Shifter Nation- East Coast Bears Collection

by Meg Ripley

  “Well, a parfait isn’t a parfait without the yogurt, so I’ll play fair,” she smiled, and I watched her divide it down the middle and slide it across the table toward me.

  The pancakes and waffle came out next, the home fries and eggs coming out shortly after. We each ate half the waffle, one pancake and one egg. I found the pancakes and waffles extremely hard to get down, but I forced myself through it, and I picked at the home fries in between.

  I groaned, sitting back and holding my stomach. “Dios mio, I’m so full.”

  “Yeah, I’m pretty sure I overdid it,” she breathed, doing the same. “Do you have anything going on today?”

  I’m supposed to meet up with Knox to review the autopsy findings, but I’m sure he won’t mind if I come by later after telling him I was with a girl.

  “No, not really. How about you?” She paused for a moment and then shook her head.

  “Want to come back to my place and take a nap? Because I need one after this meal,” she laughed. “And then maybe we can relax in the jacuzzi afterwards?”

  “That sounds perfect,” I smiled. I could definitely go for a nap after eating all those carbs.

  I’ll have Sophia check my throat when I get back to the park…

  * * *

  We got back to her room and immediately fell onto the bed. I closed my eyes, and just as I was about to drift off, I felt a sharp pain in my stomach, like someone had just punched me. I winced and tried not to wake Min, who was curled up against me, snoring softly. I detangled myself just as I felt a heave, and I practically sprinted to the bathroom.

  Everything I had just eaten came up violently. I didn’t know what had come over me; I was fine one minute, and the next, my stomach was beating itself up.

  Could this be food poisoning?

  “Hey, are you okay?” I heard a knock at the door and a sleepy voice.

  “Uh, yeah. I guess I just ate too much. I’ll be right out,” I replied after clearing my throat and flushing the toilet; thank god I’d made it there in time. I stumbled over to the sink and brushed my teeth, rinsing my mouth out and gargling a bit as well. When I finally felt stable enough to do so, I left the bathroom and noticed Min had been standing outside waiting for me with a concerned look on her face.

  “You sure you’re alright? Can I get you anything?”

  “I’m sure I’ll be fine. Let’s get back to bed; we could both use a little more shut eye.” I grabbed her hand and led her back to the canopy bed; she curled right up against me and was sleep in minutes.

  I felt much better after getting the food out of my stomach, but now I was starting to worry. I wasn’t sure what was wrong with me, but I could feel that something was most definitely off. Shifters usually had higher temperatures than humans, but I was starting to feel my core temperature rise. It was settling through me like a furnace.

  Maybe I just need to sleep it off…

  * * *

  Min woke up first this time, nuzzling me awake. I opened my eyes to see her smiling face looking back at me.

  “Feel better?” she asked, running her fingers through my hair and then pressing her palm against my forehead.

  “Still hot,” I moaned, noticing how sweaty my shirt had become.

  “We can hop in the jacuzzi and fill it with cooler water. I’m actually feeling pretty warm myself and could use some cooling down,” she smirked.

  A cold soak in the jacuzzi sounded so refreshing to me in that moment. “Si, por favor,” I replied eagerly, getting up from the bed and padding over to the bathroom. Min followed me, stripping off her clothes and I did the same.

  “Do you know how to work it?” she asked as I examined the temperature gauge.

  “Looks just like a thermostat. I turned the temperature down to 68, which was the lowest it would go.” I was slightly disappointed; forty or fifty would have been better, but I set the jacuzzi to fill itself, which it did miraculously quickly. Min smiled wide as I turned on the jets.

  “Despues de ti, mi querida.” I motioned for her to get in first. She slipped in, her beautiful slim body disappearing under the water.

  “Oh, it’s definitely cold!” she shrieked, holding herself as she sat in the water. I climbed in after her, welcoming the frigid water that wrapped around my heated skin, and sank my shoulders beneath the surface.

  “This feels amazing,” I sighed, relaxing into the cool bath.

  Min drifted toward me, sitting in my lap. “I actually need your warmth; this might be a little too cold for me.” She wrapped my arms around her and settled in. “Ah…that’s much better.”

  I closed my eyes, stroking her arms.

  “Think you’ll stay the night with me again?” I heard her ask.

  “Would you like me to?”

  “Maybe. I can’t lie; it would be nice.”

  “Well, I’ll have to call my boss because I was supposed to meet with him tonight. I’ll see if we can to meet tomorrow instead.”

  “Oh, I don’t want to intrude on your work.” I could hear the disappointment in her voice, though.

  “My boss was one of the guys trying to push me to talk to you last night,” I laughed. “I’m sure he’ll be more than happy to postpone if he knows I’m with you.”

  “Well, I am honored. You must not hook up with a lot of women, I guess?” She turned to look up at me.

  “Not since moving here, no; I’ve been pretty focused on my work. As you said, many things fall into my lap with my job title, so I’m always busy. The only time I ever go out is when I’m dragged out by those two, and they’re always trying to set me up with women, but it never works out. I’m either not their type, or they immediately get turned off because they think I’m a science nerd.”

  She flashed a genuine smile. “I just so happen to like science nerds.”

  “That’s because you are one,” I laughed, nuzzling her nose.

  Laying there with her felt like I was exactly where I needed to be. I was glad I went out with the boys last night; I would have missed her.

  And she was perfect.

  Now all you’ve gotta do is tell her you’re a bear shifter, I groaned inwardly.

  How was I going to break the news to her? I’d never had to reveal my true nature to a woman before; no girl in Mexico had made me feel so at home with her in my arms, like I’d felt right at that moment.

  I loved her witty sense of humor; no woman had made me laugh as much as she had. And with her wanting me to stay, I knew we would be spending a lot of time together. It had been almost a full day and all I could think about was showing her all the beauty of Bar Harbor and Acadia, then bringing her back to my cabin and making love all night long.

  And as long as I didn’t get angry, I knew I could hide my bear long enough; the full moon wasn’t for another three weeks. But, depending on how this went, I would need to tell her, eventually.

  “I really like you, Ramon. I’m not sure how long I’ll be here in Maine, but I would like to spend as much time as I can with you—if that’s okay, of course.” She was gliding her fingertips along my arms, making goosebumps pop up along my skin.

  “Of course,” I replied, kissing the top of her head. “I really like you, too, Min.”

  I squeezed my arms around her tightly, and a part of me never wanted to let go.

  7

  Min

  Before I knew it, I had spent an entire week with Ramon.

  He ended up taking time off of work to show me around the park; we hiked over nearly fifty gravel trails to one of the park’s granite bridges one day, passing numerous crystalline lakes and ponds. Towering mountains surrounded us, and dense woodlands stretched as far as the eye could see. It was beautiful, and I could have sworn I saw every bird species known to man there. Another day, he took me to Eagle Lake for a picnic, and the last time we went, we hiked up Cadillac Mountain and watched the most breathtaking sunset I have ever witnessed in my life.

  And all three times, I had forgotten the ticks.

&nbs
p; Well, truth be told, I hadn’t necessarily forgotten them. I’d tried to think of some way to discreetly carry them along without having him notice, but I couldn’t; the case holding the top-secret ticks was far too large to fit into my travel bag.

  It was Friday evening, and I decided that the following day, I’d finally tell Ramon that I had to get to work and that we could hang out later that night if, he wanted to. If all else failed, he’d be back at work on Monday, so I would have been able to go then, too.

  Ping.

  Is that my phone? I grabbed it to see what the notification was. Ramon and I were eating dinner at Havana, a Latin-American restaurant in Bar Harbor, and while Ramon got up to use the restroom, I tapped the screen.

  ‘Your period started today’ was the most recent notification my phone received from the My Days app.

  Hmm…no, it didn’t. I narrowed my eyes, staring at my phone. Ramon had returned to his seat, so, not wanting to be rude, I stuffed my phone back into my purse and took a forkful of my seafood paella. Maybe it’ll come tomorrow.

  * * *

  Another week went by, and no one from the NCPD-CID had called for an update on my mission. The woman told me she’d touch base with me in a week, but it had been two weeks without contact; I’d also been instructed to not call anyone.

  Had they forgotten about me? Had they expected me to fail? Maybe this was all a joke. Bear shifters weren’t real, and I was stupid enough to believe they could actually get a vaccine to be viably transmitted by ticks. This was all a test, and I was failing miserably.

  I suppose it was a good thing, though, because, dammit, I still hadn’t released the ticks.

  It was Friday morning, and once again, Ramon and I had spent another week together. He had taken more time off, telling his boss that he hadn’t been feeling well. And in fact, that wasn’t a lie; I’d been taking care of him the entire week. He had a fever, didn’t want to eat or drink anything, and he hardly wanted to sleep. When I finally got him to eat something, he couldn’t keep it down for more than a few hours. He told his boss that he had the flu, but if he did, I felt like he would have been sleeping much more than he was. It was like his body was shutting down, but his mind was on high alert.

  I actually thought I was getting sick as well. I didn’t have a fever or anything like that, but I had to use the restroom at least twenty times a day, even if I hadn’t had anything to drink in a couple of hours. I was also nauseous and vomiting, but not after every time I ate, like what Ramon was experiencing, and I was utterly exhausted, no matter how long I had slept for. Probably just a stomach bug, I thought.

  The night before, I had the most bizarre dream, too. I’d woken up to use the bathroom, and when I turned to Ramon, I could have sworn I saw the face of a bear instead of his. Strangely, I remembered feeling his arm wrap around me—which felt much heavier than usual—and when I touched it, I felt thick fur over his forearm. I jumped, and when I snapped my eyes open, it looked completely normal. I figured my subconscious must have been revisiting the videos that I saw back at the office, allowing them to invade my nightmares because I hadn’t completed the task yet.

  I had hoped that whatever we’d come down with would be gone soon so I could go to the park to plant the ticks, but I wasn’t sure if that was going to happen.

  Ramon was sleeping soundly beside me, and I was glad he was finally getting some much-needed rest. Just then, my phone buzzed quietly on the nightstand; I reached for it and noticed another notification from the My Days app.

  ‘Your period has ended.’

  Wait, what? My period hasn’t even come yet.

  I tapped the icon for the My Days app and remembered that my period was supposed to have come last week.

  And it still isn’t here? That’s odd…My period is never late…

  That’s when it hit me.

  Nausea, vomiting, fatigue; peeing like crazy…

  I scrambled out of bed, threw on a pair of sweats and grabbed my keys, quietly slinking out the door as I bolted to the car. I asked my phone where the nearest pharmacy was, and luckily, it mentioned there was one close by in Bar Harbor. I pressed the navigate button and careened my way into town, my mind racing. Thankfully, I was easily able to find parking—and, once inside, a pregnancy test—so I quickly headed back to my room and tiptoed into the bathroom. Ramon hadn’t moved a muscle, it seemed.

  When I reached inside the box and pulled out the stick with a shaking hand, I stared at it and took a deep breath.

  It’s going to be fine. There’s a first for everything. This could just be the first time your period is late, no big deal, I tried to convince myself, but it wasn’t really working.

  I sat on the toilet, staring at the stick, waiting for the result.

  And then after a few minutes—which seemed more like an eternity—it was there, just like that: a pink plus sign was staring right back at me. There was no denying it now. A part of me wanted to take another test, a third even, just to be sure, but deep down, I knew that the test was correct.

  I was pregnant.

  I sat on the toilet with my head in my hands.

  How am I going to tell Ramon? Will he want to keep it? Do I want to keep it? I can’t tell him while he’s sick. Maybe I should just wait until he’s feeling better…That’ll at least give me time to decide what I want to do…

  I took another deep breath and wrapped the stick in toilet paper, sneaking it out of the bathroom, and hid it in my suitcase.

  “What are you up to, bella?” I heard Ramon’s sleepy voice and quickly zipped up my luggage.

  “Oh, just checking to see how many outfits I had left. Turns out I didn’t pack as many as I thought I did. Good thing this place has a laundry room. I’ll have to go down and do some.” I smiled and walked over to the bed, checking his temperature with the back of my hand; he was still extremely hot. “How are you feeling?”

  “Same as the past couple of days, honestly. I might go to the park and have Sophia check me out, just to make sure it’s nothing serious.”

  “Who’s Sophia?”

  “El medico del parque.” I took enough Spanish in college to know that meant the park medic.

  “You should’ve done that when you first got sick instead of assuming it was the flu. You’re a scientist, not a doctor,” I chuckled. “Why don’t we put you in another cold soak in the jacuzzi? You said it helped last time and maybe it’ll get your fever down.”

  “Si, seguro.”

  I noticed that Ramon seemed to speak more Spanish now that he was sick; it was like his brain didn’t have the will power to translate his sentences to English as easily. I didn’t mind; if I didn’t understand him, he usually told me what he meant. I watched him take off his drenched white V-neck and was instantly distracted by his chest.

  Oh, come on, the guy is sick! I shook my head to try and focus and then I saw something. It looked like some sort of an arachnid, and it had its head buried into Ramon’s skin.

  “Is that…?” I moved my face closer to examine the insect. Sure enough, it was an engorged tick, but when I examined its body more closely, I noticed a marking resembling the letter H on its back. “That’s impossible!”

  “¿Que?” Ramon was looking up at me with a confused expression. He then tried to peek at his shoulder, too, but the tick was too far back for him to see.

  How the hell could one of these ticks be on Ramon? Could one of mine have escaped? Did they send someone else to disperse another batch? Wait a minute…This tick shouldn’t be on Ramon like this…When these particular ticks bite humans, they’re genetically engineered to recognize that they aren’t shifters and detach. So why is this one buried underneath Ramon’s skin like this? Unless…no…no…NO!

  “You’re a shifter?” I shrieked, stumbling backwards away from the bed. I didn’t need him to answer me to know the truth. The dreams I’d been having weren’t dreams at all; they actually happened.

  Ramon wasn’t looking at me, and that was all I needed to c
onfirm my suspicions. “Min, let me explain.”

  “Explain what? Why you didn’t tell me? How could you hide this from me?”

  “What? I can’t just run around telling people I’m a fucking shifter!”

  I just stared at him in disbelief. How could this happen?

  “Espera un minuto… How do you know about us? And more importantly, how did you know I was shifter?” Ramon was looking at me suspiciously. “Who are you, really? You’re not an entomologist, are you? Is your name even Min?” He was getting angry, but I refused to go on trial.

  “Everything I said to you is true!”

  “So, do some explaining! How do you know about shifters? ¿Qué está pasando?” Ramon was still trying to look at his shoulder, seeming to realize there was something there that revealed his true identity. “What are you looking at back there?”

  “If you sit down, I will explain,” I said finally, walking over to my luggage. I pulled out two things: the box of ticks and a pair of tweezers. I walked back over the bed where Ramon had sat down; his eyes were locked with mine, his brow furrowed in anger.

  I checked the box for any cracks where ticks could have escaped from, and there were none. It was still completely sealed.

  “Did you go in my suitcase at any point and open this box?” I asked, holding it up.

  “No, I didn’t. What the fuck are those? You brought bugs with you?”

  “They’re not just any bugs. They’re ticks.” I took a deep breath as I set the box on the bed and walked over to Ramon with the tweezers.

  “What are you doing with those?”

  “They’re part of my assignment. Here, hold still; this is going to hurt.” I grabbed the tick carefully by the head with the tweezers and twisted it around, dislodging it from Ramon’s skin.

  “Damn!” Ramon exclaimed, his shoulder flinching. “What the fuck was that?”

  I held the tick in front of his eyes. It was still moving and engorged with Ramon’s blood.