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Bearly Christmas
by
Becca Fanning
Bearly Christmas - Becca Fanning
Fresh out of med school, Bear Shifter Tye expected to face adversity in joining a top hospital residency program. But feisty little Melanie might be more competition than he can handle, and a terrible rumor about his past catches up with him. Will there be a Shifter Christmas Miracle?
Copyright Becca Fanning 2016.
Chapter One
Tye
Tye hurried down the street towards his favorite coffee shop. He was running late to find out if he had been able to snag one of the coveted internships at Pittsburgh’s top teaching hospital. He had high hopes, but was ready to be disappointed. Shifters didn’t get opportunities like this one. He was lucky he had even been able to get into the university let alone medical school.
Lost in his thoughts he didn’t realize the young woman making her way out of the coffee shop. He flung the door open, and rushed inside. His momentum met her small stature and sent her flying backwards, her coffee sailing through the sky. They both landed in a heap on the floor in front of him. He immediately started to try and help her up. His clumsiness and overall size caused him to slip in the spilled coffee and land on rump.
The lady finally righted herself, and snatched her hand away when Tye tried to take it to help her to her feet.
“I think you’ve done enough here don’t you?” The snarl she gave him could have matched that of a she-bear.
“I’m so sorry ma’am. I was in a hurry and not paying attention. That’s no excuse I know, but I’m terribly sorry. Can I buy you another coffee?” Tye turned into a clumsy fool around humans, let alone one as beautiful as the tiny, yet angry, one standing in front of him.
“No. You’re not the only one in a rush, with a life and places to be. Now I get to finish my big day covered in coffee. How fantastic.” She was trying to dab some of the coffee off of her beige colored business dress.
“At least it’s brown. Maybe it’ll blend when it’s dry?” Tye immediately regretted his attempt at consolation when her ferocious gaze met his. She was a pistol for a little thing, he gave her a sniff to make sure she wasn’t a Shifter. She had him almost wanting to cower. He had to suppress a smile at the thought.
Being a big man like he was he drew enough attention to himself, at six foot six he was already hard to miss. Most shifters, especially a bear shifter like him, were big men. Tye was even more so though because he shifted into a giant Kodiak bear, largest bear next to the polar bear. It made him extremely uncomfortable to be around a lot of humans, something he had to deal with if he wanted to proceed with his dream of being a doctor. He had survived medical school learning to deal with the starring and pointing.
“Are you going to stand there and stare at me all day or let me past you.” She reached her arm out and meant to shove him aside so she could pass. She misjudged their height difference, and ended up putting her hand right on his groin.
He saw the embarrassment cross her face as it flushed to a beautiful bright red. She snatched her hand back like he had bit it. She fumbled a mess of inaudible words, he could only assume as an apology.
“Well I don’t know about you, but this has been a most enjoyable meeting.” He knew his comment would get a rouse out of her, and it did. She blew out a frustrated breath, lifted her head up, and all but ran him over to get out the door.
Tye turned and watched her leave, forgetting for the moment that he was running late. At the sudden realization he ditched the coffee shop and hustled down the street to the hospital. He could feel the eyes of the coffee shop patrons on him as he sprinted out, which made his heart speed up for a moment. He didn’t like the attention especially when it was solely because he was a shifter in a human city.
Humans had known about shifters for centuries now, but the two species lived separately. Shifters lived in their own towns, usually called a Haven of whichever city they were closest too, which in Tye’s case was Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His family lived with the rest of the bear shifter clan within the Haven. His Haven, like most, had several packs of wolf shifters, and even some feline shifters living with their packs as well.
Shifters got along together just fine, they were very close knit species. Humans however stayed far away. Some of them would venture to the bars on the outskirts of Havens, but that number was small. Tye had been the talk of a lot of people’s lives when he enrolled at the university, and then went on to medical school. Nobody had wanted him there. A lot of the other student’s parents, all human of course, rallied and protested trying to get him kicked out. It hadn’t worked though: the dean of the school was empathetic to the Shifter struggle. He gave him a chance, and Tye was forever grateful to the man.
He finally made it to the hospital not the least bit out of breath from his run, and wove his way through the hallways to the conference room the letter had designated. Today he would find out if he would be able to continue his path toward being a doctor. When he scanned the room he was hopeful to see there was only around ten or fifteen other applicants there. A good sign. Maybe they had just called back the ones who had been chosen.
His eyes then landed on that same ferocious gaze from the coffee shop. He immediately tripped and stumbled over a chair which had the eyes softening with a flicker of humor. Tye’s social anxiety kicked in now that everyone in the room was noticing his deep golden eyes giving him away as a shifter. The tiny angry lady from the coffee shop seemed more perturbed at him for spilling her coffee and less concerned with his being a shifter so he made his way to the chair next to her.
“I thought shifters were supposed to be agile and graceful. You can’t seem to figure out how to use your feet?”
“Or maybe humans just don’t make their buildings bear accessible.”
She rolled her eyes at his response. She really was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Maybe not by everybody else’s standards, but to him her long brown hair and big brown eyes fit perfectly on her narrow face. Her features were pointed which gave her a good look for a doctor, and her eyes seemed to not miss a thing. She came off as a hard-nosed bitch, but he could sense her underlying emotions. She was nervous, just like him and the rest of the students here, but she also seemed sad. He didn’t like that one bit, he wanted to pull her into his arms, and make things better for her.
He had to shake himself out of his own thoughts. He was obsessing like an adolescent just hitting the mating frenzy. He wasn’t a cub anymore, and he didn’t need to be lusting after a human female of all people. Disappointed in himself, he looked around the rest of the room sizing everyone up. They were all giving him nervous looks. A very awkward silence came over the room like they were waiting for him to explain himself.
Humans. They always felt like everyone owed them an explanation. He had come this far, he definitely didn’t owe anybody in this room an explanation. He put on his best piss off face and leaned back in the tiny chair. The only person who didn’t seem bothered by him at all was her. She had spunk, he liked that. There he went again lusting. Goddess help him he prayed that they both hadn’t got the internship. How did she manage to smell so good too? With
that thought Tye stood up and walked across the room and leaned against a wall, determined to put the tiny tormentor out of his mind.
Chapter Two
Melanie
Melanie watched as the giant of a man made his way across the room. She felt bad for being so cold towards him. She was sure he didn’t have many friends being a Shifter in a regular city, but she didn’t have time to be his friend. She had to stay focused on her goal. He did smell delicious, like earth and honey and she couldn’t seem to think straight with him close to her. Nevertheless, he had been icing on the cake for her already crappy day. Someone that big shouldn’t hustle around like that. He could have knocked her clear through the coffee shop had he been moving any faster.
She had woken up with such a positive outlook today. She was wearing her Calvin Klein beige suit dress that had cost her almost two weeks worth of wages when she had been waitressing her way through her undergrad. It had been tucked away in the back of her tiny apartment closet waiting for a day like today.
Then her dad had called. He was a doctor in her hometown, a small town along the Ohio River a couple hours southwest of her new life in the Pittsburgh. He had always wanted a son, but instead had Melanie. She had tried everything to please him her whole life, and thought she had surely found the key by following in his footsteps to becoming a doctor. That too had disappointed him. He was still stuck in the age old belief that women were better left in the household popping out kids, and fawning over their husbands. Her mother had been that way, and she seemed content to stay that way. Not Melanie; she was going to earn her father’s love and respect if it killed her.
“Hello father.” She answered impassively. She had always wanted to call him daddy like the other girls she heard call their dads, but he had quickly nipped that in the bud. It wasn’t lady like to use slang, father was more proper. As the only physician in town he had to keep up his prim and proper appearance, and daddy just didn’t fit that appearance.
“Melanie, I’m surprised I caught you, you should be at the hospital by now shouldn’t you? You’re running late on today of all days? Doesn’t surprise me, this is why I keep telling you to give up this notion and come home. Craig Carr’s son is home fresh out of law school, and taking up practice with his father. He asks about you all the time. Couldn’t be a better match if you ask me.”
“No, I’m not running late father, I have an hour to get to the hospital. The new apartment I moved into is only about a fifteen-minute walk away.” Melanie rolled her eyes, and decided not even to address her father’s stupid idea of moving home to shack up with Ethan Carr. They had gone to high school together and he weird, she’d rather eat glass then suffer his company.
“Oh yes, I forgot you moved. Well then, good luck today let me know how it all goes. Just, try to be realistic. Those internships are hard to get, especially…”
“Of course father, I’m prepared either way, but I did graduate top of my class.” She had told him that several times, and he had been at her graduation when they had honored her. He seemed to ignore it all that though. She wanted to scream.
“Well I better go father. I want to try out a new coffee shop down the block before I go. Thanks for calling.”
“You should dump that coffee habit Melanie, you’re a doctor you need to set an example for your patients. Coffee is not a good habit.”
“Of course father. Talk to you later.” Melanie wanted to throw her phone across the room when she hung up. She had to take a few breaths to calm herself.
She refused to let her father bring her down today, or any giant Shifters crashing into her. At the memory of her humiliation she turned her glare back towards the giant across the room. He looked completely calm as he leaned his huge figure against the wall. He was probably the most rugged man she had ever seen. He had dark brown unruly hair, his shoulders seemed to be as wide as she was tall. She couldn’t help but wonder if she hugged him if she could even wrap her arms all the way around his chest. He was built like a statue. He said something about a bear earlier, which had her wondering what kind of bear he shifted into.
Chapter Three
Tye
Tye had been right. The group that had received letters were the ones who had been chosen for the internship. Why they didn’t just put that in the letter and save everybody another week of stress? Humans. Everybody started to file out of the small room, and on with their lives. They had one week left to themselves before the internship started. Then they would be thrust into the life as a doctor. Nobody had mentioned anything about Tye being a Shifter, but everybody had done their fair share of staring while the Chief Resident had spoken.
Tye was waiting for everybody else to disperse before he left so that he wouldn’t have to endure their stares on his back when he walked out. He noticed the coffee shop girl was hanging back too. He wanted to go speak to her again, and smell her intoxicating scent as well. He was in big trouble with her being a part of this internship. He had only bumped into her, and been in the same room with her for an hour or so and he was already wondering when he’d see her next. She finally met his eyes, and then nervously averted them. She hadn’t shown any outward reaction to him being a Shifter this far, which was maybe why he was so drawn to her. All through undergrad he had been shunned, left to study on his own, and was then one of the first freshmen that had been granted off campus housing.
He had plenty of friends back in Haven so he wasn’t upset about not being friends with the humans. It was just that they would be his colleagues one day and he was hoping for a better acceptance.
“Are you going to stalk me now?”
“No, I’m just waiting for everyone to leave. I like to be the last one out of a room.”
“What do you shift into?”
He averted his eyes. “That’s personal.”
“Sorry, I just-“
“A bear.”
“A bear?”
She was looking at him like he was currently in his bear form right now. He wanted to laugh at her sudden interest, but decided best not too. Female Shifters could be touchy, especially the felines, but this human female was definitely the touchiest thing he had ever come across. He knew she was probably waiting for him to specify which type of bear he shifted into, but he liked the sound of her voice so he waited for her to ask.
“I’ve never met a Shifter. How in the world did you end up here?”
“I got here the same as you did. I went to undergrad, and then med school, now I’m just trying to finish everything out with this internship.”
“I’ve just never known a Shifter to go to college let alone medical school. Are you going to practice around here or go back to your town?”
“You also just said you’ve never met a Shifter. If you knew one, then you would know that we want the same things that humans do. We want good health for our family and friends, jobs, and a place to call home. We aren’t so different as everybody thinks. We also don’t need doctors often. We have healers that see to us.”
He hoped he didn’t come off as rude, he hadn’t meant to sound so defensive. He just hated that the humans thought they were so different. They acted like all Shifters were monsters. He definitely didn’t want her to see him as a monster. He could sense that she was at ease with him, but also curious. Those were two good signs. Not that he was sure why he cared, he couldn’t be getting involved with a human.
“Healers? Wow, you’ve officially blown my mind today, as well as my coffee.”
“I’m really sorry about that again. How about I buy you another one now? My name’s Tye by the way.”
She didn’t say anything for a while. He could see the gears turning in her head, trying to weigh his intentions. But he knew the kind of gal that couldn’t turn down free coffee.
“I prefer a French vanilla cappuccino.” She smiled which had his heart racing again. Her smile instantly made his day. Dear Goddess the things he would do to try and see that smile again.
“Should I jus
t call you Ms. Cappuccino then?”
“Melanie, my name is Melanie. It’s nice to meet you Tye.”
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