Melissa was mortified. She couldn’t believe that she had made out with the two glacier bears, stone-cold sober, in front of nearly half the club. She came into the club and skipped group breakfast, doing her rounds by herself before Renee told her the HVAC repairman had come by and was waiting to see her in the HVAC room.

Melissa went to the HVAC room where the tech was fidgeting with some panels.

“Hey, I’m Melissa, the theater manager,” said Melissa, shaking the tech’s hand. She felt his hands, which were rough. As he pulled his hands away, Melissa caught site of his palms. He was some sort of a cat shifter.

“Pleasure to meet you,” said the shifter. “I’m Adam. It looks like you had a single faulty control unit and it took down the whole system. I’ve already replaced it. We use a modular system, so I’ll just take this old thing with me, and you’ll be back in business.”

“Really?” asked Melissa. “You were able to fix it all that fast?”

“Yes,” said Adam. “You wanna turn it on? Your settings were probably lost, as this was the master control system, so I didn’t know how you wanted everything set.”

“I think the settings chart is around here,” said Melissa.

Melissa went to the file cabinet. It was a very short two-drawer cabinet. Melissa got on her hands and knees to go through the file cabinet. She found the laminated sheet with the default temperatures listed out by HVAC zone, with notes as to which control unit controlled the AC for each section.

Melissa got up. She noticed that Adam had been staring at her. Had he been waiting to see what she found, or was he staring at her curves? Melissa didn’t address the issue. She walked back to the control units and started to punch in the numbers.

“You need any help with that?” asked Adam huskily, whispering into Melissa’s ear.

The hairs on Melissa’s arm came to a point. Why was the HVAC tech so close to her?

“No,” said Melissa with a gulp. “I can handle this by myself. Thanks.”

“You sure there’s no way I can help you?” asked Adam.

“I’m not interested in what you’re implying,” said Melissa, turning to slip away from Adam, but Adam trapped her, pressing both his hands up against the wall, keeping Melissa close to the wall.

“I’m not implying anything,” said Adam. “I think it’s pretty clear I want to claim you, Melissa.”

“You don’t even know me,” said Melissa. “I don’t even know you.”

“We could get to know each other,” said Adam.

“I’m going to say it one more time,” said Melissa. “I’m not interested. I won’t be interested. You’re wasting our time.”

Melissa heard the door open. She couldn’t see who was at the door from her angle, trapped beneath Adam’s massive shifter body.

“Oh, I see what’s going on,” said Renee. “I’ll leave you two alone.”

Renee shut the door before Melissa could call for her. Melissa couldn’t believe Renee hadn’t interfered!

“Your friend’s smart,” said Adam. “Now…you want me to take you to dinner and a movie first, or you want me to take you back to my den, and we’ll handle the foreplay there? I’m a man of means, babe. My father owns the HVAC company.”

“I already told you,” said Melissa. “I’m not interested.”

The door opened again.

“Occupied,” said Adam.

“No, it’s not,” said Melissa. “This guy is being weird and creepy, and I’m not interested in him!”

“You heard the lady,” said a husky male voice. “I suggest you get lost before you get wrecked.”

The newcomer pulled Adam away from the wall, giving Melissa a chance to escape. Melissa went to the other side of the room and got some air. She realized the man who had entered the room was none other than Hudson!

“What are you, her mate?” asked Adam.

“No,” said Hudson. “I’m her friend. It doesn’t matter if she’s been claimed or not. She’s not interested in you. You best be on your way now.”

“If she’s not claimed, she’s fair game,” said Adam.

“And if I intend on making her mine?” asked Hudson.

“Then you’re going to have to take me down first,” said Adam. “I need her. She’s mine.”

Hudson knew Adam was serious. He backed up and started to shift. Hudson’s aqua blue workout shorts and teal neoprene workout top tore as Hudson’s body grew bigger. Melissa caught sight of Hudson’s mark, some sort of jagged shape. It reminded Melissa of a roughly faceted jewel. The mark was icy white and pale against Hudson’s already relatively pale skin.

Melissa had seen werebears before. Living in Denver, one couldn’t walk a block without tripping over a dozen werebears in their shifts. She’d seen a lot of grizzlies, some black bears, and even a few pandas and koalas. She had never seen something like Hudson. Hudson had fur, four paws, a stubby tail, a snout, and a big bad bear attitude. His coloration was nothing like a grizzly or a black bear. He almost resembled a panda.

Melissa had assumed ‘glacier bear’ was just another term for ‘polar bear.’ She watched as tufts of white and gray fur sprouted from Hudson’s skin. She thought that the dark marks on his snout and legs must’ve been shadows from the lights, but as Hudson moved, she could see that he really did have a multicolored coat. The base of the coat was icy white dappled with streaks of gray. The coat darkened around the snout. In the light of the HVAC room, Melissa could tell that the coat wasn’t just white, gray, and black. There was a bluish tone in the transition areas of the coat, the areas where the coat went from white to dark navy.

Adam wasted no time in shifting. He grew big, tearing through his uniform, his belt with tools popping off his body, one wrench bouncing before hitting the floor near Melissa’s toes. His shift covered with a thin layer of tawny fur. A ruff of dark obsidian fur popped up around his neck. The front of the beasts’ face looked soft and cuddly, like that of a stuffed animal, but once it opened its mouth to roar, it didn’t look so cuddly anymore. The big cat’s mouth was filled with sharp teeth, big teeth, teeth that were much larger than those of the bear it was facing.

Melissa caught sight of Hudson’s eyes. Hudson motioned to Melissa to move closer to the door, but Melissa felt paralyzed. It wasn’t until the lion took a step backward, its sharp claws nearly pressing down against Melissa’s thin canvas flats. Melissa moved out of the way instinctively and moved to the corner near the door.

The fight hadn’t started yet. The bear and lion just circled each other in the large, pretty empty HVAC room that functioned as part supply closet. Melissa spotted a mop, but it was in the corner she’d just run from. If she could get the mop, could she poke the lion out of the room and shoo him out of the strip club? Melissa decided against playing the heroine. After all, she hadn’t been able to handle Adam in his human form. How would she beat his lion-sized ass?

As Melissa pondered what to do, another animal burst onto the scene. A bear barged into the room. It didn’t take a genius to figure out who it was. This bear was big, darker, and bluer than Hudson, but they were definitely the same species. Melissa realized Neil had entered the fray.

Behind Neil was a familiar face—Renee. She was huffing and puffing, her hands against her thighs as she leaned over to catch her breath.

Melissa moved to walk over to Renee.

“Renee, where were you?” hissed Melissa. “You left me in here with that lion shifter! I was afraid he was going to eat me right up.”

“I played it cool because I didn’t want him knowing I was getting backup, in case he tried anything,” said Renee. “As soon as I saw one of the shifters, I told them what I’d seen. I happened to run into Hudson by himself, getting some lemonade from the kitchen. I sent him here. He told me to find Neil and let him know what happened. Neil was outside, practicing, the last place I’d thought to check for him.”

“I thought you’d abandoned me,” said Melissa. “I’m sorry for assuming the worst.”

“Honey, never doubt that I care about you and your safety,” said Renee. “We all care about everyone here. We’re a big dang family. Family takes care of each other. That’s why your two big bears are here, fighting a frikkin’ lion.”

Melissa grabbed Renee, who was caught up in her speech, and pulled her to the side, as the lion barreled out of the room.

“Quick,” said Renee. “Follow me.”

Renee took Melissa by the hand and took her into the HVAC room, to the corner where all the extra cleaning tools were kept. Renee grabbed one of the spare brooms and handed Melissa one of the mops.

“What do you expect me to do with this?” asked Melissa.

“You’re going to help me clean up this frikkin’ mess,” said Renee.

Melissa followed Renee out to the hallway where the two bears were fighting the lion. The lion was big, but numbers weren’t on his side. His teeth were sharp, but useless unless Adam could get up close and personal with the bears. Every time Adam lunged forward to attack one of the bears, the other bear defended its partner. Adam hadn’t gotten in a single successful swipe or bite.

Renee pulled back her broom and smacked it on the lion’s butt, spanking it with the broom while using the broom like a baseball bat. Renee was petite, but she had muscles.

The lion looked back to see who was hitting him. The lion roared in Renee’s face, but got a mouth full of mop from Melissa! The lion spit the nasty tasting strings of cotton out of his mouth.

The bears roared back at the lion and drove the lion back, away from the BBWs. The lion was confused and instinctively moved away from the BBWs and the bears. The lion regained his composure and took a step forward. The lion roared at the bears. Neither Neil nor Hudson were intimidated by Adam. Neil swiped at the lion’s nose while Hudson barreled ahead to hit the lion straight in the chest.

Adam fell backward, his legs dangling in the air. He was like a turtle shifter who’d been knocked onto its shell. The lion managed to turn and regain its position. The lion looked at the two bears and the two BBWs and did the math. There was no way he could win the fight. He gave one final roar before turning tail and heading toward the exit.

“That’s right!” shouted Renee. “You go! And don’t come back!”

“Thanks for saving me,” said Melissa. “Renee, again, I’m sorry I assumed the worst. Hudson, Neil, thanks for fighting for me.”

“Hey, I fought for you, too,” joked Renee. “Come on. Let’s get you a glass of water.”

Melissa followed Renee to the kitchen, where she got a glass of water with lemon. The chef insisted Melissa have a banana, too, for energy. Melissa hadn’t realized it at the time, but the traumatic experience had taken a lot out of her. She was hungry and dehydrated and had a bit of a stress headache. Melissa followed Renee back out to the audience area in front of the stage, where there were many tables and chairs set up for the show and for the group meals. She took a seat and ate her banana and told Renee what had happened.

Soon, Neil and Hudson came out, in their human forms, wearing new clothes. They took a seat at the table and listened as Melissa recounted what had happened to her from the beginning. Neil had a notepad and took notes about everything Melissa was saying.

“Did he do anything to you?” asked Hudson.

“No,” said Melissa. “He scared me, but he didn’t touch me. I’m still a bit shaken up about it.”

“Here’s what’s going to happen,” said Neil. “We’re going to go over to the company right now and tell them what happened. We’re going to tell them that you’ve been kind enough to not press charges against that douchebag. Then, we’re going to get some sort of a deal.”

“Do you think that’ll work?” asked Melissa.

“If he’s really the owners’ son, he’s going to want to make this right,” said Hudson. “We can’t go back in time and have this guy un-harass you, but we can make sure that there’s some sort of monetary punishment that’ll cause the owner to start disciplining his son, so this doesn’t happen to any other woman ever again.”

“You really think the owner would discipline his son over that?” asked Melissa.

“This isn’t the kind of world where a shifter can just throw his fated mate over his shoulder and claim her in his cave,” said Neil. “We can woo humans. But harassment, that’s different. Fuck that guy.”

“If the owner doesn’t make this right, we’ll go to their werelion’s den, make sure that the jungle king of air conditioning and his son are put on blast, and take them down,” said Hudson. “That’s a bigger punishment than one a human court can mete out. For city shifters, especially ones like lions, face and pride and honor are everything.”

“Okay, so what should I do now?” asked Melissa. “I’m still shaken up by the whole thing.”

“Do you want to take the day off?” asked Neil.

“No,” admitted Melissa. “I’ll just sit at home and think about it.”

“What do you wanna do around the club?” asked Hudson.

“Is it cool if I just hang for a bit and watch the dancers practice?” asked Melissa.

“Of course, it is,” said Hudson.

Neil and Hudson led Melissa to the central stage area, where, for a few hours, she hung out with Renee. Renee went to grab them food and drinks. Melissa sat in the expensive VIP section and watched each set of bears do their thing. Neil and Hudson were absent, as they were at the HVAC headquarters trying to get a meeting with the owner.

Melissa watched as the remaining dancers twerked and undulated on the stage. She knew the shifters were bear shifters, but from the way they were dancing, they reminded her of cobra shifters. Their fluid motions were hypnotizing and made Melissa forget about all her troubles. A good sandwich from the kitchen, a nice martini from the bar, and a good seat in the audience helped her get over how the werejackass of an HVAC tech had treated her. There was only one thing missing, and it was halfway across town, talking to a lion.