by Daphne Snow
Crossing Paths
BY
Daphne Snow
Copyright 2021 by Daphne Snow
All rights reserved. Except for use in review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part, by any means, is forbidden without written permission from the author. Sale of this book is wholly unauthorized. This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual events or person living or dead is purely coincidental.
To my own warm bear.
Thank you for showing me I can’t give up even when everything seems hopeless. I love you
Chapter 1
Francesca Bianchi sighed heavily as the plane she rode from LAX finally slid into its assigned spot at the JFK airport. Her bear had been restless the entire time and it wasn't exactly keen on being cramped up in a small space for hours on end.
She hadn’t touched base for more than a few minutes before she realized she would not only have the world's most intrusive migraine but the time difference was going to be the death of her.
She’d left California around five. The sun was just starting to fade but the day was still beautiful and bright. No one seemed to have a care in the world. So, she was feeling hopeful.
Of course though flying could never just be that easy. She ended up with two layovers and her ears had popped for about the fourth time since she had boarded her first flight. By the time she had got to New York, the sky was dark and the only bright lights were the orange and yellow-hued street lamps and buildings.
It was almost as if the sun never touched this place. What did she expect though? It had always been like this. When she was a child she always thought there wasn't something right with how cloudy it was. Even during the summer the clouds seemed to loom ominously over her head. Almost as if they were telling her she didn’t belong. That they didn't want her here.
Time and time again she had to agree. She would never say she was the biggest fan of the northeastern state. She had hardly liked to proclaim it her birthplace.
Which never sat quite right with other people she had met over the years from Brooklyn. It was as if you didn’t like Brooklyn, you were a traitor or a social pariah. Her co-worker Heather for instance was so excited to have someone to talk to from Brooklyn. But as soon as the words ‘not my favorite place’ left Frannies mouth she avoided her like the plague.
Of course Fran didn’t hate all of it though. She didn’t think she could carry that amount of distaste around on her shoulders for years anyway. She had loved NewYork for the potential it held and the hopes and dreams it provided people. Frannie however had lived here for far too many years, she couldn't be blinded. She knew the trouble and issues real people who lived here dealt with. Poverty, addictions and the huge monetary gap from one neighborhood to the next.
Frannie had always wanted to get away. Go somewhere warm and cozy. Somewhere the sun shone so bright you couldn’t deny its brilliance. For a long time though that had just been dreams. She could never forget how each day when she woke up and looked outside the trees were still barren and the cold crowded streets always irritated her reminding her she was living in a frozen hellscape.
Thankfully she had left this behind four years ago and this was just a visit. She would leave eventually. She had to remind herself of that.
For her, the cons had outweighed the pros by miles. The next time she returned to Brooklyn for good it’d be in a body bag.
The release of the seat belt sign finally went off and over the intercom, the stewardess thanked everyone for their patronage and informed them they could start departing the plane. Frannie stood and stretched, careful not to hit her head on the overhead compartments. She felt her little bear stretch beautifully within her aching for a run.
She whispered, still having trouble with inward communication, “In a little bit, I promise”. To her bear Fey, gently. She was a sensitive creature, powerful and fierce but ultimately sensitive. Fey had taken it upon herself more than once to take control in very ‘emotional’ circumstances.
Since the last time, Frannie had made sure to be in full control of Fey...and herself.
She had been thankful to see the plane had been sparse. When she made the last-minute reservation she had been sure she was going to be facing a plane full of aggravated people, snoring, children screaming and couples fighting. Not really a plane ride she was looking forward to.
There had been mostly elderly individuals and the odd businessman or two. Nothing that would have caused her to panic too much. Her anxiety was a bitch when there was no way out. She had stolen an empty seat all the way in the back and listened to music or did her best to pay attention to the inflight movie, not thinking about how many miles she was up in the air. Fey had paced for an hour before settling back from the far reaches of Frannies mind.
Frannie would be lying if she said she was looking forward to the next week. Spending an extended amount of time with a bunch of drunk shifters with no boundaries hadn't been high on her to-do list. Fey growled within her at the thought. She hated the idea as much as Frannie did. It meant limited runs and time spent on those runs would be in the cold. Fey hated the cold.
Frannie quickly grabbed her carry on, straightened her double-breasted coat and headed towards the exit. Wanting to get this nightmare done and over with her steps were quick. She passed sleeping passengers and the disgruntled faces of people ready to go home. She smiled at the stewardess who just like her appeared tired.
And like Frannie, she could tell the young woman was a shifter. It was in her scent. The scent shifters and other supernatural beings gave off was more potent then humans. This woman in particular smelt like lilac and something feline.
She certainly wasn't a blooding, they only ever carried the scent of death and kept their distance anyways. One wouldn’t be working on an airline. She wasn’t human either, they had a certain smell that shifters weren’t interested in. If she had to describe it, they smelt bland and just plain uninteresting.
Few shifters ever trusted humans afraid they would experiment on them or try to kill them. It was a reasonable thought considering how they treated people of different sexual orientations and colors. Even bloodlings would keep their distance from the easy seeming prey.
“Have a good night”. Frannie said locking gazes and flashing her bear's amber eyes momentarily, hoping she’d understood. The stewardess smiled back and waved a goodbye, her eyes flashing a pair of yellow cat eyes before returning to a more human appropriate set of eyes.
It was subtle and only something the two of them would pick up on.
Stepping off the plane and into the connecting vestibule was not pleasant, to say the least. The cold wind blasted through the connector's cracks bringing bits of snow with it. Frannie immediately went to grab her arms not prepared for the sudden chill. She hadn't been back home in three years and her body was no longer prepared to become a popsicle.
She’d visited one other time since moving to California four years ago and thankfully for her it had been during summer. Not that it was ever much warmer in summer in the north. At least not by her California standards.
Though her mother liked to say the extra pounds kept her warmer in the winter. Something in time Frannie realized was more of an insult than a compliment. Then again over the years, Frannie realized a lot of things her mother said to her were meant to bring her down.
Fey whined causing Frannie to rush down the hall away from the windy vestibule. The grey walls shook as she went. I hate this. Fey whined again. The small bear within her wasn’t a fan of the frigid temperatures or people. Even when they lived here she made a point to try to stay ind
oors making Frannie look like a recluse to the rest of the neighborhood. Having lived in the very predominant Italian part of Brooklyn in Bensonhurst. Everyone and anyone knew your business. So it never surprised her the other kids made fun of her calling her fatty Frannie.
They claimed she stayed inside, ate all winter and stored her fat….like a bear. Go figure.
With her carry-on in tow she reached the mouth of the gate that attaches to the long hallway leading up to the luggage carousels. She pressed her fingers to her tired red blotched eyes quickly after surveying the scene.
There were people everywhere.
Maybe she had been lucky with her flight but everyone and their mother from other flights had come pouring out as well, all trying to meander to their respected luggage carousels.
Anxiety was creeping up her neck causing her to start to panic. By the gods this was turning into the worst decision of her life. She breathed slowly, calming herself down. She wasn't gonna get anywhere fast by freaking out. Her bear spoke in her mind a timid yet commanding voice. Leave. It's cold and crowded. I hate it.
What on earth was she thinking agreeing to come home in the middle of winter. She could have been in her cozy apartment sipping on a bottle of merlot right now and watching the Golden Girls. Fey would have been content to stay within her after a good run in the canyon and some hunting. She would have been shitting rainbows and sunshine, happy in her secluded bliss. Instead she was here surrounded by everything she hated the cold, people and air travel.
Where was she even going to find a place to run in the middle of New York. Her parents' house in Brooklyn didn't exactly have the ideal running space with their small unkempt backyard.
Her mind started to go awry. She felt on edge and uncomfortable thinking about how she was going to handle Fey for the next seven days.
For a few minutes, as the other passengers passed by, Frannie contemplated getting on the next flight home and telling her folks she just couldn't make it this year. She knew that’d never work though they'd sooner kill her than accept her excuses. She’d never hear the end of it from Ray, her mother's husband. Ray and Frannie hadn't exactly gotten along over the years. So that would be fun, explaining why she had gotten on a plane to fly all the way here just to go home. Ray would have given her shit but also would have been happy he didn’t have to see her.
Her mother on the other hand had ‘endured’ not having seen her only child for the past three years. Another day and she might as well disown her. Then again Frannie wondered how terrible that would really be. Not at all, if she was being honest with herself. Though she couldn't let that stop her either. They were her only family.
She had promised she would come and as reluctant as she was right now she was not about to break that promise.
Frannie smiled and told herself “This was nothing”. Calming both her and Fey in the process. They had been through much worse. An airport crowd was a bottom tier issue.
They could do this.
Frannie took a loose hair tie from her jeans back pocket and quickly pulled her curly auburn hair into a messy bun not wanting it to get caught on other people as she struggled through them.
“Here we go.” She muttered to Fey entering the stream of people headed towards the stairs. She dipped and dodged around slower passengers getting around a good lot of them. She was a curvaceous woman with large breasts and an even larger ass. So pushing through the denser crowds had been harder. Every one seemed packed in like sardines. Fey egged her on wanting to get through these people as badly as she did, clawing and growling within her. And if you had a bear making noises at you to hurry up, you did.
Finally getting to the luggage carousel Frannie looked for her distinctive red suitcase with a silver bow tied to the handle. She didn’t wanna lose it in the crowd and thought the bow would help. Now that she thought about it, it was a little too in season. Several other varying shades of pink, red, and maroon bags had come down. Some with holiday bows or silver ribbons hanging from them.
She couldn't even sniff out her bag to identify it. Can't smell, Fey told her nervously. “I know.” Frannie responded annoyed and frustrated. The overwhelming scents from the crowd muddled her acute senses. Between the babies spitting up onto their parents and the intense smells of different perfumes, she was getting dizzy.
Frannie managed to keep her head on straight somehow. Along with other passengers checking and moving the luggage all around, she finally spotted hers coming down the conveyor. The silver sparkly bow glinting in the harsh overhead lighting.
As she reached for it another hand came down quickly to grab it up. A man in a black tweed long coat had started to walk off with it. Fey became angered reaching for the surface, it took a lot for Frannie to keep her at bay.She was inissitant when she wanted to be. Damned bear.
Steal from us? We will see. Catch him! She growled violently.
Fey had not typically been the violent type well...that wasn’t exactly true. Fey was mostly talk and very few times bite. But the day had been trying on them both. With how tired she was and how anxious Fey was getting she wondered if she would make it out of the airport without there being a sudden spotting of a small black bear being reported on the news.
She followed the man getting past the crowd. The smells were starting to disperse where only one delicious scent remained. As soon as she was able she grabbed the back of her suitcase halting his advance.
His long strides had him near the gates' external doors in a flash. Frannie had to run to keep up. Her breaths came fast as she was exhausted from travel and not exactly in running shape.
She breathed hard for a moment hefting her carry-on back onto her shoulder before looking up at him. He looked back at her with a brow of confusion gracing his face. Frannie was taken aback, he was handsome. Not in the way they tried to make those male models in magazines look. No, he was ruggedly handsome still with sharp features like a brooding rouge. The kind of man you’d find getting his hands dirty and then being able to walk into a business meeting at the same time. A powerful jaw with a bit of stubble and these eyes. These eyes that reminded her of a foggy forest. Deep green yet cold, the kind of magnificence you could get lost in.
She recognized his scent. The deep musk smelled like a dark wood pine forest similar to the ones she worked in. It was the one smell that stood out amongst the rest. His scent was delicious and heady as it surrounded her. Suffocating her in its intoxicating embrace. Frannie felt her eyes glow from chocolate to amber and back.
He was a shifter, a bear shifter to be exact. It made sense with how big of a man he was. Even as he wore an expensive-looking black suit she could tell he was probably all muscle under there. He looked like a mystery wrapped up in a bow or suit really. Everything about him seemed ominous dark and inviting to her. In a way she couldn’t explain she needed to touch him or she felt like she was just going to die.
Okay, maybe it was a little dramatic, but she felt that way, and it shocked her.
The air around him screamed of dominance. Bears didn’t travel in packs like wolves. So there was no one alpha among them. But they could recognize a more dominant bear in front of them. Fey had recognized his dominance and rolled amorously within her.
Fey nearly pleaded, Want him! He can have the bag, but we want him. Frannie didn’t answer her and just kept staring. His lips were drawing her in. They were almost pursed in a hard line yet she could tell they had an acute plumpness to them at rest. She felt a strong pull to kiss him in a way she never thought to kiss a man before.
“Can I help you?” He asked snapping Frannie from her slight trance. His deep tired voice sent a wave of need rushing through her and pooling in her belly. She was nearly bent over her suitcase reaching for him and looking like she was about to climb him like a tree at an indie festival. It wasn’t exactly appropriate for the public.
She blushed, straightening herself wondering how much of a mess she must've looked like. Her hair half out of its bun and her clothe
s crooked from moving through crowds of people. She flashed her bear’s eyes in greeting like she had the stewardess, careful not to give the prowling girl too much power. His face softened at that yet still like a hard shield he looked at her. Frannie pointed towards her bag.
“Oh...ah yeah that's my bag. It has my clothes in it. I got it on discount cause it's got a tear...on the back. And the zipper is a little...wonky.” If someone looked up the definition of awkward in the dictionary there would be her face right next to it.
This man looked like sex on legs and she could hardly form a normal sentence near him. Any sensible woman would try to be cute and charming but she wasn’t the type. Hell she couldn’t even manage blandly conversational. The man raised an eyebrow and ran a quick hand through his soft-looking black hair before he bent down to find the luggage tag.
He didn't flash his bear’s eyes as she had expected and she wondered if maybe her nose was incredibly off. But he also had not questioned her glowing amber eyes for that moment. Fey rolled around inside Frannie, pawing at the surface. She wanted to submit to this man which was not normal for her. Fey had made a point of disrupting any potential relationships Frannie may have had over the years. With shifters and non-shifters alike.