“Everything ok there big guy?” I asked putting my phone back into my pocket before walking next to him, “You in the market for some mass marketed, ill-fitting, overpriced, lingerie?”
A low rumble echoed in his chest, “I thought you were book shopping, Amber,” he growled clenching the lace into his massive mitt.
I grinned even bigger, this was too good, “Who’s the girl?”
Ebsen looked anywhere but at me. He should know better than that. No one can dodge a fox on the hunt, not even a grizzly. I deftly kept my body in his line of sight, “I’m not going to let this go until you tell me. Come on, who is she? Or...he?”
Ebsen growled again, a few of the human shoppers turned to the noise. Any shifter that tries to tell you that humans don’t have instincts, has never witnessed a human hearing an angry predator. They have instincts, ok, maybe two instincts, but they were there. Not like me, not like any shifter. We had all the instincts of our animal sides. And my instincts were screaming there was glorious gossip just beneath the sausages Ebsen called fingers.
“I can help you know,” I offered, “Whatever it is you think you’ll find in there,” I pointed to the painfully perfumed pink and black storefront, “I can help. And you’ll get fewer strange looks with a woman at your side.”
His eyes narrowed at me, “It’s none of your business.”
I smirked, I had him now, “It is my business now. Who is she? I haven’t seen the usual stream of shifters coming out of your cabin this spring.”
Ebsen shifted from one foot to the other. I had him pegged. After all, I’d been one of the notches on his cabin wall when I first started at AWAZ three summers ago. He was a good lay, but he was a bear through and through, a one and done kind of guy. He never offered for a round two and I never asked. A vixen has to have standards.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ebsen whispered.
“Does she know you stole her panties?” I asked taking a guess about the original purpose of the scrap of lace grasped tightly in his fist. Ebsen growled moving his hand behind his back, but the flush in his face told me I was right. I grinned up at him, “I thought so. Come on big guy, the sooner you say the name, the sooner we can get whatever it is you’re looking for and get the scent of human perfume washed out of our sinuses.”
Ebsen sighed, his pink tongue briefly popping out of his beard to lick his lips, a nervous gesture I’d only seen on him once before, “It’s Souli.”
I was stunned. Shocked. Blown the fuck away. “Souli?” I asked in disbelief, “Human Souli? With the black bear ex?” Ebsen nodded but I wasn’t done, “Off limits, office manager, human Souli?”
“I...I,” Ebsen sighed again rubbing the back of his neck, “It just happened ok, I...she’s really great, Amber. We hang out all the time.”
“Hang out or hang out?” I asked still trying to wrap the bombshell he just dropped on me around in my head. How did that even work? He was gruff, technophobic, and grizzly and Souli was peppy, techy, and painfully human.
“Amber,” Ebsen growled low.
“Sorry sorry,” I said raising my hands in defeat, “But, um, I know Souli, we’ve actually shopped for,” I pointed behind me, suddenly feeling too awkward to say the words bras and panties, “Before and I know she hates that store as much as I do. What are you looking for as a gift for her?”
Ebsen’s face reddened more, “I uh...” he sighed again, “I’d like to replace some of her clothes that I’ve...”
My grin grew again, “So you’re the bra shredding washing machine?” This was too good, Ebsen’s shoulders sagged which I took to be an affirmative, I wrapped my arm through his and led him down the mall away from Victoria’s Secret until we hit the store Souli and I had found her replacement bras just two weeks before. I can’t believe I fell for the washing machine excuse, oldest one in the book. I didn’t think anyone would be dumb enough to seduce the one person in all AWAZ that was supposed to be off limits. But Ebsen wasn’t known for his smarts.
A few brilliantly awkward hours later, we were back on the road. Ebsen folded himself uncomfortably to fit in my compact car.
The entire shopping trip I’d been the supportive friend. Showing him articles of clothing I’d seen Souli like but put back on the rack after seeing the price. I helped him find her size. I even kept my face serious when he found a plaid bra and panty set. I doubted Souli would have picked it out for herself, but the way Ebsen’s eyes darkened when he held it up, I didn’t think he was buying them for her to look at.
“So you really like her, huh?” I asked.
Ebsen grunted in response to my question.
“You going to put in to claim her?” I asked him. I wasn’t sure how much of the gossip mill Ebsen listened to. Previous summers, Ebsen was the primary gossip fodder, now it was Souli.
Ebsen shrugged again, he was silent and contemplative for a long time. This wasn’t like the Ebsen I knew. The Ebsen I’d known didn’t think about anything, he just did it. He said the first thing that was on his mind without worry for the consequences. I didn’t like contemplative grizzlies.
“Have you two talked about possibly mating?” I asked, “I know it’s not the usual bear way, but...”
“I don’t think she likes me the way I like her,” the words rushed out of Ebsen so quickly and so quietly I almost missed them.
“You really do love her,” it wasn’t a question or a tease this time. Beasts of all, he really fucking loved her. A human tamed the wild bear. Who would have guessed, “What makes you think she doesn’t feel the same?”
Ebsen looked out the passenger window, “You guys hang out a lot, has she ever talked about me?”
I thought back to my days off with Souli. Usually Steve was with, because he couldn’t resist a trip into town. We spent the first several weeks getting her up to speed on shifters, “She asks a lot of questions about bear shifters,” I told him,, “I guess we figured it was because of her ex-boyfriend. But...”
“What kind of things did she ask?” Ebsen asked, a bit of his usual humor returning.
“The usual stuff I guess, how to tell shifters from natural bears, their family units, general likes and dislikes,” I said.
“She asked about families?”
“Well, we’d been talking about wolf packs, lion prides, and fox kits, I suppose it was a natural progression to ask about bears,” I told him.
His shoulders sagged again, “Bears don’t have packs. They don’t take mates. This whole thing is just....”
“You know you aren’t a natural grizzly, right?” I offered up to him, “You have a human side. You’re allowed to fall in love with just one person.”
Ebsen was silent and contemplative for the rest of the drive, “Thanks for helping me with this,” he said unfolding himself from my car, “If you could keep what I’ve shared with you between us?”
“I had planned on running through the adventure square screaming that Ebsen has a crush, but if it means so much to you-” I teased stopping when I saw his face, “I won’t tell a living soul.”
“Thank you, Amber, you’re a good friend,” he told me as he fished his shopping bags from the back seat.
“She’s a great girl, Eb,” I offered, “I hope it works out for you two.”
He nodded and took off into the woods toward his cabin.
I never thought I’d see Ebsen in love, but if there was hope for him, maybe there was hope for me too.
Other works by Lynn Katzenmeyer:
Kootenai Pack Series:
Tooth and Claw
Ghost Eyes
Fallen Lorde
Ginger and Thyme (June 2020)
Syndicate Universe Series:
Eye of the Void
Mark of the Void (May 2020)
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Lynn Katzenmeyer, Bearly Camping
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