Tracking the Bear (Blue Ridge Bears Book 1)(15)

“How is it different?” She’d lowered her voice, and the note of ire had gone out it.

“I was born this way, Lucy.” I probably should have explained it earlier, but she’d been angry. She wouldn’t listen to reason. I wasn’t sure she would now. “Your brother wasn’t.”

“What’s the difference? You’re both bears.”

I relaxed my grip on the steering wheel and let my foot ease off the gas. I’d been inching close to eighty-five and I didn’t want to be pulled over by a police officer.

“I told you we were descended from the berserkers, right? You know what they were?”

“Viking warriors, right? They worked themselves up into a fury until they went absolutely nuts on the battlefield.”

“Pretty much. The word comes from the Old Norse ber-serkr, or bear shirt. My ancestors believed the spirit of the bear rode them into battle.”

“And it did?” she guessed, taking another drink of her coffee as she listened.

“Yes, it did. It was the same for the wolves and the boars. Somewhere along the line, we simply became our animals. They’re a part of us now.”

“That doesn’t really explain how you’re different from my brother, though. He got a bear’s blood by accident, but if he can turn into a bear, doesn’t that make him just like you?”

“In most senses, yes,” I admitted. “I shift violently at the full moon as well, and with training he could learn to control himself. The main difference is that I was born with the knowledge that when I became physically mature enough, I would change. I was prepared for it. I still killed three moose. Do you know how difficult that is for an average bear?”

Her eyes were wide when I glanced over at her again. Her hand trembled slightly around the coffee cup.

“You’re really that powerful?”

“During the full moon. I’m in control of my beast because I can control the rage. He can’t.”

“Why?” she whispered.

“The closest human comparison is that he’s essentially hopped up on meth. He’s not in control of his actions, the bear spirit is.”

“And he killed someone,” she said.

“And he will kill again if we can’t catch him before the next full moon.”

“Fine,” she said after a long pause. “I’ll stay at the cabin. If you promise not to kill him.”

“I can’t guarantee anything,” I protested.

“Then I can’t guarantee I won’t wander into the woods after you,” she countered, setting the coffee back down. She crossed her arms across her chest.

“I’ll chain you to a bed if I have to,” I growled. “I won’t put you in danger like that.”

“Feel free to chain me down, if that’s your thing,” she said breezily.

“You’ll give a man ideas.”

“Like you don’t already have them,” she scoffed. “I know what I felt last night. You want me.”

“And do you want me?”

“That’s beside the point,” she muttered so quietly the human ear wouldn’t have detected it. My ears were better than average, and I worked hard to suppress a smile. I took the turn off as directed.

Two more hours until we reached Columbus, and then several more after that to get to a reasonable stopping point on our way to Virginia. One more night where she’d lay warm and inviting in my bed. One night to convince her that I was worth the risk.

I only knew one thing for sure. Luke would be the easiest Elmsong to snare.

***

The University was huge. I’d never pursued education, had never felt the need. Most of the friends I’d had that attended dropped out in short order and owed thousands as a result. There were cheaper places to get sloppy drunk and have casual sex.

But looking at the massive brick buildings all around us, I could understand Lucy’s desire to attend school. Students wandered to and fro, by themselves or in small groups, chatting animatedly about their classes. The human side of me understood. There was comfort in being a part of the whole. The cerebral attraction to an institution devoted to learning made sense. The smarter you were, the better you were able to survive. And Lucy clearly wanted to escape her home town and survive elsewhere.

The part of me that was a bear did not understand. Bears were normally solitary. Bears travelled alone or with young. One did not have to be smart to survive, though that was undoubtedly an advantage. One needed only to be strong. Bears didn’t band together in the way that wolves or even humans did. So as a result, were-bears were usually anti-social assholes. The lawmen were rare exceptions, men with tight control of a beast, who could pass for human if they needed to.

The dorms at the university resembled multi-story apartment buildings more than anything else. Built of the same red-brown stone as the rest of the campus buildings, they loomed over the lot where we’d been forced to park. I was fairly sure it was going to take us more than thirty minutes to sort out what had happened, but I was willing to take the risk. The worst university police would do is slap a ticket on my car.

A subdued buzz of conversation met my ears when we stepped inside. Students were clustered on couches, window sills, the floor, and they all had a similar look of fear on their faces. We’d come to the right place.