The Bear Shifter’s Game

by Martha Woods

  He didn’t say a word, only reaching up and taking her hand in his, lacing their fingers together over his hammering heart. It gave her a moment of reprieve, enough to get her head right and to get a breath into her lungs.

  “What I’m trying to say, and what you’re trying to not say, is that… I think it’s obvious that we both want something more, god that champagne shit that we did just before was evidence enough, and I don’t know if we just don’t want to jinx it or-”

  Jamie darted forward, capturing her lips with his and barely able to contain his smile, their eyes falling closed and hands roving over their bodies, his hand running through her hair and hers pushing him down by the shoulder, throwing a leg over his hips and straddling him as much as the awkward movement of her dress would allow.

  “Just had to ruin my moment huh?” She said between kisses, laughing into his mouth and sucking on his tongue, nails dancing along the skin of his neck and their beer rolling forgotten off the roof.

  “You know me,” Jamie said, blushing furiously even with the renewed confidence that he felt in his chest, “I just can’t help myself.”

  Minutes went by where the only sounds they could hear were the sounds of their breathing and the sounds of their lips meeting, a laugh or a gasp audible in every movement that they made, relaxing into each other little by little as the weight of what they’d been hiding for so long finally lifted off their shoulders and left them free. It was an incredible feeling, to suddenly be free of the burden of hidden feelings, to be able to act on them in the open like they’d been wishing for who knew how long.

  “I guess we’re going to have to talk about what comes next,” Jamie said, sighing as he felt the mood dying but knowing that it was necessary to do, “I’m still wanted, they’re still going to be coming for me, but now with this… I don’t know what to do, do you?”

  “I don’t have a clue,” She said, shaking her head against his chest, “I don’t want to make you do anything that you don’t want to do, but I don’t want to lose you either, that’s not something that’s changed. I guess… I don’t know, all I can do is guess now, that’s all.”

  “Sooner or later we’re going to have to make a decision though, and wherever that ends up taking us… I suppose that I could call Orson, the others if I got a chance, see if they can help out in anyway, but they’re probably dealing with their own problems as well. I don’t… I don’t even know if they’re still alive, what if they’re dead by now?”

  “You can’t think about that, not now, you’ve got too much to worry about on your own. What you need to do is make sure that you’re ready to do whatever it is that you’re prepared to do to make it through this. If you don’t want to fight then you need to find someone who can, if you can’t do that then you need to run, and if you’re running then so am I.”

  “But your degree…”

  “Fuck the degree, I’m not going to let you run for your life all on your own just so I can get an expensive piece of paper that probably won’t even help me. Whatever happens next, whatever you need to do, I’m here for you as well, do you understand that?”

  Jamie nodded, still in shock from everything else that had happened, almost unable to really process it the way that he knew he should. All he could do right now was just be grateful for the company, and for the chance to tear his mind away from the what ifs and hypotheticals of people that weren’t even here right now, who he hadn’t even seen in five years. She was right on that, he couldn’t think about that if he wanted to make it through the next few days intact.

  “I think I-”

  “Rachel! Jamie! You up here?” Josh’s voice travelled closer until it was right above them, his alcohol red face staring down at them with his smile growing once more. “I knew there was something going on between you! Josh’s never wrong on that!”

  “Congratulations Josh,” Rachel drawled, “What do you want?”

  “Oh, there was some guy downstairs who said that he needed to speak to the two of you, I told him that I’d come and get you. Hope I wasn’t interrupting anything.”

  “No, you’re just in time to not interrupt anything,” She said, pushing herself up onto her knees and pulling Jamie up to sit, “Come on, let’s go see who it is.”

  “Take your time, I told him he can wait for you to be ready.” Josh turned away, before pausing and adding, “Congrats by the way, you two deserve it.”

  Jamie looked over at Rachel, huffing a small laugh and grinning, pushing himself to his feet and groaning as he popped his back. “Who do you think is waiting for us?”

  “Maybe someone who got covered with that champagne, they probably want to complain about getting covered.”

  “Well, put on your best fake apology face I guess, it’s about time that we went down and faced the music.”

  Taking her hand and leading her through the house, they didn’t miss the looks that the rest of the spare occupants of the house gave them, joy if they’d heard the rumors, general happiness if they hadn’t, and clear aversion when they saw the drops still falling as they pushed themselves out of the way of the couple. The guest that was waiting for the was in what had been a living room once upon a time, dartboards and pool tables still lining the walls, a bare couch in the middle of the room holding a single occupant that was sitting patiently.

  Jamie had a strange feeling looking at them from the back, not quite able to put his finger on it until he sniffed the air, an unmistakable scent catching his nose that he hadn’t smelled since he’d left, a scent of wood and soil, ingrained so deeply into the very core of himself that he would never be able to forget it until his dying day, a scent that took him right back to being a child in a war that he’d never wanted to be a part of but had shaped him into the man that he was today.

  It was the unmistakable and undeniable smell of a shifter.

  “Who are you?” He barked, catching Rachel off guard with the obvious rage in his tone, fist clenched at his side and claws forming at his fingertips. She’d never seen the extent to which he could transform, only seen how fast he could be, so the sight of such imposing talons was enough to make her heart skip a beat. “I know what you are, so just stop pretending, why are you here?”

  “You didn’t respond to our note, so we figured that a personal visit was in order.” The shifter turned around, baring his teeth in a predatory grin as he looked the two of them over. “Hello Jamie, it’s been a while.”

  “Galen,” Jamie snarled, scowling so deeply that Rachel backed away, “It hasn’t been long enough, I hoped that I’d never see you again.”

  He could feel the old anger coming back, the very thing that had kept him alive along with the fear for so many years. Back then though the fear had only been for himself, always worrying if he would be killed that day or the next, how many times he would have to dodge death until he finally got a moment of peace. He felt the fear again, but unlike back in the forest the fear was not for himself, it was for Rachel, and he would be damned if he was going to let the fears come true.

  “Your sister isn’t here to defend you anymore, so let’s not pretend like you’re going to stand up to me,” Galen said, standing up and walking around the couch, “But if it helps you, just know that I’ll kill her if you make one move.”

  “If you touch one hair on her head…”

  “Let’s not find out what happens when I do.” Galen shrugged, sighing as he looked between them, “I really didn’t want to come here, I was happy never to see you again, but with your dipshit brother burning down our home and all…”

  “That had nothing to do with me, or any of us, if you had a problem with Orson then you should have taken it up with him.”

  “If we did then you’d all come back and try to avenge him, and we couldn’t have that could we?”

  “We probably wouldn’t have, I wouldn’t. Megan definitely wouldn’t, you really weren’t paying attention when we left were you? What part of ‘we never want to see you again’ didn’t yo
u understand?”

  “Well, you know how these things are, we’ve got to be thorough. Which is why now that she’s involved, we’ve got to take care of her too.” Galen tried to remain indifferent, but he couldn’t quite contain his glee at saying so. “Come on, just come quietly and nothing else has to happen.”

  “Why would I just let you take us and kill her? You know what I said…”

  “I do, and I also know that there’s a few dozen people out there right now enjoying a party without a care in the world. If you don’t come with me then I’ll call in the rest of us, and that party’ll turn bloody very fast, believe me.”

  Jamie couldn’t help but express his disgust, face contorting in horror and revulsion. “That’s what became of our clan? A group of savages that kills innocent people?”

  “Sure, some of us might have a problem with it, but we’ve got some of the wolves with us too. They still remember what we did to them, so you better believe they’ll love killing your friends if it means they get to hurt you by doing so, so I’ll say again, hurry up and come with us or I’ll happily tell them to kill off your friends one by one.”

  Jamie wanted to do something, to offer some clever rebuttal or to hope that he was fast enough to attack and run, but he knew there was no hope of that. He’d been boxed into a corner, the very corner that he’d been hoping he wouldn’t be boxed into his entire life, and he’d dragged someone right down alongside him. All he could do was look at Rachel with such obvious sorrow that she knew immediately what was happening, and she bowed her head in acceptance and took his hand.

  “Alright,” Jamie said, taking a deep breath and feeling his lungs swell in his chest, squeezing his hand around hers and smiling gently when she squeezed back, “If that’s what it takes, if it means that you’ll leave the rest of them alive then… then alright, we accept. We’ll let you kill us, if that’s what makes things right.”

  Chapter 8

  It killed them to not be able to say goodbye, but that was the only way that they could keep everyone at the party safe. Any sign that they were leaving was one that could seem suspicious, anything that seemed suspicious might bring questions, and questions could be the thing that got all of them killed. What they did not want to do was get anyone there killed, hurt, or scratched in the slightest, so with a heavy heart and fear resting in their chests in a frozen lump they followed Galen out the back door, heading towards the everglades a few miles away to fulfil their part of the bargain.

  There were worse ways to go they supposed, at least they would be by each other’s sides the whole way through, Jamie had always wondered if he was going to have to die alone. The fact that such a thing was going to be denied was… well, he had to admit that if this was how he had to die, he couldn’t complain about the company. He felt sorrow for Rachel having been caught up in this, but she’d made it clear with the reassuring nods and the squeezes of her hand that she was prepared for what was to come, that she meant it when she said that she was with him until the very end.

  “How much farther,” Rachel asked, “Are you taking us all the way out into the glades or what?”

  “We want to be sure that the alligators are going to be ready and hungry,” Galen said, a disturbing lack of care in his tone, “Sorry, no ritual carting of the body back to our home territory, we’re going to handle the job and hope they get rid of the rest, sucks to be you.”

  “Your bedside manner could use some work…”

  Jamie laughed in spite of himself, of course she would keep mouthing off in the face of death. It made this whole ordeal easier to deal with, like he was just going on a trip with his best friend for a very long time, rather than walking into oblivion with a smile on his face. Definitely worse ways to go.

  “How are you going to do it?” Jamie asked, “Are you going to make us feel it, or is it going to be quick?”

  “Quick and clean, I can tell you that’s a promise. The wolves wanted different, but you still have some people on our side that are sad about this. I don’t expect you to believe me, but I’m not exactly thrilled at having to do this, there’s no need to drag this out anymore than we have to. A quick pain and then nothing, that’s all.”

  “Well, that’s something at least,” He sighed, looking around their surroundings. The glades were rapidly starting to close in around them, the lights from the city dimming behind them and being swallowed up by the trees. Rachel couldn’t see around her, the darkness covering up the very ground in front of her, but Jamie guided her every step of the way, his eyes perfectly accustomed to the darkness to a degree that was strange even for other shifters. He’d always figured that it meant that he was meant to be a coward, just another way that he could see danger to run away from, he was happy that he could at least use it to guide a friend one last time.

  “Who else did you bring from home?” Jamie asked, “William? Chris? Theodore?”

  “We brought a few of the younger ones, might not have known you as well, we figured that’d make it easier. We had people lining up for the chance to go after Megan, but you and Shane… I guess that you two had more friends than we thought, everyone was actually sad about hearing the order go out about you.”

  “That’s nice, we don’t have people willing to defend us but at least they feel squeamish about actually killing us. Can you do me a favor Galen?”

  “That depends on the favor, probably not.”

  “After all of this, when you go back home and tell everyone that you killed us, can you make sure they know that I’m disappointed in each and every one of them personally? That I think that they’re spineless and set it their ways so much that what Orson did is completely, one hundred percent their fault, and that if they don’t change who they are on a basic level it’s just going to happen again?”

  “Oh now that, I will happily tell them,” Galen laughed, “Look at you, the little pup finally grew his claws, it’s a Christmas miracle! If only you’d done it a few years ago we might not be in this situation to begin with. You want to know something funny?”

  “I’m sure with your idea with funny I don’t, but go ahead.”

  “I don’t actually care about the fields, or the forest, or anything about what we called home. Personally I think it was holding us back, dooming us to starve while we take care of some fucking trees, is that what our parents died for? Because if they did then my god were they idiots.”

  “So why are you here to begin with?”

  “Isn’t it obvious? Because I wanted to kill you, I’ve wanted to kill you for years and now, finally, I have the chance. Even if it meant trekking down here to sweat my ass off and get bitten by who knows how many bugs, I wasn’t going to pass up the chance to kill you. I might be disappointed at the choice of venue, but I can’t say that I’m bummed about the entertainment.”

  “Why am I not surprised?” Jamie said, rolling his eyes and glancing over at Rachel, “You want to know a secret? When Megan broke his leg he peed his pants, right in the middle of an entire group of people, you wouldn’t believe how annoyed his dad was at having to see it.”

  “Really?” She giggled, “Big bad threatening Galen pissed his pants because he was scared?”

  “I know what you’re doing Jamie, and I don’t care for it,” Galen said, “You’re hoping that I’ll lose my temper, which’ll allow you to throw a punch at me and give Megan a chance to run for it right?”

  The silence was telling, he huffed a laugh, “Figured, well here’s the flaws in that plan. You might be able to see really well in the dark, but trust me, she can’t, she goes running out there she’ll either drown or get eaten faster than you or I can ever breath. Two, I’m not going to let myself lose my temper, because I know that if I just control myself for even ten more minutes I’ll have you on your knees right in front of me and I’d be able to do whatever I wanted. Why would I throw that away for a chance to throw a punch or two?”

  “Call it wishful thinking?”

  “Right, wishful thinking.
I can’t blame you for trying it though, really, I’d do the same in your shoes. But that’s just not how this sort of thing works, not in the real world, I hoped that you would have at least realized that by now.”

  Jamie made to reply, when movement off in the distance to his right caught his eye, something so small and invisible to the eye that he wasn’t sure that he even saw it, let alone the rest of them. But he had felt something, he wasn’t blind to that, but whatever it was he had no idea. An alligator? That would make sense but there was no reason for it to move that fast in that case, it would just have to sit back and wait for its food to come to it, not the other way around.

  There was one other option that he could think of, and as improbable as it was he knew that he had to hope that it was the case, though for what reason it would be out here he had no idea, given how their meeting had ended.

  “And here we are,” Galen said, stopping in his tracks and letting them pass him by, walking into a small clearing in the trees off the swamp, small torches lit up to allow them to see some amount of their surroundings. There were shifters waiting around the perimeter of the clearing, all of them wearing some expression befitting their anticipation and irritation at having been forced to trek out so far, but those expressions turned to excitement when they saw who had finally arrived.

  “About time you got here Galen,” Said the leader, a wolf with such wide shoulders that it was a surprise he wasn’t partially transformed, voice like a deep well in the ocean, “We were almost about to head to the party, you said that you would only be twenty minutes.”

  “I wanted to give them a little time to themselves, you can’t blame me for being a little sentimental can you? Young love and all that.” Galen grinned, shoving Jamie forward with a little more enjoyment than was appropriate. “Come on, get on your knees. Let’s not make this difficult.”