Once Upon a Shifter (122 page)

He stood up and walked over to the counter. Alexi was watching him, looking unsure of the situation. Looking unsure of him. “Do you need something?” she asked.

She was so breathtaking in her brand new waitress uniform, the crisp, white apron hugging her deliciously, big hips. Her lips were lush and full. His bear urged him on, begging him to be released so that he could claim her properly. He tightened his body, trying to restrain him.

“Are you okay?” she asked, taking a step back.

“I would like you to be my mate,” he said.

He heard his brother groan.

Keene slapped the table and burst out laughing behind him. “I told you he wouldn’t have any game!”

Redness flushed in Ellis’ cheeks as he saw the horrified look on Alexi’s face. He hardly had any experience speaking with women but he figured that she would want him for a mate right back. He was wrong. Very wrong.

“I uhh…No,” she stammered, then said abruptly. “I don’t want a boyfriend. Not now. Not ever.” She crossed her arms and stared at him with narrow eyes. “Please sit down. I’m going to take your order and that’s it.”

He stared at her in confusion. Why wasn’t she recognizing that they belonged together? This was not going the way that he had envisioned it.

“But we’re meant to be together,” he said in shock. She backed away further.

A hand grabbed his wrist. “I’m sorry for my friend here,” Quint said, pulling Ellis back. “He inhaled a bit too much smoke this morning and it’s gone to his tiny brain.”

Quint led Ellis back to the table like a shell shocked solider that just came out of battle.

“Nice line Romeo,” Sander said.

Keene was loving it. “That was the worst thing that I have ever seen,” he said. “And I once walked in on my grandparents having sex. In full gimp suits. While listening to Nickleback.”

Ellis slumped down in his chair and looked to Beckett. “I don’t understand. Where did I go wrong?”

“I think you lost her at mate,” his brother said wincing.

“That was painful to watch,” Finch said.

“I think I lost my appetite,” Sander chimed in.

“Even I feel bad for you,” Matteo laughed. And Matteo never laughed.

The Flint Crew got up from their table providing a welcome distraction. Ellis and his crew stared at them as they left.

The Flint Crew were a clan of shape shifting bears from the East side of the mountain. There was a long standing rivalry between his crew and their’s that went back to his Grandfather’s days. They often fought over territory and of course there were the blood feuds. So many that neither side could remember who started them.

Ellis and his crew suspected them of starting the string of wild forest fires lately. The Flint Crew worked for McCoy Industries, a huge corporation that spanned the country. Lately they had been focused on developing the rugged land in the Flathead National Forest. There was a loophole in the bylaw that allowed for building on areas destroyed by natural forest fires. McCoy Industries was exploiting this by creating their own ‘natural’ fires. The Hudson Crew was convinced that they were paying the Flint Crew to set these fires. So far the Hudson Crew were able to smokejump in and clear the fires before too much damage was done. But the summer was pushing forward and the trees were going to get dryer and more prone to sprawling forest fires. They would have their hands full.

“What do these guys want?” Sander asked when they were pulling out of the parking lot. “Strip malls and Casinos in their backyard?”

Beckett shook his head. “They’re in it for the immediate payment and not thinking long term. Some people just fuck up everything.”

“Speaking of fucking up everything,” Keene said looking at Ellis. “Your mate is coming back.”

“Are you guys ready to order?” she asked, holding a pen and notepad. She glanced at Ellis. “And no I’m not on the menu, I don’t come here often and I’m a Capricorn.”

Ellis cringed and stared into his lap, wanting to crawl under the table.

Keene laughed. “I think what he meant to ask was ‘Do you work at Starbucks? Because I like you a latte.’”

Sander joined in. “Are you a banana? Because I find you a-peeling.”

“Did you read Dr. Seuss as a kid?” Quint asked. “Because green eggs and... damn!”

Alexi chuckled at that one.

“Are you my Appendix?” Finch asked. “Because I have a funny feeling in my stomach that makes me feel like I should take you out.”

Alexi was laughing. “Pretty much any of those would have been an improvement.” She placed her notepad and pen on the table in front of Ellis. “Here take some notes,” she said, chuckling.

Keene turned towards him. “Write this one down. Are you a campfire? Cause you are hot and I want s'more.”

Chuck slammed the metal counter with his hand. “Hey!” he yelled. “Get your orders in already. I want to close up and go fishing.”

Ellis glanced at the front door as Alexi went around the table taking their breakfast orders. She finally got to him. Keene had a grin on his face from ear to ear, watching, just waiting for him to say something stupid again. “Just a coffee please,” he said. His stomach was in knots around this beauty. There was no way he could eat.

She nodded and gave him a slight smile. His eyebrows perked up as she walked away.
Was that a smile?

He watched her walk to the kitchen while he clung to a small shred of hope that he still had some little, minute, shred of a particle of an atom of a chance.

Keene threw a packet of sugar at him breaking him out of his trance. “Wipe that smirk off your face kid. You have no chance.”

four

Alexi closed the door of her small rental house and locked it. She opened the tiny closet, looked behind the dusty yellow curtains and checked in the dated bathroom, moving the moldy shower curtain to the side. She sighed and slipped off her shoes when she was sure that there was no one hiding anywhere.

This was a small town, safe and secluded. Plus Barbara was only a yell away in the house across the driveway, but a history of abuse had made her paranoid.

She sank down onto the creaking sofa that was also her pull out bed and rubbed her heel. She wasn’t used to being on her feet for such long periods of time.
Oh well just another thing to get used to.

She turned on the old black and white TV. Nothing but static. She shut it off and tossed the remote control onto the table with a clang.

She glanced out the back window at the tall trees. It was a beautiful day and the stunning forest was what drew her here in the first place. She decided to go for a hike.

Barbara was outside sitting in an Adirondack chair drinking a can of beer. “Going for a hike in the woods?” she asked.

Alexi nodded. “You know I spent my whole life indoors watching nature on TV. I’m thirty three. It’s time I go experience it for myself.”

“There’s a beginner’s trail at the end of the road. Nice and easy, it will take you to a pretty river.”

“I’m afraid I’ll get lost.” Alexi didn’t want to end up like those hikers she saw on TV specials, lost in the woods for days with nothing to eat.

Barbara chuckled. “Just stick to the path and you’ll be fine. If you get lost I’ll come and find you.”

Alexi tightened her shoelaces and headed off.

“Take one of these for the road.” Barbara said, tossing her a can of beer. Alexi caught it, cracked it open, thanked her and headed off down the hiking path.

She found the hiking path and was amazed at the denseness of the tall, thick trees. They were as high as skyscrapers, only older and pretty. She listened to the chirping of the birds overhead, wondering what they were saying to each other.

A caterpillar was crossing the huge desert landscape of the walking trail in front of her. “Oh cute,” she said running up to it. She knelt down and stuck her hand out, blocking its path. The fuzzy orange caterpillar crawled up her hand and tickled her palm as he walked across it.

She shook her head, wondering when the last time that she went hiking was. Her wealthy parents had brought her to Paris, London, Barcelona and New York as a child. She had been around the globe, to the world’s nicest cities, but she had never been camping. Never been in the real wilderness. Her parents were refined people who put culture and art above all else. Basically they stood around in art galleries and museums with their heads up their asses.

Alexi had always been curious about nature as a child. She loved animals and wanted to run wild through the forests and live in a tree like the Swiss Family Robinsons. Her parents had educated her out of that
savagery
and brought her to the ballet and opera instead. Now that she was surrounded by nature, her interest came flooding back.

She smiled as a chipmunk darted in front of her in a zig zag and scurried up a tree. It was nice to be out here in the fresh air.
It would be nice to share it with somebody. No.
She pushed that thought right out of her head as quickly as it popped in.
Men are shit. They’ll just hurt you.

Barbara’s son, Ellis, flashed in her head again. She bit her lip and shook her head trying to erase the image.
I don’t need anyone. I’m better off alone.

But she had to admit that it was pretty cute the way he had absolutely no idea how to talk to a woman. She stifled a laugh as she remembered him in complete shock when she had turned him down. These guys out here, raised in the backwoods, were definitely not as slick as the city boys that she was used to. It was a refreshing change though. At least they told you exactly what was on their mind, even if it was a little too blunt.

He was so hot too. All of them were but there was something about him that she really found appealing. He was her height, but thick. Big broad shoulders, powerful legs and nice hard arms. He had a hard look to him that melted away when he flashed his warm smile. She could tell that he was a good guy, the way his friends teased him. Guys didn’t tease guys that they didn’t like. And Barbara was gushing about him all afternoon.

She picked up a dry stick off the path and cracked it in her hands. She wasn’t here for that. She was here to get away from men. Not to run into the arms of another man who would treat her like a punching bag.

She heard the gurgling of a river up ahead. It was the end of the trail. She walked towards the sound trying to focus on the beauty of the forest around her and not of the painful memories that she was trying to leave behind.

The river appeared before her, fast and powerful, flowing over and around rocks, shaping them and rounding them with its current. She sat down on a boulder on the river’s edge, took off her shoes and socks and dunked her feet into the cold water.

She got startled and then squealed in delight when a fish jumped out of the water in front of her. It disappeared under the river and was carried down stream by the fast current. She leaned back and closed her eyes, letting the afternoon sun warm her face. She breathed in long and slow.

This was just what she needed to help her move on. No more days surrounded by her shallow ‘friends’ talking about the latest, boring fashions and spiteful gossip. No more spending all her time at the mall buying things that she didn’t need, all just to try and make herself feel better. And no more being abused. No more taking shit. No more men.

This was where she belonged. Surrounded by nature. She always felt like a fish out of water in the city. She finally felt at home here.

Alone.

She found it ironic that she felt more at home here by herself than she did surrounded by her family.
Yeah well none of these trees called me a liar when I came to them for help.

She studied a large rock jutting out of the middle of the river. It was round and smooth, with not a single edge on it.
How many droplets of water did it take over millions of years to take a sharp, jagged rock and mold it into a polished and flawless stone?

How many years will it take until my sharp, jagged scars are healed?

She sighed.
Probably longer than I’ll be alive.

Alexi took her numb feet out of the cold water and slipped her socks back on. She tied up her shoes and returned back down the path.

She walked for a while, approaching her place. She thought of work tomorrow and wondered if Ellis would be there. She hoped that she didn’t scare him off for good. Although she absolutely didn’t want a boyfriend or any kind of love interest, it would still be nice to have some friends, and they seemed like a good group of guys. They certainly made her laugh.

She arrived at the end of the path and headed back up the road. She could see Barbara’s house up ahead. There was a shinny black car in the driveway that wasn’t Barbara’s and seemed really out of place compared to all of the rusty pickup trucks and large SUVs around here.

She jumped off the road and dropped to her hands and knees, hiding in the thick bushes on her neighbor’s property. She slowly crawled forward trying to get a better view.

Two men in suits that she recognized kicked open the screen door of her rental and walked inside. She didn’t know their names but she knew that they worked for her fiancee.

How did he find me?

Barbara came flying out of her place. “Who the hell are you?” she yelled, sprinting across the driveway. Alexi’s mouth dropped seeing how fast she moved. She bounded into the rental and the two men flew out in the air in a flash of gray and black and landed with a thud on the driveway.

The big man wearing the gray suit, with the shaved head, pulled a handgun out of his jacket and pointed it at Barbara as she stormed out of the house.

Alexi’s view of Barbara was blocked by a large bush. She watched the men on the ground, petrified that they were going to shoot the only person in the world that was nice to her. She tried to get up to surrender herself but she wasn’t as brave as she had hoped. Her fight or flight reflex had kicked in and unfortunately for Barbara it chose the latter.

There was a loud ripping sound that sent shivers down Alexi’s back, followed by a loud roar. The men’s faces turned ashen white.
What is going on?