Wednesday morning she called Remy. “I’m back,” she said. “I was in Quebec.”

“I guessed as much. Did you find what you were looking for?”

“Yes.” She took a deep breath. “I need to see you. Brock should be there too. This is official business and I’ll be giving my official report.”

“Are you available tonight?”

“Yes.”

“Do you remember where my apartment is?”

Most clan meetings were held at the Tandell house or at the warehouse. She hadn’t been to Remy’s in years. “Yes, I know where it is. When should I be there?”

“Hmm. Is seven going to be too late?”

“No. Seven is fine.”

“Jane, I’m glad you’re back safe.”

“Thank you.”

Carter wasn’t nearly as understanding when she arrived at work. Of course Remy could still choose to take everything badly after he heard what she had to say. Carter was waiting at the front door and marched her straight to his office. She saw Bryce hovering in the staff room door as she passed and gave him a quick smile, one which he didn’t return. She hung her head and followed her boss.

He closed the office door and gestured to the chair. He sat down opposite her and flipped over a folder with her name on it. “Jane Gratton, age twenty-three, been here nearly five years. Hired to assist in the kitchen, moved up to orderly. Vulnerable sector check and first aid up to date. Yearly requirement of professional development hours met. No complaints from staff, minimal complaints from family of residents or residents.”

“That’s right. I didn’t realize it was time for my annual employee review.”

“It’s not. But in light of your disappearance last week …”

“I called in. I didn’t have any warning either. An emergency …”

“Yes, I heard the message you left. You sounded very emotional. This emergency is settled now? There won’t be any need for you to miss work on such short notice again?”

“Unless I catch the flu.”

“Yes, of course. Sick days notwithstanding. Well, you missed four days of work and you were not sick. You’re not getting paid for them and no, I won’t apply your vacation days cover them. You’ve used your vacation days this year.”

“I know that. I’m not asking you cover for me. I fully expected not to be paid for those four days.”

Carter ‘hmphed’. “Then there is the matter of not giving us any warning.”

“If emergencies gave us enough notice to book time off from work they wouldn’t be emergencies.”

He spoke as though he hadn’t heard her. “Given your otherwise mostly clean record of employment here, it is not grounds for dismissal. I am, however, making an official note in your file regarding this matter. You’ll be watched for a period of six months and every late and absence will be noted. We will review the matter at the end of those six months.”

“Of course. Is that everything?”

“No. There is also the matter of you and Bryce.”

“What about us?”

“Are you sleeping together?”

“I’m sorry, you’re not entitled to any information about my sex life. I don’t have to tell you who I’m sleeping with or when the last time I had sex was or anything else. And I find the question offensive.”

“Are you in a romantic relationship with Bryce?”

“I am not in a romantic relationship with Bryce during the period of time each day when I am bound by the rules of this place of employment. What I do on my own time is not your concern and I am under no obligation to tell you anything.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. Your employee contract states that no person working here may engage in illegal drug use at any time, or drink alcohol within five hours of beginning a shift and it gives us the permission to test you at any time.”

“Since a romantic relationship that may or may not exist is neither drugs or alcohol, I’ll be going.” She stood up.

“Did you kiss Bryce in the staff room?”

Jane threw up her hands. “For the love of god, Carter. We were in the staff room, on break, and it was a quick kiss on the cheek. This is New Orleans for fuck’s sake! If I can’t kiss a friend on the cheek in New Orleans then the end of the world must be upon us. I’m not fucking him on the residents’ beds, I’m not making out with him in the supply closet, so leave us the fuck alone. And if you don’t like my fucking language, fire me. There are a dozen care homes that would love to have a female orderly who can assist with lifts for bathing. Now, if you’ll excuse me I have work I need to do before my boss starts chasing me for being behind schedule.”

There was a member of the nursing staff hovering in the hallway. “Not eavesdropping,” she said, “Just need Carter to order more individual cups for the meds, but I heard that last part. Good for you.”

Jane actually laughed. “Thanks. Sorry I’ve left him in a bad mood.”

“I think it’s worth it.” She patted Jane’s arm and knocked on Carter’s office door. Jane retreated down the hallway. Bryce was no longer in the staff room, which made sense since there was work to do. She stopped at the front desk and asked the ladies if they had seen him.

“Went down to laundry, I think.”

“Thanks.” She hurried down to the basement. Bryce was there at the work table folding pillow cases. “Hey, need a hand?”

“No, we did the sheets yesterday. They’ve rearranged the bathing schedule so I think you’re helping with lifts all day.”

“All right. Uh, Bryce, can we head out at lunch and talk?”

“I don’t know, Jane. I told you I loved you and the next thing I know you’re headed to Quebec with your childhood sweetheart. I don’t know what to think about that. I’m not sure I can forgive that.”

“Please, can we not do this here? Carter was already asking questions about our relationship.”

“And what did you tell him?”

“To mind his own business. Please. I’m not asking you to forgive me, I’m only asking you to listen.”

He slammed the pillow case down on the work bench. “Why, Jane? I’ve been listening to your lies and your half-assed explanations for weeks now. What more is there to hear?”

Tears welled up in her eyes. “Okay. I’m sorry.”

“Oh, Jane, no. I didn’t mean …”

“Look, I have work to do. Carter’s just looking for a reason to fire me. Excuse me.” She turned and dried her eyes on the back of her hands as she walked away.

There was a note in her lunch that afternoon.

I’m a jerk. Since I’m betting this isn’t a coffee shop safe talk, I’ll be home all evening.

She scribbled a reply on the back. I am required by clan law to meet with my Clan Chief tonight. If you don’t mind waiting up I can come by afterwards.

The note was back in her lunch kit after work. He hadn’t added anything new but he had underlined the words ‘all evening’.

She went home and changed. She considered making dinner but she wasn’t sure if she was hungry or not. You can’t stall this meeting. You’re in enough trouble as it is.

She arrived at Remy’s apartment ten minutes early. She pulled into the guest parking lot and just sat. Her hands were trembling. A moment later her cellphone rang. Remy.

“Yes?” She hoped she sounded meek.

“We can see your car from the window. You might as well come up and get this over with so it doesn’t waste your whole evening.”

“Sure,” she said. She didn’t bother telling him she’d been trying to steady herself. He wanted to see her. She would go.

There was pizza on the counter and a bottle of pop. Remy and Brock were already eating. “Help yourself,” Remy said. “I ordered lots.”

Jane nodded and grabbed a slice to be polite. Her stomach was still uncertain about food.

“I received a message from your old clan. They have a new Chief.”

“Yes, sir.”

Remy’s eye brow shot up. After a moment he said, “I hear they asked you.”

“I turned it down.”

“I presumed as much. Why?”

“This is my home now. This is my clan. I didn’t have any intention of leaving. And besides, like I told them, I’m not dominant enough to hold it. Just about anyone in our clan could have come and challenged me for it. I’m sure half of that clan could have challenged me for it. And, I didn’t want it.”

“Too bad,” Brock said. “We could use a few female clan chiefs.”

“They did select a female,” Remy said. “And they are calling Jane a hero. I was told that if I decided to exile her from my territory to send her back. They’d be more than happy to give her a place of honor within their clan.”

“Huh.” Brock said. He looked at Jane. “What did you do?”

“I went and found the evidence I needed to prove Laurent was involved with The Human Order. It turns out that his wife stole it and gave it to her sister for safe keeping, but they were both too afraid of him to do anything with it. He set the whole thing up with sending Etienne here. He needed that evidence back to keep his own ass safe.”

“And you took him down? You took down a Clan Chief, and his second, and you don’t think you’re dominant enough to hold it?” Brock said.

“I didn’t take him down. I could stand up to him because he wasn’t my chief. It was Marnie who took him down. That’s why I had to stay a few more days, to deal with the police.”

Remy chuckled. “Yes, Marnie told me all about that. They told the cops about the blackmail, that Laurent’s wife had come to them with the evidence and he’d followed her. Tried to kill her and then attacked Jane. Good thing Marnie was using a shot gun, lots of stopping power but at that range not very good penetration. Neither Jane or Ginette was harmed. But apparently not even a werebear can survive a shot gun blast to the back of the neck.”

Brock shuddered. “And you weren’t disturbed by this?”

“He had my parents shot, Brock. He was going to force me to marry a werebear ten years older than me, but that individual transferred out of the pack because of work and so he was going to marry me to Etienne. That’s why I left at eighteen.”

“But I received a letter from Laurent. He requested your transfer.”

“No. I did that. I forged the letter and lied to him about why I was coming here. Then you officially made me a member of your clan and he couldn’t touch me. He couldn’t admit to my lies without looking weak or answering a lot of questions about why the orphan in his care went to such lengths to leave him. More than anything, he didn’t want anyone asking questions. The thing is, I thought it was just me. I thought it was just Etienne he wanted me to marry. I didn’t know about the other werebear until I went back. Turns out my parents didn’t agree and were going to leave.”

“Good riddance,” Brock mumbled. He nudged Jane. “You’re not eating.”

Her smile was thin but she took a bite. That was enough to wake up her stomach and she devoured the first piece, going back to the counter for two more before the conversation could continue.

“You lied to me, your Clan Chief,” Remy said. “Apparently on more than one occasion. You lied to Philippe. You sheltered a strange werebear in my territory putting humans at risk, and that puts all of us at risk.”

“I know. I’m sorry. He made it sound like he was in trouble, that telling you about him would get him in trouble with Laurent. But I was wrong about him. I’m sorry.”

“Any more troubling secrets from your deep dark past?”

She shook her head.

“Any more childhood sweethearts hiding in your apartment?”

“No.”

“Anything else you want to tell me?”

“No.”

“Well, at least you’ve dropped the sir.” He sighed. “I have to punish you, it’s our law. You’re in charge of all set up and clean-up for full moons for the rest of the year, including handling the raw meat. You will need to apologize to Philippe though and I can’t say how he’ll react. And you cannot leave the territory without my permission for the rest of the year.”

“You’re not exiling me?”

“No. But I’m watching you. I have to, Jane, for all our safety.”

“I understand that.”

“Hey,” Brock said, “What happened to Etienne?”

“Arrested on blackmail charges. And they’re using the proof to shut down that chapter of The Human Order,” Jane said.

“They can try,” Remy said. “They’re fanatics. This will probably just make them more resolved to get rid of us. Still, losing their leader will disrupt them for a time and let Marnie get on her feet and prepared for the eventual back lash.”

“Is there anything else?” Jane said. “I have another apology to make tonight.”

“Not Philippe I hope,” Remy said. “It’s his night off. He’s at Patrick’s playing video games.”

“No. Not Philippe. He’ll have to wait until tomorrow. I’ll try to catch him before work. Thanks for the pizza. And for not sending me packing.”

“I’m glad you came home safely.”

She nodded and let herself out. It wasn’t late yet but she called Bryce before leaving the parking lot at Remy’s. The phone rang so long she wasn’t sure he was going to answer.

“Yes?” he said.

“I was going to ask if I could still come over but I changed my mind.”

“Then why didn’t you just hang up?”

“Can you meet me at my place?”

There was a long pause and then, “Yeah. Okay.”

“I should be home in twenty minutes.”

“Okay.”

It took her twenty five because of an accident she had to detour around and she was afraid he would beat her there and not wait for her. She was home a good twenty minutes and ready to give up hope when her land line rang.

“Hello?”

“I’m here.”

“I’ll buzz you in.” She went to the door, then made herself go sit down and wait for him to knock. She drummed her fingers on her leg. She heard the elevator ding and started to stand. She sat down again and forced herself to wait. Finally he knocked. She walked to the door when she felt like running. With the door opened, she lost all her words and just stood there staring at him.

“Can I come in?”

“Yeah. Of course. Sorry.” She stepped back. “Can I get you something? I don’t have much. I haven’t been shopping since I got back but there’s beer, some pop. I think I have a box of crackers.”

“You’re nervous.”

She rolled her eyes. “Of course I’m nervous.”

“Then let’s just get this over with.” He sat on the couch and waited for her.

She hesitated, considered grabbing herself a beer, then her shoulders slumped and she joined him. “I’m sorry doesn’t begin to cut it,” she said.

“Why did you go to Quebec?”

“Long story short, Etienne said he was in trouble, that the clan was in trouble, and he needed my help to find some papers. He said he had information about my parents’ accident. Turns out he was only partly honest. My old Clan Chief, who was also my foster father, had my parents killed. He was also blackmailing the leader of a group of terrorists into harassing only the werebears who were causing him trouble so he could transfer them out of his territory ‘for their own safety’ and secure his hold over the clan. He was forcing arranged marriages between members of the clan.”

“Because you have to be born a werebear?”

“Right. And female werebears are rare. I was important because both my parents were werebears. He thought I would strengthen the bloodlines of his clan. I left when I found out he intended for me to marry Etienne.”

“But he was your childhood sweetheart.”

“I didn’t want to be forced into anything. I didn’t want to get married at eighteen. So I left. And then he showed up here and I hoped that maybe he wasn’t a bad guy, maybe he wasn’t in on it. I was over him, mostly. It was more just a memory of how I felt. I did choose you over him, romantically, but I guess I was cheating in other ways. My loyalty was divided and that wasn’t fair. But it turns out he was using me now just like he was then. He never really cared about me as a person.”

“Then he’s stupid.”

She smiled a little.

“You’re stupid too.”

She smiled wider. “I know that. So what now?”

“Are you busy this weekend?”

“No.”

“How about a date? Dinner?”

“Are you sure?”

“We didn’t really have a chance, Jane. You were in the middle of a hell of a lot of trouble when we started dating. I’d like the chance to get to know you, without the secrets, and we’ll see where it goes from there.”

“All right. I think I’d like that too.”

He reached out and took her hand. “I was worried about you.”

“Thanks. I almost didn’t make it back.”

“I think you should tell me the long version of this long story.”

She laughed. “That could take a while.”

“I have no plans tonight, and I have a story of my own to tell you. I’ll take a beer if there are any.”

“Two beers and a long story coming right up.”

---

“Is this a good idea?” Bryce said.

Remy patted his arm. “I’ll just be over by the door. Don’t worry. She doesn’t turn into a raging monster when she shifts. In fact she’s almost adorable.”

“I heard that,” Jane muttered.

“Just sit down,” Remy said. “Keep your movements slow at first. Wait for her to approach you. You’re important to Jane so the bear will recognize you.”

“Does the bear ever not recognize someone? Like, has anyone gotten hurt?”

“Well, I did hear about this one girl, she was being abused by her boyfriend. They got engaged and according to our law a human spouse has to meet the bear before the wedding can take place. So they arranged something like this – controlled environment, Clan Chief nearby, careful instructions. But when the bear stood up, it attacked the young man. The bear did recognize him, but it recognized what the girl could not, or would not – that the man was a threat. You’re not abusing her, are you?”

“Yeah right. She swears at me on a regular basis. I think if I raised a hand to her, she’d bloody my nose. No need to wait for a magical bear to do it.”

“I’ll leave you now. Don’t worry, I’m not going far, but this is a private thing.”

Bryce turned around to find Jane had no clothes on. He blushed. “Uh, hi?”

She smiled. “You might want to sit down. I don’t usually shift this close to the new moon. I don’t know how long it will take.”

He sat, got as comfortable as possible in the folding chair, and said, “Take all the time you need.”

She rolled her eyes. There was no way she was going to admit to how awkward this was. She spread her shirt out on the cement floor and sat on it. She hugged her knees and closed her eyes. She took a few deep breaths. Her body slowly relaxed. She focused on her heart beat, on that place in her core where soul and instinct twisted together. She didn’t know how long she sat there but at some point she felt the bear begin to rise in her. She let go of her knees as the change took her.

There was no way anyone could have prepared Bryce for what was about to happen. One moment she appeared to be meditating, albeit naked and sitting on a t-shirt in the middle of a derelict warehouse, but she was unmoving and her eyes were closed so that’s what it looked like. The next minute she seemed to glow. The glow obscured her body and at the same time seemed to swell around her. Her skin darkened as black fur sprouted everywhere. She grew, the proportions of her body changing.

When it was over, she was sitting with front paws between back legs, staring at him, looking for all the world like a big furry person just sitting there, chilling. She sneezed.

“Is it safe?”

She grabbed her feet and rocked back a little making a sort of grunting whine noise at him.

“I see your other side has more of a sense of humor. You look ridiculous.”

She rolled forward onto her feet and padded up to him. On all fours, her nose was the same height as his. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat as she snuffled along his cheek and neck.

“Jane?”

She sneezed again, directing it away from him, and laid down on the floor before him.

Tentatively he reached out a hand and ran in through her course black fur. “Okay, this is amazing.”

He got off the chair and sat down on the floor. He moved his hands slowly over her, touching her ears and nose, scratching her shoulders.

He lost track of time and completely forgot that they were not alone until Remy appeared, cellphone in hand and a worried look on his face.

“Jane, I’m sorry. I have to cut this short. I need you to shift back.”

Bryce scrambled to his feet and backed away as the change swept over the bear. Once human Jane reached for her shirt. “What’s wrong Remy? Did I...?”

“No, this isn’t about you. I just got a phone call. They’ve called an emergency meeting of the Clan Chiefs.”