Bearly Hanging On (The Jamesburg Shifters #6)(25)

But damn did he ever have a smooth voice. To Jamie’s ears, the old newsman seemed like James Earl Jones mixed with Ted Baxter from The Mary Tyler Moore Show mixed with one of those really loud TV pitchmen who always seemed to be shouting at someone.

When the radio host patched through to Whitman's report, his words read like the script from a heist movie. The only thing missing was the hiss of a radio, and a montage set to tense music.

"The Jamesburg police are reporting this morning that upon opening, employees of both Fresh Land and Earth Market grocery stores alerted them to what appeared to be large scale burglaries. At Earth Market, the entire meat section was found completely empty, and the wine and beer was largely picked over, although many domestic cans are still available, so don't panic."

Jamie had to laugh at that one. In the midst of a news story, Whit Whitman had to make sure everyone knew there was still Bud Light on the shelves.

"At Fresh Land, it seems that," he turned and mumbled to someone off the mic. "Apparently a vast quantity of creamed corn, creamed spinach, and packaged macaroni and cheese were taken. Along with approximately eight crates of corn tortillas, and all of the salsa and cheese."

Whit laughed. "It's funny," he said. "Of all the things to steal from the grocery store, why take all that? Unless you were going to have one heckuva Mexican food party. With a lot of creamed corn. You know, Jamesburg, creamed corn was one of Mama Whitman's favorites, but I never agreed with it. I don't like the gloppy, cloying sweetness."

Somehow, every word the ancient newscaster said was so laden with gravitas and importance that he might well have been announcing the start of a war, or some kind of invasion instead of expounding on his distaste for creamed corn.

"Oh, yes, right, I was also going to say that it's funny for a place called Fresh Land to be robbed of a lot of starch-filled processed foods. Kind of ironic, isn't it?"

Jamie could almost see Whit Whitman's self-satisfied grin. It reminded her of someone else she knew. Or, okay, a whole lot of them. Humility wasn't exactly a hot commodity among wolf and bear populations. She tuned out the rest of Whitman's talking because she already knew everything he was going to say.

There were no suspects, although security cameras caught poorly-focused images of a very large man wearing absolutely nothing, wandering through the aisles. He went to enough caution that his method of product removal wasn't caught on camera, but Jamie figured he must have had either help or some contraption like his sled thing, if he'd managed to get that much stuff. Past that though, it was a mystery.

Jamie felt a slight pang in her stomach, but knew it wasn't hunger. At least not hunger for food. Hunger for the big, gruff, muscled up bear of her dreams? As good as it felt to wrap her legs around him right before she knocked him out, it'd feel a thousand times better if he were facing her, kissing her, pushing his...

She shook her head and opened her window. She never left through the door - this just felt more natural. As badly as she wanted her bear, she also knew that something had to be done to stop him. If it didn't, he was going to get caught eventually, and if nothing else, Erik Danniken wasn't a big fan of bald-faced threats. Even in a place where Petunia Lewis had been given a commuted sentence and a few months community service for attacking the town's carrot supply, open threats were a good way to make sure you spent a good, long time pondering the inside of a cell.

Jamie sighed. Why can't anything just be simple? Simple boyfriend, simple life, simple problems?

But, there was no point to the moping. There never was, not even in the darkest times. Not even when she'd lost pretty much everything over the course of a single month. If nothing else, she was tenacious, and she clung to hope like Whit Whitman to his gallon-sized pump can of Aqua-net.

The gray of an overcast, fall morning was impenetrably deep. There was just the slightest mist in the air that was cool and refreshing on her face. The higher up she went, it might be heavier, or it might be ice, it was hard to tell at this time of year.

But the sky, she thought with a laugh, the sky's not the only thing holding some moisture around Jamesburg today. Just thinking that made her sigh again, partially at her own ridiculousness, and partially at how she was walking... flying, headlong into trouble. Then again, it might be nothing.

He may turn out to be nothing more than some kind of fantasy that's better left that way. She'd certainly had enough experience with that to know it was a definite possibility.

Something about him is just different though, she thought, swinging her legs out over her third story windowsill.

It wasn't that her house was particularly huge - it was a small, circa 1930s place with enough work that needed doing to keep her weekends full - but she had converted the attic into a bedroom. Seemed right, somehow.

Either he's different, or I'm just a horny idiot, Jamie thought, snickering slightly. But it doesn't matter. I've gotta figure it out, whatever it is. And if there are people needing help, I've got to at least try to help them.

Taking a big, deep breath, the scent of fir trees and the clean, crisp smell of winter just around the corner filled Jamie's nose. She loved this time of year for the same reason she loved twilight and dusk.

For whatever reason, the times between the other times - where daylight and nighttime mingled, or where summer gave way to winter - those were her favorite times. As her wings flexed and took the air, she thought that maybe, just maybe, there was something to that too.