Ursus Borealis: Book One

by D. L. Lewellyn

  “Oh, nothing earth shattering, I assure you.” And I wiggled my eyebrows mysteriously.

  He raised his eyebrows in response, and I decided to take pity on him and said, “I am only kidding, the most telling portrait I have of you is when you were leaning against your Mustang in the parking lot at the Starlight. How do you get your long legs folded into that beautiful car anyway?”

  His ears turned pink, but he threw his head back and laughed, and Andras and Gemma stopped their conversation to look at us in question.

  As I grinned at Colin for having taken my teasing so graciously, Andras’s gaze turned heated as he focused on my mouth, and his hand squeezed mine, giving me the distinct impression that he could not wait to get me alone again. My insides quivered pleasantly, and I looked across at Gemma, who was smiling knowingly.

  When we were all done with our coffees, we rose to file out the door. Gemma and I were heading back to my house as we usually did after a lunch at Jean’s, where we would hike on the trails and share a cup of tea, in that order, and we enjoyed that part of our lunch dates just as much as the time at Jean’s.

  But I first walked with Andras to his bike and after he straddled it, I moved in close to him and looked into his eyes. “Who are you, Andras Johns?”

  He gave me a mysterious smile, then surprised me when he wrapped a big, warm hand around my neck, digging his fingers into my hair to pull me in closer and kissed me with such fervor, I forgot where I was until reality returned reminding me that I was in a public parking lot.

  He watched me happily as I slid my eyes around blushing furiously. Colin and Gemma had nearly identical smirks on their faces. Colin chuckled and headed to his bike and Gemma came to hook her arm through mine. “Well, then, I’m taking your girl home so I can hear all about that latest kiss.”

  “Just one more thing before you haul her away.” His warm eyes bathed my face for a moment and then he asked in a husky voice, “After the pancake breakfast, I would love to take you on a ride along the Feather River followed by a picnic.”

  “That sounds really nice, Andras.” And it really did.

  Our hands stayed clasped for a moment longer and then I stepped back reluctantly and both bikes roared to life taking the guys down the road, while Gemma tugged me, our arms linked, down the sidewalk.

  Chapter 14

  Andras

  Our Harleys roared along the curve of the highway and soon we reached the long driveway that wound back a half mile where a clearing opened to our home, which also served as a compound housing all the resources I needed to run the pack’s extensive California operations.

  Colin had lived here for the past ten years, so of course, this was where Ryan spent his summer visits, and it was a welcome disruption having his youth invigorate the place.

  A six-car garage angled off to the left, and a hanger housing my Cessna sat on the right. The hangar could be entered from the front and back, the back leading to the runway that followed parallel to the highway about two thousand feet, ending at a tree line.

  I loved lifting off from here. It was always a thrill pulling up my gear just in time to clear the trees. At the rear of the property were twenty acres of thick woods that merged into the Plumas National Forest. It was a haven for shifters when our animals demanded a run.

  We pulled our bikes around the driveway to the front entrance and shut off our engines. The high whine of a dirt bike reached my ears. “Ryan is breaking in his KTM, I hear.”

  Colin said, “A good way to let off steam. He’s still so new to shifting, he gets really wound up. I’m glad the bike seems to be doing it for him. I’m sure we won’t see the whites of his eyes till dinner.”

  Isaac, my majordomo, greeted us at the door and handed me several messages. “The brothers and Sam are waiting for you sir.”

  “Thank you, Isaac.” I took the messages and ran my hand through my windblown hair. Colin headed to his rooms to freshen up.

  Isaac Carson had been with me since my father died and I took over as alpha. Before that, he served my father in the same capacity. I relied on him to run my households here, as well as our pack compound in Carmel and the lodge at Mount Shasta. His actual age was a mystery as he had been an adult from my earliest memory.

  When my father had trained me in that cruel way alphas often train their sons to prepare them for the demands that lie ahead, Isaac had been there during my suffering, not to coddle me, but to see me through and help me to understand why my father thought the pain was necessary.

  My father had liked to make me bleed and I had the scars to show for it, my first one acquired at age six when I was unable to move fast enough to dodge his huge paw. For the most part I would dart in and out like a fish around his large frame, getting in my six-year-old jabs against his mighty bear. But this time, my error in judgment allowed him to swipe a five-inch gash around my hip to my back.

  I was so small at the time that my mother had been the one to pick up my crumpled body and carry me to my bed, but my father made her leave me almost immediately alone in my room to heal without treatment for three days. At least he thought he had.

  But Isaac had come to me as I was sitting in my window seat staring out at the rain, feeling sorry for myself as my painful wound healed slowly, confused about why my father seemed to have no qualms about nearly killing me.

  “There now, boy, you’re doing well. Remember that pain is just another feeling, one that tells us we need to listen to what our body is telling us, which is necessary, but you can learn to think of other things, feel other feelings, so the pain will fade to the background. I can help you with that. Would you like to learn how?” Still feeling dejected, I nodded.

  He had brought me a big bowl of stew and fresh bread and got me propped back in bed making sure I got it all down. Later he told me that he had visited our healer and added a tonic to the stew so that I would heal faster.

  “Your father loves you. He just has his way of making you tough. And believes that the scars will remind you that you are strong and brave.” I was skeptical about that but took comfort from Isaac’s support, nevertheless.

  The punishing training sessions only got worse after that first time and the damage and scars were a constant source of contention between my parents, just one more thing they loved to fight about, loudly. Isaac had helped me find the strength and confidence to endure it all, including my parents’ constant bickering. And he made good on his promise to train me to ignore pain.

  My father’s lessons stopped after I changed the first time at thirteen and my bear far outweighed his, and I had learned everything about fighting thanks to his relentless lessons. When he went flying across the training room from one blow of my fist, which broke his leg and arm, he lost interest in continuing his form of discipline.

  In fact, he lost interest in most things around that time, and I found myself only a few years later often acting as alpha in his stead, and increasingly picking up the slack, until he and my mother had died violently when they were traveling through a rival pack’s territory.

  I always suspected that my father had mouthed off in a challenge that was beyond his ability to handle, like he had tended to do, and he got them both in trouble. The alpha who had been responsible for their deaths sent me compensation, but never an explanation.

  “Isaac, I’d like to enlist your aid in preparing a wine and cheese picnic for two on Saturday.”

  He stared at me a moment, no expression on his face, but his throat moved slowly, then he said, “You have another date then?”

  “I’m taking Selena for a ride along the river after a pancake breakfast in town and would love to impress her with your selections when we stop for a rest.”

  The corner of his mouth lifted in a barely perceptible smile. “I have the perfect vintage in mind.”

  I grinned. “I was sure that you would. Thank you.”

  Heading to my own rooms to freshen up, I indulged my imagination wondering what it might be like to add Sele
na to my small surrogate family.

  ✽✽✽

  Unknown to the human citizens of Plumas County, my biker friends and I spent a good deal of time right here in this large council room planning alliances, trades and defense strategies for the various challenges that continually demanded our attention.

  For now, that would be the crisis brewing with the Anurashin and the rare-earth minerals they seemed to be after in my territory. Accidental exposure to minerals in my own mines had recently made me aware that I was somehow unaffected by the hazards of promethium, which could produce a deadly weapon against our kind.

  Promethium had an ugly history in the world of shifters. Though most of today’s generation did not know about it because it had been buried by the World Pack Coalition, also known as the WPC, which was a coalition of representatives from around the globe with the purpose of halting conflicts between packs that grew bigger than any two territories.

  They also operated a science division and collected fees to maintain a unit that could be deployed for peace keeping. None of us wanted that interference and were adept at keeping conflicts from rising to the level requiring it. The possibility that this could involve the WPC had to be discussed, though we would do our best to keep this local for now.

  Sam said, “Obviously you are sitting here, and I understand the effects of exposure are fast acting, so we can assume you are past the danger zone. Wasn’t promethium used in a war between packs back in the fifties that started right around the end of the Fae War?”

  “Yes, the Obstructor was weaponized promethium-147. The war was nasty on many levels, not least of which was the hideous and painful effect of the promethium weapon on shifters.

  “The fact that a pack developed such a weapon to use against another pack was more vicious than the conflict called for. I believe the WPC was able to intervene after a great many lives were lost. They also buried all information about the Obstructor.

  “But even before the Obstructor was developed, the deadly effects of promethium on shifters have been an object of study by the WPC’s science division, after a wolf shifter who worked in a lab was accidentally exposed in the nineteen twenties. When he next changed into his wolf, he was dead in three days.

  Ross asked, “And no one has ever developed a cure?”

  I said, “All we know is that the WPC initially looked for possible anecdotes after the lab worker died, but were never successful, and decided to bury all the information after the Obstructor War about the weapon rather than continue with the research.

  Ross again, “What do we know about how it causes harm to shifters?”

  “If the WPC knows, they have kept that information secret as well. The Obstructor was developed as a concentrated delivery method causing death within twenty-four hours from the time we change to our animals, and it immediately activates if we are shot while in animal form.

  “I’d hazard a guess that the WPC spent more effort trying to bury everything about it, and less time understanding how it works.”

  Looks of anger and disgust at the heinous thinking behind the creation of the Obstructor were peering back at me from around the table.

  Sam said, “No one could ever understand how the Siberian pack was able to afford to do the R&D to create the complicated weapon they used in their fight with the Alaskan Star Pack, and it was thought they had help from a party who had the resources and technology, all pointing to the Anurashin. That entire pack in Siberia ended up disappearing without a trace, and the supposed cause of the war was never resolved.”

  I looked at each of my men. “Our mine, gentlemen, is only the second place in the world ever to contain the naturally occurring elements, according to the geologists. The only other location, an island in the South China Sea, was known during the Obstructor War and thought to be controlled by the Anurashin.

  “And as natural sources are in demand, the Anurashin would benefit on many levels from acquiring uranium and promethium from a remote mine, allowing them to stay under the radar while they’re at it.”

  Sam said. “So, besides the minerals existing, which is attracting an ancient enemy to our territory, we have the mysterious reason you survived exposure to figure out. We need to know if the Anurashin are aware of this fact and see you as a threat.”

  I nodded, “It is a real mystery, one which I am obviously grateful for, and as you have surmised Sam, it might be possible to turn the threat into an advantage by creating an anecdote, but we need to know much more, while we tread carefully, because if the WPC has given up on an anecdote and I might be a walking cure, you can be sure that the Anurashin will be coming my way if they aren’t already.”

  Colin said, “I have you scheduled to meet both the WPC rep, Anthony Gervais, and the geneticist, James Douglas, next Wednesday. That was the earliest the rep said he could get to Redding.

  “He is apparently still collecting and analyzing the historical files. I persuaded Gervais to meet us in Redding since Doc Bennett is there and James’ lab has an outstanding reputation. The USGS report on the mines has been forwarded to the three of them.

  “Gervais confirmed that the WPC has collected a wealth of data over the decades since the war, but it was not a priority to collate it into anything meaningful since the policy was to keep things secret. That was until you, my friend, changed that status. For now, only Gervais and his immediate superiors know about you. The WPC will wait until Gervais reports on his visit before deciding how involved they want to become.”

  I said, “That works for me. I would like to keep this local for now. Have we confirmed how the Anurashin targeted our mines?”

  “Likely using Satellite data. The rep said the WPC has long suspected that the Anurashin have secret trade agreements with certain human governments in the middle east and Asia, including the Chinese, giving them access to satellites.”

  “Have you reached Michael Elliott yet?”

  “No. Even his second is sounding worried now. He went on some mission that concerns his family and has gone dark.

  “We do have a report from Cal and his team, and they have systematically narrowed down the area that indicates the Anurashin presence to a one hundred square mile radius within Modoc County towards the northern end.”

  We concluded our meeting as usual with Isaac providing a delicious meal, which today was a roast ham and savory potato casserole with fresh rolls, and we all agreed to set aside the prospect of a conflict with the Anurashin to enjoy Isaac’s efforts, including a freshly washed and smiling Ryan, who I made sure joined us at the council table for meals.

  As usual, Ryan had something to offer every time I took the opportunity to give him the highlights of a current conflict to see what his young and nimble mind would come up with. “You need to capture one of their drones. Breaking down one of those babies would provide a lot of intel.

  “An excellent idea Ryan. Let’s hope we get an opportunity to nab one, since the patrols failed to when they snuck in for core samples.”

  Chapter 15

  Selena

  My productivity was benefiting apparently from the unexpected happiness that had been bubbling up in me since Andras had lit me on fire with his kiss after the Mulligan visit, then at my door, then at Jean’s. Something about those kisses really invigorated me, inspired me, made me feel alive.

  That was why I was now basking in the perfect light flooding my studio, contentedly putting finishing touches on many projects that had been close to completion but were waiting for a bit more inspiration.

  Sitting at my drawing table surrounded by a variety of colorful markers in bins tilted towards me so they would not dry out, my marker poised over a nearly finished piece, a strange sound finally penetrated my meditative state, and I cocked my head to listen. It was a scuffling sound at the back porch.

  It wasn’t distinguishable at first but something about it had me instantly alert. When the sound came again, I remembered that chuffing noise from my encounter in the woods.


  Standing abruptly, my karambit in my hand and primed for a threat, I moved cautiously towards the sound, then heard a thump followed by what sounded sickeningly like wet gurgling.

  My heart rate sped up at that, and I was trying to decide if I should call 911. I reached back to my table for my phone. It is harder to make that decision than you would think. This could be something totally silly, but the hairs raising on the back of my neck told me differently.

  As I grappled with indecision, the exotic looking man from the woods appeared in front of me, again in that swirling grey mist. I stared speechless at him for a moment, accepting the reality of his sudden arrival.

  His eyes were so deep and dark it was like gazing into twin universes with shimmering galaxies swirling in their depths. Again, a sense of familiarity flared within me.

  As I moved my eyes over his form, I noticed blood on his hands. “Are you hurt?” He looked at where my attention had been drawn and quickly rubbed his hands together. The blood disappeared.

  Trying not to gape at what I had just seen, I asked him, “Who are you? Where do you come from?”

  He moved to me, looked approvingly at the karambit in my hand, which I promptly closed and put back in my pocket, then he took me gently by the arms as if to reassure me that he was here on my behalf. Once again, I felt no fear at his presence or the strangeness of his arrival.

  Then he smiled, white teeth flashing from his beautiful, bronzed face, and when he spoke, his strangely accented voice was entrancing, “You can call me Zigan, young Selena. As for where I am from, soon I will tell you. For now, that would raise more questions that I cannot today take time to answer. Just stay alert and use your amazing mind, precious one.”

  “Why are you watching over me, Zigan? Did something happen outside my house?”

  His smile grew warmer, and he said, “I will always watch over you. There is a threat growing and I have so far kept it from you. You still have time to learn the things you must learn first before you and I must answer to our destinies.”