Briar on Bruins' Peak (Bruins' Peak Bears Book 7)

by Erin D. Andrews

  ‘Neneko…’

  ‘Tsia. Tsia.’ She shook her head. “No. No.” She didn’t know who I was.

  “Mother, it’s me. It’s your Larissa. I know I look different, but–”

  “Don’t tell me your lies, ghost. Go back to the land of the dead. My family has left me, and I need to be alone now.”

  I stepped into the darkness and motioned for Tina to stay by the doorway. She complied and waited as I walked into the big, dark house.

  The air around me was cool and empty. Dust floated through the air in all directions. My mother sat in a chair to face the wide, open expanse inside her own home. Above her were the individual platforms we had used for sleeping back when I lived there, though I noticed that now she had a human bed, and it appeared she had been using it. I kneeled in front of her and took her hand.

  “Tss. Ghost, I told you to leave. This is my home, and you’re not welcome.”

  “Mother, it’s me. It’s your Larissa. I know I look strange, but that’s why I’m here. Something has happened, and I have turned into my father. Please, Neneko, faly, I need your help.”

  She leaned forward and looked deep into my eyes. I kept my eyes wide and prayed she would see the real me deep inside my pupils. The two of us stayed like that, locked into a mental grip and unwilling to move for a long moment. She sucked a breath through her teeth and then sat back.

  “Okay, ghost,” she said finally, “you may be my daughter, or you may be a trickster. All I know is that you are not my husband. He made every room bright and full of love. You have too much darkness in you to be him.”

  “You’re right,” I assured her. “I’m not your devoted husband. I am your daughter, but I’ve been transformed into this,” I gestured to my new body. “Please, I don’t know what’s happened. Can you help me?”

  She reached out to stroke my head, and I bowed it down into her lap, feeling like a tiny girl all over again. “We are fossas, my ghost friend. And fossas are complicated creatures. Rare, dangerous, and undefined – we are legends, and we are reality.

  Many times, fossas have changed from male to female and back again. But you,” she lifted my head up to look at me again, “you seem to have found some new magic in yourself. Something has allowed you to be your father for tonight at least. Though, I should warn you, this is most likely not a permanent change. My guess is that you will get your old form back at some time.”

  “I want it now.”

  She shook her head again and stared off into the distance. “It is not our choice how we change or who we become. These things are more than we can manage. They are decided for us.”

  Tears came to my eyes at the thought of living for the next several months or even years as a man. I didn’t want this. I was still Larissa. I couldn’t take on this new shape. “What can I do?”

  “The important thing is what you do not do,” she said, wiping my tears away. “You must not fight it, but rather use it. Learn from it. You’ve been given this change for a reason, just as you can be a fossa or appear human. All of it is to serve you, and give you opportunities that are designed specifically to teach you. Don’t lose the lesson.”

  With that, she stood and walked to her bed, where she laid herself down heavily and curled into a ball.

  “Mama? Nene? Neneko, can you hear me? Are you alright?”

  She didn’t respond. She just let out a long, loud snore. I fought down the rising tears and stood to go.

  Tina was still in the doorway, waiting for me. When I came out, she gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. I held her as tightly as my new arms could hold another person and breathed in her wild, sweet scent.

  She pulled back and looked up at me. “So, what can we do to take advantage of this new state you’re in?”

  “Well,” I said, “I think Bachmann has been president long enough. I say it’s about time his reign came to an end.”

  Tina smiled and nodded at that. We turned to go, and Tina opened her mouth to say something to me, but before she could speak a deluge of sirens filled the air. We both froze in place and slowly raised our hands into the air as they began their usual speech.

  “All shifters, gather outside for an emergency meeting. All shifters, step outside your homes, or you will be arrested. Any shifters found without a collar will be taken in for questioning. You have three minutes to comply.”

  Chapter Eight

  Punishment

  They blew in like a storm determined to upend every skirt, turn over every table, and send the food flying. No one had a good time when the law enforcers were around, and we were no exception.

  The fake electric fence held them up for a short while, but it didn’t take long for them to figure out that they could just cut their way through. The revelation made them red with fury.

  “What did these filthy shifters do to this fence? This whole thing’s broken!”

  “Hey, is that thing over there made of collars?”

  “What the heck is going on in this compound? I thought you guys had this under control!”

  “We did! Everything was going so well. We haven’t had any issues with any of these freaks for a long time. I assigned guard duty to those lazy bastards over there.”

  “Well?” The whole group of enforcers fell silent as everyone looked to one another for an explanation. No one had any, so they turned on us.

  “Alright, you sorry bunch of criminals. Time to go to jail. Everyone’s coming in until we sort this out.”

  I was one of the first to have the thin, flexible cuffs slipped around my wrists. They were designed to get tighter the more one struggled, so I was careful to move as little as possible. Some of the younger, less experienced shifters fought the restraints and quickly found themselves being squeezed to the point of the wires cutting into their skin and their hands turning cold from a lack of circulation. Those of us familiar with Bachmann’s evil technologies were smart enough not to correct them. Such a thing would mark us as enemies of the State.

  They loaded us up and slammed the doors on us without any cries of protest from the shifters. Something about all being arrested together made it much less terrifying. Beyond that, I knew exactly where we were going, and as soon as the doors were shut and we were on our way, I informed my group about the details of the prison. They listened and asked questions about the rings, the sensors, and the underground lake. I answered as thoroughly as I could and made sure to remind them that the waterway would surely be more closely guarded since my secret mission.

  “It’s still their water source,” one older hawk told me. “They can only sit on it for so long. Besides,” he added, “there’s always a way out of a cage. The trick is making your jailer think you’ve truly acquiesced to your imprisonment.”

  We all let that sink in as we bumped over the roads to the president’s mountain. I looked around at the other faces in the car as they all did their best not to stare at me too much. They didn’t have to; their thoughts were all painted right onto their faces.

  Save us, they all thought. Save us and get us out of here.

  I swallowed hard as the car careened around a corner, and we all looked up as the sound of a large, automated door rising reverberated through us. It stopped with a loud Ka-CHUNK, and then there was a pause as we waited for the enforcers.

  The doors of our temporary cell flew open, and we were each pulled out and onto the floor. We had to sit there on the cold ground as each of us was registered – names, breeds, ages, school, all of it. I decided to give a fake name as I wasn’t about to explain to a bunch of stupid enforcers that I had just become my father but normally I was a girl, and by the way I’m also the criminal who broke into this prison a few months ago. No way, that was happening.

  An enforcer crouched by me, and I made sure to look down as if in shame.

  “Name?”

  “Sólo. Sólo Ravanofanana.”

  “What?”

  “It’s a traditional Ma
lagasy name. My parents are from Madagascar.”

  “Sure. Okay, breed?”

  “Lemur.”

  He laughed. “No way! One of those little furry things that hop sideways across the ground? You’re joking, right?”

  I shook my head. No, it wasn’t a joke. I feigned embarrassment and the man bought it.

  “Wow,” he snorted, “big fella like you and you’re a little sideways monkey. Never saw it coming. Alright, big guy,” he laughed, patting my back as if I were a child, “this cell will be yours.” He pointed to a blank space, a basic cave with Tina and three other shifters inside. I pretended I didn’t know any of them and kept my head down as if I were truly defeated.

  As soon as I was escorted in, the bars appeared. I looked at the guard’s hands – no rings. I had counted on at least one of them having a ring of some kind, but I remembered the two guards I’d met before saying they weren’t authorized to open cells. At that moment, I felt very stupid and extremely headstrong for thinking a jailbreak would be a simple stroll out of a cave. If anything, I realized, it would be twice as hard the second time as the prison and probably the entire palace had new, better security to prevent any future incidents.

  Thinking back on my past adventures in Bachmann’s palace, I smiled a little. It had been fun biting off the finger of that human government worker. I let out a little laugh before I realized what I was doing. Everyone turned to stare at me incredulously. Had I gone insane?

  “Sorry. Sorry, everyone.” The echo kicked in, saying “won...won...won.” I cleared my throat and focused on the floor, trying to look sad. It was difficult. That first night, I felt oddly thrilled to hear the old echo. It made me think of that giant underwater lake, the desert that kept it a secret, and the stars that mapped out the sky above the dry ground. In an odd way, I felt very at home in that little cell.

  The first night wasn’t too bad. We all formed a square with our bodies so that each person had another shifter’s stomach for a kind of pillow. It wasn’t perfect, but at least we got some sleep. In the dark, I dreamed of small boats bobbing up and down on gentle waves and, again, marveled at how safe and certain I felt.

  Over the next few days, it became clear that I was the only shifter feeling any sense of security in that place. Every morning, I woke to the sound of a female cougar crying deep, wrenching sobs against the bars of her cell.

  “My baby,” she cried out over and over. “Oh, my baby!”

  “What happened to her child?” I whispered to Tina.

  “Most of the little ones shifted and ran or flew off as soon as the enforcers showed up. Her little girl must have done the same, but she was pretty young.” Tina shook her head. “Outside the compound, it can be very dangerous for little animals of all kinds. I just hope she’s alright.”

  I listened to the cries continue and then the law enforcers who came in yelled at her. They banged on her bars and threatened to throw her in what they called “the pipe.” I could only imagine that was the name of my former escape hatch. I desperately wanted to get to it and also to avoid it at all costs. I had barely survived the last time; I had no reason to think a second trip would go well.

  The days continued like that: crying, yelling, reflections, plans that dissolved just as I got to the halfway point of them in my mind. Some days, I sang with Tina. Some days we told each other stories about our past adventures, but we only did this when the enforcers got lazy and wandered off for a while. Maybe they went to smoke, maybe to eat, it was hard to pay attention.

  “I think they have lovers waiting for them,” Tina mused one day as our jailers wandered up the stairway yet again. “Why else would they have such big smiles on their faces when they come back from being away? No meal makes a person that happy.”

  “Perhaps,” I mused. I pulled a foot up onto my bench so that I could put my chin on my knee. “Have you been with many males, Tina?”

  “You remember that human we met? The one who filled up your tank?” She smiled, and I quickly raised my head from my knee.

  “The two of you? I mean, he was nice and all, but, when? How?”

  She shrugged. “I sent him a note attached to a little kite on a windy day. I told him to wait for me in the open zone just after sunset every night, and that I would come out any time I was able to get away. It took about a week, but then we were able to meet up with each other almost nightly.”

  My mouth fell open. “In the open like that? You weren’t scared?”

  “Well, we didn’t stay there. We found a little spot under some trees so we could be hidden.” She gazed off into space as she remembered those nights when she and her paramour were shielded by the trees together. Her lips spread into a little smile as she thought about him, and I gave her arm a slap.

  “What? It’s a nice memory.”

  “I know. I miss my nights in the desert with Black Feather.”

  She turned and gaped at me. “You are joking! The two of you got together?” Her voice was so loud that it went bounding down the hallway with an “Ether...ether...ether?” I saw a few shifters in other cells approach their bars and lean out a little. I shook my head at her as she slapped a hand over her mouth. She peeled it back to mouth, “Sorry,” to me, and the both of us giggled silently.

  “Yes, the two of us got together. I had to motivate him, and it was not easy.”

  “Wait,” she said softly, “motivate him? To sleep with you?”

  “No, don’t be ridiculous,” I shot back. “I used sex as a reward for things like successful hunts and him practicing his tracking skills, bringing me water, that sort of thing. It was much harder than I expected.”

  Tina did her best to suppress a laugh at the word “harder,” and I slapped her again. “You’re filthy,” I informed her, but I was laughing.

  “So,” she whispered, sitting closer to me, “how was the sex?”

  “It started off a little rough. You know, young men can be overly eager. But,” I shrugged, “once he learned how to slow down, take his time, it got nicer and nicer. Our last night together, the same night we made it back home, we really got it right.”

  “Oh yeah?” She slid extra close as if we could possibly have any secrets in that cell. Her whisper in my ear made it slightly more believable. “Tell me! I want to hear all about it.”

  The feel of her voice in my ear and my memory of my last night with Black Feather made me start to blush and smile. I remembered the taste of his sweat on his skin, the sound of the two of us grunting and pushing together. It had been nice.

  “There is not much to tell,” I whispered back. “It was the kind of sex two people have when they feel the world is about to end. We just dug our fingernails into one another as hard as we could and made it last for as many hours as possible. We wanted to run and to hide together all at the same time. We loved each other but knew it was over. We had nothing to lose. And the sex was…” I stopped and leaned back against the rock. My heart had suddenly lost all sense of propriety and gone a bit wild.

  “The sex was what?” I looked over at Tina who was curled up into a little ball with her knees against her chest. “Come on, don’t stop there.”

  “It was just…savage. Desperate. He was finally the man I wanted. I worked so hard on shaping him, and he turned out to be, well, just the right one for me.”

  As the story finished, Tina grabbed my arm. I looked to see where the problem was, but she was just staring down at my lap.

  “Tina, what? What has all of your attention, my wolf?”

  “Larissa,” she said, a bit breathless, “you have a huge erection right now.”

  I gave her a little push away so that I could stand, and as soon as I did I saw that she was right; I had become fully erect during my story. Everyone in my cell noticed and started to whistle and applaud.

  “Not bad! Who knew? What are you going to do with that thing, Lar?” Tina quickly turned away so that she couldn’t see it, and I turned toward the ba
rs, but that only brought attention from the others.

  “Whoa! Someone’s having a good day.”

  “What is going on in that little cell right there?”

  “Whatever it is, it looks like a lot more fun than the nothing we’re doing in here.”

  “Hey,” I heard from the female boar, “let’s see it.”

  “No,” I answered. “That is not happening.”

  “Come on, Babe,” she called out. “We’re all bored out of our minds. Give us a little scandal. Just pull down your shorts.”

  “Absolutely not.” I turned away, but found two of my three cell mates were on board with the ridiculous plan.

  “Aw, come on, Larissa,” a female owl said, crossing her arms. “One of the best parts of being male is getting to show off your business. Who knows if you’ll ever have another erection?”

  I thought about that, but couldn’t quite answer. She moved closer and then bent over and took hold of the bars.

  “Come on, soldier,” she teased, leaning over. Her hips waved from side to side in serpentine movements, “they want a show. Let’s give them one. Don’t be shy.”

  She unbuttoned the fly of her too-tight shorts and let them fall to the floor where she kicked them away. “You’ll be doing me a favor. It’s lonely in these old, cold cells.” Without quite knowing what I was doing, I moved a bit closer to her butt cheeks as they danced in front of me. The female owl, Clarice was her name, was a bit older than me, but not by much. She had flirted with me a little each day, but I had never entertained the idea of intercourse with her. However, she was attracted to my male form and always let me know it. It was an odd thing to hear, but I liked it all the same. Women must have said such things to my father back when he was young and handsome. I wondered briefly what my father would have done in this situation, but I quickly turned my brain off as I unbuttoned my pants.

  I slid myself into Clarice and felt how warm and soft she was all around me. My eyes rolled back into my head. It felt as though her body were hypnotizing me, begging me to take it over and not let go. My hips pumped against her, and I felt a presence next to me. I looked over and saw Tina leaning her head against the bars and masturbating with her hand down her shorts. I leaned toward her, and we shared a warm, wet kiss, while I was still inside Clarice. Tina moved a little closer to me and watched my cock work in and out of Clarice’s very wet pussy, while Tina rubbed her own and groaned loudly.