ROMANCE: Lion Protector (Paranormal Shifter BBW Military Romance) (Shapeshifter Alpha Male Short Stories Book 2) (55 page)

THE END

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Chapter 1

I was coming to the end of my shift and locking the exhibit. I said goodbye to all the bears and gave a general wave. Then, I waved goodbye to Acidalia. She was the newest addition to my little family, a rare Greek Brown Bear contributed to the zoo’s bear exhibit.

              I was the bear keeper at a small zoo near the mountains and loved every minute of it. Bears had always been my favorite animal, but I didn’t like the idea of training them to perform like in circuses and movies. Working for a good zoo I could keep company with bears in a simulation of their natural habitats and introduce other people to one of my greatest loves.

              As I exited the staff door into the main zoo, I saw one last patron admiring the bears from the viewing area. A regular spring and summer visitor and my current romantic interest, Nik Orrin, seemed to be talking to some of the bears. Other than headlines every two or three years for his latest romance starting or ending, no one knew much about him. He lived in the mountains and kept to himself, living off family money and investments. For the last two years, I was that headline.

              I knew a little more than most. I knew that just at the beginning of spring I would see him here. I knew that he would start to come a little before close each day until late fall. We would walk to his car and go to dinner or a movie or whatever we could think of. Then he would be gone for the winter months. I imagined he took advantage of the different holiday calendar for countries overseas, Chinese New Year perhaps.

              Then again, maybe he took holiday to enjoy things that we had not in our relationship yet. I was a virgin, and though he was a few years my senior, and experienced, he never pressured me.

              “The zoo is closing. You may want to make your way out,” I called.

              Then I turned and continued toward the front of the zoo. I could hear him gather himself and any belongings to leave as well.

              “I see there is a new bear this year,” I heard him call from behind.

              I stopped to reply, “Yes, she just arrived with a few other animals for our fall exhibits. Her name is Acidalia. It is a localized Greek…”

              “I know,” he interrupted. “Local Greek cult honored to Aphrodite.”

              I smiled in surprise at his knowledge. He bowed and reminded me that he was of Greek descent. We both were. It was something we had in common, along with our love of bears. At this point he was at my side, so we resumed walking for the exit together.

              “Are you hungry?” he asked.

              “Yes, lunch was small and a long time ago,” I said with a smile.

              He laughed as well and gave my side a little tickle. He opened my door as we got to the car and soon we were on our way to our favorite Mediterranean restaurant. As he drove I couldn’t help thinking about the chill in the air. Fall was here. I wondered what the spring headlines would bring.

Chapter 2

              “Do you know what you want?” Nik asked.

              “What?” I replied, confused.

              “Do you know what you want?” he repeated.

              He looked from his menu to me and could see I was still in my own thoughts. He waved with a little chuckle.

              “Are you still with me, Vanessa?” he asked.

              This was as good an opportunity as any.

              “Are you still with me?” I asked in return.

              He raised an eyebrow in confusion and looked at me from across the table. I was upset and he hadn’t even done anything, yet. I wanted to take charge of my feelings now if things were going to follow his pattern. I wasn’t going to be a sad spring headline, and I wasn’t going to pine for him another winter.

              “Can we get our food to go? I want to talk privately,” I said.

              Still confused, he nodded and offered a few preemptive apologies. Our food came and we decided to have an evening picnic at our favorite camping spot. When we arrived it was fairly secluded.

              We sat at one of the picnic tables in the area and decided to talk before we ate.

              “So, this seems serious. Did I do or say something wrong that I don’t remember?” he asked.

              He genuinely looked concerned. Perhaps I was being unfair raising red flags because his past showed a certain pattern in timeline. Still, after two years, I think it was fair to ask a few questions.

              “I never see you in the winter,” I said.

              I was never good at beating around the bush. Once something was on my mind I had to talk about it. By the time I worked up the courage to talk about it, I could never be tactful. My nerves always got the better of my and I came across as just blurting random things that only kind of made sense.

              “Really? Are you sure we just don’t see each other a little less? We both get so busy. I know you have all the zoo’s seasonal events, decorations, and tourists,” he said, taking my hands.

              I pulled my hands back and fiddled with the food as I continued.

              “Yes, but you become completely unavailable in winter. I work a few additional hours here and there,” I said.

              He nodded and continued looking at me. He knew this was the beginning. My feet were wet, so I dove in.

              “We have been dating for two years and this is about to be our third winter together. You are a celebrity, albeit a reasonably private one. Ever few years photos leak of you ending one romance and starting another,” I said.

              “I never read tabloids or watch entertainment news,” he said honestly.

              “I know, but it’s true,” I said.

              He only paused a moment, then he gave a nod.

              “You admit it,” I said with surprise. “It is worse if you are aware. That means you know the women you date have a shelf life. That means you know mine is ending.”

              I had said it out loud and felt like crying a little, even though I had prepared myself.

              “That is not what that means at all,” he said.

              He slid the food over and held my hands across the picnic table.

              “It just means that I have dated women. I don’t sleep around or rush through them like something to be discarded. However, the women so far have not been the one. How long it took one or both of us to realize that, and how those relationships ended, has no bearing on you and me,” he said.

              I looked at him. He kissed my hands as he held them in his. We looked into each other’s eyes.

              “Please don’t leave this winter,” I asked.

Chapter 3

              Nik walked me to my door. I had to be at work early the next morning. He promised this winter would be different and that all my worries would become a memory.

              That night I dreamed that I sat at a waterfall in the mountains with a beautiful woman.  She cupped water from the fall in her hands over my head. As it ran down, I transformed into a beautiful European Brown Bear very similar to Acidalia, only smaller.

              When I woke the next morning, I had slept through my alarm and two snooze cycles. I was going to be extremely late for work. My carpool would be here any minute to pick me up.

              I rushed to get ready and heard Herman honk the horn from my driveway. Herman was my ride to work each morning and oversaw the zoo as a whole. He scheduled animal stays and exhibits. He was kind to me and my department, but seemed to most enjoy the turtles and snakes.

              “Well, you came dashing out today,” he said as I got in his car. “You look nice, though.”

              “Thanks,” I said. “I overslept, so I had to throw together what I could quickly,” I admitted honestly.

              We backed out of the driveway and started for work.

              “I saw your friend pick you up from work again yesterday. You know, I’m more than happy to bring you home in the evenings,” Herman said.

              “Thanks, I appreciate it, but I will stick with our current arrangement,” I said.

              He gave a nod and we made small talk about our previous evenings. He worked a little late scheduling holiday attractions and then went to bed almost as soon as he got home. He had errands to run for the zoo today. I told him about my evening with Nik.

              “If you have these concerns, maybe he’s not the right guy for you,” Herman said.

              We arrived at employee parking and he rushed around to get the door and assist me getting out of the car.

              “Perhaps,” I said, giving it some real thought.

              I thought I noticed a smile flash across his face. Was he hoping for something? I shook my head.

              “Something about him feels right,” I replied.

              We entered the zoo and went our separate ways.

Chapter 4

              The day went smoothly. Visitors were low right now. School was in session and it was football season, so we mainly had parents with small children avoiding crowds and college kids avoiding class with few to no weekend visitors.

That afternoon as I prepared to meet Nik after work, my staff brought me the last of their recordings from the day’s feedings and health assessments. I reviewed the reports from the morning seeing that everyone appeared to be doing well, except one bear.

              Acidalia was not acclimating to her new environment well and was showing signs of depression and aggression. I sent word to the main office and began making my way to her staff viewing area.

              She seemed fine when I greeted her, but I proceeded to engage her in a bit of communication anyway. She gestured and grumbled as politely as a bear can. With physical inspection I saw no cause for worry.

              As I turned to go back to my office and reread her report, I saw Herman joining me in the exhibit.

              “Is everything all right, Vanessa? I was forwarded a report about concerns with one of the new bears,” he said, coming further into the area.

              “Yes,” I said.

              Acidalia seated herself across from me and examined our new companion, disapproving more the closer he came.

              “This is Acidalia,” I said. “She is the Greek Brown Bear that joined our animals recently.

              “She’s the one the reports are about, I assume,” he said.

              He raised his voice at the end like a question, but as he approached her to inspect more closely I knew he had formed his own answer.

              I was surprised how close she let him come to her. I was even more shocked when they both leaned forward, ever so slightly, and stared each other in the eyes. As quickly as he turned, Acidalia moved around him and was headed toward me and the door. I turned to leave and I realized Herman had left the door open when he entered.

              Acidalia was on my heels so close that I did not have time to close the door behind myself. Just as I got through the door and jumped out of the way she was out the door behind me. Herman helped me up by the arm and asked if I was okay.

              I assured him I was and we both went after our escaping bear. He radioed security, and as we reached the main walk two guards with tranquilizers came from different directions. We all followed as Acidalia made her way to a short fence, then barreled into it with her full body until she burst through to the public woods behind the zoo.

Chapter 5

              “I’m sorry I was so careless,” Herman said as we started back toward my things.

              “Well, you don’t have to come down to the animal areas as much, so you aren’t used to having to be so careful,” I replied.

              He was my boss, so I couldn’t really chastise him the way he would have done anyone else in the situation. Really, over an initial assessment of a possibly sick bear, I wasn’t sure why he had come down. Normally it would take a few days of an animal showing signs of distress before he would intervene.

              “Why were you here?” I asked aloud.

              I hadn’t intended to. My wondering simply took control of my mouth.

              “Oh, the bear. There was something wrong with the bear and I wanted to check it out. I know you and your animals are close, so I wanted to be supportive,” he said awkwardly.

              We were nearly back to the bear area and I could see Nik waiting for me. Once he saw me with Herman, he left the bears and came to meet me.

              “Hey, Vanessa,” he said, kissing my forehead and putting his arm around me.

              “Hi, Nik. You remember Herman,” I said gesturing toward my boss.

              “I don’t think we’ve met,” he replied.

              Herman’s face soured a bit. He nodded and they shook hands with a tense smile. Herman joined me as I went to gather my things.

              “Should I prepare a statement for the media just in case?” I asked once we were in the staff only area.

              “I wouldn’t worry about that,” Herman said.

              His voice and body language were more confident now.

              He leaned against my desk and looked at me coolly.

              “You’re a nice girl. That’s sweet,” he said.

              “Thank you,” I said grabbing my purse and jacket.

              “How did such a nice girl come to have such interest in bears?” he asked, moving toward me and the door.

              “I don’t know. Something about them has always spoke to me,” I replied. “You’re being weird.”

              “Did that bear say anything to you,” he asked.

He started circling around the desk toward me. I started inching around the desk toward the door. He made a large quick step toward me and I startled and made several steps toward the door.

“What are you talking about?” I said.

I glanced behind me to see him almost floating above the ground as he took strides to meet me. I bolted into the patron area and Nik was at the door to catch me as I stumbled into his arms.

“What is the matter?” he asked, suddenly feeling my panic.

“Herman is acting out of it. I think he is trying to attack me. We just had a bear escape and he’s saying weird things,” I said.

Just as I was finishing, a young, taut, glowing version of Herman calmly stepped through the door and into the patron viewing area.
              “I am Hermes, and you are going to help me capture that bear,” he said as he grasped for my arm.

Nik pulled me in closer in time to be out of reach, then let out a guttural growl causing Herman/Hermes to reel back in surprise. The bears in the remaining exhibits growled in agreement. As Herman/Hermes looked around to all the bears Nik grabbed my arm and ran until we reached his car.

Nik drove above the speed limit and through the mountains. I was not sure where he was taking me. None of the scenery looked familiar.

“What happened back there?” I asked.

“I was wondering when you were going to say something,” he said calmly.

“I had to decide what best to say. I could also ask where are we going and how did you make that sound,” I said, “but I think the bigger question is just wanting to know overall, ‘What happened back there?’”

“What happened back there is you have just become a part of an ancient dispute,” he said.

Then he pressed the gas; we drove even faster.