Shadows and Stars

by Becca Fanning

  Once though, she’d actually had the perfect schedule, where she’d had three short shifts at a diner and had managed to fit naps in between each shift. Three naps a day! It had been glorious. Sadly, she hadn’t been able to replicate that schedule since.

  Given how obsessed Phoenix was with her naps, she was rather shocked at how much she wasn’t ready to lie down. She only had two hours and forty-five minutes left for napping, now that she’d wasted fifteen minutes staring into space. But even knowing that she was losing time in her dream space wasn’t enough to make Phoenix turn out the lights.

  Too much had happened this evening for her to just take a nap. She needed time to process.

  Time to research shifters.

  So, instead of taking a nap, Phoenix fired up her ancient laptop and began surfing the net.

  A while later, frustrated and annoyed, she gave up the task as impossible.

  Romances – silly, funny, sexy, sometimes all three – and legends were all that she’d been able to find, which really shouldn’t surprise her. After all, for most humans, shifters were just that – a legend.

  Remembering how she had cowered behind the bar and how furious Travis had been, she groaned and fell back onto the bed. She was going to have to grow a spine if she wanted to continue working at the bar.

  Did she want to continue working there?

  Shivering at the memory of Travis’ voice, not to mention the glory that was the man naked – his chest alone about gave her palpitations and she’d seen a lot more than that – Phoenix knew she would not be abandoning the job at the bar. At least not yet.

  This was the most interesting thing that had ever happened to her and she wasn’t running away from it. Something inside her had come to life when she’d met Travis. It wasn’t just his sexy looks, though his messy black hair and midnight eyes were quite captivating, not to mention his excessively gorgeous body. Still, it hadn’t been his looks she’d noticed first. Instead it had been his scent. An amazing combination that reminded her both of the woods and of a crisp, winter night, she’d felt giddy after her first meeting with him. At first, the only thing that had kept her from pursuing that attraction was the fact that he was interviewing her for a job and then that he’d hired her, in effect becoming her boss. Now she had an even better reason – his scary-ass bear.

  That feeling she’d had when she met him though – that clarity and awareness that brought everything into focus – wasn’t something she’d ever experienced before. That it had happened again when everyone shifted at the bar was downright confusing. Maybe it was just the adrenaline that had caused her skin to tingle everywhere and all her senses to come on-line at once, but she figured anything that made her feel that alive had to be a good thing.

  After years of feeling as if a shield of water stood between her and the world, somehow muting all her senses and leaving her sluggishly plodding forward, insulated from everything around her, this new sense of awareness was amazing. Even the panic she’d felt at the bar was better than the numbness she’d become accustomed to.

  Glancing at the clock, Phoenix calculated that her two hours and forty-five minutes had now dwindled to ninety minutes. She’d wasted an hour and fifteen minutes reading legends and romance blurbs!

  It was all that sexy bear’s fault.

  With a huff of exasperation, she set the alarm for five a.m., then hesitated and pushed it back to five-thirty. Forget the shower. Ninety minutes had just become two glorious hours.

  She turned out the lights and almost instantly fell asleep, the vision of Travis lunging over the bar, his body transforming mid-flight from man to bear following her into her dreams.

  The black bear spoke to her there, whispering secrets she couldn’t quite hear, before eventually fading away. For a time, she simply drifted, but then eventually, like always, she slid into her dream space. It was dark, but cozy, and she was happy, curled in this place of warmth and safety. She could hear a soft and steady drum beating in the background and the world around her rocked gently to its beat.

  Long, lazy moments later, the drumbeat strong and steady in her ears, she was curled high in a tree, reaching for something. Reaching…

  Phoenix woke with a start.

  That last part was new.

  Not the tree.

  She always ended her dream cradled in the branches of a tree.

  The sense of longing though, of straining toward something, that was new.

  What had she been reaching for?

  Something wonderful.

  Something that promised happiness.

  Whatever it was though, it was gone, folded into the hazy memory of dreams.

  Later that morning, as Phoenix bustled around the diner, working through the breakfast rush, waiting on the same customers she’d seen day in and day out since she’d begun working there the week before, she couldn’t help but wonder how many of them were shifters.

  If all of them were shifters.

  “Order up,” Jason called from the kitchen, breaking into her thoughts as she pondered whether the table of women by the door were shifters or plain ole humans like her.

  About halfway through her shift, a group of men she recognized from Shenanigans the night before walked in and sat in her section, at the back of the diner.

  She wasn’t sure if they were wolves or cougars or a mix, but she remembered settling their tab at the very end of the night, so they’d definitely been there when the fight broke out.

  “Hey, there,” one of them greeted her with a huge grin. “You work here too, eh?”

  “Sure do. What can I get you guys?”

  “Phoenix, right?” one of the other men asked.

  “That’s right.”

  “I’m Max,” he said. “This is our alpha, Adam.” He gestured to the man across from him. “And Pete, Sam and Karl.” He pointed to each of the guys as he said their names.

  Phoenix could feel her eyes widening. She couldn’t believe they actually had an alpha, like real wolves did. Or maybe they were cougars. Did cougars have alphas? Her breath hitched and she carefully let it out before speaking. “It’s nice to meet all of you. Do you know what you want or do you need a minute?”

  After taking their orders, Phoenix made a circuit of her tables on the way back to the front, where she handed her orders into the kitchen and worked on grabbing drinks and refills. She then worked her way back in reverse, ending at their table again.

  “So, Phoenix,” Max said as she began passing out drinks, “you part of their pack?”

  Only years of experience working in bars and diners kept Phoenix from fumbling the drinks at his question. “Um. What? Whose pack?” She glanced around quickly, shocked they were even discussing this at the diner. Were they all shifters here too?

  “Ah, don’t worry about the humans,” Pete said.

  “Yeah, they’re too far away to hear us,” Sam said.

  Phoenix glanced around again, noting the people at the tables closest to theirs and wondering if the women by the door were humans after all, since they were the farthest away.

  “So are you part of the Phoenix pack?” Max asked again. “You know since you carry their name and all.”

  Phoenix just stared at him for a minute, then said quietly, “Phoenix is the name of at least 15 different places worldwide, not to mention it’s a mythical bird that rises from the ashes. Why would you assume my name comes from a pack?” Without waiting for an answer, she walked away.

  “Tricky,” she heard one of the men mutter.

  “Do you think she might actually be a phoenix?” another one whispered.

  Thank goodness she was walking away because Phoenix knew the shock she felt was written all over her face. She wanted to go back and ask if there really were phoenix shifters, but she couldn’t afford to draw attention to her own ignorance. Surely, if she were a shifter, she’d know that already. This was like being tortured! She had so many questions and no way to get them answered.

  When the men
had finished eating and she brought them their check, Adam spoke for the first time. “You have an alpha that’s going to be looking for you?”

  Phoenix looked him in the eye and told him the truth, “No, sir. No one’s looking for me at all.” She had no idea why she’d admitted that and was honestly horrified that she’d just told a group of shifters that she could disappear without a trace and no one would even notice.

  Adam just nodded. “It’s not a deal-killer, but things do get a bit complicated when you get too many alphas in one territory. And we always like some advance warning.” He stared at her. “If that changes, I expect you to let us know.”

  Phoenix nodded. “It won’t.” How could it when she wasn’t a shifter? When she had no family, let alone a pack like they did?

  “All right then. Welcome to Jamesville, Phoenix. We’re always happy to have new shifter residents.” He stood, dropped a wad of cash on the table, patted her on the shoulder and headed for the front door. The rest of the men stood and murmured their own welcome messages to her as they trooped past.

  Dragging in a breath, Phoenix began to clear the table. She didn’t understand why they were so convinced that she was a shifter. It seemed unlikely at best. Wouldn’t she know by now? Wouldn’t she have shifted at least once in her life if she was capable of such a thing?

  She wished she knew more about shifters.

  She wished she knew more about her birth family.

  As she worked the last hour of her shift, Phoenix tried not to think about the possibility of being a shifter. It just wasn’t possible.

  She could never be that lucky.

  FOUR

  WHEN PHOENIX WALKED out of the diner around eleven that morning, she found Travis waiting for her. He was leaning against a black pickup and her heart gave a thud when she saw him.

  He pushed away from the truck and walked toward where she stood, frozen on the sidewalk.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “One of the wolves called me. Told me you were working here too. You must be exhausted.”

  She shrugged. “It’s a short shift.”

  “Do you have to come back later?”

  “No. They have others for the lunch and dinner shifts.”

  He nodded. “How many days are you working here?”

  “Six. It’s not so bad. I have Sundays off.”

  “Yeah, but you’re working at the bar four nights a week.”

  “I know.”

  “Darlin’, there’s no way you can keep that kind of schedule going long-term.”

  She shrugged. “I do it all the time. I’ll be fine. They’re both short shifts. I get off here at eleven and I don’t have to be at the bar until seven tonight.”

  He sighed. “All right. Well, at least let me give you a ride home.”

  “I have a car, you know.”

  “Is it here?”

  She stared at him. It wasn’t. She didn’t usually bother with the car when the weather was nice, but how did he know that?

  “Well?”

  She sighed. “No, but–”

  “Do you really prefer to walk right now?”

  Honestly, she didn’t. “Fine. Let’s just go. I’m ready for a nap.” Which was the only reason she agreed. Getting back sooner meant she could take a longer nap.

  He barked out a laugh. “I bet. All right. Come on.”

  When they arrived at the hotel, though, she regretted agreeing to the ride.

  “This place is a dump, darlin’.” Travis glared at the front sign that had probably at one time said HOTEL, but that now just said H___EL.

  Phoenix actually really liked that sign, as she felt it was a fairly accurate description of what one could expect on the inside. She wasn’t going to mention that to Travis though.

  “It’s not that bad,” Phoenix said. “On the plus side, it’s really cheap. And I don’t have to sign a lease.” This last point was the real reason Phoenix had chosen the hotel. She preferred not to commit to a specific amount of time in any one place and now that she knew this town was full of shifters, that seemed more important than ever. The importance of being able to leave at a moment’s notice couldn’t be overstated.

  “You should move in with us.”

  “What?”

  “There are three apartments above the bar. Glory has one and I have the other. The third one’s pretty small, but compared to where you’re staying, it’ll probably feel like the Ritz.”

  “No, no, no, no, no.” Phoenix shook her head.

  “Let’s get your stuff.” He strode toward the front door of the building.

  Phoenix raced after him. “No, Travis. You don’t have to do this.”

  He ignored her as he crossed the lobby and came to a stop in front of the elevator. He glared at the out of order sign, then turned and demanded, “What floor?”

  “Four,” Phoenix squeaked out, horrified that once again, she was sharing info she really shouldn’t with a complete stranger. What was it about these men and about Travis in particular? It seemed all he had to do was look at her and all her brain cells died!

  “Let’s go.” He led the way up the stairs, ranting all the while. “I’d be surprised if there were two residents in this entire place and you’re up on the fourth floor? Forcing you to walk up all these stairs at two o’clock in the morning after a long night at the bar. I don’t think so.” On and on he went, ranting about the state of the lighting, the sagging stairs, the crumbling railing, the peeling wallpaper, the water spots in the ceiling.

  “I had no idea you were such a prima donna, Travis,” Phoenix teased when they finally reached her door.

  He growled in response.

  Which if Phoenix was being honest, she found unbelievably sexy. That he could growl. Like his bear. In human form. She wanted to ask him to do it again, but he looked so pissed she decided maybe she should wait on that.

  It didn’t take her long to pack her stuff. She didn’t have much. A backpack and a suitcase and she was done.

  “That’s it?”

  “I have a few things in my car, but yeah, mostly this is it.”

  “Let’s go.”

  “I have to check out.”

  “Oh, we’ll get you checked out.“ He led the way back downstairs, ranting all the while, “You should never have been checked into this place to begin with. It should have been shut down years ago.” He stopped at the second floor landing to glare over his shoulder at her. “How much are you paying for this dump anyway?”

  “Eighty bucks a week.” Harry’d wanted almost double that, but Phoenix didn’t think Travis needed to know that.

  Travis grunted. “You all paid up?”

  “I’m supposed to pay rent for the week on Saturdays, so I owe him for today.”

  Travis just shook his head and stomped down the last flight of stairs.

  When they got to the lobby, he informed Harry that Phoenix was moving out and she handed over her room key.

  “This morning was on the house,” Travis said. “Consider it payment for her having to walk four flights of stairs instead of using the elevator all week.”

  Harry looked like he wanted to protest, but one look from Travis and he subsided. “That’s fine. Take care, Phoenix.”

  “You too, Harry.”

  Phoenix followed Travis out to the parking lot, where he stored her suitcase in the bed of his truck.

  “That your car?” He nodded toward her blue Honda Civic.

  “Yeah, that’s mine.”

  “All right. Just follow me.”

  “Wait. Where are we going?”

  “Back to the bar to get you moved into the apartment.”

  “But how? There aren’t any roads up there.”

  Travis just stared at her. “Did you walk to the bar last night?”

  “Well, yeah.”

  “So when you left the bar this morning…”

  “I walked back here, yeah.” She hadn’t exactly enjoyed the walk. Even with her flashlight, and
the bright light of the moon, the woods were pretty creepy at night.

  “Did any of the guys see you shift?”

  She just stared at him.

  “Yeah. I guess they were probably all gone by the time you left. Too bad. I have a feeling they’re going to be hounding you to find out what your animal is.”

  Phoenix just rolled her eyes.

  “Anyway, that’s a pretty long walk, even in animal form with night vision. You should have asked one of us for a ride.”

  Phoenix shook her head. “What do you mean a ride? There’s no parking lot, no roads.”

  Travis laughed. “Actually, there is a road and a small parking lot at the back of the bar. Come on. Follow me and I’ll show you.”

  Phoenix huffed. “Do you mean to tell me that when I walked to and from the bar last night, it wasn’t necessary?”

  “Guess so, yeah.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me there was a parking lot?”

  “Darlin’, I assumed you knew. In fact, I assumed you drove to the interview. It just didn’t even occur to me.”

  She sighed. “Whatever. Let’s go.” She stomped over to her car and climbed in. She couldn’t believe no one had even mentioned the parking lot! She’d put the address into her phone and the phone had actually said, “There are no roads leading to this destination.” Then it had given her walking directions. Which now that she thought about it made no sense. If the bar had an address, that meant there had to be a road. Right?

  She followed Travis out of the motel parking lot and down the outer road that ran along the outskirts of town. About five minutes into the drive, he slowed and turned left directly into the woods. She followed him onto a narrow passage that wasn’t so much a road as it was a gravel path. They stayed on that road for about five minutes, then turned onto another one that quickly opened up into a small parking lot.

  “Unbelievable.”

  She pulled in and parked next to his truck and stared. If the bar was nearby, she couldn’t tell. The parking lot was completely surrounded by woods.

  If she was about to get eaten, she probably deserved it. This was about the stupidest thing she’d ever done, following a virtual stranger deep into the woods. This was how horror movies began!