Bearly Camping

by Lynn Katzenmeyer

  I grabbed my radio off the charger, my training binder, a notebook, and several writing utensils tossing them into my backpack with my empty water bottle and extra gloves. I clipped my keys to my belt loop and locked my office.

  Day one would go well. I was organized, I was professional. I was ready to take on all the challenges that WAZ had in store for me.

  Linde told me I’d start training in the office with Art after breakfast. I could manage to get breakfast solo. I lined up behind a man and woman roughly my age.

  “Souli, how was your first night?” the girl asked, handing me a tray. She was short and lean with bright pale blonde hair that was somewhere between silver and white. I remembered being introduced to her last night, but for the life of me I could not remember her name.

  “Good, a little cold but nothing I can’t handle,” I said, accepting the tray, “Remind me again your name?”

  ​She chuckled, “I’m Amber. This here’s Max.”

  Max grunted an acknowledgement, continuing his way through the meal line like a zombie. He was almost as short as Amber, but much rounder. His dark hair matched the dark circles under his heavy-lidded eyes.

  “Raccoon shifter,” Amber whispered, “He’s basically nocturnal, but until it’s summer season, he has to be on the same schedule as the rest of us and he hates mornings.”

  “Oh, right, shifters.”

  ​How did I forget shifters? Ok, maybe today wasn’t going to go so great.

  “Don’t worry, I got you,” Amber said, “Stick near me, I’ll teach you all the quirks of joining shifter society.”

  ​“Oh, are you human too?” I asked.

  Amber threw her head back and giggled. Her giggle sounded almost like chittering.

  “Oh that’s funny,” she said, “I’ll have to tell Eb that one. He loves a good joke. No, I’m not human, though I’m flattered you think so. With my hair, I’m lucky I haven’t been captured by the government for experiments or something.”

  “That happens?”

  Her nose scrunched, “In this economy? Who knows. Anyway, I’m an arctic fox,” she winked, “And I’m a fox.”

  “Oh, that’s cool.”

  I followed Amber through the line and to the table where Max and a few other staffers were sitting. Though Max looked like he was sleeping sitting up.

  “Good night?” a guy with flame red hair asked me, “First night on a wood bunk can be tough.”

  “Slept great,” I said honestly, “Safety talk scared me off from my space heater so I bundled up with the blankets.”

  He laughed, “You must have had Ebsen’s talk. That guy hates everything electric. In case you forgot I’m Steve, Junior Huntsmaster.”

  Amber pointed around the table, introducing each person in turn, “Max, waste management, Eddie general activity guide, and you know Amber, winter wilderness trail guide.”

  The guys at the table nodded giving me perfunctory greetings.

  The conversation naturally flowed into what each ranger considered their mortal enemy. Ranger Carlson apparently couldn’t clear trees to save her life. She was hopeless with an axe. Ranger Pole wouldn’t drive any motor vehicle. He’d be passenger but refused to drive. And Ranger Irvin hated anything that walked on two legs, even himself.

  Amber insisted on walking me back to my cabin after breakfast.

  “I’m guessing you don’t have a ton of shifter-approved stuff yet,” she said, “Eddie and I are going into town tonight for pizza and supplies if you want to tag along. I can show you were all the best unscented soaps are hidden.”

  “That sounds great, thanks,” I said.

  “Great, I’ll pick you up tonight,” she said.

  I waved goodbye, then before my eyes, the small woman crouched and turned into a small white fox. The fluffy four-legged creature turned, picked up the clothes in its jaws, then ran into the woods.

  Yup, shifters were really real. And I had a shopping trip planned with a fox.

  Art was waiting for me in the office when I walked in, still dumbstruck by the literal shifting I’d just witnessed. Art wasn’t fazed though, he jumped right into training.

  The morning was spent at the computer with Art going over how to organize flights, filing information, and other parts of my job. I was overwhelmed but I focused on the unfamiliar parts to take notes on. I opted to eat lunch at my desk so I could review my notes.

  “A little cold in here,” Ebsen’s voice rang out into my office, “did you forget our fire lessons already?”

  I raised an eyebrow at him but considering most of my face was hidden by my wool cap, I doubted he saw. It was a little cold. But I was busy. I had a lot of flight schedules to coordinate bussing and I had to start making confirmation calls to...alphas of shifter packs for the summer.

  “Can I help you, ranger?” I asked, a little icier than I intended.

  “Oooh, ice cold,” Ebsen said, rubbing his hands together as he walked himself right to my fireplace where he started building a fire, “Can’t have our office manager becoming frigid, can we?”

  I pretended to ignore the hulking shape deftly moving around in the next room as I nibbled on my sandwich and transcribed staff flight data into the spreadsheet. Thirty staff members would be arriving via plane. We’d need two of the big vans to get them. Yup, all business Souli. Do not think about the bear in the next room.

  “Oh thank you ranger Ebsen,” Ebsen said in a falsetto voice I assumed was supposed to be an impression of me, “how could I ever repay you? I was sooo cold last night in my big cabin alllll alllooonne.”

  “Can I help you, ranger?” I asked again, hiding the hint of amusement I felt at his attention. I was not here to flirt. This job was my dream job. I would not screw it up by screwing a coworker.

  “I wanted to apologize for my bullish behavior last night,” he said, ducking through the door back into my office. He dwarfed the oak stump desk I sat behind, “I was jealous of a ghost,” he dropped himself in the small chair across from me. His eyes danced around my face before he raised his eyebrows, “you did laundry last night.”

  ​​I nodded, a little embarrassed. A wide smile cracked his face, “Did you do laundry for me?”

  “Can I help you, ranger,” it wasn’t a question this time, it was a challenge, “I have work to do.”

  He smirked, “I’m attracted to you,” he said in a matter of fact tone.

  “And I’m working,” I responded in the same tone, “What does your being attracted to me have to do with you being in my office right now?”

  “Prickly,” he said, a bit taken aback by my words, “I take it this break up with your boyfriend was recent?”

  “Yup,” I responded.

  “And you were together for a long time?”

  “Five years.”

  “And in five years you never knew...”

  “Nope.”

  “And he never told you....”

  “Obviously.”

  “Well you knew what I was in the first five seconds,” he said pulling a sandwich from somewhere, “So that’s a point in my favor. But if the shifter thing wasn’t why you broke up.”

  “Ebsen,” I said in a warning tone, “I really don’t want to-”

  “I’m just curious,” he said, acting all innocent, “I have no desire with you beyond taking you back to my cabin and fucking you until you can’t remember your own name.”

  My cheeks flamed at his directness. I resisted the urge to lick my lips, “And then what?”

  He shrugged, “Nothing really. I’m not the kind of guy that you do the relationship thing with. I’m the guy to scratch an itch.”

  “I’m not the itch-scratching kind of girl,” I said, “And we broke up for a lot of reasons, that are none of your business.”

  Ebsen smiled at me, “Well if you change your mind, channel four. And for what it’s worth, he’s an idiot to have let you go.”

  “Can I get back to work now?” I asked, motioning to my monitors of spreadsheets
and airline confirmation emails.

  “After I finish my sandwich,” he said, “it ain’t lunch without a buddy. And I have a feeling we’re going to be good friends.”

  “Only friends,” I said firmly.

  “With benefits.”

  I rolled my eyes and took a big bite of my sandwich. It was going to be a long summer if this was going to be a daily thing. I went back to working on my spreadsheets.

  “Thank you, Ebsen,” Ebsen said, standing up and heading out of my office, finally done with his lunch, “For starting the fire for me, I was getting cold.”

  I looked up from my keyboard and raised an eyebrow at him, “Thank you, Souli, for not cutting my balls off and forcing them down my throat last night.”

  ​​I could hear his laugh for several hundred yards of his walk back to his station.

  Chapter 6

  ​​“Alright, looks like you’re as ready for staff arrival as I can get you in one day,” Art said late into the afternoon.

  “I never thought sitting behind a desk all day would be so exhausting,” I admitted, stretching my arms overhead.

  “Don’t quit on me now,” Art groaned, “I don’t have time to get applicants, and interview, and negotiate with their pack leadership and don’t get me started on-”

  “Breathe, Art,” I said, holding my hands up in surrender, “You’re not getting rid of me that easily. I promise. If the shifter thing didn’t scare me off, data entry isn’t going to do it.”

  Art relaxed, “Ok, have a good night then, Souli. I’ll see you tomorrow when I get back from the airport.”

  “Have a safe trip.”

  Art grunted his response and left my office.

  I did one last glance around my office. Everything needed to be in its correct place. The more prepared I was for the arrivals, the less stress the next day would bring.

  “Knock knock!” Amber called from outside, “You ready?”

  ​​“Yup!” I grabbed my bag and locked the office behind me.

  Amber and I walked to the staff parking lot where Eddie was going to meet us. To my surprise a familiar hulking figure stood next to the smaller man and the car.

  “Are you stalking me?” I asked Ranger Ebsen when we reached the car.

  “Eddie invited me,” he said with a grin.

  “No I didn’t,” Eddie jumped in, “He said he needed your signature on the off WAZ safety agreement.”

  “I signed that last night,” I argued, “No talking about shifters, no talking about WAZ. The rest was irrelevant because I’m not a shifter so I can’t exactly turn into an animal on my own.”

  Amber sighed, “Ebsen, if she doesn’t want to jump into your bed, you’re just going to have to wait for the new arrivals like the rest of us. Now move, I have a lot of stores to hit in not a lot of time.”

  “Fine,” Ebsen grumbled, “You lot have fun now, but not too much fun. Got it?”

  “Yes, dad,” I teased.

  Ebsen leaned down so his cheek was next to mine, “I’m not into being called daddy in the bedroom. I’d prefer you scream my name.”

  Hannah Montana did he just say that to me?

  I looked to Amber and Eddie but they were already in the car, apparently used to Ebsen’s antics. I slid around the grizzly and into the back seat.

  “Say the word and I’ll make him stop,” Amber said as Eddie backed out of the parking lot, “He’s an aggressive flirt but he listens to his nose more than he does his eyes.”

  “Huh the what now?” I asked.

  “His sense of smell is better than his eyesight,” Eddie explained, “For most shifters that’s the case, but Ebsen spends so much time in bear form it’s like, triply true for him.”

  “But why would that....” I stopped myself from asking the question. Oh lord in heaven, did that mean he was smelling my reactions rather than looking at my face? I didn’t even want to being to process that.

  “Don’t you just love humans?” Amber asked and Eddie laughed.

  Great. I was the entertainment.

  Amber made good on her promise and helped me find an array of scent free soaps for me, my hair, and my clothes. She also gave me the basic rundown of how to set boundaries with the exceptionally olfactory minded, like Ebsen.

  Chapter 7

  ​​The next day, I was in charge of coordinating the arrival of a bit over 60 staffers. Most of them were predatory shifters from packs in Minnesota who were driving themselves. The rest were from all over the world. I was really excited. I practically jumped out of bed and into my WAZ arrival day uniform. I zipped up my WAZ embroidered vest over my WAZ embroidered long sleeve polo over my base layers. I braided my hair and put a navy blue headband to keep the stray hairs from flying in my eyes.

  ​​I sat with the grounds crew for breakfast. They were all old shifters who had opted WAZ for retirement. They didn’t talk about much that wasn’t trail clearing or the weather, which was refreshingly normal compared to all the shifter talk I’d been exposed to over the past few days.

  ​​Midway through breakfast, Art stood up on his little stage and handed out assignments for the arrival day.

  Wilderness guides were each assigned a staff cabin and the surrounding woods to watch for new staff. They were given a list of their cabin mates and basic information. The grounds crew were helping current staffers move from the winter cabin to their new staff cabin digs, before the new arrivals came. The Rangers were stationed strategically to wrangle lost shifters and handle any territory battles that were apparently frequent with large groups of unrelated shifters coming together for the first time.

  I was on office duty. When the new staff arrived, I was to give them their keys, orientation binder, and a quick and dirty map tour before sending them off to their staff cabin.

  This meant I watched the phones for when a few new staffers inevitably got lost on the adventure loop, and I needed to coordinate with the ranger given lost puppy duty, as the grounds crew so kindly called it, to get them to the right spot.

  I knew that map like the back of my hand, I may not have stepped foot outside the Adventure Village since my arrival, but on paper, I knew the whole area and sounded like a pro.

  My key wall was the most organized thing I’d been in charge of. It was labeled by job title and each had a key ring with the staff cabin, staff only areas, and wilderness team keys for their job. It had taken me the better part of Monday evening to get everything sorted in a way that made sense, but I was pleased as punch with the results.

  ​​After breakfast I unlocked my office and started a roaring fire basking in its warmth. I unlocked my storage room and pulled out my supplies for the day. I had a folding table to set up so I could lay out the orientation materials for easy access.

  ​​“Need help with that?” Ebsen’s rumbling voice echoed in the waiting room.

  ​​“What can I do for you, ranger?” I asked, trying to keep my voice as even as possible. I had no idea how to handle him knowing he considered scent as the primary form of communication was just... odd.

  ​​“I’m on lost puppy duty,” he said with a large smile, “I’m yours to command all day.”

  ​​Of course Ebsen would get lost puppy duty. I sighed, “I’m not having sex with you. I’m not a conquest to be had. No more invading my personal space. No more dirty talk. No more. Got it?”

  His face didn’t falter from his goofy grin the whole time I laid out the rules, “Alrighty, Souli. I’ll keep my hands to myself until you tell me otherwise. And you are always welcome to tell me otherwise.”

  “What did I just say?”

  “You told me where you draw the line, I showed you mine,” he grinned, “Now, Miss Souli, do you have anything you’d like my help on this morning?”

  I had no idea if he was serious or not. Ebsen didn’t seem like the kind of guy who would just take no at face value. Then again, that’s what everyone assured me is what would happen. I decided to be cautiously optimistic and take him at h
is word.

  “Alright, can you pull this table down for me and set it up by my desk?”

  ​​Ebsen did a whole bunch of little tasks all morning as I set out what I needed. I got the whole station setup just how I wanted it before the first call came in. I had to admit, I was grateful for his help. My area was fully set up ahead of schedule, giving me time to review the staff data.

  “Are the numbers always this lopsided?” I asked him, “There’s almost 3 males per female.”

  “And half those females are claimed,” Ebsen reminded me, looking over my shoulder to point at all the C’s in the staff data. “Pack leaders don’t like their unclaimed females to journey out into the world unprotected. There’ll be a surge of estrogen during holiday weekends when entire packs come out, kids and all. But usually females at WAZ are mated or live here year round.”

  “There’s four unclaimed ones arriving today.” I pointed to their names on the airport roster.

  Ebsen leaned in close over my shoulder, his chest vibrated as he hmm’d, “I’d have to ask Linde about that to be sure, but I’m betting their pack leader is trying to mate them off to a US pack, and WAZ is neutral territory to keep them before the Solstice.”

  ​​The radio buzzed with static before Ranger Carlson’s voice boomed through, “First car, three shifters, Minnesota plates. ETA 5 minutes to the village.”

  ​​I looked through my chart, “That must be the McGuire brothers,” I said after a quick scan of the sheet. I pulled their information out and when I heard the car rumble on the icy gravel I was all set.

  ​​The first McGuire brother was the eldest one. He strode in with all the confidence of a twenty-one year old frat boy ready for summer vacation. He was even dressed like an eighties stereotype. Big hair, popped collar, and boat shoes.

  As he strut to my desk, he took a big sniff of the air and raised an eyebrow at me. Then his head swiveled to Ebsen, who was sitting in Art’s chair behind me. I glanced back, the goofy bear was giving his best menacing snarl and it was not intimidating in the slightest.