The Bear’s Mail Order Menage

“Story goes a long, long time ago, when Charlotte was more of sh*thole commune like this one here, a boy from Charlotte stole the love of one of the McCallister boys. Feud started then and there and it’s been going strong ever since. From our side, that is. Seems to me like little old Charlottetown forgot about us a long time ago, which is good. That’s how it should be. Ain’t no sense in holding a grudge, not any kind. That’s how I feel. Folks don’t seem to feel the same.”

“I’m sorry. I wouldn’t believe that a family would treat their daughter like that.”

“Is that so? What kind of family you got?”

“I don’t have any. I’m an orphan. The men I was friends with, Joshua and Andrew, they were as close to family as I ever got.”

“Sh*t, well that explains why you think the way you do. Family ain’t always such a good thing. The family you’re born with ain’t always as good as the family you make. Anyways, if you were palling around with those boys, I hate to tell you this, they’re going to make this hard for you. They hate those boys more than anything. You better hope they really do come for you, and fast, or else this is going south real quick. Can I ask you a favor though, just in case they really do bust you out of here?”

“Of course,” she squeaked out, suddenly feeling so overwhelmed with sorrow over the things she had done that she could barely speak, “anything.”

Take me with you? I know I’m not the same kind of shifter as them, but I don’t care if they don’t. I don’t want to live like this anymore. There’s gotta be better things.”

“Deal. No question about it.”

They they fell quiet, the both of them, Alina to her silent tears and Eva to god knew what. Just two young women trapped in a hell they couldn’t scratch their way out of. Alina lay that way for a long time, at least it felt that way. She had no idea how long it really was and eventually she dozed off into a strange, uneasy sleep. She would have thought it impossible for her to sleep under such conditions, but it seemed that far from staying awake and vigilant she was sleeping more and more as time dragged on.

Some of it may have been due to boredom, some of it to the fact that in the days she had been held her captors had not fed her once. Whatever the cause, every time she woke up it was it was in a state of panic. She would go immediately from the blissful dark of sleep to the awful realization of where she was.

Even being on her own, it was enough to make her sick. But this time was different. This time she awoke not to silence but to shouts and the sounds of rattling chains. Something was happening. Good or bad, someone was opening her cell.

“Hey you little bi*ch, look sharp.”

“What is it? What’s happening?”

All she got in response was an angry grunt. A giant of a man she had not seen before came lumbering towards her as quickly as his massive body would allow, a look of murder on his face. AS much as she wanted to put on a brave face, Alina couldn’t keep the terror of the moment from taking hold of her.

She scurried backwards, crawling as quickly as she could manage in her weakened state into the farthest corner of the room. It wasn’t really going to keep her safe and having to chase after her clearly wasn’t making the giant any happier, but she couldn’t help it. It was instinct, pure and simple.

“Hey! Did I say you could move? What the fu*k you think you’re doing?”

“Please,” she gasped desperately, “please, can’t you just tell me what’s going on? I was thrown in this room and left and nobody has given me a clue as to why I’m here. Can’t you just tell me why?”

“Why?” he scoffed as he approached, getting steadily closer with each tick of time, “because you chose the wrong town and the wrong men to fu*k around with, that’s why. You should’ve made wiser choices, girlie. You could’ve just been a little nicer to my uncle when you got to the area, for starters. That might’ve put you on a better path right there. Too bad there ain’t nothing you can do to fix it now.”

Would it have? Would it have made any difference if she had been sweet or flirtatious with that one particular man? She had a strong feeling that she still would have wound up locked away in this room, only without the memories of finding someone to love to pass the time. For the first time, she was grateful for those memories, regardless of how painful they felt in retrospect. It was something she had never expected to have that could carry her along to her final resting place, wherever and whenever that might be.

Still, she could not understand why after these long days of zero interaction they were all of the sudden bursting into her cell with the obvious intent to remove her. She could not say the cause, but there was unrest. That unrest might just be her best and last hope to make it out of the awful place alive.

“What’s happening? Can you at least tell me that much?”

“Who says anything is happening? You’re a nosy little bi*ch, aren’t you? Just like all of the rest of them have been.”

Alina tried to hide her grimace. She didn’t like the sound of that at all. Just how many women had these criminals kidnapped? And, more disturbingly, why had nothing happened to them as a result? It made any hope of escape seem utterly juvenile and it was all she could do not to break out into hysterics.

“I’m not trying to pry, it’s just that it’s different. Nobody has come to see me and then all of the sudden here you are. I’m just trying to figure out why.”

The giant took her roughly by the arm and yanked her to a standing position. For a moment, she was sure she was going to pass out. Her strange sleep patterns combined with the constant fear and lack of food made her alarmingly light headed and she fought for her consciousness, fought not to get sick on herself, too.