Goldilocks (17 page)

Chapter 21:

It felt good having his secret out. It was like a weight, he hadn’t even known he was carrying, had been lifted from his shoulders
and he could finally be himself with someone other than his parents. The way that she looked at him wasn’t the way that any other human had ever looked at him, most of them wary of his unnatural size for a teenager than anything else. She knew what he was, and she still saw him as her equal, maybe even more than that. He’d seen pieces of the dream she’d had the night before, and his heart had clenched tighter than it ever had during any fight he’d ever been in.

Love wasn’t something he’d ever even allowed himself to consider before. It just wasn’t possible, but with her he felt something deeper than love and it scared him. She was human, a forbidden connection to the world that he’d been sworn to protect since birth. It wasn’t fair to either of them to let whatever it was that was happening between them to continue, but he felt powerless to stop it.

From deep in the shadows of the woods surrounding the cross country course, he watched her run well ahead of the pack of her struggling teammates. Her long blond locks were pulled tightly into a ponytail at the back of her head, the color flashing golden in the waning sunlight as she made her way down the path with ease. He followed at a safe distance, making a sweeping pass all the way around the outskirts of the school before heading towards home.

It would take him three hours
to walk the distance of the ridge between Lake City and Hinsdale, but for once Jake was grateful for that time today, and also grateful that all had been quiet for once. His father hadn’t checked in with him since this morning, and that could only mean there had been no incidences at the mine today. Not completely unusual, since the last few escapees had been some of the biggest they’d seen in a while. It would a take a few weeks for the stronger of the pack to mend, their healing abilities severely hampered by the flawed makeup of their beings. Had any of them been true Kind, they would have been able to heal as fast as Jake and his parents, the most severe of wounds gone within hours.

Until now, wounding them had been sufficient in keeping Creed’s attempt of freeing himself at bay, but maybe Hannah was right. How long before they could no longer protect the town? How long before the entire pack came rushing out, and there was nothing left but remains? They were questions that Jake hadn’t been allowed to discuss with his father, but now that his eighteenth birthday was approaching, Jake wanted answers that he’d never pushed to have before.

Checking in…
Rone’s voice broke his son’s thoughts as if he’d been listening the entire time.

Jake threw up a block anyway, shoving any memory of Hannah to the further recesses of his mind, his sights set on his surroundings as he let his father in.

All quiet here,
he responded, relaying flashes of the areas he’d checked on his way home from school.

Quiet here
too,
Rone answered slowly, his thoughts pushing against Jake’s for a moment, before backing off. 
You don’t have to hide things from me son. I know the girl is…

Is not a factor, so…

You’re almost eighteen, and I know what that means for you.

Do you? You know how it feels to know that you’re going to be
alone for the rest of your life?

No, but that’s not true. You’ll always have
…

You and mom, yeah I know,
Jake shook his head, kicking a rock from the path he was walking

His father would never understand when it came to
Hannah. Upholding the covenant meant everything to him, and it wasn’t a question of whether Jake would uphold it too. He was born Kind, one of only a handful remaining. There were no choices when extinction was the risk.

She’s human Jake.

You don’t have to remind me,
Jake snapped, shifting with the frustration that coursed through him.

He
let the weight of his body carry him in a tumbling burst of speed, the roar that escaped his throat echoing through the falling darkness, repeating over and over again as he slid his way down into the north side of the pass. He needed a new thinking spot. Away from where anyone could accidentally stumble upon him if he chose to just sit and let his thoughts take him where they pleased.

I’ll be home by dinner,
Rone sighed, allowing himself to be pushed completely from his son’s thought.
Stay sharp.

**********

Hannah was too awake to sleep even though it was well after midnight. She’d finished her homework hours ago, and had sat through dinner trying not to worry as her father had talked about all the problems the mine was having. There hadn’t been any collapses today, but he was right down there in the deepest tunnels with the workers, trying to repair the damage from the last few weeks. He’d gone straight to bed after his shower, and she’d been left alone with her thoughts ever since, growing more anxious with every passing hour she didn’t hear from Jake.

Are you awake
?
Jake’s voice drifted into Hannah’s thoughts just as clearly as if he’d been standing in the same room.

Her heart quickened as she sat up on her bed, her fingers trembling slightly as she pulled her hair
free of the messy bun she’d put it up into earlier. She felt silly rushing to the tiny mirror on the wall to check her appearance, smoothing her locks so that they fell freely about her bare shoulders.

Yes. I’m coming,
Hannah smiled as she thought the words, blinking in surprise when the garden appeared before her in her mind as if she were looking at the cabin from the woods.

She knew immediately that he was showing her his location, the scene moving across her backyard to where ‘Big Red’ was parked
and then back again.

Shoes would be too noisy on the
creaky wood boards of the cabin floor, so she left them, tiptoeing down the hall, despite her father’s loud snores coming from the back room. One small squeal of protest from the front door and Hannah breathed a sigh of relief as she slipped out into the warm night air, the short white tank dress she wore clinging to her frame in the soft wind.

The glow of the porch light only lasted as far as the last step, darkness wrapping around her like a blanket as she made her w
ay across the freshly cut grass in the direction of the garden. The moon was just bright enough to cast the line of the woods into one long shadow, but not nearly bright enough for Hannah to find Jake immediately. Her toes stopped where the strawberry vines spilled over to freshly budding flowers, her eyes still adjusting when she heard the whooshing sound she now associated with a shift taking place.

“Here…” Jake
’s voice was quiet, and much deeper than she’d ever heard it, his face solemn as he stepped from the shadows of the trees, pulling a final cinch into the cord of the cotton shorts he’d just pulled on.

Her own voice was stuck in the back of her throat, her entire body warming as he crossed the remaining steps it took to reach her, pulling her with him back into the shadows.
Where the grass stopped and pure earth began, so did they, their eyes locking as he turned slowly to face her. Even in darkness he looked like a god, thick muscles moving beneath the taut skin of his chest as he pulled her to him, his head lowering before she knew what was happening.

“I shouldn’t but…”

The rest of Jake’s words were lost in the tender kiss he caressed her mouth with, the firm grip he had on her waist loosening as his hands slipped up her back to her cup her neck gently. Hannah’s lips parted in a sigh of response, her own fingers playing in the curls at the nape of his neck as her body melted into his, the kiss igniting into a want neither of them had ever felt before. Her back met rough bark just as her knees grew week, every memory they’d ever shared exploding between them stealing her breath.

“Jake…”

He broke the kiss just as suddenly as he’d offered it, a low growl deep in his throat at the surprised look in her eyes.

“What am I doing? I’m sorry,” he murmured, his hands curling into fist as he let them fall to his sides.

“No…I…” Hannah blushed, her gaze falling from his as heat filled her cheeks. “I didn’t want you to stop…I…”

“You’re human,” Jake said the words as if the very thought of it pained him, his back turning so that he didn’t have to see the hurt on her face.
“As much I wish I could change it, I’m Kind, and it just…”

“So I’m not good enough then?
” Hannah whispered, embarrassment filling her at the way she’d practically given herself to him.

“No!” Jake stopped her before she could move, grabbing her arm to keep her from fleeing.
“Don’t you ever think that! Do you not see how I feel? What I’ve
been
feeling? How I want you?” he whispered, his fingers running through the length of the loose strands gracing her shoulder.

“Then why…?”

“It’s complicated Hannah,” Jake’s eyes pinched closed in frustration, his head shaking as he tried to put the right words together. “Kind and human are forbidden. It could be detrimental to our very existence.”

“But I would never…”

“You would never, but my father would never trust you. I would have to live in secret forever, and…”

“You already live in secret Jake! And I would earn your father’s trust!” Hannah protested, her voice louder than she’d intended it to be. “I don’t know how to explain it but when I’m near you, I…”

“Feel like you’re finally living for the first time?”

“Yes…” Hannah breathed out, her eyes locking with his again.

“I’ll be eighteen in just a couple months,” Jake let his gaze fall to the ground for a moment before looking at her again. “I am Kind, born of a head council, which means, I’ll be immortal Hannah. It doesn’t matter to me, but you…”

“Would grow old and die, and after a while yo
u wouldn’t even want me anymore.”

“No! Geez! Is that what you think of me?”

“I don’t know what to think Jake!” Hannah snapped back, her arms folding to hold herself protectively.

“Don’t do that,” Jake pleaded, watching as the green of her eyes brightened with unshed tears.
“I don’t want to see you hurt Hannah. It’s why I came here tonight. I need you to convince your father to leave.”

“First you kiss me and now you want me gone!?” Hannah recoiled
against his reach, a single tear slipping down her cheek faster than she could swipe it away.

“It’s the only way!”

“And what about the mine Jake?! What’s going to happen with that?”

“My father and I will keep patrolling. Without your father here to pus
h the progress forward, the mine will eventually close just like it did last time, and…”

“And what if it doesn’t?! We need to do something now!”

I TOLD YOU TO STAY AWAY FROM HER!!!!!!

Jake no longer heard Hannah’s words. During the ki
ss, he’d let every block fall, not thinking that his father would be looking into his head at that very moment. He’d left every memory he had of her vulnerable and he knew immediately that his father had saw it all, even the kiss. He was here, just beyond the boulder leading to the mining trail, and coming fast.

“I…I…have to go. You need to go. Back in the cabin! Now!”

“What?! Are you serious right now!?” Hannah broke off in the middle of her rant, throwing up her hands as she watched Jake shrink further back into the woods.

“My father…”

“We’re not leaving,” Hannah gritted out, sure that he’d heard her even though she could no longer see him.

As much as
she wanted to, she refused to shed another tear. Her shoulders squared as she turned to walk slowly back towards the cabin, her lids blinking quickly as the memory of their shared kiss invaded her senses. It had been wonderful, exquisite, unlike anything she’d ever felt, and…he’d ruined it. He’d broken her heart and she hadn’t even given it to him yet.

“You’re wrong Jake,” Hannah whispered, glancing one final time over her shoulder before rounding the corner of the cabin.

Her father was determined to bring the Golden Wonder mine back to life, and it would only be a matter of time before Creed finally succeeded in getting his entire pack to the surface. Jake refusing to stand up to his father meant signing the death warrants of everything human living in Hinsdale and Lake City. Even if he didn’t want to be with her, she wasn’t about to let that happen.

Chapter 22:

“She’s human Jake! Are you really ready to forget about you
r family? Your history!?”

“You had no right!” Jake fumed spinning on his father so that he could look him in the eye.

It was rarely that they traversed the woods together in their human form, but Jake had refused to shift, and Rone wanted to face his son eye to eye.

“I’m your father, I had every right!”

“To invade my private thoughts? To mock the first time I’ve ever…” Jake let the words trail off, unable to talk about the kiss he’d just shared with Hannah with his father. “It was just a kiss!” he finally shouted, his hands thrown up as his father met him chest to chest.

“It wasn’t just a kiss son!
Even if I couldn’t see it in your thoughts, it’s written all over your face! You’re in love with…with…a human!” Rone spat it out as if the word were poison on his tongue, his control on his anger waning at Jake’s refusal to see the ramifications of his actions.

“I’m not… I’m not…” Jake shook his head, not wanting to say what his father wanted to hear.

“Say it!” Rone demanded. “Tell me that you don’t love her, and it’ll be the first time that you’ve ever lied outright to my face!”

“Why don’t you try telling me the truth for once?!” Jake countered. “There are plenty of pretty girls in school. I see them every day, and I’ve never felt this before. When I’m near her, it’s like my body is catching fire; when I touch her, it’s like she’s meant to be a part of me. It’s… GRRRRRRRRRRR!” Jake growled out, his closed fist connecting with the first tree that it reached.

“It’s simple attraction,” Rone said quietly, hating the lie the second it was spoken.

Jennings had speculated, but he’d seen it for himself when his son had opened himself to the girl.
She was human yes, but her lineage was pure bear. A miracle in itself as man’s Kind had interbred freely despite their genetic Kind makeup; humans even more freely than the original generation of man’s Kind. The fact that pure bear Kind blood coursed through Hannah’s blood as a human could only mean that her entire family, for generations past, had been pure bear. They’d unknowingly kept their birth heritage despite the evolutionary growth of mankind as it was known today. Impossible, yet very possible as the girl was living proof, still a human, but proof all the same.

“Liar,”
The word was barely a whisper, but Jake didn’t need to repeat it to know that his father heard the accusation. “She’s right you know,” Jake continued, slumping against a tree in frustration. “We’re catching two or three wolves a day now. Where they were once hundreds of thousands of feet below the pass, they must be what…maybe just a couple thousand. An easy climb with all the blasting from the mine. It won’t be long before Creed’s entire pack just waltz’s right out and…”
“That’s enough!” Rone stopped his son, lifting to his full height so that he towered over him.

“They’re getting stronger, and bigger each time. The day we miss one; the day that we don’t send one back he’ll know!” Jake continued pushing himself up so that he was eye to eye with his father. “Maybe even sooner than my eighteenth birthday
, and then what? You’ve spent so long trying to keep me safe until I become immortal that you won’t even let me enjoy my life while I have it.”

“That’s not true…”

“It is, and okay you’re right,” Jake admitted, opening every memory of Hannah to his father. “I do love her, and you may not be thinking of a plan, but I am. I’m not going to see her hurt.”

“I’m working on it!”

“No you’re not! You can’t kill him and neither can I! But you’re right about one thing. Hannah
is
human! And even though I don’t know exactly how or why, but she could kill him…couldn’t she?!”

“Jake,
” Rone sighed, the weight of his son’s words slapping him in the face. “You don’t know what you’re saying, what you’re asking. Involving that girl is not the way to solve this.”

“But she could
, couldn’t she?! And she’s not fully human is she?!” Jake pressed grabbing his father’s arms as if to shake him. “You keep waiting for me to be a man! Well treat me like one. I love her, so tell me. Is there a way for her to kill Creed or no?”

It was a question that he hadn’t even let Jennings finish asking. Using the girl would only end in heartache for his son and extinction for them. Her father
wouldn’t let her death go quietly, and they’d once again be in the spotlight, maybe forever this time.

“If you love her, you wouldn’t ask for the answer to that question,” Rone warned. “Just know that humanity couldn’t handle a shift in their beliefs this great. Using the girl would mean exposing ourselves. It would mean the end of life as we know it, and if she failed…”

“So it’s possible,” Jake cut his father off, his voice filled with hope that he hadn’t allowed himself to feel until now. “What is she, if not human?”

“She’s human, but…” Rone shook his head, knowing that there would be no going back if he told his son the full truth. “
She has bear Kind in her blood,
pure
bear Kind. It’s why she can hear your thoughts, and you hers. That’s the connection you feel. That’s the fire that seems to collapse your veins, clench your heart, and compress your chest when you merely think of her. It’s the same thing I feel when I’m near your mother, but there is a big difference between the two. Your mother is Kind, Hannah is not. If you love her, you would leave her out of this.”

“If you loved me…” Jake shook his head, turning to start home. “You’d make her Kind.”

**********

It was the first time Jake had been on time for government class since the start of the school year. He knew Hannah was s
till angry with him before she even appeared in the doorway, her eyes falling immediately to the floor when she spotted him already at the table they shared. He wanted to grab her up and kiss her right here and there, share everything he’d learned so far and tell her he’d finally stood up to his father. But first…he had to get her to talk to him again.

She slid into her seat without looking at him, her fingers deftly loosening the complicated clip that held her hair back and away from her face. It fell like a curtain between them, the ends still slightly damp from her morning shower. The scent of oranges and vanilla assaulted his
scenes, but instead of shrinking from the familiar fire it stirred within him, he breathed in deeply and held it tightly, letting it sink into the place where the burn emanated deepest in his chest. He watched her as she pulled her textbook and then her notebook free of her bag before slinging it over the back of her chair, careful not to disturb the tiny glass flower pot that sat between them on the table.

Realization dawned at the
same moment her thoughts became audible to him, her eyes scanning over the other empty tables before settling back on theirs. To anyone else it looked like an ordinary glass flower pot, its bottom covered with a bit of dirt birthing the very beginning of the summer moss that grew like carpet all over the forest of Hinsdale. Even
her
brows rose in confusion, her gaze shifting warily to meet his in question.

Listen…
he encouraged, nodding slightly when her fingers slid slowly across the table top to stroke the delicate outer surface of the pot.

He knew she felt it the second contact was made, the way the
hand spun glass expanded ever so slightly with the steady pulse of the life within it. Her head tilted in wonder, the vessel cupped gingerly in her palm as she lifted the bell shaped opening to her ear in surprise. The green of her eyes grew deeper, moisture filling the lower lids and spilling down her cheeks before she could hide them in her lashes.

I’m sorry for last night.
It’s the only thing I could think to give you that would make it right,
He explained, pointing to the memory she still held to her ear.

How is this possible? It feels like…
Hannah cut the thought immediately, but her mind picked up where her words had left off, their kiss from the night before blooming bright between the two of them.

I talked to my father,
Jake broached the subject hesitantly, his gaze fixed on the front as the lecture began.

And…?
Hannah pressed, following his lead, her pen gripped tightly between her fingers as she waited for his response.

And
I think I’ve figured out what we’re going to do,
Jake said carefully, his eyes meeting hers for a moment before moving back to the front of the room.

So why the hesitancy?
Hannah asked, anxious to have it all out in the open right now.

Afterschool?

No! I have practice. What’s wrong with now? I won’t say anything out loud.

It’s not that.
We can’t do this here. What about tonight or even tomorrow?
Jake offered, already knowing she wouldn’t be able to wait that long.

No way! I’
ll skip practice. The sooner my dad is out of danger, the better.

Whoah Goldilocks, you haven’t even heard what the plan is. After you hear it you might not be so…

Try me,
Hannah challenged, her brow lifting when he met her gaze again.

He threw up a block to keep her away from the worrisome thoughts that had surrounded the plan he had. His father was partly right. It was selfish to ask Hannah to risk her life for him or even the entire town of Hinsdale, but if she w
as going to be in danger anyway; at least he’d be there to protect her.

Her forgiveness came with a price. She didn’t have to say it, he could feel it in the way her body still remained slightly tense at his nearness, her thoughts guarded even though he wasn’t trying to listen. He’d hurt her, and even though the gift of their first intimate memory together had been genius, he’d still have to show her that he’d do anything to have her. If she still wanted him…