Laid Bear 2: The Kodiak Clan (14 page)

She had to admit, the idea wasn’t totally crazy. Look what happened when she’d led with her heart. Disaster, that’s what.
 

Veronica, don’t let Grace jade you.

“Shhhh!”
 

“What? Why’d you shush me?”

The booze was going to her head. She’d meant to shush Keith and had shushed Grace instead. “Oops,” she giggled. “I thought you were Keith.”

Grace looked at her funny. “Are you okay, chica? Are you so drunk you’re hallucinating?”

Veronica couldn’t figure out if she should nod or shake her head, so she did both at the same time, breaking into another fit of giggles. Thrusting her glass into the air in a mock toast, she shouted, “Screw love!”

“Ooookay, that’s enough for Mrs. Muir.” Grace pulled the drink from her hand and dumped it down the sink.

“Grace, you’re a genius, have I ever tol’ you tha’?”

“Drink this glass of water and let’s get you to bed. Methinks you need a nap before the boys get home from grandma’s.”

Veronica chugged the water, anxious to tell Grace again how smart she was. She had found the answer. Find a nice, stable werebear to become her mate,
then
fall in love. Or not. Who cared at this point? She wasn’t keen on opening her heart again anytime soon, so why not?
 

She didn’t even realize Grace had guided her into the bedroom until her pillow was rushing up to meet her face as she fell onto the bed.
 

“Soooofffft…” she murmured into the old fleece pillowcase.

“That’s right, soft. Now go to sleep, fair princess. Things will look better in a couple hours.”

~ * ~ * ~

Fred sensed his master’s black mood, pressing close against his leg as they plodded down the now-familiar trail to the river. Normally he’d be running ahead of Jess, flushing birds from the dense foliage and generally acting like a demented puppy. But Fred somehow knew this day was different. That or he was still recovering from his bear-delivered smackdown.

Jess was in a state of shock after he saw Veronica change from the beautiful woman he’d fallen head over heels for to a rabid grizzly bear locked in battle with another, much larger bear outside his cabin. For the millionth time in the last couple hours, he shook his head as though the movement might shake out the image forever burned in his brain.

“Can’t be…” he mumbled, again for the millionth time. What he’d seen was just plain impossible. A fantasy. An hallucination. Definitely not real.
 

But it
was
real. As much as his logical mind was trying to persuade him otherwise, Veronica was a…what did she call it? Oh, yeah. Werebear.
 

A thought stuck him. They’d made love. Did that mean he’d committed bestiality? Revulsion rolled through him.
 

“No, no way.” Even the messed-up part of his brain said no. She’d been fully human — beautifully, wonderfully, sumptuously human — when they’d tumbled into bed. He hadn’t even known about her unique
talent
.
 

He shuddered again, drawing Fred’s concerned gaze. Patting the dog’s head, he couldn’t help but be grateful to Veronica for interrupting the attack on Fred. Who knows what that other bear would have done if she hadn’t defended him?

That other bear. Why had it attacked Fred in the first place? Bears rarely go out looking for a fight, especially with something as loud and obnoxious as a dog like Fred. In fact, in all the time he’d spent at the cabin, he’d never actually seen a sign of a bear, other than last night when Fred was acting strange. But even then, he had no real proof a bear had been out there.

Yet this bear was right up close to the porch. Jess had learned a long time ago to never leave food or garbage outside or even near a door, so he knew the bear hadn’t been searching for its next meal. On top of that, it hadn’t really injured Fred — though it was entirely possible it would have if Veronica hadn’t intervened.

So what was it doing there?

A stray root in the path tripped Jess, surprising him, but he caught himself before he landed on his face. Even though he’d already filed his report that morning, he thought the familiar walk down to the river might help his state of mind, which was decidedly upset. But his mind was elsewhere, and not being present in the moment was always dangerous in the woods.
 

Kneeling down next to Fred, he gave his old pal a big hug, burying his face in his fur and holding on tight.
 

“I love you, bud.” Fred thumped his tail on the spongy forest floor in response. When he pulled away, the fur on Fred’s nape was damp.

Sniffling, Jess stood and took in a deep lungful of the crisp forest air that held a tinge of the sea. It refreshed his spirit and, he hoped, would make him think more clearly.
 

Pushing out his confusion about Veronica, he focused on the other bear. Was it the same one Fred smelled the other night? Was it stalking him? Neither seemed likely for a normal grizzly. It just didn’t make sense.
 

Unless…

His thoughts shifted to the email Veronica had sent after she left his cabin, after he basically told her to get the hell out of his life forever.

My dearest Jess,

I’m so sorry you had to find out about me the way you did. I know you never want to see me again, but I feel I should at least explain everything so you aren’t left wondering what the hell happened.

I’m a werebear. It’s so strange to be telling you that because I’ve spent the last six months trying
not
to tell you. Everything else you know about me is true: I have twin sons, my husband died six years ago and I’m utterly, truly and helplessly in love with you. You probably don’t want to hear that, and I don’t blame you but it’s the truth.

When I signed up for that matchmaking website, I never for a second thought I’d fall for a human. I just wanted to practice flirting and have a little fun. But you just blew me away.
 

I’ve been told all my life that humans and werebears can’t mate and I never thought to question it. But then I found out about a mixed couple who had done it. Sure, there’d been rumors of such couplings, but…I’m getting off-track.

Regardless of whether it’s possible for humans and my kind to live happily ever after, you’ve made it clear that isn’t an option. I respect that. I won’t bother you again, but you know where to find me.
 

Please watch out for yourself (and Fred!) because I’m concerned my clan has gotten wind of our ‘relationship’, and they won’t approve. I’m going to do everything I can to protect you but it pays to be extra-vigilant until you leave for the season.

Love always,

Veronica

He’d still been in shock when he read the email and the implications were just starting to sink in. That other bear must have been one of her ‘kind’. Somehow her tribe or whatever it was called found out about them and now his life was in danger.

“That’s just great. It’s my luck to fall in love with a member of some mutant species, and now her family wants to kill me.”
 

Even as the words left his mouth, he felt a deep shame at uttering them. Veronica was about as far from a mutant as possible; he was just upset. A relationship with her might be insanity, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t give her the respect she deserved.
 

Images of Hannah popped in his head unbidden.
What the…?
It took a moment for his conscious mind to understand what his unconscious mind was trying to tell him. He was giving up on love without even
trying
to fight for it, just like he had with his ex-wife. He’d waited too long to fight for her, but it wasn’t too late to fight for Veronica.

“No,” he mumbled to himself. This was different. A part of his brain wanted to ask why but he pushed the question away. It just was.

His thoughts were once more wrapped up in Veronica when he stepped into the clearing at the riverbank. A shimmer caught the corner of his eye and when he turned his head, what he saw nearly stopped his heart. Three impossibly tall and hairy men were growing larger and even hairier. Before he could even take a lungful of that crisp air to bellow a scream of terror, he was facing a trio of enormous grizzlies, all of which were snarling at him.
 

Paralyzed with fear, the breath caught in his throat, but when Fred darted past him toward the bears, he came to.
 

“FRED!”

The bears spread out, flanking Jess while Fred whipped around barking at each in turn, not knowing which to attack first. Jess continued to yell for his dog but he raised his hands and started to slowly back away. He silently cursed himself for being in such a daze that he forgot to grab his rifle before heading out.

“C’mon, Fred, let’s leave these nice, um…
bears
to their business.” He knew that they
knew that
he
knew what they really were and, after Veronica’s warning, he wondered if he’d ever see his shabby little cabin again.

Growling with a ferocity to match the bears, Fred backed toward Jess until he was just in front of him, guarding his master. The bears kept advancing as the pair retreated. There was no way Jess could outrun them and he had no way to defend himself. If only bears could understand reason.

Wait a minute! Maybe they did. Veronica had seemed to know exactly what was going on when she switched into a bear. Real bears wouldn’t fight each other over a dog, unless they were trying to eat it or something. She showed real concern for Fred’s well-being while in bear form.
 

Is it possible they can understand what I’m saying?
Jess wondered. He had no idea if this was true but he had nothing to lose right now by going on that theory.

Looking the lead bear dead in the eyes, Jess took a steadying breath and said, “Listen, guys. I
really
don’t want any trouble. My name’s Jess and, yeah, I know you guys are, um, werebears.”
 

The lead bear, a huge bugger whose shoulders were nearly as high off the ground as Jess’ head, snorted at his words. His beady black eyes narrowed to slits and his head lowered in a threatening pose.

“Trust me, I don’t want to know anymore than you
want
me to know, but I do. And I swear to God it’s our little secret.” He tried to chuckle but was too terrified to pull it off.
 

This only seemed to piss them off more. All three were now growling from deep within their guts, teeth bared, eyes blazing.
 

Oh, shit
, he thought.
What now?

Grasping at straws, he blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “I broke it off with her. So we’re not, you know, seeing each other anymore.”

The alpha bear blinked at that, pausing for the briefest of seconds. This gave Jess hope that he was on the right track.
 

“She’s a wonderful woman, don’t get me wrong, but humans and werebears? That can’t work, right?”
 

Hope welled inside him as the lead bear slowed his advance. When the next bear back grumbled at him, Alpha Bear grunted and Jess could have sworn he nodded. Something like a smile spread across the bear’s broad face.

Uh oh
, thought Jess, his heart trying to beat its way out of his chest.
That doesn’t look like a friendly smile.
 

Alpha Bear pulled himself to his full standing height of roughly two hundred feet tall and let fly a bellow-scream that nearly burst Jess’ eardrums. Instinct took over and Jess tore off down the path toward the cabin, Fred hot on his heels. His heart thundered almost as loudly as the bears that were crashing along after them.
 

They were approaching the cabin’s clearing when it struck Jess that the bears were getting quieter, but he didn’t dare break his pace to look over his shoulder. He paused for only a second as he yanked open the cabin door, Fred shooting past him like he was on fire. Looking back, there was nothing behind him. The bears had let them go. The only noise that disturbed the eerie silence behind them was the sound of cruel laughter.

His entire body was shaking as he barred all the doors in the cabin, loaded the rifle and sat down in the center of the room next to a quivering Fred.
 

“It’s okay, bud, we’ll be okay. They were just screwing with us…I hope.”

Time stood still as they waited for the front door to burst inward on them, but the attack never came. Jess’ constant petting soothed Fred to a point where he laid down, his head in Jess’ lap. One eye was trained on the front door, but it was better than nothing.
 

When his computer binged that he had a message, Jess felt sufficiently settled to leave his defensive position and go the desk.

It was from his supervisor, Rob. “
Any more unusual bear activity to report?”

His humorless bray of laughter startled an already skittish Fred, who whined in response.
 

“Sorry, buddy, but what timing, eh?”

He stared at the screen for a minute, wondering exactly what he should write, before hitting the reply button.
 

“
Funny you should ask…”

M
ax burst into Elder Watkins’ tiny office at the Kodiak community center, cinnamon eyes flashing. His bear was eager to jump into the fray, but Max held him back.
 

“Where is she?!” he bellowed.

The old man glanced up from the document he was reading at the interruption and narrowed his eyes at his new guest.
 

“We have a certain way of doing things in this clan, Brother Pearce. Barging in on an elder uninvited is not one of them. Explain yourself.”

Elder Watkins laid the document on his card table of a desk and leaned back in the worn leather desk chair, lacing his fingers across his protruding belly. The ancient chair let out a squawk of protest as it struggled to perform its duty to keep the portly man from falling on his ass. His surroundings might have been meager but he’d certainly never gone hungry.