by Sable Sylvan
“I invited you to make gingerbread cookies with me,” said Terrence, crossing his arms.
“Right—and I delegated that to Ginger, just as it looks like you delegated it to James,” said Patricia, highly confused. “Now, are going to dance, or what?”
“You don’t want to make some cookies together?” asked Terrence. “Maybe decorate a whole gingerbread family and their pet bear?”
“I have to bake all day,” said Patricia, putting a hand to her hip. “If I asked you to come over to my house and chop a bunch of logs, would you like that?”
“Yes, anything to show off my rock-hard bod,” said Terrence, only half-jokingly.
“Patricia, most of your job is admin work,” said Ginger with a raised brow.
“Yeah, well, not during the wedding season, which, guess what—happens to be every frikkin’ season!” blabbered Patricia. “I have to bake all these frikkin’ wedding cakes because the brides all want a Patty cake! You know what’s worse than angry brides? Angry Christmas brides!”
“You can tell me all about it over this great mulled cider,” said Terrence, leading Patricia out of the kitchen by putting his hand on the small of her waist. Still, Patricia didn’t notice, as she was too engrossed in her monologue about people who wanted to use glass ornaments on edible cakes.
“You think they’re ever gonna…?” started James.
“Nope,” said Ginger.
“Really?” asked James. “You don’t think they should?”
“They should, but the question was, will they,” said Ginger. “Honestly, every time I see Patricia interact with Darius or Terrence, my answer changes. I don’t know what game that woman’s playing, but it’s just led to both of them pursuing her harder.”
“Huh, interesting, coming from you,” said James with a smirk.
“Oh, come on,”‘ said Ginger, putting a hand to her hip. “What do you mean by that?”
“Oh, just, it takes a BBW who can’t choose between two bears to know one,” said James.
“Who said I haven’t picked between you and Richard?” asked Ginger.
“Literally you, a few hours ago,” said James, quirking a brow.
Ginger and James went back to making cookies. The timer dinged, and she pulled the first two trays of cookies out. She put the next two sheets of cookies in.
“Do we frost them now?” asked James.
“We have to wait for them to cool,” said Ginger. “But…you can eat them whenever you want, so if you burn your mouth, don’t come and sue me. Want to see something silly?”
“Always,” said James.
Ginger found two mugs, two spoons, and a spatula. She took a hot cookie, one that didn’t look very good, and cut it in half. She put one half in each of the mugs. She went into the fridge and found some milk. She poured the milk into the mugs and passed a cup to James.
“It’s like cereal, but with a hot cookie,” explained Ginger. “It’s a simple, easy treat—and now, you know how to make it!”
“You know, don’t let Quentin hear about this recipe of yours, or this is all he’s going to serve us for breakfast and weekend brunch,” said James.
“No fair—you guys get free weekend brunch?” asked Ginger.
“Is it really free if I have to work for it?” asked James, raising a brow.
Before Ginger could answer, somebody burst through the kitchen doors, somebody not dressed in casual Christmas finery like Patricia and Terrence, somebody dressed like a lumberjack, in the same clothes he’d been wearing earlier, looking far worse for the wear.
“I love you, Ginger!” shouted Richard.
Ginger nearly dropped her mug of hot gingerbread and milk. “Richard? Is that you?”
“Yes, it’s me,” said Richard, rushing over to Ginger, but James blocked his way.
“Nuh-uh, buddy,” said James, pushing Richard back. “You can’t come into my lodge and demand to see my mate.”
Richard pushed James. “No, bro, you back up. That’s my mate, and I don’t care whose lodge this is. My bear recognizes no dwellings of man.”
“No dwellings of man? Dude, where the fuck do you think you are?” asked James. “You think you’re in some fantasy novel or something? Calm down, back off, and get out.”
“Don’t mess with a bear with mate madness,” growled Richard.
“Whoa, there,” said James, holding his hands up and out toward James. “Settle down there, boy.”
“Mate madness?” asked Ginger. “No. There’s no way he—”
“He’s acting crazy, isn’t he?” asked James. “When a shifter fails to claim his mate, why…he might just go so mad that he insists another shifter’s mate is meant to be his!
“Well, I’m not your mate, at least, not yet,” said Ginger. “Maybe I am his mate. Maybe you’re the one with mate madness, James.”
James sensed something in the air, something electric. He looked over Richard. He was going to look like a colossal jerk, but he had to do what he had to do.
James grabbed Richard’s arms and pinned them to his sides. He knew the change was coming. He couldn’t control Richard’s body, but he could control where it happened.
He was going to have a fight with Richard at the frikkin’ Christmas party.
Well, he could avoid pissing off both Terrence and Quentin by taking the fight out of the kitchen.
Ginger had the foresight to turn off the oven before rushing after James, who had Richard in a hold and was carrying him out to the backyard. “Hey! What are you doing?”
“Getting a hold of the situation,” groaned James.
James and Richard were nowhere close to being friends, but the hug James was giving Richard, well, it was definitely a family-style hug. James had Richard in a bear hug—ironic, given it was Richard who was becoming more bear (and barer) by the second!
Underneath James, Richard started to change. James and Richard were both strong men, capable men. But, one on one, in a fight between a human and a bear, any bear would beat just about any human. It was a fact.
It was like the old phrase about bringing a knife to a gunfight.
James had brought a human body to a bear shifter fight, and now, things were going to go down harder than Santa Claus down a freshly lubed chimney.
Scraps of flannel and denim covered the snow as James and Richard rolled around in the low hills of snow in the garden.
Richard’s bear burst out. Although Richard was a grizzly, his shift’s fur was more orange than dark brown, a shade of ginger orange that looked unnatural. The powdery snow covered Richard’s body, from fluffy ears to tiny tail, from snarling snout to claws and paws. It put the ‘ice’ in ‘icing’ and made him look a lot like a gingerbread cookie bear! However, Richard’s intentions weren’t sweet, although they were spicy. He had to fight James to win his mate and show her his other ‘wild side.’ The only problem was, James wasn’t doing shizz except trying to restrain him!
James’ bear roared and urged him to shift, but instead, James stayed in his human form as long as possible. If he let Richard fight him while James was in his human form, he would not only look more mature than Richard, but he could potentially de-escalate the situation. It wasn’t that James didn’t want to lay Richard out as flat as a flapjack, but, he knew that if he ruined Terrence’s Christmas party—and stopped Terrence from getting to do romantic stuff with his potential mate Patricia—he might just get assigned gutter cleaning duty come spring. The gutters were not going to look pretty.
While rolling around with the big, fat bear above him, James got stepped on, hard, by one of Richard’s paws! The accidental blow was enough to knock the air out of James. Richard looked down, squinting. His bear laughed and told him to rip James’ head off, and even Richard had to admit that was a bit dramatic, even for his bear. Richard wasn’t sure if he’d accidentally punctured one of James’ lungs.
Richard was about to shift back into his human form when James disappeared, and in his place, a big angry bear po
pped up. Richard had underestimated the size of James’ bear. It was big, it was angry, and while it was ginger like his own, it was definitely not a sweetie pie, and its jaws were snappier than, well, ginger snaps!
Richard’s fight or flight instincts kicked in. His bear had encouraged him to tear apart James like a bear shifter lumberjack tearing through the woods with an ax, up on the mountain. Now, the bear told Richard to do something else.
Richard’s bear told him, run, run, run, as fast as you can!
They can’t catch me, agreed Richard. I’m the ginger bear man.
Richard took off through the snow, out the newly opened wall on one side of the garden, opposite from the side with the secret hidden door. He zoomed through the stone archway and out toward a snowy path leading up the mountain.
“Are you frikkin’ kidding me?” hissed Ginger, putting a hand to her hip. “You guys! Stop!”
It was too late. James had taken off after Richard. The thrill of the hunt had taken over.
Ginger started running after the two bears, with Patricia and Terrence following behind her with a few other people, although most folks had gone back inside the lodge.
“You can’t catch them!” insisted Patricia. “They’re ginger bear men! That’s the fastest kind of bear!”
“That’s a weird rumor, and probably not true,”‘ said Terrence with a frown.
“And I’m a very annoyed BBW!” shouted Ginger.
“Huh?” asked Terrence.
“Well, we’re naming obvious things, aren’t we?” asked Ginger. “Terrence, I’m gonna ride you.”
“You’re gonna what?” asked Terrence.
“Damn, Ginger’s out here trying to start a reverse harem,” noted Patricia, slightly jealous, although she wasn’t about to admit that.
“Terrence, I cannot chase after these bears in my tiny human form,” said Ginger. “You know how some folks skip leg day at the gym? I skip every dang day at the gym. Shift and let me ride you!”
Ginger jumped onto Terrence’s back. For a split second, she thought he was shrugging her off. Still, instead, he was changing, turning, transforming, into a big, blackish-brown bear, a beast of the night, a bear that did not look nearly as sweet as gingerbread. Terrence let out a feral roar.
“Hold on tight,” said Patricia. “Grab his fur!”
Patricia had to shout the last order as Terrence had taken off. Ginger reached forward and grabbed Terrence’s hide. She was scared he was going to bite her or something. After all, she had ordered him about as if he were a trained dog. Still, he was a bear, a big one, a real grizzly one—and one that had had his cute winter date with Patricia foiled, in no small part due to Ginger agreeing to help with the gingerbread cookie baking!
Well, luckily for Ginger, Terrence was more upset with James and Richard—more so with James because if Richard made Grizzlyfir look bad, that was no skin off Terrence’s snout. But James, well, Terrence had thought he was one of the good ones, not like the spoiled rich boys that usually came to Hemlock Crew in search of a fresh ‘honey pot’ and not much else.
Ginger held tight as Terrence followed the heavy tracks James and Richard had left in the snow. She ducked her head to avoid snow-laden branches. She wasn’t one for hiking. She hadn’t been to the depths of the woods before. But, with Terrence as her guide, she saw a world she’d never seen before.
Ginger heard plodding in front of her. It had to be the ginger bears! Then, when Terrence turned a corner, she saw them, two streaks of bright orange against the white snow and black shadows and branches and trees, against the evergreen needles. James was still chasing after Richard!
Terrence let out a roar. Ginger had no idea what he was saying, but James roared back—but didn’t slow or even bother to turn around! He just kept running. Ginger felt Terrence run faster. Boy, he must’ve been annoyed!
They approached a meadow. Terrence shrugged Ginger off on purpose. Ginger landed butt first on a snowbank. Before she could yell at Terrence for knocking her off his back, Terrence ran and jumped…right onto James, rather than Richard!
Terrence hit James like a wrecking ball hitting a stone wall. Ginger realized why Terrence had kicked her off his furry butt and watched as Terrence wrassled with James. It was like watching a nature documentary of a man wrestling an alligator down in Louisiana. It wasn’t as much ‘wrestling’ as it was ‘wrassling.’ Those who know the distinction could recognize one from the other. Like obscenity, it is known only when seen.
Ginger wasn’t sure why the heck Terrence had gone after James, rather than Richard, until she heard more stomping. Before she had a chance to realize what was happening, there was another thump in the ground next to her. It was Patricia, of all people!
“Patricia? What the heck are you doing here?” asked Ginger.
“Brought in the caval-beary. Get it? Like cavalry, but with bears?” explained Patricia.
Ginger looked away from Patricia. Another bear had entered the fray!
“Who the heck is that?” asked Ginger.
“Darius! He was with us in the garden,” explained Patricia. “You didn’t notice?”
“No, I was too busy focusing on the fight,” admitted Ginger. “Wait—why is Darius at a Hemlock Crew Christmas party?”
“I don’t know,” said Patricia with a shrug. “In fact, he…oh. You know what?”‘
“What?” asked Ginger.
“Richard must’ve hitched a ride here with Darius,” mused Patricia.
Patricia and Ginger’s interlude was interrupted by a mighty roar. While Terrence and James were rolling over one another like an uncomfortable lesson on the mechanics of animal lovemaking, Darius and Richard were bullheaded. They had their heads pushed against one another’s, locked at the foreheads, their invisible horns—their mutual machismo and lack of willingness to give up—keeping them locked together.
Patricia got up, looked around, and spotted a potential weapon. She grabbed one for herself and one for Ginger.
“Here,” said Patricia, passing a fir branch to Ginger.
“What am I supposed to use this for?” asked Ginger.
“Haven’t you seen me break up shifter fights before?” asked Patricia. “I usually use a broom. This? It’s nature’s broom!”
Patricia walked right up to Terrence and James and started to smack the branch where the sun don’t shine, and the snow don’t fall. James felt the tickling sensation and couldn’t help but begin laughing in bear. He fell off of Terrence and lay on his back, letting Patricia tickle his butt and his stomach.
If it was as easy as it seemed, Ginger could do it. She got her branch and walked up to Richard and started to tickle his ginger butt with the frond. That wasn’t his ticklish part. She moved the branch and started to stroke his stomach inside. That had him rolling over, roaring in peals of werebear laughter.
“Stop, stop, please!” begged Richard, turning back into his human form.
“Enough!” ordered James, who had shifted back into his human skin.
“You two caused a lot of problems for everyone tonight,”‘ said Ginger, crossing her arms. “And, over what?”
“Over you!” said James and Richard in sync.
“Well, I don’t want either of you!” insisted Ginger.
“Then why did you chase after us?” asked James.
“Because…because…oh, nevermind!” said Ginger.
“Why, Ginger?” asked Richard. “What is it that made you run, run, run as fast as you could, after us? If you dislike us so much?”
“I never said I dislike you,” said Ginger. “I said I don’t want you, either of you.”
Ginger’s cheeks burned. She had no idea what she felt. She’d felt some need to go up the mountain, for some reason, but it couldn’t be because she liked the bears. No. It had to be something else. Their behavior had been, well, worse than that of a barnyard animal! At least those animals had been raised in barns! These bears, well, she wouldn’t’ve been surprised if they’d been ra
ised in the frikkin’ woods.
Well, that would’ve made sense, as that’s where bears were raised. But, nothing was making sense these days.
James and Richard didn’t reply.
“Well?” asked Ginger.
“Well, what?” asked Richard. “Apparently, you don’t want us.”
“Why did you come all the way to the lodge to talk to me if it wasn’t to, well, say something?” asked Ginger.
“You know what I’d say, and apparently, you don’t want me, so, right now…I think the only winning move is not to play,” said Richard. For the second time that day, he shifted and left, this time, leaving through the woods, a big hulk of orange that disappeared into the shadows.
A pang of guilt shot through Ginger. She didn’t know why. She was mad at Richard. Why should she feel guilty?
Then, James followed suit without saying a word. He shifted and left, going into the woods, taking a different path.
Ginger looked at Patricia.
“I mean, I guess you got what you wanted,” said Patricia with a shrug.
“That’s just the thing,” said Ginger with a sigh. “I don’t know if I did.”
Chapter Six
On the sixth day of Christmas, Fate sent to Ginger six spools of ribbon…
The next day at work had been awkward. The two bears sold firewood out of the backyard. They came inside to ‘use the facilities’ and grab their refrigerated bag lunches. They even poured their own coffee. While the two bears usually came inside to say hello and goodbye to Ginger, they didn’t say a single word to her that day.
Ginger was closing up shop when Patricia came by with wrapping supplies.
“Six spools of ribbon, just as you ordered,” said Patricia. “Red, green, gold, red and green, green and gold, red and gold.”
“That’s a tongue-twister if I’ve ever heard one,” said Ginger, taking the box of giant ribbon spools and setting them up at the wrapping station.
“Speaking of tongue-twisters, have you ended up twisting tongues with anyone yet?” asked Patricia, sticking out her tongue and waggling it.