Bonded to the Bear

by Fay Walsh

  “Yeah, I found the Hunter girl and her sister, if we want to have extra fun.”

  Dmitry growled at the other end. “So, she’s the one, isn’t she? Ashur.” He slurred the name sardonically.

  “Yeah, that’s the one, it isn’t the mother, but it’s a Hunter. You’ll be able to avenge your brother’s death, that’s all that matters – one less Hunter to worry about. So, get the boys together, so we can finish what we started.”

  Kiran’s lips stretched even wider as it reached from ear to ear.

  Chapter 10

  Two days had passed since the night she spent with Roan and they bumped into whom she assumed was his brother. Harmony couldn’t shake the nervousness that she felt when she was around him and his icy blue eyes, struck fear into her heart. She knew those eyes from somewhere, but she didn’t know where. But she had an inkling that it was somehow connected to the night of her parent’s murder.

  Her brain kept backtracking to the memory, over and over, to that night but she couldn’t wrap her head around the idea that the icy blue eyes were the same eyes she saw that day.

  He had called me something, what was it? Hunter? Harmony thought. She chewed on her bottom lip as sat down at the table with her laptop opened. I don’t know why, but I have the strangest gut feeling that it had nothing to do with ‘hunting deer’.

  The computer lit up and went to the homepage. Harmony typed in her password and once it was completely loaded, she went to her browser going to Google.

  “Why did he say Hunters were the reason for Roan’s ex’s death?” Harmony wondered. She turned her head to the side where the bathroom was to make sure Chrys didn’t pop up unexpectedly.

  Harmony typed into Google’s search bar: Hunters

  Sadly, the thing that showed up was links to a bookstore, a television show, and other miscellaneous searches that had nothing to do with anything.

  Harmony leaned on her elbow and stared at the words on the screen. A thought occurred to her suddenly, she almost thought she was crazy, but decided to type it into the search box to be sure.

  Hunters and people turning into animals.

  This time her search brought up a Wikipedia page about hunting wildlife, and other sites on how to prevent them, such as PETA, how to prevent people from overkilling, and so on.

  Harmony sighed and leaned back into her chair.

  “This is getting me nowhere.”

  She looked up at the ceiling and let her thoughts run through her head. Maybe it’s nothing, it can’t be possible that people can turn into animals, it did seem like Roan and his brother didn’t get along, maybe he’s just an asshole. I’m usually good at judging people’s character.

  Before Harmony could quit her search, she went to the computer one last time and typed into the search engine: Is there such things as Hunters hunting –

  She paused, unsure of what to call people who could turn into animals, it was far too long for a keyword. She wasn’t thinking of it, but a word came into her head. She wasn’t sure where she had heard it from, but it sounded familiar to her – Shifters.

  This time the search was promising, and it led Harmony to click the first link about Werewolf Legends.

  It’s unclear exactly when and where the werewolf legend originated. Some scholars believe the werewolf made its debut in The Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest known Western prose when Gilgamesh jilted a potential lover because she had turned her previous mate into a wolf.

  Werewolves made another early appearance in Greek mythology with the Legend of Lycaon. According to the legend, Lycaon, the son of Pelasgus, angered the god Zeus when he served him a meal made from the remains of a sacrificed boy. As punishment, the enraged Zeus turned Lycaon and his sons into wolves.

  It is said because of this, the Lycaon, held a grudge and in vengeance, started killing humans for what Zeus had done.

  Thus, the werewolf is not the only being that can Shapeshift. There have been known cases of seeing panthers, tigers, and bears.

  From the earliest point in time, man has always been the target of “animal attacks”. During the Salem Witch trials, there was speculations that witches and shifters had planned together to take down man. It is unknown when the first set of people became Hunters, but they had been growing for several centuries. They were typically a group, most often families, whose surnames are known throughout the Hunter district, that believe in supernatural beings – specifically those in the Shifter category – they fight against them, killing them, using anything from weapons, physical skills, to magic, to their gut instincts, to protect normal people from harm.

  Harmony’s heart fell in her chest at what she was reading, and she couldn’t help but wonder if “Shifters” a word that only today had popped into her head and Hunters, those who hunt shifters could be real?

  Harmony’s cellphone rang, making her jump, and pulled her attention away from the computer. She stood up from the chair and headed over to the nightstand, where her cellphone sat, and answered on the second ring:

  “Hello?”

  “Yes, is this Harmony Ashur?”

  Harmony sat on the edge of the hotel bed as she nestled the phone on her shoulder blade. “Yes, this is she, who may I ask is speaking?”

  “Yes, my name is Joseph Crowley and you applied to Joe’s Antique shop? We wanted to give you a call back to come in for an interview.”

  Harmony’s eyes widened, straightening her back, as she switched her phone to the other ear. “Really? Yes, that would be amazing!”

  “Wonderful! Can you come in fifteen minutes?”

  “Yes, I’ll be there soon, thank you again, Mr. Crowley.”

  Harmony hung up the phone, a smile spread on her face, and she hurried to put on her shoes and grab her things.

  “Hey, Chrys!” Harmony shouted, knowing her sister was in the bathroom, “I got a job offer at the antique store. I’ll be gone for about forty-five minutes, okay?”

  “Yeah, okay, good luck!” Chrys shouted from the inside of the bathroom.

  Harmony headed for the door but before she opened it, she turned back around. “And don’t let anyone else in here, okay? There are too many weird things going on.”

  ***

  Harmony’s thoughts couldn’t stop playing in her head what she had read, Hunters? Shifters? It shouldn’t have been possible, there could be all sorts of myths on the internet, but there was something in the back of Harmony’s subconscious that told her that it was far from a myth. Typically a group, most often families, whose surnames are known through the Hunter district. Could that be why Roan’s brother had called her a Hunter?

  Was it possible that her parents were Hunters?

  Harmony pushed the thought out of her head as she rounded the street toward the antique shop and parked the car. She turned off the ignition and took a deep breath, before releasing.

  She needed to clear her head free of Shifters and Hunters to concentrate on her interview.

  “Enough of this, for now, Harmony, just focus and smile on the goal at hand.”

  She got out of the car and walked around the front of the car, only stopping for a split moment as she felt a heavy pressure on the back of her neck. Harmony felt like she was being watched and she looked around but saw no one except for patrons walking up and down the sidewalk.

  “Relax, there’s nothing there,” she said to herself and headed for the doors of the antique store.

  After the interview concluded, she shook hands with the manager.

  “Thank you so much, Mr. Crowley. I am so happy you picked me as your candidate.”

  Mr. Crowley, handsome in his early fifties, his hair in a neat combover and his gray eyes had a friendly look to them.

  “Of course, your references were pretty amazing. So I can expect to see you in a week?”

  “Will do, sir.”

  Harmony gathered her things and headed for the door. Pleased with how the interview had gone, Harmony’s heart raced with joy, and she completely forgot abou
t what she had been researching that morning, pushing all worries from her mind.

  Her cell phone vibrated in her pocket and she removed it to see that it was a text message from Roan: Hey Harmony, are you busy? I wanted to apologize again for my brother. Everything is fine now and he won’t bother you again, I promise.

  Harmony stopped walking and looked at the message. Her heart pounded in her chest and she felt something was off, but wasn’t sure what it was. She messaged him back straight away: I was just in an interview, I got the job at the antique store! But are you sure everything is alright. Your brother seemed to have a vendetta against me, like I did something to him specifically.

  Harmony started walking back to her car and again, her mind went back to Shifters and the icy blue eyes of the bear, looked more and more like the man she had seen earlier.

  Roan replied instantly,

  That’s great! But, yes, don’t worry about Kiran. He doesn’t really trust any women since Celine, don’t worry, he’ll warm to you soon.

  Harmony stared at the last part of the sentence and felt her stomach twist into knots. It was an odd feeling, but she had a feeling that if his brother had been aggressive the first time, there was no chance that Roan would put her in the same position again; Something wasn’t right.

  Gut instinct. The word rang loud and clear in Harmony’s head and she looked up to see that the streets were beginning to thin out with people as the sky started to turn a shade of dark blue. Again, she felt a heavy pressure at the back of the neck and quickly went to the driver’s seat of her car.

  Once she was safely in the vehicle, she started the vehicle, but from the corner of her eye, she saw a figure move from her rearview mirror.

  Harmony’s eyes extended and she parted her lips to let out a scream, but a large gloved hand covered her mouth. The smell of something sweet filled her nostrils and her vision started to fade.

  She knew that the smelling substance was chloroform and try as she might, she was pulled into a deep sleep.

  * * *

  What’s taking Harmony so long? Chrys thought to herself as she pulled back the curtains to look out of the window. It was already dark, and her sister still wasn’t back from her interview.

  “This isn’t like her,” Chrys said out loud, moving away from the window. She pulled out her cellphone. “ She would have called me or something if she was going to be late.”

  Chrys’ stomach did a flip as she dialed Harmony’s number. Instantly, the phone went to voicemail and Chrys’ face paled. She hung up the phone and went to the internet to type the Antique stores name. Once she found a number, she dialed it.

  A man answered on the second ring and Chrys sighed in relief.

  “Oh, thank goodness, yeah, hi. My sister, Harmony Ashur, she came into your store like an hour ago, is she still there by any chance?”

  Chrys’ heart didn’t beat for several moments as Mr. Crowley told her that Harmony had left the moment the interview was over. This made Chrys’ heart crash, knowing that something was wrong, and her sister would never skip out of town without her.

  Could this be the reason all this time that we moving so much, right?

  “T-Thank you, Mr. Crowley, yes, yes, everything is fine. Have a good night.”

  Chrys hung up the phone and started to panic.

  Harmony had been acting weird for the past two days, looking over her shoulder, and even following her into the bathroom when they had gone out yesterday.

  “Okay, no, stop!” She shouted to herself. Her eyes were already glassy-eyed. “S-She’s probably with Roan or something, they’re probably shacking up somewhere and having sex. No biggie.”

  Her heart eased and she released a heavy sigh.

  Since she didn’t have Roan’s number, she decided to call Kai. He answered on the first ring.

  “Yes, my Chrysos beauty? What’s up?” Kai said, calling her by the cute pet name since he had told her that her name was derived from Ancient Greek – Chrysos meant gold, but he had always told her that being with her would be worth more than all the gold in the world.

  Every time she heard Kai’s voice she would swoon and there was a fiery sensation that nestled in the pit of her stomach that only came around when she was near or with Kai.

  “Kai, it’s my sister,” she told him, putting away her feelings for a moment to be serious. “I’m worried about her, she hasn’t come home yet. She went to an interview, but that was over hours ago, the manager even said she left right after it.”

  Despite her calm demeanor, Chrys started to ramble and began pacing around the motel room.

  “Now hold on, Chrys, take a deep breath okay, baby?” Kai said, alert. “Maybe her phone’s off or something.”

  Chrys shook her head and sighed. “I thought she might be with Roan or something, maybe the two got so busy having sex. If that is the case, she will get an earful from me.”

  There was silence on the other end of the phone and Chrys had to pull the phone away to make sure that he was still on the other end.

  “Kai?”

  “Chrys, Roan’s with me.”

  “What?”

  Whatever worries that Chrys had were now amplified at the prospect of something happening to his sister. Her heart started to beat faster, and her breathing became shallow, she started to become dizzy, and she made her way over to the bed.

  “Chrys? Chrysanthemum? Don’t freak out, I’m going to tell Roan, I’ll be with you soon, do you have any silver?”

  It took a moment for Chrys to process Kai’s words as they slowly filtered through her brain.

  “I-I don’t know, I think my sister keeps a knife somewhere. Wait, Kai, you don’t think it’s—”

  Kai grunted in reply. “That’s exactly what I think, lock yourself in the bathroom until I get there, understood?”

  “R-Right.”

  Chrys hung up the phone and quickly went through Harmony’s things until she stumbled upon the blade that her sister always carried. She had stumbled across it once and asked what the initials M.A. stood but Harmony had always told her she never knew.

  After the things Kai had told her, Chrys was sure she knew what the initials stood for and slowly was starting to realize the reason that her sister had moved her around so much. Even memories she didn’t remember of the night her parents were killed came back to her after meeting Kai.

  Chrys locked herself in the bathroom and made sure all windows were barred closed. She got inside of the bathroom closet with the cleaning products and sat on the floor, with the knife in her hands, holding onto the hilt where the initials M.A were printed in silver letters.

  Mary Ashur, her mother.

  Chapter 11

  Harmony slowly came to after a moment, her head was pounding wildly as if she had been tossed around repeatedly or thrown around, there was a stinging sensation on the right side of her temple, and she was sure that there was a gash.

  “W-Where am I?” her throat was hoarse and she tried to squint her eyes to see in the darkness, but all she could see was the shape of a house in the darkness. There was nothing but the stars in the sky to brighten the open pasture area.

  Her heart leaped out of her chest at the sudden realization of the time. She tried to move but found herself bound, in what felt like ropes, to a tree trunk.

  “What the hell is going on!” She shouted in panic and looked around wildly for some sign of human life but found nothing but darkness.

  There was rustling in the background and the sounds of chuckling were heard. Harmony turned her head to the side to use her hearing. It was faint, but there was a quick movement from behind her. She couldn’t discern if it were an animal or human.

  Don’t panic Harmony, just relax, and think!

  She tried to twist her bindings from behind her back, but whoever had tied her had fastened the ropes good. Harmony didn’t even remember seeing a face, the only thing she remembered was seeing a figure from the back of her seat, and a hand grabbing her as she p
assed out.

  No, what if it’s—

  “Getting comfortable?”

  The moment the familiar voice spoke, Harmony was doused with cold water. She gasped and coughed, as she threw up what little contents got in her mouth. Her eyes, nose, and throat burned. She squeezed her eyes to stop the burning sensation just as there was a bright orange light.

  Harmony opened her eyes, they were still slightly blurry and burned immensely but she was no longer in pitch; nor was she alone.

  There couldn’t have been more than a dozen brown and black bears, in a tightly knit line, and they stared at her with glaring red eyes. The same eyes that she had seen when they slaughtered her father.