He’d joked about turning Laura into a country girl, but was it even right for him to try? If this wasn’t who she was, wouldn’t it be wrong to try to change her? Maybe she was a square peg, and life out here was just a round hole.
Rick lost track of time as his thoughts circled around and around. He was feeling considerably more glum than when Laura had left when he felt the water on his back starting to cool.
He had lost track of time, and hurriedly turned off the water. As he was drying himself, he heard a pair of car doors close at Joyce’s place. A human could never have heard the sound from this distance, but Rick’s ears were much more sensitive than that.
He stopped moving completely and focused on listening. He heard footsteps on the stairs to Joyce’s front door, and then the door open and close, no knock.
Rick sprang into action, throwing on the still damp jeans and the black tee from before. He ran to the door, hurriedly slipping on his hiking boots and dashing outside. He knew in the back of his head that there was probably a reasonable explanation for the sounds he had heard, but his gut said something was wrong. Shifters usually learned to trust their instincts.
He sprinted full speed down the path that led to Joyce’s cabin, ears still tuned and trying to make out any sounds. He could hear speaking, a man’s voice with what he thought of as a New York accent. Could it be her brother, Craig? He hoped so.
Then he heard Laura’s voice raised in anger, followed by a slap and something hitting the floor. Anger surged through him, the animal inside roaring its fury. If someone had hurt Laura there would be hell to pay.
He reached Joyce’s cabin, skipping the stairs entirely with one burst from his long legs. He crashed in through the front door, taking in the scene in an instant. Two men, Laura on the ground. The air smelled of anger, fear, and… smugness. That final smell infuriated him as much as all the rest. To not only hit his mate, but to feel good about it afterwards? Not while he was around.
Rick didn’t slow his momentum at all as he came through the front door, lowering his shoulder and ramming the man closest to him. The force of his momentum and weight combined to send the man flying into the wall to his right, shoulder first, where he collapsed in a heap. Rick turned, noting the shocked look on the face of the skinny thug as he swung his fist into his stomach, doubling him over. He grabbed him by the front of his jacket and lifted him off the ground, staring him in the face with all the fury inside him, then threw him into the wall across from his friend, leaving a crack in the wood as the man bounced off and landed face down on the floor.
Rick went immediately to Laura, kneeling beside her.
“Are you alright?” he asked, seeing the beginnings of a bruise on her face where she had been hit.
“I’m fine,” she responded, wincing a little bit as he lightly touched her face. “Careful there.”
He heard movement from behind then, the thug he had thrown into the wall starting to get up. He stared into Laura’s eyes for one more moment, then turned to finish things.
A sudden bang made Rick’s ears ring as he felt an impact in his side. The thug was on one knee, a small caliber pistol held in one hand. Rick ignored the wound in his side and walked forward slowly. The look of astonishment on the man’s face as he continued towards him would have made Rick laugh if he wasn’t so furious. There was a second bang and Rick felt another impact in his shoulder.
He reached down, grabbing the man’s wrist with his left hand and twisting until he heard a pop in his elbow. The gun thudded to the floor as the man screamed in pain. Rick grabbed him by the neck with his right hand and lifted him off the ground, holding him easily in the air in front of him.
He held him like that for a moment, savoring the man’s gasps for air when he heard Laura behind him. “Rick, no,” she begged. “It’s not worth it.”
He gave one last squeeze and the dropped the man, leaving him in a wheezing pile on the floor. The more primal side of him demanded more, it demanded blood, but he tamped down on it. “What’s going on Laura?” he said as he turned his gaze back to her. “Who are these guys?”
He glanced down at his abdomen, then at his shoulder. Neither of the wounds were serious, and with the adrenaline flowing through him he hardly felt the pain at all.
The man he had shoulder checked began chuckling, then broke into a fit of coughing. He was on his hands and knees, one arm dangling uselessly. It must have come out of its socket when he hit the wall.
“We’re the reason you’re dead, asshole,” he said, trying for smugness but only achieving anger and pain. “Do you have any idea who we work for?”
Rick shook his head, fire in his eyes and fury in his voice. “I don’t care who you work for. The only reason I don’t kill you both right now is her,” he said, looking over to Laura. She was staring at him in shock, eyes on the blood running down his body from the bullet holes.
Damn it, he was going to have to come clean with her a lot sooner than he had expected to. He wasn’t looking forward to that conversation.
Rick walked over to the man who had spoken and grabbed him by the hair, hauling him to his feet. He stood straight in front of him and looked him right in the eye, ignoring his shouts and swearing. “Look at me,” he commanded, voice like iron. The man quieted somewhat in his grip, but still used his one good hand to try to pry Rick’s hand from his hair. He stopped moving completely when Rick started talking. “If I ever see you again, you won’t live to regret it. Understand me?”
“Yeah yeah, I got it, I got it,” the man let out.
Rick took his hand from the man’s hair and grabbed the collar of his jacket instead, marching him to the door. His other hand pressed into the man’s back, forcing him forward. When he got to the still open door, one powerful surge of his arms sent the man flying to land in the dirt in front of the steps. He shrieked as he landed, coming down hard on his damaged arm.
Rick repeated that process with the man who had shot him, warning him to stay away, then throwing him off the front step. This one didn’t go so quietly, swearing at him and threatening Laura. The hard landing shut him up.
Rick watched from the steps as the battered men climbed back into their car and slowly pulled out, driving off back towards the freeway.
Now for the hard part. Explaining things to Laura.
He turned and walked back inside the cabin, closing and locking the door behind him.
Chapter 6
Laura sat in the same place on the floor, staring up at Rick in shock. The sweet gentle guy she had spent the day with seemed a million miles away from this man. The sheer rage in his voice as he threatened the men, the absolute ease with which he had handled them… She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t even know what to think.
Her gaze traveled down his body and concern poured through her. She had seen the bullets hit Rick, but had thought that they must have grazed him. People didn’t walk through two gunshots like it was nothing, and he hadn’t flinched or even grunted. How was he still standing?
She got to her feet and looked him in the face again, seeing some of the anger drain away, replaced by pain. “Jesus Rick, sit down,” she said, leading him to the couch. “I’ll call an ambulance.”
“Laura no, I don’t need an ambulance,” he said, the pain showing more and more in his voice.
“What do you mean you don’t need an ambulance?” she almost shouted. “You’ve been shot!”
“The nearest hospital to here is forty miles away. By the time an ambulance gets here the bullet holes will have mostly closed up.” He sounded strangely calm, as if there wasn’t blood pouring down his chest and leg.
“What are you talking about Rick? Please, you need medical attention. That hole in your shoulder isn’t just going to close on its own!”
Why was he being so stubborn about this? Laura couldn’t understand it.
“Listen, there’s something I need to tell you about myself,” he said, smiling ruefully through the pain. “I was hoping
to have this conversation – well not like this anyways.”
“What could you possibly need to tell me at a time like this?”
She was going to continue speaking but Rick stood up and pressed his finger to her lips, just like he had in the forest that afternoon. “Just listen Laura,” he said softly. “I’m not a regular guy. I’m a shifter.”
“What is that, like some kind of gang?” she asked, confusion warring with concern on her face. What was he talking about? And what did this have to do with his gunshot wounds?
“Not really, no,” he said, shaking his head. “It means I’m part animal in a way. I can turn into a bear.”
Laura let out a laugh, shaking her head. “Listen, you’ve lost a lot of blood and –“
Rick cut her off, putting his hand on her shoulders and pushing her onto the couch. “Just sit and watch, please. And try not to scream, I hope you know by now that I’d never hurt you.”
So Laura just sat there while Rick walked into the middle of the living room, facing away from her. He stood there for a second then starting unbuckling his belt. After a moment it dropped to the floor beside him. Then off came his shirt, which landed on top of the belt.
Even with the strangeness of this situation, Laura couldn’t help but admire his body. The way the light played off the muscles on his back made him look like the statue of a Greek god. A Greek god with multiple gunshot wounds, but still.
He took off his pants next, then his underwear, still facing away from her. His ass was gorgeous, and she almost forgot what all the fuss was about just admiring it.
Then he changed. All at once his body seemed to shiver, as if something was moving beneath his skin. A sound that could only be described as bones grinding together filled the room, and the shifting within his body intensified, bones changing, causing him to stoop over. Fur burst from his skin, first in patches, then covering the rest of him.
No longer just stooped over, his hands had come down to the floor, but they weren’t hands anymore. They had become huge paws. In the span of no more than three heartbeats, the charming man she had spent the afternoon with had been replaced by a huge brown bear.
She heard a pair of metallic tings and looked to the floor. The force of the change had pushed the bullets all the way out of his body.
Laura’s mind basically shut down. Panic shot through her body as the bear slowly began to turn towards her. It turned out her brother wouldn’t be the end of her, that actually she was about to be eaten. By a bear. In Aunt Joyce’s living room.
The panic gripping her was so strong that she couldn’t even scream. She just curled up, pressing herself backwards into the couch.
The bear was facing her now, staring intently at her. It’s eyes were the same color as Rick’s, a strikingly bright blue. It stood there motionless, just watching her.
Those eyes. They weren’t just the same color as Rick’s eyes. They were Rick’s eyes. And they were looking into hers with a softness that slowly leeched the terror out of her body.
“Rick? Is that you?” she said, feeling a little stupid to be talking to an animal but not really knowing what else to do.
The bear nodded, it’s lips curving into what almost looked like a smile. It took a step forward, now close enough to touch. She reached her hand out slowly, running her fingers through the fur on the side of his head. He nuzzled his head into her hand, letting out a low, contented growl.
The questions were piling up in Laura’s head, but she didn’t have a clue where to start. “So you’re a bear. But you’re a human. But you just turned into a bear,” she said, aware that she wasn’t really asking him any questions, just stating plainly obvious facts. It didn’t matter though, her brain was having trouble coming up with a concise series of questions to ask the lumberjack bear man she had met randomly that morning.
Rick spent another moment nuzzling her hand, then turned away from her again. The reverse transformation happened just as fast, and soon she was once again looking at Rick’s wonderful ass.
His head turned towards her as he began to dress. “Enjoying the view back there?”
She didn’t know how to answer. A few hours ago she would have thought of some hopefully witty comment to make, but she was still in shock over what had just happened.
Rick was a bear. Sort of.
Her gaze traveled all over his body as he dressed. Everything looked normal from where she was, just a big muscular guy. There was a small pool of blood on the floor where he stood, but much less than she would have expected from someone who had just been shot twice.
Rick pulled on his shirt last, then turned to face her again. Some of the pain was gone from his face, but he looked tired, so tired. “I know this is a lot to take in. I’m sorry you had to find out like this.”
Laura finally found her voice again. “I still don’t really know what I just found out. Are you really sure you don’t need to see a doctor?”
Rick smiled wanly at her. “I’ll be fine. Shifters heal fast, much faster than regular humans.” To demonstrate, he lifted up his shirt and turned his side towards her, exposing the wound there. Well, what had been a wound. It was now a mass of puckered pink skin, almost completely closed.
Letting his shirt drop, he sat on the couch on the end opposite from Laura, seeming to sense that this might be a good time to give her some space.
Now that the initial shock had worn off and Laura’s mind had started churning again, she had a sudden realization that brought her to her feet right away. “Craig! Those creeps said they’d hurt him! I’ve got to get back to New York now!”
“I can drive you, but I’m gonna need to sleep pretty soon. I can heal from things that would kill a normal person, but it still takes a lot out of me.” Indeed, Rick’s face looked haggard and worn, like someone who had been awake for days.
“I’ll drive, you can sleep in the passenger seat,” said Laura, thinking fast.
“Alright,” he conceded. “As long as you can drive stick.”
“DAMN IT!” Laura shouted. The few times she had tried to learn to drive manual had all almost ended in accidents. She wouldn’t do Craig any good rolled over in a ditch somewhere. There had to be a way! “There’s the bus I took to get here! That will get me back to New York.”
“Yeah, but it leaves in the morning, around nine or ten I think,” Rick answered, sounding almost as frustrated as she felt. “Listen, let me get a few hours of sleep and I’ll drive you. We’ll be up and on the way before the sun comes up, plus my truck will be faster than the bus since we aren’t constantly stopping at every small town on the way.”
Laura tried to roll the options around in her head, but quickly realized that there were no options. She wasn’t getting on the road until morning at the earliest, and riding with Rick would definitely be faster than getting back on that bus.
“Alright,” she relented with a sigh. “Let’s get you in bed then.” She realized that she had gotten over the shock at what Rick had shown her already. Emergencies would do that, she supposed.
“Yeah, I’ll head back to my place,” Rick said, getting to his feet.
“As if,” Laura replied with a huff. “We have extra beds right here and you don’t look too steady on your feet. Come with me.”
She led him down the hallway and deposited him on the bed she had slept in the night before. He sank into it gratefully, not bothering to take off any of his clothes. He seemed to fall asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow, his big steady breaths reassuring Laura that he really would be okay.
She went back to the living room and sat on the couch. It was too early for her to feel tired, and so many things were running through her mind right then that she probably wouldn’t have been able sleep anyway.
So she sat there on the couch, eyes focused on the blood and bullets on the floor, and thought.
Chapter 7
A hand on her shoulder woke Laura up from terrible dreams. Her eyes snapped open. She had fallen asleep on t
he couch at some point the night before.
Rick was standing in front of her, looking like his normal self again. The room around them was still dark.
“What time is it?” she asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and standing.
“About 4:30,” he answered. “I’ll go grab my truck and be back in a few minutes. Get anything you need to bring with you ready now.”
She nodded to him, and he turned to the front door.
“Awe crap!” he said, pausing at the front door.
“What??” Laura’s heart jumped to her throat at the thought that something might stop them from leaving right away.
“I left the damn salmon in the oven last night!” he cried, turning back to her with a look of such devastated sadness that she couldn’t help but snort in amusement.
“There goes that fancy dinner you promised me,” she said quietly, feigning disappointment.
It was amazing how an emergency situation could let you compartmentalize things, Laura thought. A few hours ago she had been in a pretty severe state of shock upon finding out Rick was somehow part bear. Now they were trading jokes like everything was completely normal.
“Guess I’ll have to make it up to you by driving you halfway across the country,” he said, opening the door and stepping onto the front step. “Back in a couple minutes.”
He closed the door behind him as he left. She heard his footsteps on the small set of stairs leading from the porch, then nothing.
Laura stood up and started to get ready. Before anything, she had to clean up the living room. She quickly scrubbed the blood off the floor with some paper towel, then dropped it and the two bullets in the trash can. Some of the pictures on one wall had shifted when Rick had thrown the guy into it, so she straightened them quickly. There wasn’t much she could do about the cracked paneling where the man had struck, however.
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