by Moxie North
“This is very true. Plus, we had a call this morning that was stressful. I know a few of us could use your magic hands.”
“Oh, not a…” she made the finger across the throat sign to him.
“No, but still not good. Farm accident, hands and combines don’t mix.”
“Yikes, no they don’t. I’ll set up in the lounge?” she asked.
“Yup, there are a few guys in there playing Xbox but we can kick them out.”
“And here I thought you guys just polished your trucks all day,” she said with a smirk.
“Oh, we do. All day…” he said wiggling his eyebrows.
“So gross. Okay, go find my first victim, and it can’t be you. You’ll throw me off my game.”
“Wow, painful,” he joked clutching his heart.
Poppy wasn’t worried about hurting his feelings. The men and women of Serenity Fire were tough and could take their licks.
Zane sat across from Wade Lombard, a high ranking wolfen. He was the Deputy Chief of Police in Serenity, and the Citlali in charge of the KSRT, the Khain Special Response Team. The group assigned to hunt down and kill Khain whenever he passed over into their world.
He was well-known and respected. He was also one of the few shiften that hadn’t lost his mate. It was said that he had a direct connection to Rhen. Her body lay in a secret place, protected by the felen and she was still connected to those that she had created through the Citlali.
Zane had learned more than he could have imagined traveling back to Serenity with Bruin and his mate. He was let in on a world that up until now had been kept to a chosen few. Prophecies that were only words until they came true were now becoming their history. Zane also never expected to be sitting in front of someone like Wade. This was a man whose name was passed around with respect. Zane was just a Hot Shot that nobody would need to know.
“I’m glad you could come, Zane.”
“I’m sorry, sir. But I’m not entirely sure what I’m doing here. Bruin said that you were told that I was supposed to come to Serenity. Nothing else. My lieutenant didn’t put up much of a fuss after Bruin said it was you that had requested the transfer.”
“I’ll be honest, it was a combination of things. Your name came to me and then Bruin had a corresponding vision to confirm that you belonged here. We aren’t sure why. It may take a while for those pieces to come together. We’ve learned to not ignore them.”
“But I’m not a wolven. I’m not a cop. Serenity has its own fire department.”
“Yes, it’s being run by Conri, Bruin’s brother, while they’re traveling. I can guess that your training in wildfires and forest fires has something to do with you needing to be here. I’ve spoken with Conri and he knows your skills and how you’ve proven yourself. He wants you to help teach his crews what you know.”
“How to dig fire lines and not get drowned by aerial tankers?” Zane wasn’t trying to be sarcastic, he was serious.
Wade gave him a small smile. “Maybe. Maybe you need to be here for another reason. Until that reason is made clear to us, I suggest you do what you know. I want you to feel comfortable here.”
“I’ll be honest. I’m a bit of a loner except for my friends. Serenity is getting awful crowded it seems.”
“True, with the birth of the cubs, and the eminent birth of a dragen, there are a lot of people waiting to see what happens next. It’s exciting and hopeful. But I can arrange for a place of your own if you don’t want to bunk at the firehouse all the time.”
“I’d appreciate your help. I’m fine working with other people; I’m just not big on socializing.”
Wade flipped open a folder on his desk. “I see some infractions all the way back to fire academy.”
“Let’s just say my fuse is shorter than most.”
“I think that most shiften can say that about themselves. I think you’ll fit in just fine, Zane. Welcome to Serenity.”
Zane left the office and could feel the frustration building inside him. It wasn’t reasonable or with any real outlet. He could shift and run and that was the first thing he did as he drove out of town. He’d been told about where was safe and which direction to head when he had arrived.
He was wearing his personal clothes that didn’t have the convenient tear away tabs that his uniform did. Quickly stripping out of them, he turned around to check again to ensure he was alone as he felt his body start to change. Fur sprouted, his muscles and bones got bigger, and his already impressive bulk quadrupled to fill out the body of his bear. Long teeth and claws sprouted and then he was on the ground on all fours.
Chapter Six
Poppy was pulling the worry from a man named Canyon that sat down in her chair with his shoulders up around his ears. She heard a little about their morning call and the poor farmer that might lose his hand. The team had done their job admirably but it still shook many of them.
She was feeling a little tired from her massages. Her hands were strong but she had another appointment later that day. It was her side gig that she did because it helped her recharge as much as it helped others.
After waving goodbye to the crew she packed up. At home, she dropped off her supplies and grabbed a quick snack. Outside her mother’s small house on a residential street there was a ten by ten shed that used to be storage for garden tools and the lawnmower. Poppy had converted it to a hideout when she was a child. When the nightmares of the dark shadow man would haunt her, this small room felt safe and secure with only one way in. It brought her peace. Now she used it for her other job. The one that raised more than a few eyebrows when she started.
Serenity Snuggles wasn’t something that most people could understand. Her neighbors had complained to her mother that she was running a prostitution ring out of her house. Then the Serenity PD showed up because of complaints, and luckily for Poppy, they knew that there was nothing to investigate.
Even without her unique talents she could do a lot of good by providing contact. Simple touch that so many people didn’t have in their lives. Her clients ran from young to old, men and women, all seeking something they needed.
In the beginning she had a few that thought her services were just a cover for something else. Her interview process had become better. Those that were really interested were happy to do multiple interviews and didn’t expect anything the first time.
Now her clients paid her to be held. She was a cuddle therapist, something that didn’t really have any specific qualifications other than the desire to help people.
Fully clothed in either thirty or sixty minute sessions, she touched, held, and breathed life into those that needed it. Whether there was some deep seated reason for their need, which she always referred to a licensed therapist she knew, or people that just didn’t get a lot of physical contact in their lives she’d found a need in the community for her services. She took her clients based solely on the feeling she got from them.
Her shed was painted a soft cream on the inside, the floor was hardwood she’d put down herself. There was a large futon mattress on the floor covered in pillows. Soft fuzzy blankets were stacked in a basket. Some clients requested the burrito treatment before being held. Candles, music, and a diffuser of calming essential oils were on a small table in the corner, it all completed the experience.
It was her little bliss hut. Soft, comforting and most importantly, a safe space.
Her client tonight was a young woman that had grown up in and out of the hospital for a variety of reasons. Childhood illness wreaking havoc on her fragile psyche. She had grown to distrust touch, even from her family. It was burned in response from painful stimuli. She’d come to Poppy to see if she could get over it. A few months later and they had managed to have thirty minute session with Poppy holding her in a blanket and allowing her to stroke her hair.
It was a big step and Poppy was glad to see her getting better.
“Bruin made it quite clear that we should be treating you like a brother, as if we wouldn’t. We hope
you enjoy your time here in Serenity,” Conri, Bruin’s brother and acting Chief said, raising a glass.
Zane nodded and looked around the bar in his new hometown. He didn’t want to admit that he felt a little lonely in the group of men looking at him. Beau and Ren were still in Wyoming and probably enjoying not having his cranky ass around. It had been a week since Bruin informed him that Wade wanted him to transfer. It took a few days for Bruin and Willow to make their rounds before all three headed back to Illinois.
Now that he’d gotten accustomed to his new duties. Conri had devised a training program so the crew could learn some basic wildfire skills. It was more about managing a fire than trying to put it out. It was a tough thing for firefighters to do, but fighting wildfires was often about letting Mother Nature take her course.
The crew had accepted him. He thought some of their joyous acceptance of him was to do with the return of their renquas. There was a renewed spirit in the air. Although Khain was popping up more, there were cubs already, and with more new life ready to come into the world there were True Mates to be found and babies to be made. There wasn’t much that could dampen their joy.
Zane wanted to be as happy as they were. His renqua was back. The mark resembled a closed fist and he was relieved to see that it had returned to his shoulder. He wanted to call it something else, name it something else. But it was a fist, it represented the anger and pain inside him and he was almost afraid to show it. The men shared their marks to each other later after they had gotten them. It was a bonding moment between them. Beau’s mark looked like a pyramid with a circle above it. Ren’s mark was irregular lines that angled down like meteors crashing. Some bearen had marks that were obvious reflecting something about them. Others were a mystery waiting to be uncovered.
Since the move he’d felt it building. The desire to punch something, hurt something, or tear into someone and ease the fire raging inside him.
He’d been running every day. The woods around Serenity offered that respite. He’d started working out on a daily basis, his muscles bulging from the continuous effort. He’d almost hit the bar to see if he could round up a fight or two but didn’t want to get on the new Fire Chief’s radar in a bad way. He was okay with Bruin knowing his name, he didn’t want to be known to him as a loose cannon.
However, his growling countenance had been noticed. He could see those around him sliding their eyes to him then away quickly. They were friendly enough, but they also kept their distance.
The crew finished their meal and a few of them stopped to pick up an extra meal to go. Bears were always hungry. As he stood near the door, he saw a corkboard with business cards for car dealerships, carpet cleaning, and the like. There was one notice with kittens for sale. At the bottom was a pink and purple business card that caught his eye.
Poppy Woodall – LMT, BCTMB, CD
Licensed massage therapist,
Board certified in therapeutic massage and bodywork
Certified Cuddler
[email protected]
Certified Cuddler? He hadn’t been able to book another appointment with the cuddler he’d found in Wyoming. A middle-aged woman name Emelia that smelled like lavender and tea who would hold Zane, her arms tight around him and stroke his hair. He would rest his head against her chest and listen to her heartbeat, trying to remember if he had done that with his mother. He must have. Didn’t mothers hold and rock their children?
Zane couldn’t remember what it felt like. He couldn’t remember his mother’s perfume. Emelia wasn’t his mother, but she calmed the beast inside of him. She didn’t talk, but occasionally she’d hum, and he didn’t mind that. When he had that contact, the tightness of the embrace made him feel like he wasn’t slipping away. It brought a sense of grounding that he needed and as a side benefit, kept him from hitting people. He didn’t need to run or fight. He felt safe.
Now he needed to vent. He checked his phone for a bar outside of town that he could go to get his drink on and release some tension.
Jumping into his rental, he drove through the flat Midwest roads, past the statue of the bear with the shining eyes that was positioned on the edge of town. Each entrance had one of these statues and the local humans didn’t think much of them. Shiften knew they were meant as a welcome.
He pulled up to a bar that looked somewhere between a honky-tonk and a biker bar. Zane was a master at finding just the right few guys that looked like they had short enough fuses that he wouldn’t bring the whole bar down on himself.
An hour later and he was back in his rental looking for a dark deserted road so he could pull over and shift. He felt like he might have a cracked rib and one of the burly dudes had gotten a lucky shot and busted his lip.
Turning onto a private drive that was surrounded by fields, he got out and stripped out of his clothes.
Letting the change come over him, his teeth lengthened as his jaw and muzzle stretched. Hair sprouted over his body and his body grew as he fell to the ground. He took a moment to breathe in the night air, hoping to relax his muscles. He just needed to manage his rage until he could meet the therapist. He’d much rather lay in a woman’s arms than beat up drunks.
After a while he shifted again, his fur receding and his bones forming back into his still large human form. He couldn’t even feel his lip or his ribs now. The shift had healed all of his injuries. It was convenient when you could shift and not have to visit a doctor. Getting dressed, he drove home, or at least back to his temporary home. He really was alone now.
Chapter Seven
Poppy had slept horribly, the shadow man of her childhood nightmares returning to haunt her dreams. Lately, she could swear her dreams were following her during the day. A flash of movement that she caught out of the corner of her eye, the hair standing up on the back of her neck in public. The feeling of being watched, the feeling of not being alone. It was unnerving and made her want to hide. She wasn’t the type to do that, she loved her town and her job and she wasn’t going to let her imagination get the better of her.
Maybe it was all the stories her mother told about things that weren’t human. Things that went bump in the night. There was a chance she was tired, and maybe there was a chance she needed some therapy herself.
There was also a possibility that she needed to get laid. That was going to be less likely than the therapy at this point.
Poppy poked at the bubbles in her bathtub as she soaked and let her mind drift off. She didn’t want sex, she wanted a man. A real man. Someone that was big and strong and wanted to take care of her. It might not be a very popular opinion, but it was one that she had always felt deep down. She didn’t mind taking care of someone else, she did it all the time, but it would be nice to have someone take care of her. Someone brave enough, and strong enough, to protect her from her demons or the shadows from her nightmares.
The phone on the counter rang, and she wasn’t about to get out of her warm bath to answer it. There was a long delay, and then she heard the chime for a voice message.
She tried to ignore it, but something made her eyes keep coming back to the phone on the counter. She wasn’t an overly curious person, and usually wasn’t bothered by such things. Something must have been in the air, because she had to know who had left her such a long message.
Grabbing a fluffy towel, she wrapped it around herself and applied her favorite face cream. She cheated and rubbed extra on her neck and elbows. There was no sense in keeping such a nice product for only your face. Wiping off her hands so as to not repeat the unfortunate phone in the toilet incident of 2015, she picked up her phone and pressed the screen for her voicemail.
A voice came on, clearing its throat. It was a deep voice, a rumbling one that made her nipples tighten.
“Hello, my name is Zane Rakoff. I saw your card today. It—uh— said you do… cuddle therapy. I’m not a freak or anything. I’m just new in town. I had a therapist in my old town; I wanted to see if we would be a good fit. I’m a n
ormal straight up kind of guy. I’m a firefighter, so you know that I can’t be too crazy,” he said with a lame sounding laugh. “Anyway, I hope you can give me call.”
The man left his number, and then the call ended. She replayed it two more times. There was something about his voice. It was deep. She formed a picture of Zane Rakoff in her mind. She imagined that he was tall, big, and strong. Why that image came up she wasn’t sure. He could be the exact opposite and just have been blessed with a voice that made women’s panties drop. Poppy saved the message for her records. Or not so much for her records, but so she could play it over and over again.
She wanted to call him right back and arrange an interview. But then she remembered that he had said he was a firefighter. She knew most of them in town and he wasn’t one of them. That either meant it was true that he was new, or he was a liar.
“Sam, do you know this Zane?”
“Know? Not really. Seems decent though, he just got transferred. Kinda grumpy. I mean he’s good, doesn’t bitch about working. He’s still getting settled in. He called you?”
“Yes, I do have a reputation for being an amazing massage therapist.” She wasn’t about to tell him it was for her other job.
“Of course, I’m just surprised he called you. He seems to be a bit of a loner.”
“I just hadn’t seen him around and wanted to verify his story. I appreciate the info.”
“No problem, you let me know if you need any fires put out.”
Poppy laughed off his flirtation. If he felt something for her that was unfortunate, but she couldn’t return the feelings. She was waiting for that instant when life fell into place with just a glance. That moment when your eyes met someone else’s and you just knew that they were supposed to be in your life.
She wanted that connection, and she’d recently decided that she was willing to wait for it.
