I could see the ending ahead. It was fast approaching and I was wondering in the far back of my mind how I was going to stop at this speed. So far I had managed to stay on course and avoid rocks and trees off to the side. The path was fairly clear, but it would have been all too easy to lose your balance and crash into a pine tree.
I wondered if Tony was cheering for me or for Beth. I really hoped he was watching me and rooting me on. I realized right then that I had a bit of a problem; I hadn’t been able to think of anything else all day except for Tony. The man did something to me. He made me feel that I was the most beautiful and most amazing woman in the world.
And he did it all with just a look. How the hell did he do that? He was so perfect. Why the hell did he have to end up with a mega bitch like Beth? She was going to end up breaking his heart eventually. Or he would wise up and leave her high and dry after realizing what kind of a hag she really was.
And then her heart would be broken into a million pieces, providing that she actually had a heart somewhere in the ice box that she called her chest.
Beth looked over at me right then. She noticed I was just starting to inch past her. I stared her down for a second. I was not going to give her the satisfaction of intimidating me in any way. The look on her face was priceless, though. It was total shock and awe. She could not believe that I was actually so close and was probably going to win.
Her face twisted just then for a brief second and I saw the bear emerging. The eyes were red and wild, the teeth were sharpening and the snout was beginning to form. A low, guttural roar escaped her lips, and then she was Beth again.
And suddenly she jerked forward ahead of me by ten yards. She was cheating. She had just tapped into the bear strength and used it for a little extra boost. For a second I was terrified that she was going to totally shift right there. It would have been disastrous.
It was dangerous to do what she just did. If anyone had happened to glance at her at the wrong moment or if she’d been caught at just the right second in someone’s camera it would have been very bad. There were tourists all over who were taking pics of the snow and the mountains. There were people from Florida who routinely came up this way this time of year for a traditional White Christmas and some skiing.
She was going to cheat to beat me and I knew it was going to happen. I’m not sure why it surprised me at all. Maybe I was just angrier than surprised right then. Well, I wasn’t going to let her get away with it.
I summoned the inner Bear within me and felt it come to the surface. The shift wanted to happen. It needed to happen. The anger and rage were suddenly there out of nowhere and I thought for a second that I had let it come too far and I wouldn’t be able to keep the shift back.
I shouldn't have tried to play Beth's game. I should have just let her have her stupid victory. In my heart, I would have known she cheated and that she could not beat me fairly.
But I had to win. I was not a cheater. I believed in fairness. At least until the other person didn’t. If they cheated, then all bets were off and it was no holds barred.
The bear wanted to break through and I could feel my claws beginning to emerge inside of my gloves. I was in trouble. This was a bad idea.
I thought of Devon just then. My innocent angel. I could not afford to let anyone find out what I was because I would have been locked up for some government experiments and my baby would grow up in an orphanage. No that could not happen.
The image of my baby in my mind right then propelled the real me to come back and the bear to relinquish back inside of myself.
I breathed a sigh of quick relief. It was then I realized that I was passing Beth quickly. It had worked. The little bit of bear I had tapped into and almost lost control of had given me the extra strength to pull ahead of Beth.
I heard her growl and curse behind me as I crossed the finish line about twenty yards in front of her. I started to slow down right then, allowing myself to coast the rest of the way stopping just in front of a thick group of pine trees.
I inhaled deeply, enjoying the sweet smell of nature that I missed living in the big city. But country living got old too. I was a city girl and I was happy to be where the action was happening. Even if it hadn’t been happening to me for quite a while.
“Way to go!” Keith said giving me a high five. I could see Derek and Bill coming down the side of the slope slowly to greet us, but they were still a little way away.
Beth came to a stop behind me, coasting away from me with her hands on the top of her head. She had even cheated and could not beat me. She apparently misjudged me and thought I was way too nice to do the same thing. Well, I guess I showed her.
“That was awesome!” Derek said arriving on the scene. He gave me a big hug and did his weird little victory dance.
“Congratulations!” Bill said shaking my hand.
“Thanks,” I replied. “I didn’t know I still had any of that in me.”
“Oh, it’s like falling off a log,” Bill replied. “You did great.”
I was not sure if either he or Derek could tell that both Beth and I had used bear strength, but I wasn’t sure if they would have said anything if they had noticed.
I did not expect Beth to say anything to me, but she didn’t even shake my hand on a good race. That was pretty pathetic, but it was showing Tony more of what her true colors were like. So, it actually felt like a double victory for me.
"Great run," Tony said. He was standing right behind me somehow and my heart almost leaped into my throat.
When it came to him I was always a little on edge. He had the uncanny ability to make me feel like a fourteen-year-old schoolgirl again with a crush on the Homecoming King.
“Thanks,” I said. I wished I could have thought of something cool or clever to reply with to downplay what actually was a pretty awesome display of skiing but I had nothing. Thanks was all I could come up with. The attorney who used her verbal skills every day for five years to argue cases for large sums of money was tongue tied. What was this man doing to me?
“Now, it’s our turn!” Derek said. He assumed his ‘let’s get it on’ fake posture.
Tony laughed. “Ok, you are on,” he said.
“Wait, you guys are going to have a race now? Oh, I have got to see this,” I said.
“Well, don’t blink because it will be over already,” Derek joked.
“Over, because you’ll be on your face already,” Tony added.
I decided to stay at the finish line so I could take in the race properly. I had to see the end. I would never tell Derek this, but I was totally rooting for Tony. Although just watching him ski was going to be a victory for me.
Beth also decided to stay by the finish line, but she was keeping her distance from me. I wasn’t sure if she was afraid that I would out her in front of everyone for cheating and using her powers, or if she was just so mad that she lost that she couldn’t bear to be anywhere near me. I hoped it was a bit of both. Making her paranoid and angry was starting to get really fun.
Ten minutes later and Bill was yelling “Go!”
I could not believe how fast they both flew down the slope. The start of it all was exhilarating, to say the least. Tony was off to a commanding lead right at the start, but Derek was not to be done in so soon. The man was just as strong-willed and competitive as his siblings were.
He was catching up to Tony quickly, but I had faith that Tony was pacing himself. I could see the way that he moved how powerful and athletic he was. His moves were so fluid and shapely as if he was just twitching with the idea of moving one direction or the other and then his body just responded because it knew exactly what he wanted out of it and it performed perfectly for him.
I envied that ability and that prowess. I imagined that Tony had been an athlete at the collegiate level. I did not know this, but I could just tell by his build, his movements, and now seeing him competing in a physical endeavor it was apparent.
I made a mental note to later
ask him what sport or sports he had played. Yea, I didn’t see him as committing to just one type of sport. His commanding, alpha nature combined with his strong body and his agility said that he might have done football, wrestling, maybe even baseball or basketball.
As these thoughts rolled through my brain and my eyes remained fixed, almost trance-like on Tony and Derek’s race I realized that I was becoming a bit obsessive and sounding like a gushing teenager. I knew that it was wrong; he was involved with another woman and as far as I could tell, he was happy with his relationship. I needed to just leave this one alone and turn my feelings off about it. The whole thing was silly.
But it wasn't so easy. Usually, it was. Usually, if I made up my mind to forget about something or to forget about a man who did not seem to be what I was looking for then I had no problem shutting the door on the topic. But Tony was different. His essence had burrowed its way inside of me, entrancing my mind, my body, and I couldn't stop thinking about him. What would it feel like to have his strong arms wrapped around my naked, quivering flesh… pulling me close, kissing me, caressing me, and penetrating me…?
Derek was closing in on Tony, but I still did not think he was going to be able to overcome him. Or maybe I just didn’t want him to. If Derek won the race would that have changed my feelings about Tony? Would it make him less perfect somehow?
No. I didn’t think so. Well… maybe…Ugh! What was I doing? It was silly to be so infatuated with a man that I could not have.
But maybe I could have him. There had been obvious moments where the spark, the chemistry between us had been real. The others had almost seen it. The thing at lunch... then Tony leering at me at the start of the race… those things had been real. I did not imagine them. I was not the type of woman who supposed things that were not real, even though I wanted them to be.
I tried to shift the thoughts out of my mind and just enjoy the crisp, cold air and the fun race unfolding in front of me.
The guys were getting close to the final stretch. They would be crossing the finish line soon. Tony was still in front of Derek, but not by much. Was Tony tired or was he holding back?
I couldn’t tell. Maybe he didn’t care to humiliate Derek so he was making it look close just for his benefit? Or he might have been continuing to pace himself because when you got right down to it—winning was winning.
Suddenly Derek jerked out of control. His ankle looked like it twisted about one hundred and eighty degrees the wrong way and his body veered off course. His arms flailed wildly as he tried to regain his balance.
I don’t know if he might have hit a jagged boulder sticking out from under the snow that was missed, or if he was just trying to go too fast for his abilities, but he was not getting himself back under control. And Tony was not aware anything was wrong.
He didn’t see Derek’s body suddenly fling towards him. I saw what was going to happen in my mind a split second before it did.
Derek collided into Tony with a sickening smack. Tony’s body flipped off the slope as he went head first down the side, tumbling and falling hard. I could hear his body hitting the ground with sickening echoes. This might have been very bad.
“Oh, my God!” I heard Beth exclaim as she started running towards them. I was right behind her.
A minute later we reached Derek and Tony. They were both lying on the ground in pain. My heart was thudding in my temple resounding loudly down towards my ears. I tried to shut it off to no avail.
“Are you ok?” I asked. It sounded like a stupid question, but they were both already starting to get up.
Derek took off his skis and stretched his legs and his back out. Tony removed his skis and began to check his shoulder mobility. I was not sure how Tony was not hurt worse than he was. Derek, I understood being a shifter and all that he would heal in just a few minutes. But most normal people would have at least had the wind knocked out of them and maybe suffered a broken bone after a fall like the one they just took.
Tony seemed fine. Except he was really pissed.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” He said stepping towards Derek.
“What? What the hell are you talking about?”
“Don’t give me that crap. You lunged into me on purpose.”
“You’re off your meds if you think I did this deliberately. I lost my footing and overcorrected. It was an accident.”
Tony shook his head. “No, I don’t buy it. I think you did it because you are a sore damned loser.”
“I don’t need to pull stupid crap like that to win a ski race. You are just a loser period,” Derek grunted.
“What did you call me? You are about to get beat!” Tony said pushing Derek to the ground, catching him totally off guard.
Derek was on his feet in an instant. I could hear the growl erupting in his throat and I saw this whole thing getting really out of hand here in broad daylight on a ski resort with people fairly close by who might have been interested in the fact that two guys just totally wiped out on the slope.
I saw the flash of Derek’s claws ripping through his gloves as he reared back to take a swipe at Tony. He couldn’t!
But he did. His huge claw came ripping right at Tony's head. I leaped forward but I was too late to stop it. I couldn't believe that Derek was about to kill Tony. This was it. He'd lost his mind.
Suddenly, Tony was blocking the blow with lightning fast reflexes and strength that no human should have been able to possess.
Tony stepped forward and punched Derek hard in the stomach sinking him to his knees. Derek slumped to the ground, an odd whimpering sound escaping his throat.
Bill was suddenly standing in front of Tony. “That’s enough!”
That was when I saw Tony’s face. His eyes were red, his teeth were long and sharp, and his own claws were rupturing through his gloves.
I didn’t believe what I was seeing and I could not understand why I had never pieced this together before. But suddenly a few things made a lot more sense to me.
Tony was a bear shifter too.
Chapter Six
“You still up?”
I looked up from the book I was reading to see Tony standing in the doorway. I was sitting in a very comfortable chair in the middle of a bedroom, turned library.
This cabin had a lot of the classic books on hand. I was impressed. I used to read all the time to relax and to escape the world that I was living in. No matter how tough things seemed, I could always open up a book and just escape for a while. It always helped me.
“Yea, I couldn’t sleep, so I decided to check this place out,” I said.
Tony walked into the room and began perusing the shelves of books. I tried not to check out his strong, muscular body standing in front of me wearing just a tank top and a pair of exercise shorts. I wonder if he slept in that or he was wearing it for our benefit. I figured he was the kind of guy who would sleep naked, or maybe that was just my crazy mind going to work on things.
“Oh, they got all the good stuff,” Tony said.
“You got any favorites?” I asked grabbing my glass of wine from the coffee table.
“Oh, I love Dickens and Poe. Those are the two classic guys that have always had the biggest influence on me. There was just something about the way they put things into words. They could paint a masterpiece of color and theme with perfect word placement.”
I smiled. I had never heard it put so eloquently.
“I agree,” I said.
Tony grabbed a book off the shelf and sat down on the other end.
“Hope you don’t mind if I join you,” he said.
“Not at all,” I replied. “If you don’t think Beth will mind,” I added with a smile.
Tony laughed. “Oh, I think she would not approve. But that’s her problem.”
“So how did you two meet?” I asked.
"It's kind of a funny story. I was having a few beers at Jack's, my favorite local hangout. A few of my friends that I've known since college were indulging in
a few beers and some pool. Suddenly Beth comes from out of nowhere and asks me if I think I could beat her. I was intrigued, to say the least, and I just had to go ahead and give it a shot."
“And I take it you won?” I asked.
“Yea, I won four racks out of six,” Tony said. “And on the last rack we made a wager.”
“What were the stakes?”
"Well, if I won then she had to go out with me and if she won then I had to sing 'Don't Stop Believin'" in the bar. It was karaoke night after all. Hell, she could have just waited until I had too many beers and I would have sung karaoke if someone just dared me to do it," Tony said.
“That sounds like quite an evening,” I said.
“So, how long have you been one?” Tony asked.
“How long have I been what?” I teased.
“How long have you been a pain in the ass?” Tony joked. “How long have you been a shifter?”
“Well, I‘ve been a pain in the ass since birth, but I’ve been a shifter about a year.”
“Wow, that’s rough. I knew you were made because I could smell it on you. But I did not smell it the last time we met after you whipped my butt in court. You were human then; what happened?”
I took a deep breath and told Tony the whole terrifying story.
"Wow, I guess I can't totally hate Derek anymore. He saved your life. That gives a fellow several high marks in my book. Although, I’m pretty sure he just tried to end my life so maybe it balances out.”
I laughed. “I don’t think he meant to do that on purpose. I think he was trying to impress me.”
“Oh, well I can understand that. Are you two having a little thing going on?” Tony asked coyly.
“No, we are just friends, but I’ve known for a long time that Derek would like it to be more. But it is just what it is.”
“Wow, the poor dude is in the perpetual friend zone. That is cold.”
“It’s not my fault. I just don’t feel that way about him,” I said.
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