“Hey, get back to work,” ordered Krampus.
Rowan’s eyes opened. Krampus was walking toward him with a big box of decor marked ‘Garlands.’
“I just need some air,” said Rowan.
“You’ll be getting plenty of that on The Ride,” said Krampus. “Get it? Because you’ll be flying?”
“I got it,” said Rowan.
Krampus put the box down and stood next to Rowan.
“Kid, is your head in the right space?” asked Krampus. “Not that I care about you or anything — I just don’t want you crashing Santana’s sleigh. I like the old bastard.”
“Honestly, no,” admitted Rowan.
“What did you do back in Seattle, when you needed to re-center yourself?” asked Krampus.
“I’d shift and take a run, or a hike, or heck, go to the beach,” answered Rowan.
“So do that,” said Krampus.
“It doesn’t feel the same when I’m using Cupid’s body,” said Rowan. “It’s not mine.”
“Wait, did I not tell you?” asked Krampus.
“Not tell me what?” asked Rowan.
“Uh…so, technically, I can lend you your bear whenever I want to…and given you got off of The Naughty List, you can be trusted with it — but you can’t keep it unless you claim your mate,” said Krampus.
“And you neglected to let me know?” asked Rowan angrily.
“Hey — usually, the bears from your Clan don’t get off of The Naughty List until Christmas Day,” said Krampus. “What’s past is past. Do you want your shift tonight?”
“No, it’s fine,” said Rowan. “I’ll figure shit out.”
“I’m sorry, I can see how me asking a rhetorical question could be confusing,” said Krampus. “What I meant to say is, you’re getting your shift back, tonight. Take a run through the woods or something.”
“And let me guess — I don’t have a choice in this, do I?” asked Rowan. “Fine.”
Krampus reached into his jeans pocket. There was no bulge (other than his normal swelling) in the pocket, but Krampus pulled out a familiar snow globe. Inside, Rowan’s bear was ice-fishing.
“Well, I’ll be,” said Rowan. “Okay. Fine. Let’s do this.”
Rowan put his hand out and touched the snow globe. He felt Cupid’s spirit leave him and a familiar spirit enter his body. As his body was filled with his bear spirit, he felt warm, as if a blanket, heated by a campfire, had been wrapped around his body.
“Take a breath, get your shit together, and row back to Camp Kringle tonight,” said Krampus. “I’ll leave the boat at the bakery dock.”
“Got it,” said Rowan.
Rowan thought about just leaving. Then, he remembered that he’d been paired with Holly for the night. It wasn’t fair to leave her with the burden of setting up all those tables and chairs on her own.
Rowan went back into the community center. Holly was putting chairs out around the tables.
“Hey,” said Rowan.
“Hey,” said Holly, turning to look at Rowan.
“I, uh…am heading out early,” said Rowan.
“Oh,” said Holly softly.
“I just need to take a hike,” said Rowan. “Literally.”
“Oh!” said Holly, more strongly. “You wouldn’t happen to want company, would you?”
“Do you know of a human-friendly trail?” asked Rowan.
“There’s actually one out back,” said Avery, who had been eavesdropping. The sound carried across the community center.
“Cool,” said Rowan. “Thanks, Avery. Uh…sure. If you’re sure.”
“We just have a few more tables to set up, and then —” started Holly.
“Just go,” said Avery.
“Are you sure?” asked Holly.
“Yeah,” said Avery. “Krampus and I can handle this. Just make sure you get enough sleep tonight because we’ll still have to set up the food, alcohol, and craft stations tomorrow.”
“Got it,” said Holly. “So…this hike?”
“You can’t miss the sign for the trail,” said Avery. “Just leave out the back, and you’ll see where it starts. Rowan — there’s a changing booth near the start of the trail.”
“Thanks,” said Rowan. He’d almost forgotten that he’d need to get changed out of his clothes unless he wanted to rip them when he shifted. So many things had been different about being a reindeer shifter instead of being a werebear.
As Holly and Rowan walked together, Rowan smiled to himself. If Avery had known Rowan would need to change, that meant Krampus had told her that Rowan had his bear shift back. Why would Krampus tell Avery that detail if it wasn’t any of her concern? It was obvious. There was something there that neither the Christmas demon nor the Christmas elf had admitted, not to one another, and not to themselves.
“What’s so funny?” asked Holly. “You’ve got this big, goofy smile on your face.”
“You ever wonder if Krampus and Avery have something going on?” asked Rowan.
“You shouldn’t wonder, because nothing is going on,” said Krampus, turning the corner with a pair of chairs under one arm.
Holly and Rowan exchanged a look and burst out laughing. They went outside the warm community center and were met with a blast of chilly air.
“I see what Avery meant about the trail,” said Holly.
The start of the hiking trail was marked with a sign, but that wasn’t what drew Holly’s attention. What drew her attention were the bright, glowing lights at the start of the trail, arranged in an arch at the beginning of the path. Rowan saw a changing booth was nestled a few dozen feet into the forest.
Holly and Rowan walked into the forest.
“That’s odd,” said Holly. “There’s no snow or ice on the path.”
“They probably run hot water pipes under it to keep the path free of ice,” said Rowan. “At least you don’t have to worry about slipping. Give me one second — I need to get changed.”
Rowan went to the changing booth. Holly waited outside. She thought to herself about the last time she’d seen Rowan shift. He hadn’t needed to use a changing booth. For some reason, his clothes hadn’t gotten ruined when Rowan had turned. They were on his body when he changed back into his human form as if they were magical. Holly frowned. That had to be it. Maybe shifters had special clothes that could persist through shifting, but, she’d never heard of it before. Maybe aliens made the clothes. Maybe it was magicians. Or the government. Or the alien magician government.
Holly was so deep in thought that she didn’t hear the predator trotting through the forest. The predator was close to her, plodding closer steadily, making not a single sound as its paws hit the snowy ground. It wasn’t until Holly felt something wet in her hand that she noticed the animal.
Holly nearly jumped straight out of her shoes. Behind her, there was a giant bear, big, brown, but it didn’t look grizzly. It seemed kind. The bear was big, strong, but lit softly by the Christmas lights strung up in the trees. The bear wasn’t lurking in the shadows, ready to gobble her up like some tragic fairy tale heroine. This bear wasn’t a predator, at least, not to her. Sure, it had big, sharp claws on its paws – but it also had a friendly smile. It had teeth that almost reminded her of the snapping jaws of a wolf – but it also had two cute tiny bear ears that she just wanted to squeeze and smooch.
The animal in front of her was more than a mere beast. To her, it was a friend – and because of what had happened between her and Rowan, she knew that shifter wasn’t mean to be with her. Maybe she could’ve made it work with Rowan, if he wasn’t a shifter, if there wasn’t someone else out there, fated to be with him…but he was a shifter. That was as much a part of Rowan as candy canes were a part of Christmas. Holly thought she’d be the hot cocoa to Rowan’s candy cane, but instead, she’d been a cup of lemonade. Just as lemonade and candy canes didn’t make sense together or belong at the same table, neither did Holly and Rowan.
Rowan sniffed up at Holly’s hand, poking i
t with his nose like a dog.
“Huh. I never knew that bears had wet noses,” said Holly, petting Rowan’s head as Rowan bobbed his head in agreement. His fur felt soft and clean.
Rowan started to making pawing motions in the ground.
“Is there something buried there?” asked Holly.
Rowan shook his head. Apparently, he was rusty at playing bear charades. He tried another gesture — moving his legs up and down, back and forth, but not moving.
“You want to dance?” asked Holly with a laugh.
Rowan shook his head. Maybe it was best to just start walking. He started walking and nodded forward on the path.
“Ah, of course,” said Holly. “You know, I always thought being a shifter must be super cool…but I think I’d be so frustrated if I couldn’t communicate with people if I couldn’t say what I wanted to say.”
Of course, thought Rowan. Of course, when there’s the perfect moment to bring up what I couldn’t say when I wanted to…
Rowan’s bear roared in agreement.
Right? asked Rowan. I guess I better get you up to date. This is Holly, the one, I’m sure, but…because of all this Christmas magic stuff, when I tried to claim her, it just didn’t happen. But, I know if she gave me one more shot, everything would turn out okay.
The bear grumbled in frustration.
Okay, okay, I’ll start from the beginning, said Rowan.
Rowan walked alongside Holly as he explained to his bear what had happened since Rowan had last had his shift.
Meanwhile, Holly looked around the forest. The trees had been trimmed so that they didn’t brush against her head, which was in a warm red and green knit beanie she’d kept in her purse. She had matching mittens but opted not to wear them, so she could lazily pet Rowan as they walked along the path.
The town of The Wreath had strung Christmas lights up all along the path. They’d also put up various decorations, protected from above by temporary tin roofs carefully balanced in the branches of the trees. There were all kinds of decorations. There were large inflatable snow people.
Most impressively of all, there was a set of chicken wire sculptures made to look like a herd of reindeer, covered with golden lights. Holly stood still as she looked at the golden reindeer. She counted out eight reindeer, and then, a ninth and tenth. Then, Holly realized she’d made a mistake. The two extra reindeer were real wild deer! They had tawny coats with white spots that had tricked Holly’s eyes. In a herd of fake deer, the real deer had blended in perfectly, as the phony deer were made with realistic proportions and figures. Their glowing lights were similar to the white dots on the coat of the wild deer.
Holly tapped Rowan on the shoulder. Rowan looked up at Holly. Holly held a finger to her lips and then motioned to the deer in the woods.
As soon as Rowan’s bear sighted the deer, he wanted to chase them down. Rowan calmed his bear. They’d been so overloaded with the sensations of the forest that they hadn’t noticed the natural musky scent of the deer. Usually, Rowan would’ve been able to scent them out from much further away. Rowan asked his bear to take in the surroundings and see if it could spot anything that Rowan, who was preoccupied with Holly, could not detect.
Holly watched as the two deer nuzzled one another. She smiled to herself, but it was a melancholy smile. The two deer in the wild belonged together. Did she belong with the wild beast next to her? According to Fate, they weren’t meant to be together, but still, they were there, on that path, watching those two deer together.
Suddenly, the deer perked up and looked around. They saw Rowan. They didn’t need to see him open his mouth to know what he was. They took off.
“Sorry, buddy,” said Holly, patting Rowan on the head. “Guess sometimes, you can’t help what people think of you.”
Girl, really? thought Rowan. That’s what I’m trying to fix! With you! I don’t care about some silly frikkin’ deer! I just…ugh.
Rowan’s bear poked him with its snout. Rowan paid attention to the bear. The bear had spotted something in the woods, something familiar, something blinking.
Oh! said Rowan. Thanks. See, this is why I need you. This might just be the thing that gets her to see that this is meant to be…well, if she believes in the old legends.
Rowan knocked on Holly’s big, soft, fluffy thighs with his snout.
“What is it?” asked Holly.
Rowan gestured for Holly to follow him.
“Oh, okay,” said Holly. “You wanna keep moving.”
Rowan led Holly down the path for a few more yards but then, he stepped off of the track. There was a second path, not paved, but one that had been well-traveled, as there were many pawprints in the snow.
“Huh,” said Holly. “Are you sure you want to go there?”
Rowan nodded his head.
“If I get eaten by a vampire bat before Christmas Day, you’re the one responsible for writing thank you notes to all my relatives for all their presents,” said Holly. “I trust you, Rowan. Let’s do this.”
Rowan stayed within a yard of Holly so that she could see him at all times. Holly had to admit to herself that taking the trail less taken had made all the difference — in that it had given her the willies! Not distracted by the beautiful art on the Christmas trail, she was more perceptive. She heard animals breathing around her, the sound of their feet breaking twigs, of their bodies brushing past bushes.
Still, Holly kept going.
Soon, the light of the trail was far out of her sight. The only familiar sight around her was Rowan. Everything around her started looking the same, as if she were walking on a treadmill, standing still, not moving through the world at all. It was disorienting and confusing and scary.
But then, just as Holly was about to ask Rowan to take her back to the path, she saw the trail.
At least, Holly thought she saw the path. She saw the familiar Christmas lights — red, green, orange, blue, and pink, all flickering in the night.
But then, Holly saw a light move. Christmas lights didn’t move. They certainly didn’t fly around on their own.
At first, Holly thought it was a ghost. She stood still, not sure whether she’d lost her mind in the forest. Rowan noticed Holly’s footsteps had stopped. He went back to Holly, nuzzled her hand, and stayed right next to her, slowly leading her through the forest.
As Holly walked closer to the lights, she saw there weren’t just dozens of them. There were hundreds, maybe thousands. Some were on the trees, coating their branches like Christmas lights.
Rowan nudged Holly. He stuck out his paw. Holly touched it. He shook his head. Holly pulled her hand away. She watched as one of the lights landed on Rowan’s palm.
Holly copied Rowan’s gesture. Soon, a pair of the lights landed on her hand.
That’s when she realized what they were.
They were fireflies.
The color and location had caught her off-guard. She’d never seen rainbow fireflies. She hadn’t thought that Montana had fireflies. She certainly hadn’t expected her tour of the Christmas walking trail to involve something so magical.
Holly laughed in relief and walked forward. She looked up in the air and watched as the fireflies held their own singles mixer. She moved in a circle and fireflies swirled around her.
Rowan came up to Holly. He came up to her sleeve, spotted the button on it, and booped the button with his nose…which turned on her Christmas sweater. Her sweater started blinking red and green and blue and orange and pink, just like the fireflies. The fireflies clustered around Holly, coming up to the LED lights on her sweater and trying to ‘dance’ with them — at least, Holly hoped it was dancing.
“I feel like a Christmas tree,” commented Holly.
Rowan’s bear scented something familiar, something tasty. Rowan promised that once they solved all the mate madness drama and finally won Holly’s heart, he’d take his bear fishing — for salmon, of course.
Rowan softly touched Holly, putting one paw on her shoe. Hol
ly looked down into Rowan’s eyes. His bear eyes had the same warmth as his human eyes. Rowan’s eyes flicked away, then back to Holly, then, they flicked away again. Holly followed Rowan’s gaze, turning slowly.
Out of the forest appeared a monster with a tangle of horns, with two heads, with eight spindly legs.
At least, that’s what Holly thought until she realized it was no monster. It was the two deer from before! They had come to the glade. The fireflies flocked to the deer’s antlers, excited to see what surprised these new ‘tree branches’ held.
The deer looked up through the tree branches. Suddenly, they started making sounds. They sounded like a mix between a quack, a bleat, and a bark. Holly wasn’t sure what they were doing, but they were trying to be loud.
Rowan took a risk. He joined in and roared. He didn’t frighten away the fireflies.
Instead, the sound caused snow that had been caught by the canopy of the pine trees to come down around the deer, the bear, and the BBW.
The powdery snow swirled down. Beams of moonlight flickered through the pine trees, no longer blocked by thick pads of snow. The fireflies eddied around the falling snow, and for a second, Holly felt like she was living inside of the most perfect snow globe in the world.
The deer nodded to Holly and Rowan and left. About half of the fireflies moved through the trees, as they could now spot the moon. The other half scattered into the forest, with one large segment of the fireflies forming a path through the woods.
Holly followed down the firefly path, which ended up leading her right to the end of the Christmas trail. She looked back and saw not a single firefly left in her wake.
“Whoa,” said Holly, exited the Christmas trail. Luckily, the path formed a loop, so she walked with Rowan into the start of the track again, so that Rowan could shift and change in the shifters’ changing booth.
Holly stood outside the booth. The lights of the Christmas trail now seemed all the more magical. Had the Christmas lights been inspired by the fireflies?
“Hey,” said Rowan. “You enjoy that little light show?” Rowan was back in his human form, wearing his regular clothes as if nothing had happened. Well, he wasn’t quite ‘wearing’ each article of clothing. His shirt was open. As soon as Holly realized that, she looked away. The last thing she wanted was to see Rowan’s mate mark again, the one reading ‘Naughty,’ the one that meant she wasn’t supposed to be with him, or have fun with him the way they’d had fun that night.
Cupid Claws: The Twelve Mates Of Christmas, Book 6 Page 8