They got closer and Flint was struck by how delicate and defenseless Goldie looked next to Carick. The Steward was a full two feet taller than her and at least three times as broad. Next to him Goldie looked like an elf from Santa’s workshop. “Goldie, this is Carick, leader of The Cause, sometimes called the Steward. Carick, this is Goldie, the switch I met last week.”
Goldie stuck out her hand for Carick to shake, still looking unsure of herself. Carick ignored the proffered hand and stared at Goldie, looking her over from top to bottom. “She glows green, yes?”
Flint nodded, looking at Goldie, inviting her to speak if she wanted. “Green. Right.”
Carick nodded sharply. “Welcome to Breath Coven. Let's start your training.”
Chapter 17 - Goldilocks And The Big Bear
Was this guy for real?
Goldie stood stock still, gaping at the most intimidatingly colossal human she’d ever seen. His height - he was even taller than Flint! - his nearly black eyes, the scruff of salt & pepper stubble that shadowed his cheeks and made his square jaw appear to be carved out of marble; it all added up into a picture that was massively overwhelming for her non-confrontational nature. When Carick turned and crooked a finger as if bidding her to follow, it never occurred to Goldie to do anything but obey.
And that ticked her off, because dangit, she hadn’t known this was what Flint was bringing her to. He’d said he wanted to introduce her, not check out her killer skills. It was as if everyone just assumed she’d end up being part of their so-called Cause, when the truth was Goldie had much bigger stuff on her mind, like how to keep herself and her sister safe from wackos. The fact that she hadn’t actually told Flint or anyone else “no” was entirely beside the point.
Carick turned his head so that his deep voice carried back to her, interrupting Goldie’s thoughts. He pointed around the grounds as he spoke. “This is the training area. So far only Cora uses it, but as your sisters arrive there will be more of you.”
That hit too close to home. “Sisters?” Goldie said.
Carick met her eye with a piercing glare that made her want to blurt the truth. Goldie bit her tongue instead as the - what had Flint called him? - the Steward went on. “Your elemental sisters.”
Oh. What?
Goldie saw they were headed for a small table near a man-shaped leather dummy with a target painted on its belly. On the table were a variety of knives. Carick was talking again. “Breath Coven switches kill vampires most efficiently with weapons made from metal. All metal will work for you, but one will make you stronger, and we need to find your metal.” He touched one knife that had a rainbow sheen to the metal, another that was decidedly bronze, others that didn’t look like anything special to Goldie. “Titanium, bronze, tungsten, stainless steel.”
She stepped closer to the table, looking at the knives. Carick waved a hand, urging her on. “Touch them, pick them up. You’ll feel it.”
Goldie got bolder, liked the feeling, so she went with it. She ran her fingertips over the handles, then the blades. She pursed her lips and closed her eyes as she touched the knives one by one, liking the idea of a metal just for her.
Touching the blades did bring a bit of current coming to Goldie’s fingers, but she had felt that before on the rare occasions she had gotten hold of a knife in the kitchen before Tallulah found her. Tallulah had never liked her using knives because she was so clumsy, had harped again and again that Goldie needed to minimize the time she spent holding pointy objects. If she saw Goldie chopping anything, from tomatoes to the holy trinity, her grandmother would take over, saying something about the vegetables needing to be cut just right, and instead put Goldie in charge of stirring the roux as it cooked to coffee-brown. Maybe a whisk would be more her speed. Could she kill a vampire with a whisk?
But that was not the only time Goldie had felt a current come off of metal. Goldie remembered wrought iron glowing green in her hands as rain poured down in sheets, the feel of the silver chain around her neck stinging her skin. That one night had changed everything.
A shake of the head backed Goldie away from that dangerous train of thought, and she picked up a knife that seemed something out of a fairy tale, maybe something the woodsman would have had tucked in his belt when he took Snow White to the forest on the evil queen’s orders. It had a bronze-toned blade and a handle that appeared to be made out of antler. She liked it. It would do for whatever they had in mind.
Decision made, she looked up to find both Carick and Flint watching her closely. The big guy’s eyes were shrouded in shadow by his heavy brow, but she could see their shine focused on her. He swept his hand at the dummy and invited Goldie forward. “Let us see what damage you can do.”
Damage? They were serious about this? But she let herself be herded until she was standing in front of the dummy, flanked by the two men.
“Stab it,” Carick said, passion in his voice.
Feeling awkward and on-the-spot, Goldie breathed deep and considered what to do. What did she have to lose? she finally decided. Goldie raised her right arm and brought it down towards the dummy with a halfhearted stab. The knife’s point skittered across the hard leather and lodged in a seam from which Goldie had to yank it free. Her cheeks heated in a blush. Some vampire killer I am.
Carick stared at her, then spoke sharply and quickly. “I heard you followed a limousine. Chased it down the street. Why?”
Goldie was startled into responding. “Because I wanted to kill him.”
“Kill who?” Carick’s voice was demanding and he was in her face. Goldie might want to poke him with the knife a little. Flint was backing up, his face tightly controlled, his eyes locked on Carick, his fists clenched like he was holding himself back.
Goldie would not say, “the vampire,” but as she thought the words, the image slipped through her mind of the man she’d seen and that electric loathing filled her, not as strong as she’d felt it then, but strong enough..
She opened her eyes and her vision was a shade greener. She stabbed at the dummy again, this time with enough conviction to pierce the leather by a quarter inch. Goldie shouted a triumphant “Ha!” and looked up at Carick.
Hmmph. By the dull expression on the giant’s face he was not impressed with Goldie’s skills. She turned to Flint, hoping for a better reaction. The big cutie was still back from her a bit, his face relaxed now, but he didn’t look impressed either.
A sour feeling filled her stomach. She didn’t ask for any of this, didn’t want it, hadn’t even agreed to it. She liked being around Flint, but she was no vampire killer, she was a lady. Plus he was leaving. Better if she ended all of this now and quit playing like she belonged here.
She put the knife down on the table gently, gathering her courage. “It was nice to meet you, Carick, but this isn’t going to work for me. Flint, can we go?”
Flint gazed into her eyes then motioned toward the side of the field, by the forest, away from Carick. “Can I talk to you in private?”
She let him pull her next to a towering evergreen that stood on the very edge of the forest. He leaned in and spoke earnestly, sincerely. “Sorry I brought you here. I didn’t know he would insist on training today. He’s always hard to take, but we need him. I’ll convince him to let up on you.”
Goldie shook her head. She wasn’t part of ‘we.’ “Flint, you don’t understand.”
He shook his head side to side, chin leading, his face stricken. “Goldie, I’m sorry. I’m clumsy, too, I guess. I’m messing this up, but don’t say no to who you are because me and Carick are…” His voice trailed off. “Are fucking this up,” he finished quietly.
She cracked a little, feeling the desire inside her. To be who she was. But she shook her head anyway.
Flint’s expression went desperate. He looked across the field at the bigger guy. “Wait, wait here. Let me tell Carick something.” He ran off, leaving Goldie to stare after him. Just past him, her eyes met Carick’s eyes. He was staring at her, standing s
tock still, hips and shoulders squared in her direction, meaty hands crossed and clasped in front of his body. The look unnerved her.
Behind her, from the forest, a noise started low, intruding on Goldie’s attention. She couldn’t place it at first, and by the time her mind recognized it, her body was already reacting in fear, dumping adrenaline into her bloodstream. Except it didn’t feel like adrenaline.
It felt like magic.
Strong, thick magic that wound through her body in waves. She twirled to face what was growling at her. A dark wolf with nasty sharp teeth, lips peeled back, that long growl curling out of its throat. It was staring directly at her. Poised to leap.
Goldie yelped, and stumbled backwards. She heard Flint roar from behind her. He was coming to save her. She knew it. But he couldn’t possibly reach her before the wolf did.
Her arms flew up in front of her, a reflex, like they had when the truck had almost hit her, but this time she felt the power building inside her, and it felt good. Strong. Sure. Like she could not lose.
“Don’t hurt it,” she whispered, as she let the magic fly, not sure what she was doing or how she was doing it, but trying anyway.
The wolf leapt, straight for her throat.
Green light shot from her arms and fingertips, curling into a bubble all around her, a bubble of light and wind that surrounded her like her own personal space barrier, reaching up five feet above her head and around her, seeming to not end at the ground below her feet, but rather to extend into it, like it would repel moles.
The wolf hit it muzzle first, bounced back, and fell to the ground. The bubble barely wavered. But at the same, something much bigger than the wolf’s hundred pounds hit Goldie’s green bubble on her left side, a glancing blow that still tossed whatever it was across the field.
She whirled to see a massive grizzly bear with teeth as long as straight razors flying askance from a bounce off her bubble, then thudding heavily onto the ground. She yelped again, trying not to scream as she looked around at the landscape, blank except for Carick and the two predators that had rushed her. Where was Flint?
Of course. Flint was a man who could turn into a bear! And his brother Bryce was, too. Bryce had been the bear Flint had flipped off from the raft on the river. It all made sense now, everything she hadn’t quite understood, or thought someone was keeping from her in the last few days.
“Flint!” she cried out, heart beating a mile a minute, wanting to run to him, not sure what her bubble would do. But it was gone already. She looked behind her to see the wolf loping away into the forest.
She sprinted to the bear she knew was Flint, had to be Flint, but it wasn’t a bear anymore. It was a man facedown on the ground. One glance confirmed it was Flint and he was naked.
Flint was moving. He pushed himself over, sitting up on the grass of the training field, one hand between his legs, casually, like he didn’t have the good stuff under his hand. He held his other hand out to her. “Goldie, I’m okay.” His expression was fixed, and he watched her closely, eyes narrowed. “You knew it was me? I was afraid a bear coming at you would scare you. I-ah, I was going to tell you today.”
If they had been alone on the field, Goldie might have taken the time to seal away pictures of this naked man in her mind for later, but Carick was still there. She ran past Flint and gathered up his ruined clothes, dumping them in his lap, keeping an eye on Carick.
She raised one eyebrow. “Yeah, I knew you were a man who could turn into a bear, first time I ever saw you. I mean, duh, look at you.” Flint stared at her, eyes narrowed and Goldie almost laughed. “Kidding. I figured it out. You’re a bear and your brother’s a bear, and Disney made a movie about it or something.”
Flint smiled a bit, that rare smile she didn’t see often enough. “Smart. I like that in a switch.”
Goldie could not help but smile back. He was adorable. And really darn scary. If she had to fight vampires, she might try it if it came with her own guardian bear.
Carick turned on his heel and left. Flint and Goldie watched him go, together.
“What’s he, an elephant?” Goldie said.
“Not sure,” Flint told her. “He’s a mystery, and he’s not human, I can tell you that.”
Goldie looked around at the forest and the sky, listened to the birds for a moment, while Flint studied her face. She had and urge to ask him if the wolf would come back. But she resisted it. She had her… magic, didn’t she? And obviously he could take care of himself, so why ruin this opportunity?
She was fascinated by the thought of his bear, and she desperately wanted to see it again. She knelt beside him.
“Flint, how big are you as a bear?”
He shrugged one muscular shoulder. She wanted to bite it. “Not big, 892 pounds.”
“Oh, wow. That sounds really big.”
His eyes narrowed and he studied her more, nodding. “Not for a Cause shifter, according to Carick.”
She tried again. “Do you, ah, do you have that scar as a bear?”
He rubbed his scar with his knuckles, something she was starting to love seeing. She tried to keep her heart reeled inside her body, but it wasn’t working. Every time he moved or spoke, she felt it try to go to him.
“I do, but it’s harder to see,” he said.
She so wanted to see his bear again, but he just wasn’t getting it.
So ask him.
She stopped. Thought for a second. Had a little argument with herself. No, I couldn’t. It’s not polite. She answered herself. Do you want to be polite, or do you want to have a chance at getting what you want?
Dangit.
“Flint, I want to see you as a bear again so I can… get a better look. Will you show him to me?” She crossed her eyes and held her breath.
Flint smiled for real this time, the biggest one she’d seen from him, and it was a show-stopper. Good thing she was kneeling or she would have swooned. Gorgeous. The smile turned him from interesting, arguably handsome if you liked meaty guys, to the most gorgeous man she’d ever seen. Her heart skipped out of her chest, all the way to him, and she couldn’t even tell it goodbye, she was so dazzled by the smile.
And then it was gone.
“I’m scary, Goldie. Big teeth, loud roar, claws that you don’t want to accidentally run into.”
Goldie shivered and her nipples pebbled, and whoosh, just like that, she was hot and throbbing and wanting this naked man in front of her. That couldn’t be healthy, could it? “I’m not scared of you,” she said.
He stared at her. “Okay.”
She bit her lower lip, eyes wide, heart thumping away in her chest. She didn’t want to miss a second of it.
If Goldie had thought she was prepared for what was about to happen, she was so, so wrong. Somehow she’d thought that seeing Flint as a bear wouldn’t feel as threatening as it would if it was some strange bear she didn’t know. Didn’t know? Like you have a long history of making friends with bears?
What really happened was that Flint changed from man to bear quickly, not so quickly that she couldn’t track the changes, but fast enough that she couldn’t process them. Fur erupted from skin, teeth grew, ears sprouted, head shape changed and body inflated like a balloon, until he was so massive Goldie shot to her feet and scrambled back away from him. The bear’s massive furry body twisted, and he stood, moving all of his bulk in an easy, unhurried manner.
Goldie had wanted to see it, was still fascinated, but also was awed and scared to be so close to such an enormous, dangerous animal.
He was almost as tall as her just standing on his four paws and she didn’t even want to think how tall he’d be if he reared up on his hind legs. She was still moving backwards, and wouldn’t you know it, she tripped on a rock, and landed hard on her backside.
The huge bear she knew in her mind was Flint - no matter how her survival instinct rejected that fact and urged her to run - seemed to hang his head at her reaction. Whoa. Humanity from a bear.
He held u
p a paw, then yawned massively, and shook his enormous head. Goldie smiled. He was trying to look silly. The bear tipped onto his side on the ground, rolling onto his back, letting his tongue loll out of his mouth like he was some kind of giant puppy. The scar on his neck was still there, but mostly shadowed by fur. Teddy bear, was all she could think. She used to sleep with one every night.
Flint’s voice spoke. She heard it clearly, but not with her ears.
I have never been so jealous of a stuffed animal in my life.
Goldie stared at him in surprise, at his enormous fuzzy bear head and closed mouth. “What the-? You can hear me?”
Yeah, it’s a hunting thing. Switches and shifted shifters can do it.
Goldie tried just thinking again, keeping her lips zipped. Okay, shift back now. I want us to talk normally.
Without hesitation he responded, rolling back onto all fours. Sure thing.
Goldie watched as the shift took place, paying closer attention now that she wasn’t so startled. Shaggy brown fur gave way to tan, smooth skin and darker hair, the hunch in his back became the strength of his broad shoulders, and his powerful flanks became-
Oops, she’d forgotten that part. She faced away from him, trying to be polite, a blush heating her cheeks. Mostly because she did not want to be polite.
He spoke from behind her. “Naked bear, naked man, Goldie. That’s how this works. And I need to get some new clothes from my car. Be right back.”
She did not watch him run up the hill. Did not trace his thick thighs and calves with her eyes. Did not wonder what the front of him looked like.
Chapter 18 - Spilling The Magic Beans
Flint and Goldie walked into a burger joint in Turner’s Mill that Flint had not eaten at yet. He didn’t want to recognize anyone. The town was small, a dozen winding miles from Shady Pines and its unexplained vampire population. Flint only knew a handful of people there, and those mostly from the political meetings that Carick’s human buddy Mr. Bunn ran while remaining ignorant as to his role in the fight against vampires.
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