by Olivia Harp
Audrey stopped.
There were fifteen children he was talking about.
"And you let her?"
"You know how they look up to her. What was I supposed to do?"
She shrugged, they were all shifters. No harm could befall them.
The walk up to their cabin was slow and deliberate. After the attack she suffered so many years ago, she learned about the Shadowlands, about the Rot, and how the crew members helped the government fight it back to oblivion.
Enzo strengthened the bond between the crew and the powerful forces of nature that zeroed on their territory. Their power extended throughout the country. There were no enemies to fight anymore. There was only peace.
Enzo opened the door for her as they entered their cabin. Enzo likes to call it a cabin, it's more like a mansion.
She lived in luxury but what really made her happy was her family and her job.
Enzo put the bags on the kitchen's island and turned to her, his smirk revealing his plans before his words could.
He approached her slowly and put his strong, sweaty, dirty arms around her big, rounded, pregnant belly, and gave her a quick peck on the cheek.
"So," he said, "what if we celebrate before—"
"Enzo!" she yelled, "you're all dirty!"
"Yeah, and I'm about to get even dirtier."
He kissed her neck, holding her tight.
"You sure you want to do it?"
Enzo gasped, almost offended, "do you really have to ask me that?"
She blushed, looking down.
"I look like I just swallowed a whole planet."
He rolled his eyes, letting out a soft growl.
"You're carrying my child and every day you're more beautiful than the last. Is it okay if I want to do dirty, dirty things to you every time I see you?"
She blushed even harder, biting her lip. The man had no shame, he couldn't even talk to her like this without grinding his boner against her rear.
A fire welled up inside. He always did that. Turned her on. Made her need him. The man of her dreams. The great, protective channeler bear, a legend among shifters, was her husband.
Every bad thing that happened in her life, every bad thing that happened in his, was a stepping stone to get to this. She was grateful for it. The good and the bad and everything in between. Her life was magical.
Enzo took her hand and started walking upstairs.
"The kids aren't gonna be here for another hour or so," he said, half turning to her.
A decade ago she was focused on the job, the one thing she knew she could do right, telling herself love didn't matter.
But her partner helped her become a better person than she could have ever imagined, just like she helped him too.
It was the perfect balance. The perfect life.
They entered the bedroom, and once again he decorated it with all kinds of wild flowers, picked up just for her. The big bad channeler bear, with the angry beast inside of him did this.
He went to the shower and turned on the hot water, kissing her as he undid her loose blouse top to bottom.
She knew it now. She'd been wrong all those years. Life can be a fairy tale. If you only let it. Her heart beat on her chest just as hard as the first time she saw him.
Audrey stepped in the shower, into his embrace, losing herself in his eyes. She touched his face, unable to believe this was real.
He kissed her, and she was sure, absolutely sure dreams could come true.
Thanks for reading!
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Primal Bear
Chapter 1
Damien finished cleaning up the downed log, it had taken him a while to take every branch off and cut it in pieces, but the work was finally done: now he had enough materials to fix the deck behind his cabin.
He cracked his knuckles and lifted it in a swift motion, his muscles tensing hard as he put the fifteen foot long trunk on his left shoulder. It was easily half a ton, heavy, but nothing he couldn’t deal with. He still had to carry it a few hundred yards before being able to strip it down and transform it into usable timber.
The walk back home was not an easy hike, but he liked it. The hot summer day, now that noon was approaching; the sweat on his back dripping off his torso, the quiet land. He was born for the wilderness, only duty was his one superior priority.
His heavy boots sank deep in the soft soil as he approached his cabin. He smiled, there was plenty of work ahead.
Then he picked up a familiar scent. Maverick, he thought. One of his crew.
“Hey boss!” Maverick said as soon as he saw him. “You busy? Gonna build something?”
He was standing on the back porch of the cabin, waiting for him.
Damien dropped the log just beside the cabin’s back garden.
He definitely never planned on having a yard up here in the mountain, the idea of it seemed ridiculous, but as soon as the place was built and the crew was ready to rest, Raiden, the weirdest one of the bunch, said they should dig it.
Now, after all that work, Damien wasn’t going to drop a massive trunk on it and destroy it. It would break Raiden’s heart, he thought, grinning. As if that could happen.
“I’m not building anything, just doing some repairs,” he replied, walking over to Maverick, cleaning his woodchip-filled hands, “what brings you here, Mav?”
Maverick got serious for a second, “The suits want to talk to you, they say it’s urgent.”
“What happened? Did they say anything?”
“No, boss, they said they needed to deliver the message straight to you, to make sure there was no miscommunication, and if there were any questions you could ask them right then and there.”
“Well, then. Let me go get my stuff, are the guys already there?”
“Yeah, I told them on my way up here.”
Damien opened the sliding glass door and entered his cabin, “make yourself comfortable, Mav, I’ll be right back.”
“Thanks, boss.”
Damien climbed the stairs to the second floor, passed two rooms and entered his own; put a t-shirt, washed his face and grabbed his tool belt.
When he came down, Mav was sitting on the back deck, playing on his phone.
“Aren’t you too old to play games?” he said.
Mav turned to him.
“I hope not, Boss,” he smiled, “but I wasn’t playing, check this out.”
He turned his phone to Damien and showed him a picture of the backyard. It was a good picture, actually: the bright grass, contrasted by the darker pines in the background, the blue sky just barely visible in the square photo. He was almost embarrassed to have flowers back there, but they looked great, so he wasn’t apologizing.
“Last time I posted a photo of your garden I got a few dozen new followers, and more than two hundred likes... people just love this kind of stuff.”
All that “likes” and “followers” and phone apps kind of thing was Chinese to Damien, but he understood enough to let out a chuckle.
“That’s good, I guess, do you get paid for that?”
“What?”
“The picture, followers, all that.”
“Nah, it’s just for fun.”
“Just make sure you don’t bring unwarranted attention, work is easier when humans are not around.”
“Don’t worry, it doesn’t say where it was taken, and I don’t explain a lot.”
Damien smiled and patted Mav on the shoulder.
“All right. I’m glad you like tech, we can’t depend on Franklin to be the only one to operate the equipment around here,” he said, and started walking the trail down to the tower.
***
The communications tower was a joke name for a l
arge container sized room with radio equipment. It had a military grade antenna, though. The government made sure it was capable of transmitting through the mountains without much interference, along with being a cell satellite repeater, which was godsend up here in the woods.
It was mostly used for a high speed Internet connection and emergency broadcasts through special channels available to shifters, but from time to time the government suits wanted to contact them and instead of coming out here they used radio comm.
The White Paws were the first line of defense on the mountain. They had a ranger’s job, all right, that was the easy part, but their main duty was to help keep the Shadowlands at bay and report any incident to the other clans... and the suits in Washington.
The bears managed to keep their autonomy. It was hard work for humans up here, risky work. Especially since the Shadowlands made its cancerous puncture in this part of the country a few years ago, and he and his crew had to bend it to its knees and banish it. No human could do that, no fully charged automatic weapon could. Only them and their strength, but if Armageddon was around the corner, you could always count on politicians wanting to be the first to know, so they could run and hide before anyone else.
The day had indeed become the hottest of the year so far. He’d planned to shift and refresh at the Hidden Lake after his rounds, but that would have to wait.
The comms tower was in sight now, just one building on a set of four: Comms Tower, Supply Room, Lab, and Workshop.
Damien saw Mav’s truck beside the lab, its bed full of plastic boxes.
“I was planning on going to town later today, we need some supplies,” Mav said.
“You know you gotta stay until after the suits have said their piece, right?”
“Yeah, no prob.”
In the distance, Enzo saw them and waved, they did the same.
“Franklin says everything’s ready,” Enzo shouted, “He wants to try the new equipment.”
Damien smiled. Everyone was curious about this, but they wouldn’t admit it.
***
“White Tower to Blue Eagle, Big Bear speaking, you wanted to talk to me, over?” Damien said.
After a moment of static silence, a voice came through.
“Blue Eagle here, we copy Big Bear, is the whole crew there listening, over?”
“Negative, Raiden went out, everyone else in here... Thomas, just tell us what’s up, we don’t have all day, over.”
“Sorry, Damien,” said the man over the radio, a waver in his voice betrayed his fake confidence. Thomas was a good guy but humans never wanted to piss shifters off... especially bear shifters. “I just needed to confirm you all hear this.”
“The Gold Skin crew, north of your position have been having problems with wild animals, apparently they’re coming up to people and attacking them. Wolves, cougars, even birds.”
“Birds?” Mav asked, surprised.
“Quiet,” Franklin told him,
“Now, we both know,” Thomas continued, “Wild animals don’t attack people unless they’re frightened, hungry or protecting their young... and even then, that’s a rare occurrence. Unless there were traces of the rot around.”
“Some other crews have reported similar attacks and we’re asking everyone to be on the lookout for any punctures out there, just to make sure we’re good, over.”
Everyone was looking at Damien, Thomas was right, attacks were rare, rarer still in bear shifter territory.
“We haven’t had any trouble,” Damien replied, “but we’ll keep our eyes open, over.”
“Thank you guys, sorry for the inconvenience, we just thought it was safest to confirm, over.”
“We’ll report back if anything happens, over and out.”
Mav was the first to speak, “The Rot? You think it’s back, boss?”
“Don’t jump to conclusions so easily, boy,” Franklin said, “it’s a preventive measure.”
Damien nodded, “and if it’s not, we’re ready for war.”
He turned to Enzo, who was standing at the door, looking in. “Have you sensed anything unusual Enzo? You’d be the first one to notice with all those experiments you do.”
“Nothing, it’s probably just a false alarm.”
“All right, false alarm or not, we make the rounds... usual areas. Franklin, you stay here, try to communicate with Raiden, see if he’s seen anything weird. All of you, I trust you to do your job. You’re well capable of dealing with any issue. But remember, we’re here to back you up in case you need it, got it?”
“Got it,” they all said in unison.
“Let’s get to it, then,” he ordered, and everyone jumped to action.
Chapter 2
Zoe had been looking for a place like this since she was a little girl. Out here, surrounded by the sounds and smells of the great old forests of Oregon made her feel completely at peace, connected to Mother Nature.
She’d tried hiking before, but could almost never find the time.
Now, after finally leaving Detroit behind for good, her sense of adventure had increased tenfold. Here, on the west, she felt as if nature spoke to her.
This was the start of a new, better life. At least I hope so, she thought, having no job and just enough money to survive for a few months isn’t very reassuring, but as her mom always told her “you have to take big risks if you want big rewards”. And after all, if she failed, she could always go back to her boring, cubicle life. No, I’m not going back, I’m going to make it or die trying.
She’d already set her tent back on the trail, on a small clearing where the woods opened up above her. The day was so clear, she was sure she’d have the best view of the starry sky ever.
Hiking accidents happen because people wander off distracted, without paying attention to their surroundings, she reminded herself. Don’t worry Zoe, this is an easy hike, besides, camp is just there.
The forest was thick, difficult to say the least. She had to avoid huge roots, bushes, thickets, but it was okay, she expected that. She was in no rush, had all the time in the world to do what she wanted. She smacked another mosquito. Half my kingdom for a bug spray! she thought.
She got on a clearer path and a few yards up ahead she finally saw it: a small creek, gleaming just for her.
“That’s what I’m talking about” she said, picking up her pace, and for the umpteenth time touched the bag of her backpack that contained her homemade —or more honestly, car made— sandwich. This was going to be great!
The creek was shallow and only two or three yards wide, Zoe could easily walk through it, but she wasn’t planning on doing that: this far was all she would allow herself to go without worrying about getting lost.
There were some big rocks on each side of the creek, sitting beside the water. Yay! Perfect place to relax, she thought smiling, climbing the nearest one. The rocks were a smooth grayish-white color, she sat down and immediately started taking off her hiking boots and socks and tested the water with her toes. The water was cold. It was very cold. What did you expect? It comes straight from the mountain! she told herself.
She slowly lowered her feet beneath the water, until she touched bottom. This was already a great day, a dream come true, and nothing could ruin it.
“It’s not really recommended to hike through this parts alone, you know that, right?” a deep, hard voice said. She jerked and turned around, taken out of her thoughts.
Then she saw him.
He was practically a model, what is a man like that doing here? she said. His chest and wide back silhouetted against the soft shadows of the forest, his face fierce. He was strong. Ridiculously strong, and he looked at her with soft blue eyes beneath black hair. He looked like one of those movie barbarians: tall, incredihandsome, and ruggedly beautiful.
He smiled at her, taking a few steps forward, completely at ease with his surroundings. Every step he took was sure and easy, unlike hers, which were slow and very deliberately made. She saw he was some kind of Range
r. His sleeve had a green rhomboid patch with a white bear paw in the middle, but there was no legend on it so she couldn’t know what it meant. His biceps pressed against his shirt, his torso threatening to burst apart the tight t-shirt he was wearing.
“Stop right there, mister,” she said, standing up on the rock. Her feet were wet and she had to be careful not to lose her balance, but she couldn’t let Mister-Oh-My-God-Take-Me-Now get any closer, for all she knew he could be a bad man, even if she sensed he wasn’t.
The man stopped. He was about fifty feet away from her, and even at this distance she knew he was tall enough to stand and look at her at eye-level.
“It is also not recommended to take off your shoes and put your feet in the water,” he said. The rock she was standing on was now dark gray, drenched in water dripping from her.
“Good thing this is a free country,” she replied, “and I can do whatever I want, right?”
The man’s eyes widened in surprise.
“You can,” he said, “I’m just saying it’s not recommended. What would happen if a wild animal jumped you... just like I did?”
“Well I guess I’d have to use this,” she said pulling out a small air horn from her fanny pack.
Mr. Muscles smiled, “Oh really? Is that a new kind of gun I haven’t heard of?”
“This, in case you don’t know, emits a very loud noise, enough to scare a wild animal.”
“Oh, that’s interesting, may I see that special thing you got?”
This was it. Was she gonna let the stranger approach? Was it safe?
“I can think of a few reasons why that would be a bad idea,” she said.
“Maybe you’re right. Not all animals are... you know... actual animals... but I still have to see if you’re carrying drugs or drug paraphernalia with you in that backpack. Not many people hike all the way down here, alone, just to put their feet in cold water.”
“Really? You’re a police officer?”
“Not exactly. I have some duties though, and making sure we don’t have druggies ending up dead because they get high and lost is one of them.”