With monumental effort, she smiled at him, thanked him for his time and left.
I shouldn’t be surprised, she consoled herself as she walked along the lane. It was kinda naïve of me to think I could waltz into the nearest police station and have them tell me everything. Life did not work like the detective stories she read – she knew that – but it’d be nice if they did.
As she walked, she found herself thinking of Sam. Ever since she’d opened the door to him standing on her doorstep looking fucking amazing in the late afternoon sunlight, it had been hard to drive the doctor from her mind. A doctor. How was that fair? He probably had the roughest hands… Steady too – the things he could do to her. Laura bit her lip and picked up the pace. The middle of the road was not the place to think about Sam Miller’s hands all over her body. Besides, she still had work to do.
The library building was exquisite, more like a palace than anything else. Laura flashed the attendant a smile and walked aimlessly up and down the aisles until she found what she was looking for. Tucked away in the back corner of the building, she found stacks of books on local mythology and folklore. Gleefully, she pulled down several of the heavy texts and settled herself into a corner.
She knew a fair amount about shapeshifters already, having devoured everything she could get her hands on from a young age, but it never hurt to refamiliarize herself, and she needed a pick-me-up after the bust of talking to clueless police officers all morning. She skipped over European and Eastern folklores – she’d read them before and they weren’t exactly useful now that she was focusing on the US exclusively.
“In Native America, the tradition surrounding ‘skinwalkers’ was a common one. These individuals were said to be able to transform themselves into many creatures such as wolves, foxes and crows,” she read quietly. “There are other stories, and one in particular, that talks about a woman taken by men dressed in bearskins and inducted into a tribe. She was said to give birth to the first half-man half-bear hybrids. These creatures were said to enjoy scaring people but never caused any actual harm.”
Laura frowned, reached into her pocket to retrieve her phone and pulled up the pictures she’d saved from the local news app. The picture showed an area of the local forest covered in police tape and the telltale signs of blood spatters everywhere. Laura had grown up in Dallas, she knew bears were shy and tended to avoid people at all costs. And if bear shifters were also non-violent…then what the hell was attacking people?
When the attendant tapped her politely on the shoulder some hours later, Laura’s eyes were sore from reading. It was dark outside and she smiled bashfully at the librarian, a surprisingly young woman with cropped blond hair and a sweet smile.
“Sorry, I got too into it, I guess.”
“It’s no problem, darlin’” she spoke with a southern drawl, offering Laura a hand up. “But I do have to close soon – did you find everything you wanted?”
Laura looked down at the mountain of books she’d piled up around her and rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly.
“I think so… I was hoping to take some of these home, actually, but I don’t have a card or anything yet.”
“Don’t worry about it, sweetheart, you live down on Bayberry right? We’re practically neighbors. I’m Sherry.”
“Laura.”
Sherry grinned at her, helping Laura bring her books back to the counter.
“Well, Laura, I hope I see you soon. Mystic is a sweet place and it’d be nice to have a friend close by.”
Laura left the library heavy-laden with research material and in a much better mood.
She could barely see where she was going. The tower of books in her arms blocked her face completely, and since the sun had long set, Laura had no idea if she was even going the right way. She should have asked Sherry for a bag, or maybe even assistance if they really lived as close as the librarian said they did, but she’d been too embarrassed to ask. She could recognize the shapes of the trees in the darkness and let out a relieved sigh, she was maybe ten paces from her front garden.
And then she tripped, because of course she did. The books spilled everywhere and Laura screwed her eyes shut, preparing herself for a painful landing. Instead, someone caught her, strong arms wrapping around her waist and pulling her into a warm chest.
“Are you okay?”
Laura’s hands flexed where they were pressed against the strong chest in front of her, feeling the hard muscles beneath the thin fabric. She opened one eye and yelped. Of course Sam had seen her stack it like an idiot with his perfect hair and lean muscles. Laura knew for a fact that she looked like a complete mess.
“Hi,” she said breathlessly. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome,” he replied softly.
They looked at each other for a long moment. She felt so small in his arms and she wondered what it would feel like to lean forward, just a little, and bury her head in his chest. Sam drew back, making sure she was stable before letting go and Laura shivered as the cold night air once again hit her skin.
“You need a hand with those?” he asked.
Laura followed his gaze down to the sidewalk where all her books were still lying and sighed.
“Yes please. I’m really making a great first impression here, huh?”
They both crouched down to get the books, Laura keeping her eyes resolutely fixed on each book as she picked them up.
“I think it’s cute,” Sam said after a moment and Laura almost dropped the book of fairy tales in her hand, face aflame. She stared at him, noticing that she wasn’t the only one blushing. The slight red tint to his cheeks softened his face completely – it was adorable.
Laura got to her feet slowly, careful not to drop the books again. She could feel an unfamiliar sense of confidence rising in her. Liking someone who didn’t like her back was one thing but seeing Sam just as flustered as she felt? That thought made her bold.
Sam was holding half of the books in his hands and, when she reached forward to take them from him, he twisted, a smirk forming on his face. “I didn’t stop you from tripping just so you can do it again the second I’m gone. Let me help you.” She opened her mouth to protest but he was already walking down her front yard path, throwing a teasing wink over his shoulder that shouldn’t have made her quite so weak in the knees. “And before you say anything, I don’t care if your house is messy, okay?”
She followed behind him, heart beating wildly in her chest.
I am so fucked.
5
Sam
Whoever came up with the saying “the early bird gets the worm” is an asshole. Sam stood beside William at the edge of the forest while William spoke to Stella on the phone. Sam had no idea what time it was, only that any sane person would be in bed so early in the morning. Longing thoughts of a warm cozy bed filled his mind. He knew they needed to be here this early; there had been another attack sometime after midnight and the agency needed to be the first on the scene if they were hoping to get any leads at all.
William hung up and turned to him, nose red from the cold.
“It should only be a few hundred feet in.”
Sam nodded. Stella would have done a sweep of the area using her magic to save them some time trying to find the right place.
“Who called it in, anyhow?”
“Some hikers from another town, we’ve already wiped them so no one knows what happened except for us.”
There was a fine layer of mist that carpeted the forest like a blanket and Sam shifted as soon as he hit the tree line, trying to get some heat back into his body. He could hear William right behind him as they bounded through the trees, scenting the air every couple of strides to make sure they were going in the right direction. As much as Sam liked his human form, nothing could beat this feeling. He could almost pretend they were young again, taking a break from training and lessons to go running, feel the wind in their fur and the dirt under their paws.
“God I’ve missed this”, Will
iam’s voice cut through the rushing wind. “We need to do this more often.”
As they got further into the woods, Sam let William take the lead since he had more of a clue of where they were going than he did and when they finally skidded to a stop in the middle of a clearing, Sam could immediately tell they’d arrived.
Something had torn the surrounding woods to shreds. All around them, trees were uprooted, bushes laying in mounds on the ground. It looked more like the aftermath of a hurricane; must have been a hell of a fight.
Sam shifted back, joining William at the center of the clearing and looking around. William was frowning, confused.
“Where’s the blood?” William asked. Sam took another look around them. He was right. A fight this destructive should have been a bloodbath but there wasn’t a drop of the stuff to be seen. He smelled the air, looking for the familiar coppery scent and found nothing but the clean, fresh smell of the grass and dirt.
“Every other attack looked like a scene from a cheap horror movie,” Sam muttered. “What the fuck is going on?” It wasn’t just blood that was missing from the scene. “Where’s the body?”
William shook his head, still looking puzzled. “Stella said nothing about a body.”
Sam raised an eyebrow at him. “So this place looks like the aftermath of the greatest throwdown I’ve never seen, but there’s no blood and no body to be found?”
William nodded.
“It would appear so.”
“What a fucking waste of time.”
William’s concentration broke and he smiled ruefully at Sam. “God, you’re in a bad mood today.” Sam huffed, wrapping his arms around himself. “Is it something to do with the girl? Laura?” Sam stiffened and William slung an arm around his shoulder. “You know you can always talk to me about your love problems, little bro’.”
“Oh, fuck off. I am three months younger than you, count ‘em: three. And you know I’m not a morning person, this is as happy as I’m going to be until I’ve had at least five more hours of sleep and seven cups of coffee.” Sam turned to leave, already fantasizing about climbing back into bed when William’s arm shot out and grabbed him by the elbow.
“Can you smell that?” William asked softly, all signs of teasing gone, eyes intense and focused. Sam pulled his arm free, raising an eyebrow at his friend but sniffing the air once more. He paused. There was something else but Sam couldn’t find the words to describe it. “It smells kinda like...a bear.”
There were hints of it, certainly, it was a smell every shifter was familiar with since it was the only scent all of them shared but this was…different; weird.
“This must be the smell Axel and Even were talking about the other day,” Sam murmured, taking another deep breath in. “It is weird. Like us but...not.”
It made his skin crawl. Whatever this was, it wasn’t natural. Maybe it was a new kind of shifter? That would explain why they smelled so strange… He thought about the books he’d helped Laura with the other night, books about American folklore and local history… Maybe she might know something. But how the hell was he supposed to ask her without revealing everything? Grown men and women don’t just strike up conversations about shapeshifters. Still…
“Laura might know something,” he said. “I saw her the other day with a lot of books from the library about folklore – if this is some weird hybrid shifter we’ve never heard of before…she might know something.”
Sure, they’d only spoken a handful of times but Sam liked the easygoing nature of their talks, he’d never met someone he was so comfortable around so quickly. He couldn’t help but feel at ease when he was with her, even if she was distractingly attractive.
William beamed. “Awesome! You can report back to us then, although I would have a lie-down first. She’s not gonna want to tell you anything if you look like you’ve been sucking on a lemon.”
Sam did have a lie-down, curled up in his old room at the agency, and when he resurfaced several hours later, he felt much better. The only problem was that he still didn’t know what he was going to say to Laura when he saw her. When it came to her, Sam rarely knew what he was doing. He knew he shouldn’t pursue anything; Laura was human and he wasn’t, they were from completely different worlds...but he wanted her. Wanted to know what it felt like to hold her in his arms and wake up next to her. How it would feel to kiss her…
He groaned, digging through his pockets for his front door key when he looked up and saw Laura sat on her doorstep, head in her hands. She looked worried, hair tangled from her constantly running her fingers through it. Her phone sat beside her.
Before he knew what he was doing, Sam walked over to her, pausing on the front step.
“Uh… Laura?” She startled and Sam winced – he hadn’t meant to make her jump. “Are you alright?” He paused at the sound of running water coming from the open doorway behind her. “What’s that noise?”
“One of the pipes in my bathroom burst.” She sounded exhausted and Sam hesitated for only a second before dropping down beside her on the step and putting an arm around her shoulders. Laura jumped at the contact but before he could pull away, apology on his lips, she relaxed into the hold. “I’ve called someone but they can’t come out for a few hours at least. It’s like Niagara Falls in there.” She tried to laugh but it didn’t sound the tiniest bit convincing and Sam bit his lip, considering. This would be the perfect opportunity to see what Laura knew about the attacks but he’d feel like a grade-A asshole taking advantage of her like this.
Laura looked close to tears and something settled in Sam’s chest. He couldn’t just leave her crying on her doorstep. Mind made up, he climbed to his feet, dropping his hand to pull her up by the hand.
“Were you able to turn off the water?” he asked gently. She nodded tearfully and pointed somewhere around the side of the house. That’s something at least. “It’s getting cold out here,” he said softly, trying not to dwell on how her hand felt in his. “I was gonna order takeout, there’s a great pizza place about thirty minutes out, you want in?” Stakeout or not, he wanted to spend more time with her, get to know her more. Apprehension twisted inside him when she didn’t answer straight away, seeming to consider his words. Then she looked up at him with soft eyes that made Sam’s breath catch in his throat, and nodded.
Holy shit, that’s not fair.
“Sounds great,” she said with a half-smile.
Sam resisted the urge to punch the air and instead swept one arm out dramatically.
“Your pizza awaits, madam.”
Laura laughed, “Why thank you, good sir.”
She stayed close, shoulder brushing against his with every step and Sam swallowed. He could smell her, all rose and sage – oh god, she smells so good. He guided her down his path with a hand at the small of her back, unwilling to stop touching her.
6
Laura
The inside of Sam’s house was nothing like she thought it would be. Him being a doctor, Laura had somehow expected everything to be a sort of organized chaos but it was spotless. Sam’s hand left her back, leaving a pleasant tingling in its wake and closed the door behind them. It was only then that it hit her – she was in Sam’s house. When’s the last time I was in a guy’s house?
She started fidgeting, suddenly nervous. College was supposed to prepare her for this! Violet tried, she reminded herself, but someone was more interested in taking every extra credit class under the sun to relax.
Sam moved past her into the front room, either not aware of how much Laura was freaking out on his doormat or kind enough to give her a minute to pull herself together. Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she pulled it out.
“Hello?”
“Laura Ward?” The repair man’s voice already sounded apologetic. Laura sighed, trying not to sound too irritated, it wasn’t the guys fault, not really.
“Yeah, hi, again.”
“Hi, so, I’m really sorry to say but I’ll be about three hours until I can get to you.
Will you be alright?”
Laura could hear Sam talking with someone in the other room, probably the delivery place. He laughed lowly and she couldn’t help but smile at the sound.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Will you call me when you’re on your way?”
“Of course, thank you again. Bye, Miss Ward.”
Laura hung up and made her way to the front room where Sam was sat cross-legged on the floor in front of his couch, phone in hand and gaudy takeout menu spread across the coffee table in front of him.
He was singing the first verse of Crazy in Love by Beyoncé under his breath, eyes unfocused as he scanned the menu. He started bobbing his head in time with the song and Laura leaned back against the door frame, biting her lip to hold in a laugh. I’m crushing on an idiot… He went on to sing the chorus. Yup. Sounds like me.
“Ah, she returns!”
Sam was looking at her, easy smile on his face, seemingly not embarrassed in the slightest and Laura found herself grinning fondly back at him. She pushed off of the doorway, sitting on the couch beside him. Sam tilted his head back to look at her.
“Yeah, sorry about that, the repair guy just called me back. It’ll be hours before he can get here.”
“More time for pizza then. I’m on hold, what do you feel like?”
Laura leaned over him to pick up the menu, considering.
“How upset are you going to be if I order a Hawaiian?”
Sam clutched a hand to his chest, eyes not leaving hers as he made a series of disgusted noises.
“You have to leave, right now, I can’t even look at you.” He grinned mischievously and Laura swatted him on the shoulder.
“You have no taste.”
Bear Next Door (Shifter Protection Agency Book 1) Page 3