The Lost Slipper (Fairytale Shifter Book 3) (11 page)

F
rom my friend
, Ruby Dixon, the following is the first chapter of Does a Bear SHIFT in the Woods!

“
S
o you’re a wolf shifter
, eh? What pack?” The man at the bar tries to give me an encouraging smile, but it just comes across as a bit smarmy.

Ugh. I toy with my drink, wondering if I have enough courage to blatantly get up and leave. It’d be rude as heck, and Pine Falls is a small town. I should probably just suck it up. “Is it obvious?”

“Scent,” he says, and taps his nose. Then he lazes back on the barstool, spreading his legs. “I’m kinda like the alpha in this area, you know.”

Kinda like? You either are or you aren’t. “Wow,” I murmur, pretending to be impressed. “I’m Thorne pack, out of Sacramento. You must be one of the Millers if you’re the local alpha.”

His face flushes. “Yuuup,” he says slowly and looks away, which tells me everything. He’s not a Miller, and he’s not an alpha. He’s just looking to score some fresh werewolf pussy.

Nice try, buddy.

“So what brings you here?” He waves at the bartender, indicating he wants his check. “Findin’ a mate?”

I frown at him. “No, of course not.”

“Uh huh.” He clearly doesn’t believe me.

“That’s really not it at all.” I play with my drink for a bit longer. It’s an unexciting screwdriver, but it’s also really hard for a bartender to mess those up, so they’re my go-to at a new place. “Wanted a change of pace. Saw someone advertising for a cottage rental in the area and I waited until I saw someone post a job in my wheelhouse—”

He stands up, cutting me off. “Well, good luck to you, honey. Maybe I’ll see you around.”

“Yeah,” I say dryly. “Sure thing.” I watch as he leaves, and I’m all alone at the small bar. Pine Falls is currently not in tourist season so things are quiet, or so I’m told. Right now the bar itself is pretty damn deserted, which is fine. No more creeps hitting on me.

I’m not surprised he threw down the ‘mate’ card so early, though. Pine Falls is shifter central in the North—which is why I found out about the cabin and the job here. Me? I’d just really wanted to get out of California and away from my old pack. Things got real awkward in Thorne territory when my ex became the new alpha and indicated there’d be room in his bed for me
and
his current alpha female.

So generous of him. Yuck.

So I got the hell out of Dodge. I’d been bored in California and was looking to start somewhere new, anyhow. Pine Falls, Minnesota, is definitely new to me. So far it seems nice enough, and the local wolf pack is run by family, which means they’re content to let me fringe as an omega: not quite part of the pack itself but still included enough to appease my shifter side.

The door opens, and I turn to look. Two women enter, waving at me excitedly. “There you are!”

“Hey,” I say, getting to my feet. I put a few dollars down for the bartender and gesture at a booth in the back. “Want to sit over here?”

Ryann Brown is considered the unofficial welcoming crew here in Pine Falls. She’s not a shifter, but she’s mated to a big burly were-bear named Mal, so that pretty much makes her one of the team. She beams at me and slides into the booth, all sunny smiles and swingy floral dress.

With her is Adelaide Laurent, my boss and a human woman who runs the town spa. She recently expanded to add hair and nails (aka me) in her quest to beautify Pine Falls and to add an option for bored wives when their husbands want to play mountain man. Both of them have welcomed me to Pine Falls and are now my closest friends here.

It’s weird to have two human friends who are involved in shifter relationships, but I’m happy with it. They’re nice and fun to be around, and after the pack fiasco back in California? I’m happy to go lone wolf for a while.

“You want me to buy the first round?” I ask them, sliding in next to Ryann and bringing my screwdriver with me.

Ryann wrinkles her cute little button nose. “Nah, I’m not drinking. Unless there’s coffee. That, I’m all over.”

“I’m sure they can make you coffee,” I say with a smile. “Would you two rather go to the restaurant instead?”Pine Falls has an infamous waffle restaurant—home to the most maple confections one can possibly toss onto a breakfast plate.

“Not me,” Adelaide says. “Amaretto sour here.” I wave over a server as she rubs her forehead. “Been a long day today. I had a customer who kept calling and swearing I had somehow stolen his credit card information. I tried explaining that his wife came every week and that’s why he had all those charges, but he didn’t believe me, and she won’t ’fess up.”

“That sucks,” Ryann says sympathetically. “That why you’re drinking, Madison?”

“Call me Maddie, and nah. I just met the local ‘alpha.’” I use my fingers for quotes. “He hit on me and then suggested I’d moved here because I needed a man.”

Ryann’s eyes widen. “He did
not
.”

“He did.”

Adelaide gives me a sympathetic look. “You’re gonna get that a lot here, you know. Most of the time when someone moves to Pine Falls from another state, it’s because they’re looking to hook up with another shifter. At least, that’s what Cole tells me. Lots of hooking up when a new shifter moves here.”

So I can expect a lot more of the last run-in? Goody. “Can’t a girl just want a job and a change of pace without some dick?”

“No,” both of them say, then burst out laughing.

“Ugh. I swear I’m not here to pick up a man!” Even as I exclaim it, the server saunters over. His scent fills my nostrils—not wolf. Bear, maybe. And my eyes widen when he gives me a flirty wink and puts a new screwdriver down for me.

“On the house, sugar.” He gets the girls’ orders, and I try to ignore the phone number written on the napkin under my drink. Hell.

This is going to be real weird for a while. I’m nothing special to look at—brown hair, big hips, maybe a few more freckles than I probably should have. But because I’m a shifter, and because I’m here, everyone thinks I’m desperate for a man.

And the thought makes me defensive. When the server leaves, I lean in. “I swear I’m not here for a guy.”

“You can tell us that, but no one’s going to believe you.” Ryann looks like she’s buying in to the hype at this point. “It’s okay to admit it, you know. People hit a certain age and they start to get the baby bug. Look at Adelaide here. She’s here for three years and then overnight, she and Cole can’t keep their hands off each other—”

Adelaide bats a hand on Ryann’s arm to shut her up, but she’s grinning. “She’s got a point.”

I scowl. “I just want to start my life over, maybe make a few women feel good about themselves. Or men, if that’s what they want. Is that so terrible?” The last thing I want at the moment is a romantic entanglement. Most wolf guys are super possessive…at least until the alpha shows up. Then they’re all, “Hey, I suppose I can share with the big dog.”

Ugh. Sometimes I wish I was human like these two. They seem utterly happy to let their men be the shifters and for them to be completely vanilla humans.

“Here?” Ryann asks. “The only reason Adelaide and I were single for so long was because we’re human. You being a shifter? You won’t stand a chance.”

My heart sinks, especially at the ‘so long’ part. Ryann’s all of twenty-one if she’s a day. If she thinks she was on the market for a long time, I’m going to be doomed to be hit on by every shifter in Northern Minnesota. “What can I do? I just want to be left alone.”

Adelaide thinks for a moment, then snaps her fingers. “A makeover.” At my frown, she continues. “Not you. You’re cute enough as it is. Someone else. You need to give someone everyone’s familiar with a new, impressive look. That’ll show everyone in town you mean business.”

It sounds kind of…stupid. “I’m not sure…”

“Ooooh,” Ryann coos. “We could make it a game! The next person to walk into the bar is the one that Maddie has to make over, no matter who it is. Man or woman. And once you do, I’d be happy to spread some rumors on your behalf that you have a long-distance boyfriend.”

“Or,” I say, “You could spread the rumors on my behalf because you’re good friends and we could skip the whole makeover thing?”

Ryann and Adelaide exchange a look. Then Ryann shakes her head, an impish grin on her face. “Here’s the thing, Maddie. It’s real slow in town. Real slow. People need entertainment.”

“Including my friends?” I ask dryly.

She winks at me.

I sigh and look at the door. “Okay then. Next person who comes through that door is getting the full Madison Thorne treatment. No pore will remain untouched, no follicle un-dyed, no cuticle un-trimmed.”

“Awesome,” Ryann says, and Adelaide gives an excited little hop in her seat. Boy, they must be right about things being slow around here if this is considered fun.

All three of us stare at the door to the bar, waiting to see who comes in. I cross my fingers under the table, hoping for a soccer mom who just needs a quick beer. Or something. Heck, I can even make do with a young, hot metrosexual who can wear a great fauxhawk and impress his girlfriend. Something easy.

The door creaks open.

The three of us tense in our seats.

Heavy, muddy boots stomp in. I look up in horror at the man who’s just walked through the door. He’s got a bristling, overgrown beard that sticks out in every direction. His hair is long, tangled, and hangs on the shoulders of his dirty plaid shirt. He’s enormous, and even from here I can smell the scent of were-bear and sawdust and sweat on his skin. I know that lumbersexuals are hot right now, but those guys are sculpted, almost effete versions of the raw man standing in the doorway of the bar. This man would give Paul Bunyan a run for his money. All he needs is a blue ox.

“There’s your challenge,” Ryann whispers. “Chance Eddington. I don’t know that he’s ever gotten a haircut. Or talked to a woman. Like, ever.”

Hoo boy.

I am so screwed. How am I going to get this guy to consent to a makeover?