CHAPTER FOUR
Clara watched Mason drive away on the four-wheeler, waiting until he was around the corner and out of sight before she let out a sigh of relief. If it hadn’t gotten so cold since she’d tried and failed to build her own fire, she would have let it be. But the mountain was chilly, even in the late spring, and Clara knew it would only get worse. Still, it didn’t make waiting for Mason to leave any easier. She had things to do, and she didn’t want him there.
“Finally,” she said, going back to the kitchen where she’d left the heavy book open next to a clear glass bowl of water.
She’d expected him to make a fire and leave, but Mason had lingered. She appreciated him showing her the proper way to do everything, but he kept explaining everything twice, as if she needed him to in order to understand. She got that a lot, because she was bubbly and outgoing, and she wasn’t shy about speaking her mind when it suited her, but she was far from ditzy. This time next month, she would have all this down pat, and she wouldn’t need any help from Mason at all.
Maybe she would be helping him.
“Don’t kid yourself, Clara,” she laughed. “Mason doesn’t need anyone’s help, least of all mine. Alright, let’s try this again.”
She rolled up her sleeves, holding her right hand over the water and moving it slowly in a circle. The water stayed still, mocking her.
She read the passage in the book again, muttering words under her breath and concentrating as hard as she could. Slowly, the water started to swirl counterclockwise, following the direction of the outstretched hand above the water.
“Yes!” she whispered excitedly.
Moving her hand faster, the water followed suit, until it was moving so fast that a tiny water cyclone formed. She giggled. Looking at the book once more and quickly reading the next passage, she nodded to herself while her hand still circled in the air above the bowl.
“Seems simple enough,” she said as she absorbed the instructions.
She stopped abruptly, balling her hand into a fist above the center of the bowl, then twisting her hand so her knuckles faced upwards and flinging her fingers wide. The water stopped, completely still. Her triumph was short lived when there was a light pop and the water splashed out of the bowl, drenching her instantly with far more water than the bowl should have been able to hold.
She sputtered, looking at the now empty bowl in shock. What had she done wrong?
Clara grabbed a towel she’d brought to the kitchen just in case, drying herself off quickly while she pondered her mistake. Had she gone too fast? Was it the cyclone that had caused such a simple spell to go awry? Shaking her head with laughter, she took the bowl and put it upside down in the sink so it could dry out. I’ll try again tomorrow, she thought. Maybe outside next time.
The book was still open on the counter beside her, bone dry despite being so close to her. She read the entire page a few times, but she couldn’t figure out where she went wrong. She picked up the heavy tome, closing it gently and holding it tight in her arms. The only dry spot on the counter was where the book had been, leaving a perfect outline of the edges.
She didn’t worry about the water on her clothes ruining the cover as she clutched it to her chest; this book had been through the unimaginable and still looked pristine. According to the note her grandmother had left her, the book was hundreds of years old, yet it looked brand new.
She took it to the little built-in shelf in the living room, sliding it into place between the other cherished books she’d brought from the collection her grandmother had given her. There would be time for more play in the morning when she was feeling rested. Maybe she would walk out to the lake and enjoy the view while she explored her new-found talent.
Clara walked around the room, running her fingers along the walls and imagining every memory that had been made in this cabin before her family had moved to the city and embraced normal society. She didn’t know what had precipitated the move, but she knew that her grandmother had never shared her secret with Clara.
Thinking back through her life, so many things made sense now, but Coral had taken her secret to the grave, leaving only a single letter to explain to Clara what she’d hidden and why. Coral had written the letter on Clara’s twenty-fifth birthday, placing it in a lock box with everything else she was to receive when Coral died.
Did her grandmother know she only had two years left to live? Was this the only secret Coral had kept, or were there more?
Clara laughed. “Hey Clara, by the way, we’re witches’ is a big enough secret,” she said out loud to the empty room.
Clara kept the letter in her purse, tucked down at the bottom so it was always nearby. She didn’t know what had possessed Coral Finch to reveal a secret she’d kept for over two decades, but she was glad she had. Now that Clara had somewhere quiet and grounded in nature to practice using her gifts out of sight of regular people, she knew she would one day be as powerful as her grandmother had once been. It was just going to take time.
She decided to leave the door open to her bedroom so the heat from the fireplace would reach her. Exhausted from moving and from trying the spell several times before she finally gave up, she climbed into bed and pulled the familiar comforter up to her chin.
The soft glow of the fireplace stopped at the doorway of her room, leaving it dark enough for her to see out the window right above her bed. There were so many stars, even though she could only see a small portion of the sky through the trees. That sight was staggering, making her feel infinitely small in the vast universe.
She smiled as she started falling to sleep, thinking about the day ahead. Tomorrow was going to be a wonderful day. She couldn’t wait.
***
Down the winding, rutted dirt road and through the dense trees, Mason was still struggling to fall asleep, eager for the day to end. What had started out the perfect day had ended with an unwelcome neighbor, at least for the night. Until he figured out a way to convince her to leave, she was going to be a thorn in his side—a gorgeous thorn, but a thorn nonetheless.
Pacing his bedroom floor wearing only a towel around his waist, he kept replaying the day in his head, over and over. She didn’t even know how to build a fire in her fireplace, but she thought she was going to live here year-round? The mountain was high, and while there was a pretty decent summer season, fall and winter could be brutal.
Cursing under his breath, he gave up on sleep, taking the stairs to the living room two at a time and throwing his towel off as he burst through the back door and into the night. He gritted his teeth against the painful shifting of cells, his anger and frustration forcing the process to move faster. Hands and feet morphed into thick, padded soles, sharp claws replacing his fingers and toes. Thick, shaggy black hair sprouted as his face elongated until the human side of him vanished and all that was left was a large black bear on all fours, running straight for the forest.
The cold air felt great in his lungs, and for the first time since Clara had announced she was moving in, Mason felt the stress starting to slip away. He could figure this out, and he could make everything right before the first families showed up in eight weeks to see the community he’d worked so hard to plan. His kind would be free to be themselves again, even if they had to hide away on this mountain to do that.
No matter how badly Clara wanted to live out some fantasy life, she couldn’t stay. Her presence would ruin everything.
He was still running when he broke through the tree line and found himself at his favorite spot east of his home. Unlike the lake, which was to the west on Clara’s property, this stream and the crystal pool fed by elegant waterfalls were all his. While the lake would be community property, as would the stream downhill from his house, this pool and this waterfall would belong only to him.
The pool itself was a natural hot spring, with the icy water spilling from the waterfalls and cooling the spring down so that it was pleasantly warm all year long. Above the waterfall, Bear Mountain connected to a neighboring mountain that rose into the sky on the east side. The icy water that flowed year-round came from the narrow creek that had dug a deep trench in the side of the mountain, carrying runoff from the snowcapped peaks down to where they were in a constant stream of crystal clear water. It filled the deep pool at the top of the short cliff, which overflowed into a series of waterfalls into the hot spring below.
It was a series of perfect conditions that led to one magical location, and it was one of his favorite things about the property. This was a quiet place of solitude that he could come to when he needed a break that he wouldn’t be sharing with the rest of the colony. He was sharing everything else, and he felt he was entitled to this one secret hideaway.
He could use a swim right now, but running wild appealed to him at the moment, and he wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to be free.
Turning north and going uphill, he raced as fast as he could up the incline, stretching out his legs and pushing himself until his breath was labored and the wind whipped at his face. He let out a powerful roar, scattering animals in the surrounding forest as they frantically ran for cover. Still he ran, pushing every thought out of his mind.
But Clara’s face still plagued him, and the more he tried to forget that she was there, the more he couldn’t. She was beautiful and innocent, but she was not naïve. Clara was a woman who knew what she wanted, and she wasn’t going to give up until she had it. It was going to take everything he had to convince her to decide not to live on the mountain. If she thought the desire to leave was anyone else’s idea, she would stay just to spite him.
He had no idea how long he’d been running when he looked around and realized he’d made his way to the other side of the mountain. Here, the trees were a little thicker. This side was so steep near the bottom that the only way to access it was from his side of the mountain. That was part of the appeal of Bear Mountain; not only was a good portion of it carefully developed so that the homes worked with the land, but the other side was so rugged that even the most adventurous humans wouldn’t brave the terrain.
It was the perfect place to bring people just like him, who only wanted to roam free and enjoy life to the fullest. His parents were the only werebears that he knew. Now that they were gone, Mason was alone. This community would be more than just a place where his kind could roam. It was a place where Mason could form a family and someday find a mate of his own.
He stopped, the perfect idea occurring to him. If he couldn’t convince Clara to leave on her own, maybe there was another way to convince her to leave. There was obviously chemistry between them.
What if I seduce Clara, then break her heart, he thought to himself. Then she would want to leave, and she wouldn’t be able to get off the mountain fast enough.
But what if she wouldn’t sell to him? Mason wondered, but he pushed the doubt away. Bethany could buy it for him through his trust. Clara would never know, and she wouldn’t be around to find out when the sale was final. It was a win-win.
He felt a twinge of guilt for even thinking about it, but he pushed that aside too. He had dreams, and Clara was standing in the way. He had to do something, and this would work. He was sure of it.
Turning his massive head to the east, he saw the sliver of gray that signaled the impending dawn of morning. He was miles from the cabin, and he needed to get back so he could put his plan in motion.
He started back, keeping the setting moon on his right and heading south at a more leisurely pace. Gone was the rage that had consumed him earlier, along with the anxiety that had fueled his headlong run into the night. He was back in control and ready to move forward.
When he finally got to his cabin, he was exhausted. He shifted easily into human form a few yards from the back door that he’d run out of hours before, too tired to hold the shift much longer. He was out of practice, but he’d needed the run as much as he needed air to breathe. In the end, it had helped him find a solution to his problems, and that was worth it.
He smiled as he dragged himself up the stairs and into his bed, oblivious to the pink sky in the east. He was a free man now: no schedule, no responsibilities, and no one to answer to. If he wanted to roam the forest at night then collapse in bed at dawn and sleep until he woke up, that was his prerogative. Until he got used to the strain of holding onto bear form, it was going to wear him out.
This time next month, shifting and staying that way would be second nature. By next year, who knew? Maybe he would hibernate with the wild bears, leaving his human form behind for good.
He laughed.
“Not on your life, Mason,” he said wearily, knowing that he would never give up one part of himself for the other.
He was happy just the way he was, and he was content to spend most of his life in human form. Besides, there were certain perks to being a man, and he wasn’t willing to let those go.