Love to Bear: A Werebear Shifter Romance by A.T. Mitchell

richly marinated meat into my
mouth. I loved how the buttery taste gave way to fuller spices, a
delicious bomb crackling across my whole tongue.
    “ It's all I really feel I'm good at. Maybe I
should've gone to culinary school.” She stared at the puzzled
look on my face. I didn't have a clue what human schools were like or
how they were structured.
    “ We learn everything from our Elders here. Not
that there have been a lot of cubs to teach around here for a long
time. I was in the last group...” I ended it there. Thinking
about Emmerick and the way he'd let our numbers fall sent hot rage
fuming through my system.
    “ Yes. The Baby Boom of '73. I read all about it
today.” She pivoted steak and asparagus on her fork, eyeing it
for a second before she drove it firmly into her mouth. “What I
don't understand is why no one made the connection. And what happened
to Clara Flood? The last woman to live here?”
    My fork hit my plate. Sam blinked in surprise, and
tensed up, frightened that she'd upset me.
    In a way, she had. But I wasn't angry at her.
    “ It's okay. I don't blame you for asking.” I
blotted my lips with a napkin, choosing my words. “She died one
winter. Some kind of fever. I barely remember my mother...and I
certainly didn't know until now that she was the last human woman in
Horseshoe Creek.”
    “ Sorry. I don't mean to dig into anything
uncomfortable.” She pursed her lips, slowly relaxing them when
I shook my head, showing her it was okay. “I just wondered. I
know your father Patton died sometime before her too.”
    “ It's okay. Really. You're wondering who took me
in?” I watched her nod. “It was Clarence, Elder
Franklin's brother. He treated me like the father I never knew, and I
still miss him.”
    “ What happened?”
    “ Wounded in battle with a grizzly that came into
our camp.” I watched Sam tilt her head. “A real bear, I
mean. We let our few guns run out of ammo in the old winters. People
had to fight them off by hand, and just because we're a lot smarter
doesn't always mean we're equally matched for those monsters.”
    “ I understand.” Her eyes were big and heavy
with sadness.
    “ Emmerick was like the clan's doctor at the time.
He tried to save Clarence, but...there was nothing to be done. The
cuts and bites were too deep.”
    I looked up from my food and studied her face. I could
see the wheels turning in her head.
    “ I know what you're thinking. That's not the start
of my bad blood with him.” I sighed, shaking my head. “Truth
is, Emmerick's always been a first class asshole. They used to say
folks are supposed to get wiser with their years. But with Emmerick,
even though he was appointed an Elder, it seems like he just got
meaner.”
    “ Tell me about it. He practically tore into me
today for failing to fill him in on tasers. He expected me to know
the voltage, where the clan could get one...everything. Like, what
the hell? I'm not a weapon expert.” Sam chewed her lip, clearly
irritated.
    “ He's just toying with you. It's his way.” I
sipped my tea. “He wants to get under your skin. Make you feel
weak, uncertain, all the better to give him control over you. Hell,
it's half the reason the rest of the Elders put up with his bullshit
and throw him these compromises in the first place.”
    “ I wish it were easier to prove what he's doing.
It's just that in the early days, things were so mixed. I can barely
tell the humans and the shifters apart. Your clan was constantly
bringing in outsiders, and sometimes mingling among them. Baby booms
every thirty years or so! You could have cousins in the outside
world, you know.”
    That made my eyebrows go up. Our community had always
been insular, a fortress on high alert, always under siege.
    Most days, we thought we were the only shifters in the
world. Just the idea that the reality might be something very
different sent tense energy up my spine.
    Oh, spirits. What the hell happened? What changed?
    I didn't know.