by Amelia Jade
“I don’t know about this,” he said tightly as she guided them through the traffic. More than once he had to close his eyes, every muscle in his body tightening up at once as they narrowly avoided what seemed like a deadly accident.
“Nothing is wrong,” Mila said, her voice like a sooth salve. Each time she spoke, it seemed to calm him just a little bit.
“Keep talking,” he gritted out, his eyes alternating between being squeezed tight as hard as he could, and wide open in abject horror if the vehicle so much as changed pace.
“What?”
“Keep. Talking.” He repeated. “Please,” he added in a gentler voice, trying not to sound like he was pleading with her.
“About what?”
“Anything. Everything. Recite the period table. Sing me a lullaby, cuss me out, tell me the most inane, useless story you know. Anything, please,” he said, rocking back and forth slightly in his chair.
His bear was going berserk on the inside, slamming against the mental cage he kept around it within his mind, trying to get free. There was too much metal and iron, too much artificial construct. It wanted out, both of him, and out of the city. But Pierce couldn’t let that happen. He couldn’t change, not right then and there in full view of the city’s residents.
Even a normal wild bear running down the streets would cause a panic. There was nothing normal about a shifter’s animal though. Two and a half times the size of the average bear, almost twice the size of a fully grown wild polar bear, his bear was more a beast than anything else. A wild savage that could level a small building with considerable ease if it was in the way of its destination.
It didn’t bear mentioning what it could do to the rather flimsy human body if one wasn’t able to dodge fast enough. The thought of him let loose among this many humans packed together was less than savory. For the first time, Pierce truly understood why humans and shifters lived apart. Only an insane shifter would truly be comfortable somewhere like this. Let alone one of the big cities.
He shrunk back from the window as he once again remembered that this was, as far as human towns went, a tiny, almost backwater place.
“A story?” Mila said, laughter in her words. “Oh man, I’ve never been any good at stories. I always ruin them. You know that person that goes ‘oh that reminds me, I have a great story that would add to whatever is being talked about,’ and then proceeds to fuck their story up enough times that people never listen to them the next time they speak up?”
He nodded.
“Yeah, that’s me in a nutshell,” she said, shaking her head. “Same with jokes. Sometimes I feel like I’m the punchline, because I always forget what it is.”
Pierce smiled. “You just haven’t found the right audience then,” he replied.
“Pffft, to find the right audience I need to have an audience,” she shot back. “Now I mostly keep quiet, unless it’s a story I know I won’t mess up, or a short comment. I think it’s easier that way.”
“I’m sure you have plenty of fun stories.”
“You mean embarrassing ones,” she replied. “I was that girl in high school. Always doing something stupid and awkward for people to laugh about.”
“Really? You don’t strike me as very awkward,” he replied.
“Not physically,” she admitted. “For the most part I did all right with that. Played a lot of sports, so it sort of forced me to learn how to control my body.”
He nodded. That made a lot of sense. She had an athletic body, that was for sure. Perhaps one that didn’t get as much exercise as it used to, but she obviously still tried to train when she could.
Probably a workaholic. Would be more active if she could, but spends all her time at work, and has no energy when she gets home.
“Well, what kinds of things did you do then?” he asked, both curious and desperate for a distraction from the world outside of the SUV.
“Oh you know, telling boys I like them at the wrong times, making up rumors about myself to seem cooler, but then getting busted about them not being cool. Trying to use makeup and looking like a raccoon, but thinking it was a good look. Oh I could go on and on,” she said, shaking her head.
Pierce laughed. “I’m sorry, I’m trying not to laugh, I really am.”
She smiled. “It’s okay, I’m fine with it now. I grew out of that phase…eventually. Took far longer than I would have liked, but I did. Got it together, aced college. Good grades, awesome parties, a few cute boys.” She said the last part shyly. “Everything a girl could have hoped for, to be honest with you.”
“I’m glad to hear it.” And he was. Why it should matter to him, Pierce didn’t know, but he wasn’t going to argue with it. There was no harm in being happy that she’d found herself a place in the world.
“Ah,” she said, and the vehicle slowed dramatically.
“We’re here.”
Chapter Five
Mila
“I’ll wait here,” Pierce said uncomfortably as she popped the door open and got out.
“Are you sure?”
He nodded.
Mila wasn’t entirely sure what had come over him. It seemed like everything about the city was giving him anxiety, hitting him with panic attack after panic attack. Part of her found it mildly amusing.
Here was this huge bear shifter, stronger than any human, capable of crushing metal with his bare hands, and yet some tall buildings and crowds reduced him to a half-frightened mess? The irony was…heavy.
Outweighing that though, was a driving need to do something about it. To help him, to be there for him. Somehow she needed to figure out how he could get over whatever was bothering him, and get him acclimated to city life.
The instant she pushed the front door open Pierce was there at her elbow, like an eager puppy dog waiting to be let in. She’d not even heard him move.
“Oh!” she exclaimed. “You startled me.”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s just…this is a lot. For me to take in. So. Many. People. It’s rather overwhelming.”
Mila nodded and hurried him inside. “There, we’re good now, right?” she asked, locking the door behind them.
While he’d managed to kick off his boots, Pierce was pacing back and forth like a frantic person awaiting bad news, striding through her sitting room to the left across the hallway to the bathroom on the right. Back and forth. Back and forth.
“Do you have a basement?” he asked abruptly, standing straight up.
Mila nodded, confused, though she managed to point the door under the stairs out to him.
He darted toward it and disappeared down the stairs.
“The light switch is on a wooden pole on the left!” she called as he vanished into the darkness.
He’s a shifter, dummy. He doesn’t need the light.
At a much more timid pace, Mila followed him down the stairs, reaching for the knob and twisting it. The dimmer came on and she brightened the basement just enough for her to both see and find Pierce.
He was lying on the floor off to her right, on the carpet, his eyes focused on her.
“I’m so sorry,” he said. “This has got to be one of the most embarrassing moments of my life, to be honest with you.”
She found herself smiling. “It’s okay, Pierce. We all have weaknesses, or things that we react to unexpectedly. Nobody, and I mean nobody—not even you big, tough shifter boys—is immune to that. You are, after all, part human, and that comes with the territory.”
The grin he flashed up at her threatened to stop Mila’s heart in its tracks. It also sent her stomach flip-flopping and she felt a little lightheaded. So she did the only smart thing: she sat down next to the shifter and put her arm on his shoulder.
Pierce’s muscles relaxed slightly at her touch, much to her surprise. Every time she’d touched him up until then, even in jest, he’d tightened up. Not much, but enough that she’d noticed it. At first she’d wondered if he was fle
xing, trying to show off, but she’d soon realized it wasn’t that. Not after seeing him flex once during the car ride as a joke. His muscles moved a lot more when he tried to flex.
She wondered what it all meant.
“Hey, I have an idea!” she said as her eyes roamed the basement.
“What?” He sat up a little as she rose excitedly.
“This might help you calm down,” she said, walking over to the dry bar that was tucked underneath the stairs. “What’s your poison? Whiskey? Scotch? Vodka? Rum?”
“Tranquilizer-laced beer?” he asked hopefully.
She shot him a look. “That’s not actually a thing with you.”
He didn’t respond.
“Is it?” she asked hesitantly.
Pierce shrugged. “Normal human beer doesn’t do anything to us, except in large quantities. So the special stuff brewed for us is a much higher alcohol percentage, and is also laced with a very, very mild dose of tranquilizer, so that we don’t get too irate.” He shrugged. “Doesn’t always work though. It’s amazing what a shifter temper can do when aroused while drunk.”
Mila shook her head. “If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather avoid that sort of thing.”
He waved a hand. “Nothing to worry about today. I’ll take the whiskey, if you don’t mind. Any chance you’ve got some cold stones for it, and not ice?”
“As a matter of fact,” she said haughtily, “I do. I prefer to be prepared.”
An arched eyebrow was his only response.
“Okay, so I prefer whiskey or scotch over wine and chick drinks most of the time,” she admitted. “Is that a crime?”
Pierce’s eyes could have blazed with delight at her words, if such a thing were actually possible. But she was fairly sure they just widened slightly, probably in surprise.
“No. No not at all,” he assured her, moving into a sitting position as she brought him a tumbler rather full of golden-amber liquid.
He glanced at it, then back at her.
“You said you need more than a human to feel it,” she said. “What’s your big problem?”
“I just didn’t realize you’d understand so thoroughly.”
Mila laughed and went back, pouring herself two fingers worth of the liquid, splashing it gently around the single cold stone she put into her tumbler. “The last thing I want you doing is rampaging around my house. If I need to get you buzzed to do that, then I have no shame in admitting I will, and without hesitation.”
Pierce smiled at that.
“So, Mila of the unknown last name…”
“Real smooth,” she said dryly. “But fine. It’s Chaire. Like the singer.”
“Huh?”
She spelled the name out for him. “Not like the piece of furniture.”
“So, Mila Chaire,” he said, emphasizing the shh part of her name.
She rolled her eyes. “What now? One sip of alcohol and you’re good to go?”
Pierce looked away, and she thought she saw something like embarrassment on his face. Whatever it was he quickly locked it away.
“No, no I’m not. But the conversation is…pleasantly distracting,” he said, as if choosing his words carefully.
“I see.”
“So tell me.” He ignored her questioning tone. “What do you do for a living in this city?”
She shrugged, thinking of a way to phrase what it was she did. “I work in, um, Acquisitions, I guess you might call it, for a national company.”
“Acquisitions?”
Mila nodded slowly. “Yep. I get things the company needs.”
“So like, Purchasing?”
“Sort of, but I don’t handle the financial end of it. I go out and actually locate, ah, products the company needs.”
Pierce stared at her, and she tried to meet his gaze.
“If you say so,” he said with a shrug.
Mila scratched the back of her neck. “The details of it are rather, um, embarrassing, okay? So I just don’t want to fully explain. Maybe once I know you better.”
The big shifter seemed to accept that answer and settled back onto his side, taking a slow sip of his drink. “Thank you for bringing me, despite…despite,” he frowned, then waved a hand at himself. “Despite all this.”
“Nonsense,” she said with a wave. “What’s a crushed seatbelt between new friends?”
Pierce smiled. “So, is your husband coming home soon? I don’t want him to freak out about me being here.”
Mila’s mouth almost dropped open in surprise at his question.
Are you fishing for information on whether I’m seeing someone, mister shifter? You spend five minutes in my house, I give you one drink, and suddenly you’re worried about a husband?
Then again, it was a valid question. If she did have a husband or significant other, they might look rather unkindly on the situation, that was for sure.
“No,” she said, abruptly finding it hard not to smile at him. “Nobody will be coming by.”
No. There will be NO flirting.
“Ah,” was his only response.
“Yep,” she said with a firm nod. “Just me and my cat.”
Pierce nodded slowly. “You and your cat,” he repeated thoughtfully.
“Don’t take that tone with me!” Mila said, choking back laughter. “I am not some sort of crazy cat lady!”
“I don’t recall ever suggesting that you were,” Pierce said, holding up one hand palm-outward to protest his innocence.
“Your tone implied it,” she said, giving him a mock glare.
I thought I said no flirting.
He started it!
Well stop it.
Not impressed with her brain’s inner dialog, Mila decided to take the offensive.
“Ellie isn’t the most friendly of cats. At least, not with people other than me. She doesn’t understand why they don’t automatically bow and become her servants,” she joked.
Pierce laughed and nodded in understanding of the way that a cat’s perception of the universe seemed to differ from that of humans.
I thought you said you were going on the offensive?
Shut up, brain. Just shut up.
“But the odds are you stampeding around my house has scared her off anyway, so we probably won’t see her, even if she was feeling friendly.”
Pierce was looking around the basement, his gaze flicking here and there before returning to her.
“White cat, black markings on its face and paws?” he asked suddenly.
“Yeah,” Mila said, eyes narrowing. “How did you…” she turned to see her cat come down the stairs.
It paused at the bottom and stretched, digging its front claws into the carpet as it pulled back against it. Then, as if it didn’t have a care in the world, Ellie stalked forward and slammed her body into Pierce.
Mila’s jaw dropped open as the cat sank to the ground, threading itself around the elbow he was using to prop himself up, and abruptly began to purr contentedly.
“Who are you?” she asked. “Ellie never does this. Ever.”
Pierce just smiled as he dragged one finger gently down the cat’s spine, prompting even louder purrs from the little creature.
“It’s an animal thing,” he told her with a wink.
Ellie, for her part, just lay there happily accepting the attention, her gaze fixed on Mila as if to say “What do you mean I’m not friendly? I’ll show you!”
“Unbelievable,” she said, shaking her head, though she couldn’t stop the smile from spreading.
There was something about the sight before her that stirred up emotions within Mila. Emotions she’d long since thought she might never feel. Despite her repeated inner protests not to, and the ridiculousness behind it all, she couldn’t help but feel a warmth spread through her as she watched the two of them interact.
Finishing his drink in a long swig, Pierce—his attention now focused solely on the cat—lay
down next to the tiny feline, curling one massive arm around it. Ellie promptly placed her two front paws on his forearm and curled up in the crook of his elbow and passed out.
Moments later Pierce laid his head on the ground and was breathing heavily as he fell into a deep sleep.
For longer than she knew was appropriate, Mila stayed and watched over the pair, wondering if she’d made the biggest, or best, mistake of her life.
Chapter Six
Pierce
A soft meow, followed by the rough scratchiness of a cat’s tongue on his cheek woke Pierce.
“Okay kitty,” he said, reaching up to stroke the cat—what was her name? Right, Ellie—on the head, his strong fingers trailing down across her spine, eliciting a stretching arch from the animal.
“We were asleep for quite a while, weren’t we?” he purred at her questioningly.
The cat only looked at him and then slammed her body into his face, loud purrs erupting from her throat.
“I see, I enjoyed it too,” he sputtered, picking cat hairs off his tongue even as he smiled.
Ellie just sashayed past him and toward the stairs, where she sat down and looked expectantly at him.
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” he said, sitting up and doing his own version of a cat stretch, arms raised high over his head. Muscles and joints popped and twisted as he did, leaving him with a sense of relief as he relaxed, stood up, and repeated the process with his legs by bending at the waist.
“Okay,” he announced a moment later to the cat, who still waiting patiently for him. “Let’s go find Mila, shall we?”
Meow.
“Yeah, I agree. She is pretty awesome,” he said absentmindedly, his attention focused on the stairs as he climbed them slowly.
The closer he got to the closed door at the top, the more the tension in his shoulders grew, tightening the just-relaxed muscles.
“This is ridiculous Ellie. I’m a grown shifter. I have nothing to fear from the city.”