by Amelia Jade
“What did you have in mind?” she asked nervously.
“Can I take you for coffee?” he suggested.
Sydney seemed to think about it for a moment. Then she frowned, and he felt his spirits begin to plummet.
“I actually have to get home and take my dog for a walk,” she said slowly, as if considering each word she was saying. “Care to join me for that? I know it sounds silly,” she said with a laugh, “but he stays cooped up all day!”
“You have a dog? In Genesis Valley?” He was surprised. Most people were terrified of having pets in the town. They feared the shifters would eat them, or kill them out of spite.
Shifters were loath to kill any animal. But no matter how much they tried to assuage the townsfolk, very few of them bought in to the idea. The fact that Sydney would bring her little Chihuahua or lapdog with her was astounding. She must be braver than he thought.
“Yeah, he’s just a big wuss though, so I don’t have to worry about him going anywhere or getting lost. Likes to stay at home, curled up in my lap on the couch,” she said with a loving smile.
Clearly she cared for her dog a lot.
“I happen to love dogs,” he said truthfully. “I’d be more than happy to accompany you. I don’t get the chance to see many here.”
A walk around the block was less than what he had hoped for, but perhaps she would invite him in after, or he could convince her to go to the café in town for a hot chocolate after a walk in the cold. Who knew? Either way, Uriel was happy just to spend some time with her.
“Follow me home then?” she said, stacking some of the papers on her desk and shutting down her computer.
“As long as you promise that it’s not as creepy as you just made it sound,” he joked.
“That depends,” she replied seriously.
“On what?” he asked suspiciously.
“On how Bruce reacts to you.”
He frowned. “Bruce?”
“My dog,” she teased. “He’s man of the house. He’ll let me know if you’re a creep or not.”
Uriel laughed. “It’s a deal then. Oh, by the way, can we stop at a pet store on the way? I need to buy something to bribe him with.”
Sydney giggled as she followed him out of the office, killing the lights on the way.
“Do you need to go grab your stuff?” she asked, pulling the key from the door as she finished locking it.
“What do you mean?” he asked, looking down at himself. He was wearing jeans and a sweater. Not overly fancy, but they were both in good condition and fit him well.
“Your winter jacket, or a hat?” she suggested.
“This is my winter jacket,” he told her, pulling on the sweater.
“Won’t you get cold?” she asked.
“I’ll be fine,” he reassured her. “Lead on,” he gestured when she raised her eyebrows in disbelief.
They walked out to the parking lot. He took a look at what she was driving: a red medium-sized SUV, and told her to go on, he would go to his vehicle and catch up. She nodded and headed down the mountain while he took off across the parking lot to the ramp that led down into the cavern that served as the base of operations for the Stone Bears. His big black truck was already warming up as he slowed from his awkward run.
Note to self: Run more, learn to do so with just the one arm. That shit is weird.
His whole body had felt jolted by the experience and he realized it was the first time he had run since the injury. More of that was definitely necessary.
“I do love remote start,” he said as he climbed into the cab, the music already on and air circulating throughout. He didn’t need the heater, but he did enjoy having air moving in the truck while he was in it. It also was programmed to turn on the cooled front seats. The heat his body emitted as a shifter rapidly warmed the leather even in the coldest parts of winter, so having something to keep the seats cool was a sinful luxury that he never wanted to live without again.
Revving the engine he guided the truck easily up the mountain and followed down the sole road toward town. Driving with one hand was probably the single task that hadn’t changed for him, as he had always driven with his left hand before, so it remained easy for him to do so now. In a few minutes he caught up to Sydney and the two of them meandered down the snow-covered mountain road and through town until they arrived at a cute little bungalow.
“This is gorgeous,” he said. She was at the end of a cul-de-sac, and her property extended outward into a wooded lot. It was a lot of property too, and he wondered how she maintained it in the summertime.
“Thank you. It’s a lot, and I have to pay someone to handle the lawn in the summer, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I love being able to take Bruce out back there and see him run around.”
Uriel tried not to smirk at the thought of her little dog getting lost in the snow. He continued to admire the house as she waved toward the front door, indicating he should follow her. There was a wooden awning that covered a portion of the driveway on the right-hand side of the house. Stacked along the wall was a large amount of firewood, and toward the back he saw another door.
Above the entrance the roof came to a pointed arch, jutting out several feet to provide covered front access as well. He glanced to his left at the large bay window, imagining that she probably had quite a nice view from there in the summertime. Although there was a row of houses across the street, beyond them the mountains rose up and away.
“I bet you get some spectacular sunsets through there,” he said as she pulled her keys out, opening the screen door.
“Oh it’s wonderful. I’ll often have a drink while simply sitting there and reading a book or watching the landscape.” The joy in her voice was palpable. “Okay, I’m going to let Bruce out.”
Uriel quickly took a step back from the door and dropped to a crouch.
“What are you doing?” she asked as he put his hand out in front of him near ground level.
“I don’t want to scare him,” he explained. “I’m large, and small dogs generally find me intimidating. I’ve learned to greet them like this. It’s much easier.”
A small grin came over Sydney’s face and she was clearly biting her lip, trying to hold in laughter. “If you say so. Place nice, okay?”
He nodded, frowning. She turned the key and immediately something inside began to bark.
It was a deep, powerful bark.
The next thing Uriel knew he was flat on his back as a big black shape barreled into him, taking him down into the snow on the front lawn.
Chapter Four
Sydney
“Bruce!” Sydney exclaimed, exploding with laughter as her huge Rottweiler stood on Uriel’s chest, furiously licking his face.
Uriel sputtered, twisting his head left and right to avoid the slobbery tongue, but it followed him everywhere to no avail. Each time he turned his head, he got hit with another wet doggy kiss.
She watched as he sighed and gave in, scratching he dog behind the ears as he nuzzled his face against him, grinning from ear to ear at the same time.
“Hi Bruce,” he got out as the dog took a quick break from licking his face.
Then the dog was gone in a flash, back to his owner as he sat promptly at her feet, then lay down and gave her his belly. She was still howling with delight, but she bent down to rub him vigorously anyway. “Good boy,” she told him, exposing herself to a lick of his long tongue as well.
“Well,” Uriel said as he got to his feet, trying to regain his dignity.
“Do you think—” Sydney couldn’t finish her sentence as she looked at the snow falling off of Uriel. Another fit of laughter descended over her.
That is, until a snowball exploded lightly on her face.
“Oh no you didn’t!” she exclaimed in shock. “Go get him Bruce!”
The dog was expertly trained, and he launched himself at Uriel again. The shifter was ready this time however, and easily dodged to the left.
Where he
took a snowball full on in the face. And it hadn’t been thrown all that lightly either. Sydney was impressed with her accuracy, though she would never admit it aloud.
“Pleh,” he said, spitting out the remnants of it from his mouth as he brought his hand to his face to clear the snow from his eyes.
Bruce chose that moment to jump on his chest again, when he couldn’t see it and couldn’t use his hand for balance. Uriel went down in a heap for a second time, and her laughter redoubled.
“Do you think my little dog is okay with you?” Sydney managed to finally get out.
There were tears streaming down her face she had been laughing so hard and her cheeks were likely red as well.
“I seem to have made a mistake,” he stated.
“Oh?” she said, snorting and then doing her best to cover it up. It wouldn’t do to be too ridiculous around him yet. “And what might that have been?”
“Your dog is slightly larger than anticipated,” he said matter-of-factly. “A slight miscalculation on my part, I’m sure. I was never led to believe otherwise of course.” He shot her an evil glance, promising retribution.
She just laughed at him again and went inside. Uriel started to follow her, then looked at the dog, who was happily frolicking through the deep snow out front.
“What about Bruce?” he asked.
“He’ll be fine, he’s too chicken to go far. I’m not going to be long anyway. Just changing boots and grabbing his leash.”
She saw the dog’s ears perk up as he caught the last word, and the big happy beast came running. His head slammed into Uriel’s leg, but now that he was ready for it the big bear shifter barely swayed with the impact.
“Know that word, do ya boy?” he said, crouching down and giving him a good scratch. Bruce sat obediently and allowed himself to be fawned over while they waited for Sydney. She smiled inside at how quickly the two were bonding.
“Okay Bruce, I’m ready,” she said, pulling the big door closed behind her.
Uriel took the leash from her hands and clipped the lead to the purple collar around the dog’s neck. “Very manly color,” he said, apparently noticing it for the first time.
“Thanks. Bruce picked it out. He’s very picky about stuff like that,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “Seriously, I went through three different types of food before I found one he would eat. He would take a few pieces of it, then just spit it out and refuse to eat it. It was ridiculous!” she exclaimed, shaking her hand at the dog who was happily ignoring her, walking ahead of them, though not straining at the leash.
“He’s incredibly well-trained,” Uriel observed.
She was glad for the conversation starter. Uriel had clearly come to like Bruce already and that meant a lot to her. She trusted her dog’s judgment immensely, and the way he had gone right past her to meet and greet Uriel said a lot of good things about the shifter.
There was a path two houses over that led through a maintained trail into the woodlot, and she guided them that way. Actually Bruce was the one leading the way; he knew his walking trail quite well and she didn’t have to do much more than follow where the leash tugged at her.
“I had a lot of time on my hands when I first got him,” she admitted. “Instead of wasting it, I put it into training him. He’s also very smart, so that helped.”
Uriel nodded. “Did you get him as a puppy?” he asked curiously.
“No,” she said with a shake of her head. “He was only a few months old, but he was a rescue dog. Not many people adopt his breed, and he was scheduled to be put down in a few more weeks if nobody adopted him, so I just had to take him. I’m very glad I did,” she said, and more relief than she had planned slipped into her voice. Internally she cringed, knowing what question was coming next.
“Why’s that?”
There it was. Well, she was in a better place now. No shame in talking about her bad past.
“When I first finished grad school, I had a boyfriend. He was a deadbeat and everybody told me, but I just didn’t believe them. I was in love. Anyway,” she hurried on, not wanting to talk about an ex in front of Uriel, “I didn’t get hired right away, and things got bad. There were at least two occasions where people came to the house looking for money, and Bruce scared them off.”
Uriel nodded slowly, his eyes focused on her. She met them hesitantly, uncertain of how he might react.
“And now?” he asked softly.
“Now I don’t have a deadbeat drug-addicted boyfriend, and I thankfully didn’t get too far into the junkie lifestyle before I got a job. So quitting was much easier.”
His eyes stared into hers, evaluating her statement. She could tell that he was deciding whether she was clean now. Then the serious look broke out into a smile.
“Well I guess I have Bruce to thank for that as well,” he told her.
“What else do you have him to thank for?” she said, narrowing her eyes in suspicion.
“Besides lots of snow down my clothes?” he asked, laughingly dodging the swipe of her hand as she went to gently hit him.
“Besides that,” she growled. “This is my dog, be careful what you say,” she warned with a smile.
“I have him to thank for this,” he said, spreading his hands to indicate the nature around them. “Believe it or not, I don’t get out into the wilderness as much as I wished I could. This is so nice.”
She bit her lip gently at the look of wonder on his face as he took in the landscape they were walking through. It was such an open and unguarded look. It was also incredibly hot. His day-old beard, dark brown hair, and strongly-defined jaw called to her. She wanted to run her hands along his face, to nuzzle herself against his neck.
He was tall, more so than most of the shifters she’d seen, but her own height meant that her face would fit against his neck perfectly. A soft, wistful sigh escaped her, and Uriel quickly glanced over.
Oh shit. He totally heard me!
Sydney felt her cheeks burst into fire, the heat a stark contrast between the cold breeze whistling through the bare woods. She hadn’t meant to get caught staring at him and daydreaming like a little school girl. That was embarrassing. Thankfully Uriel wasn’t saying anything. His eyes stayed focused on her for a few seconds before he looked away.
The empty branches of the trees, interspersed with the rustling pines had given way to an open field.
“Bruce,” she called, and the dog obediently returned to her side. She bent over and unclipped the leash. “Okay, go on.” The dog licked her hand and then took off into the snow-covered field. Snow flew everywhere. Bruce didn’t exactly jump over the snow. He was more like a bulldozer, ferociously plowing it out of the way.
Seconds later he was back, panting happily.
“You want to get the ball?” Uriel said from her side.
She looked over and he was dangling a compacted snowball in his hand, teasing Bruce.
“Oh he has a thing for a ball,” she said dryly. The dog was bounding back and forth, short stubby tail waving energetically.
Uriel drew back and heaved. The snowball was airborne and Bruce was off. He saw it plop into a snowbank in the distance and homed in on his target like a heat-seeking missile. A single sharp bark came back their way as he lunged into the pile of snow where he was absolutely positive the snowball was awaiting him.
“So why Genesis Valley?” came the question.
“The money,” she said bluntly. “I was working at a clinic. It paid okay, but this was almost double. Getting a PhD isn’t exactly cheap, and I had debt I needed to pay off.”
“Had?” he asked.
“Oh yes. Had. All gone now. At least the student loans, that is. I still have to finish paying for the house.”
“That’s no mean feat,” he said, nodding his head her way in admiration. “But why do I feel like the money wasn’t your only reason?” There was no accusation in his voice, nor was there any real question either, it was more of a statement.
“Things got b
ad,” she said at last. She may as well put it all out in the open now. It was something she regretted, but not something that she was still ashamed about. If he couldn’t handle it, then he wasn’t the man she thought him to be. “Real bad. I had a job, but all the money was going to support the habit. Mostly his, but I was definitely a part of it, I can’t lie. I tried to quit, to get him to stop. So many times.”
Bruce came trotting over, his nose covered in snow, proudly admitting that he had no idea where the ball of snow had gone. Nor did he seem to care. He just sat down and looked at them.
Still looking over at her, Uriel bent down, packed another ball together, and heaved it in another direction. She blinked and Bruce was gone, the only thing visible of him the spray, like that of a really fast boat.
“Anyway,” she continued, “I couldn’t take it any longer and one day I tried to leave. He woke up from his stupor just before I reached the front door, and he lost it. Went crazy, gave me a black eye and more.”
A deep, wordless growl erupted in the clearing, startling several black birds in the trees nearby, and causing Bruce to look up in concern from where he was digging like he was panning for gold.
Uriel’s lip had curled back and she could see the rage flare in his eyes, a bright fire of hatred like the eruption of a volcano. He had to visibly calm himself, only returning to the conversation after.
“Sorry,” he gritted out through his teeth, the anger clearly not all dissipated yet.
“It’s okay,” she told him with a smile. The protective instinct wasn’t threatening to her. She knew he hadn’t done it on purpose. “That was enough for me, and the next time I got paid, I made sure to lace his stash so that I knew he would be out cold. I packed everything into a suitcase, got in my piece of crap car, and drove to the library to search for a place to stay. I came across this job opportunity through one website or another, and drove out here. They hired me on the spot and I’ve been here ever since.” Her voice caught in her throat as she remembered breaking down outside of the office after being hired. She had stayed stoic until then, but the realization that she had done it, that she had made it work, had been too much. That was when Courtenay had found her, and the two had become fast friends.