Naughty But Nice: A Bear Shifter Christmas Romance

by Mirajane

  “It’s impressive to see these bookshelves lined with all those paperbacks. But, for someone who loves real books, you have only a small number of hardbacks. What’s up with that?”

  I crinkled my nose. “I actually hate hardcovers. They are uncomfortable in your hand, hard to carry with you, they take up too much space, and they are just not as good as paperbacks, I don’t know how to explain it.”

  “Ok, ok, I get it,” she said. “That’s probably why the digital thing is so appealing. It’s way more convenient than both, and you don’t have to use up space with bookshelves lining your walls. Plus, no one can see what you are reading. So, you can read some very naughty stuff, and no one is the wiser…”

  I laughed at her joke. Dana loved a good naughty novel. “So, are you sure you want to do this?” I asked her.

  “Do what?”

  “Get married,” I replied. “It’s not too late to back out.”

  “What? Why would I want to back out?”

  I held up my hands to indicate no threat or offense intended. “Hey, I’m just trying to remind you of how permanent this marriage thing is. Of course, you can get divorced—after all, fifty percent of couples who get married do—but that’s just messy. I would advise against it, unless you are totally, one hundred percent sure that this is what you want.”

  “Of course, it’s what I want. See, this is what happens when both of your parents are divorce attorneys. I’m surprised they stay together in that line of work. How have they avoided losing faith in marriage like you have?”

  “It’s because they know how bad it can get. They would tear each other to shreds. There would be no winner. So, they just avoid each other as much as possible.”

  “That’s rough,” Dana said. “But I’ll bet it makes for some really fun and awkward dinner conversation. Do you think they still do it?”

  I laughed loudly. “I don’t know! I try not to think about that stuff.”

  “Well, they aren’t cheating on each other, are they?”

  I shook my head. “No. They probably are too paranoid that there are private investigators following each other, and with that kind of evidence, it is impossible to achieve any type of good settlement.”

  “So, the paranoia keeps them together,” Dana said. “That’s classic.”

  “Well, maybe my parents have given me insight into marriage that’s tarnished my view of it, but that’s only because I know what I’m talking about. I’m not trying to convince you to stop the marriage with Kyle. You know I think he is a really great guy. I know he loves you dearly and I don’t think he would ever do anything to hurt you. But I’m asking you, are you sure that this is really what you actually want?”

  Dana thought a moment. I really was not trying to talk my friend out of something that would make her happy, and I was not trying to keep my room in the house we’d shared for years. I was actually a bit excited about branching out on my own, but I did want her to think everything through and get past the love cloud of chemicals that was probably enticing her brain to marry this man.

  “Yes,” she said. “It is what I want. I do appreciate you looking out for me though. Are you going to need help moving in to your new place?”

  I noticed how quickly Dana changed the subject. I went with it. I’d said my piece anyway.

  “No, I hired a moving company. Well, my parents hired them, so they will do all the heavy lifting. They will be here in the morning at seven, sharp.”

  “Cool,” Dana said. “I’m going to miss you being here.”

  “Yeah, but we will be hanging out all the time together. Hell, you might be hanging at my place a lot just to avoid Kyle sometimes.”

  We shared the laugh. Dana nodded. “That’s a possibility.”

  “So, our senior year,” I said. “I think this is going to be one for the books.”

  “I think the past few years have already been pretty crazy. Remember when Charlie accidently let off that stink bomb in the bathroom? It took two weeks to get that smell out of here.”

  “Right” I laughed. “That was sick. And remember how the first six months we were here, every small party we had, someone overflowed the toilet at one point. It got to the point that we just started leaving a mop, a roll of paper towels, and rubber gloves in there for people to clean it up when it happened. People actually cleaned up after themselves, then miraculously it stopped happening.”

  I finished off the beer and threw back my head laughing. The crazy times we had were going to stick with us for the long haul. But I never thought those times would end.

  “So, when do you start the new job?” Dana asked.

  “Wednesday,” I said. “I’m a bit worried. It’s going to make it harder to study, but at least I’ll have a bit of money in my pocket.”

  “But it’s chump change compared to what your family is giving you to pay your bills while you are still in school, right? Doesn’t make sense to me.”

  “I know,” I replied. “They just think that if I’m making an effort working then that is good enough. It’s not my fault that most jobs don’t pay anything respectable. It could be way worse, so I’m pretty lucky.”

  Dana got up and went into the kitchen just then. I followed her. “I’ve got the munchies.”

  “We haven’t had dinner yet,” I said. “I’m pretty hungry after packing all afternoon. Damn, it’s a little after nine.”

  “Is it?” Dana asked. “Where did the time go?”

  “What’s still open? I don’t feel like cooking,” I teased.

  “Nor should you in your last night here and all. Let’s celebrate a bit. I’m ordering pizza. My treat.”

  “Aww, thanks,” I said. “That works.”

  Dana pulled up the website on her laptop and quickly placed an order. I normally tried to eat fairly healthy, but this was one of those times that I decided to chuck it out the window and indulge. I was going to get a workout in the next day anyway with all the help moving small boxes and unpacking. That was my thinking anyway.

  I tossed my beer bottle in the garbage and realized that the can was full. I closed the bag, replaced it with an empty one and walked out the door with the trash bag.

  The door shut loudly behind me. The night was very dark, darker than normal. I peered up at the sky and noticed that the moon was full, but for whatever reason it was kind of dull, not the bright moon that often illuminated everything beautifully sometimes on these hot Arizona nights. It was the first of September, and even at this time of night it was still ninety-five degrees. It would be a few months before we would all be wearing snuggly hoodies and long pants.

  I opened the trash can in the back of the yard and threw the bag in. That was when I heard the growl for the first time.

  My body froze instantly. I couldn’t move. I was scared to death. The growling was loud, as if it was right in my ear. There was something in the yard. I could sense it. I wanted to turn around and see what was there, what was stalking me, ready to pounce and rip me to shreds.

  Was it a coyote? A few coyotes? Maybe a Javalina? No. It didn’t sound like any of those things. It was a big dog or something. Maybe a Rottweiler or a St. Bernard… whatever it was, it sounded so angry.

  I had to get back inside, get away from this situation. Or was I doing the right thing by standing still and hoping this thing might go away?

  The growling came louder now. It was closer. I could practically feel the breath on my neck. It was warm and grazed against my skin… but was it just the slight breeze in the night? I decided right then that I wanted to turn and run. I tried to force myself to turn around, but I didn’t. I was too afraid.

  I was shaking now. My body had broken out in a large sweat. Droplets dripped from my brow. I could barely breathe. I was shaking like a leaf.

  “Hey, Rose,” Dana called from the back door. “They said it would be about twenty-five minutes. Can you leave a tip? I don’t have any cash and I hate putting it on the card because then they have to turn the tips in
, and they don’t get as much.”

  I was afraid to answer, too terrified to turn around. Every fiber of my being was filled with total fear. This was not happening to me. It couldn’t. How did this animal even get in our yard? There were six-foot walls around every property, but then again coyotes could jump those walls easily.

  “Rose Wayne! Hello… do you read me?” Dana yelled with a giggle.

  I didn’t hear the growling anymore. At least, I didn’t hear it behind me. It sounded like it was moving now. And it was moving fast…

  I spun around. “Dana! Get back inside! There is something out here!”

  Dana quickly jumped back inside the house. In the dimly lit yard, I could see a little bit, at least enough to see that nothing was in the yard between me and the back door. I ran for it.

  My legs broke into a sprint, and I covered the forty-foot distance in about two seconds. I slammed into the back door and opened it quickly before I ran inside, shutting it behind me with force.

  I was breathing hard now, gasping. I could hardly stand up. I was covered with sweat and I felt like I was going to pass out. I sat down on the couch and tried to calm myself down.

  “What happened? What was out there?” Dana asked me.

  “I… I don’t know…it was some huge animal. I could hear it growling. It was breathing down my neck. It was so close. Shit… wow… that was crazy.”

  Dana looked out the window. “I don’t see anything,” she said. “There’s nothing out there. Are you sure you heard something? Maybe it was the neighbor’s dog a few houses down. It’s always barking and growling.”

  I shook my head. “No, it was something else. It had to be. That was the most scared I’ve been in a long time. I can’t believe it.”

  “Are you alright?” Dana asked. She ran to the kitchen to get me a bottle of water. She handed it to me, and I chugged hit hard. As I sat there, I started to think that maybe it was nothing. I didn’t hear the animal jump over the wall. All I heard was running, so… where did it go? How did it get in?

  “I feel stupid,” I said. “I’m not sure anything was there.” I’d spent about five minutes calming down and the logic was returning to my brain. Dammit.

  Dana was beside me on the couch. She put her hand on my shoulder. “Don’t think that. If you say something was there, I believe you. Don’t doubt yourself. Whatever it was, it’s gone now. That’s all. I’m just glad you are alright.”

  I shook my head as I tried to think about what I’d just experienced. This was crazy. What in the world had been out there? I had to find out. I grabbed the flashlight and headed for the back door.

  “What are you doing?” Dana asked.

  “I’m going to investigate. This is going to mess with my head if I don’t figure it out.”

  I opened the door and peered into the dark night. I shone the flashlight all over the yard, but I didn’t see anything. There wasn’t any evidence of anything out there. Maybe I had imagined the whole thing, or at least there was some other logical explanation.

  Whatever it was, I’d probably never know. But I felt like a fool for being so scared. Maybe I was just scared about the move and I didn’t’ know how to process some of those fears so I was injecting them into other scenarios.

  I headed back inside vowing to stop worrying so much and to stop reading so many psychology books.

  “There isn’t anything,” I said. “I can’t explain it.”

  Suddenly, a loud knock on the front door echoed through the house. We both jumped and screamed in terror. Then we looked at each other and laughed as we both realized what it was. The pizza guy was there.

  “Well, thanks for giving me a heart attack tonight,” Dana teased. “I’ll probably be afraid to step into the back yard now for like several days.”

  “Ridiculous,” I said. “Just don’t go out at night.”

  Dana laughed at me and answered the door.

  Dex

  I stepped out of the theater and headed down the street. It was dark tonight despite the full moon. The moon… I loved looking up at it. The moon called to me, it echoed and beaconed to me like some kind of invisible signal calling me home. Just like it had done for over fifty years.

  Ever since the night I became a werewolf. That was a night I thought about every single night since it happened. No one ever would have looked at me and thought I was anywhere near fifty, let alone my real age of eighty-two. Physically I looked twenty-seven, the age I’d been when my life had been radically changed.

  It was odd, never seeing your reflection changing. I never grew older. I never changed much. The only thing that had was my mind. I’d grown very wise in all my years and I embraced this wisdom, but I would have traded it all for a normal life. That was a pipe dream. I’d never be normal again.

  I was restless tonight, as I often was on the full moon. It had taken a long time to control the urge to change on these nights. The moon practically demanded it. The change was just under the skin, it was pulling at me, trying to force me to change into the wolf, but I continued to push it back. All I had to do was just get out of the way of the urge and stay inside of my own mind.

  But the change was there any time I wanted. But the full moon, that was the night when it was different. It was very dangerous to allow myself to change because I would not be fully in control of myself. The wolf would take over, and I would be at the mercy of the night. I could not allow that to happen.

  The wolf wanted to kill, plain and simple. It wanted to kill and collect souls for the evil forces of the world. I’ve never been religious, but I was fully convinced that there was something that was controlling this, something gave birth to this curse, and I’d spent every day since I became this creature trying to find out how to stop it. So far, I’d had no real luck.

  I was about three blocks from my home when I first caught the whiff of the other lycan, the other werewolf nearby. There were not many of my kind, especially in the area I lived in, but I did occasionally find them here and there. I could smell my kind, the same way that dogs can sniff out other animals close to them. The scent invaded my nostrils and I found myself drawn to where it was. But not because I wanted to meet them or embrace another of my kind. No, I was drawn there because I did not want to allow this other creature to carry out its evil plan.

  I was a bit of an anomaly among my kind. I didn’t hurt people. I did not kill anyone that I didn’t have to. Most of the people I’d killed were others like me who were fighting me because I was interrupting their habits. The wolf was evil. It could corrupt you so easily. It wanted to be fed. It wanted carnage and it wanted to kill innocents. I had to fight the urge constantly, but it was worth fighting. I would not allow this curse to truly turn me into some kind of monster.

  What I was feeling, what I sensed right then was another creature like me about to attack some innocent people. I could hear the young ladies talking to each other, walking along, two women out partying, and looking to party some more at another club. They were just out having some fun for the evening. And someone desperately wanted to stop this. They wanted to end their sweet, young lives. No. That was not about to happen on my watch.

  I jogged down the block, turned the corner, sprinted fast to the end of the alley where no one could see me, and then galloped up behind the creature I saw lurking in the shadows. He was standing perched up on a building looking down at these women who were just walking along. I needed to stop him. These poor women were oblivious to the fact that they were about to be attacked and torn apart.

  I tapped into a little bit of the wolf inside of me and I ran up the side of the building, using my claws to dig in quickly and propel myself fast right up the side until I reached the top. I then walked up behind the wolf.

  He noticed me then and spun around. He was mostly wolf and very little man left. This thing had tapped into the evil nature of the curse and he loved it. That’s right… he was relishing each and every single kill that he could. The bastard. That was not right
at all.

  “Not tonight,” I said. “Did you ever even try to fight this?”

  He was too wolfed out to answer with words. Instead he lunged right at me with lighting speed. I saw it coming and I stepped aside. I pulled out the switchblade I carried at all times. I’d had it carefully crafted and coated with silver. If the blade touched my skin, it would burn me, so I had to be careful how I carried it and the way I whipped it out.

  The wolf was almost on me with his vicious, growling bite. I brought up the blade and shoved it right into his heart. He whimpered and whined in the most pathetic of ways as he fell to the ground at my feet. I could see his change taking place so quickly. I’d stabbed him good through the heart and he was gone. Silver had to enter the blood in large quantities to kill a wolf, but if you got the heart then it was over. The curse would be gone, and the body would be dead. There was no way to recover from it.

  A moment later I was standing over a man’s nude body. He withered quickly and vanished in thin air. That was typical. I’d killed close to a hundred lycanthropes in my time, and it never got any easier for me. I had to remember that they’d once been normal human beings. Someone had victimized them and given them the curse, just as someone had done it to me.

  But what they chose to do after that was all on them. Most of them gave into the urges and then they gave into the power of it all. Live forever, have whoever you wanted in any way you wanted them, and murder them without ever being apprehended. The wolf would put you above the law in a way.

  But not my law.

  I peered over the edge of the building and watched as the beautiful young ladies entered another club. They would go on having a great night without ever knowing that they’d almost died in that alley.

  I went home with a clear conscious. On my way up the elevator towards my apartment, I was stopped by Billy Dean, a tenant of the building from the first floor. “Hey, the air conditioning in my apartment doesn’t seem to be working. I talked to some others and they say theirs is fine. Could you look at it for me?”