Red's Bear (Erotic Shifter Fairy Tales) (7 page)

“I hope so. I really do.” Physically, she was feeling
better, but emotionally, coming back to her grandmother’s was draining.
Memories were exploding in her mind like popcorn. Fragmented and obscure, it
was taking too much mental energy to try and sort out the meaning. Allowing her
eyes to slide shut, Rena gave in to her body’s wishes and slept.

Chapter
Four

Cord rose from his couch and stretched. The action
movie he’d been watching had ended. It was a new release he’d just gotten in
the mail. The movie was good and he was looking forward to seeing it a few more
times over the winter home hibernation months.

Glancing over at the clock he noted the time. It was
getting late and he had a lot of work to do over at Genma’s tomorrow. If his
father got his wishes, this would be the last landscaping job he took. The
position of mayor of Den County was more of a managerial-type job, executed
from an office in town next door to the sheriff’s office. Cord would have to
allow Rand, his assistant manager, to handle the day-to-day operations of his
business.

Frustrated, Cord grabbed the now-empty trail mix bowl
from the coffee table and took it to the kitchen. Able to see clearly in the
dark, he didn’t bother to turn on a lamp. Setting it down on the counter beside
the sink, he took a moment to stare out into the blackness of night. The glow
of the half moon was shining through it and his bear enjoyed being bathed in
the light.

Run
.

He chuckled at the demands of his bear. Over the last
week they’d both become restless. The cause seemed clear to him.
The Bear
Run.
There was no way for him to get out of it this year. He had to
participate and he had to choose a life mate.

“Shit,” the word exploded from his mouth and echoed in
the kitchen.

His bear growled. It would be so much easier if his
animal side would have claimed Marcella, then he wouldn’t be in such torment.

No mate
.

The vehemence behind those two words from his bear
caused Cord’s gut to tighten.

Letting out a heavy sigh, he shoved the Friday night
event far into the back of his mind. His bear would have to settle for the
choices before them at that time. What they both wanted wasn’t possible.

Heading to the back door off the side of his kitchen,
Cord stepped into his garage. The smell of soil and floral and plant life
greeted him from the bags of fertilizer and seeds stocked in the back of his
truck. The scents were always a welcome to him. He loved digging his hands deep
into Mother Earth in both bear and human form. He’d miss it.

Getting ready to check the boundaries of his property
for the night, he stripped out of his clothes. He moved past his truck and out
the open door of his garage. In an instant he took off across his back lawn and
with nothing but an image of his bear in his mind he shifted.

Paws pounding on the ground he set out on his nightly
excursion. Moving toward the first thick redwood he saw, he pressed his back
against it and gave himself a nice deep scratch from the crown of his head to
his stubby tail. The bark digging into his spine was like heaven on earth. The
only thing better was raw honey from a bee hive.

Dropping back to all fours he continued to trudge on
the path, sniffing for anything out of the ordinary. They didn’t get many
strangers in Den, but it wasn’t uncommon for some tree-hugging hiker to venture
too far from safer camp grounds. The time or two he’d come across an
adventurous camper, a deep loud roar was enough to send them packing. It was
normally an entertaining moment for him.

After more than an hour of searching and scenting his
property, he continued through the woods that bordered Theo’s land. His friend
was still away with his family and he kept an eye out on it. Forty-five minutes
later, he was still restless and decided to check in on his grandmother’s
friend. Unlike his grandmother, Genma lived alone with no family close by.

As the mayor, his father normally extended his
protection to the single females and elderly in the county.

Moving toward the river, he allowed it to lead him to
the widest section, two miles up. His bear was thrilled to be out in the night
air longer than usual, feeling the fall breeze in his fur, hearing the mating
calls of birds and insects, smelling rich soil and other woodsy scents all
around.

There were times Cord wished he could remain in this
form. Things were simpler when he was a bear.

As soon as he arrived at the Berend property he saw
her. A female bear, sitting in the center of the path that led from the house
to the water. As if waiting for something or someone.

He paused for a moment, wondering if something was
wrong.

Turning her head, she focused on him. In the moonlight,
he could see the graying at the crown of her head.

Had she been expecting me?
Cord shoved the thought away. Of
course not. He hadn’t even planned to come out here.

Continuing his progression toward her, Genma’s bear
lifted her snout to the air and dropped it quickly, a greeting. His bear
returned the gesture.

Before he could reach her, she turned and trotted back
to her house and rounded the porch to her side entrance.  He watched Genma
shift, wave at him then enter her home.  Going around to the front, he started
to check the main road leading to her property. He took two steps then stopped
instantly. The fur at the back of his neck began to rise. Something or someone
was triggering his senses.

Moving slowly he turned his head from left to right,
looking closely at every shadow in the woods. Nothing was there that didn’t
belong. There were a few rabbits out, digging along Genma’s garden that he
would be re-fertilizing tomorrow. Two owls perched on limbs, but nothing else.

However, the feeling wouldn’t go away. If the sensation
was not being driven by the forest around him then the only other possibility was
the house.
Genma?

Raising his head, he glanced back at her front door and
the windows of her living room, but he saw nothing. Then he glanced along the
side of the house at the other windows. That’s when he saw it, a flicker of the
curtains at the end room.

Realizing the feeling was coming from within the house,
he relaxed. Down the path to the road, he put his snout to the ground and began
isolating scents. Pushing aside those of nature and Genma, he focused his
search on anything that was familiar, a scent that was out of the ordinary.

~YH~

A bear?
Rena’s heart stopped beating for a
moment as she watched a bear move by the side of her grandmother’s house. Just
having awakened a few moments ago, she realized that she had slept more hours
than she’d anticipated. She glanced out the window as she did most nights at
home. More than any other time of the day, she loved the evenings. Moonlit
nights drew her.

Not hearing any noise in the house, she was concerned
her grandmother may be outside taking in some air and there was a bear around.
After releasing the curtain, she rushed down the hall. Her grandmother’s
bedroom door was still open as it had been earlier, the bed undisturbed.
Continuing on, she took in the empty living room.

Turning left, she cleared the threshold of the kitchen
and stopped short of plowing down her grandmother who was moving from the
kitchen door in a flowing house dress. “Oh, Grandma. I was just checking to see
where you were.”

“Red, I’m here. How are you feeling?”  Going to the
sink, her grandmother washed her hands and picked up a kitchen towel to wipe
them.

“I’m good. Better than I have been in a while.” Not
wanting to get distracted with a discussion of her health and forget why she
was seeking her grandmother, Rena said, “Were you outside?”

“Yes. Just for a moment. Did you come looking for me? I
thought you were still asleep.”

“I was. When I looked out the window in my room I saw a
bear.”

“Hm, did you?” Not seeming at all worried, her
grandmother went to the stove and lifted the lid from a medium-size pot. She
began to stir the contents with a wooden spoon that had been resting in a dish.

“A big brown bear.” Rena leaned against the counter and
wondered why her grandmother wasn’t more shocked or afraid.

“They are the state animal. I’m sure there are hundreds
roaming freely in the forests and mountains of California.” Smiling at her, her
grandmother went to a cabinet and pulled out two bowls then returned to the
stove.

Rena inhaled, calmed herself and let out a breath
slowly. “I guess you’re right. Living in the city, I can’t recall the last time
I saw a bear that wasn’t in a circus or zoo.”

Those words seemed to produce a scowl on her
grandmother’s face. “Such a shame that animals are held away from their natural
habitats to be put on display.” Genma shook her head as she ladled in soup for
the bowls.

Always having felt the same as her grandmother, Rena
remained silent. She was just happy her grandmother was okay. “You know,
Grandma, you could move to the city with me.”

“Oh, heavens no.” The look of horror on her
grandmother’s face was almost comical. It was as if Rena had asked her if she
wanted to be skinned alive.

Laughing, Rena moved around the lower part of the
counter where the stove was to the bar above it and set down the bowls of soup
on the marble top. A memory flashed in her mind of her sitting at the bar when
she was younger, leaning over to watch her grandmother cook. Her grandmother
had just been starting to teach her the skills the last summer Rena was there.
Pushing the memory away, she claimed a seat. “This smells wonderful, Grandma.”

“I have some rolls from the diner in town.” Grabbing a
pot holder, Genma stepped to the side of the stove, opened the oven door and
pulled out the pan of rolls then turned the dial from warm to off. Moving
quickly over to the refrigerator she took out a small plastic container and
brought them both to the bar. “You are going to love these. The sweet butter
just makes all the difference as well.”

“I believe you. At this moment I feel so ravenous, I
could eat a bush of blackberries.” Rena wasn’t joking. Now that the threat of
the bear was gone and she’d smelled the soup, her stomach had begun to growl
and she was hungry, like she hadn’t been since she became ill.

“That is a good sign. Well, bless your food and dig in.
There’s plenty more if you want it.” Slipping onto a high chair, Genma popped
open the container and grabbed a roll. Splitting the bread, she slathered a
heavy amount of the buttery substance onto it. She set it on a napkin beside
Rena’s bowl and did the same for herself.

Tasting the first spoonful of soup, Rena moaned. The
vegetables in it were chunky but tender, and the broth was savory, creamy and
thick. It was the perfect chowder. It was the broth, different from any other
she had ever tried before, that seemed to make her want to drink directly from
the bowl. Rena was trying to figure out what it consisted of, but the heavy
amount of rosemary and fresh parsley was masking it. “Grandma, your cooking is
like none other.”

“Thank you. But, it’s nothing special. This dish is
from a friend of mine in town. We all exchange various recipes that we have
created during the winter months. That’s when most of us have a lot of time on
our hands to experiment.”

“I can’t wait to pick your brain before I leave.”

“You could always stay the winter, Red, and I could
teach you first hand.” Her grandmother continued to eat her own soup, not
looking at her.

“Maybe,” was her only comment as she continued to eat
her soup.

They sat in silence and ate.

After she finished her soup, Rena picked up her roll
and bit into it. Just like everything else, the homemade roll and butter were
good. “How far is the diner?”

“Town is about ten miles. I’m sure Greta wouldn’t mind
taking you. You two should get along well.” Genma took her bowl to the sink
then began pouring the pot of soup into a container.

“I’m sure. However, I really don’t want to be a bother
to anyone. If you’re not taking your car, I could find it myself.” Following
suit, Rena went to the sink and ran dish water and began collecting utensils
and dishes around the kitchen to wash.

“Then I will leave you directions.” Genma took the
plastic container to the sink. 

“Thank you.”

In a few minutes, they had the kitchen cleaned and
everything put away.

“Well, I’m going to turn in. Octavia and I have an
early start in the morning. Can I get you anything before I go?” Her
grandmother tossed the paper towel she had been using to wipe her hands into
the trash.

“Just tell me where you keep your tea. I want to make
another cup of it and maybe do some reading.” Rena felt like stripping off her
clothes and running in the moonlight more than a cup of tea, but that was
insane. So, instead she opted for a good book.

“Excellent. It is in the small canister beside the kettle
on the stove.” Genma pointed at the blue and white tin. “I believe there is
enough for another cup or two. When you need more, it is in the pantry in a tin
with the same decoration, just bigger.”