Once Upon a Shifter (124 page)

They strolled side by side in the soft light of the evening, learning about each other. He showed her the cabins and the dirt airstrip. They walked into the hanger where their old aircraft sat like a sleeping giant.

“Is that duct tape?” she asked, pointing under the wing.

He nodded. “Finch is the mechanic. He does all of the repairs.”

Alexi spotted a piece of cardboard taped over the gas cap.

Ellis sighed. “He’s not very good.”

She stifled a laugh. She walked around the plane running her hand over the smooth metal. There was a large logo painted on the tail with a giant bear roaring. Hudson Crew was stenciled above it in big block letters. She ducked under the tail of the plane and walked to the other side. A wooden canoe caught her eye against the wall, peeking out under a green tarp.

“Is that a canoe?” she asked. She had always wanted to go on a canoe ever since she learned about the Native Americans in elementary school.

Ellis walked around to meet her. “I forgot this was in here,” he said, pulling off the tarp. Paint cans were piled inside.

“Do you think it still works?”

He took the paint cans out and lifted it up, inspecting underneath for any cracks. “Only one way to find out,” he said. “Want to take it out on the river tomorrow?”

Alexi remembered the fast current and the jagged rocks of the river that she visited earlier. “Isn’t it dangerous?”

Ellis shrugged. “We’ll stop before we get to the waterfall.”

She gazed at him with his hands in his pockets, waiting for her answer. “Sure,” she said, getting a sudden burst of confidence. “Why not?”

“Great!” he said, his face lighting up in a smile. “It’s a date.”

“No,” she said quickly. “Not a date. Definitely not a date.”

His face dropped and Alexi felt a flash of regret. “Let’s head back,” she said, walking out of the hanger.

Ellis sat around the fire with the guys watching Alexi out of the corner of his eye. She looked stunning as the flickering orange glow of the fire danced across her flawless features. She was wrapped up in a blanket, sitting in an Adirondack chair and sipping a glass of wine.

He couldn’t take his eyes off her.

Finch was telling her about the time that their plane almost crashed and how he saved the day by climbing onto the wing and repairing the broken aileron. His version was a tad exaggerated, actually completely fabricated, but he had her enthralled.

Quint walked over and refilled her wine glass. She thanked him and he stumbled back to his seat. The only thing that Quint liked to do more than make wine was to drink it.

Ellis watched her as she pretended to sip it and then covertly spilled it on the ground. He smiled. Finch’s wine was horrible. Ellis was convinced that his secret ingredient was motor oil.

Matteo brought her another blanket and wrapped it around her feet. Ellis didn’t feel any jealousy. He knew how the guys were. They loved to spoil women, catering to their every whims. They would bend over backwards to make her feel special and adored, doing everything they could to make sure she was okay. They didn’t want or expect anything in return. They knew that Ellis’ bear had chosen her and there would be no competition from them.

One by one they headed off to bed until it was just Alexi and Ellis left. “Are you ready for bed?” he asked.

She stood up and threw a log on the fire. She settled back into her chair, pulled the blanket up over her and smiled at him. “Not yet.”

Alexi look up at the stars. “It’s breathtaking,” she said in awe. “You can’t see this from the city.”

While she gazed at the stars Ellis memorized every detail of her beautiful face. She had a slender nose and a slight dimple on her right cheek. Her hazel eyes sparkled with starlight. Or was it sparkling from something else?

“I wonder if anyone is up there looking back at us?” She pulled her hand out from under the blanket and waved. “I wonder what they would look like?”

Not nearly as beautiful as you.

“Do you believe that?” he asked.

She rolled her head over and looked at him, her head leaning on the back of the chair. “Is it so impossible? Earth created life.” She looked back up at the sky. “Look at all of the stars. There’s got to be some weird creatures out there.”

Ellis looked away.
There’s a weird creature beside you.
What would she think if he told her that he was a shifter? A freak?

She was a human. He was positive of that. He could smell an animal from within and she had nothing but skin. There were too many odds stacked against him. He didn’t have a chance.

“Did you grow up here?” she asked.

He nodded. “I’ve lived here my whole life. My clan has been here for four generations.”

“Your clan?” she asked with her eyebrow raised.

“It’s just what we call my family.”

She stretched her feet out towards the fire to warm them. “I like your mom. She’s so nice.”

“She’s definitely a character,” he said, stretching his feet out beside hers. “She’s always on my case. She says I’m a spitting image of my dad.”

“Where is your Dad?”

“He died. When I was five. He was putting out a forest fire on the mountain and got caught in the middle of it. He was so brave. The elders tell stories of how he was such a daredevil and so adventurous. He wasn’t afraid of anything.”

“Do you remember him at all?” she asked.

He shook his head. “Just a few flashes of memory here and there. I remember him throwing me in the air and catching me. He had a big thick mustache. There’s a scene I remember of him chasing me and tackling me. I remember crying the day he died. Just snippets of time. But I don’t remember how he was. I only know that from the stories I hear.”

“I would’ve liked to have met him,” she said.

“Me too.”

She placed her hand on his. His heart rate increased. Warm tingling flowed from her fingers into his hand. Touch was very important to bear shifters and it was rare that Ellis had the chance to touch a woman. But this contact, this simple gesture, was unlike anything he had experienced before. This woman had such a profound effect on his body.

A bear always knows their mate when they smell them and now Ellis knew as well. He belonged with this woman. He didn’t care if she didn’t see it yet. She would be his even if if took years, decades even. Even if she never decided to be with him, he would always be hers. He would wait in eternity for her, never touching or looking at another woman in a sexual way ever again.

“Are your parents still alive?” he asked, when she took her hand back and hid it under the blanket.

She exhaled and stared into the fire for a long time. Ellis was about to ask if she was okay, when she finally spoke. “No. Not for me they’re not.”

She was hiding a lot of secrets and Ellis wanted to know everything about her. “Why are you here?”

Alexi never took her eyes away from the fire. “I…” she started and stopped. Ellis waited.

“I…should be going to bed.” She stood up and draped the blanket over her chair. She walked to her cabin and locked the door when she was hidden inside.

six

Alexi stretched out in her bed and moaned. The eager sun shone through the tiny window of her bedroom and draped across her face like a warm blanket. Nature’s alarm clock.

It was hot in the room so she slid the window open. She heard friendly chatter and smelled coffee brewing outside. She stumbled to the bathroom and surveyed herself in the mirror.
Oh no
. She tried to comb her hands through her thick, ruffled hair and her fingers got stuck.
Is that a twig in there?

She decided to take a shower. She didn’t want Ellis to see her like this. She reprimanded herself for the thought.
Why do you care? He’s just going to be a friend. That’s it.

But she wasn’t so sure. It was nice sitting with him by the fire last night. She felt so safe and warm beside him, like he had some sort of comforting effect on her. The opposite of her fiancee Greg. She was always on edge, afraid that any wrong movement would set him off, turn him violent.

She couldn’t remember the last time she enjoyed a night so much. These guys were so fun to be around. She never laughed so much.

She hoped that Ellis wasn’t upset for the way she abruptly ended the night. She was about to tell him everything but then panicked. She didn’t want to get too close. She didn’t want to get hurt again.

But now there was a glimmer of regret stubbornly floating through her mind that she had cut the evening short.

Alexi turned the faucet on in the shower. A light stream of brown water trickled out of the shower head.
Ah shit. I guess it’s a hat day.
She dug into her bag until she found her green army hat and put it on. She picked out her cute army shorts and a white tank top.

“Now that’s a vision to wake up to,” Finch said, as she walked out of her trailer.

The boys were lounging around the camp, Sander and Matteo making pancakes over the fire, the rest of them drinking coffee and joking around.

Keene whistled. “Where do I sign up to enlist?”

Beckett walked over and handed her a steamy mug of coffee. “You look beautiful this morning. Don’t mind the boys they are thinking the same thing, they just don’t know how to vocalize it properly.”

Alexi smiled and took a sniff of the coffee. “I think it’s cute.”

Her eyes scanned the men looking for Ellis. He wasn’t there. She looked down at her coffee in disappointment.

Beckett walked her to the table where they had a setting waiting for her. She sat down and a huge chocolate chip pancake was slapped in front of her. Matteo poured maple syrup all over it as Sander placed a napkin on her lap.

They all waited, holding their breaths, as she took her first bite. “It’s so good,” she said with her mouth full. They all sighed in relief. Smiles broke out across their faces and they went back to doing whatever they were doing.

“Some OJ?” Beckett asked, holding out the container.

“Please,” she nodded. “Where’s Ellis this morning?” she asked, as he poured her a glass.

“He’s in the hangar,” Beckett replied.

“He’s been polishing the old canoe since the crack of dawn,” Finch said. “I don’t know what’s gotten into him. The best fishing is on the river bank. He knows that.”

Alexi smiled knowingly. She scarfed down her pancake, refusing a second one, and took off towards the hangar. Ellis was in there with his back to her, sanding the inside of the canoe.

She leaned against the doorway watching him work. She had never met anyone who could make a t-shirt and jeans look so good. His back muscles bulged through the thin, black fabric. He turned to the side and Alexi smiled at his furled brow and intense look of concentration as he carefully sanded the splintery wood.

“Good morning,” she said.

He jumped up, startled. “How did you sneak up on me?” he asked in shock. “I should have smelled you.”

“Smelled me?” she asked, sniffing under her arm.
I guess I do need a shower.
“You looked like you were concentrating pretty hard. What are you doing?”

“Getting the canoe ready for our date.”

“Not a date,” she reminded him, but only this time not sounding as harsh. “Definitely not a date.”

“Come try it out,” he said, ignoring her comment.

He steadied the canoe and held out his hand for her. She took his hand and stepped in. For once the touch of a man wasn’t unwelcome. His touch felt good. It felt natural and right.

She sat down on the newly sanded seats and felt a twinge of panic at having to sit in this unsteady thing on a fast, moving river. Ellis would keep her safe. She knew that. There was nothing to worry about.

You don’t know that. Greg was all rainbows and sunshine too in the beginning. They all start this way.

Alexi glanced at Ellis holding her hand and the canoe with a big, happy grin on his face. She really couldn’t imagine him hurting her. She had inklings of Greg’s true nature even when they were kids, long before they dated. When he was throwing rocks at birds and the time he threw a puppy into a lake. Alexi vividly remembered jumping in and pulling the drowning lab from the bottom of the water, saving him just in time. Nothing about Ellis gave her a bad vibe. He seemed to be one of the good ones. If there was such a thing.

They walked back to camp, Ellis with the canoe hoisted over his shoulder like it was made of paper, and prepared to leave on their canoe trip. Ellis packed a cooler full of sandwiches, fruits, lemonade and Alexi saw him sneak in a bottle of red wine. Real red wine, not Quint’s moonshine.

When they were ready to go he lifted the canoe onto his shoulder and picked up the heavy cooler with his free hand.

“I can take the cooler,” Alexi said, impressed at his jaw dropping strength.

He looked at her sideways, like she was crazy. “What are the men like where you come from?”

Not like this.

They had walked for twenty minutes until they arrived at the river and Ellis, weighed down with all of the stuff, hadn’t even broken a sweat.