by Tasha Black
He made a contented sound and she felt that little snout rooting at her silk blouse.
She padded over to the lamp and turned it on.
Orson blinked his small black eyes and waved a fuzzy paw in front of his snout as if he were trying to swat the light away.
Sarah looked into the sweet furry face of her boy.
He was a bear cub. A glossy brown bear cub wearing an organic cotton onesie with a teddy bear embroidered on the chest. He smelled like baby shampoo.
I’ve had a full night’s sleep. I’m eating healthy and taking care of myself. I’m a happy, well-adjusted person.
She grabbed her phone to take a picture in case he changed back, but decided against it before she opened the camera app.
Orson was… different.
She didn’t necessarily want a paper trail on that.
He made a small grunting noise and she looked down at him again.
He was all peaches and cream now - no hair but his normal, wheat-colored fluff atop his head, no snout, no claws,
But he had been a bear. And this time there was a witness.
Sarah went into emergency mode - there was no time to panic.
She calmly packed up everything Orson needed for the day and called Linda as she did.
The nanny didn’t pick up, but her voicemail did.
“Linda, it’s Sarah,” she said. “I know you had a hard morning. You’ve been so good to Orson and me that I’d like to offer you some time off. Let’s say a year with pay, and a generous bonus we can hammer out together if you’re willing to sign a non-disclosure agreement. I’ll have my attorney send you the details. No deal without the NDA though.”
That ought to keep the rumor mill quiet, even Glacier City’s best nanny had a price. Everyone did. It was just a matter of finding out what it was.
She’d brought Orson into the office with her - there was no other option. All she had to do was keep him calm until she could reach the head of the company to have him sign off on a leave of absence for her. She’d hoped they would be in and out in half an hour and then she could go…
Where?
The children’s hospital?
A Halloween store?
What was happening to her son?
There was a knock on the door and she startled, banging her hip on the desk.
“Come in,” she barked out.
Kurt Engle, one of the company accountants, stepped inside.
“Hey, Sarah,” he said. “I know I’m early for our meeting, but West wanted me to…”
He was staring at Orson.
“Sorry, my nanny was under the weather,” Sarah said, glancing down at the baby.
But he was a bear again.
His slender brown muzzle peeked out of the sling inquisitively.
Without thinking about it, Sarah stroked his furry jaw.
Under her finger, the fur gave way to a soft chubby cheek. Orson gave her a gummy grin, a tiny dimple appearing above his right cheek.
Kurt was silent.
Sarah looked up at him, wondering if there was any chance he might think he was seeing things.
“You need to talk to Derek Harkness,” Kurt said kindly.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Your baby,” Kurt said. “Derek will know exactly what to do.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Sarah said. Derek Harkness was the billionaire CEO of the company. He would hardly know what to do about a baby, let alone one that kept turning into a bear.
But Kurt slipped out and was gone before she had time to ask what he was talking about.
When he left, she tucked Orson a bit further into the sling, so that if anyone else stopped in they’d be unlikely to see anything untoward. It wasn’t Orson’s fault he was different. And it wasn’t anyone else’s business.
Half an hour and a few phone calls later, there was another knock on the door.
“Come in,” she called out, after ascertaining that Orson was still himself inside the sling.
Derek Harkness stepped in, resplendent in his signature suit and tie. Sarah stared silently for a few seconds. She wasn’t the type to be easily intimidated by anyone, but something about Derek’s rugged good looks and the raw power he exuded had always left her a little off balance.
“I don’t know what Kurt told you,” she began, regaining her composure.
Derek didn’t respond. He closed the door behind him, put down his briefcase, then stepped toward her.
Sarah took a step back, instinctively.
Something about Derek was… different.
His piercing blue eyes flashed golden and he lunged forward, landing on all fours.
Except that he wasn’t Derek anymore.
An enormous bear stood in her office, on top of the shredded remains of a very expensive bespoke suit.
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THE END of Chapter One of Crave This!: A 300 Moons Book.
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About the Author
Tasha Black lives in a big old Victorian in a tiny college town. She loves reading anything she can get her hands on, writing paranormal romance, and sipping pumpkin spice lattes.
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As she struggles to come to terms with her true nature, Ainsley is thrust into the center of a steamy web of shifters, ghosts, witches and warlocks, caught up in a life-and-death struggle for control of the pack she tried to abandon.
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