by Sable Sylvan
Big. Brown. Grizzly. Four feet — with sharp claws — and two furry ears, there was no mistaking the bear as anything but a bear.
Then, she noticed the bear’s goofy grin.
“If that’s Jevon…hold up your right paw,” said Jennifer.
The bear held up its right paw. Jennifer was still a bit worried. Maybe the bear was an escaped circus bear with an appetite for BBWs and their well-marbled flesh.
“Okay…if that’s really, really Jevon, then stand on your hind legs and dance,” said Jennifer warily.
The bear gave Jennifer a look, and then, got on its hind legs, and wiggled around a bit.
“Okay, I guess it really is you,” said Jennifer. She looked in the back of the truck. Next to the buckets, there was a set of clothes and a pair of shoes. Jevon must’ve changed when she’d been busy with the boots.
“Lead the way,” said Jennifer, grabbing the buckets.
Jennifer followed Jevon through the wild woods of the Port Jameson Hills. The scent of pine was strong, and the sounds of machinery could be heard through the otherwise mostly silent forest. Jennifer was surprised at how quietly Jevon could move through the woods. His bear was big — bigger than Jevon was as a man — and looked to be, well, clumsy. Bears didn’t exactly have the same stealthy look as, say, leopards, or tigers, or foxes. Although Jevon’s brown fur caused some leaves to rustle, his feet gently plodded across the forest floor, and Jevon was careful to avoid stepping on errant twigs or patches of crunchy leaves or puddles that would splish and splash and leave his paws a muddy mess.
The path gently wove up and down the forest. Although Jevon could’ve taken a more direct route to the berry patch, he knew that Jennifer would’ve had a tough time keeping up with his bear as he went over steep mountains and through sticky thickets and past the pond where he knew a family of mosquitos was just itching for a fresh meal. Jevon’s bear roared with approval. Jevon had started thinking about Jennifer as more than just the woman he flirted with awkwardly, but as a mate — or at the very least, a friend.
Jevon’s movements through the woods slowed. He sniffed and took a second to figure out where the scent of the berries was coming from. He looked at Jennifer and then, nodded his head in the direction of the berry scent. Jennifer nodded. The fact Jennifer and Jevon were communicating non-verbally helped them stay stealthy during their journey through the woods.
Jevon slowly walked toward the berry patch, trying to scent out other bears. It was about as hard as trying to scent out the other bears at the work sites. There were too many bears going in and out of the area for Jevon to be able to pinpoint the current presence of a bear. He just had to stay by Jennifer, so if some Hemlock jerk gave her a hard time for technically stealing their berries, he could tell them where to shove their berries.
Jennifer followed Jevon to the thick rows of marionberries. The big, green vines were woven into trellises that couldn’t be easily seen through the thick leaves of the thorny bushy plants. The marionberries were long, in shades of pink through blackish purple, but smaller than the ones she’d been using in her baking.
Jennifer took a single berry and wiped it off on her sleeve. The berry was glossy, plump, and ripe — but small. She popped it into her mouth. The little berry was juicy — but not as moist as the store-bought berries. It was flavorful, with a wine-like flavor that reminded her of summer sangria.
“They’re good, aren’t they?” said Jevon.
Jennifer turned and saw Jevon standing in front of her, entirely naked. She only saw him for a split second before turning.
“Jevon!” hissed Jennifer, her cheeks turning redder than the unripe berries. “I thought you were going to be in your shift the whole time!”
“That was the plan until Alex told me I had to bring him extra berries,” said Jevon. “I only realized on the way up the mountain that I’d need to shift back into this form if we had any chance of grabbing the berries before Hemlock Crew finds us.”
“Fine — take a bucket,” said Jennifer, pulling one bucket out of the set of three nested buckets.
“You take one,” said Jevon. “I’ll take two. I’ve done this before.”
“Fine — and hide your nudity,” said Jennifer. “Go to another row!”
“Well, excuse me,” said Jevon. “Just trying to be helpful!”
“Be helpful somewhere where I can’t see your twig and berries,” hissed Jennifer. Jevon grabbed the set of two buckets from the ground and walked away. Jennifer waited a beat before grabbing her bucket and looking up. Jevon was in another patch. She could see his head…and his thick, broad shoulders, already glossy with sweat.
Jennifer gulped. She was in the berry patch to get sweet berries…so why did Jevon look like a tastier treat than the marionberries? Maybe she was in the mood for something salty.
She turned her attention back to picking the berries. With gloves on, she found it hard to grab the berries and accidentally squished a few. She forced herself to work more slowly, but it was frustrating. In comparison, Jevon had finished picking his row of berries and was on to another row! Apparently, berry picking was some magical powers werebears had.
Jennifer moved to the end of her row after about ten minutes. Her bucket was barely a quarter full. She wiped the sweat off her forehead and made a mental note to really clean the berries because she had not been picking them in the most hygienic way.
That’s when Jennifer heard it — a growl.
This time, it wasn’t a stomach growling.
Jennifer slowly turned and looked around. She didn’t see a bear anywhere…but that didn’t mean there wasn’t one nearby. She went back to picking berries, looking over her shoulders for a beast, but then, she heard a louder growl.
She backed up and looked around. That’s when she spotted something in the trees. It was big, furry, and looking straight at her.
Chapter Four
“J-J-Jevon?” asked Jennifer.
“What is it?” asked Jevon.
“Is that…a bear?” whispered Jennifer, pointing up into the tree.
Jevon looked up. Sitting in the tree was a big brown bear.
“Seems we’ve been caught,” said Jevon. “That thing must be wild — too small to be a shifter, at least, one from Grizzlyfir. Looks feral, too — a full-time bear. Us shifters, we’re only part-timers.”
Jennifer watched as the bear glared at Jevon. She swore the bear in the tree looked familiar, but that was silly — where on earth would she have seen that bear before? And what if Jevon was right, and it was a wild bear? Could he really win a fight against a feral creature?
“Jevon! What are we going to do?” asked Jennifer. “Are you going to frikkin’ fight that wild bear?”
“Not unless it bothers us,” said Jevon. “Trust me.”
“I think we should get out of here,” said Jennifer, looking over to Jevon, trying to ignore the fact the lumberjack was frikkin’ naked! “We’ve got a head start on it. If we run now…”
“…Then you’re just going to have to come back here to pick the berries on your own — and knowing you, you’ll come here alone, and run into two bears,” countered Jevon, raising a brow.
“Fine,” said Jennifer, shaking her head, closer to Jevon’s cane — that is, the cane of marionberries he was busy picking clean of its fruits. “But, let’s hurry this up. I don’t want to face that bear when it’s hungry for human flesh.”
“Bears don’t eat humans,” said Jevon. “We’re omnivores and trust me — if humans were tastier than salmon, I think the world would be a much different place. Of course, you…well…”
Jennifer sniffed underneath her arms. “What? Do I smell like salmon? I swear — I put on deodorant.”
“I was going to say…you might be the one human I wouldn’t mind snacking on,” teased Jevon.
“Eww — gross,” said Jennifer, shaking her head. “That’s what every girl what to hear — that she looks like a snack.”
“You do look like a snack — Hell, Jen
nifer, a woman like you’s not just a snack,” said Jevon. “You’re a whole meal.”
“Then why did you call me a snack?” asked Jennifer, turning to face Jevon, whose body was still mostly hidden by the marionberry canes.
“Because if I had you in my mouth, I’d savor you for hours,” said Jevon. Jevon took two berries out of one of his buckets. He popped the first one into his mouth and the other, he smashed right onto his chest, right over his mate mark, further obscuring it from view.
Jennifer’s jaw nearly dropped.
What she heard next nearly made her drop her bucket.
“Planning on leaving any for me?” asked a voice.
Jennifer turned. The bear that had been in the tree was gone. It was replaced by a naked man — who at least had the decency to cover his pecs with his crossed arms and his crotch with, well, a very well-placed branch.
“Wait — Rufus?” asked Jennifer. “Is that you?”
“In the shift,” said Rufus. “Now — are you two planning on stealing all our berries?”
“I never half-ass anything,” said Jevon, crossing his arms. “Now that you suggested it, I just might take them all for myself.”
“Then you’ll have to fight me for them,” said Rufus.
“Guys! No!” said Jennifer. “These…these berries aren’t just for me. They’re for my boss — Patricia.”
“Patricia wants our berries?” asked Rufus.
“I need berries for a recipe for a competition, and apparently, these are the best in the area,” said Jennifer. “I wanted to see what they were like before I committed to putting an order in. It was wrong of me to steal them. I’ll just leave the berries with you, leave with Jevon, and —”
“If it’s for Patricia, I swear, Terrence would have my head if I didn’t make sure she got the best berries we have to offer,” said Rufus. “Give me five minutes to get changed, and I’ll help you pick them myself.”
“Fine,” grumbled Jevon, picking the berries even more quickly.
Jennifer kept on picking berries and focusing on the task at hand. She knew Jevon and Rufus disliked each other. She didn’t want to cause any drama — especially not in the middle of the frikkin’ woods. The last thing she needed was to become a girl with a reputation for making trouble.
Jennifer reached through the green leaves to pick a berry, but someone else’s hand brushed against hers, a hand that seemed to be coming out of the bush. She quickly pulled her hand out of the bush and looked up. Jevon was standing on the other side of the same bush she was picking clean of berries.
“Jevon, you nearly scared me half to death,” scolded Jennifer. “I thought that some frikkin’ gnome or dryad or elf or demon or something had reached out to grab me when I was just trying to grab that berry!”
“You mean berries?” asked Jevon. “I have two berries, Jennifer.”
“Two…berries? Oh, oh,” said Jennifer, her cheeks crimsoning.
“Yeah, you didn’t see? These two were right next to each other,” teased Jevon, holding up the two berries he’d plucked from the bush — not his bush, but, a bush nonetheless.
“Your hand,” said another voice. Jennifer turned. Rufus had gotten changed. He looked like he had when she’d seen him at the bakery — an awkward lumberjack with thick muscles like Jevon’s, a shifter who didn’t know what to do with them.
“What about my hand?” asked Jennifer, putting her left hand on her hip.
“It’s cut,” said Rufus. “Here.” Rufus reached out, took Jennifer’s right hand in his, took off the glove, and revealed that, indeed, Jennifer had a pinprick from a thorn on her middle finger.
“I didn’t even notice that,” said Jennifer. “How did you — hey!”
While Jennifer was thinking about how the heck she hadn’t felt that pinprick, Rufus had put her finger in his mouth and was sucking at it…and she swore she felt him tap the tip of the index finger with his frikkin’ tongue!
As soon as Rufus reached out for Jennifer, Jevon’s bear roared — but Jevon quelled the beast. As a member of Camp Grizzlyfir, Jevon had been told that he had to trust his bear, but for once, he was calming his beast. If he shifted and fought Rufus, Jennifer could get hurt in the crossfire. He slowly stalked his way around the marionberry trellises while keeping his eyes locked on Rufus. What was this jerk up to? Were the rumors about Hemlock Crew true? He knew they were a strange folk — but could they really be vampires?
Rufus held Jennifer’s squirming hand in place as he sucked at the wound. His bear roared — this was weird, even for Rufus, and definitely not the kind of shizz he was supposed to be doing as a member of Hemlock Crew, a crew that prided themselves on having mastery over their instincts, rather than letting themselves lose their inhibitions.
Rufus roared back at his bear as he opened his mouth, let go of Jennifer’s hand, and spat the contents of his mouth out onto the ground.
“Wh-what was that for?” asked Rufus.
“Did he hurt you?” growled Jevon, who had already stalked around to Jennifer’s side — and who was still naked.
“No — it actually feels…fine,” said Jennifer. “What was all that? And Jevon — back up. I can nearly feel you poking my frikkin’ sides with your…fingers.” Jevon took one step back but kept his eye on Rufus.
“Had to make sure the thorn didn’t break off in you,” said Rufus. “Sucked out a tiny splinter — and some dirt. And now, it’s back in the earth — where it belongs.”
“So that wasn’t some weird vampire shizz?” asked Jevon.
“Wait — vampires?” asked Jennifer.
“First of all — vampires aren’t real,” said Rufus. “Secondly — if I were a vampire, why would I blow my cover in front of her mate? And thirdly — if I were a vampire, and again, I’m not…well, at least unlike you, I’d actually do what you claim you want to do. I’d gobble Jennifer right up — every last drop of every last curve, and make her my vampire queen or some shizz. I don’t know — because I’m not a vampire.”
“He’s not my mate,” said Jennifer, crossing her arms. “He just took me here to steal some frikkin’ blackberries!”
“Marionberries!” said Jevon and Rufus at the same time, before looking at each other and frowning.
“Yeah, yeah — marionberries,” said Jennifer, waving her hand. “Now — we need to get these buckets filled for Patricia and Alex.”
“Alex?” asked Rufus.
“You just had to mention Alex,” groaned Jevon.
“As in Alex Thomas? Who is expressly forbidden from having these berries after what happened last time?” asked Rufus. “How many berries did you promise him.”
“A bucket,” said Jennifer.
“Jennifer!” whined Jevon.
“What? We’re stealing his berries!” said Jennifer.
“Fine — you can take two buckets of berries, and the bucket of berries that Alex was promised leaves here empty,” said Rufus, crossing his arms.
“Dude — are you on some kind of power trip?” asked Jevon. “Just let us take the berries!”
“Jennifer’s right — you’re on my land,” said Rufus. “Well — the Hemlock Crew land, but that’s not the point! Two buckets of berries, and that’s my final offer.”
“Fine, fine, whatever,” said Jennifer. “Jevon, how many buckets do you have filled?”
“Like, one and a half, probably,” said Jevon. “It’s hard to tell.”
“Come over here, and let’s see if my berries fill up those buckets,” said Jennifer.
Jevon walked around the canes, still nude. Jennifer was sorting through the berries, tossing any that had gotten gnarly, and when she looked up from her bucket, she saw another set of berries.
“Okay, gross,” said Jennifer. “I did not need to see that.”
“You explicitly told me to come over here,” said Jevon, putting the buckets down. He sorted Jennifer’s berries into his buckets. They barely fit into the buckets.
“Perfect — two buckets
of berries,” said Rufus. “Now, I’ll give you a ride back to the bakery.”
“She came here with me — she leaves with me,” growled Jevon.
“So, you expect me to trust you with Hemlock Crew’s berries?” asked Rufus. “I know your plan — you’re going to give Alex one of those buckets of berries regardless.”
“I wasn’t…but shizz, that would’ve been a great frikkin’ plan,” cursed Jevon.
“I know — that’s why you didn’t come up with it,” said Rufus. “Plus — you have to admit, it’s easier for Jennifer to get a ride down to the bakery, instead of having to hike through the frikkin’ woods.”
“Fine — I’ll go with you, but just because this argument is so stupid that I think listening to it made me lose a few IQ points, like that one spring break I spent in Aruba,” said Jennifer. “Let’s go. Jevon — can you drop my shoes off at the bakery tomorrow? I’m, uh, still in Patricia’s hiking boots.”
“Of course, I can, my mate,” said Jevon, before blowing Jennifer a kiss, getting down on all fours, and not just exposing his butt to Jennifer, but making his butt get hairy — really hairy. Brown hair started to cover Jevon’s body, and a tiny tail popped out of his butt, just as two small brown ears seemed to pop out of his head. The grizzly looked at Jennifer, and she swore she saw it wink before it looked at Rufus, looked at a patch of marionberries, looked back at Rufus…and then, the bear chomped at the delicious berries before scurrying off into the woods like a rabbit.
“What a frikkin’ child,” cursed Rufus. “He comes into my patch with his mate, who I’m driving back to town, and —”
“Okay, a few things — one, you don’t have to drive me to town,” said Jennifer. “I have on hiking boots. A walk might do me some good — although Patricia might send a search party after me, and I would probably fall into a tiger pit or some quicksand or get tangled by vines.”
“You know this is a forest, not a jungle, right?” asked Rufus, quirking a brow.
“Whatever,” said Jennifer. “To a human like me — the wild’s the wild. Second of all — Jevon? He’s not my mate.”