The BEAR Gene: A Gripping Paranormal Romance (WereGenes Book 2)

by Amira Rain

  “It’s not eerie. It’s just plain old silence.”

  It was clearly the kind of silence that made a woman start talking to herself.

  Feeling the urge to do something before my nerves got the better of me, even if it was just taking my position to wait, I stepped outside the massive tent and began heading toward the half of the football-sized field that wasn’t filled with tents, games, and glowing lanterns. This was where the fight was to take place, where Reed thought the Bloodborn bears would come charging in to try to wreak havoc in the tents, not knowing they’d been swiftly evacuated minutes earlier.

  Once I was far enough into the dark half of the field to feel somewhat hidden, I came to a stop to wait.

  The first few minutes, with me just standing beneath the stars and crescent moon silently, felt interminable. Each minute seemed to stretch into an hour, with my tense muscles becoming even more tightly wound with each one. At the same time, my full-body trembling seemed to increase in intensity. I wasn’t particularly outright scared, though. I was more just ready. Ready to spring into action and do what I intended to do, becoming part of a battle that would bring me even closer to Reed, because once all the Bloodborn were dead, we’d be ready to move forward with our life together.

  After another couple of minutes of near-complete silence in the field, with the only sounds being my heartbeat thudding in my ears and a breeze rustling through some tall grass somewhere near me, I began to wonder if Reed’s spotters actually hadn't spotted Gerard and his men at all. Or, maybe they had, I thought, but they’d been seen, and Gerard and his men had turned back around. Or, alternately, I wondered if Reed’s spotters had been seen, and the fight had broken out right then and there, wherever they’d been, probably at least a few miles away from me.

  However, after maybe a full ten minutes of waiting, I began to hear faint growls coming from the forestland on either side of the field. Reed had told me that he and his men would make a little noise to let me know they were there when they took their positions. Immensely glad for this signal, I breathed a sigh of relief, and a few minutes after this, I heard a second wave of low growls in the distance. This was the signal that most of the shifters that had been escorting people home had returned. Other shifters had remained in town to guard everyone who was in their homes. Now everything and everyone was in place. Now we all just had to wait for things to begin.

  Flanked by hundreds of shifters, I began to feel an unexpected and profound sense of calm, which decreased my trembling and steeled my resolve. Trying to calm myself further still, I began taking deep, steadying breaths, like I had in the tent, really trying to focus on my slowing heartbeat.

  My eyes had adjusted well enough to the dim light that I figured it would be fairly easy to tell a red-eyed Bloodborn from one of Reed’s shifters, at least from a distance of thirty or forty feet or closer. I was going to have to be extremely careful, though, and I knew it. The last thing I wanted to do was stab one of Reed’s shifters, or him; however, as another minute passed, and my night vision seemed to get even sharper, to the point that I could make out individual leaves of trees a good distance to my left and right, I became even more confident that I wouldn’t have too much trouble differentiating friend from foe. Not to mention that the first time I’d used my knife-throwing skill to fight, it had seemed to go right where I wanted it to go, almost of its own accord.

  It turned out that I had an opportunity to use my night vision sooner than I’d expected. I’d just begun to hear fierce, loud growls coming from the northeast, signaling the Bloodborn bears’ arrival, right on time, when a sound much nearer to me divided my attention. It was a sound coming from somewhere directly behind me, a sound like someone running through tall grass, making faint swishing noises, but not on four feet. It wasn’t a bear. This was a human.

  Baffled and alarmed to say the least, I whirled around and immediately spotted Polly racing toward me, the outline of her voluminous, bouncing curly ponytail identifying her clearly. In complete disbelief, I didn’t even make any move to get out of her way, even though it looked like she was going to plow right into me. “Polly, what in the-”

  “I was going to leave town tonight without even telling anyone, but I couldn’t go through with it.” Panting, she slammed on her brakes just a foot or two away from me. “I turned my car around and came right back here, because I don’t really want to leave town. I’m just scared. Scared of absolutely everything. Scared that I’m falling in love with Alex already, scared for things to go further, scared to be with any man who isn’t Sean, and scared to start some kind of a new life without him in it. But, as scared as I am, I couldn’t leave town, like I said. And, instead of being scared of everything, I decided I’m going to try to banish all that fear away by trying to be a hero, like you. Then, maybe when it’s all over, I’ll feel so brave that I’ll never feel any of the fear I’m feeling about anything, ever again.”

  “But... what in the hell are you thinking, Polly? You don't have any knife-throwing skills or anything similar, and you’re not a shift-”

  “I have a gun, though. I have a gun, and I know how to use it.”

  Sniffling, Polly raked a hand across her eyes. I could tell from her voice, which was thick and raspy, that she’d likely been doing some pretty intense crying since leaving the party maybe an hour earlier, saying that she was tired and her nerves couldn’t handle any more waiting. Now it struck me that maybe her words had been more about her secret plan to leave town, and less about the Bloodborn bears’ attack.

  Sniffling again, she patted her left hip. “I’ve got a nine millimeter right here in my waistband.” After a seeming complete and total momentary freeze of every muscle in her body, she patted both hips, and then patted all around her waist. “Oh, dammit. Oh, shit.”

  “Oh, my God. Don’t tell me. You mean-”

  “I guess it must have fallen out while I was running or something. I’m sorry, Sam. I just-”

  “Come on. You’re in serious danger here, and we need to get you somewhere safe right this second.”

  With the roaring behind us now becoming even louder, I grabbed Polly’s arm and began trying to drag her away, but she resisted, not budging an inch.

  “Sam, wait. That bear-shaped black hole looking thing... by the lanterns. It has glowing red eyes.”

  I’d reached a hand in my leather bag and had begun pulling out a knife even before she’d finished speaking.

  *

  Half-dragging a sobbing Polly behind me, I began striding toward the lanterns and threw a butcher knife at the Bloodborn bear about halfway there. I hit my target, getting him right in one of his glowing red eyes, and he went down immediately and didn’t move.

  Once I was sure he was going to stay down, I turned to Polly. “We’ve got to hurry. If that Bloodborn bear was able to sneak over here before the others, then I bet more are soon to arrive.”

  “Let’s stay put, though! Let's just scream for Alex and Reed, and then-”

  “You didn’t really think this through, did you, Pol?”

  “No… obviously, I didn’t! I didn't think all the snarling and growling would be so loud, or-”

  “Well, too late now! Just hurry up, because we’ve got to get out of here!”

  With the loud growling and snarling behind us becoming even louder and even closer, I continued half-dragging a still-sobbing Polly over to the lanterns, willing myself not to become overly rattled by what was happening, knowing that would surely bring on a bout of nausea and dizziness within seconds.

  It was only when Polly and I were maybe ten feet beyond the lanterns that I breathed a sigh of relief I didn’t even know I’d been holding.

  Beside me, Polly shrieked, pointing at something. “Oh my God! A Bloodborn! In that tent!”

  I immediately looked and saw only the outline of a large box covered in black felt that had been used for a kids’ puppet show that day.

  “Oh, gosh, Polly. Get a hold of yourself. It’s just the
box from the kids’ puppet show.”

  She just sobbed even harder, clutching my shoulder so hard it almost hurt. And that’s when I smelled a distinct, slightly sickening, overpowering scent, rising above even the distinct scent of Polly’s vanilla-scented perfume, which she tended to use liberally. It was the scent of alcohol. Vodka, if I wasn’t mistaken.

  “Oh, my God, Pol. You’re drunk, too?”

  She shook her head with the glow from the candles glinting on her face, which was wet and shiny with tears. “No, I’m not completely drunk. I only had three shots. Four or five, maybe. I did them so fast I kind of lost count.”

  “Oh, my God. Probably not a brilliant move, but it’s done now. We’ve gotta hurry up, and you have to try to start walking better.” Already beginning to stride away between the large tent and a smaller one, I glanced over my shoulder and saw a mass of dark shapes out on the field. “We’ve gotta run, actually, Pol. The fight’s quickly heading this way, looks like.”

  It had crossed my mind to leave her in one of the tents, maybe hidden beneath a table, but I knew that really wasn’t any kind of safety, because the Bloodborn would be able to smell her human scent. Besides, in her intoxicated state, I knew there was a distinct possibility that Polly might come wandering out from wherever I sat her down. I’d also thought about just keeping her by my side while I fought out on the field, but I’d quickly dismissed the thought as simply too dangerous. I knew it would only take a split second or two for her to get separated from me, and then it’d probably be near-impossible for me to find her on the field again. Not to mention that trying to keep a close eye on her while also trying to differentiate between Bloodborn bears and Reed’s bears might be one too many tasks for me to focus on, while also trying to focus on maintaining the mental mindset I needed to have in order not to let my knife skills falter.

  It was clear to me that I needed to get Polly back home, or better yet, to a home that was not her own, so that there would actually be someone there to keep an eye on her. Or, I realized, better yet still, I could hand her off to one of Reed’s shifters who'd remained in town, and they could take her to the safety of any random house. Then, I could return to the field and the fight, hopefully in plenty of time to really put the knife skills I’d spent so much time practicing to good use.

  However, by the time I’d jogged Polly out to the lane that led right to town, I didn’t see any guards anywhere near. I didn’t exactly want to yell for one, either, not wanting to alert any Bloodborn bears that might have possibly escaped the fight to see what havoc they could cause in town. So, there was nothing else for me to do but keep jogging along down the lane with Polly, trying to force her to go faster, even as she continued crying and began muttering apologies to me with her speech becoming distinctly slurred. I had a feeling that when she’d first made her entrance out on the field, all the shots she’d taken hadn't even fully hit her yet. Now it seemed they definitely had. Which wasn’t good for me, since by the time we reached the end of the lane, I was just about carrying her on my hip because she was so unsteady on her feet.

  After about her tenth apology to me, I firmly shushed her, still jogging us along with an arm around her shoulders. “It’s really okay, Pol, and you really don’t need to apologize anymore. I’m not hustling us along because I'm angry with you; I just want to get you some place safe and secure as fast as possible.”

  “I think I might have had seven. Seven shots, I think.”

  Both times, she’d said the word seven as sleven. Or, I thought, absolutely horrified, maybe she’d meant eleven.

  “It's really okay, Pol. Just keep jogging with me as best you can.”

  Soon, as the growls, snarls, and roars of the battle began fading into the distance, that became impossible. She could barely even walk, let alone jog. Holding her up, exerting myself to the point that I began to sweat, despite the relatively cool evening air, I walked us on into town, where mercifully, I immediately spotted four of Reed’s bears pacing around the dead-end at the end of the main paved road.

  “Hey! Over here! Please come over and help!”

  They’d seemed to have spotted me the very moment I’d spotted them, if not before, and they were now all racing over.

  When they reached us, all four of them shifted into human form right away, with one of them that I assumed was the head patrolman asking what had happened.

  I quickly passed Polly off to two of them. “There’s no time to explain, but she’s not injured; she’s just very, very intoxicated. Please take her right to the medical clinic to have one of the nurses check her out to make sure she didn’t accidentally poison herself with all she drank. One of you four should probably stay on guard patrol. And then could the other of you please race over to the field and tell Reed where I am. I bet he’s been looking for me and is almost literally going insane with not knowing by now. Tell him I’ll be there in just one minute.”

  One of the guards nodded, shifted back into his bear form, and then sprinted away toward the field. One of the others did the same, but instead, heading back to the dead-end of the road. It was only then that I realized I should have just asked for a ride to the field on the back of the bear I’d dispatched there. It was way too late now, though, and even though one of the guards had lifted Polly into his arms and didn’t look as if he needed any additional help from the other remaining guard, I wanted Polly to have two of them on her way to the hospital, just in case of any rogue attacking Bloodborn.

  Cradled to the tallest guard’s chest like a baby, Polly was muttering something, seemingly at me, and I gave her a quick hug, or at least as much of a hug as I could give her without hugging the stern-faced guard as well at the same time.

  “You’re going to be just fine, Pol. Just try to relax and rest, and you'll be at the clinic in no time. I’ll check up on you as soon as I can.”

  I turned to dash away, but in an impressive feat of coordination, given her state of intoxication, Polly grabbed my hand. “Wait a second. Just wait, Sam. I want to tell you that you’ve become my best friend, and if I ever get married again, whether it’s to Alex or someone else, I want you to be my maid of honor. And, in fact… I want you to officiate the whole ceremony yourself. That’s how much I want to honor you.”

  “Well, that’s...”

  The word absurd came to mind, but so did the words incredibly and sweet, and the latter two words seemed the most fitting.

  I gave Polly’s hand a squeeze with something squeezing my heart as well. “That’s incredibly sweet, Pol. Thank you so much. Now, please allow yourself to be carried off and go get some rest at the clinic.”

  She said okay, and I immediately began dashing away toward the field, where the distant growls and snarls of battle had suddenly seemed to noticeably decrease. However, I stopped dead in my tracks after only six or seven paces when I heard the sound of someone getting sick behind me. Very violently. Sighing, I turned around. As badly as I wanted to get back to the battle, I wasn’t going to let Polly vomit in the arms of a stern-faced guard all by herself.

  She ended up finishing her extremely forceful vomiting in my arms, while I sat with her right on the pavement. Not at all to my surprise, her vomit seemed to consist entirely of pure, clear vodka. The two taciturn guards stood with their backs turned, scanning the darkness, as if absolutely nothing out of the ordinary whatsoever was going on.

  Once her stomach seemed to be empty, Polly started crying with renewed vigor, burying her tear-stained and vomit-stained face in my sweatshirt and begging me to never stop being her best friend. Then, she abruptly fell asleep, actually beginning to snore right away. At this point, I transferred her care to the guards, and they finally strode on down the street with her, seeming eager to be finished with their task of transporting her to the clinic.

  Finally, maybe fifteen or twenty minutes after I’d first spotted the guards, I set off toward the battlefield again. But, like the last time, I maybe only made it half a dozen paces before the guard I’d
dispatched jogged up to me in human form.

  “Chief Wallace says to please go home and get some rest. It’s all just gore and carnage on the field right now. No reason for you to see it. He says he’ll be home after some cleanup, although he’s not sure when.”

  Stunned, I couldn't even speak right away. “You mean the whole battle... it’s actually all over?”

  He nodded. “Yes. It turns out that even in our weakened state, the Bloodborn weren’t tough enough to take us out. They’re all dead now, every last one of them.”

  “Even Gerard?”

  The guard nodded again. “Yes. He was killed by one of his own men when he tried to use him as a shield against Chief Wallace.”

  Still stunned, I just stood digesting all this for a long moment, greatly relieved that at least it was all over now. “And what about our side? Any casualties or major injuries?”

  “No casualties at all… and very few injuries. Nothing the injured men won’t survive with care at the clinic.”

  I nodded, greatly relieved once again. “Wonderful. Thank you so much. Please tell Reed that I’ll see him back at the house later on.”

  I walked home alone feeling just completely numb. There was no other way to describe it. Being that I’d always been kind of a delayed response sort of person, I wasn’t really surprised. Even once back at the house and telling Marie on the phone what had happened, I still couldn’t really feel much. Then later, when I called the clinic and learned that Polly was going to be perfectly fine, I could only muster a feeble thank you to the nurse I spoke to, despite the fact that I was incredibly relieved. I just couldn’t feel it on a deep level yet or something. Or, I could, but I couldn’t quite process the specific emotion yet or something.

  It was only when Reed returned home and found me in bed and awake, even though it was well past midnight, that some sudden very intense emotion broke free from my numbness and fully rose to the surface of my consciousness.

  Instantly sniffling, I all but jumped out of bed and launched myself into his arms.