“Dad, I’ve been in an accident, but everything’s okay. I need to ask you something.”
“I’ll be the one asking the questions. You just get your ass back here.”
“Dad, there’s somebody after me right now because of something you did. Would you like to explain that to me?”
“Oh Laney, I can’t believe they found you. I’m so sorry. That’s why you need to get back here. I need to keep you safe. Just get back here as fast as you can.”
“Dad, I need you to call them off. Tell them to leave me alone. I need you to do what’s right and settle up with them on your own.”
“I’ll tell you what Laney. You haven’t spent Christmas with us for the past couple of years. If you come home to have dinner with us on Christmas Eve, I will call them off and settle up with them myself, and I will buy you a brand new car.”
“Dad, are you kidding me? I’ve got people that want to kidnap me or maybe even kill me. I don’t understand why you’re only concerned about whether or not I’m going to make it home in time for dinner on Christmas Eve and buying me a car.”
“Laney, just come home,” my father said before he hung up the phone.
I sat there confused and dismayed at my father’s reaction. He made it very clear that he wasn’t going to call them off unless I made it home in time for dinner on Christmas Eve and that was tomorrow. He didn’t even react when I told him I’d been in an accident. All that mattered to him was that dinner. My brushes with death meant nothing.
How he expected me to get home with everything that was going on was beyond me. I was his only daughter and I felt like he would rather put my life at risk than settle everything just so he could have me home for Christmas dinner.
Chapter 13
Nate
When Laney got off the phone, her face was pale as a ghost. I could tell that something had hurt her deeply, but I wasn’t sure what it was.
“What’s wrong? What did your father say?” I asked as I took my phone out of her hand.
“He said that he won’t call them off unless I make it home in time for dinner on Christmas Eve,” she said. “Oh, and he’ll also buy me a new car because mine broke down a while back. I guess this is my reward for stealing my mother’s car.”
“Sounds more like a punishment to me,” I said. “I can’t believe he wants to put your life at risk just to get you home.”
“I know,” she said. “It just doesn’t make any sense to me right now. Nothing makes any sense at all. My father just isn’t acting like himself and I don’t understand it. He must really want me home for Christmas or really want me dead, and I’m not sure which.”
I sat there thinking about how we could get her out of the cabin and back to her house in time for dinner on Christmas Eve. Ideas ran through my mind about calling one of my friends to come get her or even trying to take her back in my truck.
No matter how many ideas I came up with, nothing seemed safe with the bears constantly on attack. The only place that I knew for sure we were safe was at the cabin. The second we went on the move I was sure that we’d be in serious trouble.
“Laney, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and I can’t see any way that we can get you there safely.”
“I can’t either,” she said. “I don’t even know if I want to go back there. Everything is just so messed up right now.”
Chapter 14
Laney
For the rest of the day I was out of sorts while I tried to wrap my mind around everything. Before long I felt like the walls were closing in on me. I’ve never been claustrophobic in my life, but suddenly I felt as if I couldn’t breathe inside the cabin.
I had to get out. I had to get some fresh air, no matter what the cost. I ran for the door before Nate grabbed me.
“What are you doing?” he asked as he grasped my shoulders in his firm hands.
“I’ve got to get out of here and get some fresh air,” I said. “I can’t take it anymore. It’s just too much.”
He spun me around and looked deeply into my eyes. “Laney, you need to get a hold of yourself. Those bears are out there. If you go out, they will find you. Take a deep breath and relax. You’re perfectly safe in here and there’s nothing to worry about, but you need to stay inside.”
I felt so defeated because I knew there was nothing I could do. He wasn’t going to let me go anywhere, and the bears weren’t either. Yet, I felt so trapped, almost like a caged animal. It was all too much to take. Everything was overwhelming me and I felt as if I had reached my breaking point.
“Nate,” I said as I took his hand in mine. “I really do need to get some air. Everything is crashing down around me right now and my world is falling apart.”
“I understand where you’re coming from right now, but it’s not safe out there.”
He clearly wasn’t going to listen to reason, and there was nothing I could do about it. The only thing that I could do was to divert his attention for a few seconds, so I could get out the door.
“You’re right,” I said. “It’s nice and cozy in here and there’s no place else I’d rather be. Who needs that cold air out there anyway? You know what I’d love right now?”
“What’s that?” he asked. “Tell me and I’ll get it for you.”
“A steaming cup of hot cocoa,” I said as I smiled at him and stared into his deep blue eyes.
“One steaming cup of hot cocoa coming up,” he said as he kissed me on the cheek before letting go of my hands and heading off into the kitchen.
I waited until he sounded busy in the kitchen before quietly inching my way over towards the door. Once I was finally there, I opened it just a little bit to get a breath of fresh air. After I took in a couple of breaths, I decided to take in a couple more filling my lungs with the crisp fresh air of the season.
As I was standing there I noticed his truck sitting there waiting for me. I knew I shouldn’t run and jump into it, but a part of me just wanted to get as far away from the bears as I could.
I looked back towards the kitchen and saw that Nate was still busy preparing the cocoa.
I hesitated for a second. Then I took a deep breath and decided to take my chance while I had it. I opened the door and ran as fast as I could across the front yard until I reached the truck and jumped in the driver’s side. Fortunately the keys were sitting right there on the dashboard and I was able to start it up and drive away.
As I was pulling out of the driveway, I saw Nate chasing behind me. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but his hands were waving in the air and his mouth was moving. I was pretty sure he was yelling.
Chapter 15
Nate
As soon as I heard my truck start up, I dropped the mug full of hot cocoa sending it crashing to the floor and ran for the door. By the time I got there Laney was already at the end of the driveway and headed out into the street. I tried to chase her in my human form, but I wasn’t getting far.
I stopped running to catch my breath and transformed myself into a wolf so that I could follow her scent. I knew that I needed to find her before the bears did. As soon as my claws were out and my fur was in, I took off running after her. I could hear the sound of my engine and I could smell her scent as I ran across around the mountainside in search of my vehicle.
Finally, after running for thirty miles or so I caught up to her. I was hoping she’d see me in the rearview mirror and pull over, but she just kept on going. I was starting to wonder if she saw me, but it was some kind of a game for her. Maybe she was just too caught up in making her getaway.
Finally, I started running alongside her until I finally managed to get in front of her. At that point she definitely saw me. She slammed on her brakes and pulled over onto the shoulder. I circled back and ran up beside her vehicle before switching back into my human form.
“What the hell Nate,” she said. “I could’ve run over you.”
“Then don’t steal my truck,” I said as I glared at her icily.
“I
didn’t mean to steal your truck. I just had to get out of there and make a run for it,” she said. “I felt like I had to get as far away from the bears as possible to keep myself safe.”
“Do you know how much danger you just put yourself in?” I asked her.
“I can’t see how I’m in that much danger while I’m moving,” she said.
“You might be a moving target, but the bears move faster and they’re much more agile than you are,” I said.
All of a sudden she started to cry. I got in the passenger seat and held her close. I knew that she was just scared and didn’t know what to do.
“I’m so sorry Nate,” she said. “I was terrified from the second I ran out of the cabin, but I didn’t know what else to do besides keep going. I don’t ever want to be without you again.”
I pulled away from her a little bit to look into her eyes as I tilted her chin up. “I don’t want to be without you either, so don’t you ever do that again,” I said just before I kissed her.
“So I guess we should head back to the cabin now,” she said.
I thought about it for a minute and I decided that we should try things her way. I knew that somewhere deep inside she wanted to get home and I wanted to make that happen for her. She wanted to be with me and I knew that even if I got her home, we’d always be together.
“No, I don’t think so. I think instead were going to try to make it to your house so that you get there in time for Christmas dinner.”
“But how…”
“Move over baby,” I said as I got out of the passenger side and started walking over towards the driver side.
She slid over to the passenger seat and I climbed over into the driver seat. We drove for a few miles along the mountainside singing Christmas carols when my truck suddenly started making a high pitched sound.
“Did you hear that?” I asked her.
“Did you say something?”
“Did you hear that high-pitched noise?” I asked her again.
“I don’t hear anything,” she said as she looked out the window at the snow-covered hills.
The sound kept getting louder and louder and my truck started to chug, but I kept persevering determined to get her there on time. Finally, my truck gave one last chug and jerk before it quit right there in the middle of the highway.
“Why are we stopping?” she asked.
“I’m not stopping. My truck just quit,” I said before I got out to take a look under the hood.
She jumped out of the passenger side and came around to meet me.
“What do you mean it quit?” she said.
“Exactly what I just said. It quit.”
“You mean it broke down?” she asked looking terrified.
“That’s exactly what I mean.”
“What are we going to do now?” she asked looking as if she’d lost all hope.
I thought for a second knowing that she expected me to have all the answers. Somehow I had to make this happen for her, but I wasn’t sure what the safest idea was. Finally, I came up with something that I thought might work.
I walked to the other side of my truck where the people driving by couldn’t see me and transformed myself back into a wolf. Laney ran her fingers through my fur and I licked her cheek.
I lowered my body down close to the ground and she knew exactly what I wanted her to do as she hopped on my back. As soon as she was in position I started running through the forests trying to get her back home.
We were making good time. I kept running with her as fast as I could through the trees and the bushes. As we continued on, I tried not to look back. But now and then I took a peek. Before long, the bears were on our trail.
First, there were ten, then twenty, and then thirty bears following behind. What we were doing wasn’t safe, and I knew it. We were never going to make it to her house. The bears were going to get her and there was nothing I could do about it.
I ran with her like that until I found an old fort that some children had made. As soon as we got there, I changed myself back into a human and took her inside quickly.
“Laney, we need to talk. The bears are on our trail and we’re not going to make it.”
Chapter 16
Laney
I don’t know what possessed me to steal Nate’s truck, but I just felt like I had to get as far away from the bears as I could. I was so relieved when he caught up with me and I wasn’t alone anymore. Driving along through the mountains with him felt almost magical. It was the first time I’d felt completely relaxed in days.
When his truck broke down, I was filled with panic thinking that we were going to be bear food for sure. But, when he transformed himself into a wolf and had me ride him through the mountains I felt truly safe.
It wasn’t until he took me into the fort and told me that we were in danger, that I realized that time was running out. I was in a complete state of panic and I knew that there was only one way for me to come out of this alive.
“Nate, turn me into a shifter,” I said.
“Laney, we’ve been through this before. You know I don’t want to do it and you know the reasons why,” he said breathlessly.
“I get all that, but right now it’s the only way,” I said, trying to reason with him.
“But Laney, you don’t understand…”
“I understand that the bears are coming after us,” I said.
He looked so sad and I could tell that he was terrified of changing me, but I was terrified of the bears. If they took me, God only knew what they would do with me. I had no idea whether they planned on holding me for ransom or killing me, but I didn’t want to find out.
I just knew that I wanted to be safe and if being a shifter was the only way to do it, then that’s what I wanted to be.
“You want me to be safe, don’t you?” I asked as I wrapped my arms around him.
“You know I do,” he said.
“Then you need to do this before it’s too late.” The bears were getting closer and I knew there wasn’t much time left. I wasn’t sure if he was going to do it or not.
I could feel the heat rising within his body. I thought he was changing himself back into a wolf when all of a sudden I felt a fire searing through my body.
Chapter 17
Nate
While Laney and I were in the fort and she was begging me to turn her into a shifter, I wasn’t sure if I could do it. I didn’t want to change her and in fact I was afraid of accidentally killing her. But, I didn’t want the bears to get to her either. I could feel them getting closer.
As she pleaded with me, I finally realized it was the only way to get her home safely. When I bit her, I was careful not to bite too deeply and I prayed that she would survive. I held her tight as her body convulsed and shook. After a few moments she stood in front of me as strong as ever, and I knew that she was going to be fine.
“Is that all there is to it,” she said sarcastically.
“Don’t be a smartass,” I said. “You can’t tell me you didn’t feel any pain. I saw the way you convulsed and shook.”
“Ah, that was nothing,” she laughed.
I was amazed at how well she had come through it. Usually it took people a day or two to recover and she was already raring to go. I knew then there was a chance I would be able to get her home.
“Laney, I want you to focus on changing into a wolf now,” I told her.
She closed her eyes and I watched her turn into the most beautiful wolf I had ever seen in my life. I was impressed with the ease with which she was able to transform herself.
“Very good,” I told her. “I want you to be careful when we head out. I don’t want you to fight because you might not be strong enough yet.”
She nodded her pretty little wolf head to let me know she understood what I was telling her. I transformed myself back into a wolf and together we both started heading towards her house so that we could be there in time for dinner.
As we were running together through th
e woods the bears came out of nowhere and circled us. I started attacking the biggest ones, trying to keep her out of harms way. As I took one down and rolled it around in the snow another one grabbed me from behind.
He threw me down, grabbing me by the throat. I tried to get up, but the snow was deep. Finally, I was able to get some leverage and I managed to jump up and throw him down before I bit his leg causing him to whimper. I lunged at another one, when yet another one jumped on me. It seemed like the battle was endless as more and more bears came out of hiding.
Chapter 18
Laney
As I stood there in my wolf form in the middle of the fight I knew that there was no way that Nate could handle the battle by himself. There were just too many bears. I wasn’t sure if I was ready, but I knew I had to try.
I let out a screeching howl before I lunged forward and grabbed one of the bears by the throat, rolling him around on the ground, drawing blood.
Nate looked over at me and gave me a reassuring nod. Together the two of us took out all of the bears. After we were done, we headed on towards my home and made it there just in time to join my family decorating the tree before dinner.
As we enjoyed our dinner, my family got to know Nate and it felt like everything was finally perfect.
“Laney, I just want to let you know that I’m really sorry about everything that happened to you,” my father said. “I’ve taken care of everything and you have nothing to worry about anymore.” We all smiled as we raised our glasses.
I knew that nobody but Nate and I could possibly understand exactly what I’d been through over the last few days. My parents would never understand that I was now a wolf shifter because I knew I’d never be able to tell them. I’m sure my father didn’t know that the people he was involved with were bear shifters and I wasn’t about to tell him that either. He’d never understand.
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