Bait This! (A 300 Moons Book)

by Tasha Black

Something big.

  Hedda planted herself in the center of the clearing. She lifted her palms to the heavens and called to her magic.

  A humming blue ball appeared neatly between her hands. It danced with eagerness, quivering between her palms, awaiting her command.

  Hedda had been lucky to receive some formal training in her youth. She knew that if she could control her breathing her magic would be more focused, more effective.

  But she didn’t feel the coolness that should go along with her best work.

  Her whole body surged with desire for the man she had just met. It was freezing outside, she could see her breath crystallizing on the breeze, but she was wearing a still-damp t-shirt and jeans. She had been hiking for hours and her belly was empty. Through all of it, she had the sleepy post-adrenaline feel of having jumped into frigid water to save someone’s life.

  Use it.

  Her sister’s voice in her head pulled her out of her self-pity.

  Swiftly, she loaded her mental pistol with every discomfort, crushing each into a horrible little nugget ready to be flung at the enemy when he arrived.

  That would be any second now. The bushes trembled.

  Hedda adopted a wide legged stance and reminded herself not to lock her knees. Her heart was beating a mile a minute.

  There was a moment when the movement stopped and it seemed there wasn’t a single sound in the forest.

  Then the stag burst through the trees. He was beautiful. His ivory antlers glowed faintly in the moonlight. But he didn’t move like a stag.

  Instead of the proud, light leap of a real deer, he was charging indelicately, like a drunken brawler. Awkwardly, he lowered his head, bringing his antlers into play.

  Hedda fought her instinct to run. The closer it came, the easier it would be to stun it.

  It was twenty feet away, fifteen now, ten.

  She could see the animal’s eyes. Lifeless, glossed over grey, like a snake getting ready to shed.

  When it was five feet away, Hedda readied herself to strike, gathering the magic from herself to pulse outward.

  A low growl issued from Derek’s place just behind her. She risked a glance at him. He wasn’t looking at the dear at all, but past it, at something in the trees.

  A huge, dark shape lumbered into view.

  Before Hedda had a chance to register what was happening, an enormous black bear exploded out of the trees and attacked the deer.

  She jumped back instinctively and nearly fell on her rear.

  The bear already had his mouth clamped around the screaming creature’s neck, a black pool of blood gushing onto the grass beneath them.

  For a moment Hedda was transfixed with horror. Then it occurred to her to wonder what would happen to the demon occupying the deer.

  She didn’t have to wonder for long.

  The deer’s eyes went dark and then there was a flash in the eyes of the bear.

  Frozen, she watched it drop the deer and rise.

  It would all be over in a heartbeat.

  Sepia toned memories of baking gingerbread and holding sticky hands with her sisters flashed through Hedda’s mind.

  “No!” shouted Derek from behind her.

  16

  Hedda turned and watched as Derek approached. Maybe it was shock, but the whole thing seemed to unfold in slow motion.

  He ran two staggering steps as himself, and then his hands hit the ground.

  But they weren’t hands anymore, they were paws.

  His clothing exploded off of him to reveal brown, glossy fur. And his face lengthened into a long brown snout.

  A bear? He had said he was a wolf.

  But he was clearly a giant, brown bear.

  There was no time to sweat the small stuff, Hedda could only pray that the demon bear wouldn’t harm him.

  She need not have worried.

  Before her eyes, Derek’s brown bear attacked the black one without hesitation.

  Before the black bear could turn to defend himself, the brown bear had bitten savagely into the scruff of his neck and thrown him to his back.

  The ground shook as if there had been a lightning strike.

  Hedda had seen bears fight before. There was normally a lot of posturing and circling first. This was altogether different.

  The black bear jerked strangely on the ground, then wrenched itself free of the brown one, leaving a chunk of its own fur and flesh hanging from the brown bear’s mouth.

  Blood collected in the black bear’s wound, but he seemed unconcerned. He threw himself heavily onto the brown bear and bit into its spine.

  Hedda gasped.

  The brown bear glanced at her and she saw the glimmer of Derek’s blue eyes beneath the mop of glossy brown fur.

  Twisting sideways, he bit again at the black bear’s face: once, twice, viciously slashing his teeth into the meaty jaw.

  But the black bear didn’t seem to mind having part of his face removed.

  And then Hedda realized that the demon didn’t care what happened to his host. He would simply migrate to another if this body didn’t survive.

  Just like that, she knew that Derek was doomed if someone didn’t help him.

  Good thing Hedda had her magic.

  The bears were on their hind legs now, gripping each other’s scruffs and shaking savagely.

  Hedda fought her instincts and stepped in closer, calling the magic into her palms once more.

  She got as close to the battle as she dared, then she began to look for an opening. It would be hard just to hit the demon bear without hitting Derek too.

  Taking a step closer would bring her magic too close to Derek, but bring her within striking distance of the bears as well.

  At last Derek twisted, presenting the black bear’s back to her.

  Hedda launched the ball of blue energy.

  Her aim was true. She hit the black bear squarely in the back of the head.

  Derek threw the other bear to the ground with a resounding thud.

  Before he could mount it and attack again, the life seemed to go out of the possessed bear for a moment.

  A small bird sailed past Hedda, crashing through the tree canopy and into the sky.

  Meanwhile, the black bear began to moan.

  Derek froze, and then backed away from the other bear quickly.

  The black bear sat up and bellowed, batting a paw at its face as if to ask what had happened to its cheek. Then it shook itself and staggered into the woods.

  “Derek,” Hedda whispered to the brown bear.

  She expected that he would shift back right away, but he didn’t.

  Instead, he whirled to face her.

  She froze in place at the wildness in his eyes. This wasn’t mostly Derek, allowing his bear out. This was mostly the bear with Derek still inside.

  He sidled up to her and nuzzled her hands.

  Hedda stood perfectly still, even when he growled at her hands and nosed the fly of her jeans.

  “Derek, please,” she heard herself whisper.

  It was enough. The bear reacted as if she had slapped him. He lumbered away swiftly, uprooting a sapling at the center of the clearing as he left.

  “Come back, Derek,” Hedda encouraged in a soft voice.

  The bear slowly stood upon his hind feet, but did not shift. He paused, his large eyes squeezed shut.

  Nothing.

  He threw his head back. His ear-splitting roar ripped through the clearing.

  Then he came back toward Hedda. His eyes were dark pools without a trace of his own blue color. He panted with excitement, knocking a large stump into the trees with one paw, ripping another sapling out of the ground with the other.

  He was out of control. And there was nothing Hedda could do to stop him.

  17

  As if on its own, the magic gathered in Hedda’s hands.

  “Obtundo,” she heard herself say.

  A shock wave rippled through the air toward the big brown bear. It hit him in his massive
chest, but most of it seemed to roll right off. This was beyond the usual shifter magic resistance. What was going on with him?

  The blast, which should have knocked him off his feet, had at least stunned him. Hedda didn’t waste any time. She turned and dashed into the trees before he could recover.

  She ran through the undergrowth, slender branches, like fingers, sliding along her clothing. Each footstep brought up the scent of pine needles as they bent to mold themselves to the bottoms of her sneakers. The occasional blades of long grass tried to cling to her calves.

  The magic did this, made her so irresistible even the plants desired her when it built up too much.

  She had released so much magic already today, but it must be teeming just beneath the surface from her fright.

  Hedda forced herself to slow down and listen.

  Sounds of the woods came back to her. Owls, the wind in the trees.

  No thrashing of a bear through the woods behind her, no shuddering footsteps.

  Tickling on her forearm alerted her to a length of English ivy that had unwound from the tree beside her to wrap loosely around her elbow.

  Hedda brushed it off and took a step forward. There was a groaning sound as the tree that housed the ivy stretched its branches after her.

  Rustling in the trees overhead got her moving again.

  She tried walking slowly and getting her breath under control. The squirrels from the trees above came down close and followed along, but didn’t try to touch her.

  A bird began to alight on her shoulder.

  Hedda closed her eyes and envisioned the crisp blue light of the magic settling down, the effervescence fading.

  The bird veered into the darkness at the last moment, its wing brushing her cheek like a kiss.

  How had it come to this?

  She had paid her penance, she thought. But everything Hedda touched went mad.

  She thought of the Copper Creek post office, and David’s face appeared before her eyes. He was a nice guy with a kind smile. He’d always ogled her, like the others did. But he seemed to feel bad about it, and that was unique.

  How many parcels and packages of magic stones had he dutifully stamped and given her tracking slips for before he asked her to have coffee with him? How many cups of coffee before she had let him kiss her?

  She would never forget the feeling. She had been so cautious, so curious about his touch.

  He had kissed her full out like she was the fountain of youth and he was on his death bed.

  She’d pulled backed.

  “What if I were ugly?” she asked.

  “What?” he’d blinked at her, half drunk with lust.

  “What if I weren’t beautiful? Do you only like me because of the way I look?” she’d asked again.

  “N-no, I love you no matter how you look,” he said, already leaning in to continue the kiss.

  But she had pushed him away and promised him another cup of coffee tomorrow.

  The next day she had gone to the top of the mountain above the cottage and expelled her magic until it was depleted. A stand of trees lay on their sides, dead to her force, but it was done.

  She’d trotted down the mountain, trying to ignore the few neighbors she met. They stared, after her, probably wondering why she looked different.

  Down at the post office, she had waited her turn in line with her day’s parcel.

  Her heart throbbed in her chest with excitement and fear. Would he still like her? Would he still want to kiss her? There was no other way to know for certain what his feelings were.

  At last she stood before him.

  “Can I help you?” he asked in a bored way.

  She drew back.

  “Ma’am?” he asked.

  “David?” she murmured.

  “Do I know you?” he asked.

  She drew the package tight against her chest and backed away.

  When she reached the door an older woman was coming in.

  “Are you coming or going?” the woman asked in an irritated way.

  Hedda sobbed and ran out the door of the post office.

  The little town that had for a time seemed so bright and cheerful was gray once more and the details blurred behind her tears.

  A few hours later the trouble had happened at the mine.

  Hedda had missed the omen in her excitement.

  The next time she visited the trees she’d struck on top of the mountain she recognized that their trunks had fallen in a pattern to form an Eye of Darkness.

  And when she heard the screams that evening of the mine tragedy, her magic was depleted by her own hand, leaving her powerless to help.

  18

  The moment his mate was out of danger, Derek’s adrenaline waned and the world slammed in, terrifying him with scents so intense they seemed like living things. Vision faded to the back of his consciousness as the scent of the female rushed to the foreground.

  He had frightened her, that much was certain. Though he also knew he had not harmed her. The sugar of her breath, and the bouquet of spices beckoning to him from between her legs had beguiled him. He could still feel the rough texture of the fabric separating her sex from his questing snout.

  When she shooed him away he had been overwhelmed with inchoate fury.

  Derek wanted.

  The female wanted.

  Derek should take. He wasn’t a cub.

  But he wasn’t Derek, not really. The human Derek roared and screamed behind the bars. But the brown bear did not acknowledge him.

  It wasn’t that he hated the man, though he had been caged these decades. It was more that they had never communicated freely and he didn’t really know how.

  When the bear wanted influence and could control his temper, he would press in on the man, influencing him before he realized it, especially in moments of cusp, when the man was distracted.

  But the man seemed overwhelmed with fear at being behind the bars, and would be of no help.

  So the bear flung himself through the trees, happy to be free.

  At first he followed the female closely.

  She was his, that much was certain. Soon she would be ready to receive him, so he could not let her out of the reach of his senses.

  But she was not ready for him yet.

  And the taste of blood was still on him.

  So he stretched his leash on her, and searched for prey.

  Derek could smell meat in the woods. It was as though the night were full of nothing but beating hearts and the rush of blood through tiny veins.

  The smallest were too fast, and wouldn’t make much of a meal.

  But there was something, not a deer and not a squirrel. Its heart beat a thousand miles a minute. It shot through the air, long ears sailing behind it. Delightful.

  As he neared it, there was a tug on the mental leash and he scented the trail of the female at the peak of the mountain. She would be descending and he could lose her scent if he allowed her to go without following.

  Annoyed, he lumbered on without his meal. Moving quickly was tiresome and his belly grumbled.

  Inside his head, the man made complaining sounds and rattled the bars.

  Derek shook his head and felt his thick ruff dance around his neck. He had no intention of switching places.

  But he would follow the female. Somehow they would claim her. If only she were a bear, it would be much easier.

  At the top of the peak, he thrust his snout into the air.

  There was the delicious scent of the woman, heading down toward water, teeming with fish. Food and female, the scents of heaven.

  But there was also the odor of other humans, long gone. And an awful burning smell that stuck in his nose, ruining the other scents.

  What could it be?

  “I know what it is!” the man in his head proclaimed.

  Humph.

  “It’s the mine, the old coal mine. Let me in, please let me back in,” the man begged.

  Derek the brown bear galumph
ed down the mountain instead. He would know the truth of it soon enough. The real truth, not the part with the words.

  19

  Hedda had calmed herself.

  That particular memory was always sobering, even tonight. Even in the dark and the wind and after being charged at by two bears.

  As soon as she had a hold of herself again she noticed the bird.

  The bird that had not landed on her shoulder earlier was flying overhead, circling and then fluttering back under the trees to strut and pace on the branches of the trees ahead of her.

  The truth hit her in the head like a two by four.

  This was the demon. This was the bird that had flown away from the black bear. The demon had changed hosts, as she had known it would.

  It seemed pretty adept at using the bird’s form compared with the bear. But a bird would take very little energy to control, so it had likely been a bird before.

  Hedda followed it, hoping it wasn’t as aware of her as she was of it.

  If she tracked it long enough, it would have to go back to its source. The source would tell Hedda everything she needed to know about the threat. Maybe it would even be something she could take out on her own.

  She allowed herself to picture the joy on her sisters’ faces when she told them that her persistence had paid off and she had ensured that the portal was truly safe.

  This was her shot at redemption.

  She wasn’t going to screw it up.

  20

  Deep inside the brown bear, Derek managed to stop screaming.

  Once he took the time to notice, the world through the bear’s senses was riveting. The woods, which had been no more than a dark moist backdrop, had turned into a tapestry of life. Scents of animals, plant life and the sparkling water of the creek below swirled before him like colors: rich black soil, green pine needles, crystal blue water and through it all, the seductive drumbeat of Hedda’s heart.

  When he calmed, he also noticed that the bear was hungry, but that he was unwilling to let that drumbeat grow softer in his ears.

  This realization unexpectedly endeared the creature to Derek. Though he knew it was just a mating instinct, from the inside he saw that it had the flavor of protection and deep affection as well.