by Sable Sylvan
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” said the stranger, and before Carmen or Aiden could ask what he meant, they were soaked...from above.
The pair turned and looked. Two shifter men with purple sashes, with curvy girlfriends on their shoulders, had snuck up on them. The girlfriends had empty buckets, the source of the balloons that had left Carmen and Aiden soaked in violet liquid from head to toe.
“Come on, let’s hit the showers,” said the stranger. Carmen and Aiden followed him out of the arena, to the wooden structure. “So, you two must be locals.”
“Well, I’m not, but he is,” explained Carmen.
“Aiden’s the name,” said Aiden, shaking the stranger’s hand. Carmen got a look at the stranger more closely. He had thick banded tattoos on his arms.
“Skyler,” said the man. “As you probably guessed, I’m a tiger, from Miami.”
“Aren’t you a little far from home?” asked Carmen.
“Baby, I’m at home wherever there’s a party,” said Skyler.
Carmen felt Aiden wrap an arm around her shoulder...but she had a suspicion this wasn’t just an act of PDA. No...this felt different somehow, as if Aiden was trying to protect her from something.
They followed the man into the wooden structure, where people were showering, mostly clothed. “You shy?” asked Aiden. “We can just go back to the house.”
“Nah, I’m fine,” said Carmen. She walked into the showers. “I’m not afraid of seeing a little skin, are you?”
“No, but I’m not gonna strip down here,” said Aiden.
“Who said anything about stripping?” teased Carmen. “I’m just gonna get the dye out of the clothes, and then dry off and get some grub.” Carmen noticed that the tiger shifter was showering on her other side, but tried not to stare, although it was hard as she heard the sound of his wet shirt hitting the floor. Carmen turned and looked at Aiden with wide eyes. Was the guy behind her really frikkin’ stripping down? Well, when in Rome, or as the case may be, Port Jameson...
Aiden and Carmen rinsed off and headed out before the man could follow after him.
“What was the deal with that guy?” whispered Carmen.
“I think he didn’t realize that...we’re together,” said Aiden.
“Why wouldn’t he realize that?” asked Carmen.
“It’s a shifter thing, I’ll explain it later,” said Aiden. “Do you wanna just go home?”
“No, I’m having fun,” insisted Carmen. “Don’t let one weird guy ruin our night. I wanna watch you in the arena.”
“Alright...let’s find Goldie then,” said Aiden.
Aiden spotted Goldie talking to a tall brunette, a blonde, and a man with deep black hair...her three fated mates. Large ménages were not an impossibility, and if they didn’t have a true ménage, there was no frikkin’ way that her fated mate would’ve been so cool with the situation. But, because they were all Goldie’s fated mates, things were fine. “Hey, Brian, Glen, Cliff,” said Aiden, acknowledging all three of the other bear shifters. A grizzly, a black bear, and a polar bear...anyone who messed with Goldie would have a heck of a pack to answer to. “Goldie. You remember that promise you made me?”
“Of course, sugar,” said Goldie, walking up to Carmen and taking her by the arm while the four bear shifters headed to the wooden structure. “Carmen, hon, what do you wanna get? We’ve got everything at this event.”
“Oh, I’m game for anything. Is there anything that you would recommend?” asked Carmen, looking over the food trucks. There was an intimidating number of options that all seemed to blend together.
“Trust me, I’ll get you all set up,” said Goldie.
Twenty minutes later, the big beautiful women were on the bleachers, ready to watch the men they loved do their thing. Goldie had insisted that Carmen try the marionberry lemonade sold by a local marionberry farm, and explained to Carmen what marionberries were. They were the famous Oregon berry that was a hybrid of many different berries and was like the fine wine of blackberries. They had gone with the American fairground classics: hot dogs, cheese burgers, and loaded chili cheese nachos. Of course, it wouldn’t’ve been a real Port Jameson night without a slice of the Bear Claw Bakery’s famous marionberry pie.
“So why did the guys go back into that wooden thing?” asked Carmen.
“You ever see a guy shift?” asked Goldie.
“Not yet,” admitted Carmen.
“Well, when people shift, their body changes, right? It can get smaller, like in the case of a hamster or a mouse shifter...but for someone who has a big shift, like a bear or a lion, their clothes can rip,” explained Goldie. “This means that they’re stuck being naked when they shift out of their animal form. To avoid this, in places where there are a lot of shifters, there’s special changing stalls in places like the woods, with cubbies, that operate on the honor system, so people can stash their things while they’re in animal form.”
The lights went down and for a second Carmen was confused...until a black light went on and her eyes soon adapted to the dark purplish blue light. It turned out that the plastic bands around the hay bales were actually fluorescent under ultraviolet light. The bands were in blue and orange, marking team sides, and the bins that had previously contained balloons now contained a thicker mixture of UV reactive pigment and a cornstarch thickener with water. All this Goldie explained in excited whispers, as she’d been part of the team that had set this idea up.
The bears and wolves were on the blue side, the big cats, on the orange side. She watched as large furry forms that all looked the same to her in the low light dipped paws, claws, tails, and snouts into the mixture...and then, a whistle went off, that she couldn’t hear, but that apparently all the shifters could hear, as some in the audience put their hands over their ears. The shifters in the arena went off, looking for their arena enemies, and trying to slap’m with paint. Whenever a bear or wolf was hit with orange paint, or a big cat was hit with blue paint, they were out, and they walked off the field, leaving their shift as soon as they exited the field and reached the wooden structure.
“Can you see your guys?” asked Carmen.
“Oh, yeah, they’re all together, with Aiden,” whispered Goldie. “See that corner with the hay bales in the shape of the letter ‘x’, with an arch nearby?”
“Oh, yeah. Wow. Goldie, your guys are frikkin’ huge,” said Carmen as she saw the three bear shifters who were nodding at one another before looking through the field for their opponents.
“Yeah, not compared to your guy, though,” said Goldie.
“I can’t even see Aiden,” said Carmen.
“Are you kidding? Look closer,” ordered Goldie. “He’s the size of a dump truck.”
Goldie was exaggerating. Aiden wasn’t the size of a dump truck...but from that angle, he looked immense. The animal form of a shifter was usually larger than normal...but while the grizzly, black bear, and polar that Goldie called her mates were big, well, Aiden was even bigger. Carmen would’ve never thought that gentle Aiden had such a large, fierce side, but he did, and it was easily two hundred pounds heavier and a few inches taller than the polar, which was the second largest bear in their cohort. He was covered in a thick coat of dark fur, the color of which Carmen could not easily glean in the black light. The only species of bear whose coloring was visible was the polar bear species, whose white fur seemed to practically glow under the black light.
“Why’s he so big?” asked Carmen. She was listening to Goldie but had her eye on the men, well, the bears, who were figuring out a strategy to get from where they were, huddled in a corner, to getting to victory. She watched as they carefully split up into two groups of two...and then, hit a group of big cats from behind. Carmen couldn’t help but smile with pride as she watched her man truly ‘do his thing’. Both wild bears and bear shifters were known for being solitary...but from what she was seeing, these alpha males were able to put their egos aside for the good of a pack.
“No clu
e, but you’re a lucky gal. You know what they say about men with big shifts...” started Goldie as the bears split up to hit their next target, a pale lion whose blonde fur made it impossible for him to hide under the black light.
“What do they say?” asked naive Carmen.
“Big shifts...big shafts,” teased Goldie.
“You’re so bad!” said Carmen.
“Is it huge?” asked Goldie.
“I don’t know,” said Carmen.
“You don’t know if it’s huge? Well, is it bigger than this hot dog?” asked Goldie. She’d already eaten about half of the relish covered sausage.
“Goldie! That’s not what I meant,” said Carmen.
“Don’t tell me...” started Goldie. She looked over Carmen. “Oh, you haven’t seen it yet?”
“Checking it out is on my to-do list,” said Carmen.
“I’m not saying I’m a pervert, but, well, okay, first of all, yes I am a pervert, and secondly, Aiden’s friends with my guys, and I’ve seen them leave their shift before, and...trust me, you won’t be disappointed,” said Goldie, a smirk traveling over her face.
“What’s this about being a pervert?” said a familiar voice. Carmen didn’t turn...because she saw from the arena that the voice did not belong to Aiden, who was still out on the arena field with the three other bears...but when a hand touched her shoulder, she couldn’t help but shout.
Chapter Nine
Goldie turned and looked over the unfamiliar man. Tattoo-like marks on his arms pegged him as a tiger shifter, probably one of the big cats from out of town who came to Port Jameson for more than just some innocent fun. “Do you know this guy?” Goldie asked Carmen.
“No,” said Carmen.
“Baby, don’t be like that,” said Skyler, running a hand along Carmen’s neck. Carmen flinched and moved and the man took that as an opportunity to sit between her and Goldie.
“Dude, you heard her, you don’t know her, so get lost,” said Goldie.
“She and I met during the water balloon fight,” said Skyler. “Don’t play hard to get, sugartits.”
That was the last straw for Carmen. “Get off me, you frikkin’ weirdo,” said Carmen. “What’s your damage?”
“Hey, hey, calm down,” said Skyler, wrapping an arm around Carmen. Every time Carmen moved, he seemed to snake a limb around her to pull her back. “Don’t be like that.”
“Get off of her!” shouted Goldie, pulling on Skyler’s other arm. Skyler pushed her away.
Goldie adjusted her ponytail. “You just messed with the wrong bitch,” said Goldie. She activated her walkie talkie, which was still in her bag, and called for security. Within a few seconds, the UV lights were off and the regular lights were back on. People squinted and the shifters in the arena were slightly stunned from the unexpected change in lighting and looked around.
Carmen was focused on getting Skyler’s hands off of her, so she didn’t see the four bears that had visually locked onto her and Goldie and started running through and over the hay bales marking off the arena, up the bleachers...but Skyler noticed. He got up and left Carmen with Goldie, but not to exit.
No, Skyler, not even bothering to get on all fours, started to shift. The tattoo-like marks on his arms resembled tiger stripes, and they filled in to solid black before spreading over his body as fur spread out over his body and his form changed into that of a tiger. The clothes he was wearing ripped and fell into tatters on the bleachers.
“We’ve gotta go,” said Goldie.
“No, I can’t leave Aiden,” said Carmen, pulling away from her new friend.
Goldie reached back to Carmen. “Come on. Trust me. The boys are gonna be fine, it’s four against one, but you and I can get hurt. They wouldn’t want us to stick around,” promised Goldie.
“Fine,” said Carmen, following Goldie down the bleachers to the area where the food trucks and picnic benches were, but keeping an eye on Aiden and the rest of the bears.
The fight was really between the four bears and the single tiger, but in their shifted forms, tensions were high, and the fight, bears and wolves against big cats, had left the arena and entered the real world. This wasn’t just a game. Carmen had never seen this many shifters in their animal forms before, and they all looked angry.
Goldie had Carmen sit down while she bought her another lemonade. “Drink,” ordered Goldie.
“I’m not thirsty, I’m worried,” said Carmen, pushing the drink away.
“You’re no use to anyone if you’re a nervous wreck,” said Goldie. “Drink this. It’ll calm your nerves and give you something to do.”
“How will it calm my nerves?” asked Carmen.
Goldie reached into her bag and pulled out a flask. “Want some liquid sunshine?” offered Goldie.
“Definitely,” said Carmen, opening the beverage. Goldie poured in a purple liquor. Carmen sipped at the lemonade. Goldie had added some kind of flavored vodka. It was strong, but it definitely helped her heart stop racing.
Although it had been mere minutes, it felt like hours. The bears had circled the tiger, but around them was a circle of giant animals ready to get into the biggest fight of their life. Bears and wolves were on one side, and the lions and tigers and a few errant panthers and leopards, cheetahs, and jaguars were on the other side. With the lights up, Carmen could more easily see what Aiden’s bear looked like. She’d known it was big, but what she didn’t expect was for the coat of fur to have so many shades of brown. It was like a sepia rainbow, filled with shades of brown so light she swore it was blonde, and shades so dark she thought it was black. There were gold undertones as well as brassy highlights. The eyes were a dark and piercing green that almost looked black, except when she saw them flash bright green with a fire from within. These were the eyes of the man she had fallen in love with, a man who had ultimate power in both human and animal forms, the man known to many as Mr. Dixon, but to her, as just Aiden.
All of a sudden, the three other bears pulled away, leaving just Aiden and Skyler in the ring. Skyler’s shift was big, nearly the size of Aiden’s, with bright orange fur with black stripes...and claws that had Carmen worrying for Aiden’s safety. The big mammals continued to pace in circles, until finally, Skyler changed directions, pouncing at Aiden, who moved out of the way nimbly, causing Skyler to tumble into the surrounding crowd. Skyler roared, but Aiden remained silent...a little too silent. Skyler was angry, while Aiden was keeping a cool head. Skyler lunged again, and this time, Aiden pushed forward too, pushing Skyler to the ground, while Aiden got on top of him and swiped at his chest with his paws, not with his claws, and held him down. A low grumbling emanated from Aiden...and then there was a tension in the air that was practically electric. Was Aiden going to rip out Skyler’s throat for dishonoring his lover? Or was he going to show mercy?
Skyler growled again, and Aiden just slapped him in the face with his paw. Hard. Skyler growled again but lower, and Aiden pressed down on him harder...until Skyler gave up and turned over from his side to his stomach, paws in the air, the international sign of surrender in a fight.
Aiden got up and walked to the edge of the circle and out past the circle to Carmen. Carmen had to admit that seeing Aiden in his animal form was a little bit scary, and she found herself shaking, but sipped more of the spiked lemonade to calm her nerves. As Aiden approached her, she held her hand out and Aiden put his head under it, a paw on the table bench, as he showed Carmen that he was still the same gentle man that she had fallen for in Seattle.
Carmen ran her hands through the plush fur. It was wet...and not from the paint. She pulled her hand away. There was something thick and red on it. Blood. Goldie passed her a napkin and she wiped her hand. Aiden, sensing her distress, walked towards the wooden structure to shift out of his animal form and get changed. The other shifters were shifting back into human form, one by one, in the nude, although in their shaken up state, it wasn’t exactly a peepshow for Carmen or Goldie. A few minutes later, Aiden, back in his re
gular form, was back.
Carmen ran up to him. “Aiden. I was so scared,” said Carmen, hugging Aiden tight. “What happened? What was going on?”
“When the lights went on, we saw what was happening with that tiger shifter, and we ran up to the bleachers. Goldie got you out of the way, which, by the way, was the perfect thing to do,” said Aiden, nodding at the curvy blonde next to his woman. “And then...well, tensions got high.”
“Why? Skyler was being a huge jerk,” said Carmen. “He was totally in the wrong.”
“I know, but some people thought it was a case of me being a poor sport...” started Aiden.
“Why would they think that? We are dating, aren’t we?” asked Carmen.
“We are, but...you’re not my mate,” start Aiden.
“But...the mark...” said Carmen.
“I still haven’t claimed you as my mate, so other shifters know that you’re mine and mine alone. I know some shifters share, but that’s not what fate has in store for me,” said Aiden.
“So...how can you claim me?” asked Carmen.
“Well, how do I put this...” started Aiden.
“Oh, for goodness sakes, you two,” said Goldie, finishing up the lemonade. “Aiden, just tell her.”
“We’ve got to have sex,” said Aiden.
“That’s it?” said Carmen with a laugh. “Aiden. You should’ve frikkin’ claimed me back in Seattle. I had no idea it was that dangerous for me to be in a shifter town without being claimed as your mate.”
“I’m glad you understand the situation,” said Aiden. “I think it goes without saying...but, Carmen. You’re my girlfriend, I’m your boyfriend, and I want to be able to be so much more, to claim you as my mate, as soon as we can seal the pact.”
“But...are we really going to be able to do it, given that you got hurt?” said Carmen.
“Hurt?” said Aiden. “Oh. The blood. Shifters heal fast.”
“There’s no frikkin’ way you healed that fast though,” said Carmen.
“Hey, search me, you won’t find a cut,” said Aiden, taking his shirt off. He turned for Carmen. She ran her hands over his back. There was some soft pink skin that looked new and tender, untanned compared to the rest of his skin, and it was in the shape of a claw swipe. “I’m fine, Carmen. Really.”