Bear Mountain Bride: Shifter Romance

by Sky Winters

  She was almost nine years old when she realized people in the world had their own specific aura. There were many similarities between auras, but for the most part, everyone was unique in their own way, everyone was different. She could sense their moods and their character. It was stronger with some people in comparison to others, but it was always there.

  Sometimes she saw flashes of things in the back of her eyelids, sometimes she smelled an extra layer of scent hiding in the whole, and sometimes it was as simple as seeing what was right in front of her. It was a hard thing to try to explain, and it was hard to understand another person’s aura. Over time, Savannah began to assign colours to fit the emotions she felt coming off of people. It was then she realized that colour seemed to be as infinite as emotion.

  Her father had always referred to her as a military brat and her mother liked to call her little gypsy, but Savannah had always thought of herself as tumbleweed. She had no control over where she went when the wind blew, and she had no choice but to go where it pushed her. In her case, her parents were the wind, and she went wherever they did.

  Savannah had lived in four different countries, eleven different cities, and she had changed schools nine times. The downside was that she never had the opportunity to make friends. The upside was that she had met thousands of different people, each with their own unique auras. Very few things surprised Savannah and very few things stumped her. She had an instinct about the world, about people, and about places, and she was very rarely wrong.

  Which was why she couldn’t understand why the smell hidden just beneath the wind at her window seemed so unfamiliar. She stared up at the line of trees sitting on one of the shallower hills. They were thicker in that area and exposed very little. The secret scent was coming from that direction, but it still gave her no hints as to what it was.

  There was one thing she was certain of--the scent wasn't human.

  Chapter Two

  “Are you ready for your first day of school?” her father signed from the front seat.

  Savannah sighed. “This is my ninth first day at school,” she signed back at him. “At this point, assume I’m always ready.”

  “Aw come on,” her mother said, turning to face her from the passenger's seat. “You could sound a little more excited.”

  “Yay,” Savannah replied sarcastically.

  “Oh, all right,” her mother said. “I suppose you’ve earned the right to be a little…disinterested. Here are your hearing aids.”

  Savannah shook her head. “I don’t want to wear them.”

  “Come on, darling,” her mother insisted. “Things will go a lot easier if you just wear them.”

  Savannah sighed in frustration, but she took them anyway. She knew her mother was right; it was just that she hated the first day of starting out at a new school. She always felt like a monkey in a zoo, even more so, considering that she sensed things that were normally a mystery to most people.

  “Can’t I just be home-schooled?”

  “Come on now,” her father said evenly. “It’s going to be great. Stay positive.”

  “I hate how chirpy the two of you are whenever we move someplace new,” Savannah said. “Just because you’re both so positive all the time, doesn't mean I’ll forget how much this all sucks.”

  “Honey, I know this hasn’t been easy for you,” her mother said gently. “And I know you’ve had to suffer for our lifestyle but--”

  “You can’t change it,” Savannah finished for her. “I know, I know. See you after school.” She got out of the car and headed toward the main entrance.

  Grey Mountain High School was probably the smallest high school she had seen in six years. It had that small town charm to it, but that also meant its student population was just as small, which meant that everybody’s eyes would be on the new girl who had transferred in the middle of the school year.

  Almost instantly, Savannah felt everyone’s eyes on her. She was thankful she had chosen to wear her dark jeans and grey hoodie. Hopefully she'd be able to blend into the earth tones of the town that way, and nobody would see her. The thought was so ridiculous that she smiled to herself before she realized she was actually smiling at a boy who was standing a few feet away from her.

  He was tall, at least six feet. He was leaning casually against one of the trees that led up to the building, and surrounded by a group of boys who seemed to be talking to him, but he wasn’t paying them the slightest bit of attention. His eyes were fixed on Savannah as though he'd recognized her. His black hair was on the long side, setting a fierce contrast to the pale grey of his eyes.

  Savannah couldn’t actually see the color of his eyes from where she stood. They could have been a light brown or blue, but her instincts told her they were grey. She tried to lower her gaze and move past him, but something about him kept her frozen into place. That was when she realized that his aura was encased in bright, fiery light. Usually a person’s aura was quieter than that, less colorful and subtler. His was different in that it burned hot.

  Savannah’s focus was broken when someone walked into her, nearly knocking her backpack to the ground. She caught it just in time, and turned to the girl who had bumped into her. She was a few inches shorter than Savannah, with soft, blonde hair, and bright blue eyes. She stared at Savannah threateningly, and Savannah couldn’t understand the hostility coming off of her.

  The girl’s aura was as beautiful as she was. It was similar, in a way, to the beautiful, grey-eyed boy’s. It was fiery, bursting with energy that was barely contained. Her aura wasn’t as colorful as his was, but there was plenty of brightness there, nevertheless.

  “Get out of my way,” she said. Her voice was so low, Savannah’s hearing aid couldn’t pick up the sound, but the message on her lips were clear as day.

  She stepped aside and the blonde girl walked past her. On her heels were three other girls, with auras that were very similar. Savannah stared after them, trying to understand what had just happened, trying to understand why these people seemed so different from everyone else. When she looked toward the tree, the beautiful boy had disappeared, and so had his friends.

  Savannah examined the other students milling past her. Their auras were normal, calm and subtle. She stared at the entrance of the school, catching the bright silk of the blonde girl’s hair as she turned the corner, and disappeared from sight. It was clear to Savannah that something was not right in this town. There was something happening here that she had never encountered before in any other place she had lived.

  She walked up the stairs and went straight to the administration office. The woman behind the counter was a short, plump redhead, with lipstick to match her bright hair.

  “Hello, dear,” she said the moment she saw Savannah. “Are you the new student?”

  Savannah nodded. “Yes.”

  “What’s that in your ear, darling?”

  “It’s my hearing aid,” Savannah replied.

  “Oh…oh, that’s right.” She nodded. “There was a note in your file about your…condition.” She stalled a little and looked through her files as though she were confused and embarrassed at the same time. “I’m just looking for your file,” she continued in a voice so loud she was practically shouting.

  Savannah raised her hands. “I can hear you just fine,” she said. “You can talk at a normal volume.”

  “Really?” she asked as her eyes went wide. “Can you hear me now?”

  “Still a little loud.” Savannah sighed. “But I can hear you perfectly.”

  “Guess the hearing aids really work, huh?”

  Savannah smiled tightly. “Guess so.”

  Savannah thought back to her life in Africa. She had been born there and it was one of the only places where she had felt truly normal. Then her parents started traipsing her around the world, and Savannah realized that she wasn’t normal at all.

  She had become aware of her difference as a young girl, when the people around her st
arted treating her differently, asking her silly questions, or making her feel as though she were less capable than everyone else. She wished she could tell them that she had never seen her deafness as a handicap; people were the ones that forced that word on her.

  “Well…the principal will want to have a little chat with you before you go to your classes. Come along,” the red haired woman said, raising her voice again, as though she had already forgotten Savannah could hear her clearly. “I’m Ms. Collins, by the way.”

  Savannah followed her into a small room with a large desk at the end of it. Behind it sat a tall woman with blonde hair and blue eyes, hidden behind glasses. It didn’t take a heightened sense of intuition to know that this woman, and the girl who had knocked into Savannah only moments ago, were related.

  Quite apart from how similar they looked, this woman’s aura burned as brightly as the blonde girl’s and the grey-eyed boy's had, except that hers wasn’t as wild or temperamental. There was a huge amount of control about her that Savannah had not felt from the others.

  “Hello, Savannah,” she said, speaking at a normal volume that made no assumptions. “I’m Principal Harris. Welcome to Grey Mountain High.”

  “Hello,” Savannah replied, distracted and confused by the strange new phenomenon she was experiencing. She wondered if there were something suspiciously different about these people that made their auras so fiery and powerful.

  “I take it you’re wearing your hearing aid as we speak?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good, that will make your transition here easier. I’ve read through your files,” Principal Harris continued. “It seems you’ve moved around a lot.”

  “I have.” Savannah nodded.

  “Well, then, you should find adapting here easy enough,” she said. “Why don’t you follow me; I’ll take you to your first class.”

  Savannah would have preferred going to class alone, but she knew she couldn’t turn down the principal’s gesture. She walked behind Principal Harris, admiring her commanding presence, and fascinated with her powerfully bright aura.

  “Here we are,” Principal Harris said as she approached a closed door with the words "English Literature" on the face of it. “Follow me.”

  She opened the door and walked in, leaving Savannah standing outside in the hallway. Savannah hesitated for only a moment before she took a deep breath and walked inside. The classroom was small, there seemed to be about fifteen kids in total, and every single one of them was staring at her as though she had two heads.

  Savannah kept her eyes averted, but she was hit by the cloud of auras in the room. Most were normal, calm, and gentle, but there were four that burned hot and bright. Savannah didn’t have to look up to know whom they belonged to. The blonde-haired girl was there, sitting beside one of her friends and staring daggers at Savannah. The grey-eyed boy was there, too, sitting beside one of his friends. The four of them burned so brightly, they cast everyone else’s aura’s in shadow.

  “Hello, everyone,” Principal Harris started. “We have a new student at Grey Mountain High. Her name is Savannah, and I trust you will all do whatever you can to make her feel welcome. She might need a little extra help, considering it’s the middle of the school year.”

  Savannah hoped the principal would not mention the fact that she was deaf; she didn’t want another reason for the students to gawk at her.

  “Savannah, this is Mr. Michaels. He teaches English Literature, but he’ll also be your teacher for history and political science.”

  “Welcome, Savannah,” Mr. Michaels greeted.

  “Thank you.” Savannah nodded, wishing they would simply put an end to this introduction so she could get to her seat.

  Principal Harris turned to the students. “Marissa,” she said, and the beautiful blonde girl raised her head a fraction. “I’m tasking you with taking Savannah around and showing her to all of her classes.”

  Savannah felt her stomach plummet when she noticed Marissa’s eyes narrow, and again she sensed hostility, but when Marissa spoke, her tone was cool and even. “Of course,” she said with a small smile that Savannah didn’t believe.

  “Excellent.” Principal Harris nodded. “Why don’t you grab a desk, Savannah? Thank you, Mr. Michaels.”

  Savannah moved toward the back of the class as Principal Harris left the room. There were two empty desks and Savannah picked the one farthest from the four kids with the bright auras. She felt their eyes on her as she slipped behind her desk, but made sure she didn’t look in their direction.

  The class went by uneventfully, but for Savannah, it was an entirely different climate. She sensed the emotions coming off the other students. There was curiosity and interest there, but there was also a strange, territorial protectiveness that made her feel like she was encroaching. It was a feeling she'd never experienced before.

  She spent the whole class in a cloud of mixed emotion, trying to figure out the confusing signs she was receiving. At the same time, she was desperately curious about the bright auras that surrounded some of the people in this town. It was not normal; she knew that much. There was something about those people that set them apart, but she was still so inexperienced that she couldn’t read the different layers beneath their auras.

  The moment the bell sounded signalling the end of the class, Savannah rose from her desk and moved out into the corridor. Her next class was calculus and she was confident she could find the room without help. She certainly didn’t expect help from Marissa, which was why she was shocked when Marissa came out of the classroom and turned toward her.

  “Come on,” she said. “I’ll take you to your next class.”

  Savannah tried to catch sight of the grey-eyed boy, but he seemed to have moved on to his next class already.

  “Looking for someone?” Marissa asked when she noticed Savannah’s preoccupation.

  “No,” Savannah replied quickly.

  Marissa didn’t look convinced. “What’s your next class?”

  “Calculus.”

  “Follow me,” she said after a moment, and Savannah had no choice but to follow her down the halls. Marissa didn't look back to see if Savannah was following, nor did she walk slowly. Finally, they veered to a stop in front of the calculus class, and Marissa turned to face Savannah again.

  “My mother told me you were deaf,” Marissa said, cocking her head to the side and examining Savannah unapologetically.

  “I am,” Savannah replied, refusing to back down from Marissa’s challenging glare.

  “And yet you can hear me?”

  “I’m wearing a hearing aid,” Savannah replied. “And I read lips pretty well.”

  “Do you?” Marissa asked sounding unimpressed. “I think I know who you were looking for back there.”

  “I wasn’t –

  “It’s okay, I get it,” Marissa interrupted. “He’s hot and you’re only human, but I want to make one thing very clear, and since you can read lips so well, you can read mine now.”

  She looked directly into Savannah’s eyes and mouthed words that were as clear as day: "Stay away from Xander Wilson."

  Chapter Three

  Savannah spent the rest of the day thinking about Xander Wilson. She couldn’t understand how Marissa had sensed her interest in him, but she was not wrong. Savannah felt an inexplicable fascination towards Xander and she could barely understand why.

  He was a complete stranger to her. She hadn’t even known his name until Marissa had mentioned it. She tried to reason that it had something to do with his bright and beautiful aura, but she had counted nine people with similar energies, and her interest in them wasn’t even minimal.

  After calculus she had a free period, so Savannah walked around the school until she found the library. It was extremely quiet, and apart from the librarian, there was no one else in there. Savannah slipped between the shelves and looked through the books, but there weren’t very many choices. A half an hour later, Savannah realized
she had circled the entire library twice already.

  She moved toward the back of the library, trying to search for a book that would hold her attention until her next class. She was looking through a book when she felt eyes on her back. Her senses caught the presence before she became aware of the bright aura that surrounded the person. She turned slowly and found herself staring into Xander Wilson's haunting grey eyes.

  “Hello,” she said, feeling herself tense.

  He moved a little closer. “Hello,” he replied.

  He didn’t speak like any of the other kids. His eyes seemed so much older, as though he had lived a hundred lives already. His aura was charged with energy and filled with light, made up of bright blues, fiery reds, and violently passionate purples.

  “Is something wrong?” he asked.

  Savannah realized she was staring. "Sorry," she mumbled, turning away.

  He came to stand beside her to look at the same shelf of books. “You’re new, aren’t you?” he asked. His voice was deep and silky, somehow matching his face.

  “Yes,” Savannah nodded.

  “It’s a bit late to join a new school, don’t you think?”

  “I do,” Savannah agreed, “but my parents apparently don't.”

  He smiled, and Savannah felt her heart flutter a little. She didn’t know what was going on exactly, but she knew it wasn’t normal. The energy passing between them was strong, more potent than Savannah had ever felt before, and it was taking everything she had to keep up her end of a casual conversation with him.

  “You’ve moved around a lot, haven’t you?” he asked.

  “How did you know that?” Savannah asked.

  He shrugged. “Just an observation,” he said. “You enjoy being alone, and you like the quiet, probably because you’ve been moved around so much that you've replaced friends with silence and you've had no choice but to like it.”