Page 9 of Fake Fiancée Bear's Enemies-to-Lovers

“Joanne, I…”

I can hear the tears in her voice as she says, “Please, Lucas. Please don’t try to convince me because I’ll cave and I’ll meet you somewhere and I’ll give everything up. Please don’t make me do that.”

“No. I would never do that to you. Joanne, I’m calling…” It occurs to me that there’s no reason for me to end things now. There’s no benefit to it. Instead, I need to just let her be the one who ended things. “I want to try to convince you, Joanne. I want to but you’re right. It’s not a good thing to do. That husband of yours is a lucky man.”

When I hang up, it occurs to me that maybe I really am the asshole Madeline thinks I am. If that’s true then at least I did one right thing with Joanne. At least one.

I still feel like such an asshole. And why exactly am I the asshole? I get angry thinking about how all this entanglement with Madeline has made life complicated in a way I really don’t enjoy.

And what is so complicated, huh, big guy?

Damn it. Big guy. That’s something my father said when I was a cub. It was… He called me that when I was acting particularly foolish.

I growl low in my throat, frustrated at my own thoughts coming to haunt me. Finally, just feeling fed up with the whole back and forth, I grab my phone. The call is answered in a few rings. “Hey, Garrett, man, yeah. I need to call in that favor.”

He’s a gorilla so we’re not alike. But he’s a shifter so he knows exactly what favor I’m asking for, so it isn’t a big surprise that he says yes. “Just don’t steal any picnic baskets and don’t lose yourself completely. I don’t want to have to look for you. And I don’t want to have to send the Mr. Ranger after you.”

“Haha, a Yogi joke. Brilliant and so completely original and unexpected. Okay, thanks.”

I hang up and instantly feel better. Not better enough but better. Knowing I’m going to go wild starts my adrenaline pumping. It’s always a nice thing to turn everything over to the bear. Only a shifter can understand that I think.

I head to a remote spot in the woods I know doesn’t have people traffic. It’s better to shift to an area where there’s less chance of being seen. We’re out of the shadows now but most people will still never see one. Solitude makes it more relaxing anyway.

I park the car and start a short hike into the woods. I am carrying what preppers might call a bug out bag. It has a change of clothes and some first aid stuff and some food. More importantly, it’s what I’ll leave my keys and wallet in and the clothes I’m currently wearing.The first aid is in case I happen upon anyone hurt. Shifting itself is a healing process for us. If I can shift, any minor wounds disappear.

The light is changing under the trees. It’s getting darker but that won’t be a problem for me once I shift. Bears have excellent night vision. We have an extra membrane in our eyes, and it makes the light reflect twice and, wow.

I’m just out of it. That really is a bit too much information. What am I going to do now, explain to you why Asian poachers like our gall bladders? I’m really not feeling like myself, and I know why.

Madeline.

I reach a good spot and drop my bag. I can’t get undressed fast enough. I roll my stuff into a ball and cram it in my bag and then, I let nature take its course.

The shift is extraordinarily fast. In the movies, there’s a chance for a practical effects genius or a computer programmer to do something amazing and show off their talents. The realityis it’s noticeable but too fast to really comprehend. If I were watching as an outsider, it would almost seem like my body is blurring.

I feel the usual rush of energy as my ursine senses take over. Like I said, my eyesight becomes more focused in the shadowy light of the forest canopy and my sense of smell becomes the strongest.

I start to shamble along, enjoying the muscle movement below my fur. I catch the scent of a rabbit almost instantly. My thoughts about anything outside this forest and my own animal instincts dims and I just run. I see the rabbit and give a half-hearted chase. It’s just play.

And it feels amazing.

I climb a tree, my claws making the ascent easy. I pause in the branches to enjoy the soft breeze that carries the scents of the forest to me. The sun is getting lower and I know I have to get back and become human again, but the feeling of freedom is so overwhelming, so profound, that I linger.

Eventually, I climb down and run off to take a quick swim in the stream I locate by smell. I grab a fish or two but again, I’m not really that hungry at the moment.

It would be so easy to just abandon the human world.

I could live in these woods or I could fly to Alaska or Canada. I could just disappear to the woods and never be bothered by all of the bullshit.

But that is never a good idea, as tempting as it is. At some point, it gets harder and harder to hold onto our human reasoning. The form would essentially become a trap. It’s something shifters tease about, but also talk about like ghost stories. The shifter who forgot he was human.

That’s far away, of course, I return to my bag and shift back. Getting dressed, the euphoria begins to wear off a little, but there’s clarity I wasn’t feeling before shifting.

And that’s the magic of it all, really. The problem of Madeline and our agreement to pretend we’re engaged feels less dramatic. The important issue about Joanne is that she moved past me, not any hurt she felt before.

I hike back to my car and drive home. I may have no answers to anything, but I’m a lot better prepared to handle it all.

And it’ll stay that way.