Unbearable: Russet Falls Series

by W. H. Vega

  “Don’t think about that now,” Michael said swiftly, and Zane winced, hating that when he had a strong memory or thought, Michael could pick up on it. “Let’s get to work. Go get situated in your office and then meet me back here in fifteen minutes. We also have a reporter from the paper coming today.”

  Shit. Zane had forgotten about that. He would surely have to do the interview and he would have to discuss all the bogus ways he protected the park. Annoyed, he hurried into his office and put his things down, signing onto his ancient computer and making sure he didn’t have any emails. He glanced at his calendar for the day, which of course had the reporter’s appointment time, and then he went back into Michael’s office.

  He was jumping out of his skin for some reason, and he was eager to shift. Hopefully Michael would allow him to patrol the borders in bear form today.

  “Calm down,” Michael said with annoyance.

  “Do you have to listen in on everything I’m feeling?” Zane snapped.

  “As if I want to know all the shit that’s running through your head. You usually do a better job of keeping your emotions in check.”

  Michael was right. Why was Zane having such a hard time controlling his thoughts today? Michael was reading him like a fucking book.

  “I don’t know,” he said, aggravated. “I just feel off.”

  “Well, try not to feel off so we can get our shit done. How’s that for an idea?”

  Zane nodded, not wanting to piss Michael off any more. But again, he started thinking of that time when he was only fourteen years old, and he had crossed onto the Cruentus lands.

  “Damn it, Zane!” Michael exclaimed. “Focus!”

  “Fuck! Sorry!”

  “Go on, then. Go out and patrol the grounds. Clear your fucking head. And then when you get back here, get a fucking grip so we can work.”

  “Alright, I’ll be focused. Thanks.” Zane hurried out of the room, feeling like a pansy for needing to clear his head. What the hell was his problem today? Why did he keep thinking about things from the past? Things he could do nothing about and weren’t worth his time?

  He tried to think of other things as he moved out across the lawn of the office and toward the shelter of the trees. He thought about the cubs that were being killed, and it made his blood boil. This was good. Anger always helped make the shift easier.

  The three clans, who rarely had moments of peace, were in a bad state. Over the past year, cubs had been killed, and Zane couldn’t understand why. Regardless of their fighting over land, how could killing cubs result in any good? Only pure shifters could produce shifter children for certain, and female shifters were a dying breed—literally.

  There were plenty of women with shifter blood, and those unions resulted in at least half of the children being able to shift. But it seemed that the clan members were more often marrying non-shifters, and this resulted in only the slightest chance of shifter children. Not only was the blood becoming diluted, creating less shifters, but now the rival clans were killing cubs.

  It made no sense to Zane and it angered him that those innocent cubs were being killed over fucking borders. There hadn’t been a cub killed in the past month, but they always had to be vigilant. It seemed that more Virtus cubs were killed than any other clans’, and the Virtus refused to kill another clan’s cubs, no matter what was happening. Michael wouldn’t resort to that kind of cruelty, and Zane admired him for it.

  Zane thought he would lose his mind if he had to watch one more family cry over the loss of a cub. The images of those mothers thrown across tiny coffins were too much for even the toughest bear to handle.

  At last, Zane reached the edge of the trees, and he strode to his clothing hiding spot behind a rock. He quickly stripped off, tucked them into a burlap sack and placed it in the deep crevice of the rock. He let the anger he had been feeling about the cubs sweep over him, and his bear came to the surface quickly.

  Twisting his neck from side to side, he felt the bear push through, and then his body was doubling in size, lengthening and thickening as dark brown fur sprouted from his skin. His heavy paws fell to the ground, and within another second he was in full bear form.

  Zane stretched and inhaled deeply, glad to have his sharp senses back. He let go of trivial matters and quickly moved deeper into the woods. He couldn’t smell any humans nearby, and he didn’t smell any other unfamiliar scents for that matter. He trotted to the farthest ends of their borders, pushing his snout to the ground, and began running the perimeter.

  Usually, it wasn’t this necessary to patrol the grounds, but he felt that with the cubs being killed it was his duty to watch the lands more closely than ever. Deep in the forest, past the boundaries of the state park, lived many of the clan families. Some rarely ventured into town, while others were considered completely anti-social. Zane’s house was on clan lands, though he was closer to the town than many of the other bears. While he didn’t care about being social, he did care about having a nice house, and he liked being close to the park office.

  He continued to circle the perimeter, feeling slightly uneasy about Michael’s premonition. Even in bear form, he still felt out of sorts from his earlier thoughts.

  Zane had struggled with being a shifter. He was late to shift, and his parents had all but given up hope that it would ever happen. Most cubs start shifting around the age of five, though some began as late as ten or twelve. Zane didn’t shift until he was fourteen. He had always been a fairly mellow kid, and looking back, he wondered if that was why it had taken so long. Those with angrier dispositions usually shifted sooner—something about anger triggered shifting and made it easier.

  Zane remembered how he had shifted for the first time while his parents were in town. He had been by himself, and he hated to admit it, but he had been scared. He ran along the clan lands, trying to find someone he could go to for guidance. He must have crossed over onto the Cruentus lands, but he hadn’t realized it. He had been back on Virtus lands, minding his own business, when a huge black bear had come out of nowhere.

  Zane was terrified and the bear had attacked him. Zane didn’t know what else to do, so he attacked back, and he was shocked at his own strength. Zane always wondered if all that strength had been storing up because it had taken him so long to shift.

  He knew the black bear had intended to kill him, so he did the only thing he could do and fought back, killing the black bear. But something bizarre had happened when he killed the bear. Zane instantly felt stronger. He knew that wasn’t normal—he had learned a lot about the warring clans and fighting bears, and no one had ever mentioned that killing another bear made you stronger.

  Panicked, Zane had shifted back to his human form and carried the dead body back to David, Michael’s father. David recognized the man as the king and leader of the Cruentus. Zane didn’t even know such thing as a bear king could exist, and David confirmed that there were still a handful of bear kings alive, the last descendants of a powerful werebear dynasty. That explained the power Zane had felt when he killed him. Part of the bear’s power and strength had transferred to Zane. A rare and strange occurrence in an unlikely situation.

  David kept Zane’s secret; Zane could have been prosecuted for the death of a bear king. Zane wasn’t sure how David had kept him out of trouble, but he assumed that it had cost David. Zane was never able to repay the favor; David died a few years later in a clan dispute.

  And such was the life of the werebears. Fighting, warring clans and tribe matters often cost those with volatile personalities.

  Zane realized he was letting his bear mind slip back to human tendencies, and he shut off his thoughts; it was much easier to compartmentalize while being a bear. He pressed his snout back to the ground and continued to run the border.

  Chapter Three

  Gabby pulled off the highway and parked her car in a grassy area. It wasn’t technically a part of the state park, but sometimes people parked here and were able to hike the trails without havi
ng to pay admission to the park. Gabby also liked the privacy since she had to change her clothes.

  Standing behind her car, she quickly pulled off her black work shirt and swiftly unhooked her bra before pulling a sports bra over her head. She pulled on a tank top, expertly pulled her hair into a ponytail and then pulled on a baseball hat to protect herself from ticks. Kicking off her shoes, she wiggled out of her work pants and pulled on a black pair of form-fitting workout capris. She had to squeeze her ass into them, but once the pants were on, her ass felt tighter and she knew it wouldn’t jiggle as much.

  She sat down to put on socks and her sneakers, and then she was ready to go. She quickly laced her car key onto a string around her neck.

  “There,” she said to herself, closing the car door. She took off into the woods, quickly finding one of the park trails. She had an immense and unhealthy fear of bears thanks to her father, but he had always assured her as a little girl that she would be safe if she stuck to the trails.

  She tried to not think about bears and instead focused on the fresh air filling her lungs and the oxygen flooding her muscles as her legs took long, powerful strides.

  It was hard to not think about something when you told yourself not to think about it.

  Even as a little girl, Gabby remembered her father hating bears. He talked about the animals as if they were the rodents of the animal kingdom. Filthy bears, disgusting bears, bloodthirsty bears.

  He had warned Gabby to stay away from bears, that they were evil and cruel. It was strange language to use when referring to animals, but Gabby didn’t question her father. And then, of all the terrible and awful things she’d heard came true, a bear had killed her father.

  How ironic.

  Again, Gabby remembered how her mother pushed her away from the door, but not before she had seen his body, had seen what the bear had done to him.

  But Gabby refused to let her own fear of bears keep her from enjoying the beautiful parklands that covered much of the area. What kind of life was it if she lived in fear?

  She pushed on through the trail, loving the burn she felt in her legs as the trail ascended higher. She reached a spot that she had always loved—there was a small clearing and a large flat rock that was perfect for resting. She didn’t actually need to rest, but the rock was so inviting, so she sat down, trying to let go of the anger from the earlier incident with Lucy.

  Why was Lucy being so foolish and careless? Was she acting out for attention? True, Gabby had been busy with work, but she still managed to see Lucy at least once a week. Was it not enough? Maybe Lucy was scared by the quickly approaching graduation date. She clearly didn’t know what she wanted to do next.

  Gabby sighed, understanding how Lucy felt. And she knew that Lucy living with Andrea certainly wasn’t helping the situation. Their mother had more drunk days now than sober days. In fact, Gabby thought her mother was drunk most days, and that the sober hours were becoming few and far between.

  She rose to continue walking, and decided that she wanted more of a challenge. There was another trail that moved uphill nearby, and Gabby was pretty sure that she could find it. All she had to do was go off the trail for maybe a hundred yards or so. Warning bells rang in her head, but she knew she was capable, and she wouldn’t be off the trail for long. She just had to get her senses in order and find where the other trail picked up.

  Taking a deep breath, she hurried off the trail. She recognized one of the bushes, and she knew she needed to head in that direction.

  “Come on,” she whispered to herself, feeling her heart pound. She kept hearing her father’s words ring in her head—stay on the trail, stay on the trail. It wouldn’t be long, and she would be back on in no time.

  A twig snapped under her foot and she jumped. Chiding herself, she hurried along, her ponytail swishing behind her. “It should be right around here,” she murmured, as the earth began to move upwards again. All she wanted was to find the trail that would provide her with a better workout. Thinking she saw the trail up ahead, she hurried on, only to find a dead end.

  “Damn, damn, damn!”

  She stopped and looked around, hearing only the birds chirping and her own heavy breathing. “Think!” she ordered herself. She now felt completely turned around and was starting to panic. She needed to keep a clear head so she could figure out her error.

  No, she decided. She needed to try to retrace her steps and get back to the trail that she had just left. If she wasn’t sure where to find the new trail, she didn’t want to risk losing the old trail.

  She turned quickly and began heading back in the direction in which she came.

  At least the direction in which she thought she had come.

  Cursing, she hurried along, ready to jump out of her skin. She stopped to survey her surroundings again. As she peered through the dense forest, she heard a loud branch crack behind her.

  Gabby froze, her heart hammering in her chest. She paused, hoping it was just a small animal, and she looked in the direction of the noise. There was no more movement, and just as she breathed a sigh of relief, she saw a bush rustle.

  “Shit,” she breathed.

  As quietly as she could, she began to back away from the bush, feeling lightheaded with fear. She no longer cared about finding a trail now—all she wanted was to get away from the rustling bush.

  To her horror, a massive black shape emerged from the bush.

  Gasping, her hand flew to her mouth and she froze in fear.

  Right before her eyes was a real, live, bear.

  A very wild looking bear.

  The bear stared at her with his beady eyes and she had the strange sensation that he was more intelligent than a regular beast. How could the animal stare at her with such intensity?

  No.

  She was simply losing her damn mind.

  As slowly as possible, remembering all the bear survival information she had heard, she backed away, trying not to make any sudden movements and keeping her eyes focused on the ground. Gradually she lifted her hands over her head, trying to make herself appear larger—anything to help fend off an attack.

  It didn’t seem to be working.

  The bear moved stealthily forward, and Gabby wanted to yell with fear.

  She knew that she shouldn’t run—running was the absolute worst thing you could do. Bears were instinctively inclined to chase prey and the bear would surely run her down if she attempted to flee. Bears could also run as fast as forty-five miles per hour, leaving Gabby no chance whatsoever of outrunning this creature.

  Yet, every muscle in her body was screaming to flee, fighting against what her brain knew was best.

  It was no use.

  Her flight response won.

  Shrieking, she turned and began to run wildly through the forest. She felt a sob escape her throat and she raced through the bushes and thicket, twigs scratching at her exposed skin.

  The bear let out a terrible roar and she felt the ground shudder beneath her as he began his pursuit. She ran harder, knowing that she was going to die; there was absolutely no way that she could outrun the animal.

  She pushed herself more, willing her legs to run faster, and she cursed her big hips and ass. Her body was not made for running, but regardless, she knew that it wouldn’t have mattered. She could never outrun the predator.

  She tripped, cutting her knee, and she cried out in pain, looking back with panic as the bear came ever closer. She scrambled to her feet again, crying as she ran blindly through the forest.

  Gabby wasn’t one to pray, but she prayed hard, begging God to help her. She could feel the bear closing in behind her, and she didn’t look back now. She sent up a quick prayer asking that Lucy be watched over, and she waited for the moment that the bear reached her. She closed her eyes as she felt the beast’s thick arms wrap around her body…

  Chapter Four

  Gabby screamed bloody murder as Zane caught her in his arms.

  “It’s okay. It’s okay,” he said
, holding her to him as she quivered. “Leave. Now!” he barked at the bear, feeling the bear within him shuddering just below the surface. It was taking every ounce of his willpower to not shift back into his bear form and tear out the other bear’s throat.

  Not only was the black bear on the Virtus clan lands, but he was also chasing a human, which was completely forbidden among all bear tribes.

  Luckily, Zane had had the sense to quickly shift back into his human form, and was even luckier to be near one of the sites where he kept extra uniforms stashed. He had picked up the scent of the trespassing bear and just before he was ready to attack, he had picked up the scent of the human girl. He still wasn’t sure how he was able to keep his wits about him to shift, hastily dress and rescue the girl.

  The bear growled deep in his throat, a menacing warning that whatever was going on wasn’t over.

  What the fuck?

  What could the bear possibly want, and why would he be chasing a human? Zane wished that Michael could pick up on his thoughts over distance. There was so much running through his head right now, and he was certain that Michael would have been able to make sense out of it.

  He remembered the quivering girl in his arms.

  “Oh my god, oh my god,” she was mumbling. “How did you make that bear leave? Why didn’t it kill us? It should have killed us! It was chasing me!” She was in hysterics, and Zane had to focus all of his energy on calming her down and not raising her suspicions as to why a twelve-foot bear had just listened to him and retreated.

  Fucking idiot bear.

  “You’re fine,” he repeated. “It’s gone.” He avoided the other questions. It was then, as the girl was pressed close to his body, that he really noticed her for the first time and felt her soft curves against him.