The Bear Shifter’s Game

by Martha Woods

  He honestly pitied anyone that tried.

  “What do you think you’re going to do about your family?” Rachel asked, tapping at her laptop idly, “I know that they’re dealing with their own things, and so are you, but… don’t you think maybe you should reach out? You could team up or… something, I don’t know.”

  “I don’t know if that’s a good idea, but honestly none of this is a good idea, we’re well past the point of good ideas at this stage. Giving them a call and telling them that there could be a safe space down here for everyone… that’s not the worst idea I’ve ever heard, they might even appreciate it.”

  “Might?” Rachel asked, “Who might appreciate a lifeline?”

  “Megan,” He answered without hesitation, “Trust me, you don’t want to make her think that she’d being pitied or that you’re giving her a handout, when those shifters said that they had people lining up for the chance to kill her I fully believe them.”

  “You come from a very unique family, have I ever told you that?”

  “Trust me, you’ve never told me anything about them that I haven’t thought for myself already. If you meet them then you’ll probably want to wear a helmet or something, it’ll be… well, it’s not going to be a pleasant reunion.”

  “Very unique indeed.” Rachel closed her laptop, sliding over to his side of the table and leaning into his side, breathing heavily and relaxing against him, “Insane to think that we almost died last week, after realizing everything about each other. Like, literally right after realizing everything, that would have sucked so bad. I was honestly so pissed when we were being walked through the everglades.”

  “Tell me about it, I just wanted to punch him and take a run for it, go back to kissing like we were, but no, I had to go and get my ass kicked before I could do that again.”

  “And ruin the bed by bleeding in it.”

  “And ruin the bed by bleeding in it, yes, thank you for reminding me about that. And now I’m also realizing that I spent all that money on alcohol that I didn’t get to drink and didn’t need in hindsight, this is just great.”

  “Josh told me that they didn’t drink all of it, he just wanted to wait for a while until he gave it back to you, wanted to see what he could drink first.”

  “Oh good, just like friends do, that’s wonderful.” Though he couldn’t help feeling slightly annoyed at it, he was grateful that he was at least being given the chance to be able to feel annoyed at it, it was a chance that he had resigned himself to not having anytime soon. But here he was, still breathing and sitting next to the woman that he loved, and he honestly couldn’t find it in himself to complain about any of it. What a strange world that he found himself in that he could feel at ease with himself now.

  “God, look at him run,” One of the girls behind Rachel said, the group of them watching Josh and Jamie in their daily race. She rolled her eyes, able to feel the adoration in the other girls voice, but she had to admit that she couldn’t really blame them, with his legs showing off in the running shorts that he’d changed into and the defined muscles of his back and shoulders flexing through his shirt with his every movement he really was a sight to fawn over. She wasn’t going to tell him that, not because she thought he’d get an ego, but because she knew he wouldn’t feel anything but embarrassment over it.

  Small steps in time she supposed.

  The goal wasn’t for his enjoyment either, it was for Josh’s improvement, who had thrown himself into practice with a hunger and a drive that she’d seldom thought possible, but the already fast sprinter had managed to become even faster, not able to catch up to an unfairly supernatural runner of course but still able to cover more ground even faster than anyone she’d ever seen in her life. If she was measuring she might have seen him approaching world record speeds, and the only reason that no one was measuring was because Jamie had specifically asked them not to. After all, if Josh was breaking a world record then Jamie definitely was, and that was attention that he just didn’t want.

  But here they were, and while the first time they’d raced Josh had taken twenty seconds to cross the line after Jamie, this time he only crossed seventeen seconds after. An increase of three seconds, especially at these speeds, was far from something to scoff at, in fact it was something that merited praise and amazement, especially from someone who had already been exemplary.

  “Getting better!” He shouted, holding his arms above his head and collapsing onto his back next to Jamie, who had decided it would be better to play up how tired he was. In truth he wasn’t tired in the slightest, but that was something that would bring more questions even than how fast he was, so it was something best exaggerated. “How about you man, you feel yourself improving?”

  “Sure,” Jamie said, not knowing whether that was the truth in the sense of what Josh meant. He could definitely feel himself getting better, more secure in every other aspect of his life, but in terms of running? He didn’t have the fainted clue on that front. “You want a drink?”

  “I’d kill for a drink, water me.” Catching the lazily thrown bottle, he upended it and swallowed a quarter of the bottle in less than a second, barely screwing the cap on before it hit the ground next to him. “I don’t know how you do it, but I really feel like I’m getting faster. Can you please join the team?”

  Jamie laughed at getting yet another offer to join the team, and only the third from him, but he had to admit that the thought held some allure. “Tell you what, if you can cut your time down by another two seconds then I’ll think about it, that sound good?”

  “Oh you’re cruel,” Josh laughed, before nodding breathlessly and letting himself go limp, “You’ve got a deal, but right now I’m going to go ahead and pass out.”

  “You got it,” Jamie replied, letting his eyes fall closed as well as the crowd moved on, knowing when they needed their recovery time and when they could fawn. Fawning time could come later when they were ready and walking, there was no point standing around to coo at two people sleeping.

  “They really are something,” Rachel said, walking over and laying down next to Jamie, seeing Jessica walking over and waving to her as she took her own place next to Josh, sliding up into his side and only wrinkling her nose for a moment at the sweat. It was nice to see someone else who was so connected with someone else around here.

  “Just a few hours,” Rachel sighed to herself, closing her eyes and sliding next to Jamie, feeling his arm tighten around her even in his sleep, “We have time…”

  Darkness had started to fall by the time they woke up, no one having had the heart to disturb them as they lay there on the grass, each of them waking up groggy with messy hair, rubbing at their stiff necks and grimacing at the sweat that they could still feel sticking to their skin. Josh and Jessica walked away with a quick yawn and a wave in search of a shower and some food, but Jamie and Rachel found themselves waiting around for something else, something that they’d felt watching them for a while now.

  Hearing a beating of wings that turned into the tapping of footsteps, they turned around and saw the vampire that had saved their lives only a week ago walking towards them, usual ragged attire swapped out for something much more fitting for someone of his position, a red button up shirt covered with a black vest, black dress pants fitting over his legs and sitting atop a pair of plain black shoes that clicked against the concrete. His ragged hair had been trimmed down, though by who they had no idea, leaving him looking more like a particularly gothic businessman, so long as he wasn’t required to speak.

  “You… look good,” Jamie said, raising an eyebrow, “What happened?”

  “Brother from old clan, came at my request. Knew that if I was to defend this state I would need help. He… decided to dress me.”

  “You sound different too, don’t take this the wrong way or anything but the way you spoke before was… not like this.”

  “Lessons. Hard lessons. Annoying lessons. Lessons to make me stick out less.” The vampire wrinkled h
is nose, his displeasure obvious. “Waste of time.”

  “Well, why are you her? Not that we’re not happy to see you or anything like that, we just weren’t expecting to see you so… close to home, you know?”

  “I understand, wanted to tell you that you have protection, not just from me but from others. Our territory, and you are guest, under our protection, both of you.” He pointed away, obviously meaning the shifters that had left. “They are not guests, they are intruders, if they come we handle it. Understand?”

  “We do, thank you. If there’s anything we can do to pay you back, anything at all…”

  “Keep doing this, school, learning, becoming better. You’ve been on a hard road, we can see that, journeyed many miles, come from many deaths, learned to appreciate life, something many do not. You must be protected, you appreciate the gift of life, you can repay by continuing to appreciate.”

  “Then I’ll continue to appreciate it, thank you.” Jamie nodded his head, before whistling when he took another look at his outfit, “Can you tell me who dressed you?”

  “I will... give him your name,” The vampire said, holding out his hand, “Never introduced myself, my name is Leandro. Pleasure to… make your… acquaintance.”

  It was definitely a peculiar turn of phrase from him, and not one that he was used to speaking, but Jamie appreciated it nonetheless. That he was making an effort to such a degree was immensely flattering, and not something that Jamie would ever think of sniffing his nose at. The least that he could do was return the courtesy that he was being shown, anything less would be an insult.

  The meeting didn’t last long, more a casual update of what was going to happen from now, what to look out for and where to go if he needed help. The thought of having his own vampire protection squad as it was definitely tickled him, especially since he and Rachel had spent who knew how many nights watching terrible vampire movies cuddled up in bed. The thought of watching those movies now that they knew for certain that they existed seemed strange now, though they had to admit that they had watched a particularly awful one in the time since they’d been rescued. Maybe it had just been the alcohol, but they’d found that one notably hilarious.

  Leandro left so quickly that they barely saw him move, but they’d accepted that was just how he did things, they weren’t one to argue with his process, not when they’d seen how effective it could be at the right moment. It was just sometimes annoying to not be able to thank him the way they wished, but it was just something to get used to they supposed.

  “If I’d been told a year ago that I’d be standing with my boyfriend on the lawn of the university talking to a thousand-year-old vampire then I would have called the police. The fact that my life is this weird now…”

  “Sure it’s weird, but you got to admit that it’s kind of exciting don’t you? I’m even starting to enjoy the surprises now.”

  “Yeah, but you’re a weirdo, I can really see that now,’ Rachel laughed, shoving him before pulling him in for a kiss, “Come on, I still have to go to work, want to walk me?”

  “More than anything,” He said, holding his arm around her for a moment more before stepping to her side, linking their hands together and walking in the direction of the diner. It was about a half hour walk, through what would have been a worrying part of town for anyone else, but between his abilities and the creatures they had overseeing their journey, she had to admit that she felt safer than she ever had even in a taxi, that was definitely something she’d never anticipated. “If you could go back and change any of it, would you? Anything over the years since you left, even just one thing?”

  Jamie hummed, placing his hand under his chin and stroking the skin in thought, face screwed up in thought, “For the most part… no, I think every decision that I made was the right one, although…”

  He drifted off for so long that Rachel figured that was the end of the conversation, before he continued in a voice so small that she almost struggled to hear it, “If I could go back, I’d make sure that I didn’t say what I said to my brother way back then, we were all frustrated for a lot of reasons, but he was still trying his best to help us all through everything, he didn’t deserve everything that we gave to him. It wasn’t even fully his fault, the situation was screwed up when he was given the title, the land was already dying, there was nothing that he’d be able to do to make that situation better.”

  “Kind of sounds like he found a way,” Rachel said, shrugging her shoulders, “Sure people might be trying to kill all of you, but at least the forest is gonna be ok, that’s something.”

  “I suppose you’re right…” He smiled. “After all these years, Orson finally managed to find a way to make everything better. Just not in the way that any of us ever thought he would.”

  “Inspiration comes from the strangest of places,” She said, “Wait until I tell you about the essay that I’m doing…”

  The bell to the door dinged when they opened it, the comforting atmosphere of the diner washing over them and welcoming them like an old friend, the smiling face of Cliff staring out from the kitchen and offering them a little wave. They waved back, as happy to see him as he was to see them, watching him walk around the counter and over to them to wrap them in a tight hug each, almost crushing their spines to dust in doing so.

  “Good to see y'all, had me worried for a while there! First you get hurt, then Rach has to call in sick for three days in a row, I thought somethin’ terrible had happened!”

  “Just a couple bad drinks, that’s all,” Jamie laughed, not even wanting to touch the true story with a ten foot pole, “How’ve you been Cliff?”

  “Oh I been alright, just runnin’ my diner and waiting for one of my favorite employees to come back, don’t tell ‘em but they’re all my favorite employees…” He winked at the both of them, Rachel rolling her eyes with a laugh before she turned back to Jamie.

  “I’m gonna go and get changed, you can hang out for a while if you want, get some dinner in you after that run.”

  “I will I think, thanks,” He said, leaning forward and stealing a kiss before smiling, “See you soon.”

  “See you soon Jamie,” She replied, before looking around and whispering, “I love you.”

  Rachel scurried away, leaving him to watch her go and breath to himself, “Love you too…”

  “Awww… young love.” Jamie jumped, not having realized that Cliff was still there watching the two of them. “I’ll make you up a good meal to celebrate, you done put me in a good mood!”

  “Thank you Cliff,” Jamie said, blushing furiously and moving towards the corner booth, “I’m gonna go die in the corner now.”

  Cliff’s laugh bounced off the walls of the diner, though Jamie had to admit that he found it very hard not to smile right along with him. It had been an incredibly strange series of weeks, almost too strange to be real, and if there was going to be some laughter to help deal with it… there wasn’t much that he could find it in himself to complain about there.

  The meal was slid onto the table by a winking Rachel, knowing perfectly well why he was blushing because she was blushing for the exact same reason, though that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to get some enjoyment of her own out of it. The meal itself was near divine, Cliff was definitely one of the best cooks in the state so long as you didn’t put him in charge of coffee, and the fact that he was celebrating pushed the meal over the edge from simply amazing to something so much more.

  Though the entire time that he was eating Jamie had one thing on his mind, and unfortunately for him it wasn’t anything to do with the recent confession or even the meal itself. His mind was traveling to people hundreds, even thousands of miles away from him, people who up until a few weeks ago he hadn’t thought of in months, and hadn’t seen in years. What Rachel had said to him had definitely sunk in beneath his skin and was refusing to let go of him, if he had a chance to help his family, then it was his duty to after all.

  Sighing to himself, already r
egretting his choice at potentially spoiling the good mood that he was in, he reached into his pocket and withdrew his cellphone, staring at the screen for a good long moment before he scrolled through the contacts and hit call on one in particular.

  “Orson?” He said when the call was picked up, “It’s Jamie. Yeah, I’m the one calling you this time, so shut up and listen. I’ve found a safe space to be, and I think it might be somewhere that might be open. When was the last time you spoke to Shane and Megan?”

  More From Martha Woods

  This is book two of the Black Oat Shifters series. All my books are stand-alones and can be read independently, but this book may reference events in the previous books and some of my favorite characters.

  The order the series may be most enjoyed:

  The Bear Shifter’s Promise (Book 1)

  The Bear Shifter’s Desires (Book 2)

  The Bear Shifter’s Game (Book 3)

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