The Right to a Bear's Arms (A BBW Shifter Romance) (Wolf Rock Shifters) (5 page)

The most remarkable and e
ncouraging aspect of all of this was that Zoe found them pretty, even beautiful. She’d somehow grown up looking at advertisements and television, thinking that no one could ever love a woman like her. Every woman she saw was created to fit into a pair of size two jeans and as a girl, Zoe had decided that there was no hope for her of ever finding a man who would care about her. She’d built up a strong resistance to the notion of affection and admiration, and instead took what she could, using boys and later men to fulfill her momentary needs. But there had not been love.

As she walked along, Zoe pondered all of this, remaining in human form as she walked in between tents. She peered into this and that opening to catch sight of the spectacle but never committed to taking a seat for fear of feeling that she had to remain in place.

It w
as when she was turning the corner around a shiny purple tent that she stopped in her tracks at the sight of a bear coming towards her. He was pale in colour and large, though not so big as a grizzly. He was beautiful, she thought, and gentle looking. But Zoe’s every instinct told her to turn and walk the other way.

Over the bear a large, cream-coloured
silk cloth was draped, and as he came upon her he shifted, quickly folding the garment around himself.

“
Colson,” said Zoe, half-smiling. “Nice toga.”

“Yeah, I think the ancient Roman look suits me,” he laughed. “I wasn’t sure I’d see you here, let alone ever again.”

“I was curious about this. Not just the fair, but Wolf Rock. The people. The shifters.”

“And? What do you think? Not so scary as all that, are they?”

“No, of course not. So far they’re fine. Of course they’re all focused on other things and ignoring me, and I like that.”

“You shouldn’t. You should get all sorts of attention, and
you should enjoy it.” He was right in front of her now, and she could feel his breath on her chest. God, he smelled so good.

“I don’t like attention,” she said, collecting herself. “
It can start off well but it always seems to end up with me getting hurt.”

Colson
reached a hand out, placing it beside her face. But he pulled back before he’d made contact, as though he’d touched something hot and been burned.

“But why does attention hurt you
?” he asked. “It doesn’t have to.”

“You say that, but it just does,
Colson. Look, you don’t know me. You don’t know how my life is. Maybe some people can walk around all sunshine and flowers, but I’m not one of them.” Her eyes darted around as she looked for an escape route. She didn’t want to talk about this anymore.

“Okay, okay. Fair enough,”
Colson said. “Let’s drop it. Why don’t you walk around with me a little bit?”

“Fine,
” she said, defeated. She was stuck now; just what she’d been avoiding. Stuck with a gorgeous man by her side; a man who wanted to be there, even. Everything that should make her happy was rendering her hesitant and miserable.

“Great, I can see that I’ve charmed you. Don’t fall i
n love with me too quickly, now,” he said.

Zoe almost smiled again, checking herself before showing him any vulnerability. The two began to walk slowly between the tents, ending up on the lantern-lit path in the woods.

“We’re not all bad, you know,” he said. “People. Shifters. Some of us are even good.”

Zoe remained silent.

“A lot of women, especially the ones of our ilk, are attracted to strong, aggressive males, then get all upset when they turn out to be strong and aggressive,” Colson continued. “But not all men are controlling or cruel. Some want to make their mates happy.”

“I thought you said we were going to drop this,” she said.

“I did.”

“And besides,
you’re
strong and aggressive.”

“I’m strong. I’m not that aggressive. At least I wouldn’t be, with you. Unless you wanted me to be,” he said, his tone mischievous and suggestive.

“And you’re a flirt.”

“Not really. I’m just…”

Colson’s sentence was cut short when a small boy ran into him head-first as he fled from an invisible pursuer.

“Sorry, mister,” said the little boy, eyeing
Colson’s outfit with curiosity.

“Quite all right. What’s going on? A
re you being chased?”

“Ye
ah, my sister got mad at me.”

“And is she bigger than you?”

“A little. But the problem is she can shift and I can’t.”

“Well,” said
Colson, “You’ll be able to shift soon enough. And you’ll be…what? Let me guess. A coyote.”

The little boy laughed. “No,” he said, biting his lower lip.

“An emu!” said Zoe, enjoying the playfulness and beginning to relax. Children always managed to soothe her, somehow.

“No!”

“A koala?” asked Colson.

“No.”

Just then, a spotted cat came upon them, sprinting out of the woods, and lunged playfully at the boy.

“Oh, a cat is it? I like cats,” said
Colson.

“Do you?” asked Zoe, wondering if this was a new development.

“I do, very much,” he said as the children ran off, the little boy still laughing. When they were out of earshot he added, “I like pussies,” sending a quick wave of pleasure through Zoe which seemed to shoot straight to the cat between her legs.

Colson stood in front of Zoe and looked down at her face in the pale light. He put his hands on her waist and pulled her to him.

She gasped, realizing that he intended to kiss her. Though every part of her wanted to be kissed by this
man, who seemed honest, good, and so fucking sexy, she pushed him away.

“No,” she said. “I can’t. I’m sorry.”

With that she shifted and sprinted off into the woods, her dress trailing behind her.

Colson waited until the next morning to seek out the panther who’d evaded him at the fair. Something in him felt protective of her. Though she was strong; probably even more so than he was, he wanted to see that she was all right. Even at the risk of making her angry.

The fair had emptied out as dawn approached
and the tents were mostly quiet, though some were occupied by sleeping, shifted animal forms awaiting the next night’s activities. The spirit bear padded through the area quietly, wanting to pick up Zoe’s scent again. But it wasn’t until he came to the now extinguished pathway of lights that he smelled her. There were so many other scents and trails that it was difficult to discern hers, but by now he knew it well. As his nose picked it up he felt a rush of endorphins take him over. The desire that he’d felt the first time he’d seen her hadn’t abated. If anything, he wanted her even more now. This, he knew, was going to be difficult.

He traced her scent
through the woods, weaving quietly in and out between thick tree trunks.

She’s concealed herself well, at least,
he thought.
Anyone who might be after her would have a hard time of it.

Finally her smell grew stronger when
he came to one particular tree, and he sniffed it, standing on his hind legs and leaning two paws against the thick trunk while he sniffed. Yes, this was the place. She’d spent the night above him.

He looked up, but all he could see was the
multitude of tangled branches overhead. He was a relatively good climber, but didn’t want to terrify Zoe or to create a threatening situation by invading her hiding space. Besides, he’d tracked her once and could do it again if necessary.

He walked away, heading
back towards the road and his truck.

***

Zoe saw the pale bear below. He paced around her tree and sniffed it, looking up towards her. But, concealed among the thick tree limbs, she felt confident that he wouldn’t come near. Surely he knew better than to do that. And if he didn’t, she thought, he’d be in for some pain. He should have figured out by now that she was trouble.

She found her emotions a mix of irritation and pleasure at his atten
tions. He should leave her be. She was damaged, and she’d told him to stay away, for God’s sake. She’d told him how she was. Well, sort of. He should have figured it out, anyhow.

When
she was confident that he’d gone, she stood on the thick branch which easily supported her weight and stretched, her cat-spine feeling the full extent of the pull as her front legs extended out in front of her. After her night spent in the tree, she felt refreshed; it was the first time in ages that she’d passed a peaceful night, and sleeping under the stars was beautiful. It had been a long time since she’d done it. A wave was washing over her that felt something like happiness.

Zo
e shifted and, standing naked on her branch, reached into the knot to extract her plastic-wrapped money. She put just enough into her bag to get through the next day then concealed the cash again, wrapped the satchel’s strap around her neck and shifted, this time into the form of a long-armed orangutan. This was out of her usual comfort zone but she wanted to laugh at her ridiculous limbs as she swung from branch to branch, landing finally with a thud on the ground below. There were certain advantages to being such a skilled shape-changer, she knew, and she was learning to feel gratitude for the gifts that had always seemed like such a curse.

Since the fair was over for the night, Zoe shifted into panther form and
headed back towards town. Kyla the fortune teller had given her a business card, which was all well and good, but Zoe had no phone or computer with which to contact her. If she were going to seriously consider making friends, she’d need at least to acquire a cell phone.

Wolf Rock was still relatively quiet first thing in the morning and Zoe found herself heading straight for the m
ain street and the town’s only diner, which she’d noticed the night before after her meal. In cat form she could have hunted in the woods, but she wasn’t yet certain what the rules of this place were, or if hunting on a wolf pack’s territory was considered in poor taste at best, and illegal at worst.

She didn’t want to find out the hard way, and planned to maintain her relative anonymity as long as possible.
Besides, eating in a diner seemed nice and seedy, not to mention much more luxurious than sniffing for rodents among fungus-coated trees.

Others were
beginning to quietly roam the streets; a few solitary individuals here and there, and the occasional family with children. Zoe wondered if ever a normal human family with small children came wandering into town not knowing what they were in for. The image amused her; it was one thing to walk into a mountain town and see a deer on the street, but it must be shocking to see a panther or a grizzly hiking up the sidewalk towards you, she thought. Fun for the shifters. Maybe not so much for the terrified parents of curious toddlers.

She turned into the diner when she’d arrived. Its
door opened automatically when she advanced, and she noticed a sign next to it that read “All Forms Welcome!” By now most of the establishments in town had been set up this way, to accommodate animals whose paws couldn’t grasp handles, and Zoe was grateful for it; it was some sort of evidence that she would fit in. Back where she’d formerly lived, she could never have walked into a restaurant in any of her animal forms. Terrence was a human town and shifters there mostly kept their identities a secret for fear of alienating the locals.

A waitress smiled at Zoe
and gestured towards the back of the building where a there was a sign for the washrooms, so that Zoe could shift and get dressed in private.

The bathroom was impressive, particularly for a diner which would normally have a small space for such things. This one seemed large enough to ho
use an elephant and contained several curtained changing booths, and even bathrobes and slippers for shifters who hadn’t brought clothing along. For a seedy diner, the place was like the most posh and elegant spa Zoe had ever encountered. Given the spacious room, it was easy to extract her clothing and get into it without worrying about some awkward act of physical comedy.

“I could get used to this town,” she thought as she tightened her belt around her mid-section.

She looked into the mirror, examining her face, which she was still getting used to. Her eyes were large, ringed with dark lashes and tilted slightly upwards at the outer corners, giving her a cat-like appearance. This, she supposed, was related to her affection for her panther form above all others. It was a strange thing; Zoe had spent over a year in that tall, thin body and yet this soft form with its flawed, round belly and wide hips felt so much more like a home for her. She wondered if women who constantly covet the shapes of other women would ever grow to understand that sometimes what you were born with suits you best.

When she cam
e back out into the diner’s main area, the waitress seated her at a booth with a view of the street outside. Zoe found herself watching passersby and feeling a general sense of relaxation set in.