“Shit, shit, shit,” Trevor said. “Luke, calm down, you need to shift back before someone driving down the highway gets suspicious and calls the cops.”
Trevor grabbed Luke’s bear face in his hands and shook it, trying to get Luke to look in his eyes.
After a few more minutes, Luke’s bear started calming down. His panting and pawing slowed, and Luke started to shift back. His fur changed back to human skin, and after a few moments he had completely morphed back to human form. He stood on the side of the road, completely naked and looking shell-shocked, with blood oozing from his broken leg.
“Shit, Luke, get in the car,” Trevor said, pushing him back into the vehicle. Luke complied, wincing as his broken leg hit the side of the seat.
Trevor looked in the back of the vehicle and found a blanket, which he threw to Luke. “Here, use this to cover up,” Trevor said, then climbed back into the driver’s seat. “Why the hell did you do that, Luke?”
“I couldn’t stop it,” Luke said. “I felt the shift coming and tried to hold it back, and I couldn’t.”
“Great. Just great,” Trevor said, putting his forehead on the steering wheel. “How does your leg feel?”
“Like hell.”
“We have to figure out how to get it reset. I’m going to drive back to base and try to get in touch with Ian. Do you think you can make it until then?”
“I’ll try,” Luke said. He felt awful. His leg was sending searing needles of pain up his body again, and he was shivering from his lack of clothes and the shock of what had just happened.
“I’ll get there as quickly and gently as possible,” Trevor said. He started accelerating the vehicle again, and pulled back onto the highway. As soon as they were back to full speed, Trevor pulled out his radio and tried to page Ian.
“This is Ian,” came the crackling voice over the radio.
“Ian, we have a big problem. Luke just shifted. He lost his clothes, and his cast. We’re going to need someone to reset it.”
There was a long pause, and then Ian’s voice came back on the radio. “What the hell?”
“That’s what I said,” Trevor replied. “Apparently something about his fall caused him to lose his ability to control his shifting. I don’t know. All I know is I’ve got an out of control bear on my hands who needs a new cast. I can’t take him to the hospital if he might shift at any moment.”
“Get him back to base and make him comfortable. I’ll try to figure something out.”
“Okay. Please make it quick, boss. Things could get really crazy really fast.”
“I know, Trevor. Just do your best.”
Luke sat in the backseat listening to Trevor and Ian discuss him like he wasn’t sitting right there. He couldn’t blame Trevor for being upset—an out of control shifter was a huge risk to any clan. Exposure to the wrong humans could spell disaster. Luke hadn’t had trouble controlling his bear since he was very young. Most adult bear shifters were very in control of their shifting. Luke had heard horror stories about head injuries where a shifter lost control, though. Was that going to be his fate? He hoped with all his heart that this was a temporary injury. He wouldn’t be able to work, or be around people, if he might shift unpredictably.
All he could think about was how he wouldn’t be able to be with River if he shifted uncontrollably. What was he going to tell her? He could stall for a few days, since she would just assume he was still out in the field and unable to contact her. But after that, she was going to want answers. Luke didn’t have much time to figure this situation out.
When they arrived back at base, Luke limped to the bunkhouse with Trevor’s help, and then collapsed onto his bed. His head had barely hit the pillow before he blacked out again, unable to take the agonizing pain that grew stronger with every passing second. He felt like he was on the verge of losing everything important to him, and all he wanted was to lose himself in the blackness of unconsciousness.
Chapter Eleven
Two days later, River awoke with a start to her phone ringing. Bleary eyed, she sat up and squinted at the glowing, green numbers on her alarm clock. It was 2:52 a.m. She saw Trevor’s name coming up on her caller I.D. and she sat up violently. There was only one reason Trevor would be calling her in the middle of the night.
Something had happened to Luke.
“Trevor?” River answered, her voice filled with dread. “What’s wrong? Is Luke okay?”
“He’s been…injured,” Trevor said, his voice barely more than a whisper. “Nothing that seemed too serious. A broken leg and a bump to the head. But he’s having some complications. Not exactly life-threatening, but definitely life-altering. You need to get to base, now.”
“What kind of complications?” River demanded, already jumping out of bed and searching in the darkness for a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.
“It’s hard to explain. Just get here as quickly as you can.”
“I will, but can’t you tell me anything else? You’re freaking me out.”
“Look, he’s not dying or anything like that. But there are some…issues. The crew doesn’t want to tell you. They want to keep you away from him, but I think he needs you. Just be quiet when you get here. I’ll be waiting out front for you, and I’ll explain everything.”
The line went dead, and Riley cursed into the darkness. She hit her toe as she was fumbling around for the light switch, and she cursed again.
“Damn it! What the fuck is going on?” she asked the empty apartment. She threw on the first shirt she could find, grabbing her keys and phone as she ran out the door and down the stairs to her Jeep. She tore out of the parking lot at breakneck speed, forgetting to even turn her headlights on until she was a half mile down the road. All she could think about was that she would never recover if anything happened to Luke.
She came screeching into the parking lot at the base, stopping the Jeep haphazardly in the middle of the parking lot and throwing it into park. She killed the engine and the lights, and jumped out at a running pace, heading for the front door of the hangar. Two strong arms caught her right before she opened it.
“Jesus, woman. Didn’t I tell you to be quiet? You’re going to have the whole clan down here, and they’re not going to be happy with me. Or with you.”
It was Trevor. He had a firm grip on River and wouldn’t let her reach the door.
“I don’t care who’s mad at me. I need to go see him.”
“Calm down, River! You’ll see him in a few minutes, but I need to explain something to you first. There’s something about Luke that he hasn’t shared with you yet, and it’s kind of a big deal. Have you ever heard of bear shifters?”
River gave Trevor a funny look. “Of course I’ve heard of bear shifters. I run the fantasy fiction book club at the library. I’d be happy to discuss a variety of bear shifter books with you sometime, but, right now, can we focus on Luke.”
Trevor let out an exasperated sigh. “I am focusing on Luke. River, Luke is a bear shifter.”
River stopped struggling against Trevor’s grasp and gave him an incredulous look. “I’m sorry, what?”
“Luke is a bear shifter. All of the guys on the crew are.”
River blinked up at Trevor. “Is this some kind of joke? Did you freak me out and get me to drive out here in the middle of the night to make fun of my book addiction or something? Because this shit is not funny. Is Luke in on this? I’m going to kill both of you!”
“It’s not a joke,” Trevor said quietly. “We’re bear shifters. Luke is a bear shifter. He had a bad landing when we jumped in for the mission we just finished. He broke his leg and hit his head, so we airlifted him out to a hospital. They put a cast on his leg and cleaned up the gash on his head, which seemed pretty minor. He didn’t even need stitches. But he must have done some sort of internal damage when he hit his head, because he’s lost his ability to control his shifting. We don’t know if it’s permanent or temporary.”
“You’re making this up,” River said.
But her tone sounded more like a question than a statement. Trevor couldn’t possibly be telling her the truth, could he? Shifters were myths. Folklore. Confined to the Thursday night fantasy fiction book club.
“I wish I was making this up,” Trevor said. “I swear to god everything I’m telling you is the truth. Ian called in a woman who’s a medicine doctor of sorts. She’s an expert on shifting, and she thinks the problem is temporary, but that it’s going to take a while for Luke to recover control. The problem is that he has to remain calm in order for his brain to recover its ability to control shifting. And he’s anything but calm right now. That’s where you come in, River. I’ve seen him around you. You center him like no one else does. If anyone can soothe his nerves right now, it’s you.”
“Assuming everything you’re telling me is true, why is this some big secret? Why didn’t you want the rest of the crew to know you were calling me? And why hasn’t Luke told me he’s a shifter? That seems like a pretty big piece of information to forget to mention.”
“Luke didn’t tell you because he wanted to get to know you better before dropping that bombshell on you. It’s a lot for a human to take in, and he wanted to have some sort of baseline relationship before telling you, so you would understand he’s not a monster. I don’t know if that’s the best way to go about things, but I can tell you that it’s really hard to be a shifter and date a human. He was handling the situation the best way he knew how. As for the other guys, they’re pretty gun shy about telling humans who we really are. Zach, our second in command, is especially against it. He forbade anyone to tell you. Ian, our alpha—er, our boss—is too busy worrying about how to help Luke to really pay much attention to what Zach is doing.”
River stared in Trevor’s eyes, trying to see if he was telling the truth. He looked sincere, but the crew was notorious for pulling pranks on each other. Surely, this was just another prank. Bear shifters didn’t really exist. River crossed her arms.
“Okay, very funny. You almost got me. Probably because it’s three in the morning and I’m too tired to think clearly. But this is obviously a joke. Where’s Luke? Hiding around the corner of the building, laughing his ass off right now?”
River started walking toward the side of the hangar, and Trevor grabbed her arm again.
“River, please,” he pleaded. “You have to believe me. This isn’t a joke.”
River started to laugh, but just as she did she heard an awful roar coming from the bunkhouse. She stopped short and gave Trevor a questioning look. “What was that?”
“That was Luke,” Trevor said. “He must have just shifted again. It’s been happening two or three times a night.”
River furrowed her brow, still unsure of whether she was being tricked. Then she took off running in the direction of the bunkhouse.
“River, wait!” Trevor called out, and started chasing after her. But River wasn’t listening, and she was fast. Before Trevor could catch her, she had run into the bunkhouse. What she saw stopped her in her tracks, and Trevor ran smack into her back at full speed, pushing her forward and right into the side of the giant black bear that was swinging its head back and forth and roaring. The bear stopped mid-roar, and River screamed. Then, for what felt like an eternity, the room fell silent. Every face in the room, including the bear’s, had a shocked expression on it.
River looked around slowly and saw that the whole crew was there. Ian, Charlotte, Zach, Hunter, Riley, and Trevor—and a black bear that looked suspiciously like Luke.
“Oh my god, it’s true,” River said, as her brain registered the fact that the bear had the exact same eyes as Luke. The only ones in the room who would make eye contact with her were Riley and Zach. Riley had her hands over her mouth and a sorrowful expression on her face. Zach looked furious.
“What the hell is she doing here?” Zach asked. No one answered, and Zach threw a water bottle he had been holding across the room.
Trevor finally spoke. “I brought her here. Luke needs her.”
The next thing River knew, Zach lunged across the room and planted a punch squarely on Trevor’s jaw. She heard an awful cracking sound, and then a roar as the bear, or Luke, or whatever it was, became agitated.
“Boys, outside! You’re upsetting Luke!” Ian yelled. But Zach and Trevor were so embroiled in their fight that they didn’t seem to even hear their alpha’s yell. River stood watching, dumbfounded and unsure of what to do. And then, she was knocked over by what felt like a giant rush of wind.
When she sat up from where she had fallen on the floor, and looked up, Luke was standing in front of her in human form again. His leg looked red and swollen, and he wasn’t wearing a single article of clothing. River had no words. She just stared at him, and the rest of the room became a blur. She was vaguely aware of Trevor and Zach embroiled in a fist fight off to her left, with Ian trying to break them apart. And she knew Hunter, Riley, and Charlotte were standing to her right, watching this whole debacle unfold. But Luke was all she could see.
He didn’t seem the least bit fazed by the fact that he was naked. But he looked heartbroken as a single tear escaped from one of River’s eyes.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” River asked. “You could have trusted me.”
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t want to add fuel to the idea that we had nothing in common. I thought if I gave our relationship some time to grow first, that you would be able to handle this better.”
“You told me you loved me. You let me fall in love with you. And yet you were hiding who you really were from me.”
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to hide. I was just trying to find a way to break the news gently. I screwed up. Again.”
“Yeah, you did,” River said. But her voice was more sad than angry.
“Look, River. I’m a total disaster at this relationship stuff. I’m bound to screw things up a lot. All I can tell you is that I’m trying. And if you’ll let me, I’ll keep trying until the day I die. I’m not perfect, but I’m committed to you.”
River dropped her eyes to the ground, unsure of how to react. Zach and Trevor had finally stopped their fistfight, and the room had fallen silent again.
“Guys, let’s give them a little privacy,” Hunter said, and nudged Riley toward the door. The clan filed out until River and Luke were alone in the room.
River looked at Luke for a long time without speaking. He waited patiently for her to process everything she had just seen and heard. Finally, she stood and walked up to him, planting a soft, sad kiss on his lips.
“I’m sorry. I just need some time to think through all of this,” she said. “I hope you can understand that.”
Then she turned to leave the room. Outside, she walked silently past the rest of the clan. Zach scowled at her, but she barely even saw his face. Her eyes were starting to swim, and she desperately wanted to make it to her vehicle before the tears started spilling over. As she climbed into the Jeep, she heard Trevor shouting after her.
“Damn it, River. He needs you.”
River’s only response was to turn the key and start the engine.
She had some big decisions to make, and she needed some time alone.
Chapter Twelve
River spent twenty-four hours in her apartment without leaving. She called in sick to work, and she sat on her couch, staring at the bookshelf Luke had made her.
She felt awful for walking out on him, but she had felt overwhelmed and betrayed. She had opened her heart to him, and he had closed off a part of himself. How was that fair, or right? But after a day of moping and feeling sorry for herself, she realized that she didn’t care if Luke was a bear. She had a lot of questions about how the whole shifting thing worked, but she knew deep down that she loved Luke no matter what. He’d had good intentions in keeping his secret from her, even if his decision had been the wrong one.
And now, he needed her. If what Trevor said was true, and Luke needed to be calm to recover, then River would help Luke be calm. She called her boss
Colleen at the library and asked to take her two weeks of vacation, starting immediately. She told Colleen she needed to deal with a personal emergency, and, for once, Colleen didn’t ask a thousand questions. Then River went through her stack of books, searching until she found five edgy science fiction reads. She put the books in a tote bag, and then packed herself an overnight bag that would last for several days. She grabbed the bags, then headed to her jeep to drive to the smokejumpers’ base.
When she got there, she marched to the corner of the bunkhouse where Luke was staying. He was sleeping peacefully at the moment, although the shreds of clothing and torn sheets made it clear that he had continued to have issues with shifting. A fresh cast had been put on his broken leg, although it was anyone’s guess as to how long this cast would remain in place before it was destroyed by Luke’s shifting.
Ian, Hunter, and Zach were in the room with Luke when River entered.
“What are you doing here?” Zach asked.
“I’m here to help Luke. Please get out and leave me alone with him.”
“Hell no,” Zach said. “You made him so upset when you left the other night that he shifted twice as much as normal. I think you’re the one who needs to get out.”
“Zach, let’s go,” Ian said quietly. “Give her a chance. Nothing we’re doing is making much difference anyway.”
Zach frowned and glared at River, but he didn’t challenge his alpha. The three men got up and left the room, leaving River alone with Luke. After another hour, he started stirring. He moaned fitfully as he tossed and turned, and eventually he opened his eyes and blinked a few times, staring at River in disbelief.
“Are you really here? Or am I hallucinating again.”
“I’m really here,” River said. “And I’m not leaving again until you’re better. I should have never left the other night. I was overwhelmed and confused, but I should have been there for you and I wasn’t. I’m sorry. But I’m here now, and I brought you a treat.”
Fire Bear Shifters: The Complete Series Page 25