Naughty But Nice: A Bear Shifter Christmas Romance

by Mirajane

  He fired two warning shots in the air. “Now, who wants to be in front of this fucking thing?” He screamed.

  The bodies began to scatter as people ran back towards their own cars. They were all yelling things like “We will take you down!” “You can’t fight this!”

  Tyler smiled as they all scattered. I watched with awe, but I knew that we needed to get out of here quickly. This was not going to stop those people.

  Tyler came back inside and said, “Call up the posse.”

  I had to laugh at his enthusiasm.

  But a few moments later, I stopped laughing as the sheriff’s car pulled up in front of the house. Tyler dropped the gun and took several steps from it with his hands in the air.

  The sheriff and the deputy stepped out of the car with guns in hand. I sensed that this was going to end badly.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Tyler

  “You had better start talking, and I do mean now!”

  Sheriff White said. He was angry as could be. The evil look on his face that was typically there was replaced with something that resembled a snarling dragon. I could tell he was fully intent on making me talk and talk fast.

  I had been brought down to the station for questioning by Sheriff White, and Deputy Mahone, who was about twenty-five and took his job far too seriously.

  “I’ve got nothing else to say,” I replied. Angie wasn’t sure why I wasn’t going with a lawyer, and having one present when I was speaking, but I was confident enough I could get out of this uncomfortable questioning without one. That took guts, especially in this situation, but I was taking my chances.

  “Well, suppose you just tell us again what you know about what happened to my brother’s son?”

  “Should you even be in here? Isn’t that a conflict of interest?” I said. I was having fun poking fun at the Sheriff. I wasn’t sure that was wise at all, but I was enjoying the game I was playing. If I made them mad enough they might break the law and I would have a case big enough against them that they did not want. I had deep pockets and I could afford the best lawyer around.

  It was still a gamble, though. I sat there shooting smug looks at them both and waiting for them to lose their shit. It was working.

  “You’d better speak, you dumb bastard,” White said.

  “Well, since you put it that way, I guess I’ll tell you boys once again. Oren came into the bar the other night and he picked a fight with me. we asked him to leave, and he didn’t. Then he threw a punch at me. I defended myself, and nothing more. The entire bar can back that up. Then a few nights later he accosted me and Angie Silver with a gun. He threatened to kill us both. And after we calmed him down, he left.”

  “Why didn’t you report this?”

  “He was drunk. So, we let it slide. We just thought he would sleep it off. We didn’t want to get him in any trouble.”

  “Ok, what happened?” Mahone asked.

  “Well,” I continued. “Then he came into the bar a few nights later and told everyone there that I am really a bear and that I turned into a bear. He said that I was not human and a bunch of other jazz. He was drunk again. You know, I think he might have had a drinking problem…”

  “Stick to the story shithead!” White said, slamming his fist down on the table.”

  “Ok, will do. Where was I?” I asked.

  Mahone laughed angrily. “You’d better keep yucking it up, because we will have you in that jail so fast your head will swim.”

  “Sounds good,” I replied. “I’m sure my lawyer will love that. So, you should probably get him here.”

  “Well, Oren says you are a bear shifter and that very night is mauled to death by a bear. I’m seeing that as being a crazy fucking coincidence.”

  I looked at him like he was crazy. “You’re serious? You believe that Oren was telling the truth about me being a bear?”

  I couldn’t keep myself from laughing. Wow, I was really hamming it up, but it was so much fun. These idiots were about to go ballistic. I just had to keep the ruse up a little bit more. And I had to make sure that my secret stayed a secret at all costs.

  “Oh, we have an inclination to believe things like that around here. This isn’t the middle of Nebraska. There are some weird things that happen here, things that don’t make sense. Anyone who has eyes and grew up around here knows that. So, if someone insists there is some kind of supernatural weirdness going on, then we are more inclined than most to listen to it. Now, maybe you have got a bit distanced from that sort of thing living it up in the big city, but you need to wise up big time, kid.”

  “Ok, my bad. I didn’t mean any disrespect, but I can assure you I am no bear shifting thing, or whatever. I’m just a dude. I had a bit of a beef with Oren, but I can assure you I had nothing to do with his death. Do I look like I can fake a bear attack?”

  “Maybe it wasn’t faked,” Mahone said. “We have ways of proving these things.”

  “Well, that sounds nice, but if you want to question me farther, you will do it with a lawyer present.”

  “That doesn’t make you look guilty one bit,” White said.

  “Nope, not even a little bit,” Mahone echoed. They were trying to goad me into proving I was not lying to them. I kept my mouth shut.

  I gave Angie the nod and she called one of my lawyers, who happened to live close by. He was actually my grandmother’s lawyer, and I’d known him since I was a kid, but he would work to get me out of this mess.

  He showed up about twenty minutes later. I was still being silent in the interrogation room while Mahone and White continued trying to harangue a confession out of me that I was indeed a bear shifter who had killed his nephew. When you said it out loud, it just sounded ridiculous, even to me.

  My lawyer, Brian Cummings showed up and entered the room like the bigshot that he was. He was showing full on bravado and showing the cops how little they really had on me. It was pretty fun to watch.

  “Is he being charged with anything?” Brian asked.

  “Not yet, but we will find something,” White said.

  “Let’s go,” Brian said to me.

  I got up to leave without saying a word to either cop. “We’ll be seeing you soon,” White said.

  I ignored the idiot and walked out of the room. It was fine, I thought. I would leave the town and there wasn’t much they could do about it. I’d had nothing to do with what happened and I wouldn’t be framed for it either. They had no idea who they were dealing with.

  “Thanks, Brian,” I said when we got outside.

  “Sure, no problem. Those morons have nothing on you.”

  “Yeah, they are pretty sure I turn into a bear and that I mauled Oren to death.”

  He laughed. “Yeah, there is some superstition around here, and some of it runs deeper than this town would have you admit.”

  “I know,” I said. “I’m beginning to realize that more and more all the time. I grew up around here and I heard all these legends and superstitions, but now I’m starting to see how ingrained in the fabric of the community it is. This is wacky. We are heading out of town to enjoy Christmas at the Stockton lodge. You are welcome to come along.”

  Brian laughed. “I appreciate the offer, but I’m going to have to pass. I got something else going on. Just glad I could help you out here and get you out of a pinch. I’d advise you get permanent legal representation though. I don’t think this is going away any time soon.”

  I nodded. “Oh, I know that. I’ve got my lawyers, but they are all in Cincinnati. I’ll get in touch with them. I just needed someone to get here short notice. But thanks a million.” I shook his hand.

  “No problem,” he said.

  I watched him walk away towards his little Mercedes and then pull away. “Wow, you dodged a bullet, right?” Angie said.

  “Yeah, not really. I could have walked if I wanted to, but this way I was proving a point that I didn’t have to talk with them and I could get legal representation instantly if I wanted to. The
y needed to remember that I can and will fight whatever they throw at me. I’m not going to give in to their horse shit.”

  Angie put her head against my chest and I hugged her tightly. She felt good, warm, and sweet against me. The day had been stressful as hell and it wasn’t even noon yet. I just wanted to go back to the house and grab my stuff, then head out. I doubted that the crazies would do much damage to the place, since I didn’t actually own it and I was with the Sheriff being interrogated, but I wouldn’t have been totally surprised to find the house burnt to the ground by the time I got back there.

  “What are you going to do?” Angie asked.

  “Nothing. This will blow over. Don’t get worried about this insanity. No one really knows anything. I’m not guilty of anything, and nobody outside of here really knows that I’m a bear shifter or believes in such nonsense. So, don’t even worry about it. I assure you that all will be fine baby. I love you, and nothing is going to get in the way of us being together, ok?”

  She kissed me softly on the lips and I held her closely to me in a warm embrace. I knew she was really scared and concerned, and I appreciated that, but it was not really her fight. She had to understand that I would make it through this and nothing would keep me from being right by her side.

  “Remember, I am a bear shifter. They haven’t really built prisons to hold the likes of me,” I said.

  Angie began to laugh as I held her. “You are insane,” she said.

  “Guilty as charged,” I said.

  We got in Angie’s car and drove back to the house. It was fine, luckily and there was no one outside yelling and screaming insanity, so they must have all gotten the email that I’d been locked up. But I was sure the email that I was free and walking around to terrorize them would be forthcoming quickly, so I knew I had to pack my shit and head out quickly.

  It was about a three hour drive to the lodge, so I figured we’d get there by dinner time. There were great restaurants in the town. I wanted to take my sweet Angel out for some fun tonight, if she was up for it. Or else, she and I would stay in and have some fun that way. Either way was going to be a big party.

  I quickly packed a bag, while Angie drove to her house to do the same thing. I was actually more excited by this than I’d been by staying here and having Christmas in town. This most likely meant a lot of my extended family would not be joining us for celebration, but I didn’t really know them that well. I’d grown up feeling like they kind of looked down on my side of the family for some reason. My grandmother couldn’t explain it either.

  I finished packing up and then I went to pick my grandmother up and get her packed. She was already working on it. “Grandma, let me,” I said. “You need to rest.”

  She waved me away. “Hogwash. I’m fit as a fiddle. I don’t need to do anything.”

  I loved her perseverance and I liked to think I got a lot of my stubbornness from her. “I know you can do it, but I would like to do it for you. Are you sure you want to do this? We can cancel the whole thing and just stay around here. It’s no problem.”

  “No, I think it’s a wonderful idea. I wished you had suggested it sooner. I’m excited.”

  “Great.”

  I finished packing up her things, and then loaded them in the car. Last, we drove over to Angie’s house and picked her up. Her family, and our friends were going to meet us at the lodge tomorrow. I realized it was a big thing to just suddenly spring on everybody, but they were all gung ho to make it work and everyone was thrilled with what would promise to be a super party atmosphere for our holiday.

  I called ahead and spoke with Marty, the manager of the lodge. I told him that we were all going to give the staff a bit of a workout and see how they handled everything in a real world scenario, and he was all for the idea as well.

  So, everything was prepped and ready.

  I felt good getting out of town. Yet again, the town that I’d grown up in, had called my home, had abandoned me and pushed me out. It was kind of a completed circle.

  I was ready for something new, a brand new life that would soon await me.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Angie

  I smelled smoke.

  But at first it didn’t register with me. I was somewhere… someplace I didn’t recognize. Where was I? What was I doing there…? I couldn’t breathe. I was scared, but I was not alone. But I couldn’t see anything. Where was Tyler?

  I tried to move, but it felt like some terrible weight was weighing me down, something was on top of me and I was unable to budge an inch. I was suffocating. I had to get out of there. I needed air. I tried to open my eyes, but all I saw was darkness. I tried to call out, but my voice would not produce sound. All I felt was an odd scratchy sound in the back of my throat as I tried to move.

  I pushed upwards hard as I could. My arms felt so heavy. I had no strength. The tickling in my throat was getting hotter and I started to compulsively cough. I was choking. I could not catch a good breath. My body was really starting to fail me now. I felt as I if I was falling down hard into some kind of dark abyss and no matter where I looked, I saw nothing but chaos all around me. Still, I couldn’t make any sense of it.

  There was thick smoke on top of me. I realized that now my eyes were open. I’d been dreaming, but now I was wide awake. The reason I was choking was right in front of my face. I could see the thick cloud, that dark mist swarming over me and choking off my air supply, invading my lungs, and driving the life from my body. I was suffering smoke inhalation.

  I had to get out of there. I grunted as hard as I could, and with every single fiber of my being I somehow managed to move and turn over enough that I was able to swing my legs out from under the heavy blankets and roll out of the bed. My feet hit the floor and almost buckled my legs, which would have sent me crashing down to the floor. But I held on. I was lying back on the bed enough to keep myself upright.

  I was wide awake now and I could see the smoke pouring into the rom. I could hear and smell the flames around us. The floor was warm under my feet, almost too hot to walk on. What had caused this? The house was on fire, probably almost fully engulfed now. Would we even have time to get out of there? It was going to be close.

  “Tyler! Tyler! We have to get up! The house is on fire!”

  Tyler was instantly alert beside me. He leapt out of the bed quickly. I’d never seen him move that fast before, except when he had saved me from being shot. He was instantly ready to go. I could see the flames dancing in his eyes.

  “What in the hell?” He asked out loud. I knew he was cursing himself for not knowing about this. Even with all of his super abilities, he had slept through this and we both might perish. I knew that I might die soon. The smoke was overtaking me. I could hardly breathe at all. Calling for Tyler had used up the last bit of my oxygen and I was now gasping for every little bit of air I could find.

  “Get down,” Tyler said. “We have to stay as low to the ground as we can get.”

  I did as he ordered and crouched down on the floor. We crawled together towards the door and I waited as Tyler opened it first and peered out. He gave me the nod that the coast was clear and we crawled along the floor out into the hallway.

  I could now see that the entire lower story was going up in flames pretty good. We were going to be trapped upstairs. I wasn’t sure how else we could get out of there. This was it. We were going to die here.

  That was when I heard the breaking glass and the noise outside. The towns people, the same people who had showed up the day before and threatened to kill us. They were responsible for this. Did they even know that I was here? Or did they care? Did they really think that I was harboring some dangerous fugitive who had killed two of their own? This was absurd. The insanity that some people would go through to prove that they were right was the worst thing in the world. You couldn’t reason with some people.

  “We have to go back,” Tyler said. “I have an idea.”

  That made me feel a little better. At least w
e weren’t just retreating into a corner where we were totally without options. Tyler saw something that I didn’t. I was anxious to hear what he had going on, but when he told me it sounded ludicrous. I was now almost willing to take my chances with the fire. But I was sure I was going to die from smoke inhalation first.

  Once we were inside the bedroom, Tyler stood up and motioned for me to as well. He looked into my eyes and said, “I need you to be strong for me. You have to be brave. I know you can be. Will you do that for me, honey?”

  “Sure. What are we doing?”

  “I’m going to wrap you in my arms, and I’m going to jump out the back window to the ground below. There isn’t anyone back here. I checked it out just now. I don’t see anyone, so we can escape the fire and then run to the road a few hundred yards away without being seen.”

  “That’s crazy. Are you sure you can do that?”

  “Of course. We will be fine. But you have to trust me. That’s all I ask.”

  I didn’t know what to think. Besides being shot at, this was the worst day of my life. I had to keep going though. I was willing to go anywhere with Tyler. I believed in him and I loved him. I trusted that he would never let me be harmed, so I was with him.

  “Ok, let’s do it,” I said.

  “Great,” Tyler replied. He turned around and I latched onto his back. “Hold on tightly.”

  He opened the window and then crawled out through it. I was barely able to fit on his back, but he somehow made it work. Now, we were on the tiny ledge, the overhang that pointed straight down to the crazy ground beneath us. It was so far. I was sure it was at least twenty or thirty feet down.

  Tyler leapt off the ledge and we were flying. At least it felt like we were flying. It had to have been only a few seconds, if that long, but it felt like we were floating in that cold, dark night air for at least a minute. I kept wondering when we were going to hit the ground, and it never seemed like it was coming.