by Terra Wolf
“Just have fun, would you? You deserve it.”
“I’ll try,” I sighed, hugging myself self-consciously now. I wondered if I could dart back home to change, but then I saw the time and realized I was already running late.
“Shit, I’ve gotta go.” I gave her one last hug and started sprinting to the car, but Dana stopped me.
“Uh… Claire?”
I turned and she just nodded her head, her eyes going to my hands. Where I was still holding on to Tubby. I guess he offered comfort to more than just Ella. I laughed and chucked the stuffed elephant towards the front door and Dana caught him with two free fingers, waving at me with her fist closed around Ella’s bevy of supplies and possessions.
I got in the car and blew out a few deep breaths before I started it and headed down the mountain. I’d been looking forward to this date all week, looking forward to seeing Luke again and actually talking to him. Actually exploring this chemistry between us and seeing where it could go. But of course, now that the time had arrived, I was a nervous wreck. What if he didn’t show? What if he did show and immediately regretted it? What if everything went well and I blew it right at the end? There were too many things that could go wrong. So many things, that it almost seemed inevitable that something would go wrong. But I couldn’t think like that. Thinking like that was just inviting the bad things in. I had to focus on the positive.
Like how Chuck’s incompetence led me to meet Ella’s sexy new doctor. And how that sexy doctor seemed interested enough in me to invent a family gathering to invite me to. And that my foot remained far enough out of my mouth that we were going on a real date.
Those were the things I needed to focus on. Because for all the things that could go wrong, so far, had been skewing the other direction. And maybe that was why I was so suspicious, because things had been going too well, but I couldn’t just live my life looking around every corner waiting for failure to spring out at me.
By the time I got down the mountain to the diner, I’d done a pretty good job of giving myself a pep talk. Then I pulled into the parking lot and cursed under my breath. The place was packed. I mean, of course it was. It was the only decent place to eat in town and it was Friday night. Where else was everyone going to go? Hopefully the wait wouldn’t be too long. And at least it would give Luke and I ample time to talk before I inevitably embarrassed myself by getting ketchup on my dress or something.
“Look at that, Claire Andrews finding the bright side,” I said, laughing at myself in the rear view mirror. Maybe Luke was a good influence on me. Or maybe I was just done with sabotaging my own happiness. We could make this work, packed diner or no.
So I headed to the front door and started scanning the crowd for Luke’s dark hair and broad shoulders. The diner was crammed full with people squished into booths, crowded in the walkways, and even loitering around the door waiting to be seated. I didn’t spot Luke anywhere, so I figured it would be better to wait for him outside in the fresh air where I’d be easy to spot.
The cool night breeze helped me breathe a little easier, helped me clear my thoughts and tamp down the last of my anxiety. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted someone moving toward me and turned with a smile, expecting Luke, but the smile melted instantly. Chuck.
“Fancy seeing you down here,” he said, looming closer. Too close, his breath smelling like whiskey. I took a step back and braced myself for an unpleasant encounter, I hoped he’d lose interest soon so I could get on with my night with Luke.
Fifteen
Luke
Sitting alone at a table in the over-packed diner was not exactly what I’d been looking forward to all week when thinking about Friday night. But that’s where I was. Sipping a mug of coffee, eyes trained on the door, waiting and hoping that Claire would be the next one to walk through.
She was late. Or she’d decided to chicken out entirely. I hoped it wasn’t the latter. I really hoped it wasn’t.
But as much as my insecurity and nervousness wanted to push their agenda and tell me that she wasn’t coming, I didn’t believe them. Because I knew enough about Claire to know that wasn’t like her. She had a pretty long way down the mountain, and I knew how hairy those roads could get at night. She was probably just taking her time, being safe.
Or she was still at her sister’s giving an entire safety demonstration for the care and protection of Ella.
Picturing that erased some of the tension and made me smile. Her drive to protect her young rivaled any momma bear’s.
“You doin’ okay, hon? Need a refill?” the waitress asked, squeezing between chairs and tables to get to me with the coffee pot. I was going to tell her not to bother, but before I could, someone at the table next to me pushed their chair out, and the waitress lost her balance, her and the coffee pot tumbling to the floor.
The guy who caused the whole mess jumped up, hollering about how he was covered in coffee, but I instantly bent down, offering the waitress a hand with cleaning it all up.
“Are you all right?” I asked her, nearly having to shout over the noise in the place. I never knew they got so busy here on Friday nights, but I made the note to never come back at peak times again.
“Fine,” she said, gathering up shards of glass in her bare hands.
“Careful,” I said. “Can I help?”
She looked up, her eyes tired and lined with years of stress. She looked down at her hands filled with glass and the pool of coffee spreading across the floor.
“There’s a supply room in the back over there. If you could just bring me the mop bucket, I can make sure no one slips or cuts themselves over here.”
“Got it,” I said, jumping to my feet. It took some doing to get through the maze of people and chairs, but I finally got to the supply closet, got the mop and bucket, even filled it up and grabbed the wet floor sign — I worked in a grocery store as a kid, I knew how these things went.
It was on my way back to the spill that I saw the door open and perked up, hoping it was Claire finally showing up.
But no one was coming in. It had to have been someone leaving. But through the front window, I spotted a familiar halo of golden curls.
My heart leaped into my throat and I practically pushed people aside to drop off the bucket, mop, and sign.
“Thanks—” the waitress said, but I didn’t hear anything that came after it because I was wading through the crowd, dodging people left and right, shouting ‘excuse me’ and ‘coming through’ over and over until I finally got my hand around the cold door handle and pushed.
The cool night air hit me with a whiff of Claire’s vanilla scent, but I didn’t see her right outside the door. I knew she should be here, I knew I’d seen her — my bear knew too and he was roaring for her.
“Claire?” I called into the night, but there was no answer. There were voices in the distance though, carried on the breeze, and I followed.
“—None of your business,” Claire was saying. And she sounded angry, annoyed.
“Like hell it isn’t. You bringing strange men around my kid isn’t my business?” My whole body stiffened on alert. The guy talking to her sounded familiar, but more than that, he sounded like a threat to the woman I cared so much about. His voice was a challenge that made my bear prickle to the surface. But I forced it down, still following the voices. No need to scare Claire off if I could end this altercation as a man.
“Oh, so now you want to be a father? How convenient. That’s bullshit Chuck and you know it. You didn’t give a damn about Ella when she was running a fever or needed her diaper changed or needed new shoes. You don’t get to pretend you care now.”
I swallowed, their voices now clear enough to pick up on every word. Claire’s voice was trembling — with anger or fear, I didn’t know, but I wasn’t about to sit back and let her deal with this alone anymore.
“Hey! I don’t think she wants to talk to you,” I shouted down the dark alley. It was hard to make out either one of them, but Claire’s
back was against a wall and the guy — Chuck, I guess — was far too close to her for my liking, his finger pointed in her face.
“Mind your own business pal. This is between me and my baby momma.”
My hands balled into fists at my sides and my teeth ground together, but I forced the bear inside to stay calm.
“I said back away,” I growled, barely keeping it together.
“Get the hell out of here before I take away all your visitation rights,” Claire spat at him, her spine straight and stiff.
I took a step nearer to them, and in the dim light I could see the guy’s eyes hardening.
“You can’t do that.”
“I can and I don’t think any judge will argue with me when I tell them what a piece of shit you actually are—”SMACK.
Claire’s words cut off with a sharp yelp as she flew to the ground clutching the side of her face.
And then I saw red. Nothing could stop my bear from clawing his way to the surface and bursting out roaring, barreling toward Chuck on all fours, teeth bared.
Sixteen
Claire
“Now look what you made me do, you stupid whore!” Chuck screamed at me, my head still ringing from his slap. I was kind of trapped in this daze. He’d never hit me before. No one had ever hit me before. And it just came out of nowhere.
My cheek stung, and my hands hurt from where I’d caught myself on the pavement, but that wasn’t the most pressing matter because over the ringing in my ears, Chuck’s yelling had stopped and in its place was… roaring?
I blinked away the swimming images in my vision, squinting through the darkness and all my blood froze. There was a bear in the alley, snarling and rearing up at Chuck. I didn’t know what the hell a bear was doing this far down the mountain, or how he managed to find me at the exact moment I needed him, but I was thankful there was something to take Chuck’s attention off of me.
Chuck’s eyes were wide and he scrambled backwards, tripping over gravel, trying to get away from the bear before it charged. And as much as I was positively gleeful to see Chuck pissing his pants scared, I didn’t really want him to be mauled by a bear.
I knew I should have been scared too, but the bear didn’t even really look at me, he only had eyes for Chuck. And there was murder in those eyes.
“Don’t hurt him!” I shouted, not even sure where the strength in my voice came from. The bear stopped, turned his head curiously at me, and dropped down to all fours, letting Chuck get his footing and run away. The asshole didn’t even linger long enough to make sure I wasn’t in any danger. But I was still happy to see him go.
I slowly pulled myself up to my feet, hoping not to spook the big creature. In all my years on this mountain, I’d never come so close to a bear. Of course, in school they taught you all the safety precautions and what to do if you were ever threatened by one, but now that I was face to face with the animal, all those memories were conveniently out of reach.
But the bear wasn’t frothing mad anymore. His eyes looked softer, kinder… even familiar. And then, right before my eyes, the bear started to fade away, its big bulk shrinking, hair disappearing into nothing, until it was someone very familiar in front of me… and very naked.
“Luke?” I stammered, not even believing my own eyes.
He took a hesitant step toward me, his hands held out in the universal symbol of ‘I’m not going to hurt you.’
“I can explain, Claire,” he said, his voice soft and gentle, like he was afraid of spooking me.
My head swirled with questions and confusion, but my body instantly responded to this sexy as hell man standing naked in front of me after having saved me from my asshole ex. There was a lot of adrenaline running through my veins and all of it was gathering and pulsing between my legs, making my mouth dry and my head fuzzy.
“Luke?” I said again, my voice distant and lost.
He sighed and stepped closer, ever so slowly lowering his hand to my back. I didn’t move away from him, but I didn’t move into him either. Even though his hand was warm and comforting and I wanted to melt right into him, I still had no idea what the hell was going on and I needed answers.
“Come on, I’ll explain everything,” he said, gently guiding me through the side alley to the parking lot behind the diner. There were a few other people milling about, and I was acutely aware of Luke’s nakedness and how they looked away, but they didn’t know the half of it. They couldn’t begin to know how weird this really was.
He led me to his truck and I had a momentary flash of panic that told me I shouldn’t be getting into his vehicle without some sort of explanation, but I couldn’t be suspicious of Luke. He radiated trustworthiness.
“So, there are some things about me you don’t know,” he said softly.
I snorted a humorless laugh. “No kidding.”
His shoulders stiffened and I looked over at him, his dark eyes hurt and guarded.
“I’m sorry… This is all just… Explain please,” I said. Apparently forming coherent thoughts was still beyond me.
Luke nodded and blew out a heavy sigh. “I’m what’s known as a shifter. It’s genetic. We have the ability to change forms into an animal.”
“Like werewolves?”
He sent a little grin my way, but shook his head. “Not exactly. We can shift at-will and it’s not forced by the moon like in some of the werewolf lore. And, of course, I’m a bear, not a wolf.”
“And…”
He nodded. “My brothers are too. Most the people at that barbeque were shifters, actually. Like I said, it’s kind of our family animal.”
I didn’t even have anything to say to that. It was a lot to take in all at once. Luckily, it seemed Luke wasn’t finished.
“There are a few benefits of being a shifter — extra keen senses and the ability to heal really quickly — but there are drawbacks too. Mainly in the way that I have to share headspace with an opinionated apex predator.”
I must have looked as confused as I felt.
“It’s hard to explain. But it’s kind of like having an imaginary friend who occasionally gets to drive the train. I do my best to keep him under control, but there’s one realm where he refuses to be reined in: you.”
My head spun, I was dizzy and finding it hard to breathe. This was all a lot to take in, but surprisingly, I didn’t think he was crazy. I didn’t want to run screaming. I didn’t even doubt anything he was saying to me. It was crazy, but I believed him, which might have actually been crazier.
“Me?”
Luke nodded. “Without getting into it too much, bears can recognize their mate and if they fail to find them by a certain age, they go feral. It’s impossible to control them. That age was getting pretty close for me, but then I found you… And Claire, I know it’s insane and believe me, this is not the way I intended to break all this to you, but… There it is.”
For the first time since we got in his truck, Luke stopped talking. I didn’t say anything either and the silence just kind of lingered in the air around us, falling like a heavy snow until I felt pinned down by the weight of it.
“I get it, it’s way too much. I can just take you home,” he said, shaking his head, his fingers balled into tight fists.
“So… I’m your mate? Does that mean we’re like… meant to be or something? I mean I’ve heard of shifters, but I thought people were kidding. But this is all real?” I couldn’t say why, but the thought had my heart racing, my lungs tight. I wanted to believe it. I wanted to think that this weird pull that dragged me toward Luke wasn’t weird after all. I wanted to have some explanation for why he filled my every waking thought. And why even after learning all of this crazy stuff about him, I still wasn’t running for the hills.
He shrugged. “Yes and no. It’s still like any other human relationship. It still takes work, and sometimes the partnerships fail, but the bear is supposed to be able to recognize a kindred soul. And believe me, he’s very vocal about it.”
That made
me laugh, thinking about having a person like Alexis in my head all the time pressuring me to move things along.
“That sounds awful,” I said, still giggling.
“It can be annoying,” he agreed, laughing with me. “But the moment I saw you and Ella, he’s been demanding I make you both ours. I never even really considered fatherhood before, but now… I know it’s crazy, but I can’t imagine my life without the two of you.”
The way he bared his soul to me with those words made him more vulnerable than any amount of nakedness could, and I finally understood what had been going through his mind all this time with me. And I realized that I wasn’t the only one terrified of making a mistake. I wasn’t the only one with a lot on the line. I wasn’t the only one that stood to lose a great deal if it didn’t go well. And yet, here he was, still opening up to me, risking himself and his life and his family’s secret just for a chance with me.
And he was still naked. Have I mentioned that lately? I’d only ever gotten the briefest glimpses of his tanned muscles at the barbeque and the clinic, but now his whole muscled body was on glorious display. All the way from his chiseled shoulders and defined arms to his sculpted chest and abs. He even had those hip grooves that made smart women stupid and a furry little patch of hair that led straight down…
I pulled my eyes back up quickly. I shouldn’t be looking at him at a time like this! But out of the corner of my eye, I saw his dick twitch in his lap and he laughed.
“You’re more than welcome to look. Shifters aren’t really shy about nudity… for obvious reasons.”
Yeah, obvious reasons. My appreciative look had inspired half an erection in him, and even at that point, he looked huge. Somehow, it made my mouth water the same time it made my mouth dry. How did that even work? I licked my lips, biting the bottom one thoughtfully.
“You know, I’m not really in the mood for dinner anymore. And I don’t think you’re really dressed for the occasion,” I teased, crawling across the bench toward him.
“You’re right about that. I’ve got a change of clothes in the back though if you want to—”