’t his property, and the big silver SUV as he’d learned it was called, was hers, something she appeared to take great pride in owning.

  But it was a hell of a fight for him to remain in the car. So he’d done the only logical thing he could think of. Try and distract himself with his own thoughts, so that he wouldn’t notice the outside world. It had worked for a while, but that was starting to wear off now.

  The most pressing question in his mind, as he glanced over at the woman behind the wheel, was why he’d agreed to come with her. Going to the city made no sense.

  Okay, that’s a lie. It makes sense, I just don’t want to.

  He couldn’t figure out why he might find a sign of his brothers there, but then again, where else was he going to search? Pierce supposed that they could have all somehow made their way back to Cadia and the Green Bearets’ Base Camp, but he doubted it. If they were free, they wouldn’t have gone back there. All that would happen is they’d be thrown back in jail again.

  No, his brothers would head elsewhere, and if they’d found themselves in the same forest as he was, the odds were that they were heading for Longhorne too. All he’d have to do is peruse the seedy joints until he found them, or found someone who’d encountered them. It shouldn’t be too hard, he’d figured.

  That was before he’d gotten in the car.

  They were climbing a long, though not overly steep winding hill now, and the engine was working hard to pull them up the incline. The steady thrum of power underneath their feet was giving him a fit.

  “There’s Longhorne,” Mila said, pointing with one hand as they crested the hill at last.

  “Oh my,” Pierce said, his throat constricting tightly as he took in the sight before him. “So many buildings,” he managed to choke out.

  Mila looked over at him, and he felt embarrassed at his reaction. “Well yes, it’s a city. What did you expect? Have you ever been to a city before?”

  He shook his head. The closest thing he’d ever been to was Cadia itself, the town at the heart of the shifter territory by the same name. But that had maybe ten thousand residents. They passed a sign:

  Welcome to Longhorne, Pop. 297,000

  Gulp.

  Almost three hundred thousand people? That was twenty times the estimated size of all of Cadia! Pierce had never been around so many people before. As they drove along, the trees began to become interspersed with buildings, breaking up the landscape of greenery he’d become so accustomed to.

  “Well, Longhorne is small by human populations. There are cities with twenty times its population out there you know.”

  Pierce looked at her like she was crazy. He’d known that, obviously, not being completely ignorant of human society. But to hear it was…insane. How did they stomach it? Pierce greatly preferred the open lands of Cadia, where trees and wild meadows abounded.

  Had his brothers been taken here?

  By the nine Hells of Hades…

  Anger blossomed to life, turning his vision a shade of red as he gazed at the city. He vowed that no matter what it would take, he would search L
onghorne until he found them. And whoever was holding them, whoever it was that had taken them, he was going to rip them limb from limb.

  The seatbelt buckle crumpled under his grip as his knuckles tightened, plastic and metal deforming as he squeezed with careless ease.

  “Oh shit!” he yelped as the metal pierced his hand, drawing his attention away at last. “Fuck, Mila, I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s okay!” she said. “It’s okay! Just relax, okay, Pierce? Just relax, close your eyes, calm down. I’m sure this overwhelming for you, but if you shut it out, you’ll be okay.”

  Pierce did as she said, closing his eyes tightly against the sights before him, pushing away the reminder that the trees were disappearing, being replaced by buildings that continued to grow in size as they approached the city limits.

  Something blared at them and he jumped in his seat, his eyes snapping open as he looked around for the source of the noise.

  “It’s okay!” Mila said, reaching a hand out from the steering wheel and laying it on his shoulder, giving it a firm squeeze as best she could. Her hands were small compared to his muscular frame. “It was just a car honking, and not at us. Totally, completely normal, okay?”

  He nodded shakily, trying to take a deep, relaxing breath to help steady his nerves. Something to his left caught his eye, and he rolled his head slightly as it relaxed back into the headrest.

  A large crowd was gathered in a field, while someone appeared to be speaking to them from a raised platform.

  “It’s election season,” Mila said, noticing the same thing. “People all campaigning for mayor of Longhorne.”

  “So there are crowds like this everywhere?” he asked. The amount of people he’d seen in the field was easily one or two thousand. Rarely did that many ever gather in Cadia.

  “Oh sure,” Mila said, still rubbing his shoulder. “That’s just a small one to be honest.”

  His muscles locked up. That was a small gathering?

  The homes and small businesses they traveled through were all of a sudden replaced by towering buildings as they seemed to cross an arbitrary line within the city. Pierce shrunk back from the windows as the sun darted in and out from behind the buildings as they passed them by. It had taken them several hours to get to the city, and the bright orange ball was well into its descent by then.