“Yeah. Just need a couple hours for my food to settle.”
Just my luck. Ah well, perhaps it's better to do this fast, without getting too attached.
“Good.” I nodded. “Like I mentioned, I have to go out on my rounds near sundown. I'll come back a few hours after that. Be ready then.”
I gathered up our plates and cleaned them. Sam lingered at the table, humming nervously to herself and finishing her tea.
She looked at me with big scared eyes when I started to get ready to go. Outside, the autumn light was fading fast, giving way to nighttime's vast darkness.
“Don't worry. I'll only be gone for a little while. Stay here and wait for me. I'll come for you as soon as I know the coast is clear.”
I rose, threw my leather vest on, and headed out into the growing dusk.
“Don? Is that you?” I heard her voice seeping through the heavy door, gentle and scared.
“It's me,” I said, pushing my way inside the cabin. “Are you all ready to go?”
She looked out into the night and folded her arms. Her backpack was slung over her shoulders, a piece of the human world that had to return to it – just like Sam herself.
“Yeah. We're really going to make it through all the trees and hills out there?” My heightened hearing heard the loud force of her swallow.
“I'll be with you the whole time. Once we're outside Horseshoe Creek, we can go at your pace. I'll take you all the way to the nearest road, where cars and trucks pass by at night. Won't let you out of my sight until we wave one down. A good one, someone we can trust to carry you home.”
But nobody too handsome either. I'll be damned if I'm giving you to anyone else.
She managed a smile, slightly comforted. I could do better.
“And here.” I walked over to her, took off my vest jacket, and wrapped it around her shoulders. “You'll need this more than I do. I've lived with this mountain wind all my life. Grizzly Bone people are used to it.”
The meager smile blossomed into a grin. She tipped her head, as if to say, Thank you. I really mean it.
With Sam close behind me, I opened the door and we headed out into the night. The distant bonfires and faint electric lights shone in the windows of the surrounding cabins.
Most of my neighbors were home, enjoying the night's solitude, or else turning in for a long rest after feasting on elk and fish. We didn't hibernate like ordinary bears, but the cold made us more lethargic, sapping our energy and leading the clan's chubbier members to easily over-stuff their bellies.
“It's just along this path. We're heading straight for the ether.” Sam stepped up until she was at my side. I saw lines of worry cross-crossing her beautiful face, deep cracks in splendid alabaster.
“You won't feel a thing. We pass through it all the time without much more than a tickle..”
“I don't know...it sounds pretty serious.”
I waited until we quickly walked several more steps through the woods. Down the hill we descended, I caught my first glimpse of it.
The otherworldly fog glowed below us. Its soft strands leaped out like a gentle sea, glittering and tinted in its usual light blue luminescence. If it were any other night, I would've stopped and admired the beauty.
“You see that?” I said, stopping and guiding her eyes with my hand. “That's it. Think of it like a veil between two rooms. It doesn't feel like anything but a pinprick of ice.”
Sam stared into it before she spoke. “It's beautiful. Like the northern lights. I've only seen them once, way up in Canada on one of my Mom's business trips.”
I looked up into the wide, dark sky. It was a moonless night, and cloud cover around the mountains made the stars sparse. I shrugged, wondering what it would be like if the ether rose up into the sky in slick bluish waves the way she described.
“Now that you've seen it, you know we're almost clear.”
Almost. Won't do any good to mention the possibility of running into anyone out here. Or anything.
Real grizzly bears were a worry for us as well as humans. The animals didn't take too kindly to our clan, regardless of whether we were in human or bear form.
Like us, their senses were sharp. And they knew we weren't like them, no matter how much we looked like it.
“Okay. Let's keep moving.” Sam said it.
I sensed the energy rising in her and smiled. She wasn't afraid anymore – not much, anyway. I reached out and grabbed her hand, fanning the courage rising inside her.
The bluish haze moved closer and closer. I sucked in a breath, preparing to pass through the icy mist, whispering to her to do the same.
Then I got bowled over by what felt like a sack of bricks. The darkness, the trees, the ether, Sam's beautiful body – everything splintered in my vision.
It whirled and whirled like a puzzle busted up into individual jigsaws. I fell to the ground and tried to breathe. But I couldn't.
III: Fate Is a Harsh Warden (Sam)
One minute, we were fine. With my cold hand wrapped in Don's warmth, I was ready to pass through the rippling ether, transfixed by its kaleidoscope of blue tints.
Then his hand was torn from mine. I started screaming before I saw the two hulking bears on top of him, filling the forest with their roars.
“Don!” I screamed.
I couldn't do anything except watch the horror. My knees gave out and I fell onto them, wincing at the sting of gravel.
It took me more than a minute of bleary terror to wonder why they weren't tearing into him. I realized there weren't two, but three roars, and three bears.
They were all rolling on the ground growling and snapping their jaws. Rich, dark fur oscillated like an avalanche of furry rugs. Eventually, the big bear underneath the other two that had to be Don – or so I hoped – let out a hellish roar that echoed through the trees.
I did the only thing a sane girl could. On the ground, all my limbs paralyzed, I wrapped them snug around me in a ball.
Please. Don't let them hurt me. And don't let them hurt Don either.
I'd never been very religious. Right now, that didn't matter.
I tipped my head up to kiss the frigid mountain air, sending my plea to the heavens, praying there was someone or something up there to receive it.
The roaring stopped. I looked up, and Don was naked again, bowed up and flexing all his gorgeous muscles. Two other men with leaner bodies stood at his side, equally bare. All three had small cuts and bruises peppering their smooth skin.
“Rufus. Alex. Get back.” Don growled. His voice rumbled like an earthquake centered in his throat.
I shuddered. He was in man form, but the noise sounded more like it belonged to a fearsome grizzly.
“What the hell were you doing out here? We almost ripped you clean in two,” one of the nude men said, an older man with sandy reddish hair.
“You're not supposed to be watching this land tonight. That's our job,” the younger man pipped up. “But here you were, with this human.”
Human. It sounded like a swear word in his arrogant voice. I wrinkled my nose and struggled to stand.
“Sam! Don't move,” Don ordered. The other two shifters growled, animal-like, though not as fierce as Don's.
“Just let her pass, Rufus. I was bringing her back to her people.” Don stared at the older man, eyes glistening with a darkness that matched the night.
“Always thought there was something a little off about you, Flood. Now, we know!” Rufus shook his head. “Imagine that. Fraternizing with humans. Bringing them where no man – or woman – is ever meant to tread. The Elders are gonna love to hear about this...”
“Emmerick's gonna tear him a new one.” The younger one named Alex snickered.
“Just let me go.” I stepped toward them, trying my very best not to let my voice shake. I failed miserably.
The shifters who were dangerously close to Don looked like at me the same way a man eyes a pesky fly on his sandwich.
“We can't do that,
female,” Rufus said. “You'll have to come with us. There's no telling what you've seen or done here.”
“Yeah! It's not like Don's being very forthcoming.” Alex stepped toward me and grabbed my arms before I could do anything else.
I didn't struggle. I watched Don turn away from me, holding in his fury.
He wanted to fight them. I just knew it. He wanted to claw and bite and bury them in the earth. Probably not in one piece. And he had the power to do it – but not without taking on a lot of damage and endangering me in the process.
I just have to follow your lead. I still trust you, Don. We'll figure something out.
My heart sighed as we began to move back the way we came. I ignored the bristly nakedness of the other two men.
Instead, I just watched Don, his hard legs twisting in the earth as he moved himself forward with Rufus at his side. My eyes wandered up to his broad shoulders and back down his flanks, stopping to admire the rock hard hills where his thighs split.
Under any other circumstances, it would've been a wild treat to stare at his ass. I partly regretted not seeing it earlier and sampling him to the fullest, if only my bad thoughts hadn't intruded.
It was a long, dark walk back to Horseshoe Creek. We passed several cabins, the only light glowing from the darkened hills. New clouds swept in, blotting out the stars.
After passing the first window, I refused to let myself look inside anymore. Shifter men and women inside held various forms, at their tables and in their easy chairs, sometimes just staring out into the lonely night.
I never imagined how unnerving it could be to see a bear inside a house, staring through the dim lit windows, with eyes so unnaturally human.
Jesus. Is this the way Don looks at me in his bear form?
I didn't know, and I barely remembered what he'd looked like during our first rough encounter. Part of me didn't want to know.
We marched on, past the cabins. Our guards pointed us toward a large brick building across a stone bridge.
Inside, through the window, I saw it. Don rolled his shoulders, forcing back a shiver of rage.
I just trembled with fear, staring through the frosty glass, eyeing the biggest bear silhouette I'd seen yet. It was slumped against the wall, near a table, as if it had devoured a huge meal and fallen asleep.
Before I knew it, we were across the bridge. Every step toward the wide door became harder. My feet were like cement blocks.
“Come on, female. Move it!” Alex barked. “It's not like this is any more pleasant for us. Emmerick doesn't like surprises. And you're the biggest one we've brought him for years.”
My eyes met the shifter's glowing gaze. I felt like hitting him with a quip or maybe spitting in his face.
If only I weren't so damned scared.
Don let out a low growl. Ignoring him, Rufus ran several feet ahead, reached for the Medieval looking iron loops attached to the door, and began to pull it open.
“Hmm?” The huge bear against the wall snorted and blinked, waking up from a long nap. Its raspy murmur sounded weirdly human.
“I'm very sorry to wake you, Elder. It's just that...” Rufus paused, sifting through his words. “We found this human in our borders. And Don Flood was with her.”
The bear snorted its heavy breath again. Slowly, it ambled up and rounded the table, huge grizzly paws thudding on the wooden floor.
And honestly, this place – headquarters? Town hall? – was creepy enough without the biggest, fattest grizzly I'd ever seen prowling around. Bones and skins from huge elks, bears, and cougars lined the walls.
Behind the Elder bear, a row of pews and benches were set up, like the kind in a courtroom. I swallowed hard. If this was a court, then the justice was going to be very different from anything the human world offered.
Emmerick came closer and closer. He made a straight line for me. I dug my feet into the ground, too tired to shake.
I'm too exhausted to be afraid anymore. Let's just get this over with.
I wasn't sure what came over me. Instead of trembling and bawling helplessly like I did before, I stood a little straighter, and folded my arms.
For a second, pride rippled through me. I felt strong and ready. I felt it, but of course I wasn't.
The second the big bear pushed his muzzle toward my face and oozed his stinking breath onto me, I lost it. I reared back, blubbering like a baby. If Alex hadn't caught me, I would've run.
“You see what we're talking about, Elder. The female despises us. You can smell it on her. Doesn't explain why she seems to like Don, but I'm sure we'll get to that soon.”
The monstrous grizzly tilted his head toward Rufus, opened his jaws, and growled. “Shut up.”
The words came out distorted. The blood drained from my face and I began to shake.
What? A...a talking bear?
To say that Emmerick spoke in his shifter form was being generous. It was a barely intelligible warning, the best a savage animal could do to mimic human speech.
Rufus clammed up immediately. Alex's grip on me tensed – not because I was struggling, but because he was nervous too.
Only Don stared at the big bear with cold defiance in his eyes. He was fully human, but I knew the animal inside him was rising. It forced his lips to peel back, showing his perfect teeth.
Emmerick's feet clapped loudly on the floor. At last, he stopped in front of Don, dark brown eyes staring like an indifferent fire.
I blinked. The bear's fur, bones, and claws retracted, rapidly disappearing into the wrinkled, but muscular flesh of a tall man in his late fifties.
He jumped once, spreading his arms and legs. I didn't understand why until Rufus went running across the room, and returned a second later with a huge cloak.
Servile, he tied it around his leader's neck, fixing the silver clasp. Emmerick waved him away and pulled the fabric tight, shielding himself from the cold.
“What the hell do you think you're doing, Flood?” In human form, the Elder spoke with the same jagged menace as the bear, only far more coherently. “I should have you hauled into the holding pit for this.”
“I broke the rules, Elder.” Don twisted the last word with contempt. Not respect. “And I know it. I had to. This girl may have gotten hurt if I hadn't stepped in, if I hadn't brought her here...”
“You know that's forbidden.” Emmerick turned and shook his head. Shifter or not, he was obviously exasperated.
“How many times have we let you get away with bending the rules or outright breaking them?” In a flash, he faced Don again, the small gray crop of hair on his chin bobbing as he spoke. “I should've punished you a long time ago. This is my fault. I'm the one who foolishly deferred to the others, my peers and their childish worship.”
“It's not my fault anyone idolizes me, Elder. I do my best to protect this community, and you know it.”
“Really? Is that what you do?” Emmerick lunged forward, wrapping both hands around Don's huge neck. “Bringing this human female here protects no one! Stop lying to me, child.”
He squeezed. Don made the tiniest sound, but he wouldn't give Emmerick the satisfaction of choking him. Expression curling with disgust, the Elder released him.
My heart sank as Don grabbed his knees, struggling to replenish lost oxygen. I wanted nothing more than to run over and comfort him, to thank him, to tell them this was all my fault for leading him on and not leaving immediately. But, of course, wishes rarely line up with reality.
If wishes were fishes...
Not now. Shut up mother!
“You know I've protected this clan, Emmerick. Everyone here knows it. So do the others on the council,” Don said weakly, still filling his lungs.
Rufus and Alex shifted uncomfortably. I couldn't tell if they feared a similar punishment one day at the Elder's hands, or if they were just jealous of Don.
“Yes. And frankly, your exemplary service in the past is the only reason why you'll do your time in the pit instead of becoming this clan'
s second treason case. And you know the council's price for treason.” Emmerick smiled wickedly. Even as a man, his teeth looked big and sharp.
It didn't take a psychic to understand what he refused to say. In every country I'd ever heard of, the penalty for treason was death.
I hugged my arms close, trying to contain my terror. Emmerick lowered his face and walked toward me.
His dead eyes met mine. I wanted to look away, but every instinct inside me warned against it. Don't!
“And this creature, this woman...she brings great danger to the clan.” He turned to Rufus. “Throw her in Margret’s old cabin. Feed her, but nothing more. If she survives the winter, we can figure this out then. Though it would be better for everyone that she freezes there.”
“Wait!” I chirped. “You can't do this. I wasn't going to tell anyone your stupid secret! I would've forgotten all this, and I still will, if you'll just change your mind...”
My tongue worked faster than my brain. I didn't have time to think about being brave or coy anymore. I begged, knowing it probably wouldn't save me.
But I had to try. When faced with a slow and horrible fate, everyone tries the unthinkable. Everyone pleads.
Better a coward than dead, I thought. God, please don't let me die in this place, with these things dragging me around and watching me.
The roar from further down the line took everyone by surprise.
Rufus and Alex both ran forward, but it was too late. Don shifted and lunged, pouncing on Emmerick's back, knocking the old man to the floor.
The two younger shifters changed and threw themselves on him. There was a flurry of fur. I ran and pressed my back against the furthest wall, watching like a fool. I had to stay out of the way, or else they'd easily crush me like big hairy boulders rolling down a mountain.
Even at full strength, laying heavy on top of him, Alex and Rufus were no match for Don. He exploded up, roaring, his huge grizzly neck stretched toward the ceiling.
His rivals went flying. Don ran, closing the short distance between him and a very dazed Emmerick.
Don lifted one immense paw, claws ready, one swipe away from ending the Elder's life.
Love to Bear: A Werebear Shifter Romance Page 3
