SHIFT: Five Complete Novellas (Bear Bites Book 5)

by Ruby Dixon

  He rubs his head and looks sheepish. “So, uh, I’m not the kind who normally calls girls back. All of my hook-ups usually happen at a bar and don’t last beyond dawn.”

  “I don’t know whether to be relieved or horrified at that confession.”

  “Both?” he offers. “I’m not exactly proud of it myself, but that was before.”

  “Before…?”

  “Before you,” he says seriously, and takes my hand in his. “We do need to talk, Caro, because I didn’t tell you the entire truth of who I am.”

  My stomach clenches uncomfortably. Oh, God. Here it comes. “Just spit it out.”

  “I’m a…bear.”

  When he doesn’t continue, I prompt him. “Bare what?”

  “No, I’m a bear. A bear shifter.” His handsome face is solemn, no trace of his normal laughing grin. “You’ve heard of werewolves, right? I’m like that, except my people turn into bears.”

  I’m silent for a long moment, digesting this.

  “Well?” he asks.

  I resist the urge to punch his arm again. “I think you should quit telling me lies and just admit the truth, Leo! What’s this big secret?”

  He sighs and rubs his forehead. “This is harder than I thought.”

  Chapter Nine

  LEO

  I didn’t think that when I confessed, Caro wouldn’t believe me, but she apparently thinks I’ve made up this story to cover a bigger sin.

  I take a deep breath, and then decide the only way to convince her is to actually shift. The process isn’t painful, but a human watching it for the first time might freak out. What if she runs away?

  It’s all so new for both of us. I should have kept my mouth shut because now Caro is standing there, arms folded, looking at me with a lot of suspicion.

  I’ll lose her for sure if I don’t tell her something, if I try to make up a lie now. But I might lose her if she sees the real truth.

  “You promise you won’t leave if I show you something, right?” I ask finally.

  “Depends. If a girl jumps out of the back of your cabin, proclaiming that she’s your girlfriend, then I’m not going to be happy and I’ll definitely leave.”

  “I don’t have a girlfriend,” I insist. There’s no point in jabbering about this anymore. I’m merely delaying the inevitable. “Okay,” I sigh. I pat the back of one of the kitchen chairs. “Sit here and…” What? Don’t freak out? Don’t run outside because I’m going to want to chase you? Don’t leave?

  The last one is the only important one. “Promise you’ll give me a chance to explain after?”

  She takes a seat and nods carefully. “I promise I won’t run out on you.”

  “Great.” I move away. If I stepped in front of the door, no one could really blame me, right? I’ve found my mate and I want to keep her.

  It takes no effort to shift. It’s as innate to me as breathing. I was born knowing how to shift. The change comes from within. Starts in the heart and moves outward. The heart, the soul, the spirit—it all remains the same. I am the bear and the bear is me. I hope that Caro can recognize that, beneath the fur and claws and teeth.

  When the shift is complete, I drop to all fours and peer at Caro. She’s stuck to her chair with her hands glued to the side. Her eyes are big and…I can’t tell if that’s fear or fascination. I try to make my four-hundred pound body as small as possible. I was pretty cute as a cub. I remember my mom telling me that. I don’t need to be cute, but I’d be happy if I came off as non-threatening.

  I pad slowly and softly over to the chair, and then hunker down by her feet. I still dwarf her.

  “Leo?” Her voice is small and tremulous.

  I cringe and nod slowly. A delicate human hand drops tentatively on my fur, just behind my ear. I tilt my head into her touch. Her nails lightly scratch behind that spot, and I rumble in appreciative response.

  And I hear her laugh. It’s high and thready but it’s not a scream of fear. I shift back and rise to my feet. When a bear shifts, he comes back naked. I hustle back to the clothes lying on the floor, and pull my pants on just in case I need to chase her out of the house.

  Then I return to kneel again by her side. Her laughs have turned to hiccups. I place a wary hand on her knee.

  “Caro. I’m a bear shifter,” I don’t know why I say it. She saw what I could do, and I take it as a promising sign she didn’t burst out of here, running after old Bill.

  “I thought you were lying.” She shakes her head in wonder. “But you actually were a bear there. Or it was a magic show.”

  “No magic. Or at least not the sleight of hand kind. I suppose being part-bear, part-human is some kind of magic.”

  “So, no girlfriend, huh?” she says, a true smile starting to tug at the corners of her mouth.

  “No, unless you count yourself, then absolutely yes.” I slide my hand from her knee up to her thigh.

  “Okay then.” She smooths a palm over my shoulder and down to squeeze my biceps. “I can’t believe it, but I’m okay with it. I have lots of questions like, will I…I mean, do women have cubs or babies?”

  I hide my smirk at her unintentional reveal. “Babies. But they’ll shift right away from baby to cub after you give birth. It’s pretty cool.”

  “My goodness!” She pats her chest. “I’m glad you had me sit down.”

  “You ready for more information?”

  “If it involves you shifting into another animal, I think we should hold off,” she laughs weakly.

  “No, but I’m not the only one. This town is full of shifters.”

  “Really?” She cocks her head with interest. “Who else? Is that one guy who stopped by the other day a shifter too?”

  I nod. “Yep, also Sheriff Gant, Eli the Lodge owner, Dent who runs the tavern. The lady who owns the spa is the new mate of another bear shifter.”

  “Mate.” She tests out the word. “What does that mean?”

  “Girlfriend, basically,” I reply. For life, I add in my head.

  “Let me get this straight.” She moves so she can look directly into my face without torquing her neck. “You have a special gift, and you live in a town where all your friends and family live with this special gift, but you were willing to come stay with me in the city?”

  “Pretty much.” I don’t see why this is a problem.

  “Leo, that’s beyond sweet.” She cups my face. “But I could never ask you to leave everything behind for me.”

  “If it’s you or this stack of sticks here,” I gesture around us, “I’m picking you every time.”

  “You say that now, but what about a few weeks from now?”

  Worry colors her face. I’m heartened that the bear thing hasn’t turned her off. This I can fix. “Hey.” I draw her into my arms. “I swear to you that as long as I’m with you, I’m going to be happy. If you leave me, you’re going to end up with a sad, mopey bear following you around. Neither of us wants that.”

  “Are you threatening me?” she asks with a smile.

  I shake my head. “Think of it more like a promise. That sounds better.”

  “The thing is, Leo, I’m mobile, and if you like it here in Pine Falls, then we should live here.”

  Her face is tipped backward, and the bright morning sun is shining in. I’ve never felt happier. It’s all clicked into place. My mate’s here with me. She doesn’t care that I turn furry, and she likes my town.

  I sweep her into my arms and carry her into the bedroom because all of the good feelings she’s generated have migrated to my cock.

  “Oh, by the way, you’re my mate.”

  “What?”

  I toss her on the bed and proceed to prove exactly what it means to be a bear shifter’s mate. It involves lying back and allowing me to lick her until she creams all over my tongue, and then shafting her until she is too exhausted to ask more questions. And because she’s my mate, I’m worn out too.

  We fall asleep, wrapped around each other, our hearts in sync like we’
ve been together for a hundred years.

  DOES A BEAR SHIFT IN THE WOODS

  I’m a loner for a reason. I don’t have much in the way of social skills. I’d rather sit on my deck and watch the sunset than hit a tavern with coworkers. My idea of grooming is to trim my beard with a straight blade when it hits my collarbone. I can’t put two words together in the company of a pretty woman…and they don’t come much prettier than wolf-shifter Madison Thorne.

  She’s everything I’m not—outgoing, easy on the eyes, and sweet. There’s no way I’m convincing her to come home with me. Fortunately I don’t have to. Maddie seems to like my gruff, unpolished self. At least, she likes me enough for one night.

  The problem is getting her to stay forever.

  Chapter One

  Maddie

  “So you’re a wolf shifter, eh? What pack?” The man at the bar tries to give me an encouraging smile, but it just comes across as a bit smarmy.

  Ugh. I toy with my drink, wondering if I have enough courage to blatantly get up and leave. It’d be rude as heck, and Pine Falls is a small town. I should probably just suck it up. “Is it obvious?”

  “Scent,” he says, and taps his nose. Then he lazes back on the barstool, spreading his legs. “I’m kinda like the alpha in this area, you know.”

  Kinda like? You either are or you aren’t. “Wow,” I murmur, pretending to be impressed. “I’m Thorne pack, out of Sacramento. You must be one of the Millers if you’re the local alpha.”

  His face flushes. “Yuuup,” he says slowly and looks away, which tells me everything. He’s not a Miller, and he’s not an alpha. He’s just looking to score some fresh werewolf pussy.

  Nice try, buddy.

  “So what brings you here?” He waves at the bartender, indicating he wants his check. “Findin’ a mate?”

  I frown at him. “No, of course not.”

  “Uh huh.” He clearly doesn’t believe me.

  “That’s really not it at all.” I play with my drink for a bit longer. It’s an unexciting screwdriver, but it’s also really hard for a bartender to mess those up, so they’re my go-to at a new place. “Wanted a change of pace. Saw someone advertising for a cottage rental in the area and I waited until I saw someone post a job in my wheelhouse—”

  He stands up, cutting me off. “Well, good luck to you, honey. Maybe I’ll see you around.”

  “Yeah,” I say dryly. “Sure thing.” I watch as he leaves, and I’m all alone at the small bar. Pine Falls is currently not in tourist season so things are quiet, or so I’m told. Right now the bar itself is pretty damn deserted, which is fine. No more creeps hitting on me.

  I’m not surprised he threw down the ‘mate’ card so early, though. Pine Falls is shifter central in the North—which is why I found out about the cabin and the job here. Me? I’d just really wanted to get out of California and away from my old pack. Things got real awkward in Thorne territory when my ex became the new alpha and indicated there’d be room in his bed for me and his current alpha female.

  So generous of him. Yuck.

  So I got the hell out of Dodge. I’d been bored in California and was looking to start somewhere new, anyhow. Pine Falls, Minnesota, is definitely new to me. So far it seems nice enough, and the local wolf pack is run by family, which means they’re content to let me fringe as an omega: not quite part of the pack itself but still included enough to appease my shifter side.

  The door opens, and I turn to look. Two women enter, waving at me excitedly. “There you are!”

  “Hey,” I say, getting to my feet. I put a few dollars down for the bartender and gesture at a booth in the back. “Want to sit over here?”

  Ryann Brown is considered the unofficial welcoming crew here in Pine Falls. She’s not a shifter, but she’s mated to a big burly were-bear named Mal, so that pretty much makes her one of the team. She beams at me and slides into the booth, all sunny smiles and swingy floral dress.

  With her is Adelaide Laurent, my boss and a human woman who runs the town spa. She recently expanded to add hair and nails (aka me) in her quest to beautify Pine Falls and to add an option for bored wives when their husbands want to play mountain man. Both of them have welcomed me to Pine Falls and are now my closest friends here.

  It’s weird to have two human friends who are involved in shifter relationships, but I’m happy with it. They’re nice and fun to be around, and after the pack fiasco back in California? I’m happy to go lone wolf for a while.

  “You want me to buy the first round?” I ask them, sliding in next to Ryann and bringing my screwdriver with me.

  Ryann wrinkles her cute little button nose. “Nah, I’m not drinking. Unless there’s coffee. That, I’m all over.”

  “I’m sure they can make you coffee,” I say with a smile. “Would you two rather go to the restaurant instead?”Pine Falls has an infamous waffle restaurant—home to the most maple confections one can possibly toss onto a breakfast plate.

  “Not me,” Adelaide says. “Amaretto sour here.” I wave over a server as she rubs her forehead. “Been a long day today. I had a customer who kept calling and swearing I had somehow stolen his credit card information. I tried explaining that his wife came every week and that’s why he had all those charges, but he didn’t believe me, and she won’t ’fess up.”

  “That sucks,” Ryann says sympathetically. “That why you’re drinking, Madison?”

  “Call me Maddie, and nah. I just met the local ‘alpha.’” I use my fingers for quotes. “He hit on me and then suggested I’d moved here because I needed a man.”

  Ryann’s eyes widen. “He did not.”

  “He did.”

  Adelaide gives me a sympathetic look. “You’re gonna get that a lot here, you know. Most of the time when someone moves to Pine Falls from another state, it’s because they’re looking to hook up with another shifter. At least, that’s what Cole tells me. Lots of hooking up when a new shifter moves here.”

  So I can expect a lot more of the last run-in? Goody. “Can’t a girl just want a job and a change of pace without some dick?”

  “No,” both of them say, then burst out laughing.

  “Ugh. I swear I’m not here to pick up a man!” Even as I exclaim it, the server saunters over. His scent fills my nostrils—not wolf. Bear, maybe. And my eyes widen when he gives me a flirty wink and puts a new screwdriver down for me.

  “On the house, sugar.” He gets the girls’ orders, and I try to ignore the phone number written on the napkin under my drink. Hell.

  This is going to be real weird for a while. I’m nothing special to look at—brown hair, big hips, maybe a few more freckles than I probably should have. But because I’m a shifter, and because I’m here, everyone thinks I’m desperate for a man.

  And the thought makes me defensive. When the server leaves, I lean in. “I swear I’m not here for a guy.”

  “You can tell us that, but no one’s going to believe you.” Ryann looks like she’s buying in to the hype at this point. “It’s okay to admit it, you know. People hit a certain age and they start to get the baby bug. Look at Adelaide here. She’s here for three years and then overnight, she and Cole can’t keep their hands off each other—”

  Adelaide bats a hand on Ryann’s arm to shut her up, but she’s grinning. “She’s got a point.”

  I scowl. “I just want to start my life over, maybe make a few women feel good about themselves. Or men, if that’s what they want. Is that so terrible?” The last thing I want at the moment is a romantic entanglement. Most wolf guys are super possessive…at least until the alpha shows up. Then they’re all, “Hey, I suppose I can share with the big dog.”

  Ugh. Sometimes I wish I was human like these two. They seem utterly happy to let their men be the shifters and for them to be completely vanilla humans.

  “Here?” Ryann asks. “The only reason Adelaide and I were single for so long was because we’re human. You being a shifter? You won’t stand a chance.”

  My heart si
nks, especially at the ‘so long’ part. Ryann’s all of twenty-one if she’s a day. If she thinks she was on the market for a long time, I’m going to be doomed to be hit on by every shifter in Northern Minnesota. “What can I do? I just want to be left alone.”

  Adelaide thinks for a moment, then snaps her fingers. “A makeover.” At my frown, she continues. “Not you. You’re cute enough as it is. Someone else. You need to give someone everyone’s familiar with a new, impressive look. That’ll show everyone in town you mean business.”

  It sounds kind of…stupid. “I’m not sure…”

  “Ooooh,” Ryann coos. “We could make it a game! The next person to walk into the bar is the one that Maddie has to make over, no matter who it is. Man or woman. And once you do, I’d be happy to spread some rumors on your behalf that you have a long-distance boyfriend.”

  “Or,” I say, “You could spread the rumors on my behalf because you’re good friends and we could skip the whole makeover thing?”

  Ryann and Adelaide exchange a look. Then Ryann shakes her head, an impish grin on her face. “Here’s the thing, Maddie. It’s real slow in town. Real slow. People need entertainment.”

  “Including my friends?” I ask dryly.

  She winks at me.

  I sigh and look at the door. “Okay then. Next person who comes through that door is getting the full Madison Thorne treatment. No pore will remain untouched, no follicle un-dyed, no cuticle un-trimmed.”

  “Awesome,” Ryann says, and Adelaide gives an excited little hop in her seat. Boy, they must be right about things being slow around here if this is considered fun.

  All three of us stare at the door to the bar, waiting to see who comes in. I cross my fingers under the table, hoping for a soccer mom who just needs a quick beer. Or something. Heck, I can even make do with a young, hot metrosexual who can wear a great fauxhawk and impress his girlfriend. Something easy.