Melted By The Bear: A Paranormal Shifter Romance (18 page)

“Abby, please. Please don’t ever, ever hurt yourself if that’s what you’re thinking about doing. Please. If David says he wants to be with you forever, regardless of whether or not you ever have a baby, you’ve got to trust him that he knows his own mind about that. You’ve got to trust him when he says he’ll be happy. Not doing that says you know his mind better than he does, which isn’t fair, not to mention that I know for certain that he’d be absolutely devastated if he ever lost you. I’ve only seen the two of you together, what, twice now? I could just see the love in his eyes every single time he looked at you, which was nearly every second. He’d be absolutely devastated if he lost you; I know that for a fact.”

I really did. Both times I’d seen them together, David had barely been able to keep his eyes off her.

Abby wasn’t crying, but her eyes were pink, and she sniffed back a few possible tears while picking up her mug of tea. “No, I know. I know you’re right. And I’m not going to
do
anything. I just wonder about things sometimes. That’s all. I get crazy thoughts and need to be reminded of reality.”

“Well, I think the same could be said for us all. But, please, if you ever get an urge to
do
anything, promise you’ll talk to me first. Okay?”

Abby gave me a little smile, rolling her eyes. “Okay. I promise.
Mom
.”

Satisfied, I let her change the subject to a new shipment of books that had recently arrived from DC.

That night, when Cormack arrived home from a council meeting that had lasted until midnight, he surprised me by sliding into bed next to me, taking me in his arms, and then proceeding to ask me if I was good at carving pumpkins.

Snuggling deeper into his arms, I laughed. “Well I’ll say I’m ‘proficient.’ Why? Do you have an idea to make love by the light of a dozen grinning jack-o-lanterns tomorrow night?”

The following night was Halloween.

Cormack didn’t answer right away, acting like he was seriously considering doing what I’d said. “Hm. Now
that
is an interesting thought. And one that might be very nice to try out next year.”

“And why not this year?”

The light from a small nightstand lamp, the only illumination in the room, revealed his expression change from the hint of a smile to a frown.

“This year, I have other plans for Halloween night, very unfortunately. I’ve just made a decision with the council this evening, and tomorrow night, the prophecy is going to be fulfilled. AntiCormack and his shadow bears are going to come to ruin.”

“What do you mean? How?”

“Well, to make a very detailed plan very short, we’re not just going to wait for them to attack us and catch us off-guard like last time. We’re not going to attack
them
in Stonywood, either, though, because of their women and children. So, we’re going to lure them to attack us here in the village again, but only once we’re ready and organized to take them on, which will be tomorrow. The basic plan is that we’re going to have an all-day Halloween party for everyone in town, at the clearing to the east. Tents, pumpkins, food, games, and we’re going to let AntiCormack’s spies get close enough to see what’s going on, before we drive them away so as to not arouse suspicion that we
want
them to see what we’re doing.

“Then, what I think they’ll do is go back and report to AntiCormack that everyone in town is in a state of complete distraction, and knowing AntiCormack as well as I do, and knowing how he assumed that most people are just as cocky as he is, I think he’ll think that our recent victory has made
me
cocky enough to not consider him a threat anymore, at least not enough of one to stop everyone in the village from a carefree holiday celebration. And that’s when he’ll swoop in, to try to take us off guard again, thinking that
this
is how the prophecy will be fulfilled in his favor. He’ll think that after his defeat, destiny has rebounded to serve him up Michiana on a silver platter, via my cockiness and carelessness. I bet he won’t even lead his men in with the slightest bit of wariness or suspicion. See, when you’re as entitled as he’s always been, and when you’ve always thought that a sorceress predicted your future inevitable takeover, well, this is all going to make him sloppy. And that’s when the prophecy is going to be fulfilled in
our
favor.”

“Well, if everyone in the community is at the party, including children, when AntiCormack and his men arrive—”

“Everyone won’t be. Everyone will be completely safe. I’ll have scouts hidden all around the town, and when they see the shadow bears coming, they’ll immediately alert me; an evacuation plan will begin, calmly, efficiently, and quietly, so that the children won’t even know what’s going on. By the time the shadow bears arrive, they’ll be greeted by hundreds of my men blocking their path to the party tents, just in case there are any stragglers who haven’t yet gotten to safety. Basically, the shadow bears’ attack will turn into an ambush of sorts on them.”

For several long moments, I didn’t speak, just thinking. And when I did speak, it was in a quiet voice, as if I was afraid Cormack’s ears might break, but really, I was afraid
we
were about to break. “I’m going to help. I’m going to use my power.”

Now it was Cormack’s turn to fall silent, and he rolled on his back, still kind of holding me in one arm, but lifting his gaze from my face to the ceiling.

Encouraged by the fact that he hadn’t said an immediate
no
, though, I continued. “I’ve done some hard thinking the past week or so—thinking about exactly why I’m so determined to do what I want to do—even aside from the reasons I’ve already told you. And I’ve come to the conclusion that maybe I have some sort of desire to be a hero. Maybe because I couldn’t save my mom and sister, I have this desire to make up for that by saving other people now. Maybe it all started the very moment I heard about what had happened to my dad. I don’t know.”

I really
had
done some serious thinking in the previous week while Cormack had been gone a lot, and I’d come to the conclusion that my wanting to save people probably
had
started with my dad.

“All I know is that I’ve never been able to save anyone I’ve ever cared about, and I want that to change. I want to try to save the people of this village from harm. So, I’m going to. I’m not going to evacuate the party tents with everyone else. I’m going to stay, and I’m going to use my power to fight the shadow bears.”

“I know.”

Cormack had spoken the two words just as quietly as I’d been speaking to him. He’d spoken them so quietly I wondered if I’d even heard him right.

“Do you mean that you
know
that’s what I want, or that you’ve accepted that that’s what I’m going to do, and you’re not going to try to stop me?”

Cormack turned his head to look at me. “I’m not going to try to stop you. I’m going to encourage you to defend the village with your power, and I’d decided this even before I came home tonight.”

I could barely believe what I’d just heard. “Well, what made you decide?”

Cormack rolled back onto his side with a sigh, pulling me into both of his arms again. “I’ve also done some hard thinking this past week or so, and I realized that as much as I don’t like taking even the smallest of chances with your safety, I
do
agree that you need to do this. You
should
do this, because you’re brave, and bold, and you have a gift. I can’t overstate how much I do not like this, though, how much I don’t like taking even the smallest of chances with your safety. And because of this, I’m going to make sure that you have a little backup at all times when you’re fighting the shadow bears. And by ‘backup,’ I mean at least a dozen of my men who can help you at any time, if need be. They’ll not only help you by killing all the shadow bears that you zap, they’ll also get you to safety if the shadow bears surround you or try to drag you away from the fight. And doing this—having some of my men near you at all times—this is what I’m going to do, just like you’re going to do what you’re going to do. So, in a way, even though we’re not asking each other’s permission, I think we’re at some sort of a compromise. Fair enough?”

I smiled, heart soaring. “Fair enough.”

My joy and relief over the fact that Cormack and I weren’t going to “break” after all soon manifested in the form of me giving him some pretty passionate kisses while straddling his hips. Not long after that, we began a lovemaking session, though unlike most of ours, this one was on the shorter side and only lasted one round. There was plenty to be done the next day, and it was already late.

The following day, though long, seemed to fly by in a blur. Pumpkin carving and tent setup in the field just to the east of “downtown” in the morning; decorating, game setup, and helping to set out food around noon. Then, partying, running games, and laughing all day, trying to convince all the kids that there was nothing else going on other than the Halloween party of their dreams. Trying to convince myself that I wasn’t nervous at all about what was to come once the party was evacuated.

Then, around eight in the evening, just as many of the kids seemed to be getting very sleepy, some of them even falling asleep at the enormous tables filled with candy and food, it happened. The party was over.

THE FINAL
CHAPTER

The party stopped so smoothly, and the stopping was so
normal
, that it almost felt anticlimactic somehow, which was more than fine with me. I’d been praying it would be as smooth and anticlimactic as possible.

One of Cormack’s men, the father of one of the little girls at the party, entered the vast main tent, smiling in a way that radiated perfect calm, and clanged a large serving fork against a platter a few times to get the attention of the few hundred people present. Once all eyes were on him, he picked up a microphone that Abby and I had used to lead the kids in songs that day, and he spoke in a voice just as calm as his expression. “I hope everyone’s had a fun Halloween, but now it’s time for all trick-or-treaters to go home to sleep. And remember, trick-or-treaters, if we all go home nicely, we get to have another party even bigger than this one next year. Shifter dads, go ahead and do a sweep of the other tents and all surrounding areas to make sure we round up all trick-or-treaters. All parents, don’t leave until you have your kids in hand. Moms, as previously discussed, shifter dads will ride with you in your vehicles and see you all safely into your homes. Thanks, everyone!”

And just like that, the evacuation began, just as smoothly and calmly as Cormack had planned. Exhausted kids grabbed their decorated paper sacks that they’d used to trick-or-treat and collect candy from various stations around the tent; slightly-anxious-looking-yet-still-calm moms grabbed their kids’ hands; dads that had been present at the party began ushering the women and kids outside.

Cook and about a dozen other women who’d been on food detail began following after everyone else, but halfway to the tent exit, Cook backtracked over to where I stood and pulled me into a hug. “Be brave, which is to say, just be you.”

I hugged her back, saying I was going to try my best. If she could feel that I’d begun trembling slightly, she didn’t say anything.

Once she’d left the tent, I found myself all alone, listening to the sound of dozens and dozens of trucks and cars starting at the edge of the field, near a little lane that led directly into town. Reminding myself that I’d asked to be in this situation, had all but demanded to be in it, actually, I took deep, steadying breaths until hearing the last of the vehicles drive off. After that, it was all just silence. Just deafening, eerie silence.

“
Not
eerie. It’s just plain silence.”

The kind of silence that made a woman start talking to herself.

Feeling the urge to
do
something before my nerves got the better of me, even if it was just taking my position to wait, I stepped outside the massive tent and began heading toward the half of the football-sized field that wasn’t filled with tents, games, and candlelit pumpkins. This was where the fight was to take place, where Cormack thought the shadow bears would come charging in to try to wreak havoc in the tents, not knowing they’d been swiftly evacuated.

Once I was far enough into the dark half of the field to feel somewhat hidden, even though the shadow bears would definitely be able to see me once I started zapping with purple electricity anyway, I came to a stop to wait.

The first few minutes, with me just standing beneath the stars and crescent moon silently, felt interminable. Each minute seemed to stretch into an hour, my muscles becoming even more tightly wound with each one. At the same time, my full-body trembling seemed to increase. I wasn’t particularly
scared
, though. More just
ready
. Ready to spring into action and do what I intended to do, becoming part of a prophecy that had, at first, seemed to paint me as a bringer of doom and destruction

After another few minutes of near-complete silence in the field, with the only sounds being my heartbeat thudding in my ears and a breeze rustling through some crispy leaves somewhere near me, I began to wonder if Cormack’s spotters actually hadn’t spotted AntiCormack and his men at all. Or, maybe they had, but they’d been seen, and AntiCormack and his men had turned back around. Or, alternately, I wondered if Cormack’s spotters had been seen, and the fight had broken out right then, wherever they’d been, probably at least a few miles away.

But presently, after maybe a full ten minutes of waiting, I began to hear faint growls coming from the forestland on either side of the field. Cormack had told me that he and his men would make a little noise to let me know they were there when they took their positions. I breathed a sigh of relief, and a few minutes after this, I heard a second wave of low growls in the distance. This was the signal that most of the shifters that had been escorting people home had returned. Others had remained in the village to guard everyone who was in their homes. Now everything and everyone was in place. Now we
all
just had to wait.

Flanked by hundreds of shifters, I began to feel a sense of calm, which decreased my trembling and steeled my resolve. Trying to calm myself further still, I began taking deep, steadying breaths, like I had in the tent, really trying to focus on my slowing heartbeat.

My eyes had adjusted well enough to the dim light that I figured it would be fairly easy to tell a lighter, misty shadow shifter from one of Cormack’s shifters, at least from a distance of ten or twenty feet. I was going to have to be careful, though, and I knew it. The last thing I wanted to do was zap one of Cormack’s shifters, or him; but as another minute passed, and my “night vision” seemed to get even sharper, to the point that I could make out individual leaves of trees a good distance to my left and right, I became even more confident that I wouldn’t have too much trouble differentiating friend from foe. Also, I recalled that the first time I’d used my power, it had seemed to go right where I wanted it to go, almost of its own accord.

It turned out that I had an opportunity to use my “night vision” sooner than I’d expected. I’d just begun to hear fierce, loud growls coming from the northeast, signaling the shadow bears’ arrival, right on time, when a sound much nearer to me divided my attention. It was a sound coming from somewhere directly behind me, a sound like someone running through crunchy leaves, but not on four feet. Not a bear. This was a human.

Baffled and alarmed, I whirled around and immediately spotted Abby racing toward me, the outline of her voluminous, bouncing curly ponytail identifying her clearly. A good ways behind her, candlelit jack-o-lanterns grinned, as if a practical joke was being played on me. But one that wasn’t even remotely funny.

In complete disbelief, I didn’t even make any move to get out of Abby’s way, even though it looked like she was going to plow right into me. “Oh, what in the—”

“I was going to kill myself tonight, but I didn’t do it.” Panting, she slammed on her brakes just a foot or two from me. “I turned around and ran right back here, because I don’t really want to die; I just want to be a mother. But if I can’t be that, I figure I can try to be a hero, like you. Then I’ll at least have something to justify my being frozen for hundreds of—”

“But Abby, what in the
hell
! You’re don’t have any supernatural powers, and you’re not a shift—”

“I have a gun, though. I have a gun, and I know how to shoot.”

Sniffling, she raked a hand across her eyes. I could tell from her voice, which was thick and raspy, that she’d likely been doing some pretty serious crying since leaving the party maybe an hour earlier, saying that she was tired and her nerves couldn’t handle any more waiting. Now it struck me that maybe her words had been more about her fertility situation, and less about the shadow bears’ attack.

Sniffling again, she patted her hip. “Got a nine millimeter right here in my waistband.” After a seeming complete momentary freeze of every muscle in her body, she patted both hips, and then patted all around her waist. “Oh, shit.”

“Oh, my God. You mean—”

“It must have fallen out while I was running or something. I’m sorry. I—”

“Come on. We need to get you somewhere safe right this second.”

With the roaring behind us now becoming even louder, I grabbed her arm and began trying to drag her away, but she resisted, not moving an inch.

“Aria, wait. That bear-shaped mist... by the pumpkins.”

I’d raised a palm and had begun zapping even before she’d finished speaking.

*

Half-dragging a sobbing Abby behind me, I began striding toward the pumpkins, zapping at the mist near them as I went. “We’ve got to hurry. If this shadow bear was able to sneak back here before the others, then more are soon to arrive.”

“But let’s just not go near this one, though! Let’s just scream for David and Cormack, and then—”

“Didn’t really think this through, did you?”

“No, I didn’t! I didn’t think all the growling would be so loud, or—”

“Well, just hurry up!”

With the loud growling behind us becoming even louder, even closer, I continued half-dragging a still-sobbing Abby over to the pumpkins, repeatedly zapping at the mist, wondering just why in the hell it wouldn’t go down. My silvery-purple electricity stream was just as strong as I’d ever done it, maybe even stronger, brighter. I willed myself not to become fearful, though, knowing that would diminish my power within seconds.

It was only when Abby and I were about ten feet away from the pumpkins that I saw that the mist hovering near them was just that. Just mist. Probably from the candles burning inside of the moisture-filled pumpkins.

I breathed a sigh of relief I didn’t even know I’d been holding. “Oh, geez. Abby, get a hold of yourself. It’s just from the pumpkins, regular mist.”

She just sobbed even harder, clutching my shoulder. And that’s when I smelled a distinct, overpowering scent, rising above even the distinct scent of singed pumpkin. Alcohol. Vodka, if I wasn’t mistaken.

“Oh, my God. You’re drunk, too?”

Abby shook her head, the glow from the candles glinting on her face, which was shiny with tears. “No, not completely drunk. I only had four shots. Five, maybe. I did them so fast I kind of lost count.”

“Oh, my God. Well, we’ve gotta hurry up, and you have to try to start walking better.” Already beginning to stride away and between the large tent and a smaller one, I glanced over my shoulder and saw a mass of dark shapes out on the field. “We’ve gotta run, actually. The fight’s heading this way, looks like.”

It had crossed my mind to leave her in one of the tents, but I knew that really wasn’t any kind of safety; besides, in her intoxicated state, I knew she might come wandering out from wherever I sat her down. I’d also thought about just keeping her by my side while I fought out on the field, but I’d quickly dismissed the thought as simply too dangerous. I knew it would only take a split-second for her to get separated from me, and then it’d probably be near-impossible for me to find her again. Anyway, trying to keep a close eye on her while also trying to differentiate between shadow bears and Cormack’s bears might be one too many tasks for me to focus on, while also trying to maintain the mental mindset I needed to have in order not to let my power falter.

It was clear to me that I needed to get her back home, or better yet, a home that was not her own, so that there would actually be someone there to watch her. Or, I realized, better yet still, I could hand her off to one of Cormack’s shifters who’d remained in town, and
they
could take her to the safety of a house. Then, I could return to the field and the fight, and hopefully in plenty of time to really put my power to good use.

However, by the time I’d jogged Abby out to the lane that led right to town, I didn’t see any guards anywhere near. I didn’t exactly want to shout for one, either, not wanting to alert any shadow bears that might have possibly escaped the fight to see what havoc they could cause in town. So, there was nothing else to do but keep jogging along down the lane with Abby, trying to force her to go faster, even as she continued crying and began muttering apologies to me with her speech becoming slurred. I had a feeling that when she’d first made her entrance out on the field, all the shots she’d taken hadn’t even fully hit her. Now it seemed they had. Not good for me, since by the time we reached the end of the lane, I was just about carrying her because she was so unsteady on her feet.

After about her tenth apology to me, I shushed her, still jogging us along with an arm around her shoulders. “It’s really okay, and you don’t need to apologize anymore. I’m not hustling us along because I’m mad; I just want to get you someplace safe as fast as possible.”

“I think I had seven. Seven shots.”

Both times, she’d said the word
seven
as
sleven
. Or, I thought, horrified, maybe she’d meant
eleven
.

“It’s okay, Ab. Just keep jogging with me.”

Soon, as the growls and roars of battle began fading into the distance, that became impossible. She could barely even walk. Holding her up, exerting myself to the point that I began to sweat, despite the cool evening air, I walked us on into town, where mercifully, I immediately spotted four clearly-solid bears pacing around the dead-end at the end of the main paved road.

“Hey! Over here! Help!”

They’d seemed to have spotted me the moment I’d spotted them, if not before, and they were now racing over.