Weeks went by during which she and Luke spent every possible moment together. There was no doubt that she was head over heels for him, though there seemed to be a bit of problem with some of his club members, namely Harlan Simmons. Dixie wasn’t sure if she had rubbed him the wrong way due to how Luke had shut him down about his behavior toward her or if it was a personal issue between him and Luke, but they always seemed to be butting heads.
“What is she doing here?” Harlan asked one day when Dixie appeared at the garage while several of the members were hanging out there and discussing club business.
“Dixie is always welcome here,” Luke replied coolly.
“I don’t recall issuing her a patch,” Harlan replied. “This is a members only gathering.”
“I’m sorry, Luke. I didn’t realize I was interrupting anything. I will come back later when you aren’t busy,” Dixie told him, not wanting to cause trouble between him.
“Don’t be ridiculous. Harlan is just being an asshole. Just wait for me in my office. We’re almost done here anyway,” Luke told her, never taking his eyes off of Harlan.
Dixie nodded and walked to the front of the garage. She could hear him and Harlan exchanging angry words, but couldn’t make our exactly what they were saying. It was bad enough that she had to come here to have the conversation with him that she had planned. No doubt it wasn’t going to be received well if he was already in a bad mood. She sat nervously waiting on him.
“What’s wrong?” he said immediately when he came in a short time later.
“How do you know something is wrong?” she asked, surprised he could pick up on it so quickly.
“I have a good sense for these things. I can smell fear and you are covered in it,” he said.
“I’m pregnant,” she blurted out.
His physical reaction was much the same as if she had slapped him. She sat waiting for him to say something. She had known for a week, but had been trying to accept it herself before coming to him. Instead, she had made excuses not to see him while she sorted it out in her head. This had not been a part of her plan and she knew it changed everything with her life, with school, and with him.
“How far along are you?” he asked.
“It’s yours if that is what you are trying to figure out,” she snarled back, upset that he might even think otherwise.
“No, Dixie. I know it is mine. How far along?” he asked again.
“No more than a few weeks,” she replied. “I took two tests and both were positive. I have an appointment with the doctor in the morning to confirm.”
“No. I’ll make you an appointment elsewhere. You can’t see a regular doctor,” he replied.
“What? Of course I can see a regular doctor. Wait, are you telling me you want me to take care of it? You don’t want anyone to know that you made me end the pregnancy?” she suddenly shrieked.
“I am not telling you that. I am telling you that you need a very special doctor and that I need for you to go to who I tell you to see,” he said firmly.
“You aren’t making any sense. Why?” she asked.
“Dixie, listen to me. I can’t explain to you right now, but I will tonight. Just know that I love you and that I want this baby. I want our baby. Do you?” he asked.
“Of course I do,” she told him, knowing that she meant it now that she was saying the words out loud. It didn’t matter how it changed things for her to be pregnant. She wanted this baby more than anything.
“Then, we need to sit down and talk about some things. Let me get a couple of things finished up here at the garage and then I’ll come get you. We’ll go to the house where we can be alone and talk,” he said.
“You are scaring me,” Dixie told him.
“I know I am, but it will be okay. I promise,” he told her.
“Okay. Just call me when you are on your way over,” she told him.
“Dixie?” he called after her as she started to leave.
“Yes?” she said, stopping to look back at him.
“I love you. I love you and I love our baby,” he said
“I love you, too,” she replied before leaving the garage.
Harlan stood just outside the garage opening, looking her up and down in his usual lewd way. There was a smirk on his face that made her just want to walk over and slap him, but she knew that would only cause more trouble between him and Luke. The last thing she needed to do was stir crap between them. Instead, she walked quietly to her car, avoiding any further eye contact with him. She saw him go into the garage after she left and wondered what he was up to.
“I’m on my way to get you,” Luke told her on the phone less than an hour later. “I need you to pack some things and plan on staying at my house for a while.”
“What? Why? I’ll be fine here at home,” she replied.
“No, you won’t. Just please do as I ask and I’ll be there in about fifteen minutes,” he told her, hanging up before she could protest further.
“Luke, what is going on?” she asked when he came to the door.
“Let’s get your things in the car. I need you to follow me to my house, Dixie. Don’t stop for anyone or anything,” he told her.
“What is going on, Luke?” she asked again, more frightened than ever.
“I need you to trust me,” he said. “Can you just trust me until I get you home?”
“Okay, Luke,” she replied quietly. They packed her things into her car and she followed him to his house, parking around back as he instructed her to do. Things were getting really weird and she wasn’t sure that she still felt so good about her condition under these circumstances. What had happened that was making him act this way.
“Come outside with me,” he told her once they had her things inside. “I need to show you something.”
Dixie followed him out, noting how bright it was despite the lack of lighting around his house. Luke lived on a side road with no other houses. It was completely secluded, so there was no lighting from other houses either. Instead, the large full moon overhead cast shadows across the yard. She looked up at it and then back down at Luke.
“I’m going to show you something. I could tell you, but you wouldn’t believe me or understand, so I am just going to show you. Don’t be frightened. I have complete control over it,” he said.
“What are you talking about, Luke?” she said, but before she even finished saying the words, she saw something happening.
It was if he was getting taller and his muscles seemed to expand, ripping open his clothes until they were merely threads. His skin was rapidly covering with dark brown fur and his face was contorting, forming a snout. Large jagged teeth flashed in the moonlight as he let out a loud growl and fell down onto all fours. Dixie stood there in disbelief. Her heart hammered against her chest and she took a step back. She watched as the huge bear took a step toward her and then everything went black.
“Dixie? Dixie? Are you okay?” she heard Luke’s voice saying to her. She came too lying in his bed. It must have been a dreamed. She struggled to recount the time leading up to this moment. There didn’t seem to be any missing pieces where she might have gone from being in the backyard to being in bed, asleep and having weird dreams about the man she loved shifting into some sort of bear. Still, that had to be the answer. Things like that didn’t happen. They didn’t exist.
“I dreamed you were a bear,” she replied with a smile.
“It wasn’t a dream, Dixie. It was real. You passed out and I carried you in here to lay down,” he said.
“No. That is impossible,” she replied.
“It isn’t impossible. I was born this way, as my father was before me and my grandfather before that. Our child will be one, as well. There will be anomalies on your ultrasound. That is why I need for you to go to a specific doctor,” he replied.
Dixie’s eyes grew wide. Her hands shot down to her stomach, clutching it as if she expected whatever she was carrying to claw its way out right this moment. She was suddenly more frightened than she was a short time ago watching Luke turn into some sort of were bear. Knowing she had one inside of her was well more than a bit more than she had bargained for in this whole thing.
“It’s okay. You won’t be hurt by the baby, Dixie. He will develop like a normal child and he will appear to be a normal child. Not even he will know any different until he begins to shift in his teens. I will have prepared him for that well before it happens to him. He’ll need to know how to cope, how to conceal it and how to control it. The only thing that will need to be addressed is any doctor’s visits. He can’t go to normal doctors and he can’t go to normal hospitals,” he told her.
“What if something more than a scrape happens to him?” she said.
“Most anything that happens to him will heal rapidly on its own. Anything beyond that will be taken care of by the club physician,” he said.
“The bike club? All were bears?” she said, suddenly understanding a lot more about the close bond between most of them and the animosity from the second in command toward Luke.
“Yes, all of them. There are many of us here and we’ve coexisted peacefully for centuries,” he said.
“Centuries?” she repeated. “How old are you?”
“I am not immortal, Dixie. I will live for several centuries, but I was born here just like you were and am very young compared to some of the others,” he said. “It is the reason I am having issues with Harlan. He is much older and feels he should be the leader.”
“Why isn’t he?” she asked.
“Because it was decided long ago who would be leader. Each generation, a new boy is born to the leader of the pack and that boy replaces his father when the time comes. I replaced my father and our son will replace me one day,” he said.
“That is why Harlan is angry? Doesn’t he know that he can’t ever be leader and it is useless to cause problems because of it,” she said.
“Listen closely to me, Dixie. I have to keep you here, out of sight. Harlan is dangerous. I know he has intentions of trying to take me down so that he can take over as leader. If I am out of the way, it falls to a vote and that is usually who is considered to be the strongest of the pack. The one that took down the previous leader is the most likely successor,” he said.
“You mean he would try to kill you? Oh my God, Luke. What about me? Why do I have to hide?” she asked, still not completely grasping the situation.
“Because if Harlan kills me, our child becomes next in line. An elder would be appointed by the council to hold his place and teach him what he needs to know until such time as he can step into my shoes. Do you understand what I am saying?” he said.
“Harlan would have to kill all of us,” she replied.
“I’m sorry, Dixie. I had no intention of this happening anytime soon. I have some other ways of dealing with Harlan that I was working on, but things have escalated and I’m afraid that if he finds out about the baby, it will set him off completely. I can’t risk him harming you,” he replied.
Dixie sat crying on the bed. This was too much, way too much. How had she gotten herself into this mess? She had tried so hard to do better than her sisters and had only landed in more of a bad situation than any of them could have ever gotten themselves into. Luke held her close, trying to sooth her, but she couldn’t seem to get a grip on herself. A knock on the door disrupted them.
“I’ll be right back,” Luke told her, stepping out of the bedroom and closing the door.
She heard the front door swing open and angry voices coming from the living room. It was Harlan, but she couldn’t make out what he was saying. Creeping out of the bed, she put her ear against the door so that she could hear better.
“How long did you think you could hide that you knocked up your little college girl?” she heard Harlan saying.
“Who told you a tale like that, Harlan?” Luke asked.
“I could smell the hormonal stink on her when she left the garage earlier. Seems I’ve acquired a few skills you haven’t. Only more reason for me to be leader,” Harlan said.
“You aren’t fit to be leader. You have too many anger issues and a nasty streak. Have you forgotten what you did to those guys down at the river house last year? You almost got us all hunted down and killed for that. The council was furious,” Luke told him.
Dixie had some vague memory of an incident at the river while she was away last fall. It was chalked up to wild animals but no one was sure what kind or why they had attacked the men while they slept. Hunters had spent weeks in the woods looking for anything rabid or large, bringing in hundreds of large game trophies as a part of their excused killing of normally protected animals.
“They had it coming, man. They ripped me off in that card game,” Harlan spat back at him.
“I don’t think that should have been a death sentence.” Then, “Don’t do that, Harlan. I’m warning you,” Dixie heard Luke say.
She heard the low growl, the same one she had heard earlier when Luke had changed. It grew louder and was joined by a second. Panic set in as she realized they were changing. Harlan was challenging him, here and now. This was really happening. Right now, in the middle of his living room. The sound of things breaking and large bodies colliding shook the house. Dixie began looking around for something, anything to protect herself and their baby if she had to.
The terrifying noises coming from the living room sent her scurrying to the closet. She cowered there listening to the fight that was happening in the next room. She had never been near two wild animals fighting, much less something like this. Her heart felt like it was going to leap out of her chest and tears fell down her face as it seemed to go on endlessly. Finally, there was the horrible sound of an animal in pain. Everything stopped for a moment except for that sound.
Dixie reached for the wall beside her to steady herself and prepare to run if needed. Her hands landed squarely on something hard. She felt quietly along it to discover it was in fact a double barrel shotgun, something she was very familiar with thanks to her father teaching her at least a little about guns when she was younger. Before she could check to see if it was loaded, she heard the sound of the bedroom door being ripped open and crashing noises of what sounded like the bed being broken. Cocking the gun, she waited, terrified.
The door shook as it was ripped off its hinges. Dixie couldn’t see anything as the dark shadow of the were bear blocked out the light behind it. Without thinking, she pulled the trigger on the shotgun, hoping it hit somewhere that would do enough damage for her to escape. The sound was deafening in the small closet as the gun went off and the bear fell backwards toward the broken remains of the bed. He attempted to get up, but she cocked the shotgun again, unloading another round squarely in its chest. It fell still and she watched as it slowly reshaped into the figure of a man . . . Harlan.
She gagged at the sight of him, falling forward from the closet and holding on to the wall for balance. Fear immobilized her for quite some time before she could bring herself to make it to the living room. There, she found Luke, lying on the floor. He was naked, covered with blood, bruises and scratches. Tears fell down her face as she knelt over him, crying. Holding him close to her, she could feel him still breathing.
“Hold on, Luke. Don’t leave me,” she cried, reaching into her pocket for her cell phone.
Dixie called the bar and asked them to get anyone that was there from his gang to the phone. She wasn’t sure if they could even comprehend what she was saying due to her near hysteria, but a short time later, bikes arrived in droves. An older man she recognized as a frequent visitor instructed someone to calm her while he tended to Luke. She found herself escorted to the back porch and given a glass of water while one of the other club wives let her lean on her shoulder.
A few days later, Dixie stood looking at the mess that had once been Luke Robert’s house. There was very little in the living room, kitchen or bedroom that hadn’t been shattered or crushed from the fight between the two alpha bears. In the bedroom was a stain where the body of Harlan Simmons had once lay. There was now a missing person’s report for him, but the club assured her he would never be found. She placed her hand on her stomach and smiled at the child the doctor had confirmed she was carrying and walked out of the house with the bags she had brought over days ago.
“You ready?” Luke asked as she stepped out.
“I’m ready,” she replied.
Luke nodded at a few of the club members and tossed Dixie’s bags in her car before kissing her softly on the cheek. She followed him down the road, glancing into her rear view mirror just in time to see the house go up in flames and bikes coming into view behind her. Twenty minutes later, she pressed the button on a garage door opener and watched Luke’s bike disappear inside the opening before pulling in beside him.
“Welcome to your new home,” Luke told her.
“It’s beautiful,” she replied, looking around the refurbished plantation home set far back off the road where no one would bother them.
“I’m glad you like it. I had planned on a much less dramatic transition from the old house to this one, but things didn’t work out quite like I planned them. There is just one thing lacking,” he told her.
“What is that?” she said.
“The other half of my plans when I bought this house for us,” he said.
Dixie watched as he fished something from his pocket and took her hand, slipping an antique black diamond onto her finger. She looked at it in surprise and then back at him.
“That ring has been passed down from generation to generation in my family. Now, it is yours and someday, our son will give it to the woman he loves. Will you marry me, Dixie?” he asked.
“Yes! Yes, I will!” she exclaimed, throwing her arms around him and kissing him passionately. Luke picked her up and carried her upstairs to their new bedroom. She was amazed at how quickly his body had healed from the fight with Harlan, a fight which she later learned he was ill equipped to fight after having changed so recently before it. At the end of the day, it seemed they had saved one another and could now spend their lives in peace, as could their unborn son. That was all that mattered.
*****
THE END
Brother’s Bear
"I work in the morning."
How Anna had both loved and loathed those words at the same time. When Gabriel Kempton had called her back, she'd been floored. After the lackluster reception of her final academic exhibition had stolen her chance at graduate school, she knew the only way into higher education was through completing an apprenticeship to garner real world experience. No opportunity had been beneath her, and Anna had launched her resume off to dozens of apprenticeship positions. That Gabriel Kempton of all people had been the only one to call her back had to be proof that she was meant to succeed. Working beneath his direction would not only look good on her future applications, but it would draw the eyes of the art world in her direction. Even if Gabriel was unsatisfied with her work, the fact that they would be associated would work in her favor.
But he worked in the mornings.
Anna couldn't remember the last time she'd willingly gotten out of bed before noon. Given the choice, she preferred to sleep through the afternoon. Mornings had never been her friend, and anyone who knew her had always planned around that fact accordingly. Anna Nightingale, her mother had sung to her in her teenage years, little lark, despises the light, favors the dark. But now the nightingale stood before the private art studios of Southview University, cup of bitterly black coffee in hand, while the sun rose on the horizon.
"This is your future, Anna," she whispered to herself, the words catching in the thick yarn of her maroon infinity scarf. She slipped her car keys into the small purse slung from her shoulder. "Just a year of early mornings, and then you'll be set for life. Suck it up."
Studio C3 was already lit up on the inside. In the early hour of the day little traffic passed, and the street lights had begun to fade to orange. It seemed like everyone else on the planet slept except for the man she knew lurked beyond the studio walls. And herself, of course. She hesitated before the door, wondering if she should knock or not. Better to be overly polite, she thought, than to be rude. Anna rapped upon the door.
"Come in," a voice called from inside. Although she could tell there was great volume behind it, the words barely bled through the door and she'd almost missed them. Had the morning not been so quiet, Anna was sure she never would have heard the invitation. Without wasting any more time, Anna entered the studio.
Had she to guess, Anna would have said that Gabriel Kempton had already been at work for hours. The largest block of marble she'd ever seen sat in the center of the studio upon a raised platform, its corners and sides already carved off. The pitched pieces lay haphazardly on the floor around the platform. Apart from a few messy tables pressed against the wall and two folding metal chairs tucked into them, the room was empty.
"I need you to start tidying the pieces that have fallen," Gabriel's voice instructed. He was behind the block of marble, out of her field of view. The end of the sentence was punctuated with the bright clang of a mallet striking down upon metal. A new piece of marble knocked loose and toppled to the ground. "Stack them all on one of the tables. We might be able to recycle the scrap for small projects."
No hellos, no good mornings. Had she not been so exhausted, Anna might have bristled at his lack of respect. A hasty sip of coffee silenced any sass. She set the cup down on one of the tables and made her way towards the marble.
"And when you're done that, then you can start to sweep." Gabriel stepped out from behind the marble, and Anna stopped in her tracks. Gabriel Kempton was the talk of the art world and the pride of Southview's Master of Fine Arts program, but every article she'd read about him and his accomplishments had only shown his face, focusing more upon his creations. While his facial features had been handsome, Anna had always assumed he'd look like a scrawny artist in person. The body she'd pictured and the man who stood before her were not one in the same.
Instead of narrow and lanky, Gabriel was cut and svelte. The grey t-shirt he wore stretched across his chest and filled out in the shoulders and arms, and although his muscles were not excessive, there was no question that they were visible. Toned arms, a firm chest, and a body that tapered into his hips, Gabriel looked more like a swimmer than a sculptor. Momentarily Anna wondered if she had nodded off to sleep and was imagining the whole thing. There was no way someone could look as handsome as he did while toiling away in a studio for fourteen hours a day.
The prolonged pause attracted Gabriel's attention, and he looked towards her for the first time. Anna glanced up into his dark eyes and noticed how they stared. Low self-confidence reared inside of her, allowing an uneasy feeling to bloom in the pit of her stomach. Most of the time she ignored the stares, but Gabriel was the only one in the room and he made no effort to hide that he was looking at her. Anna knew that she was curvy, too curvy to be considered conventionally beautiful by men like Gabriel, but she'd always considered herself pretty. Between a great wardrobe and the care she invested to keep her light auburn hair shimmering and styled, Anna had never let her size stop her. Yet here she was, arrested by Gabriel's gaze.
"Anna Nightingale?" Gabriel asked after a long silence. His eyes swept her down and then up, absorbing her every detail. The critical eyes of an artist ripped her apart, and Anna felt both exposed and breathless. There was something silently dominating about Gabriel's presence that let her on edge, uncomfortable and yet intrigued.
"That's me," Anna replied, voice smaller than she would have liked.
"It's nice to meet you," Gabriel said after a pause. His eyes lingered on her for a moment longer, and then he turned back to his work. "I look forward to working with you this year."
"Yeah," Anna whispered, the word little more than a squeak, "me too."
When his eyes darted away from her and back to the marble, the spell was broken. Pressure lifted from Anna's lungs, and she realized that she'd been holding her breath. She inhaled deeply and shook her head, freeing herself further from his spell, then set to work collecting the fallen pieces of stone.
By the end of the day, all Anna had done was collect discarded marble and sweep. Typically she would have complained, but watching Gabriel work was well worth the menial labor. Every time he struck at the block his biceps tensed and she could see how corded and strong they were. The sweat that lined his brow glistened, and the scent of pine and masculine undertones had leeched slowly through the room. Anna didn't consider herself boy crazy, but something about Gabriel grabbed her attention in a way no other guy had.
From time to time he'd engaged her in conversation. They'd spoken about her plans for school and the kind of media she liked to work with. Gabriel had told her a little bit about the marble sculpture exhibit he was preparing for, and invited her to sculpt some of her own statues from the leftover marble. By the end of the day, blissfully over by noon, Anna exited into the brisk fall air entirely smitten. Gabriel was like the marble he sculpted: smooth, classic, and flawless. Thoughts of him clouded her mind, and it wasn't until a hand clamped down upon her wrist that she realized someone had been trying to get her attention.
Gabriel Kempton stood at her side, his calloused hand holding her in place.
"Anna," he said, catching her eyes with his own. Up close Anna could see how dark they truly were, his stunning irises a shade of brown she'd never seen in eyes before. Their eyes locked, and once more she found herself breathless. Even after six hours working together, Gabriel still held her prisoner.
"I'm sorry, my head was uh, somewhere else." She couldn't part from his eyes, and it looked like Gabriel was having difficulty doing the same. He, however, spoke as though he was unaffected.
"Elsewhere is right. You forgot your phone," he said, extending her cellphone towards her with his free hand. The other still gripped her wrist, unwilling to let go. Anna blinked, eyelids remaining closed for a prolonged moment. Gabriel was as close to a celebrity as she'd ever met, and here he was holding onto her and returning her forgotten belongings.
"Thanks."
The hand at her wrist dropped as she accepted the device. Anna looked towards the pavement, moderately embarrassed. That time she hadn't tried to hide her stare; Gabriel had to know she was interested.
"I saw you didn't have my number in your contact list," Gabriel continued casually. "So I put it in for you. And according to your calendar, you’re free tomorrow night after your haircut. Now you're not."
The meaning of what he said didn't register. Anna lifted her gaze and stared at him blankly, feeling her hands began to tremble.
"What?"
"I put the details in, so make sure you're not late. Seven at Cosgrove Cafe. I'll be waiting."
Those dark eyes bored into her a final time before he offered her a playful smirk and turned away, sequestering himself back into Studio C3. When the doors had closed Anna blinked hard, took a stabilizing breath, then looked down at the phone in her hand. How had he gotten past the lock screen? He must have been watching her throughout the day as she texted, and then...
Her fingers flew over the screen and the phone unlocked. There, amongst her upcoming events, was a four hour chunk of time at Cosgrove Cafe. The address had been entered as event information, as had another telling detail. Recorded under the event's notes was another message.
"Date with Gabriel — wear something nice, but not too fancy."
Anna almost dropped the phone. How a man like Gabriel could be interested in someone like her she wasn't sure, but that didn't matter. What did matter was that they were going out tomorrow, and she had no idea what she was going to wear.
A burst of energy coursed through her, and Anna grabbed at the plush scarf that hung from her neck to choke the cry of glee it brought. It was as though she were in high school again, and the cool, popular boy had just winked at her from across the cafeteria. Well, not quite. Gabriel was much more handsome and talented than any boy in her high school had ever been, and he didn't call her chubs at every chance he got.
Every inch of her body energized and alive, Anna ran for her rusted out Camry and sank into the driver seat. Once behind closed doors she let her head fall back against the rest and laughed, wild and free. Feeling wanted was a luxury she wasn't often afforded, and God, did Gabriel make her feel wanted.
A new internship, a new shot at the future, and now a new shot at love. Everything was falling into place all at once, and Anna felt like these were the first happenings in a series of events that would leave her forever changed.
Chapter Two
Piles of clean clothes littered her bedroom floor, and shoes were scattered here and there in clusters. The battle had been waged, and she'd won. From the mess she'd found an outfit she thought was nice, but not too formal. A simple teal dress was her prize. It cinched beneath the waist to draw attention to the best of her curves, its shoulder straps wide enough that they didn't look out of place on her bigger shoulders. What Anna liked the best about the dress was the neckline; it plunged into a V just low enough to draw attention to the plump curve of her breasts without being too overt. The skirt fell just above the knee, flirty and yet simple. Anna knew it made her look amazing.
Paired with a set of black flats she was good to go. Now the outfit hung pristine from the back of her closet door while the rest of her sizeable wardrobe lay in disarray across the room, and it would stay there until the weekend. Getting up early had already taken its toll on her, and Anna had little energy to devote to cleaning.
The second day of her internship would have been the same as the first had Gabriel not already made his interest clear. Anna was told to tidy up and sweep, and from time to time Gabriel asked her to fetch a different kind of chisel, but now Anna also watched for how he looked at her. From time to time she caught his dark eyes drinking her in when he thought she wasn't looking, and each time her cheeks flushed red in delight. Of course, he caught her looking at him as well. Each time he shot her a devious grin that disarmed her entirely, and the work day both seemed to crawl and fly by when knowing that later that evening they'd be seeing each other as more than professionals.
"Don't forget," Gabriel bade her at the end of the day, "Cosgrove Cafe, seven. Don't be late. I don't want you to miss it."
"It?" Anna asked. They were packing up for the day, Gabriel rinsing his hands and arms in the studio's sink.
"You'll see tonight if you're not late," he promised, but said no more. "It was good working with you again today."
"And you." This time she was prepared. Anna smiled at him even as her heart fluttered and then made her exit. There were only about five hours left after her haircut until she'd have to head out, and she intended to make the most of them.
A long, thorough shower. Anna scrubbed herself pink and shaved carefully, not willing to miss a single hair. Once the blank canvas was prepared, she dried and styled her freshly cut hair and agonized over her makeup. A modestly colored lip and a touch of drama to the eye was her signature, and by the time Anna was done she knew she looked amazing. Chubby or not, she was worth looking at.
Prim and proper, she took the dress down from the back of her closet door and slipped into it. There was just enough time left to move one of the piles of clothes back into her closet when the alarm on her cellphone went off — it was time to hit the road.
"Act normal," she whispered to herself as she descended her apartment stairs and towards the parking lot. "He's just a normal person interested in normal people things, and there's no reason to do weird things. If he asked you out, it means he likes you, so don't try too hard."
The front doors opened following a heavy push, and Anna emerged into the chilly fall evening. She'd brought along a light jacket and was grateful for it. Just the walk between the building and the car was brisk, and goose flesh rose along her arms.
Cosgrove Cafe was a good half hour drive from where she lived, clear on the other side of the city, but close enough to Southview's campus that it made sense that Gabriel would know of it. With fifteen minutes to spare, Anna parked a few blocks away and walked her way over. The neighborhood was a blend of residential and retail, indie shops popping up down the main street while the off-streets housed middle class families. It was on one of those off-streets that she found Cosgrove Cafe. Renovated from residential house to coffee shop, the establishment flirted with the corner of the main street. Cheery bay windows glowed with warm light, and through them Anna could see the place was busy. People clustered near the windows, all standing. For a coffee house, so many standing patrons seemed strange.
Anna entered through the front doors to find it crowded there, too. The walls dividing the original rooms of the house had been taken down, the remaining support beams done up with a wood trimming that served as table space. Tall stools were drawn up to them, but tonight no one was sitting, and even the loose tables and chairs had been pushed to the side. Anna picked her way through the crowd, searching for Gabriel. It was ten minutes to seven and he had been insistent she be on time, so where was he?
It wasn't long before Anna found her answer.
At the back of the cafe was a small stage area, barely elevated from the normal floor. Everyone in the place had gathered to face it, and a band was setting up for a performance. Three members fiddled with microphones and stools, and amongst them Anna recognized Gabriel. An acoustic guitar hung from a strap secured across his shoulder. His insistence she arrive on time made sense; he was going to play the show, and he didn't want her to miss it.
Tonight he was dressed in simple dark jeans and a fitted white dress shirt. A thick, woven hemp bracelet hung from his left wrist, but instead of lend him femininity, it lent his masculinity a softer edge. Anna pushed her way through the crowd to stand towards the front, watching as they set up. In all of her research she'd never heard mention that Gabriel was musically inclined, and the surprise was welcome. Gabriel had been handsome with a chisel in his hand, the muscles in his arms hardening as he worked over the block of marble, but now she saw a softer side to his creativity and found herself just as hooked. There was something about a man with a guitar that was irresistible, and Anna couldn't wait until he played.
Before long the three of them had taken their places on stage. Gabriel sat center, guitar placed comfortably on his lap. The two others settled just a little behind him, one of them standing behind an upright bass, the other seated with a cello. All three of them had microphones positioned for use, and Anna wondered what kind of a show she was in for.
"Hey," Gabriel greeted the crowd, leaning forward just a little bit to speak into the microphone. The sound of his voice struck her deep, and Anna's eyes found their way to his. Gabriel hadn't found her yet through the crowd, but she saw him looking. "A big thanks to the Cosgrove Cafe for hosting us tonight, and a huge thank you to all of you who made your way out to see us. We're Dreams of the Wild. I'm Gabriel. The good looking guy on bass is Michael, and our talented cellist is Luke. I won't tell you about how attractive he is, because he's off the market; sorry ladies."
There were some cheers and some laughter, and Anna couldn't help but smile. Gabriel's dominance translated well into charisma; he had the whole room hanging on his words.
"We've got an hour and a half to entertain you, and we hope you enjoy the music. If not, well, we're getting paid for this anyway, so that's okay."
More laughter. Gabriel grinned as well, and Anna watched as the tension eased from his shoulders.
"Let's get this show on the road. This first one's called 'Conversations of Solitude'. Enjoy."
The music began. The deep melody of the cello paired with the strumming of the guitar, and both instruments rode upon the grounding beat of the bass. Anna had never heard anything quite like it. It wasn't classical, but it wasn't quite pop, either. There was a poetic way the music flowed that suggested more technical prowess than simple pop beats, but a concurrent simplicity made it easy to listen to. Within the first handful of seconds Anna found herself enamored. When Gabriel began to sing there was no escape.
Low, crooning words. His vocals flowed smoothly, like running water around pebbles. Those in the audience swayed and bobbed their heads, and many began to engage in quiet conversations as the soulful tunes united each of Cosgrove's clients. Anna did not speak with anyone — her attention was undivided, and it was focused on Gabriel.
An artist, a musician, what other beautiful talents did the man possess? The thick, rough fingers that chiseled into tough marble now strummed effortlessly at the guitar, and the voice she made small talk with navigated its way seamlessly through mellow notes.
Gabriel spotted her, and then his eyes did not stray. The words he sang, strung like pearls in early morning light, were for her and her alone. They hadn't spoken, they hadn't acknowledged one another, but the way he held her attention told Anna that this had been his plan all along. Warmth spread through her chest like a bird stretching its wings to soar, and Anna knew she was hooked. Gabriel was doing everything in his power to impress her, but she'd already fallen under his spell.
Song by song they moved along. The crowd came and went, some settling at tables by the outskirts of the swarm to enjoy cups of coffee or baked goods. Sometimes Gabriel and his friends joked with the crowd between songs, and sometimes they launched into the next piece seamlessly. When it came time to play the last song it seemed like only minutes had passed. Time had passed unpredictably around him, as though he played it just like the strings of a guitar. At this point, it wouldn't surprise Anna if he were magical. No mortal creature could be so good at so many things.
"And that was it from Dreams of the Wild. I hope you guys enjoyed." Gabriel picked up a water bottle from the floor near his stool and slugged some back. "See you around. Don't forget to tip your baristas."
There was not enough applause for Anna's taste. People clapped politely, then the crowd began to break. Some people went to the counter to order while others flowed out through the front door. Anna lingered by the stage, watching as the band cleared away their instruments and microphones. The cleanup was quick, and it wasn't long before Gabriel hopped down from the small platform to stand beside her. Their eyes met, and he smiled at her.
"So," he said, "worth showing up for?"
"Yes!" Caught off guard, Anna didn't have to worry about being awkward. He had disarmed her and opened her up, and now things felt natural and easy. "I had no idea that you could play music. Or sing. Your voice is beautiful. How long have you been in the band?"
Gabriel laughed. He gestured towards an empty table, but even as he did, his eyes did not stray from her. There was no doubt he had noticed just how much work she'd put into her appearance tonight, and Anna was glad that the time she spent was paying off.
"Why don't we sit and talk? I've got you scheduled for at least another two hours, after all."
Another two hours didn't feel like long enough. Anna grinned at him, then boldly took his hand and led him to the table he'd gestured towards. Tonight had already passed her expectations, and she was sure it was only going to get better.
Chapter Three
Two hours came and went, and still they talked. Anna learned about Dreams of the Wild and of Gabriel's childhood. They spoke of sculpture and Gabriel's ambitions to take on an apprenticeship beneath one of the Italian masters after he'd finished his Masters in Dimensional Studies. They spoke of her experience with exhibitions and her own dreams to work in an animation studio. Often times students of sculpture and three dimensional design scoffed at illustration majors, but Gabriel was nothing but kind and helpful. The man was flawless in talent, manners, and charm, and he wasn't hard to look at, either. Anna had no idea how he could still be single.
It was nearing eleven when Gabriel finally excused himself.
"We're back in the studio tomorrow morning," he reminded her, rising from the table. "I'm already up later than normal, but I'd do it all again as long as I had you for company."
Anna blushed, standing as he did.
"I had a really good time tonight."
"As did I." Gabriel took her gently by the arm and led her from the cafe and into the night. The moon, full and bright, shone overhead. The street was surprisingly lonely.
"I hope to see you outside of work again, Anna," Gabriel said, voice little more than a whisper. The words were meant for her ears, and her ears alone. Anna turned to face him in full, feeling the moment between them start to heat with desire. Gabriel had a way of asserting himself that was quiet, surprising, and totally inescapable. She was caught up in him.
"I'd like that," she replied. Gabriel smiled and tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear. Talented fingers now treated her to their touch; Gabriel traced along her jaw line until his index finger rested at the tip of her chin to make sure her gaze remained locked on him.
"You're a sweet girl," he told her. "I don't want to hurt you, so I'm going to be upfront. I don't want commitment. I like having fun with you, Anna, but for now that's all it is. I understand if you can't keep seeing me for it, but I can't let myself be tied down. Not yet. Not with Italy in my future."
She hadn't seen the imperfection because the fault lay inside of him, wrapped up behind blinding talent and a stunning physique. The hope she'd had and the excitement she felt cracked and fell to pieces, broken and useless. What had once been weightless glee now felt like bricks of lead dragging her spirits down. Anna did not let her disappointment show on her face.
"Yeah," she whispered back, trying to hard not to let her voice waver. "We can keep seeing each other like that.”
Why had she agreed when her heart mourned already? If she had emotionally invested in Gabriel now, over time the bonds would intensify. If she were smart, she'd end things now and maintain their professional relationship, but the smile that spread his lips was worth the pain. He was so handsome when he smiled, and she knew he smiled for her.
"On Thursday there is a poetry reading at Java Lav, another seven o'clock affair. Come with me?"
It was the first time in years she'd been asked on a second date, but Gabriel's reluctance to commit made it feel useless. Anna's lips moved as though on autopilot.
"I'll be there."
Gabriel smiled at her once more. The finger dropped from her chin, and instead he leaned forward and brought their lips together. The kiss was short and sweet, and had Anna not felt like garbage she would have melted beneath it.
"Goodnight, Anna," Gabriel whispered, his lips brushing against hers. Then he pulled away and started down the street towards where he'd parked.
Alone and wounded, Anna made her way back to her car and sank down into the driver's seat. What had started as a fantasy had soured and lost its sparkle. The reality was that Gabriel was just like any other man — interested in sex and not anything more.
"Ugh," she breathed in frustration, letting her head flop back against the headrest. "Figures."
And yet she'd agreed to keep seeing him. The misery she'd suffer was misery she'd invited. There was no one to blame for any bruised feelings but herself; Gabriel had been very respectful and communicative about his motives.
There was no use dwelling on it. Anna jammed the keys into the ignition and turned them. The engine failed to catch.
"Not now," she muttered, turning the keys again to the same results. Over and over the keys turned, until at last the engine caught. Anna breathed out a sigh of relief and started on her way home.
Her luck only lasted another fifteen minutes. Freshly turned off of the highway, the Camry's engine misfired and died. Had she not been on a quiet street, Anna was sure she would have been hit. There was enough juice in it to coast down the street and turn into a small parking lot before the car stopped. Anna clenched her fists around the steering wheel and set her forehead against the top, breathing hard. It was the first time her ride had ever misfired, and the fear of losing control still coursed through her veins. The night really had taken a turn for the worst.
Light rose across the rusted hood of her car and cut through her windshield to bath her dash in light. Anna lifted her head to find the garage door in front of her opening. She looked towards the commercial building next to it and read the name above the doors.
"JJK Auto Repair".
When she looked back towards the garage door, a man stood there. A pair of loose jeans, ripped around the knees and at the sides, clung to his hips. A t-shirt streaked with grease stretched across his toned chest, the arms rolled up to reveal just how muscular the mechanic was. Big biceps rolled and bulged, and Anna could see that his thighs and chest were just as impressive. A white rag hung from his back pocket, but his hands were covered in grime regardless. The dark hair atop his head was untameable, and the gruff expression on his face suggested that the man was equally as wild. One arm was covered in tattoos, decorated from his palm to his shoulder.
"Hey," he called out to her through the night. It had to be close to midnight, so what was he still doing in the shop? "You know we're closed, right?"
Anna's hands remained clenched around the steering wheel, but no longer from fear. The chances that she'd glide right into a mechanic's shop were slim, but the chances that the mechanic would be there well after conventional working hours was so much less likely. That the man who stood a short distance from her gave Gabriel a run for his money in the looks department and left her feeling confident that what had just happened had happened for a reason. He was a reason to forget her bad night and discard the idea of Gabriel. Anna took a deep breath, then exited the car.
"Yeah. I just managed to guide her in before she died on me. I was just looking for a safe place to stop; I wasn't planning on finding someone to service my car."
"Yeah, well," he took a few steps forward, entering the night from the light of the garage. Anna could see his eyes on her, glued to her breasts and the curve of her hips. There was hunger there, primitive and feral. "You coasted to the right place. I'm probably the only mechanic in the city who works through the night so self-important jack-offs can pick up their rides for work the next morning. Maybe I can fit you in."
Anna had considered Gabriel dominant, but the control he had over her did not compare to this man. Just a little bit older, likely somewhere in his early thirties, the very way he moved commanded respect. Anna found she could not look away.
"She wouldn't start the first four or five times, and then the engine misfired and died after it started." The stranger continued to approach until he stood within arm's reach, eyes lifting from her breasts to look into her eyes.
"Sounds like you've got some faulty spark plugs," he uttered. There was nothing faulty with the sparks that flew between them. Anna felt her lower lip trembling just slightly, the air between them thick with an unspoken desire. She knew nothing of this man, not even his name, and yet heat spread through her deep and low. When he reached out to run a hand down her waist and pull her close, Anna wasn't alarmed. It was only natural that such a dominant man would lay his marks on her. "When's the last time you got her serviced?"
"I don't remember," she mumbled, gazing up into his eyes. They reminded her of Gabriel's as dark as they were, but the mechanic's eyes were flaked with warm amber undertones.
"Well, if you've got time, I'll look her over for you."
Why was she so okay with this? Anna lifted a hand and ran it across the mechanic's cheek, careful of the streaked grease on his skin. His skin was rough and leathered by time, his stubble catching against her soft fingers. The touch was all the invitation the mechanic needed. He caught her lips with his own, the kiss crushing. Anna moaned in the back of her throat and wrapped her arms loosely around his neck, letting herself sink into it. There was an undeniable attraction between them she could not hope to explain away that would only be sated with physical contact. In that moment even the big details didn't matter; all she wanted was to feel him dominate her and show her what a real man was.
His hard lips broke from her long enough to say, "Name's Nate. I want to hear you cry it out before the night is through," before they claimed hers again.
The kiss did not degenerate. From time to time it broke so one of them could gasp for breath, but Nate did not want to give her up. His mouth tasted like smoke, so contrary to the lingering menthol that tingled on her tongue. Anna didn't like smokers, but in Nate it was right. Edgy, masculine, and so bad. Gabriel, the talented, sculpted artist, was too righteous to do something like smoke. Nate was the distraction she needed from the hurt Gabriel had inflicted, even if he hadn't meant it.
He drew her from the parking lot to the garage, the door closing behind them. Several vehicles were parked inside in varying stages of repair, but Nate paid them no attention. Instead he pulled Anna towards one and tossed her upon the hood, pinning her hands above her head as he lowered himself upon her and ravaged her lips with his own. Pressed as close as they were, Anna could feel the hardened bulge beneath his jeans. There was no question that he found her attractive despite her weight. Anna found herself wanting him just as much.
Nate let their lips part.
"I'm Anna," she breathed in reply. Nate's chest was heaving, although he did he best to keep his appearance cool and unaffected.
"I want you, Anna," he told her. The words were plain and uncomplicated. They'd known each other for such a short time, but already Anna felt as though she understood him. Black and white, right and wrong, a man of wants and needs and nothing more. To Nate she was an object he desired, and when he wanted something, he went for it. She could respect that. Such a simple way to operate, free of the pretenses and politeness most society cherished. Nate trusted his instincts, and right now his instincts told him to take her as his own. Anna's instincts told her to let him.
"I want you, too."
Even in her wilder years during college, Anna had never done something so reckless. Nate was wild, and he brought the animal out from inside of her. Before she realized what was happening one of his hands had left her wrists to cup her breast, squeezing and exploring. Anna gasped, eyes closing.
"Tonight," Nate told her, voice heavy with his arousal, "I'm going to show you a real good time, and in the morning, when I'm done fixing your car, then if you want to you can go. I'm not convinced you'll ever want to part ways, though. Not when you see what I can do to you."
A whole night spent chasing orgasms with a stranger. Anna's heart throbbed just a little harder to send desire rushing through her. If Gabriel didn't want to be exclusive, she didn't have to be, either.
Nate's hand moved from her breast to her thigh. Rounded fingernails sank into the nylons she wore and tore them down. His calloused palms traced across the soft skin beneath them and moved slowly inward. Anna turned her head to the side and moaned as his fingers dipped against her sex, teasing. She was drenched from the prospect of such a careless coupling.
"Naughty little vixen," he purred, the sound deep and rumbling. Anna's hips rose just slightly to meet his fingers, and Nate obliged her. His index finger traced along her and teased her clit, sending pulsing pleasure through her core. More than ever she wanted to explore the bulge beneath his jeans.
The finger moved in skillful circles, grazing against her with varying pressures. Thoughts of Gabriel faded from her mind as Nate worked her body over, drowning her in sensation. Soon Anna couldn't keep still, and she twisted against the hood of the car with need. Had Nate not been holding her wrists down with one hand, she would have tried to pull him atop her.
"I can't take it," Anna breathed. Nate's fingers played with her, driving her past desire and into need. "I need you. I want it so badly."
Nate smirked and drew her up by her wrists until she stood on both feet. The shredded nylon's he'd pulled down to her knees bound her, and the skirt of her dress fell back into place to preserve her modesty. Anna felt dizzy and weightless, but more than anything she felt alive.
"When I'm through with you," Nate boasted, "you're not going to be able to walk."
He turned her around and laid her back against the hood of the car again, this time so that she was on her stomach. His hands pulled back her skirt, and she felt the heavier ruffling of jeans and the clack of a descending zipper. Moments later Nate's thick shaft trailed across her slick sex, coating itself in her secretions. All Anna could do was tense and lift her ass for him, desperate for it.
Nate didn't waste time. He took her rough, the swollen head of his cock burying itself inside of her and pushing deep. Anna cried out, both hands flat against the hood of the car. Nate's thick member was too big for her tight slit, and it felt like he was tearing her in two.
"Oh my god," Anna cried, too stuffed to try to move back against him.
"You're tight," Nate grunted, his hips pulling back for the first time. The traction between their bodies forced a moan from Anna's lips. Nate felt fantastic; with a cock as big as his, he didn't have to try very hard to hit her in the right spot.
The rhythm increased in speed until he was driving himself into her with abandon. Anna breathed hard, letting her cheek press against the painted hood. Behind her she heard Nate's uneven inhalations and the occasional grunt. The smell of grease and sweat and sex filled the garage.
"I'm going to cum inside of you, Anna," Nate warned her. His thrusts were wild and insistent, each one burying him deep inside of her to flirt with her cervix. "I want to make your sweet little body mine."
So many rules were being broken tonight. Anna had never been boy crazy, and had never had sex for the thrill of it. Now here she was, in a garage she'd happened to coast into, bent over the hood of a car by a complete stranger. Granted, he was one of the most handsome men she'd ever seen, but it was no excuse. She used to be so much more dependable than this.
And now she was going to let him cum inside of her, unprotected. Anna hadn't been on birth control since she'd broken up with her last boyfriend several years back, and she knew her womb was fertile for him. If she let him cum the consequences could be dire, but she couldn't refuse Nate and found her wanting it just as much as he did.
"Cum deep," she pleaded, grinding her ass back against him. Jittering, addicting pleasure shot up her spine and heated her sex as she gave into him, begging him to breed her. Orgasm was so close, and if he just gave her that much more, if he just delivered on his promise and came inside of her recklessly...
"Here it is," he said through gritted teeth. The thrusts had grown shallower, but they were still forceful. Each one of them pushed the head of his cock deep inside her, seeking to invade her as thoroughly as it could. "Oh fuck, here it is. You'd better take it all."
Nate's hands gripped at her waist and pinned her down as he thrust one final time. The thick cock that had threatened to split her apart bottomed out inside of her, and Anna felt his hot seed fill her. Nate grunted and rutted, pushing what he'd already given her deeper while adding more to join it. Each pulse delivered a fresh strand of seed, and Anna felt every twitch. It brought her over the edge.
With a prolonged moan and a shudder, Anna found her release. Her sex trembled, walls tightening and fluttering against his cock as she milked him. The pleasure was outstanding, and Anna lost herself to it. She'd needed this to get over Gabriel. She'd needed this to let go of her inhibitions.
Nate lowered himself across her back and breathed in the scent of her skin deeply as she calmed. Then, after a moment's pause, he drew out from her and pulled his pants back up.
"Well," he announced, "I think I can take a quick look at what's wrong with your vehicle. Might cost you a little extra if I need to do any work on it."
Anna looked over her shoulder at him, unable to hold back a smirk.
"I think we might be able to arrange payment," she replied.
He lifted a brow, tore the white rag from his back pocket to wipe his hands, then got to work.
Chapter Four
That night Nate took her three more times, and it wasn't until early morning when he finished the car repairs. With little time to spare before work, Anna left the garage and sped home. A quick shower and a change of clothes was all she had time for, and she arrived at the studio only five minutes late. As always, it looked as though Gabriel had been working for hours. The block of marble had started to take shape, and she could make out the rough outline of a figure from amongst the stone.
"Anna," he greeted her when she entered, "you must be tired after last night. I can't say I blame you, but don't make coming in late a habit. I am still your boss."
Gabriel didn't know the half of it. Half of her felt guilty, but the other half felt satisfied. Anna grinned and shook off a laugh, starting to tend to the discarded marble as had become routine. And yet, as the day wore on, Gabriel started to slip under her skin again. The smooth timbre of his voice, his impressive physique, and his talent wooed her. She knew he wasn't looking for anything serious, but Anna found herself fostering feelings for him all over again.
By the time Thursday rolled around, it was as though she'd never liberated herself that night with Nate at all. Anna was caught back up in Gabriel's web, impressed by everything he did and blushing at his compliments. Where Nate was animalistic and brash, Gabriel was subtle and sweet, and he knew exactly what to say to make her laugh and smile.
When the poetry reading was over, she found herself leaving her car behind to sit beside Gabriel in the passenger seat of his ride, and in the advanced hours of the night they rose together up a flight of apartment stairs and into his small dwelling.
The place was clean and well decorated, the artwork likely of Gabriel's own make — not that she was able to see much of it. When the door closed behind them Gabriel turned to face her, and Anna found herself very close to the tall, breathtaking artist.
"Every time I'm out with you," Gabriel whispered, his words only for her once more. Anna's lungs tightened, and she struggled to catch her breath, "you glow. I've never seen a woman so beautiful."
From any other man's lips, Anna would have doubted it. From Gabriel's lips the words were embodiments of truth. Her cheeks lit and her eyes dropped. Guilt over Nate still clouded her conscious, but Gabriel hadn't asked her to stay faithful. As her gaze dropped, Gabriel lifted her chin with a curled finger and looked into her eyes. They looked at each other in silence for a few seconds, the atmosphere thickening between them, before Gabriel leaned in and kissed her again. This time Anna was able to appreciate his touch. His lips were soft and thoughtful, directing their pleasure to leave her hungry for more.
"Why don't we get more comfortable?" Gabriel asked, taking her hand in his. They walked down the short entranceway and passed through a doorway on the left. Within was a bedroom, small but cozy enough for two. One moment Anna stood before the foot of the bed, and the next she lay upon it. With gentle dominance Gabriel had pushed her down, and now he straddled her hips, his dark eyes gazing down into hers.
"Come with me to my exhibition at the end of the semester," he said. Their noses were so close they nearly brushed. Anna felt heat stir inside of her. "I want to display some of your art there. I want the world to see your brilliance like I do."
It was a lot to take in. Anna's eyes widened just slightly, but before she could reply Gabriel had claimed her lips again. The kiss was harder now, his lust transparent in it. Not only did he think she was attractive, but he also thought she was talented. One of the most talented artists in the state thought she had a chance and wanted to display her work alongside his own. Anna closed her eyes and kissed back with enthusiasm.
Gabriel's hand traced her side, savoring her curves. There was tender affection in the way he moved that Nate had never shown her. When the hand arrived near her breast, Gabriel stopped.
"Do you want to share this with me?" he asked. Anna knew that if she said yes that nothing would change, that Italy was still in his future. Gabriel had bigger ambitions than a cute, curvy artist who was a little more than okay. Nothing she did could change the fame that waited for him, and even had she been able to hold him back, Anna never would have wanted to. Given the chance, Gabriel would have the world eating out of his hand. She wouldn't ever take that away from him. But even though Gabriel couldn't give her a forever, she knew she'd never forgive herself if she stopped now.
"I do," she whispered back. He smiled, and then his hands were upon her. Each touch was electric, and for as much as she had lusted after Nate, now she pined for Gabriel. Thoughtful and affectionate, he roused her passion before he continued. The buildup was slow, but it was worth it. Almost an hour passed between the time he'd laid her upon the bed and the time all of their clothes lay on the floor, but by then Anna had never wanted anyone as much as she wanted Gabriel.
"Take me," she bade him. Nestled amongst his sheets, breathing in his woodsy scent, in that moment Anna could pretend that she was his. What a beautiful dream it was. When Gabriel did part her thighs and his sizable shaft plunged deep into her, the dream felt more real than ever.
Hours felt like minutes. Just like in the studio and while he performed on stage, time warped around Gabriel and left Anna without her bearings. The first time he came inside of her they were both too caught up in the other's body to care. The second time Gabriel had enough sense to ask her permission, which Anna gladly gave him. Gabriel bred her womb full of his seed until the early hours of the morning when both of them were too exhausted to stay awake, and then again when they both awoke. By the time Anna left that afternoon, she'd never felt more whole and complete.
Only the man who made her feel that way wasn't hers to keep.
The rest of the semester progressed in a similar fashion. Gabriel wouldn't commit, and at times the thought drew Anna into Nate's arms for comfort. When she was strong and Gabriel enchanted her, she would spend the night in his apartment making love. As Gabriel's exhibition loomed near, Anna distanced herself from Nate and focused on Gabriel and the art to be arranged. He'd carved a series of breathtaking sculptures for display, and it was her job to make sure transport and set up was done correctly. If only she wasn't feeling so sick.
Two weeks of nausea left Anna crippled, and it was only when the tracking app she used reminded her the night before the exhibition that her period should have started that Anna realized it hadn't. A panicked trip to the pharmacy followed by the most gut wrenching trip to the bathroom she'd had to date followed, and when the three minutes it took for the test to display results was over, Anna couldn't believe what she saw.
Two bright pink lines. Pregnant.
Neither Nate nor Gabriel had used protection, as caught up in the moment as they always were. Now Anna had no idea who had fathered the life she carried.
It was hard to sleep that night, and when Anna arrived on scene at the studio to pack the sculptures for the exhibition, she couldn't bring herself to look or speak to Gabriel. The chance that she might have ruined his life by getting pregnant weighed heavily upon her, and even when he pestered her about her unusual silence, Anna couldn't bring herself to tell him. When the time was right he would know, but that time was not now. Not right before his big show.
Almost a hundred guests had gathered at the venue. Anna, clad in a sparkling black gown, had seen each sculpture set up and had occupied a corner of the room with her own art. Influential art critics and bloggers wandered piece to piece, and Gabriel's professors were on scene to assess his progress. Every face was distinguished, either young and haughty, or old and wizened. Then, amongst a sea of refined artists, a face she'd never thought she'd see at an upscale event appeared.
Nate.
He looked uncomfortable in his suit and tie; higher class did not suit him. Black grime still stuck beneath his fingernails, and Anna remarked a streak of it near his ear. He navigated the salon with purpose, and struck Gabriel upon the back with playful affection. Gabriel turned to look at him and grinned, and the two embraced.
What was happening?
Anna watched them from across the room as they chatted, then Gabriel gestured in her direction, and both men turned to face her. Nate's eyes flashed with recognition as he took her in, and he turned sharply towards Gabriel and grabbed him by the lapel. There was no mistaking the hostility in his gesture, and the breath caught in Anna's throat. She'd been found out.
The floor was swarming with men in suits and women in beautiful gowns, but through the masses Anna could see Gabriel shove Nate away, his eyes narrowing in anger. How did someone as refined as Gabriel know someone as crass and unsophisticated as Nate? As Anna pushed her way through the crowd, determined to break them up, she tried to piece it together.
Nate swung his fist right at Gabriel's face, but Gabriel caught his hand with his palm and clenched down, drawing Nate through the crowd and towards the back doors. They were going outside. They were going to fight in earnest. Anna's heart raced, every part of her trembling as she tore through the guests she had been tasked with directing. Gabriel and Nate were fighting over her, and neither of them knew her secret.
Both men burst through the back doors, Nate shoving Gabriel from behind so that he stumbled across the pavement. Then the doors closed, and Anna could no longer track them. The stretch she ran between where she stood and the back doors took an eternity, and when she finally followed them into the deserted back space behind the venue, Nate and Gabriel were gone. Instead, Anna found herself standing not even ten feet away from two towering, snarling brown bears.
At nearly seven feet tall, they were formidable creatures. Each had risen upon his back feet. One of the bears had grappled the other, his mighty paws sunk into his opponent's back. The victim's head was locked between the aggressor's arms, but he had not given up. The throaty sounds he made were aggressive and fearful, and Anna stopped dead in her tracks. Bears? Where had bears come from? A terrified squeak escaped her lips, and she clasped her hand over her mouth to quell it. It was enough to catch the bears' attention.
Everything grew still, both beasts frozen. The bear who had the advantage on his opponent fixed his eyes on her, and Anna noticed the warm amber flecked across them. She'd seen those eyes before.
"Nate?" she asked as the hand dropped from her mouth. She swallowed hard. "Oh my god, is that you, Nate? And... And Gabriel? Please don't fight. Not over me. I'm not worth it."
The bear with the amber flecked eyes loosened his grip, and the bear beneath him reared away. Both of them dropped to all fours, and both turned to look at her. There was silence. If these bears really were the men she had involved herself with, Anna needed to come clean. Maybe this way they could back out and fade out of her life without having to commit to a break up — not that she was official with either of them. Neither man wanted commitment, only a good time.
"I slept with both of you," she told them. Dark, unblinking eyes watched her, neither bear making a move. "Neither of you ever wanted anything serious, and I... I didn't think it was wrong. I didn't think that you knew each other. If I knew you were friends I wouldn't have done it. But now we have bigger problems."
A sob had been building up, and as she inhaled deeply to ground herself it rattled her breath. The darker eyed bear took a small step towards her, and she could see concern in his eyes.
"It's so stupid," she whispered in sorrow, "talking to bears like they could actually be people. Maybe you'll just maul me and that'll be the end of it. Neither of you deserve this. Neither of you asked for this. I'm pregnant. I'm pregnant, and I don't know which one of you is the father."
The sobs could be held back no longer. Anna started to cry, each heavy outburst ugly. The makeup ran from her eyes, and she knew shameful red blotched her cheeks. The darker eyed bear disappeared, and Gabriel stood in his place. He was naked and disheveled, but otherwise intact. Without wasting a second he crossed the distance between them and pulled Anna into his arms, setting one hand on the back of her head to comfort her. The bear with amber eyes lingered where he had been, watching the two of them.
"You're okay," Gabriel whispered into her hair as she sobbed. At that moment, learning that Gabriel was also a bear didn't matter. All Anna cared for was the feel of his skin against hers, and how soothing it felt to be with him. "We're okay. I'm here for you. We're going to get through this together."
Together. Together was all she'd ever wanted. Anna sobbed against his bare chest, arms wrapped around his neck.
"I'm not leaving you to raise a bear shifter baby on your own. No matter who fathered that baby, Kempton blood runs through his veins. I'm ready to step up."
Kempton blood. Even as she sobbed, the pieces started to lock into place. Nate was at the art show because he knew Gabriel, and he was obliged to come because they were brothers. They had to be. United by a last name, sharing the same strange shifter genes, somehow she'd stumbled into both of their lives without realizing the bond that linked them.
Behind them Nate had shifted back into his human form. The suits they'd worn had been discarded in haste to the side of the door, and he moved to the mess to dress slowly.
"I don't do relationships," Nate said, voice like stone, "I don't do babies. If you leave me out of this, I'll do my part and end contact. If you need financial support I'll man up, but I'm not ready to commit. This one's on you, Gabe."
Gabriel shot Nate a look over his shoulder, eyes narrowed. Still, he ran his fingers through Anna's hair and held her as the sobs simmered into nothing.
"She's mine now," Gabriel warned his brother, something near a growl in his voice. "The mother of my child, and the children to come. If you touch her, I won't hesitate to take you on again. I will fight to the death to defend my family, Nate. No more games."
The thought occurred to her, no matter how brief, that the first night she'd coasted into the garage and met Nate that he might have been able to smell Gabriel on her with his bear senses. Had his involvement with her all been a game? Anna didn't let herself consider it too deeply; what Gabriel had said was much more important.
"Mate?" she asked. "Children to come? What about Italy? You have so much potential, and I can't ask you to give it up for me."
"We will figure it out together," Gabriel assured her, pressing a soft kiss to her temple. Nate had dressed, and now that he was fully clothed, he ducked by them and entered the venue as if nothing had ever happened. "Maybe we'll go together, as a family. You, me, and the baby in a vineyard in the country. What do you think of that?"
Sunshine and simple living. Laughter and love. Anna blinked away the last tears and managed to smile at him.
"You mean it?”
"With all my heart," Gabriel assured her, and Anna had always known his words to be true.
Italy wasn't his future anymore — it was their future. And there in Gabriel's arms, adored and valued, Anna knew that all of the poor choices she'd made had turned out for the best. The heart of the talented bear shifter was hers and hers alone. She'd walked into Gabriel's life expecting an internship, and instead she'd found the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.
Despite the hardships suffered, she wouldn't trade him for anything.
*****
THE END
Weekend with the Bear
“You had plenty money in 1922…You let other women make a fool of you. Why don’t you do right? Like some other men do?” Ursula Blake sang her heart out night after night at the Big Dipper nightclub in Silver Lake. She was five foot six with long, red hair that was curled like a ‘70s TV starlet. Her eyes were a purplish blue. At twenty-six years old, she was well on her way to gaining a loyal following at the club. She was hoping to really make a name for herself and make it big as a jazz and soul singer, but so far the only thing big about her was her size.
Ursula weighed two hundred and forty pounds. This usually did not get to her, because she didn’t allow it to, but it was hard to ignore some of the looks she received from people as she came onto the stage. People in LA were varying levels of rude, but they were all judgmental in some way towards her.
It wasn’t all bad, though. She had the support of her boyfriend Wesley, who came to see her performances and sat at a table in the front row, smiling up at her every night. He was tall and handsome, with sandy hair and hazel eyes. As long as she had him, she would be okay.
After the light applause at the end of her set, she stepped down off the stage and joined him at the table. He gave her a kiss and helped her into her seat, but he did not sit beside her. Something was amiss. She could feel it in the way he was looking at her.
“I have to go,” he told her. “This… This isn’t going to work out.”
Ursula felt like something was breaking inside of her. “What? What are you talking about?”
He sighed, looking down at her now instead of up when she was in the spotlight. “I’ve met someone. It’s not you, it’s me… I feel like we’ve been moving in different directions for a while now.”
Her head was reeling. How could he be doing this to her now? Right there where she worked and everything? She felt like everyone was staring at them and listening in.
“I’m sorry, Ursula,” Wesley said.
Shaking his head, he walked away from her and was gone. Ursula could feel the pounding of her heartbeat in her ears. She felt like she could faint at any moment. She could not be there anymore.
The table was prepared for a meal for two. When the waiter came and asked what she wanted, she stared at him numbly. “I’m sorry,” she said shakily. “I’m not staying, actually.”
Doing her best to stay upright, Ursula removed her silver high-heeled shoes and walked back to her dressing room. Once inside, she closed the door and allowed the waterworks to start.
The icing on the rotten cake for her was that Wesley had chosen to dump her at the Big Dipper and not at their apartment or something. Sure, it still would have hurt anywhere, but the Big Dipper club was her home. He was moved out of the apartment that they’d shared for four years by the time she got home that night, and she was somewhat relieved that she hadn’t been sent out on her ass. Now that her hurt and sadness had passed, she was mad at Wesley. He had given up on her and had found someone else. After everything they’d been through, all of the love and support he’d claimed to have for her…That liar. That untrustworthy, two-timing bastard!
Ursula lay on her bed and cried, hugging a plush cat to her face. Then she realized that Wesley had given her that cat and threw it across the room in angry frustration.
She was not going to give up just because of him. She was going to go right back to the club tomorrow and belt out her soul like she always did. She didn’t need Wesley King. She didn’t need anybody.
Walking onto the stage the following evening, her shimmering purple dress catching the light in all of the right places, Ursula felt beautiful in her own skin for the first time in a while. A weight had been lifted. She could do this on her own. She could be her own support.
“They say I’m crazy, got no sense… but I don’t care…”
As she sang, she paced around the stage like a tiger on the prowl. She caught the eye of a mysterious young man that she hadn’t seen at the club before. He winked at her and she blushed a little but did not otherwise skip a beat.
Her song was met with loud applause at the end. Ursula looked out at the small crowd of people sitting down at the tables, surprised and delighted at their response. Then she realized that the loudest and biggest amount of applause was coming from the new fan of hers.
At the end of her set, she went back into her dressing room and touched up her hair and makeup, preparing herself to go out and try and talk to the young man who had aroused her curiosity. However, when she went back out, he was no longer at his table.
Disappointed at that missed opportunity, she went to the bar and ordered herself a gin and tonic. “That young man who was here,” she asked the bartender. “Who was he?”
She suspected that he was perhaps a talent scout. Then again, she always suspected new people like that were talent scouts. She supposed she was just optimistic that way.
The bartender shrugged his shoulders. “Probably just the usual Silver Lake hipster type,” he said. “We get a lot of those on Saturday nights. He didn’t even order himself a drink.”
Odd. “Huh,” she said. “Maybe he saw my flyer or something.”
Ursula promoted herself well by tacking and taping flyers about her performances all over town. Anyone who was interested in listening to old timey jazz standards while drinking cheap beer and eating burgers could definitely be happy at the Big Dipper on Saturdays.
On Saturdays, beer was half off.
When she went back to her dressing room to change out of her sparkly costume, Ursula saw that an envelope had been placed on her dressing table. “Weird,” she said under her breath, stepping out of her dress. “I don’t usually get mail at work.”
She tossed the dress into the laundry bin and walked to her dresser, wearing only her bra, panties and tights. She picked up the envelope. It was kind of big, but thin and it was manila which made her think it was important. Upon opening it, she found a letter proclaiming her a winner.
“Congratulations!” the letter said in a big, red font. “You have won the Black Bear Inn Sweepstakes! Enclosed is your ticket for one week’s all-paid vacation at the Black Bear Inn, located beside Lake Tahoe. Enjoy boating on the water, hiking the wondrous mountain trails, or gambling at our world-renowned casinos.”
Ursula checked the date on the plane ticket. The flight would take her there in two days! Whoever was in charge of this sweepstakes didn’t waste time. The problem was that Ursula hadn’t entered any sweepstakes. There must have been some mistake.
But that was her name on the envelope. Ursula Blake. That was the address of the Big Dipper club. Someone had clearly entered the sweepstakes on her behalf. She wasn’t sure it was a good idea, but then again with the way things had been going for her lately… She could definitely use the vacation.
As soon as she got hope, she went to work packing her suitcase. She hadn’t been on an airplane in years. The tight space of the seats was usually a problem for her, especially when flying without any of her friends or family, but she could make do on the hour and a half long flight to Lake Tahoe.
Now that she was packing for the trip, she was excited about it. She’d never been on a vacation like it before. She wasn’t really into boating, but she loved waterfront views as well as mountain views. It was one of the things that had drawn her to living on the west coast in the first place. Oh, sure, there were mountains on the east coast, too, but there weren’t many in Delaware. The Shenandoah mountain range was nothing compared to the Sierra Nevada.
Taking a week off from work was no problem for her. The club paid her per performance set, so Ursula figured she could make up for lost time later. This was, after all, a once in a lifetime opportunity.
While she was waiting for her plane, Ursula read a book and did her best not to notice the gazes that were cast her way. When the stares came from children, she could be somewhat understanding, but when adults gaped she felt justified in her annoyance. Two hundred and forty pounds was not that bad. It was overweight and unhealthy, but it wasn’t like she didn’t know she was those things.
“I get this a lot,” she said to an older man who was watching her on her left. “No, I’m not Emma Stone.”
“More like seventeen stone,” he muttered under his breath.
This was going to be a long flight.
After making her way through the uncomfortably tight aisle of the plane, she squished herself into the middle seat somehow. Great, she thought. It just had to be the middle seat, didn’t it?
The flight wouldn’t be long enough for a movie or even a meal, really, so she sat back and got as comfortable as she could, reading her book and munching on the free salty snack. As the plane began it’s slow, featherlike decent before landing, Ursula glanced over at the window and saw a spectacular view of the mountains. They looked like a velvety quilt! They didn’t even look real to her. And the water! So blue!
Grinning a bit, she closed her book and put it back into her carry-on. She was going to enjoy this random vacation for all that it was worth. Maybe she would even go out on a boat. Why not? It’s not like she had any reason not to try new things. She didn’t really believe in destiny or anything like that, but someone clearly believed in her.
She slowly made her way back through the plane’s aisle, waiting for her ears to fully pop back into normal. Once she got to the baggage claim and retrieved her rolling suitcase, she was +on her way! The taxi ride to the lakeside cabin was thankfully short, and the view outside the windows helped to make the trip feel even shorter.
The concierge at the Black Bear Inn was all smiles as she welcomed Ursula to Lake Tahoe and gave her the key to her personal cabin. As promised, it was right on the lake and big enough to keep a whole family comfortable. It had a large bedroom, a cute little living room area complete with a pull-out couch, fireplace, a kitchen and a hot tub. She felt like she was set for life there.
The only problem was that she was alone there. This lakeside cabin was romantic, and she was by her lonesome. Well, she had a book but books didn’t make good lovers. They were always ending before she was ready.
She changed into her bathing suit and one of the cozy mint green robes that had been supplied by the inn. Just as she was about to take a dip in the hot tub, there was a knock at the door. Ursula wasn’t used to room service coming to take her order in person, but she was beginning to feel peckish…
When she opened the door to her cabin, she blinked quickly. Never before had her room service been handled by a man quite so handsome. He was dressed all in black, except for some brown hiking boots, and he stood at least six feet tall with black hair and soulful, chestnut eyes.
“Ah,” the man said in a gruff, quiet voice. “You made it.”
Before Ursula could stop him or even react, he lumbered into the cabin. He looked around, not as if it was the first time he’d been there, but as though he was checking to make sure it still looked the same.
“I’m… sorry?” Ursula asked. “Who are you?”
“I’ve been expecting you,” he said, his hushed words somehow managing to almost cut her off. He seemed strangely familiar.
She narrowed her eyes at him and then it hit her. “You’re the guy from the club the other night! How did you know I’d be coming here?”
The man let out a dark laugh. “I invited you here.”
The sweepstakes! “So I didn’t win anything?” Ursula sunk down onto the sofa.
Slowly, the man sat beside her, keeping his distance but still close enough to make her skin go all prickly and her face grow hot. Part of her wanted to run, to flee the place… But when she looked at him, she remembered how enthusiastic he had been about her while she performed. He’d seemed like the only one who was actually listening to her.
“I didn’t say you didn’t win anything,” he said, smirking a little at her. He was big and muscular, but he was much less scary when he smiled like that. “You’ve won a week here with me in my lodge.”
Ursula pulled her robe closed over her chest. She was wearing a bathing suit underneath, but the way he was looking at her with those hungry eyes of his, she might as well have been naked. “This is your house?”
The young man nodded. “I own the Black Bear Inn. I invited you here to stay with me, but I didn’t think you’d actually come unless I made things more… luck based, I guess you could say. Do you like it here so far? I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you arrived. I had some important business to take care of this morning.”
She blinked at him, not entirely sure how to respond. “It’s nice here,” she finally said, choosing her words carefully. “Who are you?”
“You surely know who I am, Ursula,” he replied.
Her eyes widened. He knew her name!
Then she remembered the flyers she posted all over town. He’d seen her name on the flyers or at the show. That’s all it was.
“I am a huge fan of yours,” he went on. “I have only seen you perform twice, but your voice is as beautiful as softly falling snow to my ears. It’s rare to find such beauty around here where no one is really their true selves…”
Ursula highly doubted that he wanted her there because he found her beautiful. Even if he wanted to bone her, she didn’t think it was because he believed her to be particularly attractive. She was just there. Had Wesley made her this cynical?
“But, huge fan, what’s your name?” she asked him, becoming frustrated at his answers that weren’t really answers. “I’m not just going to call you ‘guy’ for a week. Unless your name is Guy.”
He chuckled deeply, making the back of the sofa rumble against her. “My name is John Asher.”
She gave him a look, considering the situation. This had the potential to be very bad for her. But there was also a chance… “Well, John Asher, I was just going to get into the hot tub. Would you care to join me?”
“I would be happy to,” he replied. “You go ahead and I’ll be right back.”
Before she could say anything, he was off the sofa and headed into the bedroom.
Ursula then realized something: there was only one bedroom and only one bed. And she did not think either of them would be sleeping on the couch.
Biting her bottom lip in a brief moment of hesitation, she looked back at the tall, wooden front door to the cabin. She could easily slip out while he was in the room doing god knew what. She could run out and hail a cab and be away from there before he knew it. But something held her there. Something made her remove her robe and slowly sink into the hot, bubbling water.
John Asher appeared in the doorway like an apparition. He was now clad in some black swim shorts. His lean, muscular frame lent itself well to bathing suits. There were some long, white scars on his torso that were concerning, but even they attracted her more than scared her.
Under the water, Ursula pinched herself to make sure she hadn’t fallen asleep while reading or something. John Asher smirked again at her and stepped into the water. “You seem to be afraid,” he said in a growly voice. “You shouldn’t be. You’re safe here with me.”
All at once, he had his strong arms wrapped around her. Because he was so tall, he could easily envelope her. She found herself petting the black hair on his arms before stopping herself and looking up into his eyes.
“Why?” she whispered. “Why me?”
Leaning down towards her face, he kissed her, letting his tongue lightly brush against her tongue. He enveloped her with his mouth just as he enveloped her with his arms. She kissed him back fervently, no longer wanting to question, just wanting more of him.
When he broke away from the kiss, she bit her bottom lip, wishing he wouldn’t break away.
“Why not you?” he whispered back, rubbing the end of his long nose against the tip of her nose.
Glancing up at the skylight above their hot tub, John then climbed out and wrapped a towel around himself, offering the other to her. “Would you like me to make you some tea?” he asked. “It gets pretty chilly here at night.”
Still dazed from their unexpected kiss, Ursula shook her head and carefully rose from the tub. He gave her his hand and helped her out before she quickly wrapped the towel around herself. She was wearing a purple bikini and, had she been alone, she would have been perfectly fine with that, but she felt body conscious now that she had such appealing company. One look at her bulging middle and it could be all over for them.
Despite Ursula’s unease, John didn’t notice or care. He continued to smile at her as if she was a goddess that had been sent to him. He led her into the kitchen and she sat down at the counter while he put some water into a kettle and put the kettle on the stove. He was dexterous and moved so fluidly. If he hadn’t been so massive and so brawny-looking, she might have asked if he was some kind of dancer.
He noticed that she was shivering and got her robe from the back of a chair where she had dropped it. He wrapped it loosely around her shoulders and then went back into the bedroom, returning a moment later dressed again in his black shirt and black jeans. He attended to the tea, placing a bag into each of the two mugs he had set out.
“So, since you seem to know everything there is to know about me,” Ursula said. “What’s your story? What brought you to that little club to see little ol’ me?”
The kettle whistled and so did John. He looked at her, shaking his head a little bit. “There are volumes and volumes to you, Ursula. I could never begin to know everything there is to know about you. I just know that you have ensnared me…”
He poured the steaming water into each mug and set the kettle back down. He placed one of the mugs on the counter in front of her. The rising scent was blissful, calming. It almost smelled like liquid flowers.
“There are things about me that I cannot tell you,” he said suddenly, looking at her as he held his own mug to his lips. “Not yet, anyway. I am from around here. My father was a lumberjack. He built the inn and, in fact, this cabin. He was a good man. Misunderstood, but a good man…”
Ursula raised her eyebrows at him. “What happened to him?”
“He died,” John said. “Like all men, he died… But I have taken his place here. I went to Los Angeles because I was interested in seeing this Silver Lake that I’d heard so much about. I love the waters of California. There’s something about them that’s so earthy, you know what I mean? We are not so developed here as the bodies of water you can find elsewhere.”
She took a sip of her tea. It tasted like flowers, too. “What brought you to my show?”
He smiled at her. “I like singers. They calm me down.”
As soon as he finished his tea, he looked at the clock on the stove. The afternoon was slowly slipping into sunset as though it was not ready to go to bed yet.
“I must go,” he said. He came towards Ursula and gave her a kiss. It was fleeting, unlike the last one, but just as mesmerizing. “I will be back tonight. Wait for me.”
Shaking her head slowly, she smiled. “I will be here. Where would I go?”
He put his hiking boots back on and tied them tightly, sitting on the floor as he did so. “You may go into the lake or explore along the grounds of the inn.” He stood up and looked her in the eyes. “But you must not go into the mountains in the evening or in the early morning. Promise me.”
She smiled a little, confused. “Well, I wasn’t planning to—”
“Promise me!”
“Okay,” she said. “I promise.”
He smirked that smirk again. “Good girl.”
With that, he opened the door to the cabin and was gone, closing the door behind him.
Ursula stood up quickly and went to the door, locking it and pulling on it to make sure the lock held fast. If this was John Asher’s cabin, why didn’t he have keys for it? She noticed, too, that he wasn’t wearing a jacket or a coat, even though the temperature was going down considerably now that the sunlight was fading.
Her host was a strange young man. He was clearly infatuated with her, and she did not understand why or how. Ursula supposed that she had a certain prettiness about her, but she didn’t think that it would spawn this sort of adoration.
The fact that he had essentially tricked her into going to Lake Tahoe and staying in his house with him was a problem that she would need to address. She was glad to have the vacation and the place to stay, but there was so far little that separated his actions from those of a serial killer. She would have to check in at the inn and see if she could find out more about him from someone other than John Asher himself.
This little adventure of hers was definitely more interesting than anything she had experienced before. Her ex-boyfriend Wesley could only wish that he’d be this exciting. But still, Ursula felt unsure about what John wanted from her. She imagined, given that there was only one bed in this place, that he would be sleeping in it with her. It spooked her a bit, how okay she was with that…
He was sexy and mysterious, but she still was not sure if she could trust him or if she should be afraid.
True to her promise, Ursula stayed near the cabin instead of venturing off into the mountain wilderness. She was not a big hiker anyway. Climbing uphill drained her energy, and she had not come on this vacation in order to tire herself out. Instead, she got dressed in a pretty turquois turtleneck and some jeans and walked to the Black Bear Inn. It was not a very long walk, but she didn’t remember it being as winding and difficult to navigate as it was. She blamed it on the impending darkness. Twilight hung in the air, making it just difficult enough to be unable to fully see which direction was the right one.
When she finally made it inside the inn, she was hugging herself because the temperatures in the Sierra Nevada were definitely cooler than she expected. John had been correct about that. She walked up to the girl at the desk, who smiled at her in greeting.
“Welcome to the Black Bear Inn,” the concierge said cheerfully. “How may I help you?”
“Hi, I’m Ursula Blake. I’m staying in the cabin a little ways from here. I’m John Asher’s guest.”
The girl’s eyes widened a little, but then they went back to normal as though she had rehearsed it many times. “Oh, I see. Well, is there something you need?”
Ursula shook her head. “No, not really. I was just wondering if you could maybe tell me a little bit about him. He said he’s the owner of this place.”
The concierge appeared uncomfortable. “Let me get my manager. She can probably give you more and better information than I can.” With that, she went into the back room.
Ursula busied herself by picking up one of the inn’s business cards as well as a brochure. It would be a good idea to plan out some of the things she was interested in doing while at Lake Tahoe. Nothing was preventing her from enjoying herself there, apart from the feeling that something was not completely right about the place or her host.
A few minutes later, the lady she had seen at the counter before came out of the back office. She beamed at Ursula. “Hello again,” she said. “I understand you have some questions about Mr. Asher?”
Nodding, Ursula slipped the business card and brochure into the back pocket of her jeans. The inn’s manager gestured for Ursula to follow her and led her to the lounge area of the inn’s lobby. She sat on the large, green couch and Ursula sat beside her.
“Mr. Asher is the son of Howard Asher, who founded this inn and the recreation activities that it offers,” the manager said. “The senior Mr. Asher died about ten years ago, leaving the inn and everything in the junior Mr. Asher’s hands. He lives in the cabin you’re in and makes sure that everything is going accordingly. He’s a… strange man, but from all the time I’ve spent around him, I know he is kind and a good person to know.”
Ursula listened attentively, nodding a little when the lady mentioned that he was strange. That was for sure. “He told me not to go on the mountain in the morning or the evening… Any idea why?”
A darkness seemed to pass over the manager’s face. She frowned slightly. Ursula got the feeling that she wasn’t supposed to notice that frown. “It is dangerous to go far into the forest when the sun is not up,” the manager said. “That is when the bear comes out.”
Something about the way she said that made Ursula gulp. “The bear?” she asked.
The manager nodded. “It’s best to stay indoors. He keeps to himself, most of the time, but if he sees you…”
“I think I get the message.” Ursula could understand why a bear catching sight of a human could be bad. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out. Why did they allow a bear to hang out around their tourist inn? “Is it the bear the inn is named after?”
The manager had to think about that for a second. “Yes and no,” she said. She got up from the couch and smoothed out her black business slacks. “I should be getting back to work now. Just please heed Mr. Asher’s advice. He is a good man. He just wants to keep you safe.”
She went back to the room behind the counter, whispering something in the concierge’s ear as she went past. The concierge looked frightened and glanced over at Ursula.
For her part, Ursula was starting to feel as though she was on one of those weird History Channel shows. Everyone at the Black Bear Inn was nice, but something about them was really starting to give her the creeps.
Going back to her room took even longer than the stroll to the inn had taken, and when she arrived back in her cabin she was careful to close and lock the door again. Ursula went to the fireplace and, lighting a match, set the logs ablaze. The expansive living room warmed up in no time.
She pulled the business card and brochure out of her back pocket. She set the card down on the table and opened up the brochure, flipping through the pages to see if there was anything that jumped out at her as a possible activity for her vacation. Apparently she could rent a fishing rod from the inn. She’d never been fishing before in her life.
The wind started to howl outside and she wondered what kept John. He hadn’t explained what he had to go do, and the manager hadn’t really explained what sort of things he did there. As far as Ursula knew, he was just the owner who helped keep things up and running. Hadn’t he said something about his dad being a lumberjack? Maybe he was a lumberjack too…
She could get used to the idea of hanging out with a sexy lumberjack. He just needed to get his ass back there and hang out with her. She’d be less worried about who he was if he’d stick around.
Sure enough, as soon as she’d settled into the couch with her book, there was a knock at the door. Why on earth did John not carry a key? Ursula got up and went to the door.
She pulled it open while debating in her mind about whether or not she should put on another layer. John lurched forward into the cabin and closed the door behind him. He looked disheveled, his shirt unbuttoned in odd places and his hair completely unkempt.
“It must be windier than I thought,” she said. “Why don’t you have a key to your cabin?”
He didn’t answer her but went straight to the kitchen. He turned the faucet and started drinking huge gulps of water from the sink. Ursula stood there with her arms folded in front of her chest.
So far, this weekend had been completely weird.
Suddenly, as quick as he’d gone to the sink, he was back in front of her, holding her in his arms. He brought his lips to hers and kissed her deeply. She dropped her arms to her sides, surprised, then brought them up to his back, gently rubbing and scratching at it as they kissed.
“I see you lit a fire,” he said in his gruff, husky voice. She’d almost forgotten how he sounded and now that she’d heard him speak again, she melted a little. He was sexy and mysterious and she was starting to really like it.
“I was getting chilly,” she explained. Her own voice came out quietly, almost as though she was timid.
“Let me warm you up,” he replied. He kissed her deeply again and effortlessly lifted her into his arms. Sexy, mysterious and strong. John carried her to the rug in front of the fireplace and laid her down on it, leaning himself over her as they kissed and ran their hands all over each other.
They went at the zippers of each other’s pants at the same time, which made Ursula giggle a little. He smirked back and pulled off her jeans, followed soon by her panties. She succeeded in removing his black jeans to discover that his cock was fully erect within his black boxers. Paying no mind to it for the moment, he lowered himself to her soft, wet spot between her legs and began to lick and kiss it.
“Ohhh,” she moaned. “Oh, my god…” Her back bucked off the floor as he made her cum. It didn’t take her long to do so, and she marveled at him as he pulled off his shirt then her turtleneck. He fondled her breasts for a moment, and then she grabbed the top of his boxers and yanked them down.
As if she had commanded him to do so, John got on top of her and thrust his big, lengthy cock into her. “Ahh!” she gasped as she felt him stretch her open. “Ffffuck yeah.” She licked her lips, looking into his haunting brown eyes.
John stared intently back at her as he moved within her, speeding up and slowing down, making her dizzy with anticipation and feelings she had never felt before. He made love to her like an animal, leaning down and biting her neck as he sped up his thrusting. She could feel him grunting against her skin. Gently, she ran her fingers over the scars on his torso. They were raised somewhat. She wondered, again, how he had gotten them. Maybe from rough sex…
Grabbing the clasp of her bra as he moved, he pulled it off of her and sucked at her left breast. Ursula ran her fingers through his black, messy hair. He smelled like fish and pine trees and the wild outdoors. He thrust himself deep inside of her and she screamed. “John! John, yes!!!”
Ursula wrapped her legs around him and John clamped his eyes shut, letting out a roar-like sound as he came inside her.
As soon as he had calmed down and got his breath and heartbeat back to normal, he pulled his penis out of her and walked into the kitchen.
She rolled over on the floor and watched him go. Her head was swimming. She couldn’t believe this was happening. As he stood there, naked and looking through the fridge, she admired the view of his ass. He even had a great, muscular butt. She wondered what the hell he did in his spare time. Surely he went to the gym or something…
Remembering that he’d just came inside of her, she went into the bathroom and cleaned herself up. “I hope you don’t have anything I need to worry about now,” she said loud enough for him to hear.
John smirked into the refrigerator, pulling out a beer for himself and one for her. She came back out and gasped a little, surprised to find him standing there waiting for her, holding the two bottles of beer.
“I’m not really a fan of beer,” she said. Thinking it over, she took a bottle anyway. “Oh, what the hell.”
They went back to the living room and collected their clothes. She was somewhat sad to see him put clothes back on, but it was chilly and she didn’t want either of them to end up with a cold. Once they were dressed again, they sat on the couch, cuddling and looking at the fire.
“Where do you go during the evening?” she asked. “The manager at the inn warned me about a bear that wanders around here. Be careful, okay?”
Something flickered in John’s eyes. Ursula didn’t know what to make of that. “I always do my best to be careful around here,” he said in his soft, growly voice. “But I’m not really the one that people think is going to get hurt.”
“Am I crazy or do all of you people talk in riddles?” she asked, smiling at him even though she was seriously getting frustrated and annoyed at the way no one seemed to really answer her questions.
John just chuckled. “Let’s go to bed now,” he said. “Tomorrow is when the fun starts.”
The following morning, Ursula woke up with a phenomenal headache. And, even worse, she felt nauseous. She looked at the clock and realized it was four thirty in the morning. But that didn’t stop her stomach from wanting to release its contents. Quickly, she got out of the bed and ran into the bathroom, throwing up into the toilet and feeling all kinds of confused and worried. When she was finished, she flushed and washed her hands, looking at herself in the mirror. She looked like a wreck. Is this what she always looked like early in the morning?
She turned away and started to leave, but then she caught her reflection again as she went to turn the bathroom light off.
No, no, no, this can’t be right! Her reflection made her appear as though she’d gained at least twenty pounds! That couldn’t happen overnight. She had been watching herself out there so far. She hadn’t been snacking or going overboard with desserts. Nothing like that. She knew she was obese and she was actually trying to use this vacation in the outdoors to fix that.
She went back into the bathroom and checked to see if there was any aspirin or anything. Thankfully, there was. She took some of it and then went back to the bedroom to question John about her appearance.
Only John wasn’t there. Had he been there when she woke up? She couldn’t remember… He hadn’t made a sound when she moved out of the bed, though.
As quickly as she could without feeling sick again, Ursula made her way to the front door of the cabin. Sure enough, it wasn’t locked. John had gone out without telling her. He was gone.
“Shit,” she said under her breath. “Will that boy ever take the key with him?”
Well, it was four forty-five in the morning, but because of her sudden illness and appearance, she definitely did not feel like sleeping. Instead, she bundled herself up in sweaters and coats and waddled out to the inn. She locked the door behind herself.
John could come and find her if he wanted to go back inside.
It was so dark that she had to be careful to stay on the winding path to the Black Bear Inn. When she finally got to it, she went in and warmed up by the concierge desk. No one was around. It was too early in the morning for breakfast. The sane people, who didn’t have to be awake there, weren’t.
Suddenly, the concierge came out of the back room. It was a different girl from the one she had seen there before, but this one seemed to know who Ursula was. The concierge shook her head at her. “Miss Blake, you really should not be here right now. You should not be out of bed.”
Then she noticed the extra bump of (Ursula’s presumed) fat around Miss Blake’s middle. Her eyes widened.
“Oh, you can explain this??” Ursula asked, her voice high-pitched and irritated. She did not want to be awake at this early hour. She did not want to be feeling sick and alone. She didn’t want to suddenly have a bump…
Her eyes became the size of saucers. She hadn’t gained weight from overeating. She had gained weight from…
No, it was impossible!
As quickly as she had come into the place, Ursula turned around and waddled back out into the cold dawn. She had to find a convenience store. A drug store. Anything that would sell pregnancy tests.
“Miss Blake!” she could hear the concierge screaming at her through the front door windows of the inn. “Please come back inside!”
Ursula ignored her advice and attempted to walk along a different trail. This one must lead to civilization. This whole area certainly couldn’t just be woods.
All of a sudden, up ahead, she heard a weird, moan-like noise. She looked up and saw the famous and apparently infamous black bear. He was a little too close for comfort, and he slowly came closer and closer. Knowing that making a lot of noise or running would excite the bear and make him try and chase her, she kept still and quiet, hoping he would just go away.
But he didn’t. He kept coming towards her. And the most bizarre thing was that, as he moved, he appeared to become progressively smaller and smaller. His face took on the characteristics of a human face, becoming more and more human as he walked. His claws turned into human fingers. His black fur melted away and soon he was a naked man walking towards her.
A tall, dark haired man. With light brown eyes.
John Asher.
“Oh, Jesus Christ,” Ursula said just before fainting.
When she awoke, the sun was shining brightly through the bedroom skylight. She was in bed again. At first, she wondered if it had all just been a crazy nightmare.
But then, when she sat up, she could feel the extra weight on her middle.
John was standing before her as well. He was dressed in black boxers. She could see some cuts and scrapes on his arms and chest to go along with the scars he already wore.
She let out a scream at the sight of him there, no longer a bear but somehow much more frightening.
He knelt beside her. “Shh, it’s okay.” He petted her long, auburn curls. “It’s okay. It’s just me.”
“It is not just you,” she said. “You—you were a bear! You were a bear out there!”
Sighing, John didn’t even try to lie about it. He just nodded. “What you saw is true, Ursula. I become a bear at dawn and dusk. Like my father before me.”
Ursula gasped and shrunk away from him. “And when were you going to tell me this??”
“As soon as the sun was in the sky.” He looked up at the skylight, then smiled at her. “Now.”
She scowled at him. “And can you explain this?” She lowered the sheets so he could see her swollen abdomen. “And don’t try to play games with me and tell me that ‘there’s just more to love’ or any of that bullshit. I was not this huge last night. I did not have this belly.” She brought her hands down to it and felt a sudden movement under her skin. “ARGH!!”
John’s smile ran away from his face. “Oh…” He sat on the bed and brought his hand to her belly as well. “Yeah, this was a possibility. Are you on the pill?”
She nodded, feeling tears fill her eyes.
“That won’t help when you mate with me,” he said by way of explanation. “The seed is strong. I should have told you that before, but then you wouldn’t have…”
“Oh, you think?!” Ursula started to cry. “I didn’t want any of this! What made you think that I would want any of this? I didn’t want to have a baby!”
John looked like he wanted to correct her and tell her it was technically a cub, but she glared at him, so he didn’t actually say anything.
Instead, he hugged her in his arms and petted her hair. “It’s going to be okay,” he told her. “I should have told you, but I was afraid that you would run away from me like all of the other women in my life. When I saw you at the club that night, I thought you would be different. I knew you were special.”
She wiped at the tears on her face, even though they were still falling. “Because I’m fat?” she asked. Something about the way she said it made John aware that this was something she had more or less felt her entire life, at least ever since she was old enough to feel as though ‘fat’ was a reason to not be loved by people…
“No, darling,” he said, rocking her a little in his arms. “Not because you’re fat. Because you are strong and confident. You are beautiful in all of the ways that matter, and you don’t see it. You are perfect, to me. I know this sounds sappy, especially after what you have witnessed and what you must be feeling right now. But it is the truth. I love you, Ursula Blake.”
How could she believe this man? Was he even a man? She didn’t know what he was, but she was drawn to him inexplicably and unavoidably. She didn’t know if he had some kind of black bear magic voodoo over her or what, but she was not running from him. In fact, when she saw the black bear coming towards her, the first person she thought of trying to run and find was him.
But the bear was him.
“Are you yourself, when you…?” She looked into his eyes. They were so calm and gentle looking. Had the bear had those same eyes, or had that been some trick of the early morning light?
John shook his head, then nodded slightly. “I am and I’m not,” he said. “It is best to not be around me when I’ve shifted. I can get very dangerous very fast. But I am myself in here.” He pointed at his head. “It’s just mixed up with all of these instincts and confusions.”
Ursula began to feel sorry for him and he sensed it.
“Please don’t pity me,” he said. “I am what I am.”
She brought her hand up and caressed his scruffy cheek. “You are,” she said. She brought her face close to his and kissed him softly on the lips. “I think I love you, too,” she whispered. “But I am also so frightened.”
He smiled his smirky sort of smile and rubbed his nose against hers. “You’re human; I wouldn’t expect you to not be frightened. But I promise it will be okay. I will keep you safe, just please heed my warning and stay indoors at dawn and dusk.”
Ursula nodded. Then the realization struck her again. “I’m going to have your baby…”
“Yes,” John said, stroking her belly with his fingertips and looking deeply into her eyes. “And that is another reason why it is so important for you to stay indoors.”
Boy, was she going to have a lot of explaining to do when she went back to The Big Dipper club… “What am I going to tell my boss?” she wondered aloud. “How am I ever going to explain this?”
John rose from the bed. “It’s simple,” he said. “Don’t go back. Stay here with me. You can sing in the inn’s lounge. People will love it.”
Ursula laughed. “Sing to who? The staff? I have hardly ever seen anyone else in that place.”
He shrugged. “So advertise. You’re good at that.” He smirked at her again and padded out to the kitchen. “Do you want anything?”
She carefully got out of the bed and followed him. She wasn’t going to be bound to her bed. “I feel like I could eat an entire restaurant right now, but I shouldn’t. I’ve already become a walrus. Look at me.”
“You are a mama bear,” he replied matter-of-factly. “But you will lose the excess weight once the baby is born. Which will be very soon. Do not fret about that.”
He chopped up a banana, an apple and an orange and put them into a blender along with some ice and a little bit of milk. She covered her ears while it worked to chop up the fruits even more and turn them into a smoothie.
After pouring half the blender’s contents into a glass, he passed it over to her. “Drink this. It will give you lots of vitamins and energy.”
Ursula drank it. It tasted delicious, but she shivered because it was cold and it wasn’t exactly warm inside their cabin. John noticed and went to the fireplace, quickly igniting the logs. He made a disapproving face and went into the bedroom, coming back out a few moments later in his dark jeans and a navy blue button up shirt that he neglected to button.
He went outside, to the side of the cabin where he’d left a pile of tree branches and stumps. She watched through the window while he chopped up some of the branches. His muscles rippled as he swung the axe. She admired his fluid movement and how easy he made the action appear, even though she knew that chopping wood was no simple task.
As soon as he was done, he carried in a pile of wood for the fire and set it on the hearth. “This is for the next round of fire,” he said, wiping the sweat from his brow with the back of his arm.
They cuddled up together on the couch, alternating between kissing and talking. Every time their baby moved inside of her, she brought his hand and held it where he could feel it. “Is it going to be like you?” she asked softly, in case the unborn child could hear them discussing its possible abnormalities and would take offense.
John nodded. “Yes. It’s genetic. And the ownership of the inn is also genetic. It will be passed on to him or her when I am gone.”
Ursula raised her eyebrows at him. She didn’t want to think about her big, strong John being gone! “But that won’t be for many, many years,” she said.
He chuckled a little, softly touching her cheek with his fingertips. “Let’s hope not. Hunting is no longer legal around here, ever since…”
“Ever since your father died?” she asked, slowly putting two and two together. “He was killed by a hunter, wasn’t he? Oh, John, I’m so sorry. That’s awful.”
John closed his eyes. She could tell that thinking about it brought him a lot of pain.
“But you don’t have to stay here, John. We could leave this place.”
“Where would we go?” he asked her, opening his eyes and looking deeply into her blue ones. “There is nowhere that is safe for me but here. Here, I have people who know about me. There are people here who do their best to keep me protected. Heaven knows why, but they do. They care about me. They cared about my father, too. I trust them.”
Ursula looked down. She wanted to help him, but she did not know how. He seemed to already have the help he needed, but she wasn’t convinced that he was happy. “You went to Silver Lake,” she said.
He played with her hair. “I went there to find you. No other reason. And now that I have you, I need not go anywhere else again. This is our home.”
The trouble was that she was starting to miss the spotlight and the Big Dipper club. As much as Ursula loved and cared about John, she was not convinced that this place could be her home.