Open All Hours

by Eden Royce

  Vol studied her for a long moment before replying. “If there was anything else, you’d tell me, right? I think we’ve gotten to that point.” He stroked her cheek, making her shiver under the gentle touch. His eyes were intensely green and piercing. “I would do whatever I can for you, hope you know that. I can’t explain why, but I would. It’s not like we’re mates, destined for each other. You’re not bear. You’re not even truly a shifter.” He shook his head as if clearing it. “I don’t know. But you must trust me, okay, Leesa?”

  “I want to trust you, I just haven’t had…good experiences when I did trust someone. And it’s hard for me.”

  “I know, darlin’. But I just talked with Arthur and he hasn’t come up with anything yet. So, you’re just going to have to wait a little longer. If there’s a way, we’ll find it.”

  Anger boiled up inside her. All of this just to tell her they had nothing? Her impromptu vacation from work would be over in four days and they still had no leads. “How much longer do I have to wait?” She leapt up from the chair to pace the room, more like a tiger than a cat. “It’s been a week and still nothing. Not even a hint of a solution. I would have been able to find out more than you guys have by now!”

  Vol’s face turned into stone. Gone was the slight crinkle of worry between his eyebrows. “You think this is easy?” His melodious voice was dangerously calm and low. It rumbled in his chest like a pending thunderstorm. “You can’t just look on Wikipedia under shape shifter anti-curse spells. It’s important to be careful who you ask too. The shifter community is usually tight-knit, to keep out those who would expose us. We have to be careful.”

  “Careful?” Leesa knew her fear was coming across as anger, but she couldn’t help herself. Once the words started flowing they poured out, drowning them both in her rage at being so helpless. “That’s bullshit. By now you should have been trying something. Eye of newt or toe of frog, whatever, to get me back to normal.”

  “Normal?” Vol’s tone was a warning that Leesa didn’t heed.

  “You know what that woman -- that witch told me? If I couldn’t find a cure, I’d be stuck like this forever. Who wants that? To be some kind of half-animal freak?” It was the fear talking, the lack of control of the situation, and she knew it, but she couldn’t stop the words from pouring out.

  Vol rocked back on his heels as if she’d slapped him with all of her might. Instantly, she saw her mistake. “I didn’t mean… Oh, my Lord. I’m so --” Her heart dropped into her stomach and she watched all emotion drain from his face. Leesa reached out to him, but he stood up suddenly, making the chair he’d been in rock back on its legs and crash to the floor.

  “Half-animal freak? Is that what I am? Why did you sleep with me, then? Because your animal part made you? You never would have been so open if your animal side hadn’t been ruling you?” He spat the word, making it sound nasty and vile.

  “Wait, no. It’s not --” she scrambled to right the chair. “I’m --”

  But he turned on his boot heel and stormed out of the apartment, slamming the door so hard Leesa’s teeth rattled.

  Shit. She buried her head in her hands for a moment to scold herself. Stupid mouth. Damn it. Always getting me in trouble. Then Leesa jumped to her feet and ran after him. Damn, but he could move fast for a big man. When she got to the bottom of the steps, he was nowhere in the diner. She glanced out of one of the large windows and his bike was still out there. He couldn’t have gone far. She started for the door, when a voice stopped her.

  “Let him be.” Tone, as usual, had crept up silently.

  “I…need to talk to him. Explain.”

  “What exactly?” He asked casually, as if it didn’t matter whether she answered or not, but Leesa had the feeling he knew more than he let on.

  “I said something I shouldn’t have. Stupid of me but I was freaked out about --”

  “‘Bout your change?”

  She nodded.

  “And you said something ‘bout hating being an animal.”

  She stared at him, open mouthed, at his solemn face. “Yeah. But it came out wrong. I didn’t mean what I said.”

  “I know you didn’t, but you’re in a hard place right now. So is he.” The older man indicated the door Vol must have left through. “I’m older, been hearing that stuff so much it doesn’t bother me anymore. But he wants to help you and he doesn’t know if he can. Hurts a man when he can’t help a woman he cares for.”

  “Cares for?” Surprise gripped her. She hadn’t thought about what Vol’s feelings might be in the long term. In the media game sex was a commodity, used to make deals for information. Then the informant would be shown the motel room door after the information changed hands. Vol had gone out of his way to help her and she’d assumed he always played the Good Samaritan for everyone, never wanting anything for himself. Her ex had been more willing to help strangers than he had her. Then understanding struck. “You’ve had things said to you?”

  He glanced around the diner. It was a rare moment when there was no one at the counter and most of the clientele occupied seats in the back of the building, tended by the conscientious wait staff. Before her eyes, his face narrowed. It grew a thin coating of fine hair, a combination of reddish brown mixed with white and tufts of grey. His nose blackened. Just as quickly, it was gone and the older man stood in front of her as if nothing had happened.

  “You’re a…a fox.”

  “Red fox, actually.” He turned back to his work behind the grill, leaving her to her beverage duties. “Let him be for a while. Lick his wounds.”

  Maybe Tone was right. She should finish lunch shift, then go after him. No, that was part of the reason he thought she was an asshat. Better to get this settled now. Leesa took off the apron around her waist, and motioned to one of the servers that she was taking a break. She hated apologizing but in the case of this weird, wild experience, it was better she bite the bullet now or it might just kill her.

  * * *

  Leesa was unsure of which way Vol took when he left the diner. Across the road the lights of the carnival shone, even in the daytime. The scent of warm sugar traveled across the air like it had wings. Would he have gone there? No, Tone said he’d want to be alone. She looked behind the diner to the parking lot, then past it to the north.

  A thick dense gathering of trees stood behind the parking lot, hiding who knew what. There. That was where he must have gone. Without realizing it, she sniffed the air and his scent was faint, but it was there. Subtle, the fragrance of him wrapped around her, speaking to a part of her that had lain dormant for so long. When she found him, she’d find the words to let him know that it had been her fear that made her speak those words. And that she didn’t think any less of him for what he was.

  Her soft-soled Keds made no sound on the moist pine needles on the ground as she followed her nose to find Vol. Stupid, she scolded herself. What if he doesn’t forgive you and holds a grudge? Who are you going to turn to then? Apparently, the shifter community was a close-knit one and word might have gotten around. “Don’t talk to the skinny black cat, she’s ungrateful. And she’s a journalist -- child, avoid her at all costs!” Her journalist days seemed far away at the moment, but she reminded herself to be careful. Trekking through the woods was how this whole mess started. Although, it was much less treacherous after lunch than after dark.

  Her steps were light and silent, springing lightly over the forest floor. His scent was stronger now and she saw a few branches broken and dangling where the big man must have shoved them aside. When the forest floor cleared of dead leaves, she could detect footprints, deeply pressed into the moist black earth.

  Fluttering white cloth caught her peripheral vision. Deviating off her path, she investigated and found a ripped T-shirt clinging to a low-hanging branch. Vol’s. She took it carefully. The shirt was in tatters as though it had been clawed away. Rustling came to her sensitized ears and she ran in its direction.

  Leesa came to a clearing in the
deep woods, where thin ribbons of sunlight penetrated the dense foliage, making spider web patterns on the ground. Vol stood in the middle of it all, magnificently naked, chest heaving. Leesa opened her mouth on a gasp, but nothing came out. His shoulders widened, and his arms and legs lengthened, becoming even more powerful-looking. Dark brown shaggy fur sprouted on his limbs and torso. He lifted his face to let out a knee-shaking growl, full of frustrated fury and she could see his face change shape into that of a bear, glistening fangs and bared teeth. That growl shook her to her core and everything in her said to haul ass. No, this is what he is. Be there for him, help him.

  He must stand over eight feet tall, she mused as she stared at the enormous grizzly bear Vol had become. No wonder he had come all the way out here. It was away from the crowds of the fair and the diner without being so far he couldn’t get back if he needed to.

  That growl again. Then Vol stretched up, taller still and with a huge paw, struck the trunk of a tree, leaving four deep gashes in the bark.

  “Vol! Stop!” But he didn’t hear her in his rage.

  With another slash and then another, he ripped and shredded the tree until Leesa thought it would fall over. He pushed the trunk with both massive paws and she heard a ripping sound as the roots loosened from the earth.

  Leesa turned and ran.

  She sprinted away, leaping over fallen bits of shrub and downed timber. Oh my God. He was a magnificent creature, but all that power mixed with his anger was a recipe for destruction. What could she do? There was no way she could have stopped him, not without risking getting hurt. And her self-preservation, always strong, was heightened more now, especially while she was part feline.

  She thought of going back to the diner, but Tone would have said I told you so. Okay, he wouldn’t have said it, but she would have felt the rebuke even if he said not to worry about it and rushed immediately to help. No, the only place to go was the carnival. Everything in her pushed. Her heart pounded, her breathing was ragged and forced, but she kept running, the torn T-shirt in her grasp.

  Leesa cleared the woods and squinted at the sudden burst of full sunlight. Her vision was compromised for a few moments; she still knew where to go by instinct. She’d only been there once, in her cat form, but she remembered the way to the midway. She turned right and crossed the narrow paved road, almost losing her footing as the road became hard-packed dirt. She scrambled up the inclined path and scurried across the faded grass to the entrance sign of Graham’s Greatest Show.

  The woman at the front ticket booth was an oddity. She was black, lighter-complected, Leesa could tell, but her face looked strange. When she got closer to the booth and the woman locked gazes with her, she saw what it was. The woman wore thick pancake style makeup that made her skin look almost artificially smooth and poreless like a vintage baby doll. Her eye shadow was rich with purple and silver pigments and lavishly applied, making her black lipstick somehow more prominent. Several silver rings flashed in her lip, ears and eyebrow. The woman cracked an unfriendly smile at Leesa as she tried to move through the entrance. “Oi! Where’s your ticket, luv?”

  “I… I don’t… have one,” Leesa wheezed, out of breath, and more than a little shocked at the accent coming from the woman’s mouth.

  “Then you’ll have to buy one. No free trips, ‘ere.”

  Leesa tried to get her breath back. “You… you’re English?”

  She’d said the wrong thing. The woman’s frown deepened and it seemed she barely held on to her anger. “Australian,” she snapped and sunlight flashed off the ring in her bottom lip, blinding Leesa for a moment.

  “I’ve got… to get to… Ellie and Arthur.” Her heart thudded and her brain felt too big for her head. “It’s important. Quickly.” She held up the torn shirt.

  The woman took in her appearance -- sweaty, wild-eyed, and out of breath -- and shook her head. Another person came up, man or woman Leesa wasn’t sure, and opened up a second till at the ticket booth. “Because what? You want a refund for a shirt you bought?” She peered at the material with distaste. “What’d you do? You don’t seem like the type to wear the shredded look.”

  “Not me.” A wave of dizziness washed over her and she leaned over to put her hands on her knees. She really needed to get in shape. Just because you were thin didn’t mean you had any fitness level whatsoever. “Vol… Bear… Shift…Woods,” she managed.

  With that, the woman’s face changed and she glanced at the person beside her, who shared her look of concern. “Tip,” the person said, the voice giving no better impression of gender.

  “I know, I know.” She pulled a bottle of water from beneath the booth and cracked it open. “Drink this.” Then the woman called Tip clicked a walkie-talkie into life. “Code blue at the ticket booth. EA. Code blue.”

  Leesa gratefully gulped down some of the cold water, her heartbeat and breathing returning slowly to normal. She still felt a bit lightheaded, though, but right now was not the time to sit down.

  Moments later, Arthur and Ellie came running down the midway, Arthur in front. Leesa felt a stab of envy as Ellie, a larger woman, seemed to be able to keep up with her fiancé’s pace without too much effort.

  “Where’s the code blue?” Arthur asked. “I don’t see anyone.”

  Tip pointed to Leesa and all eyes turned to her. She took a deep breath. “I had a…disagreement with Vol and he stormed off. He went into the woods behind the diner and I followed him to the clearing. I saw him change.” She held out the shirt, torn into shreds. “Then he started clawing at trees, tearing them up…”

  Ellie’s mouth fell open into a little O. Arthur’s face hardened. “When was this?”

  “I saw it and ran right over here.”

  “Let’s go,” he said. He rushed them over to a Jeep Wrangler printed with the logo of the carnival on the door and they all clambered in. When Tip crawled in next to Leesa, Arthur raised an eyebrow as he started the vehicle, which roared into life. “Who’s on tickets?”

  “Terry’s got both stations until I get back. You might need an extra pair of hands.”

  They pulled out of the carnival lot and headed over the road. Ellie’s forehead was creased in a worry line. “It’s not like Vol to do something like this. He loves those woods. What happened?”

  Embarrassment made Leesa’s face heat, but she fessed up. “It was my fault. I was worried about the spell and being stuck like this. He got angry when I said that…that I didn’t want to be an animal.” Shame lay heavy on her at the confession to the people who’d helped her when she needed it most. The people who had let her into their world even when it was most dangerous. They’d helped her even though she could expose them.

  Silence fell in the Jeep. Then Ellie, bless her, turned and gave her a gentle smile. “We will get it worked out. But it might be better if you stayed in the car for a while. Better yet, go to the diner. Get some coffee or a drink. We’ll meet you there afterwards.” They parked outside the woods, where sounds of splitting timber were just audible. Moving quickly but silently, the couple approached the entrance to the forest hand in hand, then slipped inside.

  For a few moments, Leesa and Tip watched and listened, the latter rolling the silver ring in her lip around and around. Then Tip nudged Leesa toward the bright lights of the diner.

  Chapter Five

  The sound of ripping bark got louder as Ellie and Arthur walked deeper into the dense woods. Carefully, they placed their steps so as not to alert Vol to their presence too soon. If he was in the state Leesa said he was, and Arthur suspected it was hurt and pain, not anger, then it would be best to approach his cousin with some care. He glanced at Ellie.

  Her little determined chin stuck out and he felt a rush of love for her. She never backed down from doing the right thing, even if it was the hard thing and he respected her for that. But she had no idea what was going to happen and he was worried. Only in times of extreme stress or danger did Vol allow his bear to rage. And the last time had been alm
ost more than he could handle. He felt a shift in the air. Ellie was looking at him with a quizzical expression he could see even behind her sunglasses. She squeezed his hand and nodded. Strengthened, he moved them to the edge of the clearing.

  Vol in bear form ripped at the trunks of the old oak trees. His huge paws battered their stout trunks and they gave under his onslaught. Some of the younger trees were uprooted as he raged and he roared at full volume. For a fleeting moment, Arthur wished he were able to shift into animal form as well. But then, it would turn into a battle of who was the strongest. Vol would certainly win in that fight, but there were other ways to get the upper hand.

  “I need your help, dove,” Arthur said to Ellie and she responded, as he knew she would.

  “Of course. What can I do?”

  “I need you to watch my body.”

  She frowned. “This is not sexy time. We need to --”

  “No, I mean watch my body while I take him over.” He sighed. “Or try to, anyway.”

  “Oh,” she whispered and ran a hand through her riot of coily hair. While Arthur wasn’t able to shift into bear form like his larger cousin, he was able to inhabit and take control of any bear-shaped object. A statue, a carving… He’d even taken over a teddy bear and formed it to his will. It was how he had first shown her his amazing ability. Later he used his unusual shifting ability in more seductive ways. She bit her lip. But as she’d said to him earlier, this was not sexy time. “Okay, what do I need to do?”

  Another tree crashed to the ground. “You’ve never seen me do this, so don’t be scared. But I need you to protect my body as best you can. I’m going to get inside Vol’s head. Try to calm him down. It might take me some time.” He blew out a deep breath. “Won’t be easy.”

  He took her face in his hands and kissed her deeply before pulling away. “I’ll be back, dove. Promise.” Arthur sat at the base of a tree facing the clearing and stared, trancelike, out at the destruction Vol was wreaking. Ellie sat next to him and he felt her take his hand. A few moments later, his shoulders slumped and his entire body relaxed, almost as if he were sleeping.