An Alpha's Thunder (Water Bear Shifters 3) (7 page)

When Lance opened the front door, he felt the breath leaving his body. Caroline was standing there in a pair of tight blue jeans and an even tighter short-sleeved white t-shirt. The t-shirt had a deep v-neck that teased Lance as it came to a point between her ample breasts. She looked stunning. He doubted she had put much time or thought into her clothes, yet she had somehow chosen the perfect outfit to drive him wild.

“Hi,” she said softly. “Can I come in?”

Lance snapped out of his reverie. “Of course. Sorry, I’m a bit nervous. It’s not every day that I invite someone over to explain shifting to them.”
Or to explain to them that I think they’re my lifemate
, he added to himself silently. First things first, though. He had to make sure she didn’t think he belonged confined to a cage somewhere before he started worrying about confessing his feelings for her.

“Do you want something to drink?” he asked as he gestured for her to sit down on the couch. “The only beer I have right now is PBR, but I could open a bottle of wine?”

“I would love a drink,” she said, settling into his couch. “PBR sounds great.”

Lance nodded and went to grab her a can, relieved that she didn’t seem to be judging his taste in beer. Maybe she wasn’t as much into the hoity-toity side of the art world as he thought. After all, she was wearing simple jeans and a t-shirt, and she was okay with a cheap beer.

Lance came back from the kitchen and handed a can of PBR to Caroline, then opened one for himself. “Cheers,” he said, holding the can out to her, then immediately regretting it. Cheers? What was he toasting? The fact that he had shocked her with his shifting abilities, or the fact that he had killed two men in front of her today?

But Caroline wasn’t fazed. “Cheers,” she said, clinking her can with his and then taking a long drag from it. She didn’t say anything else, and Lance wasn’t sure whether he should wait for her to initiate the conversation or just start talking.

He took a long sip of beer himself, and started mentally kicking himself. What was he doing, sitting here worrying and cowering in the face of an uncomfortable situation? He was an alpha, after all. He should be commanding the room, not twitching with nervousness. He needed to step up and take control of the situation.

“So, I’m sure you have a lot of questions about what happened today. Do you want me to explain it to you, or would you rather ask me specific questions.”

Caroline took another sip of her beer, and then looked up at Lance, her face unreadable. “Why don’t you explain it to me,” she said. “And then if I have any more questions when you’re done I’ll ask them.”

Lance nodded. “Okay. I guess the easiest place to start is by telling you that I am a panda shifter. No surprise there, since you saw me shift earlier today. Are you familiar with the idea of shifting?”

“Yes. I’ve read plenty of novels with shifters in them. I must say I’m rather shocked to discover shifters actually exist, though.”

“I’m sure it came as quite a surprise,” Lance said. “There are actually more shifters around than you might think. We’re certainly not a majority, but we do exist in numbers more substantial than you might think. There are wolves, bears, panthers, and leopards in North America, just to name a few. I, obviously, am a panda bear shifter. But there are many kinds of bear shifters around—polar bears, black bears, grizzly bears—you get the picture.”

Lance paused for a moment to take a sip from his beer and try to gauge Caroline’s reaction, but her face remained unreadable.

“I’m sure if you’ve read a lot of novels that you’ve read quite a few explanations for what causes shifting. It’s nothing magical or supernatural, and it’s not a disease that can be passed on through a bite or something like that. It’s genetic, a mutation that’s been passed on for generations. It’s rare, but it’s a dominant gene. So, if a shifter and a human have a baby, that baby will carry the shifter gene.”

“If it’s dominant, then why are shifters so rare?” Caroline asked, interrupting him.

“Shifters tend to only mate with other shifters, so the mutation hasn’t spread through the main human population. It’s remained within a relatively small group.”

Caroline nodded, satisfied with his answer, so Lance continued.

“Several years ago, I used to be the leader of a clan of panda shifters,” he continued. “I was known as the alpha, and I have the alpha gene, which makes me exceptionally strong and resilient. Unfortunately, a group of scientists discovered that shifters exist, and decided that we must be eliminated.”

“Why?” Caroline asked, interrupting again. She seemed genuinely confused as to why anyone would want to eliminate shifters, which bode well for Lance. Hopefully that meant that she would be willing to accept shifting and his bear side.

“People often don’t understand that shifting is a relatively harmless genetic mutation. They think that we’re some sort of supernatural, diseased creatures who are out of control and might at any moment turn on someone. But that’s not the case at all. Shifters are usually completely in control of their animal, and we’re no more harmful than any other human. But many people still insist on fearing what they don’t understand, and these scientists were among those people. To make a long story short, they created and spread a virus specifically aimed at panda shifters. It swept through North America killing all but four of us. My crew and I are the only four panda shifters left, as far as we know. We survived because of our alpha gene, but the virus was so nasty that even many of the alphas succumbed to it.”

Caroline’s eyes widened. “Wait, are you telling me that all four of you basically lost all of your friends and family?”

“Yes,” Lance said, his eyes sparking with anger. “It’s still hard to think about it, but that’s what happened. The other three guys and me went into hiding. We joined the Coast Guard so that we’d have a job where great physical strength wouldn’t be questioned. One of the unfortunate realities of being a shifter is that you can’t let anyone suspect who you really are. We’re extra strong, but we can’t take a chance on anyone realizing that it’s any kind of special ability. We have to make sure that it’s all viewed as part of the constant workouts we do for our Coast Guard jobs. You have no idea how exhausting it is to live every day pretending to be someone you’re not.”

“You might be surprised.”

Lance paused, unsure of what Caroline meant by that, and waiting to see if she said more. But she had dropped her gaze and was staring at her hands which were folded in her lap, so he continued.

“The guys you got tangled up with at the bar today were agents of the scientists who want to kill us. Without getting bogged down in too many details, let’s just say that the scientists are on a rampage right now. They’ve stepped up their efforts to eliminate shifters, and are working on something that will get rid of all the bear shifters in North America. We’re not sure what, exactly, that something is, but we’re assuming it’s another virus of some sort. We know they’re working somewhere up in Alaska, and they’ve started kidnapping bear shifters up there to use as guinea pigs for testing their drugs. As much as my crew has tried to be careful and stay under the radar, it appears our cover has been blown somehow. This is the second time in the last few months that we’ve had to fight off the scientists’ agents. I don’t know how they’re finding us, but they are.” Lance sighed and stared up at the ceiling for a few moments, trying to gather his thoughts. He wasn’t sure how much more to tell Caroline. He had given her a broad overview, and she seemed accepting enough of shifting thus far. Maybe he should just stop there and let her ask any questions if she had them. He didn’t want to talk too much and confuse her more than necessary.

“That sounds awful,” Caroline said. “So you’re basically living in constant fear of being killed?”

Lance chuckled. “I’m not sure I’d say that I’m living in constant fear. The agents they send down here are easy enough to deal with. I’m not afraid of them, although dealing with them in public places can be a messy situation, as you saw today. I’m more worried about the scientists. If they manage to get a virus created strong enough to wipe out all bear shifters, that’s when I’ll be truly afraid. I know how to fight enemies who come at me with guns and raised fists. But fighting off a disease specifically designed to kill me is an entirely different battle. One I’m not sure I know how to win.”

“Someone needs to stop those scientists, then!” Caroline exclaimed, jumping up and beginning to pace the room. “They can’t just be allowed to wipe out an entire group of people. There must be someone you can call...the police or something? You’re in the military, for crying out loud! You must know how to get to the proper authorities to stop this!”

Lance sighed. “I wish it was as easy as just making a phone call,” he said. “But the unfortunate reality is that there’s no one we can call. It’s too risky. There are too many people who would agree with the scientists that bear shifters are dangerous and need to be wiped out. Nothing could be further from the truth, but, like I said earlier, people fear what they don’t understand. My crew and I have to be careful not to give away to anyone in authority that we’re bear shifters. If the wrong people find out, we’ll have more problems than just the scientists to deal with. We could end up with the whole United States military breathing down our necks,”

Caroline stopped pacing and stared at him. “That doesn’t make any sense,” she said. “You’re good people. You’re
part
of the United States military. Why would the military try to eliminate you?”

Lance shrugged. “I wish more people saw it that way, Caroline. But they don’t. As long as I’m alive, I’ll have to hide who I truly am from most of society, or risk being singled out as a monster. My crew is actually really upset right now that you saw us shifting. They’re worried that you might call the police and blow our cover. And their worries aren’t without reason. We’ve seen too many bear shifters be hunted or killed for no crime other than being a shifter.”

Caroline’s eyes flashed angrily. “Well, you can tell your crew that they have nothing to worry about from me,” she said. “Of course, I’m shocked that shifting exists. But I don’t see any reason to hunt or kill shifters. That seems absurd to me.”

Lance breathed a huge sigh of relief. “Thank you, Caroline. You have no idea how big of a weight that takes off from my shoulders.”

Caroline barely seemed to hear him, though. She had resumed pacing, and was shaking her head in anger. She seemed lost in her thoughts, muttering under her breath about how people couldn’t just live and let live. Lance got the feeling that her angry mutterings had a deeper back story than just seeing him turn into a panda at the bar today. He sat patiently, letting her pace for several minutes. Finally, she stopped and turned toward him. Her eyes were blazing with anger, and her face had turned red.

“Why does everyone think that any deviation from the norm is such an awful thing? Society has this idea set out of who we have to be and how we have to act, and if we don’t fall into line than we’re treated like we’re less valuable or less important than the people who dutifully conform. It’s sickening, you know? There’s so much beauty and diversity in the world, but most people are too busy fearing what they don’t understand to enjoy how our differences make life a better, richer experience.”

Lance’s heart warmed at her words. “I agree. I only wish more people felt like that.”

Caroline sat down again, looking like she had just used up all her energy on her last outburst. “So, what now, though? You just continue to look over your shoulder constantly, hoping that you stay one step ahead of the bad guys? It seems like these scientists are pretty powerful. Aren’t you afraid they’ll catch up with you one of these days?”

“Well, yes, we’re worried they’ll catch up with us,” Lance said. “But that’s why we’re
not
just sitting around looking over our shoulders. We’re taking action.”

“Like what?” Caroline asked.

Lance hesitated. She sounded genuinely curious. And her positive reaction to his shifting back story made him feel more strongly than ever that she could be the one for him. But he didn’t want to tell her about Alaska. He felt like as soon as she knew that he was leaving, any chance of their having a relationship would be gone. He had been trying to come up with a realistic way to make a long distance relationship work. He couldn’t travel very often, because getting leave time from the Coast Guard was never a quick, easy process. But maybe she would be willing to visit him in Alaska if he covered the cost of her plane tickets. Painting could be done from anywhere, right? She might be able to come visit him between art shows. Of course, that was only a short term solution, though. Long term, if she was his lifemate and they did decide to get married, then they would want to live in the same place. Lance furrowed his brow and sighed. Why did everything in his life always have to be so damn complicated?

“Lance?” Caroline prompted. “You’ve just been staring at the ceiling and frowning. What kind of action are you planning to take?”

Lance took a deep breath and decided to just tell her. If he did convince her to pursue a relationship with him, then it was better she knew now about Alaska. Surprises wouldn’t make anything easier between them. “My crew has put in for a transfer to Alaska,” he said. “We haven’t received the definite confirmation yet, but it’s looking pretty certain that we’ll be transferred to the Coast Guard air station in Kodiak. It’s pretty cool, actually. Alaska is a rough place to work as a rescue swimmer crew, so we’ll get to be part of the best of the best. I’m excited about that. But the real reason for being in Alaska is to be closer to the scientists. We want to be near their home base, wherever that might be, exactly. We’re trying to go on the offensive and stop them before they can get too far in whatever plans they have for a virus.”