by Sable Sylvan
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Epilogue
Koala Bear Buns
The Twelve Dancing Bears, Book 6
Sable Sylvan
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Epilogue
Glossary Of Australian Things + Slang (GOATS)
Sneak Peek: “The Cinderella Cook-Off”
Sneak Peek: “Beauty And The BBQ”
About the Author
Copyright © 2017 by Sable Sylvan
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Chapter One
Bear Buns. Everyone in Seattle knew about this all-male strip club. Why? Because of a recent article that had been published by Crystal Wordsworth, about how Bear Buns was not merely a shifters-only strip club, featuring an all-shifter male revue, but about its very special dance troupe, ‘The Twelve Dancing Bears.’ Her article told the masses about how six pairs of bears were looking for special ladies to complete their menage, how they had their roles handed down to them from the shifters that had come before them, who had found their fated mates on the Bear Buns stage.
There was a duo of grizzlies, the first addition to the new recruits. There was a pair of polars, who had been second to join the new crew. The third group, two bears as black as night. Next, came two cinnamon-colored bears, whose predecessors, a pair of professors (say that five times fast!) had found their fated mate through stripping on that very stage. Finally, there was a pair of pandas, who had been hand-selected by the last menage as their replacements, who were going to be making their formal debut that weekend. That left a pair of koala shifters, who had been the newest members of the last iteration of ‘The Twelve Dancing Bears,’ as the most senior members of the new set of ‘The Twelve Dancing Bears.’ They had only joined ‘The Twelve Dancing Bears’ in recent years, but still, they had seniority over their new crew, so they were the current headliners of the show. ‘The Twelve Dancing Bears’ was a six-part show, each part unique and featuring two bears of a given species. The headlining act went first, and the acts were ordered by seniority, with the most senior members starting the show and the newest members closing it.
Crystal’s article had gone straight-up viral. Every hot-blooded woman interested in men in the USA had learned about the club. Even women who weren’t interested in bears, whose blood boiled when they saw tiger shifters or ocelots or lynxes, came to have some fun, as Bear Buns employed non-bears to perform on the other stages. With the increase in business, Bear Buns had started added even more luxurious amenities to their club. They now had multiple side stages and even hosted amateur nights so that local shifters could try their luck for the night, as Bear Buns wasn’t a money-focused venture. No, Bear Buns was about bringing people together. That’s why there were even whisperings of rumors to expand the club to other cities.
All this was recounted to Natalie Rowe as she sat in one of the Bear Buns limos that had come to pick her and her friends up at her house. From the decor, you would’ve guessed that Natalie was having her bachelorette party, but it couldn’t be further from the truth. Her ex, Randall the Rat Bastard, as her friends had dubbed him, had broken off their engagement a few weeks ago, breaking up with her because he had started dating a girl at work. Natalie’s heart still ached for him, even though she knew he was a rat bastard. No, Natalie was hosting a bachelorette party for her friend Diane. Diane was like her, large and in charge. They both had ample hips that gave their figures a little extra something-something. Diane was engaged to a dragon shifter, who had encouraged her to go to Bear Buns with her friends and show them all a good time. Even though her fiancé, Jacob, was from a notoriously jealous shifter species, his philosophy was that there was no good hoarding love. No, it was best to spread it around, and in celebration of Diane’s love, why not take her friends out to see if they could find theirs at Bear Buns? Luckily for Diane, Jacob had given her an open reservation bachelorette package. This meant that the package was reserved, without a set date. However, there was a guarantee that Diane would be able to have her party on any night of her choice. Jacob had book this before the hype hit Bear Buns, so Diane was able to arrange things so that her bachelorette party would take place on the same night as the debut of the new dancers. It was the hottest event in town, and tickets had gone on the black market for hundreds of dollars. After the last set of dancers had found their fated mates, it had been absolute panda-monium. Everyone was wondering what menage would be completed next, and everyone wanted a piece of the Bear Buns action.
It all sounded corny to Natalie. She sat in the car sipping champagne that had come free with the car…along with the stripper, a tiger shifter that she had to admit was handsome. Sitting in the car was a tiger shifter, his shift evident by the tattoo-like marks on his arms. Every shifter had a mate mark, and although there were some exceptions, most shifters’ marks were in specific locations, based on their shift (the species they shifted into). While bears had large marks on their chest, tigers, well, they had their ‘stripes’ which were their intricate tats on their arms that some said told a story. This shifter? He had a mark with a stage on it, with an audience, and he had explained how he knew that meant he’d find his fated mate at Bear Buns. He was telling the other gals a story, about the shizz he and his dance partner had pulled, to try and get a girl who wasn’t their fated mate. Something about clowns? He had ended up meeting that girl’s fated mates, and that’s how he and his friend, who he promised they’d meet back at the club, would learn about Bear Buns.
Natalie really could not care less. All she could think about was Randal. Over the last two weeks, she had tried to get her mind off of him. Nothing had worked. She’d read books, played video games, watched TV, taken walks, gone to the gym, gone out with friends. Nothing, nada, zilch. She was still absolutely, totally, entirely enamored with the man she knew was no good for her.
“Are you excited for tonight?” Natalie forced herself to ask Diane. She had to make small-talk. This night wasn’t about her and her breakup, after all. Diane had been at her door with a pint of mint-chocolate-chip ice cream the moment she saw her relationship status on social media go from “Engaged” to “Single.” The least Natalie could do was pretend to be okay.
“Girl, you’re the one who should be excited,” said Diane. “Although, I’m guessing from the look on your face, that tigers aren’t your type?”
“Ugh, I don’t think I’ll find anyone at Bear Buns,” said Natalie.
“Give it a chance,” insisted Diane.
“A chance to let my heart get lost again?” said Natalie. “No frikkin’ way. Burn me once, shame on you. Burn me twice…”
“…And still, shame on them,” said Diane, putting Natalie’s hand in hers and rubbing it gently. “Honey, you did no
thing wrong. The only wrong move you can make? Not trusting fate to bring you close to someone that’ll bring you happiness in the future. I guarantee you will find someone. You just have to let fate drop them into your lap.”
“What makes you so sure?” asked Natalie.
“Look at Jacob and me,” said Diane. “After I got dumped by that guy, Aziz, I never thought I’d find love again. But if I hadn’t given Jacob a chance? Well, then we wouldn’t be here right now, in a car, on the way to Bear Buns, where hopefully, someone’s gonna find their special someone.”
“Bear Buns, what a joke,” said Natalie. “No offense to Jacob, I know this is one of his many special presents to you, but…the premise of Bear Buns is so stupid!”
“There are dozens of couples and trios that have met at Bear Buns,” said Diane.
“Right, but, compare that to the number of people that go to the shows,” said Natalie. “Not all of them walk out of their with a fated mate.”
“So you do believe in fate?” asked Diane, a twinkle in her eye.
Natalie sighed and leaned back, before sitting back up to take a sip from her flute.
“I don’t know anymore,” said Natalie. “I really don’t.”
“Everything we do, it’s fated,” said Diane. “But fate can only bring you so far. You have to be willing to bare your soul, to be vulnerable, in order…”
“…To be hurt?” asked Natalie.
“No, silly,” said Diane. She put her hand on Natalie’s chest. “To be loved.”
“Jeeze Louise, I remember when you were a party girl, but now, you’re a philosopher?” asked Natalie sarcastically and rhetorically.
“Love changes people,” said Diane. “Usually for the better. But sometimes, we’ve gotta change for love.”
“I’d never change for a guy,” said Natalie. “No way, no how.”
“I’m not talking about changing for a man,” said Diane. “I’m talking about changing for love, so that you are strong enough to allow yourself to be vulnerable, so that you’re proud enough to be honest about what you want, so that you are confident enough to know your worth…and by that point, you’ll realize that fate might not play with dice, but that some of this is a numbers game.”
“What do you mean?” asked Natalie. “Color me intrigued.”
“Is everyone who goes to Bear Buns looking for their fated mate?” asked Diane.
“Yeah, of course,” said Natalie.
“Wrong,” said Diane. “What about me? What about Kate, who already has a boyfriend? Girls like Kate and me are gonna be there, and they aren’t eligible. What about the girls who go who aren’t into dudes? What about gals that go just to watch the show? Every day, you pass by dozens, hundreds, thousands of people on the streets of Seattle. But, at Bear Buns, you have eligible men, showing off their mate marks, looking for their special someone. Your chances of finding someone at Bear Buns might be slim…but they’re higher than the chances of finding someone while sitting at home eating potato chips and watching reality TV. So give the night a chance, and it might give you a chance.”
“Okay, I concede,” said Natalie. “You have me convinced. And Diane?”
“Yeah?” asked Diane.
“Jacob really must be perfect for you,” said Natalie. “No offense, but you seem so different now.”
“Different’s good,” said Diane. “Now get the heck outta my limo.”
“What?” asked Natalie. “Oh, of course, we’re here.”
Natalie and the gals got out of the car. There was a crowd gathered in front of Bear Buns lined up for tickets to the many shows that were on that Friday night. A large movie-theater style marquee read, ‘The Twelve Dancing Bears Ft. Bruce + Zach’, and along the walkway up to the entrance, where there were shirtless men ready to take their tickets, were posters for the various acts. While the dancers from the smaller acts had to share a poster, the members of ‘The Twelve Dancing Bears’ only shared their poster with their dance partner, so there were six gorgeous posters leading up the walkway, with a pair of shirtless men on each.
Natalie looked at the first poster. It was a poster of some grizzlies, green with brass details, but the men and their shifts…they didn’t awaken anything inside of her.
“You like what you see?” asked Diane, looping her arm into Natalie’s left arm.
Natalie turned and looked at her friend. Diane was in a lacy white sequin dress that looked like a Halloween costume of a bride, with a silver and rhinestone tiara, a pale blue sash across her chest reading ‘Bride-To-Be’ in white rhinestones that shone rainbow in the warm lights of the Bear Buns poster path.
“Nah, grizzlies, not my type, and by now, I’d know, given that we live, well…here,” admitted Natalie.
“Okay, what about these polars?” asked Diane, pointing to a sky blue poster featuring icy silver details and pale men with giant white furry bears.
“Polars? Too cold for me,” said Natalie. “I love the beach, not the snow.”
“Black bears?” asked Diane, pointing to a synthwave-inspired poster with aqua and pink and silver details, featuring two tall, broad, dark and handsome shifters and their shifts.
“Aren’t those two dancers snooty, from rich families?” asked Natalie. “No frikkin’ way. I want some down-to-earth guys.”
“Okay, cinnamon bears?” asked Diane, gesturing to a poster that was Marionberry purple with gold details.
“Too fiery,” said Natalie. “Plus, they’re basically just grizzlies, right?”
“You’re hard to please,” said Diane. “It’s obvious nothing from North America appeals to you. What about pandas?” Diane gestured to a red poster featuring golden details and two yellow-toned golden gods with their panda shifts on the bottom half of the poster.
“Pandas?” asked Natalie. “It reminds me too much of that song.”
“These dudes are gorgeous, though,” said Diane. “If I was single…”
“Hey,” said Natalie. “Well, you’re not single. And they are hot, but…I just don’t feel anything for any of these sexy bods. I told you, I won’t find my true love at a frikkin’ strip club.” Natalie started to turn away and walk towards the ticket taker.
“Hey, there’s one last poster to look at,” said Diane, pulling her friend back and spinning her so she had to face the last poster.
Natalie looked over the poster. The poster was royal blue, but it made her think of warm beaches and deep blue oceans as dark and shiny as sapphires. There was a city, but it reminded her not of Seattle, but the way that cities looked as she entered them when she flew into a new city: vast but small, making her feel big, feel brave. And on the poster were two figures that made her feel something else that she shouldn’t rationally feel, something she could only describe as a lust that didn’t feel sinful, but just felt right.
Two men, with rippling abs, firm arms, and tanned skin, beckoned her. Their faces were shrouded from view, but it was evident from their dance shorts and shifts that they were Australian. Down under the men were two koalas, one brownish-grey and one charcoal gray, and koala shifters were native to Australia. On top, there was text, and it was white, outlined in red. That’s when it hit Natalie: the poster was done in the colors of the Australian flag, with the white and red details like the stripes on the Union Jack. The Union Jack was featured on the hotpants the men were wearing, which weren’t sequin-covered like the hotpants on the other dancers. Where were the Southern Cross and the other stars from the flag? Natalie couldn’t help but smile as she had a naughty thought…what if they were on the back, on the koalas’ bear buns?
“See something you like?” asked Diane.
“I…” started Natalie, ready to come up with something sassy, but nothing came out. She frowned. Usually, the sass flowed free, but she couldn’t think of anything negative to say about the poster.
“Well, you can ogle them later,” said Diane. “Live. On stage.”
Diane dragged Natalie away from the poster and into the VIP
line with Natalie so that the bachelorette party could be seated. Because Jacob had purchased Diane a VIP bachelorette package, they were given a personal escort and assistant in the form of two tiger shifters, the one from the limo and his dance partner.
They were ushered into the crowded dance hall, to a special VIP section, where a large table awaited the party. The table was surrounded by men who were shirtless, wearing only black shimmer hot pants, who were carrying trays of drinks and snacks, so as to leave the table free. Of course, the table had to be left free, because it had a large strip pole that went from the ceiling to the firmly rooted table. Around the table were comfy high-backed chairs, arranged so that everyone could always see the stage. The tigers pulled the chairs out for everyone, both pulling out the special bachelorette chair, which was decorated with flowers, for Diane. The bachelorette chair was in the center of the chairs, naturally. The tigers then moved and one by one, pulled the chairs out, from center to ends.
Natalie tried to take a seat near Diane, but Diane put a hand on her shoulder.
“No, you’re sitting over there,” said Diane, pointing to the last chair.
“Oh…alright,” said Natalie, backing off as she looked. The chair Diane pointed it at was the end chair, but it was close to the VIP exit that led to the stage. Was Diane trying to give her a better view of the show, or had she taken up too much of her friend’s time in the limo and the poster alley?
Natalie sat in her assigned seat. She peeked over at Diane, who was talking with other people. The two people to the left of Natalie were talking about work, and Natalie didn’t work with them. One of the tigers was beckoned over by Diane, and Diane whispered in his ear and pointed towards Natalie.
Okay…Diane was definitely up to something.
Before Natalie could ask her friend what the heck was going on, the background music was turned down, the lights flickered, and the crowd started clapping. The show was about to start, and the audience couldn’t wait to see some Bear Buns.
