by Martha Woods
The Bear Shifter’s Promise
Book 1 Of Black Oak Shifters
Martha Woods
Contents
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Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
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© 2019 Romance Books 4 U
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Chapter 1
The Black Oak woods had been home to the Porter family for generations, before electricity and civilization had made its mark on the country they had been roaming through the trees and protecting nature from interlopers, working hand in hand with those who would see their lands restored.
But as all things do, civilization outdid them, pushing them to the brink of extinction just as it had so many others before, and thus they had been forced to adapt to the brave new world that they now found themselves living in. Taking in new members and spreading their knowledge to those who would use it for good, helping those that needed help and punishing those that needed punishing, they found themselves with a new purpose that those that came before them hadn’t anticipated.
But that had been decades, near a century ago, and now the Porter family was in no condition to do much of anything. No one really knows what happened to cause the latest in the line to split, four siblings that everyone who knew them swore would be utterly inseparable, but after one late night of shouting and fighting that was so violent all the valley heard the commotion, their bond had ceased to exist. Try as the eldest brother might, he hadn’t been able to convince his other three siblings to stay by his side, and by wheel or on foot they set off, never once looking back at him or each other. Everyone had stayed up late at night, by phone and window, hoping to get even just a fleeting glimpse of them coming back home to stay, but after a year had passed they had needed to accept that they weren’t coming back anytime soon.
Four years had passed since then, and Orson still had no idea if any of his relatives were even still alive, much less if they’d forgiven him for the events of that night. And if they had truly vanished like he knew they could then it was unlikely that they’d forgiven each other either, their family line was truly ruined.
“Are you listening Orson?”
He snapped his attention back to the task at hand, shaking his head in apology as he looked up at Jeremy, the only advisor left whose opinion he still trusted. “I’m sorry, what were you saying?”
“I was saying that we need to think about the crops sooner rather than later, the seasons have been changing lately and it’s not going to take much for everyone to start going hungry,” He sighed, “I know you don’t want to think too much about getting help from the cities, we’ve always been self-sustaining…”
“And we need to stay that way,” Orson said, “I know that times have changed, and no one can really take away what’s already put itself here, but these woods are some of the last things that are pure, we can’t just… throw that all away over one bad winter.”
“Maybe so, but that doesn’t change the fact that our people will be going hungry if we don’t do something about this issue. And if we can’t provide for them, then I will not blame them if they go elsewhere for their food, as so many others have before in times of crisis. What’s the point in what we’re doing if our efforts can’t even feed a small group of hungry people?”
Orson frowned, placing his head in his hands and breathing a tired sigh. He would be the first to admit that farming wasn’t his area of expertise, his talents had always lain elsewhere. But the fight had been over with for years now, it was a new age of peace that they had found themselves in where they could finally get back to what their and grandfathers had intended for them, to be able to live off the land and restore it piece by piece, tree by tree if need be, a cleaner world for their children to live in.
Unfortunately, given that his father had been a womanizing, drunken moron, neither he nor his siblings had learned anything remotely useful to peacetime, instead they’d all learned to drink, fight, and never apologize for anything. Lessons that had been carried perfectly into adulthood, he was now realizing.
“I’m really fucking things up here, aren’t I?” He grinned at the pause before Jeremy opened his mouth, holding his hand up to stop whatever diplomatic response it was that he’d thought up. “Please, just… be honest with me, you know I value that.”
Jeremy opened and closed his mouth several times, before leaning back in his chair and sighing in defeat, “Yes, the general consensus is that you are indeed fucking this up. The question is what are you going to do to change that?”
There was never really any decision you could make that didn’t involve some kind of compromise, but that didn’t mean the act of doing so didn’t sting. Still, he would rather have a sting to be soothed by the presence of others, rather than a sense of moral accomplishment that he celebrated alone. “If it looks like our harvest is going to be low, take a few trucks into the cities and stock up on supplies there. I won’t like it, and some of the elders won’t like it, but at least we’ll be able to keep our people fed and healthy through the season.”
Jeremy nodded, moving to stand before he paused in thought, thinking his words over before asking carefully, “And… how are you doing, if I might ask? It’s that day soon after all…”
“I know it is Jeremy, I’ve been looking at my calendar.” Orson rubbed his temples with the pads of his fingers, shaking his head in annoyance at his own stubbornness. “I’m fine, don’t worry about me. Just make sure that no one else gets any ideas about what my condition is, just tell them that I’m dealing with it privately but I’m not letting it affect my duties.”
“Of course, I’ll let them know if need be. I’ll leave you to your work then.”
The door clicked behind him, and Orson immediately let out a groan that rattled his chest and made him hang his head over the back of his chair, fingernails digging small crescent moons into his palms. Indeed it was ‘That day’ soon, and no, he was not dealing with the knowledge that well. How would anyone be able to, knowing that the anniversary of their family fracturing beyond repair was coming up, almost five years of knowledge that he’d screwed everything up so badly and possibly destroyed the clan in the process all rearing its ugly head at such a complicated time. It would be enough to drive him mad, if he even had the time free to actually do so, rather than dealing with the possibility of his people dying because of decisions that he’d both made and had no part in, repercussions making themselves known for the strangest of acts.
“I hate this,” He said, staring for a moment at the framed picture on his desk before he clicked it down against the wood, not wanti
ng to look at it for a second longer. He’d spent countless hours doing so before. “What would any of you do, I wonder, if you were in my shoes? Would you have even let it get to this point, or would things be even worse? I guess I’ll never really know will I?”
In times like this he liked to take a walk, to stand at the edge of their territory separating their world from that of the outside, just a few dozen miles out of the forest leading to a small town, and from there a highway to the bustling city. He’d only been once, when he was very small, and ever since then he’d learned that his place was here, out in the nothingness with his people.
But ever since his siblings had left, the people who he trusted the most with the person he was and the decisions that he’d made, sometimes he liked to go out and stand right on the precipice, and rather than think about how much he loved it out here… he thought about taking those few steps that it would take to get him out to another sort of journey, one where his family and forgiveness were waiting on the other side for him, just waiting for him to take the chance to grasp what he had desired for so long. It was a fleeting fantasy, and one that wasn’t wholly conducive to his goals of saving his people and the untouched wilderness, but it was one that he thought of often.
They were his family after all, and what was he without his family by his side?
But taking that walk was always a risk, especially at this time of year. Too easy to give into temptation, too easy to let his duties fall behind him and give into selfishness, it wasn’t something that he could afford to chance on. So rather than out to the outskirts of the territory they had held for so long and so bitterly, he walked towards the center, to the crops that had been growing so slowly and so disappointingly, nowhere near the condition they needed to be in to feed all of the people that they had. Jeremy was right, the seasons had been changing drastically, and with his already limited knowledge of farming he was in no position to actually solve the problem. Megan was always the smarter one in that regard, but now she was gone, as were the other two alongside her, and with them the hopes of managing to sustain themselves for much longer.
“What did I do to screw things up so badly?” He asked himself, strolling through the fields that only reached his hip when they should have reached his neck, frowning as he stroked his fingers along the stalks and dragged his feet through the dirt, breathing in air that was as fresh as it normally was but not bringing him anywhere near the joy it should have. Used to be that he could breathe this air in good company, but as the years had gone on, even after his siblings had already left him behind for what he earnestly hoped were greener pastures, even after that people had left the clan to move to the city, or to try and make it on their own. He couldn’t much blame them with the way he was running things.
He was barely more than a pup after all, twenty-five years old, and expecting the elders of the clan to just bend to his will and do whatever it was that he deemed necessary, regardless of his experience. He’d made it clear more than once that he was willing to learn, to hear their advice and form his opinion from there, but evidently most of them held the former opinion of him, contempt clear in their faces on the rare occasions that they showed themselves around him. Most were too busy dealing with their own problems to bother with his as well.
Before he realized where he’d been walking he stopped at the cliffside, having walked blindly in thought past the fields, letting instinct guide him along. Instinct almost guided him directly off a cliff, so perhaps he should keep his eyes and focus around him.
“Beautiful view, isn’t it?” He snapped his head around at the voice, barely even having absorbed his surroundings before having to deal with this new intrusion. It wasn’t a voice he knew, that much was certain, and it was going to take a minute or two for his nerves to calm down enough to let him be civil.
“Who are you?” He asked, not the politest opener but perhaps the most necessary. Just because this was a time of peace didn’t mean that it was a time of complete non-violence.
“I’m just a traveler,” The intruder said, stepping out of the trees and revealing themselves to be a woman, long hair the color of the sun flowing down her shoulders, tanned skin peeking out from a tank top that she wore untucked over a pair of jeans. Not exactly the most appropriate for the climate, which meant that she was either incredibly stupid or not an ordinary traveler.
He was not so foolish as to dismiss the latter.
“Oh would you relax?” She asked, walking forward and taking her seat with her legs dangling over the abyss, “We’re not supposed to be fighting anymore, would it kill you to show some hospitality?”
So she was a shifter, though not one of his clan. And she’d admitted it so easily… maybe it was just paranoia, but something about that easy-going attitude didn’t quite sit right with him. But with no other plays in mind, his only option was to go along with it. “Fine,” He said, taking a knee and keeping his ears open, “But what are you doing out here all by yourself? Just because we’re not supposed to be fighting doesn’t mean we wouldn’t.”
“No, but I think we both remember what that was like.” She grinned, teeth just sharper than you would expect them to be if you didn’t know what she was. Holding her hand out, she said, “I’m Jennifer, I’m guessing you’re… Jamie?”
He scoffed, taking her hand and shaking it once. “That was my brother, he hasn’t been around for a long time now. I’m Orson.”
“Oh.” Her face dropped, guilt making his guard lift before she said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know. Did you… lose him?”
So that’s what it was, concern that she’d managed to tread on old wounds. Well, in an odd way he supposed that she had, but not in the way that she’d thought. “I did, but he didn’t die in the war. It was just… some stupid thing, an argument. My own fault really, he didn’t stay long enough to let me make things right.”
“So he’s still out there?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“Because we heard so much about this amazing family when I was growing up, I want to make sure that I’m not reminding you that they’re all dead if I bring them up!” She poked her tongue through her lips, letting her elbows rest on her knees. “Sue me for showing concern.”
Staring at her for a moment, trying to scrutinize whether she was being genuine or not, he shrugged and let his posture relax, taking his seat next to her on the cliffside. Hell, if she’s a spy what does it matter anyway? Not like we’re any sort of threat for them to take care of.
“So come on,” She said, shoving his shoulder and startling him out of his moment of thought, “How’s the family?”
“You’re acting way too personal for someone who just met me,” He warned, though he didn’t make any move to leave or make her do the same. Maybe he really was just that lonely and desperate that he was willing to talk to the first person who offered a conversation unprompted and ungrudgingly. “Just me and my clan, the other three moved onto something better I hope. How about yours? Going strong?”
“Oh you know how wolves are, always looking to belong to a part of something big, never really able to stay alone. I guess I’m kind of different like that, but everyone else in the clan is doing fine I guess.”
“You didn’t answer my question, I didn’t ask how the clan was, I asked how your people were.”
She smiled for a moment, before shrugging her shoulders and staring forward. “Dead, years ago. Just one of those things.”
“Oh… I’m… I’m sorry.”
“Why? Did you kill them?”
His first instinct was to say ‘no’, but his second was to realize that it was wrong to lie about something like this. “I don’t know.”
“Wouldn’t really matter if you did, that’s all over and done with anyway.” Jennifer fell back, her shoulders bouncing off the ground with a small grunt before she crossed her palms behind her head. “We didn’t really talk that much anyway, no big deal.”
He knew a lie when he heard one, but
it wasn’t his place to question her on it at that moment. Everyone had their own ways of dealing with grief, and it was something to be done at their own pace. If she wanted to talk about it, she would, and he wouldn’t push her otherwise. So rather than do any of that, he decided to take a different approach, one that they would both be grateful for. “So what are you doing out here? This is a little far out of your territory just to be coming for a little walk.”
“I wanted to see what all the fuss was about, all the wars and people that we lost over the years, you’d think that the land would be something special right?” She grimaced, leaning in with a look in her eye that told him that she knew exactly who was supposed to be in charge. “Don’t tell anyone, but it all kind of looks like shit huh?”
“It usually looks nicer,” He said, barely even believing it as he did, but he couldn’t say anymore before she leaned her head back into the ground and laughed, reaching up to cover her mouth with her palm, “Please don’t laugh at that, I’m trying my best.”
“I know! That’s what makes it funny!” Jennifer settled down, shaking her head and sighing in relaxation, “Things aren’t doing the best where we are either, we have too many people and not enough land, we can’t grow enough food to actually feed everyone.”
To Orson’s ears, that sounded like a potential solution to the exact problem that he’d been talking about that day, but he wasn’t exactly looking to tip his hand this early. For all he knew it could just be a ruse to steal from him and his clan, maybe that sounded just a little bit too paranoid but he wasn’t going to let his guard down anytime soon. He’d seen what the wolves had been capable of when he’d been fighting, there was no real end to the things they could do.