Bear's Temptation

by Fay Walsh

  “You really want the truth, don’t you?” Darren said with a smile.

  “Yeah. That would be nice,” she said, trying not to sound too eager.

  The air was so tense that she felt she could probably cut the air with a knife and slather it over dinner. Darren sat back, letting a sigh in contentment as a reaction to her words.

  “You are curious about who I am. What my abilities are. You want to know how myself, as a shifter, came to be,” he stated with his deep voice.

  “Yeah. I’d like that,” she tried to encourage him.

  “Well, I do admire that. And thanks for not straight to the press. I know that they would be thrilled to have something against me. However, I would hold myself responsible if everyone was forced to move,” he said.

  “Wait, there’s more of you?” she exclaimed in surprise.

  “You already know that I share a house with some guys. Do you think I could make it on my own? Trust me, Lisa, that’s not how this works. I am strong, and I do what I want, but within reason. There are a few things that I would rather not do in life, and carrying this burden alone is one of them,” he said.

  “I… I see,” she said.

  “But I am flattered that you think I’m strong enough for that. It’s really nice to have someone see me as strong as this,” he teased her. Lisa immediately felt heat withing her body.

  “But, that’s not what we’re here for. We’re here to discuss the truth behind who I am. As a shifter,” he added.

  “I mean… I don’t want to push you if you don’t want to talk about it. The last thing I want is to scare you away, or make you feel like you’re under obligation to talk to me about it,” she told him.

  “I know. But, I wouldn’t mind talking to you. But before I do, I just want to make sure that you don’t tell others about it. I need you to promise that,” he said.

  For a minute, Lisa was tempted to take all of the information she would get and reveal them to the public. It would be interesting to see where it would go, but then, she shook her head. She wouldn’t do that to Darren.

  “Yeah. I can do that. I want you to tell me on your terms, and I want you to be comfortable telling me about it too,” she told him.

  “Well, if you’re willing to keep this a secret, then we can do that. Honesty, I mean. I haven’t told anyone about this in a long time. The only people that know about who I am are, of course, the people that I live with, and that’s it. I’ve worked hard to keep this image up and I would’t want the world know about it,” he explained.

  “Well, I promise that I won’t tell anyone about it. I swear,” she said, getting impatient.

  He looked at her, and she could tell that she was being judged by Darren. He stared deep into her eyes, looking for any signs of lying or hesitation, and then, he pulled back.

  “You’re not lying,” he stated.

  “Of course I’m not. I know that you’re telling me the truth, Darren. I know that you want to tell me. And all this while I don’t understand why I’m not going to let people know,” she said.

  “Good. I do appreciate that,” he told her.

  There was a pause, and while the terse atmosphere was still at its peak, Lisa was able to feel a little more relaxed in Darren’s presence. There was a pause and instead of Darren, Lisa was the one to speak.

  “Honestly Darren, I am a journalist. I’m still at the beginning of my career, and it’s really what I enjoy. I do this for money, yes, but I don’t want to turn that picture in. Maybe it’s just my conscience, or maybe it’s just the fact that I won’t get anything from hurting you. But I won’t tell anyone. I promise that” she said.

  Darren smiled at her, and then, he spoke.

  “Thank you for that Lisa. I do appreciate that. You know that for us shifter it is common to find human mates. I have always thought that this was nonsense. So, when Travis told me about his girl, I was a bit worried. I fear what humans might say in response about a shifter. Not everyone is as nice as you and her,” he said.

  “I figured. You probably have a lot of people who would like you dead,” she said.

  “Yeah. You could say that. It’s more that… people don’t understand, so they would love to make life harder for all of us. But, when people acknowledge that hey, it’s okay to not understand things, it’s a nice sense of pace,” he said.

  “Well, I guess you can say that I feel that way. Anywaym how many of you are in town?” she inquired.

  “I figured as much. Until now, it’s only been me and the guys in my Clan. That’s how we call our little group, by the way. That would make us a total of five. A while ago though some other shifters appeared. Shifters that were dangerous for the humans. They even murdered some. Me and the guys were able to defeat them. But there is always the possibility of some other shifter appearing. Like the lion that attacked you. Did he say anything to you?” Darren asked Lisa.

  “He just warned me to stop looking into shifters. He said that I wouldn’t get caught in the crossfire. I guess he’s up to no good,” Lisa admitted.

  After saying this, Lisa paused, taking in all of the things that Darren had revealed. She tried to imagine what it would be like to live with a secret like that. The fact that the shifters had hunted down the dangerous ones, in order to protect everyone and not getting a credit for it, was devastating to her.

  At that moment, when she looked at this shifter she realized that she couldn’t hurt him. She understood that she wouldn’t treat Darren like this. And this became the source of a newfound happiness inside of her. It felt almost relaxing.

  “I don’t want to hurt you, Darren. I don’t get it, but there is something that’s holding me in place, preventing me from screwing you over. I don’t get it myself, but I guess I respect that,” she said.

  “I do respect that. Trust me, I really appreciate that you’re not trying to hurt me, Lisa. You’re very strong, and I do like that about you. You’re stubborn, and frankly, I was a little put off by that, but I like that about you. Maybe you’re just growing on me,” he teased.

  Lisa blushed, but then, she spoke.

  “I guess you are too. Even though you’re too damn cocky for your own good,” she told him with a chuckle.

  “Hey, sometimes you just have to be a little bit cocky,” he teased her.

  “I know. I guess that’s a part of your charm,” she said.

  The two laughed. The tense air was starting to break. Lisa felt that there was way more to Darren’s story than what had just told her. She hoped that he would tell her more about it later on.

  “So, I guess I should thank you once again for keeping this quiet. All of these years’ work would just go to waste,” he stated to her.

  “I mean, I would naturally demand the same thing if I was in your shoes,” she told him.

  “Well, it’s very much appreciated Lisa, and in turn, I would like to offer you something,” he stated.

  Lisa looked at him with a curious glance, and Darren smiled at her.

  “I would like to take you out to dinner. To tell you everything over a nice meal. That’s the least I can do, right?” he asked.

  Lisa blushed, realizing that he was being serious.

  “Wait, are you sure?” she asked.

  “I wouldn’t be offering this to you if I wasn’t,” he stated with a smirk.

  Lisa felt the heat building inside of her body, realizing that there was something almost attractive about the way that he asked her out.

  “I mean, if you want to take me out, I would love that,” she said.

  “Then it’s a date. I’ll tell you more over dinner. I mean, don’t take it as just a date, just take it as, well… thank you for helping me out back there,” he said to her.

  “You’re welcome. And I won’t,” she said.

  She could tell that a hint of that cold façade was returning once again and she wondered if he would ever finally open up to her. She was happy that she had finally learned some things about the shifters in town.
Until that afternoon she would never guess that they existed, but here he was, a bear willing to tell her his story.

  She didn’t understand why Darren made her feel so good. She was certainly quite excited about their date. Even if the lion shifter was right and this was something dangerous to get involved into, there was something about Darren that made her ready to face the unknown, even if it meant she might be in danger in the process.

  Chapter 10

  As Darren uttered those words, he couldn’t believe himself. It felt right, but he hadn’t ever been on a date with anyone before, let alone a human.

  “Are you sure about this?” he asked Lisa again.

  “Yeah. I’ll be around pretty much off the hook all this week. My boss doesn’t have me on any small jobs, so if you want to go out, I’ll be free,” she replied.

  “Good. That settles it,” he stated.

  They planned for a date, and Darren felt happy, yet with a strange burst of nervousness. He left Lisa’s house and went to find Travis.

  “I take it that it went way better than you thought?” Travis inquired, seeing the smile on Darren’s face.

  “Yeah. She agreed to a date. And she gave me the picture on a flash drive,” Darren said with a smile as he handed it to him.

  “Damn, I didn’t think you had it in you. Nice job,” he said.

  “I have also learned some interesting things about this other shifter,” Darren added.

  Travis looked at him, waiting for him to continue.

  “The lion just warned Lisa to stay away. He told her that she would get caught in the crossfire. Someone is trying to pick a bone with us, Travis,” Darren said.

  “That’s some useful information. At least, it explains the writing the other day. Let’s keep on our guards. In the meantime, let’s not show them that we are aware of their intentions. Continue acting as usual. In the meantime, we should make sure you’re ready for your little date,” Travis said while trying to make everyone feel better.

  “Ooh, this will be fun,” Billy said, always ready to join in the teasing.

  “None of us have ever been on dates, you dolt,” Sven said.

  “I mean, we can still help. Plus I mean, it will help whenever it’s our turn,” Benjamin said.

  “That’s right. I have an idea of what to do, but I’m sure Alana will help too,” Darren said.

  “Of course. I can tell that you’re new to this, Darren. Don’t worry, women aren’t as complicated as you think they are,” she teased.

  “Thanks,” Darren said, feeling a bit embarrassed for being put on the spot.

  The group all got him ready for his big date, with Alana teaching him about some of the customs, including paying for the date and being a gentleman. Travis helped him pick out an outfit, with Alana’s help of course.

  The rest of the guys watched with interest, each of them excited to see one of their own on a date with a human girl. Darren felt that they were making a much bigger deal out of this than they should. He was just going out with a girl, not his mate. But, apparently the other guys thought otherwise.

  When the day of the date came, Darren wore a clean business suit and his tie in place. When he walked out, Travis slapped his back.

  “Go get her,” he said to the shifter.

  Travis smiled at him in encouragement and Darren nodded.

  “Thanks. I will try,” he stated.

  “Don’t just try, do it,” he pressed him.

  “Yes, mom,'' Darren said, rolling his eyes.

  He drove to Lisa’s house, and when she came out, she was in the prettiest blue dress. For a moment, Darren forgot that this was the nosey reporter that tried to start a fight with him, for she was looking cuter than ever.

  “Hey there,” he said.

  “Hey. Are you okay?” she asked him.

  “Oh y-yeah. Sorry,” he said.

  He noticed that Lisa was looking at him curiously.

  “Are you sure? If you’re nervous, don’t worry about it. I’m nervous too,” she said with a chuckle.

  She didn’t seem all that nervous, but Darren believed her.

  “You could say that. This is all new to me,” he admitted.

  “Well, we can talk about this over dinner. Let’s get some food and that might help,” she offered.

  Darren took her to one of the nicer places in town, a small fancy restaurant where they were sat in the corner, upon request. The servers recognized Darren because he tended to tip well. When they were seated, at first, the atmosphere was awkward.

  Darren didn’t know where to begin with this, nor was he sure about what to do. But Lisa, as if understanding his hesitation, spoke first.

  “Are you okay?” she asked.

  “Yeah. Just trying to figure out where to begin,” he told her.

  “Straight to business, then. Well, I guess we can start from the beginning. You know with the shifting thing. How you became the way that you are,” she suggested.

  Darren tensed, looking at Lisa to see if she looked like she would be keeping notes for anything other than her own personal curiosity. He then sighed and looked at her with a serious glance.

  “Well, I’m going to tell you right now. I’m actually quite old for a shifter,” he began talking.

  “How old?” she asked.

  “I got turned about... fifty years back? Despite being older than Travis, I’m actually not the Alpha. Travis is the name of the Alpha of our Clan, our leader,” he explained.

  “I see. So you’re much older,” she said.

  “Yeah. But, I age a lot slower than humans, hence why I look so young. I got turned when I was ten years old,” he continued.

  “So young,” Lisa exclaimed.

  “Yeah, it wasn’t the… prettiest situation if you want me to put it lightly. I honestly sometimes hate thinking about it. But, I was turned on a whim, because it was either that or death. And I didn’t want to die, obviously,” he told her.

  “Well yeah. I guess nobody would,” she replied.

  “So, it was a mess. It was a very reckless decision. I was thrown into a situation where I had no control of my abilities and it was super hard for me to learn how to do that. I never thought that controlling your own personal feelings and abilities could be so hard but... I was forced to adapt,” he explained.

  She looked at him with a curious glance, an interested look in her eyes.

  “What happened? If you don’t mind me asking,” she said.

  Darren paused, trying to figure out what to tell her. He wasn’t ready to reveal to her this particular side of him, that one that he had kept from everyone. However, he was okay with telling her other things about his life.

  “The situation that caused my change is something that was pretty impactful in my life, and in truth, I’m not ready to tell anyone about it. In fact, I’ve never told anyone about the whole situation. The only thing you need to know it that it’s how I got my abilities as a shifter,” he explained.

  “I respect that. Please, go on,” she urged him.

  “Yeah but, after I got my abilities, I actually started to learn how to control my emotions. Which I guess is a good thing. I mean, I did manage to keep myself together when I got nearly killed by one of the other shifters in our clan. That was Sven, who was a mess when we first found him. I’ve always been like that, and for this most people think I’m cold and that I don’t care about others. But, I’m going to be honest with you, Lisa. I actually try not to be. I understand why it comes off like that, but in reality, I just don’t want to see others hurt,” he explained.

  “No, that makes perfect sense. It sounds like the situation you were in was a mess,” she told him.

  “You could say that. It honestly was one of the worst situations of my life. I don’t mean to come off as cold, or calculating to other people all the damn time, but it just happens like that. I hope that I’m not as mean as you think I am though,” he said.

  She laughed at those words, and Darren immediately tensed.r />
  “You’re fine. Trust me, Darren, I should be the one to apologize. I was definitely not the nicest person to you initially, and I thought the cocky, cold nature was just you fucking with me. But now I realize that you’re just trying to protect yourself. We all have our ways to make sure that nobody sees the real us. Honestly, I’m just happy that you’re coming clean with me. And before you ask, no, this won’t be in an article or anything. I don’t want to use you like that,” she explained.

  “Thank you, Lisa. I appreciate that. I’ll tell you the rest of the story when I feel ready to tell you everything. It’s not the prettiest situation, nor is it the happiest, but… maybe you’ll understand. Maybe, for the first time ever I will let someone understand the truth,” he explained.