Melted By The Bear: A Paranormal Shifter Romance (12 page)

After I’d zapped AntiCormack at least five times, he seemed like he was going to be down for a while, tongue lolling out the side of his mouth. His black fur also seemed to be smoldering a little, if dark, shadowy mist could actually smolder, which apparently it could, because thin, smoky wisps were rising from his opaque form.

With him down, I returned my focus to the other dozen or so shadow bears, a few of whom were still doggedly blocking Cook’s path back to the mansion. She was on her feet now, glancing from me, to the shadow bears, to the battle on the tall hill in the distance with a look on her face that made me think she was wondering if she hadn’t woken up at all that morning and was still in some strange dream.

Within a minute or two, and after yet another zapping of AntiCormack, I’d cleared a path up the driveway for Cook. “Go now, Cook! Run!”

She did run, at least as best she could, considering that she was a larger woman and one who’d developed some arthritis of the knees in recent years. She was also wearing thin-soled fuzzy pink slippers, not exactly ideal footwear for running. She made it up to the house, though, and I glanced up at her repeatedly until I saw that she was safely inside with the door closed. One of the shadow bears had been kind of staggering after her and was now at the porch stairs, but another zap, probably his tenth, brought him down before he could climb up.

Once I saw him hit the ground, I turned my focus back to the other bears, several of whom were smoldering on the grass, dazed, and several who were jerkily lumbering toward me, snarling in an odd, sporadic way, as if being stunned by my light so many times had done damage to their nervous systems.

I didn’t see AntiCormack, though. A quick scan of the dense sycamores bordering the driveway didn’t reveal him, either. In the brief length of time it had taken Cook to get from the driveway to the house, he seemed to have vanished into thin air. Which was actually not what I’d been wanting at all. As much as I was relieved that he was gone, I’d really wanted to keep him close so that when Cormack or some of his men arrived, they could finish him off while he was in a daze, along with the other shadow bears.

Something else unwanted had happened shortly after Cook had gone inside the house, and
unwanted
was the only way I could think of it. Maybe also
unfortunate
. My zapping power seemed to be waning. And not having a clue how I’d been able to do it in the first place, or where exactly it was coming from, I had no idea how to get it back to full blazing strength again. Now my jets of light were coming out from my palms more like thin streams, as if some faucet was twisting
off
. They didn’t seem to be as effective as they’d been at full strength, either. Not even two minutes after Cook went inside, I started having to zap each bear at least three or four times to bring them down.

They also seemed to be recovering from whatever the zaps had been doing to their nervous systems, too. A few of them were not moving or growling jerkily at all anymore. In fact, other than an occasional stumble, they seemed almost back to normal. I started zapping fast and furiously as these few began circling me, teeth bared, but it seemed that the more I willed my zapping power to return to full strength, the more it didn’t. The more it continued to get weaker and weaker, just barely holding the bears off.

The chill of the morning had helped to stop sweat that had been snaking down the back of my neck earlier, but with the circling bears, I began perspiring again, so much so that my clothes soon felt as if I’d put them on directly out of the washer. My heart began hammering again, too, followed by the full-body trembling I always developed when scared.

I knew I was soon to be in very serious trouble if I couldn’t get my full zapping power back, but I had a gut feeling that whatever had caused it to happen in the first place was just done. Whatever fuel that had powered it had been spent. The more terrified of the circling bears I became, the weaker my zapping became, or vice versa; I wasn’t even sure. All I was sure of was that the ring of bears circling me was getting smaller and smaller, and tighter and tighter, like a noose.

CHAPTER 12

I’d just decided to try to plow through the remaining bears to try to get up to the house, zapping as I went with the very thin streams I was still able to do, when a mighty, ground-quaking roar coming from somewhere behind me made me freeze, gasping. My first thought was that AntiCormack had returned after a little rest in the woodland behind the house, and he was now going to hurt me, abduct me, or maybe even kill me in a rage, despite what he’d said earlier about keeping me alive. That had been before I’d started zapping him and his men.

However, to my extreme, knee-weakening relief, it hadn’t been AntiCormack who’d roared behind me. The very picture of fury and power, Cormack was charging down the lane and toward the scene, all black fur, brawn, and glinting, razor-sharp teeth. He roared again, thoroughly drowning out the sound of the siren and causing the very earth to quake again. Several fully-solid, non-shadow bears following close behind him answered with thunderous roars of their own.

When they reached the driveway and yard, it was something like a stampede as they charged the half-dozen or so shadow bears that hadn’t managed to flee upon their approach. Yet somehow, in this disorienting clash of bears and near-deafening sound, Cormack and his men were able to shield me from the chaos, forming a ring around me and fighting outward, driving the shadow bears away from me.

At first, I just watched, stunned and feeling somewhat dazed. I wasn’t content to just observe for long, however. After some deep, steadying breaths, I began zapping the shadow bears again, through gaps in the circular defensive wall Cormack and his men had made around me. The bolts of purple electricity, or whatever it was, that were coming from my palms were still thin and weak, but just still powerful enough to stun one of the shadow bears, making him fall to the ground, where Cormack immediately killed him with a few powerful slashes of his claws across the shadow bear’s misty throat.

After this, one of Cormack’s men killed a shadow bear, assisted by my zapping, and then Cormack tackled and killed another on his own, thick black fur glinting in the bright morning sun. It was about this time, when only a few shadow bears remained, that I paused in my assisting, feeling strange.

The wailing of the siren in town began to fade, but I had a feeling that wasn’t because it was stopping. My ears felt funnily clogged, and then not clogged, and then clogged again, as if someone were putting their hands over them and then pulling them away, over and over. My vision had also suddenly started to go funny, blurry on both sides of my peripheral vision, and that blurriness seemed to be creeping closer to the front with every slowing beat of my heart.

My fainting felt like it happened instantaneously, yet in slow motion at the same time. Before I knew it, I was falling, legs buckling beneath me without warning, but instead of the ground becoming a blur on my way toward it, I could see every blade of grass and crisp orange leaf in front of me, as if time was stretching so I could study nature’s splendor in the midst of a shifter fight. A sense of tranquility washed over me, and I had the sense that hitting the ground wouldn’t even hurt.

After a moment that felt like a minute, I didn’t hit the ground, though. Something dove in front of me and a little to the side, something massive and black. This thing was also soft and warm, like a blanket, but with much more heft, several hundred pounds more, it felt like.

The next thing I knew, I was in Cormack’s arms, being carried up to the house with the sound of his deep voice near my ear. He was saying it was all going to be okay, or something similar. With my vision still swimming and my hearing still going in and out, I tried to nod, but couldn’t. I could still speak, although my voice came out in a near-whisper.

“Cormack, I... I really...”

So dizzy that I could hardly even focus on his face, I wasn’t really sure what I’d been intending to say. Maybe something about how I really loved being in his arms, because I really did. With my cheek against his muscular chest, I felt completely safe, protected.

Before I could say anything else, he shushed me, then pressed his full lips to my forehead, giving me a kiss so exquisitely tender that it only served to increase my dizziness.

“Cormack...”

I marveled at how a man who was such a fierce, powerful fighter, a man who was a bear shifter, no less, could also be so gentle, even while an intense fight still went on in his own front yard.

“Just rest now. Close your eyes.”

I tried to nod in response, but again, I couldn’t. While Cormack carried me up the porch steps, my blurred vision got even worse, then suddenly, everything went black.

Sometime later, I had no idea how much later, I opened my eyes and saw that I was in my bedroom. Cook was sitting by my bedside, knitting her brows, her expression a mask of worry. Jane, dressed in her starched white nursing uniform, was hovering over me, listening to a stethoscope she was pressing against my chest.

Sort of surprisingly, I felt fine other than feeling as if sandbags were attached to my eyelids. Try as I might to keep them open, wanting to ask Jane and Cook how everyone else was doing, my heavy eyelids closed within seconds, and I was out like a light again.

Some hours later, I awoke again, still in my bedroom, but this time alone. Bright sunlight streamed through the gauzy white curtains covering the windows, and a clock on my nightstand told me it was one in the afternoon.

Now I had no trouble keeping my eyes open, and I still felt physically fine, completely refreshed, even. However, I feel a little grungy and gross, to say the least. Not only had I been sweating buckets while I’d been facing down AntiCormack and his shadow bears, I hadn’t even showered since Cormack and I had slept together the night before. I also hadn’t even had time to brush my teeth that morning.

I all but flew in the bathroom to start my shower, and a while later, I emerged smelling and feeling markedly fresher than I had when I’d gone in.

I’d just finished dressing in comfortable, stretchy knit pants and a cozy oversized sweatshirt when my bedroom door slowly opened and Cook poked her head inside, making a little gasp when she saw me.

“Oh, you’re awake! How do you feel?”

“Completely fine. Honestly great, really. But how is—”

“I need to call Commander Blackthorn right away and tell him you’re awake. He told me to let him know immediately. And you’re probably starving, too, I’ll bet. You just give me a quick five minutes, and I’ll be right back with some nice, warming homemade ham-and-potato soup that will soothe any and all traces of frayed nerves. Jane and little Natalie are already on their second bowls out in the kitchen. I’ll be just a jiffy.”

She bustled out of the room before I could say another word.

I’d been trying to ask her how everyone else was doing, but, to my great relief, I kind of got the idea that everyone, or at least most everyone, must be okay. It just didn’t seem like anyone would be enjoying multiple bowls of soup if everyone in the village had been brought to ruin.

I’d just finished combing through my damp hair and putting on socks a few minutes later when Cook returned bearing a tray with a glass each of iced tea and milk, a large bowl of steaming soup, a small plate with wheat crackers arranged in a perfect circle, and another small plate with apple slices surrounding a little ramekin brimming with caramel dipping sauce. It was this last item, more than anything, that assured me that everyone must be okay. Rich, velvety caramel seemed like kind of an indulgent treat for anyone to enjoy if a massacre had taken place in town.

Heart soaring, I began to hope that somehow the prophecy had been changed, or thwarted, or maybe hadn’t even been a real thing in the first place. But before I could even ask Cook for confirmation of my thinking, she made me get back into bed to have my meal, saying that she was sure I needed more rest, no matter how I felt.

Once she’d gotten me all settled in, with a blanket covering my legs and the tray positioned over my lap, she had a seat in the chair bedside and looked at me with her expression unusually serious. “I’ll leave you in peace to eat, because I still have a few more calls to make to check in on various friends, but first, I want to thank you. Thank you for doing whatever you did... That light thing you did to keep those awful shadow bears from attacking me. I’m sure you saved my life.”

Incredulous, I made a sound between a sigh and a snort. “Well, if I saved your life, I guess it was the very least I could do since I was the one who put you in the position where you might have been killed in the first place, by making you come down from the house trying to bring me back. I was so intent on trying to help in the fight against the shadow bears to ‘fix’ what I thought Cormack and I had done with the prophecy, but I didn’t know that any bears were so near the house, and I’m really sorry about that. I’m really sorry that I forced you into a dangerous situation, Cook.”

I really was, and was sure I always would be.

Cook just shrugged. “Well, I’m an adult, and I made my own decision to leave the house after you. And as for the danger, I can’t say I wasn’t scared witless, but if it had been my time to go, then it would have been my time to go, and I would’ve accepted it.”

Cook struck me as a person who had a zen-like approach to almost everything.

“I can’t say I’m not grateful to have a little more time on this earth, though. This old cook’s still got a few more recipes she wants to try.”

She smiled, and I smiled back, remembering after a moment or two that I had some questions.

“So, tell me how everyone is. Were there any casualties on our side?”

Cook shook her head emphatically, making her gray bob swish. “Not a one, my dear. Not a single one. A few very minor injuries were sustained by some of Commander Blackthorn’s shifters, and the western hill is pretty torn up, but that’s it.”

“Oh, thank God. I’m so relieved.”

“As am I, and as is everyone in town. I also think everyone in town is feeling a little sheepish, or at least a
few
people that I know of are. And the ones who aren’t, should be, in my opinion, since it seems that all the ill will toward you was unfounded, since clearly, the prophecy is playing out in a different way than everyone thought it would. Not only did no one come to ‘ruin,’ but it was the shadow bears who sustained great losses. At least twenty of them were killed, though unfortunately, AntiCormack wasn’t among them, and many more were injured, probably at least a dozen of the sixty or so who retreated back to Stonywood. Now, if that’s not a prophecy flipped on its head, I don’t know what is. But like I’ve been saying, some prophecies are especially mysterious. We just don’t know yet what this one is doing.”

“So, you still believe in it, then?”

“Oh, yes. Yes, I sure do. As does most everyone in town, and some are still saying that we’re all still going to be brought to ruin, and this was just a very strange start to that happening, but some, like I said, are feeling a bit sheepish, because they’ve now come over to my side of thinking that perhaps the fulfillment of this prophecy won’t end in all of our deaths.”

“And Cormack? What does he think?”

“Well...” Cook took a deep breath and let it out slowly, casting her gaze to the side for a moment before returning it to my face. “I’m not exactly sure what he now thinks about the prophecy. He’s called a special council meeting for tomorrow night to discuss things. But in the meantime you may find that he’s more than a bit upset that you left the house when the attack happened.”

I cringed inwardly, wondering just exactly how upset “more than a bit” would turn out to be.

“But, on the other hand, I think he was just as impressed by your purple light-shooting trick as I was. Impressed, stunned, and mystified, more like. I know
I
certainly was all those things, and it looked like you were as well. In your life before being frozen, were you ever aware of having any supernatural gifts?”

Recalling how utterly bizarre it had been to see some sort of electric current shooting from my palms, I shook my head. “No, never. I don’t think I had a supernatural bone in my body in my former life.”

“Well, if I had to completely guess, I’d say that it’s possible you were born with some latent supernatural powers that were somehow activated by being frozen and thawed, which isn’t completely unheard of. I’ve heard of a similar thing happening to one of the frozen women in DC. A few months after being thawed, she discovered she could lift objects with her mind, simply by thinking about doing it.”

“But that’s the funny thing, before the light came out of my hand the first time, I
wasn’t
thinking about doing that. I mean not knowing anything about any latent powers, I was just trying to hurl the fireplace poker at AntiCormack.”

Cook shrugged. “Well, maybe it was your subconscious that willed the first bolt of electricity to shoot from your hand. At any rate, it’s clear you have a gift.”

“Yeah, but one that seemed to fade. I couldn’t sustain it toward the end.”

“Well, it might be something you’ll need to practice.”

“I definitely want to, now that I know that I have a power inside of me that’s much more effective than a knife or a poker.”

Cook suddenly fought a smile. “About that poker....”

“What about it?”