Taming the Bear Collection (10 page)

      
"It is."

      
"I didn't expect you to call so early."

      
"I can call back later."

      
"No, that's fine." She giggled, and Beorn immediately felt blood rush to his cheeks. This female sure did have a strange effect on him, one that he hadn't ever felt before. Did he have a crush? A little boy's crush?

      
"I was just calling about tonight."

      
"Yeah, about that…"

      
Those words didn't sound good. Beorn had heard them before; she was getting ready to cancel on him. Something had come up. Something always came up.

      
"If you can't make it tonight, I understand," he responded quickly, trying to cut her off.

      
There was a brief pause before he heard more giggling. "Why would I not be able to make it? I've been looking forward to this since last night."

      
"Oh, well, okay," Beorn responded, still flabbergasted by the female. Were they all this blasted difficult to talk to?

      
"I was just wondering something…"

      
"Yes?"

      
"Are you still in Bucklin?"

      
"I am."

      
"Well, I actually packed my bag in case I decided to head up right after work, but I'm kind of low on gas. I was wondering if you could swing by my work and pick me up? I'm kind of directionally challenged for a wolf. It would be a lot easier if I could just ride with you."

      
"But I would have to bring you back tomorrow."

      
"So? Did you not plan on coming back?"

      
Beorn was coming back; he was coming back for a task he dreaded. There was no use lying to her. She knew he was friends with Thorn.

      
"I actually have plans with Thorn tomorrow night," he said. "I guess that'll work out just fine, then."

      
"Wonderful! My shift is ending soon and I'm going to lock up around here. I'll be in the back parking lot at City Hall."

      
"Okay," Beorn responded, unsure of what to say next. "What if you don’t like staying with me? I won't be making any extra trips."

      
"We'll be just fine, mister," she said, a scolding tone in her voice. "Don't worry about stuff like that!"

      
"Yes, ma'am!" he snapped back, laughing into the phone.

      
"You have a nice laugh," she responded. "You should do it more often."

      
"If someone can make me laugh, then I will."

      
"Challenge accepted. You're not as bad as they say you are, Mister Beorn. I think you're a pretty great guy."

      
"As bad as who says I am?"

      
It was too late; she had already hung up the phone with one last giggle. Beorn stood dumbfounded in the parking lot, looking quickly to his left and right. Who had said he was bad? And why?

      
Just another reason to hate wolves. They were always talking shit.

      
"But my water isn't on!" the voice on the phone screamed. "What am I supposed to do?"

      
"Why don't you shift and go to the river?" Rain asked.

      
"Shift? River water? What am I, some kind of animal?"

      
"Well, you are a werewolf."

      
"That's not what I do anymore! I need running water so my baby can be bathed!"

      
"Bathe your pup in the river."

      
"Pup? Pup? How dare you! I have a baby, you animal! And I will not clean my baby in a dirty, germ-infested river!"

      
"Well, ma'am, all I can say is that I've sent a message to the utility crew to find out what the problem is. It's Saturday and they're on call, so they may not be in a place where they can just run right over."

      
"This is no way to run a town. I might as well move to the city. I don't know why I put up with this godforsaken town anymore."

      
"I don't know either, ma'am. You have a wonderful day."

      
"Don't you talk to..."

      
Rain didn't wait for her to finish; she just hit disconnect and leaned back in her office chair, staring at the fluorescent lighting overhead. Was a wolf really supposed to spend her day on the phone staring at white light? Something just seemed really off here.

      
"She was pissed," Rain said to nobody in particular. It was getting worse; the wolves wanted all the convenience of modern-day life. So many of their problems could be solved by shifting and approaching the problem like a wolf normally would, but so many of them refused to do it.

      
Rain had been there for the run after Crow's funeral. It was a tradition at a werewolf funeral, especially an alpha's. Everyone met after the funeral and shifted, entering the wild and going on a hunt to reconnect with the wolf inside. It had been a beautiful and wonderful experience, although Rain had had a nagging in the back of her mind the entire time because she was missing her favorite shows.

      
Unfortunately attendance at the run was the lowest in years. Very few wolves actually turned out for it; most stayed home and watched TV or did whatever else they did with a normal night at home.

      
Yesterday was the first time Rain had shifted since the funeral—and the funeral was the first time she had shifted in quite some time. Her shifts, just like everyone else's, were becoming farther and farther apart. That used to not bother her, but after her discussion with Eva yesterday it had been gnawing at the back of her mind like a dog chewing on an old bone.

      
Why did her mind immediately go to the imagery of a wolf chewing on a bone? Rain began to feel her mouth water as she thought about gnawing on a giant bone. It would feel so good scraping against her gums and it would clean the plaque off her fangs.

      
She sat up with a jolt and shook her head back and forth as if someone had just thrown cold water on her. Why would she need to chew on a bone to clean her teeth? Her teeth were plenty clean from brushing them every morning and night. What in god's name was happening here?

      
Rain glanced down at the clock in the corner of her computer screen, which said it was 11:53. Close enough to noon for her to begin shutting the building down. As she started to stand up she remembered Eden upstairs working. It would be awesome to lock the door, set the alarm and leave Eden inside the building. Unfortunately all that would do was set off the alarm, forcing the sheriff's department to respond. Then Eden would bitch that Rain had done it on purpose and Rowan would come down on her for wasting time and resources.

      
Begrudgingly she picked up the phone and hit the intercom button. "Eden, if you're still in the building, let's go. You have five minutes and then I'm locking up."

      
She stood by her desk for several minutes, staring at the elevator, waiting for Eden to come down, but she never did. Maybe she had used the back staircase? Rain sure as hell didn't feel like going upstairs and finding the miserable old witch.

      
"Fuck this," Rain finally said, throwing her hands up. She'd accept Rowan's berating. She wasn't going to stand around any longer. Besides, her date was probably waiting for her in the parking lot. She felt a little tingle between her legs as she thought about Beorn and his rugged exterior. Hopefully he was wearing a t-shirt that showed off his immense size and muscles. She felt a shiver go down her spine as she imagined the front of his t-shirt being stretched beyond its limits by the broad, undoubtedly hairy, chest below.

      
He was probably waiting inside that giant truck too. Something about his truck turned her on. It was larger than anything the wolves in Bucklin drove, but it didn't have all the bells and whistles that their trucks did. It was dirty, scratched, what a man's truck should be.

      
As Rain was walking towards the door she casually glanced down at a desk beside her own. It belonged to Cherry Owens, an Oakdale pack member who had vanished with the rest of them. Most of her desk had been cleared except for a single book still sitting out. It was
The Call Of The Wild
by Jack London.

      
They used to teach the book at Bucklin Middle School and Rain remembered the lessons well. Her old crone of a teacher had been a member of the Oakdale pack as well and the book was something of a bible for them. It was all about throwing off man's shackles and returning to the wild as alpha dog. The irony of the book was slapping her in the face right now. All the members of the Oakdale pack had vanished and this was why.

      
Should she go too? Did she really need to remain in Bucklin with the other wolves? They weren't even wolves anymore, they were humans. Another book crept up in her mind:
Animal Farm.
She had read the book in high school. In the book the animals revolted against their human masters and took over the farm, but the greedy pigs betrayed them and ran the farm to suit themselves. In the end the pigs walked upright and you could barely distinguish them from the humans that had come before.

      
Were the packs of Bucklin the pigs from
Animal Farm
now? Rain was definitely experiencing her own personal call of the wild and it was threatening to drive her insane. Every day of the last six months had been a struggle as she fought against the animal inside that wanted to claw its way to the surface. She wasn't like Rowan; she didn't give in to the animal and do what it wanted. Rowan was prone to extreme rage and he would kill just as his wolf demanded, but Rain wasn't like that. Her wolf didn't want blood or vengeance, it wanted a mate.

      
"You have a date tonight, stupid," she said to herself. "You'll be just fine. Your wolf approves of Beorn. He's a real man."

      
Maybe Beorn would be willing to shift and run through the forest with her. That would definitely appease her wolf. Maybe he'd also be willing to fuck her against a tree or bend her over a large rock. That was definitely getting back to the wild and it was just the kind of wild Rain liked.

      
She felt the shiver run down her spine again as Beorn entered her thoughts. How could one man, whom she'd only shared an erotic kiss with, turn her on so much? She didn't even know anything about the guy—except the fact that he was considered a grade-A asshole by everyone else in Bucklin.

      
Rowan would definitely not approve of her dating a bear. He wanted her to settle down with a nice member of his pack. It was funny—Rowan was the one who performed the most human actions out of all of them, yet he was the most in tune with his wild side. There was a balance; Rain just didn't know how to find it, and none of the other wolves even knew it existed or wanted it.

      
"Your time is up, Eden," she muttered, turning from the book and heading for the back door. As Rain reached the back door she felt her chest tighten and rage begin to billow up inside of her, jealous rage.

      
Eden had already left the building and she was standing right outside with Beorn. From the looks of it she was flirting with him, trying to get him to notice her. She was way too close, so close that she deserved to get her ass kicked. Rain could feel her wolf demanding she shift and go deal with the usurper with a swift bite to the throat.

      
No,
she thought.
I can't.

      
Eden turned around, looking like she was finally going to leave; instead, she poked her ass out and rubbed it on Beorn's crotch. He immediately reacted by backing up and putting his hands in the air, but the damage was already done.

      
"Oh, hell no!" Rain shouted. All bets were off now.

      
Beorn parked in the old parking lot beside City Hall. There wasn't much to look at here, just a brick building that had faded from years of exposure to the sun. The parking lot was around back, mainly because City Hall opened up onto the main street in town, the one that the wolves were so proud of. It was the hub of their little town, attracting tourists from all over.

      
There were only two cars in the parking lot: a new blue Ford Mustang and a black BMW 320I with a vanity plate that read APHBITCH. Beorn scoffed at the plate, hoping that that wasn't Rain's car he was looking at. He would turn around and leave if she was that kind of wolf.

      
He walked around the BMW, checking out the sleek body and plush leather interior. It was a nice car, but way too fancy for a guy like him. The Mustang spoke to him just a little bit more, but not completely, like his pickup did. If it had been a classic Mustang he'd be down with it, but the new ones had lost a lot of the heart and feel of the old ones.

      
More than once Beorn had considered moving out of the woods and opening a garage in Bucklin or Cedarville, but each time he got serious he backed down when he thought of the number of wolves and humans he would have to put up with on a daily basis. He didn't have money like the packs did, so he couldn't afford to open a private garage for his own personal amusement. His cabin was too isolated to get a vehicle to and from work, so right now all he could do was read car magazines and dream about the day he could cruise down the street in a classic Firebird with the T-tops off. He imagined cute little Rain would look pretty good riding beside him with the wind blowing in her hair.