by Amy Star
The pool itself was a natural hot spring, with the icy water spilling from the waterfalls and cooling the spring down so that it was pleasantly warm all year long. Above the waterfall, Bear Mountain connected to a neighboring mountain that rose into the sky on the east side. The icy water that flowed year-round came from the narrow creek that had dug a deep trench in the side of the mountain, carrying runoff from the snowcapped peaks down to where they were in a constant stream of crystal clear water. It filled the deep pool at the top of the short cliff, which overflowed into a series of waterfalls into the hot spring below.
It was a series of perfect conditions that led to one magical location, and it was one of his favorite things about the property. This was a quiet place of solitude that he could come to when he needed a break that he wouldn’t be sharing with the rest of the colony. He was sharing everything else, and he felt he was entitled to this one secret hideaway.
He could use a swim right now, but running wild appealed to him at the moment, and he wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to be free.
Turning north and going uphill, he raced as fast as he could up the incline, stretching out his legs and pushing himself until his breath was labored and the wind whipped at his face. He let out a powerful roar, scattering animals in the surrounding forest as they frantically ran for cover. Still he ran, pushing every thought out of his mind.
But Clara’s face still plagued him, and the more he tried to forget that she was there, the more he couldn’t. She was beautiful and innocent, but she was not naïve. Clara was a woman who knew what she wanted, and she wasn’t going to give up until she had it. It was going to take everything he had to convince her to decide not to live on the mountain. If she thought the desire to leave was anyone else’s idea, she would stay just to spite him.
He had no idea how long he’d been running when he looked around and realized he’d made his way to the other side of the mountain. Here, the trees were a little thicker. This side was so steep near the bottom that the only way to access it was from his side of the mountain. That was part of the appeal of Bear Mountain; not only was a good portion of it carefully developed so that the homes worked with the land, but the other side was so rugged that even the most adventurous humans wouldn’t brave the terrain.
It was the perfect place to bring people just like him, who only wanted to roam free and enjoy life to the fullest. His parents were the only werebears that he knew. Now that they were gone, Mason was alone. This community would be more than just a place where his kind could roam. It was a place where Mason could form a family and someday find a mate of his own.
He stopped, the perfect idea occurring to him. If he couldn’t convince Clara to leave on her own, maybe there was another way to convince her to leave. There was obviously chemistry between them.
What if I seduce Clara, then break her heart, he thought to himself. Then she would want to leave, and she wouldn’t be able to get off the mountain fast enough.
But what if she wouldn’t sell to him? Mason wondered, but he pushed the doubt away. Bethany could buy it for him through his trust. Clara would never know, and she wouldn’t be around to find out when the sale was final. It was a win-win.
He felt a twinge of guilt for even thinking about it, but he pushed that aside too. He had dreams, and Clara was standing in the way. He had to do something, and this would work. He was sure of it.
Turning his massive head to the east, he saw the sliver of gray that signaled the impending dawn of morning. He was miles from the cabin, and he needed to get back so he could put his plan in motion.
He started back, keeping the setting moon on his right and heading south at a more leisurely pace. Gone was the rage that had consumed him earlier, along with the anxiety that had fueled his headlong run into the night. He was back in control and ready to move forward.
When he finally got to his cabin, he was exhausted. He shifted easily into human form a few yards from the back door that he’d run out of hours before, too tired to hold the shift much longer. He was out of practice, but he’d needed the run as much as he needed air to breathe. In the end, it had helped him find a solution to his problems, and that was worth it.
He smiled as he dragged himself up the stairs and into his bed, oblivious to the pink sky in the east. He was a free man now: no schedule, no responsibilities, and no one to answer to. If he wanted to roam the forest at night then collapse in bed at dawn and sleep until he woke up, that was his prerogative. Until he got used to the strain of holding onto bear form, it was going to wear him out.
This time next month, shifting and staying that way would be second nature. By next year, who knew? Maybe he would hibernate with the wild bears, leaving his human form behind for good.
He laughed.
“Not on your life, Mason,” he said wearily, knowing that he would never give up one part of himself for the other.
He was happy just the way he was, and he was content to spend most of his life in human form. Besides, there were certain perks to being a man, and he wasn’t willing to let those go.
CHAPTER FIVE
Restless through the night, Clara woke up just before sunrise, too excited to sleep. It was the third time she’d woken up, and this time, she gave up all hope of getting back to sleep. Her body was adjusting to the rhythm of the mountain, including the sunrise and sunset, and she expected that change to come with some challenges.
Grabbing an apple from the kitchen, she decided to take a walk and greet the sunrise from the little rise above the lake. If she used the trail she’d found and cut across the road, she would make it in no time at all. It was so much faster than going through all the pastures, which were much longer than they were wide because of the forest that surrounded them.
“I own the road, anyway,” she laughed as she stepped out the door. “It’s not like I’m going to deny everyone else access over ownership.”
The thought was preposterous, but something about her owning so much of what Mason had considered his land had given him pause. Knowing that it had bothered him so much only made her wonder what it was he was hiding. He must have been worried about her blocking the road or something like that, but why? Maybe it was just about the access, because she couldn’t imagine anything else it could be.
She waved her hand over the door knob to make sure it locked, using a reverse of the spell she’d used to open it the day before. When the latch clicked tight, she smiled.
“At least there’s one spell I’m good at,” she laughed, then hurried down the trail toward the lake.
Her breath caught in the air, making little puffs of smoke with each step. The path was narrow, probably walked by the herd of deer that called the mountain home. Whatever had used this trail frequently had kept the path beaten down and smooth so that she didn’t have to worry about tripping over anything in the dark forest.
Here, the morning light that had begun turning the sky gray didn’t have the power to break through the trees. Later in the day, this same trail would be brightly lit with sunbeams that danced merrily between the shadows cast by thick leaves. Until then, she had to trust her instincts and the smooth ground beneath her feet.
The thud sound her boots made on the hardpacked ground made her smile. This place was so different than Seattle. She couldn’t even put it into words. But being alone with her thoughts, without the cacophony of traffic sounds swirling around her was the best feeling. She felt alive and so free. Here, she could practice her magic without fear of being found out. She could do anything, and the only person she had to answer to was herself.
Clara came to the fork in the path where she could go straight and go to Mason’s house, or she could turn left and continue on the trail as it ran beside the road. The trail that ran parallel to the road kind of meandered about aimlessly, which would take her so long that she would miss the sunrise entirely. That was why she’d decided to cut across the corner, which meant when she got to the tree line, she was going to have to
walk across part of Mason’s back yard. Not that she thought he would mind, if he was even awake.
When she got to the mouth of the trail, she was surprised to see the lights on at Mason’s house. He hadn’t struck her as the type to have them on while he was sleeping.
“Maybe he’s already awake,” she said to herself.
She tried checking her phone for the time, but she realized that she’d left it in the cabin. She didn’t need it where she was going, anyway. The only things she’d brought were her backpack, the book of spells, and a light jacket stuffed in the front pocket, away from the book. She didn’t plan on being gone that long because she had big plans for the day.
Movement from across the yard and straight ahead, caught her eye. Not knowing why, she froze and stepped against the nearest tree, hiding herself in the shadows. The figure moved closer, and when she could finally make it out from the shadows behind the house, she gasped.
A large black bear lumbered toward the house, coming from the north. She held her breath, not sure how good the animal’s hearing was. She was almost a football field away, but she was still shaking, thinking about the warning Mason had given her earlier. Part of her had thought he was just teasing her. He’d seemed to be trying to scare her off the mountain, though she couldn’t understand why he would do that. Now that she was just a few hundred yards away from an actual bear, she wondered if he was just being honest.
She also wondered if there were more.
Her back was rigid, arm wrapped around the tree as she tried to remember what she was supposed to do when faced with a bear. It hadn’t seen her yet, but once it did, she needed to know what she planned to do.
Think, Clara, think, she urged herself, but with each passing moment, the bear was getting closer to the back porch. At any moment, it would see her, and then she would be in trouble. She couldn’t outrun it, even with such a big head start. And if she walked away, wouldn’t it just follow her scent?
The bear was focused intently on the back door of Mason’s home, walking steadily but a little slower than she would have expected an animal that size to move, almost as if it was tired. Fear forgotten for a moment, she watched it for several strides before it stopped short of the porch steps and shook its thick hide mightily. The early morning mist hovered above the grass swirled around the bear as it moved, making the already majestic creature seem so much more so. She longed to get closer for a better look, but she knew that was foolish. Beautiful or not, it was still a dangerous animal.
It stood up on hind legs, frighteningly tall, the pink morning sky a surreal backdrop to the scene before her. The beast stretched its arms then, and with a jolt, Clara realized that the thing had arms. She blinked, and in that split second, the bear’s forearms looked even more human than they had the moment before. His face was changing shape as well, long snout melting away to reveal a human face—a face she recognized.
Mason! She couldn’t believe her eyes, but she knew that she wasn’t dreaming. The minute it took him to take his human shape was real, and the bear that she’d been hiding from was nothing more than the second shape of a man with deep secrets he’d never meant to share with her.
Would he be angry if he knew she’d seen him? If he looked her way, there would be no doubt that she’d seen him walk across the grass on all fours. Somehow, she knew that he would be furious that his secret was revealed, especially so soon. He didn’t know her well enough to realize that she would never reveal his secrets because she had secrets of her own.
Everything he’d said to her made sense, as did his plans for the mountain. He wasn’t creating some hippy commune for an alternate lifestyle off the grid. He was creating a home where people like him could live openly and not have to worry about people seeing them. A bear in the woods was a normal occurrence, but a bear in the city would cause widespread panic, and they would never know if a bear was a wild animal or a shifter until it was too late.
She was still watching him when he turned in her direction, grabbing the rail of the porch and dragging his weary body up the short flight of stairs.
He was completely naked.
When she realized her eyes were roaming the length of his body, she felt her face get hot. He was perfect from head to toe, and now she knew that perfection extended to the parts of his body that had been covered by clothing.
She smiled as she watched him turn and take one last look at the sunrise. His firm ass looked amazing in the morning light, and Clara found herself wishing that Mason was a little more adventurous. But he seemed ridiculously uptight, and he would probably be too focused on making her leave to think about anything else.
Too bad, she thought as he opened the back door and went inside. She was sure he would have made a formidable lover.
What he didn’t know was that she wasn’t going anywhere, and now that she knew his secret and understood why he had acted the way he did, she could use it to disarm him. Maybe she wouldn’t be able to seduce him, but at least she would be prepared for anything he might throw at her. Eventually, he would give up trying to get her to leave and work with her instead. She could be an excellent neighbor, and unless he wanted to fight with her over the only road that accessed the rest of the interior part of the mountainside, he was going to have to learn to play nice.
She hadn’t noticed just how many windows Mason’s house had. From where she was standing, she could see the staircase, which she assumed led to the bedrooms on the second floor. The house was beautiful, and the person who built it had done a superb job of making it flow with the landscape, but she was glad that her cabin was much more humble. It could hold an entire family, even if she would never have a family of her own. It was perfect for her, and she had some ambitious plans for the coming weeks. This time next month, that cabin was going to be home, and everything would be exactly as she envisioned.
She waited for him to disappear down the hall and out of sight. When she couldn’t see him anymore, she stepped out into the damp grass that surrounded Mason’s house. Her gait was light as she hurried across the space, keeping her eyes forward so that Mason would never suspect that she’d seen him if he happened to look out a window.
She was nearly skipping, feeling lighter than she had when he’d first tried to force her to sign papers to sell the place. Luckily, pulling the airhead card had ended any thought he had of forcing the discussion. She smiled as she remembered how exasperated he’d gotten, and she wondered if he realized that she could feel his emotions, even if she couldn’t read his actual thoughts.
“That would be a hoot,” she laughed, already at the tree line that would lead her straight to the lake.
Even after spending a good amount of time hiding from what she thought was a wild bear, she’d still made excellent time. The lake was just as beautiful as she’d remembered it, and for a time, she’d stood in the clearing, just taking everything in. She would never understand why her grandmother had chosen to leave this place, but Clara knew that she would live here forever, no matter what.
The book of spells was heavy in her backpack, and Clara was certain that she could feel it thrumming with excitement.
“It’s probably you, still trembling,” she teased herself.
She wasn’t convinced. The book had seemed to take on a life of its own since Clara had liberated it from its locked box inside the safe deposit box. The moment she’d touched the book, she knew that it was more than just leather-bound paper. It was powerful and filled with magic. But she hadn’t realized exactly how much power it possessed until she’d tried to put it back in the lock box for safe keeping. As hard as she tried, she hadn’t been able to lock it back up; the book wouldn’t let her. After several tries, she’d given up and put it on her bookshelf in her tiny cottage.
The next day, the book had been on the tiny table where she ate her breakfast, opened to a section of the book she lovingly called “Charms for Children”. In one afternoon, she’d managed to cast most of the spells on her first try, if not h
er second. By the end of the week, she was convinced that every spell would be just that easy.
And that was when her first spell had gone awry, like the spell the night before.
“You always manage to help me douse myself in something,” she said wryly, taking the book from her bag.
Wiping off a large, flat boulder on the edge of the lake, she set the book down and kicked off her boots so she could feel the ground beneath her feet. She walked around the boulder once, enjoying the cold morning dew on the grass before she sat down. Her legs hung, feet skimming the top of the grass as she looked out at the lake and just breathed.
The brisk air sent a chill through her, and a giggle escaped her lips.
“This is so beautiful,” she whispered in awe. “Just beautiful.”
Something moved nearby, but Clara didn’t need to look at it to know it was a deer. The sound and the movement had a completely different feel than the bear had. Mason’s anger and confusion had been evident in the energy that radiated across the field from him, but this visitor was curious and gentle as a lamb.
Clara was relaxed, letting the doe take her time investigating the newcomer. Emboldened, the doe took another step until she was nose to nose with Clara. She inhaled Clara’s breath, getting so close that Clara could have touched her, but she didn’t.
A young fawn toddled out of the bushes, sensing that everything was safe and being too curious to hide where he’d been left any longer. When he saw Clara, he stopped, eyes widening, mouth opening in a submissive gesture as he backed away. He made a sound of terror, but his mother only looked at him for a moment, going back to her investigation of the visitor sitting on the rock.
“I won’t hurt you,” she told the trembling fawn.
Her words visibly relaxed him, bringing a smile to her face. She’d always been good with animals, but until she’d read the letter, she hadn’t realized that her gift was extraordinary. She was learning so much about herself, and everything was starting to really fall into place. Too bad Mason didn’t see it that way.
