by Amy Star
She didn’t think Mason saw her at all. He just saw an opportunity.
She sighed heavily. He hadn’t even noticed how the deer had stuck around the day before, calmed by her presence despite the strange man and vehicle. It was as if he didn’t see the world around him at all.
“It’s a damn shame,” she said to the doe.
The doe blinked; then just as quickly as she’d appeared, she was gone.
“Goodbye,” Clara muttered, chuckling as she opened the book.
The fawn made a soft noise that Clara almost didn’t hear, then he looked over his back at her one last time before he followed his mother into the bushes. Turning her attention back to the book, she wasn’t surprised to see that the page was opened to a love spell. It seemed that the book was always falling open to a relevant topic.
“Very funny,” she said, trying to turn the page.
The book wouldn’t budge, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get the pages apart so she could turn them.
“Whatever,” she said.
She rolled her eyes and stuffed the book back into her back pack. When it started flopping about inside the bag, she ignored it. She was not going to cast a love spell on Mason, even if it would make all her problems go away. She just wasn’t like that. If she ended up in bed with Mason, she wanted it to be by his choice, not because of a spell she put on him.
“I don’t expect a book to understand that,” she said.
The movement in the backpack stopped abruptly.
Apparently, I hurt its feelings, she thought, not feeling the least bit guilty. It was a book, after all—even if it did have certain quirky qualities that defied logic.
She sat there until the sun rose completely, enjoying the quiet calm that healed her soul from the inside out. All the pain of the past year melted away. Her grandmother’s loss still hung heavy on her heart, but being connected to a place she’d spent so much time at was helping. There were still so many mysteries for her to unlock, but those could wait. She knew that the answers would come to her at the right time, and she had all the time in the world.
CHAPTER SIX
Mason was pulling into the parking lot of the tiny grocery store in Little Hope when his phone rang.
It was Bethany.
“I hope you have good news,” he said by way of a greeting.
“You know, this waiting until you’re in town to talk to you is a real pain in the ass. Are you sure you want to live like that year-round?”
“I do,” he assured her. “But, I’ve been told the county is getting some more cell towers, so it shouldn’t be a problem for much longer.”
“That’s a relief.”
“I doubt it will be much better for voice calls, but you’ll be able to get a text through on a clear day, and I’ll be able to check my email.”
“Even better.”
“So, do you have news?” he pressed.
“I do have news,” Bethany said tentatively. “I’m not sure if you’re going to think it’s good, but I found out a few things that I think you’ll find interesting.”
“I’ll take anything I can get at this point,” Mason said. “It’s only been two days and I’m ready to be done with this.”
“Has she caused you some kind of trouble?”
“No,” he said, laughing. “She’s just one of those people who’s the perfect neighbor. She’s already brought homemade muffins to my house, made entirely from scratch.”
“That doesn’t sound half bad.”
“It doesn’t, but she seems quite at home, and at this rate, I don’t think she’s going to leave on her own. I need something I can use to convince her. I hope you have something useful.”
“Probably not. Clara is an only child, raised by her grandmother, and the sole heir to Coral Finch’s estate. That much, we knew. But what we didn’t know was how much Cora’s estate was worth. It turns out that Coral left her only granddaughter more than a house and a cabin in the mountains. Coral Finch invested wisely several decades ago, and while I’m not sure she was aware of it, she was a millionaire.”
“And now, Clara has that money,” Mason finished.
“She does. Some of it was already in her name. The grandmother obviously invested in her own name and Clara’s when Clara was really young. Cora also left a pretty sizable bank account in addition to the very expensive house in a prime location in Seattle.”
“All still workable, seeing as new money has a way of spending itself into the poor house again with a windfall like that.”
“That’s the other thing. Coral’s house has been appraised for nearly one million dollars, and the bank account she left was another five hundred thousand.”
“That seems like a lot of money, but it doesn’t go far in Seattle,” Mason offered.
“Well, there’s still four hundred and fifty thousand left in the account. Apparently, Clara isn’t much of a spender. Most of that went to paying off her debts.”
“Alright, so money doesn’t motivate her. What else do you have?”
“Nothing. I have nothing else. No illegal activities, no questionable dealings. Nothing. Clara Finch is clean as a whistle and has no ties to the city. She has no reason to come back.”
“What about her job?”
“Royalties from a series of popular cookbooks she wrote four years ago.”
“Great. So, nothing I can use.”
“Sorry, there’s nothing. Unless you can think of something.”
He hesitated.
“I have something, but I’m not certain it will work,” he started, not entirely sure why he was suddenly against a plan that had felt so right the other night.
Was it because she’d been so kind to him, and she seemed like such a sweet and trusting person?
Because it’s a dick move, a voice in the back of his mind declared. He shook his head, waving at a local who recognized his car as they hurried into the store.
“What is it?” Bethany pressed.
“There has been some…tension between us. Maybe I’m misreading her, but that doesn’t matter.”
“You think she’s attracted to you?”
“The thought has crossed my mind.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised.”
He could almost feel Bethany blushing through the phone. He smiled.
“Anyway, so I thought about seducing her, and once she’s fallen hard, I could—”
“Dump her,” Bethany finished.
“Basically. I don’t think anything else can convince her to walk away from this place, to be honest.”
“A broken heart is a big motivator. Working in real estate, I can’t tell you the number of women I’ve come across that have picked up and moved across the country to try and outrun a broken heart.”
“Do you think it will work?”
“I do, actually. And she’s so trusting. I didn’t even have to give her my website to let her check me out before she was willing to spill everything. It’s like she knew that she could trust me just from listening to my voice.”
“She’s a little odd,” Mason admitted.
“Where is she now? I’m surprised she didn’t follow you into town.”
“I don’t know. When I woke up, her car was gone and the cabin was locked up.”
“You tried to get into her cabin?” Bethany laughed.
“I was being nosey.”
“I’ll say. Where do you think she’s gone?”
“I have no idea. I’ve been staying up all night and coming home at sunrise, so I slept right through her leaving. There’s no telling where she went or how long she’s been gone, but I’m sure she’s coming back.”
“You could get lucky,” Bethany teased.
“I doubt that will happen. She seems stubborn.”
“You usually like that.”
Mason chuckled.
“You’re right. I definitely like a woman who doesn’t bend to my whims easily, but this is different.”
“Are
you going to be able to, you know?”
Mason laughed.
“I forgot that you haven’t seen this woman. Yes, I’ll be able to enjoy the chase. It’s a shame, really. If she was one of us, I might be inclined to mate with her.”
Bethany hissed in his ear.
“Shh!” she whispered. “Not all of us can afford to be outed.”
“Are you on your business line?” he asked, shocked that Bethany would risk having any call with him recorded.
“Yes,” she said. “I didn’t think…”
She stopped abruptly, trying to regain her composure. When he heard the phone click in his ear, he sighed.
Within seconds, his phone rang again, this time from Bethany’s cell phone.
“You know, you could move out here,” he offered without saying hello. “I have only invited a few families, and there’s room for more.”
“I like living here,” Bethany said. “I’m happy with my life.”
“You can have both. We’ve been friends a long time, Bethany. If you want to just come on the weekends and let your fur out, you can do that, too.”
Bethany laughed.
“I was never about that life,” she said. “If I had it my way, I wouldn’t be a bear.”
“Of course, you would,” he said, shocked by her words.
“No, I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t choose a life where buying a damn mountain and creating a colony is the only way to live a life of freedom. I don’t need to shift, Mason.”
“We all need to,” he insisted. “It’s ingrained in us.”
“If you deny the urge long enough, it goes away. It’s been years since I’ve shifted, and if I go the rest of my life without having to go through that again, it will be too soon.”
“I can’t believe what I’m hearing.”
“Believe it. Some of us are just happy to be human.”
“But you’re not.”
“You’re the only one who knows that,” she said softly. “And I’d appreciate it if it stayed that way.”
“Yes, of course. I wouldn’t tell anyone about you. But Bethany, please. Think about it. There’s no reason for you to live a life in hiding.”
“I’m not hiding. I’m just happy the way I am.”
“Fine,” he said. “I’m not going to argue with you about how you feel.”
“Thanks. Listen, I’m going to keep digging and see if I can find anything else out about Clara. If I find anything worth reporting, I’ll let you know. I think seducing her is going to be your best bet. For what it’s worth, I think any woman would be lucky to have you, even if it was only for a little while.”
“Thank you,” he said, but Bethany had already disconnected.
Mason shook his head, sighing heavily. He couldn’t make Bethany embrace who she was any more than he could break the curse that had plagued his kind for over a generation. She would always be welcome, as would any of their kind, but he had a feeling that Bethany would be content to hide who she was for the rest of her life.
“It’s a damn shame,” he muttered under his breath, finally getting out of the car and heading into the grocery store.
He didn’t want to be too long, and his chat with Bethany had already set him way behind. He was almost inside when lighting brightened the sky, followed by a loud crack of thunder. The sky opened up, and in the short distance between his car and the store, he managed to run fast enough to keep from getting too wet, but the rain was already coming down hard. He had to hurry before the roads had standing water on them.
He rushed through his grocery list and checked out, excusing himself as he eased past the shoppers gathered around the front doors waiting for the rain to let up. Without missing a beat, he ran out into the lot, tossed everything into the cargo space, and jumped into the car. This time, he didn’t escape the soaking rain, but he didn’t mind. It felt good on his skin, and even though the raindrops were icy, the air in his Trackhawk was warm and comfortable. He would have to wait until he got to the cabin to change, but at least he wasn’t miserable.
He watched the roads as he drove home, but the storm tapered off to a soft drizzle well before the roads started to hold water.
Careful not to go too fast, he made his way up the mountainside and didn’t stop until he pulled into the garage. He unloaded the car, leaving the windows rolled down to let the car dry out, then took the stairs two at a time to the second floor.
He decided to take a hot shower, reveling in the feel of the hot water against his chilled skin. Scrubbing briskly, he was warm again in a few seconds, hot water flowing down over his muscles and disappearing down the drain. He let his head fall back as he rinsed the shampoo away, letting go of so much of his stress.
Clara Finch was on his mind, the weight of what he planned to do more than he had expected. It wasn’t that he thought she was a bad person; it was just that she wasn’t one of them. He’d learned the hard way that you couldn’t trust a human to keep your secrets, and the last woman he’d trusted had almost destroyed him. Clara was probably just as sweet as she seemed to be, but people changed when they heard “werebear”. He’d seen it before, and he wasn’t willing to take the chance.
Clara’s broken heart would heal, and she’d be better off in the long run. Sure, being in the forest like this felt good in the late spring when the worst thing that happened was an occasional cold snap with a few inches of snow.
But in the dead of winter, when her survival would depend on months of preparation, she would find herself housebound for days, if not weeks, at a time without proper clothing and equipment, and she would discover pretty quickly that life on the mountain wasn’t all fun and games. If he could spare her that experience, then she would probably be secretly grateful—probably.
Mason lingered in the hot shower long after the soap was gone and the water ran clean down the drain, finally getting out when the bathroom had completely filled with steam. Wrapping a towel around his waist, he walked out of the bathroom and into his bedroom. At the far end of the second floor, his bedroom has three outer walls with the bathroom sharing an inner wall. The bathroom was the size of a single bedroom, as was the walk-in closet beside it.
He could access the closet from the bedroom or the bathroom, but he preferred to stay naked in his own room, enjoying the view through three walls of windows. To conserve energy and afford him privacy, the windows were made with a tinted glass that let in some light, but most of the daylight that lit the room and several others in the cabin came through skylights.
If he was right up next to the glass, his silhouette could be seen from the outside during the day. The other windows, those in the living room, across from the hall, and in the foyer, weren’t tinted, a fact he was mindful of even though he’d been the only one around for so long.
Even with Clara there, he didn’t worry. She was usually in her cabin and in bed right after sundown, and he didn’t typically see her until he woke up around noon, if he saw her at all. In the days since she’d arrived, she’d been a model neighbor. Unfortunately for Clara, her good nature didn’t affect his choice. She didn’t belong, and she couldn’t stay.
Speaking of Clara,” he said, noticing movement in the road that separated their two properties. “What is she doing?”
He saw the top of her head first, the drizzle that remained after the storm obscuring the rest of her until she was a little closer. When he could finally see her clearly, he sucked in a quick breath.
“She’s got to be kidding,” he said, flying down the stairs for the garage, incredulous that she would borrow his four-wheeler without asking. “How did she even…”
He stopped, staring at his four-wheeler in the garage. If his was still in the garage, where did she get—
“Damn it, that’s where she went,” he said under his breath, pushing the button to raise the garage door, frustrated that she seemed to be moving more firmly in when she should have been on her way out.
She pulled right up in his driveway, track
ing mud, in the brand-new four-wheeler that was the upgraded version of his own, complete with a little bed in the back to carry cargo.
“Man, that was fun!” she said, cutting the nearly silent engine and stepping off the machine. “I’ve been working on the road for a while, but I think I got…”
She stopped, staring at him openly. He looked at her, unsure for an instant what had given her pause. Then, he remembered.
“You’re naked,” she said matter-of-factly, unbothered. “Well, I’m assuming you’re naked under that towel. Did I interrupt something?”
She arched one delicate eyebrow, a knowing smirk on her face. He decided to change the subject in hopes that she would ignore the fact that he was standing in the doorway of his garage fresh from the shower and in nothing but a towel.
He already knew that tactic wasn’t going to work, but he pressed on anyway.
“Worked on what road?” he asked.
“The road that leads from here to my house. My Forester was having a hell of a time, so while I was in town, I decided to get one of these four-wheelers. They didn’t have the one just like yours, so I was stuck getting the newer model, but it’s perfect. And look, it even has attachments for ranch work. This one grades roads until they’re smooth. I got rid of all the ruts on the road, and there’s enough of a dip on either side for the water to flow during rain. It will probably need to be maintained throughout the year, but I don’t mind. It was so much fun.”
She was covered with mud, exhilarated and smiling like a fool. It was clear that she was enjoying the work as much as she said she was.
Damn, he thought. Every time he thought he had her figured out, she threw another wrench into his plan. But when the novelty wore off, would she still be so excited by the work? He seriously doubted it.
“How did you get that here?” he asked, afraid of what the answer would be.
“I had it delivered.”
“On the mountain?” he asked, shocked and angry.
She laughed.
“No, that would be ridiculous. They delivered it to Little Hope and I met them down by the feed store.”