by Sable Sylvan
“It’s honestly not feeling like such a punishment anymore,” said Artemis. “But I do have one rule. No work talk at dinner. I leave work at the office.”
“Says the woman who came down to Oregon for work, for a full week,” teased Jasper.
“Oh, whatever,” said Artemis with a giggle. The marionberry wine was getting to her. She started on her chirashi bowl. It was good but it didn’t compare to the sushi because all the flavors were muddled. She followed Jasper’s lead and added wasabi and soy sauce to the bowl to make it spicier and saltier.
“Hey, look, by the river,” said Jasper. “This is something most humans don’t get to see.” Jasper blew out the candle on the table...and Artemis waited. She had no idea what Jasper was waiting for.
Then, she saw. At first, there were just a few blinking lights she could’ve attributed to the moon’s glow reflecting off the river, but then, she saw that the lights were too bright to just be from the river. Then, there were more lights, which blinked in synchronized patterns.
Fireflies: she hadn’t seen them since leaving Montana, and they’d never danced and flashed like this before.
“That’s amazing,” whispered Artemis.
“We didn’t see them the other night because our lights were on,” said Jasper, getting up from his chair and pulling another chair close to Artemis. “Let’s keep the candle unlit until they’re done. You see how there’s that line through the fireflies?”
“Yeah, I see it,” said Artemis. The fireflies looked to be lighting the sides of something.
“That’s a shifter path,” said Jasper. “Different shifter species have different beliefs about them...but us bears? Well, we believe that the path guides you to your true home. It’s said that the first bear shifters came through the universe, to Earth, and couldn’t leave again...but they found this place by following the stars. When they saw the fireflies, they followed them, and established their different colonies wherever the fireflies led them.”
“That’s...really beautiful,” said Artemis. “And do you follow the fireflies?”
“I used to,” said Jasper. “But then I started to follow my heart, and I got...lost.”
“You can always find the path again,” said Artemis, and she did the most impulsive thing she’d done in her life. She did the one thing she’d promised herself she’d never do with Jasper, the one thing she’d wanted to do since she’d seen him.
Artemis turned, and wrapped her arms around Jasper’s neck...and she kissed him, deeply, her lips pressed against his. At first, Jasper stayed still, but then, he brought Artemis closer, and let her into his mouth, as he explored hers. Artemis tasted of the fresh salmon and marionberries, her mouth salty and sweet, the same taste as his, which meant that what he was tasting, under all that, was Artemis’s pure essence, the taste of Artemis that few had ever tasted before.
Artemis ran her hand over Jasper’s broad shoulders. He’d shown her so much in so few days and he’d saved her from that river, and she’d fallen in love with him, the man and the bear. She was so close to finally knowing whether they were meant to be, and she could find out that night, she was sure. Artemis put her hand over Jasper’s heart, and felt it beating faster than she’d felt it beat down at the river when he’d saved her...
But then, Jasper pulled away. The bear in him roared: they were so close, and this was the part where Jasper was going to pull away? After all they’d done to get the curvy woman to trust them? She’d been the one to kiss him, for goodness sake...and now, he was going to undo the progress?
“What’s wrong?” asked Artemis, her heart breaking. She’d thought she’d read all the signs, but apparently, she hadn’t. Apparently, the way that Jasper looked at her and treated her didn’t mean anything.
“I...I can’t,” said Jasper, getting up and sitting across from her again. “I’m sorry, Artemis, but...there was a time that I would’ve done exactly what you want me to do, and I can’t anymore.”
“Why not?” asked Artemis.
“Because...” started Jasper. The bear roared and told Jasper to just tell her what he felt, to tell her the truth about why he couldn’t bring himself to just use her like a lottery ticket to see if she was his fated mate, but Jasper ignored his bear, a dangerous move. “Because we work together, and you’re leaving at the end of the summer. It wouldn’t be fair to you.”
“I was the one that kissed you, Jasper,” said Artemis. “I want you.”
“I know,” said Jasper, and he didn’t need his bear to tell him that the thing he should’ve said was, ‘I want you too’.
Chapter Seven
Monday
The next morning, they acted as if nothing had happened. While Jasper did all the cooking, Artemis stayed holed up in the office, looking over the dossiers backwards and forwards, and only talking to Jasper when it pertained to business. When she wasn’t in the office, she was in her room, sleeping. She tried to purge all thoughts of Jasper from her mind. It was obviously he didn’t want her as much as she’d wanted him. She’d been such a silly girl to think that a billionaire bear shifter would want some boring human like her, or at least, that was the script the little nagging voice in the back of Artemis’s head was telling her.
Jasper made the leftover salmon from the first night and split it with her, and plated some extra sushi for Artemis as well. The food was delicious, but Artemis couldn’t eat more than a few bites. Every bite reminded her of the meals she’d shared with Jasper, the good times that had made it seem like she might be able to get closer to him.
***
Tuesday
Jasper’s bear kept roaring and roaring, telling him to talk to Artemis, to be with Artemis, to make sweet love to Artemis. Jasper couldn’t shut the bear up, so once Artemis was in bed, he stripped down, walked through the house nude, and went to the porch.
He went out to the river, and stood there, as a man, and just sat, letting the cool water of the river run over him like a cold shower, trying to get his thoughts together. Cold showers had always worked with the past girls, but the bear roared, and told Jasper that Artemis was nothing like those past girls: she was the first girl he’d cared about this much. Of course Jasper had cared about the other girls, but it had been nothing like this...and if Artemis wasn’t the one, then he’d have nobody and nothing.
And she didn’t even know what the mate mark was...if she did, there was no telling what she would have done. And what was Jasper supposed to do if Artemis wasn’t the one? What if the mark didn’t do what it was supposed to do after they’d consummated the relationship?
***
Wednesday
The plan to ignore Jasper wasn’t working. Artemis’s voice in the back of her head? Well, it now had front-row tickets and was pelting her metaphorical movie screen with metaphorical popcorn, and telling her what an idiot she was for ever thinking Jasper had feelings for her.
But then another voice got a ticket to the show, and dumped an entire bucket of popcorn on the nagging voice’s head. The voice told Artemis that if she really wanted Jasper, that she should go after him.
Artemis looked at Jasper: he had bags under his eyes, as if he’d had as restless a sleep as hers, or worse. Had he dreamed of her the way she’d dreamed of him every night since she’d gotten to the cabin, or was there something else going on? All she wanted to do was ask him, to hold him, to help him find a way to get some much needed rest...but instead, all she did was talk to him about work, and only work.
The first voice, the nagging voice, laughed at Artemis. Told you so, it said. You’ll never get him.
The second voice slapped the shiz out of the first voice. You’ll find a time, said the second voice. But you better hurry...it’s almost Friday...
***
Thursday
Jasper couldn’t ignore the bear anymore. Once Artemis was asleep, he shifted, and ran through the woods until he was where he needed to be: his cabin. He didn’t even need to follow the shifter paths: he knew whe
re he was going. He had the very scent of the path engrained in his brain.
Jasper unshifted, stark naked in the woods, and looked for his hidden key. He opened the door to his cabin. He turned on the light: the cabin was a bit dusty, but the sheets from the last time he’d been there were clean. He shot a glance at the beloved carpet that had earned him his nickname and sighed.
Jasper lay back on the bed. He was hoping that being away from Artemis’s scent, the scent that had permeated the house, would help him sleep, but his bear kept him up, roaring through the night as Jasper lay back and looked at the ceiling. This wasn’t a problem his billions or his bear could solve. Jasper had to take matters into his own hands.
And Artemis’s scent...it was still there, like a ghost, even though she was miles away back in the cabin. Jasper inhaled. The natural sweet scent of that curvy woman was absolutely intoxicating, and while every inhale felt like he was taking shards of glass into his lungs, it was sweet pain, because it was the closest he could be to her skin.
Her skin: so soft, so delicate, so fragile, just like Artemis as a whole. Artemis, who was back at the house, unprotected...Jasper knew that worry about Artemis’s safety was stupid, Port Jameson was safe, but his bear roared, telling him to go back to the house, to watch over Artemis. Jasper got off the bed, locked up his cabin, and shifted back into his bear form, running through the woods, as the morning dawn came, and the pale light of dawn made its way over the forest, the fireflies gone, his path lit only by errant sunbeams.
Jasper inhaled: his shifter senses smelled the morning dew, the fresh summer underbrush, the unfurling of mushrooms in the morning sun...and something else, something he couldn’t escape: Artemis. He finally realized where her smell was coming from. It wasn’t just coming from Artemis. No, just being around her had left her scent on him, and Jasper wondered whether he had left his scent on her.
***
Friday
At noon on Friday, they were no closer to solving the problem than they had been on Monday. They’d filed through every dossier, looking backwards and forwards for some correlation between events that had been held by Asher Lumber and sales in the Midwest, and had come up with nothing. In fact, the more events that were held, the worse sales seemed to do.
“It’s useless, we’ll never get this done,” said Jasper. “You wanna just pack up and head back up to Seattle?”
“We were sent here on a job, and at least one of us is treating it like a job,” said Artemis.
“Hey, I’ve been busting my tail on this just the same as you,” said Jasper, stopping himself from shouting. “What more do you want from me?”
Artemis closed her laptop lid. “To talk about what happened that night,” said Artemis.
Jasper started walking out of the office. Artemis followed. “Don’t you dare walk away from me,” said Artemis.
Jasper spun and faced Artemis, but she didn’t stop walking fast enough, so she almost hit him in the chest. Their faces were separated by mere inches. “Or what? You’ll kiss me again, Artemis?”
“You liked it,” said Artemis. “So why didn’t you kiss me back?”
“Because...you’re not like the other girls I’ve kissed,” said Jasper. “You wouldn’t get it.”
“But those other women did get it?” said Artemis. “What did they know that I don’t, what that stupid symbol on your chest really is?”
“What happened between me and the other women doesn’t matter...because they weren’t my mates,” said Jasper.
“And that’s just the thing, isn’t it,” said Artemis. “You’re wondering, what if...”
“What if what?” asked Jasper.
“What if I’m not your mate?” asked Artemis.
“I can’t promise you are,” said Jasper. “That’s a promise no shifter can make.”
“Then just...let me see your mate mark,” said Artemis. “I—”
“No,” said Jasper. “You said it yourself. All the other women saw the mark. You know how many women I’ve chosen because of what my mate mark means? So many, Artemis, and I won’t let you be chosen because of something that I apparently don’t understand. I’m not going to let this stupid mark ruin something between us.” Jasper rubbed the mark through his shirt, as if he could scrub the mark away.
“And I’m somehow different than those other women?” asked Artemis.
“Of course you are,” said Jasper.
“How many women have you taken to this house?” asked Artemis. “How many have you taken into Port Jameson, or to the bakery, or fishing at the river? How many of them have you had road trips with and made sushi with?”
“None, okay?” shouted Jasper. He caught himself before he got louder. “You’re the only one I’ve done any of those things with, Artemis...and the only one that I’ve ever wanted to do any of those things with. Even that road trip down here? I was so embarrassingly excited to finally have the chance to get to talk to you.”
“Finally have the chance to talk to me?” asked Artemis.
“I’ve seen you around the office,” said Jasper. “I never got your name. I could’ve asked anyone for it, but I didn’t, and your coffee cups didn’t help either. I didn’t ask anyone because I wanted to play it cool, and besides, I wasn’t looking for my mate. I haven’t been looking for one for months...but that didn’t stop the office rumors from poisoning your perception of me.”
“You could’ve just talked to me,” said Artemis. “I was right there, all summer.”
“And say what? ‘Hey, you’re frikkin’ gorgeous, let’s go to my creepy sex cabin down in Oregon, in the middle of the frikkin’ woods, and see if you’re my fated mate?’,” asked Jasper sarcastically. “No. I...the most pathetic thing, Artemis, is that after I learned your name? I prepared for this whole trip to try and impress you. And when you told me you had no idea who I was? I could barely believe it. Do you know how many girls get internships at Asher Lumber just to hit on the eligible bachelors, find a husband, and settle down? Dozens. I’ve been propositioned by so many women trying to get with me, all because I’m a billionaire...and you’re the first woman to treat me like everyone else.”
“You mean the first one outside of Port Jameson,” said Artemis. “And treat you like everyone else how? I’m not that nice to you, I don’t dote on you, and I speak my mind to a level that many find absolutely irritating.”
“And that’s frikkin’ great,” said Jasper. “Because that’s all I’ve wanted, Artemis. Someone hardworking, honest, and able to see the world in a way I don’t, because I’m tired of sycophants and psychos. I just want...”
“Just want what?” asked Artemis.
“I just want to find my mate,” said Jasper quietly. “And right now, I need to get out of this house, it feels so frikkin’ small, and if I don’t talk to someone other than you for the first time in, what, a week? I’m going to go insane. I need a frikkin’ bear claw.”
Artemis couldn’t help but smile. “What’s so funny?” asked Jasper.
“Nothing,” said Artemis. “It’s just...this might be the first time that you’ve actually acted like a human being in front of me, and told me what you need, what you really need.”
Artemis put her hand over Jasper’s heart. “So let’s get you that frikkin’ bear claw. And make mine a double.”
***
Jasper couldn’t get parking on Main Street because the road was blocked off. “What’s going on?” asked Artemis.
“Oh...it’s the Marionberry Festival,” said Jasper. “It’s going to be impossible to get to the BCB. You wanna just head back and eat leftovers?”
“We can just walk, can’t we?” asked Artemis. “Find a space, we can just hop in, get you that pastry, and get back to work.”
Jasper parked the car and got out. Artemis followed him down Main Street. “There sure are a lot of people out today,” said Artemis.
“It’s the last Friday that kids are going to be out of school,” said Jasper. “So there’s a big
festival, and it coincides with the harvest, so it’s the Marionberry Festival. BCB always has a booth, let’s see if we can find Beatrice and get out of here.”
“Nah, I changed my mind, I kind of like it,” said Artemis.
“You do?” asked Jasper, spotting the tent his bakery was running and walking over with Artemis.
“Yeah,” said Artemis, following Jasper. “I guess Port Jameson’s really grown on me.”
“Four bear claws,” said Jasper. He pulled out his wallet and handed the curvy cashier his cash. Artemis noticed Jasper didn’t even give the gorgeous goddess a second look and when he got the big bag of baked goods, he chowed down.
“Stress eating?” asked Artemis.
“Of course,” said Jasper. “Plus, this means it’s now officially fall...which means I need to bulk for the winter.”
“For hibernation, right,” said Artemis. She got a bear claw and munched on it herself.
“You know what would go great with this?” asked Jasper. “Marionberry wine. There’s a booth over there.”
“Marionberry wine?” asked Artemis, following Jasper to a tent that had an ice cooler full of unopened quarter-size bottles of marionberry wine. “I’m not so sure that’s a good idea after the last time.”
Jasper frowned. “Why not?”
“Because of how drunk I got?” asked Artemis.
Jasper held back a laugh for as long as he could. “Artemis...marionberry wine doesn’t actually have any alcohol in it. They just call it that for marketing reasons. It’s a kid’s drink. It’s basically juice.”
“Are you frikkin’ serious?” asked Artemis.
“Absolutely,” said Jasper, scanning the crowd. “See? That kid over there has it.” He pointed: a middle schooler had a glass bottle of marionberry wine in his hands and was sipping on it out of a novelty straw.
“So...that means...” started Artemis, blushing bright pink.
