Chapter Six

 

Axel’s brain was running on overdrive as he walked back through the forest toward Bear Hollow. He hadn’t intended to tell Whisper about the bar, but it had seemed like the appropriate thing to do in that moment. There was some sort of new tension between them that hadn’t been there before. It had started the night of the soldiers’ raid on Bear Hollow Brews, and it had only grown from there. Axel couldn’t quite figure out what had changed between them, but he had a feeling that it had a lot to do with Violet.

Whisper wasn’t a fan of Violet, that much was clear. No matter how many times Axel told Whisper that Violet was only a friend, Whisper didn’t believe him. Apparently Violet didn’t believe him either. She kept pursuing him even though he’d made it clear that he had no romantic interest in her. Or maybe he hadn’t made it so clear. Whisper seemed to think that staying up all night talking to Violet had given the girl the wrong signals.

God, I’m such an idiot when it comes to women.

Axel was good at a lot of things. He was good at running his bar. He was good at uniting the shifters of Bear Hollow despite their differences. He was good at hunting and fishing. Apparently he was good at tracking down fairytassel sage. But he wasn’t good at figuring out how to act around Whisper or Violet.

The fact that he had no idea what he wanted from Whisper only complicated things. No matter how many times he told himself that she was just his friend, just his best friend’s little sister, Axel couldn’t help but think of what it would be like to pull Whisper into his arms and kiss her. He’d thought about this off and on through the years, but he’d always written the feeling off as mere coincidence. When a single man and a single woman spent as much time together as he and Whisper did, there was bound to be the occasional curious feeling about what a physical relationship with that person would be like. But what he was feeling for Whisper now was going beyond just occasional curiosity.

He couldn’t get her face out of his mind. Even when they were apart, he daydreamed about her. He had been glad that she was chosen to be his partner for the fairytassel sage mission, if only so he could spend more time with her. Which was kind of ridiculous, considering how much time he already spent with her. But something within him had awakened in the last day or two. Something that told him there was more to Whisper Warden than just good friendship.

As Axel and Whisper drew closer to Bear Hollow, Axel suddenly found himself unable to stand the thought of parting ways with her. Even though he had already spent several hours with her this morning, and even though he would see her again at the bar tonight, he wasn’t satisfied. He had planned on spending the entire day with her, because he’d thought finding fairytassel sage would take much longer. And damn it, he wasn’t ready to give up those few extra hours with her.

Axel Clawson had somehow become a man obsessed. He knew he was going crazy, but he couldn’t find it within himself to care. He couldn’t bring himself to care about anything else in this moment other than following these new feelings for Whisper and seeing where the trail took him. He turned around abruptly, catching Whisper so off guard that she nearly ran into him. She immediately thought something was wrong, and her eyes filled with concern.

“What is it? Did you see soldiers up ahead?”

“No, no,” he shook his head. “I was just wondering whether you have any other plans for today?”

She gave him a funny look. “Well, no. I had planned to spend all day in the woods looking for fairytassel sage.”

“Me too. But just because we found it so easily doesn’t mean we shouldn’t spend the rest of the day in the woods anyway.”

“What do you mean?” She cocked her head sideways, her eyes taking on a bit of a mischievous glint. Axel grinned. She was always ready for an adventure, and he loved that about her.

“Remember when we were kids and used to shift just for the fun of it, so we could run through the woods at top speed?”

Whisper laughed. “Yes, I remember. You used to drive Oskar crazy, because his bear could never quite keep up with your snow leopard.”

Axel laughed. Oskar and Whisper were probably the two fastest bear shifters in Bear Hollow. They could run surprisingly fast for a couple of giant grizzlies, even outrunning many of the panther and wolf shifters in town. But they still had been no match for Axel’s snow leopard. He could outpace any shifter in town with ease, a fact that he had always flaunted in Oskar’s face as much as possible.

“I still drive him crazy. He refuses to race me these days.”

“I swear the older he gets the more he can’t take a hit to his pride.” Whisper was laughing hard as she spoke. “But yeah, those were the days. Running carefree through the forest. Well, as carefree as we’ve ever been.”

Axel sighed. Their lives had never been exactly easy, even when they were kids. Still, when they’d been younger there had been less threat of raids by the Gilt Hollow soldiers. The soldiers had come once or twice a year then, instead of once or twice a week as they did now. “Let’s do it. We can hide our stuff in the brush and no one will bother it. The soldiers aren’t likely to be searching through the bushes, and even if they do, they’re not going to be interested in a bunch of flowers. I’m positive they have no idea what fairytassel sage is or what it looks like.”

Whisper’s grin widened, and she was already dropping her backpack from her shoulders. “Alright. But I hope you’re up for racing me. I’m still pretty fast. Think you can keep up, old man?”

Axel snorted. “I’m only a couple years older than you. Get ready to eat my dust.”

The two of them stripped naked so that they wouldn’t ruin their clothes when they shifted, then stuffed their clothes in their backpacks and hid the bags behind a large bush. Axel tried not to stare at Whisper’s naked body. He’d seen her naked countless times before, since shifters always lost their clothes when they shifted back and forth between human and animal forms. But he had never really noticed her before now. He caught a brief glimpse of her perfect curves and felt himself going hard, a reaction that he should have expected but didn’t. This newfound attraction to Whisper was taking him completely off guard. Quickly, he turned away and began to shift before she could realize the effect her nakedness was having on him.

It had been a little while since Axel had let his snow leopard come out to play, and it felt good to stretch out the kinks in his powerful muscles as he morphed into his animal form. He stretched out his head, now covered in crisp white fur and black spots, and let out a long roar. Beside him, Whisper had almost completed her transformation into bear form. She was just as gorgeous when she was a grizzly as she was when she was human. She roared along with Axel, her bear mouth turning up in an unmistakable smile, and Axel winked at her. Then he took off running as fast as his legs would carry him.

His paws flew over the rough forest terrain, covering ground so fast that everything beneath him looked like a blur. Behind him, Whisper did a good job of keeping up. She hadn’t been kidding when she’d told him she was just as fast as ever. Every now and then, he could feel her hot breath on his heels. But that only motivated him to run faster. No way would he let her catch him. He had far too much pride for that.

He breathed in deeply, filling his lungs with clean forest air. At some point the ground started climbing upward, but he never slowed down. He kept flying through the trees until he suddenly broke out into an open, rocky plateau at the very top of the hill. He skidded to a stop and let out another roar, just for good measure. A few moments later, Whisper skidded to a stop beside him, panting heavily but still smiling that adorable bear smile. He looked over at her and couldn’t help but feel overcome by a deep sense of desire and longing. She was perfect. He shouldn’t be thinking that way, but his heart wanted what it wanted. Whisper would probably think he was crazy if he tried to explain his feelings to her. She’d probably tell him that he was like a brother to her—that she cared a lot for him but would never feel that way about him. Axel didn’t think he could bear to hear her say those words out loud, so he resolved not to say anything. Still, he couldn’t resist reaching over and nuzzling the side of her face with his own soft snow leopard face.

To his surprise, she nuzzled him back. Then she went back to looking out at the landscape below them. From their view at the top of this hill, they could see miles and miles of forest. The Bear Hollow forest went on for about one hundred miles, although none of the shifters really knew what lay beyond it. Rumor had it that there was a big city where shifters could live without fear of oppression, but Axel had no way of knowing whether the rumors were true. Leaving Bear Hollow was strictly forbidden, and if the soldiers caught wind of anyone attempting it, they hunted them down. Over the years, many shifters had been killed for attempted escape. Others had disappeared never to be heard from again. No one in Bear Hollow had any way of knowing whether the missing shifters had made it to the supposed Promised Land beyond the forest, or if they died on the journey. The wilderness out here could be harsh and unforgiving, even for tough shifters.

But regardless of what might be a hundred or so miles in the distance, no one could deny that the view from this hill took your breath away. The leaves on the trees were just starting to change, and amid the deep green of pine trees a smattering of red, orange, and yellow lit up the landscape. The midday sun shone hot and bright, but the air still felt fresh.

This moment felt like freedom to Axel, with open land in front of him and a beautiful shifter girl by his side. This moment felt like hope. It’d been too long since he’d come out here and just ran through the forest. He felt like the trees and sunshine helped him recapture a feeling that he’d lost long ago. He looked over at Whisper and thought that she must be feeling that too. She’d closed her eyes, and her velvety bear nose was raised into the wind. For one crazy moment, Axel thought about telling Whisper that they should escape into the forest and live here. It wouldn’t be easy, but it could be done. Kellen Cooke, another Bear Hollow shifter, lived somewhere among the caves in the lower forest. He’d escaped out there after the Gilt Hollow nobles mistakenly thought he died in a fire in Gilt Hollow. Perhaps Axel and Whisper could fake their own deaths, and then spend their days enjoying the relative peace of the forest. Surely, someone from Bear Hollow would agree to check on them now and then, bringing them any food or other supplies that they needed.

But no, Axel knew that thoughts like this were unrealistic. It took a special set of circumstances to be able to pull off living in the forest. And besides, even if he could fake his own death, he knew deep down that he didn’t want to. He wouldn’t be happy out here if he knew that so many shifters in Bear Hollow were still being crushed by the unrelenting Gilt Hollow raids. He would never truly feel free until everyone in town was free. Still, it felt good to imagine, just for a few moments, what a life out here with Whisper would feel like.

The wind picked up, and Axel closed his eyes for a moment, enjoying the way the wind ruffled his fur. Right here, right now, he could imagine that life was perfect.

Then the wind died down again, and Axel opened his eyes, coming back to reality. He and Whisper should get going. Yes, they had found the fairytassle sage ahead of schedule, but there was still a lot to do. The poison needed to be made, and Axel and Whisper needed to figure out how to best get that poison across the tunnel and to the Gilt Hollow resistance shifters without being caught.

With a low growl, he caught Whisper’s attention. She nodded at him, understanding that it was time for their little side trip to be over. She followed him as he started running back down the hill, this time at a slower, easier pace. He didn’t feel like rushing the time he had left out here any more than necessary.

Even after he and Whisper were back in human form, once again dressed in hiking clothes and trudging along with their backpacks, the two of them didn’t say much. It’s as though they were both holding onto the magic of their time in the forest as long as possible, and they worried that saying anything would break the magic spell.

They took their time, and stopped for lunch. It was late afternoon by the time they reached town again, and it wouldn’t be too much longer before they both would be due at the bar to work, but Axel reluctantly bid goodbye to Whisper in the meantime. He hated the thought of being away from her even for an hour or two, which he knew was ridiculous. If he was smart, he would go home and take a nap while he could. It was a long, long time before bedtime still, and he was once again starting to feel the fatigue of staying up nearly the entire night.

Still, he watched Whisper walk away until she disappeared around the corner of a small hut. Only then did he turn to start walking toward his own home. But he didn’t get very far.

He had only taken a few steps when a familiar figure suddenly jumped in front of him, arms crossed in anger.

“Violet?” he stammered out in surprise. She’d cut him off so unexpectedly that he nearly ran smack into her.

“Well, hello, Axel. I’ve been wondering where you were all day, but now I see quite clearly.”

Axel frowned, his confusion only growing. “What are you talking about?”

“I saw you coming out of the forest with her.”

“With Whisper?”

“Yes, with Whisper. You two spend an awful lot of time together.”

“Well of course we do. We’re friends. And coworkers. And now we’re working on a resistance mission together.”

Violet’s eyes widened. “A resistance mission?”

“Yes. We both volunteered to help with the first project that the resistance shifters in Bear Hollow are working on.” Axel almost began explaining the fairytassel sage project to Violet, but then thought better of it. Violet already seemed so agitated that he decided the less he spoke the better. He didn’t want to drag this conversation out. He just wanted to get home and sleep. Violet was upset again, although he didn’t quite understand why. But Whisper’s admonitions still rang in his ears. He didn’t want to inadvertently lead Violet on again, when all he was really trying to do was be a good friend. Besides, good friend or not, he really did need to get some sleep. He couldn’t be a complete zombie at the bar tonight.

But Violet didn’t look like she was going to let him off easy. “The resistance is a bad idea. All we’re doing is stirring up trouble unnecessarily.”

Axel let out an exasperated sigh. “I know you feel that way, Violet, but you also know that I disagree. And I’m not going to change my mind. I’m not going to sit by and let Gilt Hollow continue to terrorize our people so horribly.”

Violet stuck her lower lip out in a pout. “Apparently, you don’t care what I think about anything.”

Axel blinked in confusion. What in the world was wrong with Violet right now? “Huh?”

“Don’t ‘huh’ me. You know exactly what I’m talking about. I worry about the problems the resistance is going to cause, and you completely brush me off. Not only that, but you go off into the woods and leave me alone after I had a horrible night dealing with grief over the loss of my parents. As if that’s not enough, you went off into the woods with her.”

Axel frowned. “I’m assuming ‘her’ means Whisper?”

“Don’t get smart with me. Of course it means Whisper. You have to make a choice, Axel. It’s Whisper or me.”

Axel could only stare at Violet in shock for a moment as all of the pieces slowly came together in his foggy, sleep-deprived brain. When he finally realized what Violet was implying, anger filled him like a red hot blaze. “I don’t have to make any such choice, because I’m not interested in either you or Whisper in that way.”

Okay, so maybe that was a bit of a lie. He was starting to be sort of interested in Whisper in “that way.” But whether or not there was any future between him and Whisper didn’t change the fact that there was definitely not a future between him and Violet.

Violet’s eyes darkened with anger. “I knew it. You’re dumping me for her, aren’t you? You might say you’re not interested, but no one spends the entire morning running around with someone they don’t care about. How could you treat me this way, after spending all night with me last night?”

Axel took a step back from Violet. He had to put some space between them or he might literally go up in flames from his anger. “I’m not dumping you, because we were never an item. I spent all night talking to you because you were upset, and that’s what friends do. And yes, I care about Whisper. She’s a good friend, and has been for decades. But aside from that, we were out in the forest together because we had work to do for the resistance. I know you don’t agree with what the resistance is doing, and you don’t have to. That’s your right. But I also have the right to fight Gilt Hollow how I see fit.”

“But you—”

“I never promised you anything other than friendship. I’m sorry if you misunderstood my actions, but I told you that there was nothing between us other than friendship. And right now even that is questionable. You’re abusing my friendship, Violet. I’m exhausted. I barely slept last night, and I have to be up late tonight again working at the bar. I don’t have time to spend standing here defending myself against these ridiculous accusations. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get home and catch a quick nap before it’s time to open the bar.”

Violet opened her mouth to say something else, but Axel pushed past her before she had time to speak. His head was starting to pound from the combination of lack of sleep and the stress of dealing with Violet.

“Stop! You can’t just walk away from me like that!”

“I can, and I am,” Axel called out through clenched teeth. He never slowed down or turned around in the slightest. “We’re done here.”

Violet tried to run after him, grabbing his upper arm to pull him back. Axel kept moving. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this angry at another shifter, and if he stopped walking he was going to say things to Violet that he would regret.

Whisper had been right. He had done something to lead Violet on in the wrong way. But his intentions had never been to do that, and if Violet couldn’t figure out how to be grown up and reasonable about this whole situation, that was her problem. Axel had bigger things to worry about right now then placating one angry shifter woman.

The first thing he needed to worry about was sleep. He was growing so tired that his vision was literally turning blurry. Without another word or look at Violet, he broke into a run and headed for his home. Time to lose himself to sleep for a few hours and forget about all of this madness.