Alpha Bear

by Bianca D’Arc

  “How about we start tomorrow?”

  “We?” She sent him a narrow-eyed look.

  “I’d like to be present. We know this thing goes after magic. I didn’t get a chance to tell you yet, but the master vampire of Seattle washed up on our shore a little bit ago. The thing that went after you chomped on his yacht and killed his crew. He was really messed up when he got here, but Zak saved him.”

  “Zak again?” She chuckled wryly. “Seems the deputy gets around. And here I thought he was the little guy in this crowd.”

  “Never judge a bear by his size. Zak may not be a grizzly, but he’s got a heart as big as the world and the guts to match.” John believed every word. He’d seen Zak outfight bigger guys and outshoot every man in his battalion. Zak was a dangerous man to underestimate.

  Ursula nodded. “Understood. But you don’t have to defend him to me. I’ve been a fan of the deputy’s since he welcomed us to the town and asked if we’d be able to find him a first edition of the Silmarillion. The man has discerning tastes. Mellie’s been green with jealousy that Tina got to him first.”

  John laughed outright at that.

  “So you want to watch me work?” she asked, shooting him a sideways grin. “I don’t mind, I guess. And to be honest, I’d be happy to have backup in case this thing is more than I can handle.”

  He saw it then—the real terror that must have filled her as she ran from the monster. John followed his instincts and leaned against the desk, by her side. He put one arm around her shoulders and gathered her close. He felt the fine tremor that hadn’t left her body and realized she was still feeling the reaction high of running for her life.

  “I’ll guard you with my life, Ursula. It’ll have to go through me if it wants you, and that won’t happen easily.”

  “I don’t want you to get hurt either, John,” she whispered, turning toward him.

  He couldn’t resist. He gathered her into his arms, hugging her tight against his chest.

  “Ssh. It’ll be okay. There’s nothing that can touch us if we work together, right? Your magic, my claws. We’ll be okay.”

  “You promise?” The small whisper floated up to him as he stroked his hand down her back, trying to offer what comfort he could.

  “You have my word,” he replied in a gentle voice.

  Little by little, her shaking stopped as she calmed under his touch. Her head fit nicely under his chin, and her warm, curvy body seemed like it was made for his arms.

  A dangerous thought.

  “You okay now?” he asked, feeling the intimacy of the moment curling around him. It was a pleasant sensation, but one he had to resist.

  She had admitted to being a witch. A magic user. Someone he should be wary of, not want to take in his arms and keep…forever.

  Oh, no. No, no, no.

  John let her go, hoping she would move away before those even more dangerous thoughts of his took hold and moved in to stay. He swatted mentally at his bear half. They could not keep her. She was not for them. She was magic. A witch. Not a shifter. Not even a human. She was a woman of power in her own right, and he had no idea if she could commit to a shifter the way a shifter needed her to commit to build a future.

  Shifters needed the bond. If not the sacred and profound mating bond that formed between shifters, then the deep love bond that could form between a shifter and a human mate. But John had no idea what would happen if a mage was added into the mix. Could they feel the bond? Any bond? And could it last a lifetime, or could a magic user walk away, leaving a broken shifter behind, likely to die, all alone and heartbroken?

  John did not want to be the one to find out.

  Chapter Three

  Urse was having a hard time calming her racing heart—not only from her run-in with the leviathan, but from the mayor’s close proximity. For a moment there…just a moment…she’d thought maybe he was going to kiss her. And then, he backed away.

  Was that disappointment flowing through her veins alongside the continued excitement from being so near him? Nah. Couldn’t be. Could it?

  She decided she could be an adult and handle this calmly. Right? Okay, maybe not completely calmly, but at least not running around screaming, the way she had entered the town hall. Even if a small part of her wanted to keep on running.

  She banished the nerves. They had no place here. Not if she was going to be casting spells and using her magic against…a freaking leviathan! Her knees wanted to give out again, but she hid it by casually leaning back against the desk.

  “So. Leviathan, you said?” She pretended to consider, trying to project calm instead of the bone-deep fear that hit her just speaking the word.

  “That’s what the strega in Italy said. There have been rumors of attacks up and down the coast of Italy by smaller versions of what came after you today. Just like what tried to drag Tina under. Baby sea monsters, if you will. But the big daddy seems to be parked here, attracted by the concentration of shifter magic—and your magic too, I guess.”

  “I don’t doubt it,” she agreed, thinking as fast as she could. “I should phone my grandmother. She could help me figure out what might work best,” she said aloud, thinking hard.

  “I’d like to listen in, if you don’t mind,” John came straight out and said.

  Her gaze shot over to him. He was standing several feet away now, looking as grim and unapproachable as she’d ever seen him. If he’d been in bear shape, he would have been bristling at her, she was sure.

  Well, she didn’t like that one bit. And she wasn’t going to back down. He might be a big-ass grizzly shifter, but she was a strega, from a proud and ancient tradition. She could take him on any day of the week. Probably.

  “You don’t trust me to talk to my grandmother?” she lashed out, the whip of aggravation in her voice.

  “I don’t trust you at all,” he countered, knocking her back with the verbal assault. “You’ve already lied to me—to the entire town—once. You’re not the simple humans I thought you were, so forgive me for being wary. In the shifter world, being cautious helps you live longer, and I plan to live a good long time.”

  “With no friends,” she grumbled under her breath as she fumed.

  She busied herself by sitting back on the desk, uncaring if she dislodged the pencil cup or the blotter. Her knees were shaking too bad. She couldn’t stand, and she couldn’t walk over to a chair, so the desk would have to do.

  “Fine,” she snapped finally. “Let’s call her now, before I get any angrier at you. Depending on what she tells me, I may have to make preparations for the spellwork required. The sooner we start this, the sooner we let loose the spells of war.”

  “I thought that quote was supposed to be let loose the dogs of war.” He thawed out enough to quirk one side of his mouth into a tiny grin.

  “Dogs. Spells. Whatever. It works for me. My spells have teeth when I want them to.” She smiled a false smile. “Just you remember that, Mr. Mayor.”

  That wiped the small grin from his face. One part of her was sad to see it go. Another part wanted to slap him for being such a beast to her. So they hadn’t told the complete truth, but then again, neither had the residents of Grizzly Cove. They were pretending to be a group of human artists, for goodness’ sake. Although, the art she’d seen in the galleries in town was very pretty. Maybe they really were artists, but John definitely had warrior stamped all over his impatient, very fit, handsome bod.

  Urse had always figured there would be a few shifters in a place as wild as this. That was to be expected. Shifters lived among humans all over the world. She’d thought nothing of the few townsfolk she’d met on her one and only scouting trip to the area. They’d been shifters. Big deal. She figured the rest of the town was human, and that was good enough for her.

  Only upon moving up here lock, stock and barrel had they realized that there were only three—THREE—humans in town. The three Baker sisters, and they were all in the process of marrying shifters, so they had to be in on
the secret already.

  There really was no solution to the problem. The shifters probably couldn’t tell they were strega, and therefore weren’t obliged to tell people they thought were clueless humans about their true nature. By the same token, the Ricoletti sisters had thought this was a normal town, with just a higher-than-average number of shifters because of the ruggedness of the locale. That was a logical conclusion to have drawn on such short acquaintance with the place, so they’d done nothing wrong in not telling anyone about their powers.

  Only after they’d gotten here and realized where they’d ended up…well…that was when Urse should have overruled Mellie and sought out the mayor to come clean. But she’d been enjoying being in Grizzly Cove. The place was beautiful. The cove was so peaceful… Except for the little sea monster problem that had cropped up today.

  Which she was going to do something about.

  Steeling her resolve, she reached for the phone. “I’m calling Nonna. You already have her number down as our emergency contact, so I don’t mind inputting it into your phone system. Nonna is a better witch than me and Mellie put together, so if any of you go after her, you’re going to regret it,” she warned as she dialed.

  John looked affronted. “What in the world do you take me for? I don’t go after grannies with intent to kill. Not unless they’re grannies who work for the Venifucus. Yours doesn’t, does she?” He was almost shouting at her.

  Urse made the sign of the cross when he said the V word. It was an old habit from growing up with a very Catholic Nonna. “Don’t you dare say that about my Nonna!”

  “I didn’t say she was one of them,” he insisted. “I said she only had to worry about us if she was.”

  “Well, she’s not!” Say anything you like about Urse herself, but don’t attack her Nonna. That’s when the claws came out.

  She punched in the final number, and the phone started to ring. She was shaking, she was so worked up.

  “How do you put this thing on speaker?” she grudgingly asked John, practically slamming the phone back onto the desk. He came over and punched a button, and then, the electronic ring tone sounded through the office.

  She glared at him while it rang, and then finally, on the fifth ring, the line was picked up.

  “Hello?” Nonna’s heavily accented voice came over the speaker.

  “Nonna, it’s me, Urse. I’m in the Grizzly Cove town hall with the mayor, John Marshall, and you’re on speaker, okay?” She tried to speak clearly. Nonna’s hearing wasn’t as good as it used to be.

  “Oh! You’re with Johnny,” Nonna replied, sounding for all the world as if she knew the mayor already, though Urse was pretty sure she’d never laid eyes on him in her life. “Good. So. You have a problem up there, si?”

  “Nonna…” Urse wasn’t sure how to tackle this. Nonna often knew more than she should. Then again, she was a powerful and very old strega. Who knew what sorts of gifts she really had? Nonna hadn’t revealed everything to her granddaughters. Not yet. “I was attacked today…”

  “By the leviathan,” Nonna said knowingly.

  “I beg your pardon, ma’am,” John broke in, “but how could you know that?”

  “Just as I saw your face, Johnny, I saw the creature that haunts your coast. It is why I sent my granddaughters to you,” came Nonna’s mysterious reply.

  “You saw this?” Urse was shocked. Nonna had occasional bouts of clairvoyance. It wasn’t her greatest gift, but when the visions came, they were strong and eerily accurate.

  “Si. You cannot defeat the leviathan yourselves. Neither you nor your sister. But you can protect those innocent people on the land…and some of those in the sea. Your spells will help the land dwellers, but your sister must seek a way to assist the sea creatures. All creatures who serve the Light suffer when the leviathan is near.” Nonna paused, and Urse met John’s gaze. She was glad he looked as stunned as she felt. “Three will come to fight the leviathan. They will each play their role, but it will be the unexpected that finally banishes the creature from our realm again. Watch for them. They will come when the time is right, and not before.”

  “Nonna. Did you just give him a prophecy?” Urse could hardly believe it. She knew for a fact that her grandmother didn’t just hand out prophecies lightly. Usually, it involved all sorts of rigmarole—probably because it didn’t happen often.

  “I did,” her grandmother confirmed. “And you can just lift your jaw up off the floor, Ursula. Things have changed in the world. Dark times are coming. We must all band together to help one another at such times. This feuding and distrust between our races must end, or else we’re all doomed.”

  Urse gulped. “Doomed?”

  Now, she knew her granny had always had a bit of a dramatic flair, but this was going above and beyond. Never before had she said anything so dire.

  “Si, figlia mia, doomed. It is no less than the truth.”

  “Wow.” Urse slumped where she was sitting. She’d never heard anything like that from her grandmother before. This was bad. Really bad.

  “Si. Now you understand.” Her grandmother paused before continuing to speak in her heavily-accented English. “Now listen well. You will need all your skill and strength to do what must be done. And you must do it soon. Prepare tonight for the breaking dawn ceremony of Light. You must do this tomorrow. Continue the day after, at noon, and the following day at sunset. You will be at your strongest when the Light shines upon you. Unfortunately, it is winter now, and the days are short, but there is still hope, for the moon will be at its fullest in four days’ time. You must conclude your part in protecting the town with a full moon ceremony on that last night. It would be best if you can get some of those brave bears to watch over you while you work, and perhaps lend some of their strength, if they are willing, to enhance your wards.”

  “Oh, I don’t think it’ll be any problem to get at least one of them to watch my back. The mayor has already informed me that he’s not willing to let me do magic without his supervision.” Urse was still annoyed by the mayor’s insistence.

  “Si. That is good. You will need the Alpha bear behind you if this is going to work. He will stand for all his people during the daytime ceremonies, but at night, it would be best to have a small gathering in a sacred place, as close to the beach as you dare. I saw…” Nonna trailed off, uncharacteristically uncertain. “There was a circle of stones. Not big standing stones, but something that looked more natural, but wasn’t. A sacred circle, hidden in plain sight. On a rocky point where sea spray can reach, but not consume—at least not normally. You must be careful. It is a dangerous place that calls to good and evil alike. You can use this power for good. The evil thing will seek its power to devour it. It will attack, but you must stand strong. You all must stand strong. Or you all fail.”

  “Fail?” Urse croaked. Failure in magical circles often equaled death.

  “We will not fail, ma’am. Not with my town on the line. Not with my people holding the line. You should know that most of us are retired soldiers,” John revealed, surprising Urse. “We never run from a fight.”

  “Seems I wasn’t the only one keeping secrets,” Urse muttered. “Do you know the place Nonna is talking about?”

  John looked grim as he nodded. “I know it. It’s not an easy hike, and it’ll be dangerous at night.”

  “But you must go there,” Nonna said stridently through the phone. “It is the only way to fully protect your land-based shifters from the leviathan. It is the only place that can channel enough power. Ursula, make him understand. Teach him about our ways, if you must, to convince him.”

  John’s eyebrows rose, right along with Urse’s. Never had her Nonna instructed her to divulge family secrets to a non-mage before. This was serious.

  “Are you sure?” Urse double-checked.

  “Positive. It is the only way,” her grandmother said at once.

  “Well, if you say so,” Urse agreed somewhat reluctantly. This was big. Bigger than she’d even imag
ined.

  “And get Amelia to call me tomorrow morning. I have instructions for her as well, though it is not yet time for her to participate,” Nonna ordered quickly. “Now, you have preparations to make. I send all my love to you, Ursula, and to you, Johnny. If all goes well, we will meet one day, and I will see your handsome face in person.”

  John’s lips quirked up in a crooked smile. “Yes, ma’am. I look forward to it. Thank you for your help.”

  “All of us who serve the Light must help each other now. I will pray for you, figlio mio, and all of the people you protect and serve.”

  Urse was surprised by her grandmother’s warm tone for the man who had so easily gotten under Urse’s skin with his attitude about magic—or more specifically, his distrust of her now that he knew she was a strega.

  “Ciao, Nonna. Ti voglio molto bene. I’ll call you tomorrow and let you know how the dawn ceremony goes.”

  “See that you do,” Nonna said with mock sternness.

  She gave Urse a few more words of caution and encouragement before she let the call end with a long-distance blessing that called on the Mother of All and a few of her favorite saints thrown in for good measure. Nonna had a strange way of looking at the two religions the strega had blended together, but she made it work. Somehow.

  Silence fell in the front office of town hall for a moment after the call ended. Urse had punched the button to end the call, then sat back, nonplussed. So much had happened in such a short time. When she’d risen this morning, she hadn’t expected all this excitement. And now she had a mission—and a heck of a lot of magic to do over the next four days.