Chapter One #2
“Hey,” Birdie griped. “You were going to pay him to kick us out?”
“Absolutely. You’re both atrociously annoying.”
Lance snorted.
“I’m Cam,” Hot Tour Guide introduced himself, and dang it all, he was offering his hand for a shake.
“I don’t like touch.”
“I imagine you don’t like much of anything,” he gritted out, allowing his hand to fall to his side.
“You’re very rude.”
“Mmm, let’s do a recap. You stormed off that shuttle, ignored my wave, glared at me instead, offered me money to leave the rest of the tour behind, got pissed that I’m single, stomped on my nephews snowman, you’re hurling insults such as but not limited to, ‘atrociously annoying.’ That sound about right? ”
She pursed her lips. Stupid human was smarter than she’d originally thought. “Well played.” She huffed a frozen breath and dismounted from his ATV, then threw her leg over the seat of the black ATV. This one was way cooler anyway.
He followed behind her and took his jacket off, settled it on her handlebars as he pulled up the suspenders of his ski bibs, and holy moly, now she could see his physique rippling out from under his tight gray thermals.
His shoulders were huge, and his waist trim, and she spied with her little eye abs that were so defined, they were visible under the waffle knit fabric.
He was talking, but she couldn’t understand a single word he said.
It was all bla bla bla, brakes on this side, bla bla, don’t run the ATV off a cliff, bla bla.
Ab flex. Shoulder flex. Why was his neck so muscular?
Adam’s apple on point. Beard was dark and perfectly trimmed.
Dark eyes. Masculine, straight nose. Frown on his face. Wait. Frown on his face?
“Are you listening to anything I’ve said?” he asked.
“Of course I am. I did. I have.” She cleared her throat. He smelled like cologne.
“Oh yeah? Where are the brakes?”
She pursed her lips and looked on either side of the ATV, near her snow boots.
“Wrong. They are here,” he wrapped his hand around hers and pressed her fist closed around a handle on the handlebars. “Accelerator is here.” He showed her where to press her thumb onto a little paddle that revved her engine and jumped her forward by inches.
“I’ve got it.”
“Now, if you need to Change, just call to me up front and we can pull over and let you do your thing.”
Moira frowned. “You talk about that real easily. Are you some kind of shifter groupie or something.”
The deep chuckle in his throat dragged chills up her spine. He grabbed the handlebars over her hands and leaned forward and flashed a glowing gold color through his eyes before he leaned away from her and went to zipping up his jacket.
“You’re a shifter,” she whispered.
“I heard that!” Birdie yelled, her voice echoing across the mountains. “Tour Guide guy, you’re a shifter? Me too! O M G, shifter party!”
Moira cast the little heathen a dirty look. “Why can’t I sense that you’re a shifter?”
“Maybe because you suck as a shifter. Or maybe I’m magic,” he said with a cocky smile as he pulled a beanie over his head.
“What are you?” she asked.
“Whose rude now?”
“I demand to know.”
“I demand not to tell you unless I want to, and I don’t want to.”
“I’ll give you fifty bucks.”
“A hundred and you have to tell me what you are.”
“Fine,” Moira gritted out.
His smile was feral as he leaned closer, and his dark brown eyes lightened to a glowing gold once again. “Bear.”
“Holy shit,” Lance said.
“Language,” Birdie said. “Does anyone want to know what I am?”
“No,” Moira deadpanned, unable to take her eyes from Cam’s. A bear, huh? The asshole was somehow getting even hotter. What a problem she’d run into today.
She pulled her wallet from her back pocket and pulled out a hundred-dollar bill, then handed it to him. “You’re a pretty wussy bear shifter if you need to wear all those layers.”
“I wear them to keep the humans happy.” He snatched the cash from her hand. “Now you.”
“Now you what?”
“Tell me what you are.”
“I can tell you what I am!” Birdie called.
Moira and Cam stayed locked in a glare. “Black cat,” she admitted at last.
“Like a panther?”
“No, like a black housecat.”
“Ha!” he belted out, his single laugh echoing through the woods. “Ha ha ha. Fuck, that’s good.” He walked away shaking his head.
“You don’t believe me?” she asked.
“Oh, I do.” He turned and walked backwards. “I’ve done a lot of these tours, but I can already tell this one is going to be the most entertaining.”
She wanted to claw him.
“A hamster,” Birdie called with a big vacant smile on her face.
The blood drained from Moira’s face. “What?”
“I’m a hamster shifter!” Birdie looked so pleased with herself.
“I named her hamster Raisin,” Lance said, and now they were giggling, but Moira found nothing funny about the terrifying words that had just spilled from Birdie’s mouth.
“But…your name is Birdie. You’re a bird shifter.” Damn the shake in Moira’s tone as her adrenaline spiked up.
“Nope. I’m a cream-colored little hamster,” Birdie said around a stupid grin.
The horror inside of Moira bubbled up as she realized what Birdie was. She was that little rodent that had been in her cabin, sent from the devil himself to scare her to death and eat her snacks!
With a screech, Moira jumped off her ATV and went running.
“No, no eating the other shifters,” Cam said, scooping her up, but didn’t his dumbass see? She wasn’t running for Birdie. She was running for Cam!
“Save me, help me, protect me,” she chanted mindlessly as she scrambled up his torso to his shoulder. “Oh my God, it’s you. You were in my house! You were the size of a soccer ball.”
Lance frowned. “She weighs like three ounces.”
“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh,” she choked out as Cam tried to pry her off him.
“What the hell, lady! Get off me!”
“I want them to leave. I need them to go. I can’t do rodents. I don’t do rodents!”
Cam forcefully pried her body off him and settled her into the snow, where she wiggled and fought under his impossibly strong grasp.
“Let me get this straight,” he barked. “Stop! Let me get this straight,” he tried again. “You’re a cat shifter afraid of rodents?”
“Terri…terri…terrified!” she wailed, struggling to get away from him. She could run to the woods. She could run away! “I have to call the shuttle. I have to call the shuttle back.”
“Lady. Lady! Stop clawing at me! God, you’re strong.
Stop!” The order in his voice froze Moira into place.
“Look at me. Hey,” he gritted out, yanking her chin roughly to him.
“You’re going to go on this tour. You’ve paid and I’m not doing the refund shit.
” He twitched his head toward a very confused looking Birdie.
“She isn’t going to Change.” Over his shoulder, he called, “You aren’t going to Change, right? ”
“I still have a stomachache from the last Change,” Birdie answered. “No thank you. I won’t have to Change for another week.”
“Great,” Cam said, his eyes blazing like gold magma straight through Moira’s soul. “So, for now, you can forget the hamster. She’s just a woman, and her dude is just a human, and I’m just a man who doesn’t need to Change either. And you’re just a woman who doesn’t have to Change, right?”
“R-r-right.” Why was she shaking so badly?
“Fantastic. Now go get on your ATV, and remember what I taught you, and let’s go have an adventure.” He sighed. “Listen to the truth in my voice. I will keep you safe.”
The tension faded little by little from her body. Her breath was still fast, and her heart was racing, and she was shaking, but she could think straight again. “I don’t want to be beside her.”
“I don’t care,” he assured her. “Lance, can you stay between the girls?”
“Sure?” Lance called.
“Great. Hey,” Cam said releasing her shoulders. “Let’s have a little more fun, and a little less shitshow, okay?”
Moira nodded and then meandered over to her ATV backwards, so she didn’t have to give her back to the hamster.
“Hey,” Birdie called in a chipper tone. “A bear, a cat, and a hamster walk into a bar—”
“No,” Moira said.
The rest of the joke died in Birdie’s throat and she pouted.
Cam snorted, but Moira saw nothing funny about any of this.
It was Valentine’s Day, the worst day of the year, and this year proved to be the very worst one yet.