The Snowflake Trilogy

by JJ Jones

  Logan looked down at him like he was processing the information, or maybe contemplating the offer.

  “I promise, Snowflake. We can have the truce just like you wanted.” the panic in the Big Dog’s voice was even more apparent now. He was practically clawing up at Logan’s arm.

  “You’re lying,” Logan said peering down at him. “You won’t call off your guard. You won’t let us go free. You won’t do anything different. You will continue to hunt my kind as long as you are alive. You will forever be jealous of us whitebears and that will never change.” Logan looked down at him.

  “You don’t know that,” the Big Dog said, but his tone was no longer panicked, but he was sneering back at Logan instead. “You have no way of knowing what I will and won’t do.”

  “Yes, I do,” Logan said. “You are a liar and always will be. You lied to me when I was in training, and you are lying now. I will not let you continue to hunt my kind. Things cannot carry on the way they are now. Things must change. I will see to it that they change,” Logan looked down at him. “Your research obviously hasn’t yielded much over the years, or you would know that werebears have certain abilities and identifying truth is one of them.”

  The Big Dog’s eyes grew wide with fear for a moment as he realized the gravity of his mistake. Then he settled back down and seemed to calm down altogether and take a deep breath before continuing his conversation with Logan.

  “Don’t be stupid, Snowflake,” the Big Dog chided him again like a child. “You know the rules. Don’t do anything you might regret later.”

  It was obvious that treating Logan like a child was not the right way to approach the conversation. Logan rolled his eyes, and looked away from the Big Dog. The panic returned to the Big Dog’s face, but Logan ignored him completely.

  Logan looked over at me and smiled calmly.

  I didn’t have any time to react, not understanding what his smile or look meant. He looked back at the Big Dog and spoke quickly.

  “You know what? Screw the fucking rules you ugly bastard!”

  With that Logan let go of the Big Dog’s hand and with everything moving in slow motion the Big Dog plummeted to his long overdue death.

  Chapter9

  “Oh God,” I cried as I heard the Big Dog’s screams as he fell over fifty feet to his death. I wasn’t sad for him, but it wasn’t pleasant to hear the crack of his body as it hit the stone in the garden below.

  “We need to get down to the body,” Logan said quickly seemingly unmoved by the sound or the death that he had just caused.

  I stood a little dumbfounded by the whole scene that had just unfolded before my eyes.

  “Tanisha,” Logan said trying to get my attention.

  “Oh, yeah,” I said realizing that he was calling my name.

  “We need to go downstairs and get to his body quickly,” Logan said again.

  “Why?” I said a little disgusted and not at all wanting to see the body close-up.

  “I need to,” Logan said not explaining, “We need to go down there anyway. It’s not like we’re going to fly from here back to the car.”

  “Right,” I said relenting.

  “Okay, you coming?” he moved over toward the door.

  Yeah, of course,” I said shaking out my legs so they would start working again and I could get moving.

  Logan moved back over to where I was standing. “I know that wasn’t what we had planned. I wish it could have worked out a different way, but it is what it is.”

  “I know,” I said looking down at the ground.

  He put his arm around me and we started walking back toward the door.

  “What about the wolf pack?” I asked suddenly hearing their calls in the distance.

  “They won’t be a problem now,” Logan said quietly. He seemed a little out of sorts as we moved through the rooftop garden and back into the house.

  I tried to make conversation with him as we moved through the house, but Logan seemed lost in thought or disoriented. I thought maybe he was just a little overwhelmed by everything that had happened on the rooftop, so finally I decided to just stop asking questions and wait until everything was over to ask questions.

  We walked outside to the Big Dog’s body. I almost doubled-over at the sight of his contorted body on the ground. Limbs were bent in directions they should never have been and his torso had smashed and become completely concave. I had to look away. Logan approached the body and grabbed his head. I glanced back to see what he was doing, but then realized he was ripping the head from the body and immediately turned away again repulsed. I guess that was the only way to ensure he was really dead.

  I stood away from the Big Dog’s body and I could see something in the distance. At first it looked like ants or another insect, but within seconds, I could tell that whatever it was, it was much bigger and it was moving quickly. I immediately turned to tell Logan that the pack was coming.

  “Yes,” he said before I could speak. “the pack is coming.” He spoke like he was tired. I couldn’t imagine that he was going to be ready for another fight. I pulled my guns up and checked their ammo deciding that this was going to be fight that I was going to fight for both of us.

  I looked back out into the distance, but the pack was not in the distance anymore, they were practically at the gate. There appeared to be probably about twenty or maybe twenty-five of them. The Big Dog wasn’t lying when he said that it was a good back-up team. I couldn’t imagine why he didn’t have them as an initial response team. We had so easily taken out his initial security because there were so few. But if it had been a squad like this, we would have truly struggled.

  He must have had more confidence that Logan wouldn’t kill him. But why? I still didn’t know. But the impending threat of the pack distracted my mind from thinking more about the thought and instead I pulled out the Exterminator and readied my aim so I could kill any of them that approached us.

  While I had been readying my weapons and thinking my thoughts, I hadn’t noticed that Logan had climbed on top of a nearby bench. He stood and raised the Big Dog’s decapitated head with his right hand and slowed the incoming pack with his left.

  Upon seeing their decapitated leader the pack immediately stopped and paced the courtyard awkwardly. They didn’t seemed to be threatening us, but seemed instead to be confused.

  Logan spoke. “Your commander and leader is dead. This means from this point that you are all given your freedom.”

  Again there seemed to be confusion and most of the wolves paced about awkwardly. Finally one of the wolves shifted back into it's human form.

  “Did you kill him?” he asked.

  “Yes,” Logan replied.

  “How did you kill him?” he asked.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Logan spoke again. “What matters is now you answer to no one and now all the killing can end.” Logan’s tone was of one in charge.

  Another wolf shifted back into human form and spoke to Logan. “But if you were the one that killed the Big Dog,” he almost moved as if to bow to Logan, “then we now answer to you.”

  Logan hesitated before replying. He tossed the Big Dog’s head to the ground and seemed to stand a little taller. “That is true, and I am here to say this – you are all free. From this point forward, all bears and wolves are equal. There is no difference between us. We will not harm each other, nor war with each other. We will work together to bring peace together and fight for the freedoms and rights we both deserve as shifters.”

  All the wolves seemed a little dazed at first, but didn’t seem like they were going to argue or fight against Logan. Instead the two that had shifted into human form finally shifted back into their wolf form and then together with the rest of the pack ran off the same way they had come. They were howling and appeared excited and happy.

  I watched them run away and wondered where they would go and what would become of them. Would they stay in contact with other shifters or would they alienate themselves away from all
others. I turned to ask Logan what he thought they would do.

  Logan collapsed down from standing on the bench. I ran to catch him as I thought he would fall onto the ground completely forgetting that I was going to ask him about the wolf shifters.

  “Logan!” I gasped as I helped him sit on the bench. “Are you okay?’

  “I will be,” he said exhausted.

  “What’s wrong? How can I help? What’s happened?” I realized I was firing questions at him, but I couldn’t help myself. I was worried about him and I wanted to do whatever I could to help. I started to look all over his body for blood, wounds, or any other indications that would tell me what might be wrong.

  “It’s nothing you can see, Tanisha,” Logan said still short of breath. “Please just help me to the car.” He stood a little wobbly and braced himself against me. It was strange to be helping him when for our entire relationship, he had always been the strong one. Even when he had been injured with bullet wounds, I had been the squeamish one and he the strong one.

  “We could wait here in the garden, until you feel more like walking,” I offered a little nervous about whether or not I was going to be able to help him all the way back to the car. “I don’t think we have any more trouble to worry about.” I said my spirits raised a little.

  “No,” Logan said a little defiantly. “Although I think you’re right about the trouble,” he fake a smile, “I don’t want to spend even one more second on this godforsaken property. I want to get out of here as soon as I can. With your help, we can get out here now.”

  “Alright,” I managed. “Let’s try, then.” I stood and helped him stand next to me.

  I took his body weight against mine and let him lean into me while we walked to the car. Surprisingly, I wasn’t overwhelmed as I helped him to the car. Something about him was different. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but something about him felt different.

  Once we made it to the car, there was no question that I would drive. Logan was in no condition to drive. I helped him into the passenger’s seat and then ran over and jumped into the driver’s seat.

  “Okay, where are we headed?” I asked trying to sound optimistic.

  “The airport, of course,” Logan said.

  I don’t know why I didn’t think of it. I guess my brain was more focused on his “condition” what it was and maybe I was thinking about the hospital or maybe trying to find other shifters to help him, but when he said the airport, my heart kind of lifted. This was actually the end of it all, we had made it. I looked over and smiled.

  “I think we need to take care of you before we head some place exotic though,” I said still feeling a bit concerned.

  “Oh, well this will just take time,” he said leaning back into the seat. “For now, let’s just drive. I’ll explain while we drive.”

  I fired up the engine, glad to finally be at a place where I could feel a sense of peace. It felt like a new chapter in my life was about to begin and with someone special to be there to enjoy it with me.

  **

  “Okay, so the rules?” I asked as we pulled away from the mansion.

  “Right the rules,” Logan said keeping his eyes closed and seeming like just talking was hurting him. “So I don’t know who came up with rules. That’s being completely honest, too. I don’t. They were long before my time. But the rules were set up years ago somehow between all shifters and the big dog.”

  “So obviously the Big Dog created the rules, then,” I interjected.

  “Well in theory, yes,” Logan agreed, “but the Big Dog you just met hasn’t always been the Big Dog. The Big Dog changes. The rule states that a shifter cannot kill the Big Dog directly and in turn the Big Dog can never directly kill any shifter either. Whoever the Big Dog is, they have to be protected. So like you witnessed today, without breaking the rules I could not kill the Big Dog and he could not kill me.”

  “That’s why he referenced sending the Lone Wolf after you, because he could have the Lone Wolf kill you, because he wasn’t killing you himself, so it technically wasn’t breaking the rules.” I said.

  “Exactly. And it turn, that’s also why he mocked me about bringing you to the roof, because he said that I was planning to use you in order to kill him, Because technically I wouldn’t be killing him myself – instead I would be having you pull the trigger in my place. Does that all make sense?”

  “Yes, but Logan,” I was putting it all together.

  “I know, Tanisha,” Logan said. “Neither of us used someone else to kill the other, and ultimately, I was the one who killed the Big Dog. You didn’t pull the trigger for me, like the Big Dog said. So I did break the rule.”

  “What happens if you break the rules, Logan?” I asked hesitantly looking over at Logan expecting the worst.

  “Tanisha,” he started. “I don’t want you to be upset,” he looked over at me. “I did what I had to do. It was the best option. It was the only option. The Big Dog had to be stopped in order to keep peace between our people. I need you to understand that. He was a ruthless killer. He would have continued killing werebears everywhere until he had total control. There was no stopping him without killing him.” Logan’s voice was desperate. “Think of your father. I had to put an end to everything he’d done. I had to stop him.”

  “Logan,” I said defiantly asking him outright. “What happens when a shifter breaks the rules?”

  “The shifter loses his powers as a shifter,” Logan said.

  “Meaning…” I sat trying to put it all together in my head.

  “I become a human again,” Logan relented.

  I couldn’t think of anything to say.

  “I am feeling the abilities draining from within me. I have lost much of my former strength and my keen senses. It has been so long since I have been human that I don’t remember what it feels like to be human. I know that sounds dumb, but I feel so different, so weak and vulnerable.” He sounded like a child first learning how to ride a bike and was afraid of falling and scraping his knee.

  “Logan, it’s going to be fine. You’re going to be fine. I will be right here through everything. I’m sure that everything will come back, and you’ll feel normal in a matter of hours. It won’t even be a big deal. It’ll just be a matter of adjusting backwards.” I couldn’t help but laugh a little at his vulnerability. It was kind of cute.

  “Thanks,” Logan said as he leaned back against the seat again and took deep breaths of fresh air. “I feel a little like a teenage boy trying to understand my own body again. It feels a little ridiculous.”

  “I’m sure it won’t be as bad as going through puberty. Nothing can be as bad as that,” I said laughing. Logan laughed too. It felt good to laugh again knowing that we were free of anything peril or trouble.

  “It’s nice just to be together,” Logan said reaching across and holding my hand as we drove.

  I turned and smiled back at him. It was nice. “I don’t mean to turn the subject serious again, but I have a question if that’s okay,” I asked.

  “Sure, go ahead,” he replied.

  “So if you knew about this all along, and the Big Dog has been terrorizing werebears for so long, why hasn’t someone stepped up and killed him before? Or why hasn’t there been someone sort of assassination plot been made against him?” I asked.

  “Attempts have been made before,” Logan started. “Don’t think we haven’t tried. Just like when the Lone Wolf attacked us, although nothing quite that lethal I guess, we have tried to take him out a few times. Unfortunately, nothing has ever been successful. No one has ever attempted a mission that would have had them breaking the rules though – thus putting them back as a human. I’m the first to accomplish that.”

  “Why not before?” I asked. “Why now?”

  “Well there was always a reason to keep my shifting powers before,” Logan explained. “And there was never a good enough reason to return to being a human. I enjoyed being a shifter. There was nothing wrong with it, and i
t definitely came with a few nice perks. But then I met you, and things started to change. For a while, I needed my shifter abilities to keep us safe, which is what I promised to your father. I do and I always will intend to keep that promise to your father, but in that moment on the rooftop, I realized that with the Big Dog gone, I wouldn’t need my shifter abilities anymore to keep that promise. Instead, I could just be me and still keep that promise.”

  Logan paused and took a deep breath before continuing. I didn’t say anything, but let him finish.

  “I didn’t want to keep fighting. I didn’t want to continue on with this war no matter who I was fighting against. None of it mattered anymore. I just wanted to be with you, somewhere safe, where we could start our lives together. That’s what I wanted more than anything in the world. And if that meant I needed to let go of my shifting abilities, I didn’t care, it was worth it a hundred times over. Falling in love with you made me realize that living one lifetime with you was worth a thousand lifetimes alone.”

  Somewhere in the middle of Logan’s speech, I had pulled the car over so I could give him my full attention and look him in the eye as he spoke. I waited patiently while he poured his heart out to me and when he finished I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him passionately knowing that no words could express the emotions that were running through my body.

  I let him hear everything I couldn’t say through the enormity of my embrace and the veracity of my kisses. We had won.

  “The only thing is Tanisha.” Logan carried on. “No one quite knows how my body will react to becoming human again. It might not be a problem but there could be side effects”