Bear Flesh Delights

“Yes,” she agreed, her teeth clamped shut as a strange sensation stole its way through her body. A wave of nausea struck her afterwards, and she couldn’t stop herself as she emptied her stomach’s contents on the ground.

Sucking in a breath, she asked worriedly, “That won’t cause the process to stop, will it?”

“No, sweetheart, the magic is already in your system now,” Joe said softly, wrapping an arm around her waist and leading her toward the cabin door. “For all intents and purposes, you’re already ours. Welcome to Bear Clan.”

“Thanks,” she smirked, even though her body had started to tremble and was now shaking violently. Skylar grasped her other arm as Joe moved to make room for him, and together the two men brought her into the cabin and shut the door.

“Get her into the bed, Skylar, while I make us some tea,” said Joe as he moved into the kitchen. Skylar helped Amelia into the other room, lying her on the bed.

“These tremors will get just a bit worse before they get better,” he warned her. “But don’t worry, sweetheart, I’ll stay with you the whole time. I promise you, nothing bad will happen.”

“Hold me,” she managed to plead.

Smiling softly, which was unusual for him, Skylar stretched out behind Amelia on the bed and spooned against her, wrapping her into his arms. Amelia smiled, blown away by the ironic fact that she wasn’t afraid. Here in the arms of a shape shifter, as she herself was transforming into one as well, she felt perfectly safe and content. She was no longer alone in the world.

*****

The dream was strangely comforting as Amelia watched it unfold. She was alone in the forest, walking among the trees. Small animals and deer surrounded her, scampering about. Then suddenly a she-bear stood before her, it’s eyes a warm and loving brown. It opened its arms, cast her a toothsome smile, and took her into its embrace.

When it released her, Amelia realized that she was covered in soft black fur. She, too, was a she-bear with soft, loving brown eyes.

“Wake up, sweetheart,” said Skylar in her ear.

She came out of her dream and opened her eyes, smiling up into two anxious faces. She wondered what they were worried about. Of course she was perfectly all right. In fact, she was better now than she had ever been before.

“Don’t be frightened for me,” she chuckled. “Don’t you know that for the first time in my life, I am finally alive?”

“It’s time,” said Joe, his eyes bright with the light of desire. “The second part of our ceremony is about to begin.”

“We’re not doing it in here?” asked Amelia curiously.

“No, sweetheart,” Skylar said. “We’re going someplace really special for that.”

“Come on,” Joe said. “I want you to meet my father. As the Elder, he must approve of you officially before we can do anything more. But don’t worry, he’s almost as excited about this union as we are.”

“I feel–different,” Amelia said as Skylar helped her to her feet.

“Yes, sweetheart,” he smiled. “You have much to learn, but all of that is for the future. Tonight, I want you to enjoy yourself.”

“I will,” she said with a smile. “Take me to your leader.”

“And I thought I was the one who liked cheesy lines,” Joe smirked as they started on their way, walking companionably together through the forest.

Amelia was somewhat surprised at what she found as the three of them topped the rise. All across a small field just below them stood about a hundred bears. She gasped and turned to bury her face into Skylar’s arm.

“Don’t be nervous,” said Joe as he stroked her hair. “I’m the Elder’s son. It’s only natural they’ll all want to get a look at the girl who has stolen my heart.”

Amelia blushed as she looked over at him. “Joe!” she said softly when he pulled her into his embrace.

Skylar gave her hair a little tug and kissed the top of her head, but when he tried to step back slightly and allow Joe to bring her down the hill, his friend grabbed his arm. “Don’t do that, Sky. You have just as much right to walk with her as me. Let’s all do this thing together.”

Laughing, Skylar came back and put his arm over top of Joe’s, so their two appendages crisscrossed over Amelia’s back. They descended with happy smirks as the others looked on. The bear equivalent of cheering was apparently a long, low growl. All of them stood up on their hind legs and waved their arms. Amelia shyly waved back.

Suddenly, one of the bears morphed into Dale Carter, the man who owned the pub. “Congratulations, you three,” he said with a grin. “I had a feeling this would happen.”

“So did I,” Amelia admitted with a blush.

“Father, there you are,” said Joe as he stepped up to another bear with a smile. “I’ve brought you Amelia and her other mate as you requested. May I formally present our union?”

The bear morphed. “Please do,” said the man with a nod.

“Um–hi?” said Amelia uncertainly. “Am I supposed to call you anything, sir?”

He laughed delightedly. “My name is Kyle,” he told her. “As you’re now my daughter-in-law, I suppose you could call me that.”

“Oh,” she mouthed, blushing again. “This is weird for me, sir–um, Kyle. I certainly wasn’t expecting to be doing this tonight. We haven’t discussed any of this at all.”

“Cutting things close, son?” Kyle smirked.

“Amelia has just had quite the adventure, sir,” Skylar told him. “We’ve just rescued her from Harpers’ lodge.”

“They dared to take her there?” he asked, his smile quickly turning to a much fiercer expression.

“He said something about burying me with the next shipment of toxic wastes if I didn’t become his bride,” Amelia added with a disgusted frown.

“Too bad there’s no way to prove it,” Skylar frowned.

“It’s hearsay to me, but Judy heard him directly,” Amelia pointed out. “Only–she’s just become a coyote herself. She and Seth want very much to run away together. I wish there was some way we could help them, and have them help us.”

Kyle was looking speculative about this. Amelia saw him suddenly smile grimly. “There may well be,” he told her. “But not tonight. Tonight is the mating ceremony, and most of these bears here would kill me if I took that away from them. However, tomorrow is another day. We will all return here and I’ll decide then what’s to be done.”

“Yes, sir,” Skylar nodded.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” Kyle chuckled. “Take your lady to bed. They’re all waiting for the ceremony to begin.”

“We’re not doing that in front of them, are we?” Amelia gasped.

Joe chuckled and pointed to a little cabin near the trees. “Of course not, woman,” he told her. “We’ll be going in there.”