Page 23 of Awakened By the Guardian

“Damn straight,” Vic muttered. Then he flashed a warm smile as if nothing had happened. “Anyway, welcome. I’m⁠—”

A cell phone chimed, and it seemed it was his. He took two steps and a moment to find it under the mass of stuff at his workstation. “Yeah? Hell. Okay…” He moved back and grabbed Alyssa’s tablet. “I’ve got it. Yeah…” He wandered off, leaving Gary, Gary’s father and Margaret to look at each other. It seemed he wasn’t taking a shower after all.

Gary held up his own phone. “I’m going to call Dr. Sherilyn.” His gaze cut to Margaret. “Do you want to look around with my dad?”

She regarded him steadily, her gaze telling him that she knew he wanted privacy to talk to the doctor. That was true, but he also wanted her to get used to talking to shifters. The more she felt comfortable hanging around them, the more comfortable she’d be around him, right? And he needed her to be comfortable around him.

Oddly, he already liked these people and this place on a gut level. It didn’t make sense, but deep down it was like he was home.

His father seemed to sense that. “Gary? You’re feeling comfortable here, right? Like something has settled inside you.”

Gary nodded, startled by his father’s perception.

“The river’s close by. Every shifter in his first change needs to go back home to where his genetic line began. Your home—my home—is the River Rouge. Everything will feel better around here.”

It did. It felt right to stay in this place, to hang out with these people who felt like family even though they’d never met.

“Yes,” he finally said, smiling in acceptance.

“Yes,” his father echoed then nodded to the phone. “You call the doc. I’ll introduce Margaret around.”

“Me? But I’m not⁠—”

“You saw my boy change, haven’t run or forgotten it, and you’ve come here—so you’re in on the shifter secret. You’re one of us.” He raised his arm in invitation for her to walk with him.

With one last hard look at Gary, she acquiesced.

Gary started dialing Dr. Sherilyn. Time for some real answers.

CHAPTER 8

Most of the building’s inhabitants were asleep, but Mr. Baldner knew the one on patrol by name as well as a few who were lounging more than dozing. “Ethan, this is Margaret. She’s my son’s girl. He’s the one over there in the wheelchair. He shifted for the first time last night, and I’m bringing them into the clan.”

Margaret felt awkward greeting people in bear and human forms alike, but she had little choice in the matter as Mr. Baldner kept showing her off like a proud papa. The humans were difficult because she wasn’t technically Gary’s girl and there was no way to politely argue as Mr. Baldner just bowled right over her. With the bears…it was just weird. At least at first.

Mr. Baldner introduced her in exactly the same way as if she were talking to a human. Every time, after he finished, the huge creature would sniff her like a dog—not exactly in her crotch, but close. Then it would stretch up and lick her face. The polite ones would just give her hand a quick swipe with their tongues; the playful ones would go for her face or her neck. The first time startled her, but the rest of them had her giggling, her awkwardness fading. These were, she told herself, just people in very realistic bear suits.

And they were hugely welcoming even though she wasn’t a shifter. Apparently anyone in on the secret was one of the family.

The meet-and-greet would have been fun if her asthma hadn’t kicked in: allergies, she realized, and she didn’t have her inhaler. She’d managed to change clothes before they drove here but had accidently left her medication at home. Still, it wasn’t a serious problem. She wasn’t wheezing yet—there was just a tiny tightening of her chest—and so she ignored it. She’d get her inhaler soon enough.

“You’re not as afraid now,” Mr. Baldner said.

“What?”

He tapped his nose. “Shifters can smell fear. You were frightened there for a bit, and I can tell it’s easing.” He paused. “We’re mostly good people, you know. And most of us haven’t lost control since we were teens. The water⁠—”

“What?” She started, her head full of images of teenage grizzlies running wild at the mall or getting drunk in a backyard. Sure, the images were funny, but people could get hurt.

Mr. Baldner patted her hand. “It happens. All those hormones make us go crazy, especially those in the city. Young bears need a place to run. So, we try to catch shifters early, identify them if they don’t know who they are. And our own kids spend lots of time at Gladwin State Park. Got a bear clan there who trains our young and does a monthly run—more if you need it. It’s good fun and burns off the pent up energy. Others of us go to the UP, but it’s more dangerous there.”

“In the UP?”

“Hunters,” Mr. Baldner explained. “We look the same as normal bears, and a bullet kills us just as dead.”

“Why didn’t you teach Gary?” It would have been so much easier on him if he’d known.

Mr. Baldner looked at the floor. “His mother made me promise not to. Said she’d take him away if I did. I gave plenty of hints, but I couldn’t show him until now.”