Brady smiles and winks at me. "We'll see what you say about that when we're done."
He walks toward the woods, and we trail behind him. I wonder just what surprise the guys have up their sleeve.
18
Chapter 5
Carly
The ground on the path is muddy, and I happily squish through, while Sierra picks her steps carefully. As we get deeper into the woods the air is colder, but moving along at a brisk speed is heating me up. We don't talk much, enjoying the forest instead. It's peaceful, and when we step over rocks designed to create a footpath through a stream, I'm tempted to take a drink.
As if he's read my mind, Brady stops and pulls three water bottles out of an inside pocket of his open jacket. "Water break?" I catch a glimpse of the largest handgun I’ve ever seen in a holster at his waist and assume he must have put that on just before our walk. I also wonder if there are things in these woods I should be afraid of. Familiar with guns and knowing how to use the Glock my dad and Ray always kept under the counter at the shop, I'm not concerned.
Sierra gives him an enthusiastic yes, and I take the plastic container to greedily drink some down. She asks, "How much further?"
Brady answers, "About another mile."
I notice a large rock that looks familiar. I walk over to it. The pale green lichen growing on it is almost in a pattern, and it's rough under my fingers when I touch it. Oh, right, my dream. I frown. "This rock was in my dream." I remember something was behind it, and I move to see.
Just as I do, a large black bear crashes toward us, and I gasp. My heart jumps into my throat, and ice floods my veins. My instinct is screaming for me to run, but my brain is telling me the right thing to do is hold still. Brady's hand touches my shoulder as if to keep me in place. The stench of the animal is strong and familiar. It's bigger than I thought a bear would be.
Sierra lets out a small gasp when she sees it too, and she stops behind us. The bear has noticed us, and adrenaline is racing through me. As the bear walks toward us, the need to act is overpowering. I'm holding my breath waiting for Brady to do something. C'mon, shoot him. He doesn't, and I look over at him. He’s relaxed as if he's watching TV. Is he paralyzed with fear? I grab the gun from his waist. Flicking off the safety as I raise the heavy thing with both hands, I shoot in the sky to scare the bear away.
I stumble from the kickback as a thud sounds nearby. Did I just kill a bird? Before I can ponder more, the bear starts to move quickly in our direction. Shit, he's going to attack. I lower the gun to shoot.
Brady yells, "No!" His hand grabs the gun and lowers it while his strong arm yanks me back.
I'm about to yell too when the bear begins to shrink. What the hell? A sound like bones cracking carries over to us while fur begins to disappear, revealing skin. Is that human skin? The bear-thing is still coming our way and becoming more like a person as he stands on two feet.
Oh my God, it's Keith. He's staring at something behind me, and I remember the thud. I turn to find Sierra slumped on the ground. "Did I shoot her?" But I know I haven't when I realize there isn't any blood.
Brady's still holding me, and he says, "She fainted."
Keith is stark naked and fully human when he reaches her. He sits down and pulls her into his lap, and I think about how she's going to like waking up to his cock. A laugh escapes me. It’s the kind of laugh you have when you're so tired you find everything funny. I can't control it and nearly double over as tears stream down my face.
Brady and Keith have no idea what I think is amusing, but my laughter is contagious, and they both join in. When Sierra opens her eyes, I try to stop and manage to for a moment. Then she notices the naked lap she's lying in and smiles. I lose it again and crumple to the ground.
When I finally recover, Keith says, "That wasn't quite the reaction I was expecting." Brady throws him a pair of shorts, and he grabs them out of the air.
Brady says, "Me either. Jesus, Carly. I didn't know you knew how to use a gun. What were you thinking?"
"I was thinking why the hell weren’t you doing anything to keep the bear from killing us." The reality of what just happened settles over me, and the urge to laugh is long gone. I feel anger replace it, and I look at Keith, who’s zipping up his shorts. "What the hell are you?"
Sierra steps in front of him protectively, and I realize my hands are in fists and I'm moving toward them. "Carly, don't."
I shake my head. The bear in my dream was real. My blood turns ice cold. "Sierra, he's a bear. Did you see any of that? He's a freaking bear that just morphed back to a person."
I turn on my foot to Brady. "What's going on here?"
"You watched Keith shift. We're werebear."
"What? What the hell is a werebear?" Brady is one too?
Keith answers, "It's like a werewolf, only we're bears. We can shift from human form to bear form."