“Got it,” she said.
Lewis looked at her for a moment longer and then he began unfastening the straps around her ankles. Finally, he freed her hands. She sat up, rubbing her wrists, almost afraid Lewis would laugh and tell her she wasn’t going anywhere. Instead, he nodded toward a door opposite the one he had entered through.
“Out there and follow the hall to the front door,” he said. “Close it behind you, please.”
Rachel didn’t wait to see if Lewis was going to change his mind. Instead, she ran from the cage, ran from the room, and ran from the hotel. She was still running when she reached her house and let herself in. Locking the door, she made it into the living room and sat down heavily in a chair, trying to process everything that had happened to her since she was taken.
* * *
After a few minutes of sitting staring at the wall blankly, Rachel had gotten herself together and decided she needed to learn more about this bear thing. She had patted her pocket and found she still had her cell phone. The date and time on the screen confirmed it was still Saturday, only now it was almost midnight. No one would ever have to know about this, because she knew Lewis was right about what would happen if she went to the authorities. And she had no intention of telling any of her friends or family that she was now a monster.
She’d sat up until three a.m. researching shifters on the internet. Of course, most of the information only came from legends and stories, but from what she had gathered, Lewis had told her the truth about the immortality and the silver, although she found no mention of Ure. She learned that shifting was a choice; she could go through her whole life without ever becoming a bear and that suited her down to the ground. Those creatures were vile, evil monstrosities and she wanted no part in becoming one.
She was just going to live her life as normal and try to forget this had ever happened. And if she felt the evil side of her taking over, she would act on it then.
As she lay in bed now staring up at the ceiling, she smiled bitterly to herself. This had certainly solved one problem—finding Mr. Right. There was no way she could enter into a long-term relationship if she wasn’t going to age.
1
Present Day
Rachel smiled at the man as he gave his name.
“Take a seat Mr. Duncan. I’ll let the doctor know that you’re here,” she said.
Mr. Duncan walked away from her window and she marked his name as present on the computer screen, knowing that Dr. Gordon would see the message and call Mr. Duncan in when he was ready for him.
She glanced back up and saw Melanie, another one of Dr. Gordon’s receptionists, walking through the waiting room and she pressed the door release button. Melanie ducked inside and closed the door behind her. She pulled a face of disgust.
“Ugh,” Melanie said, a shudder going through her. “I hate having to walk through the waiting room every time I have to go and get a signature for something.”
“Why?” Rachel asked, glancing up from her computer where she had gone back to typing up letters for patients.
“The patients waiting to be seen; they’re coughing and sneezing and spreading who knows what germs,” Melanie said, shaking her head.
“I never really notice,” Rachel said.
“Yeah, because you never get sick,” Melanie said. “In the last month I’ve had two colds and a stomach bug from this place.”
Rachel made a sound she hoped sounded sympathetic. In truth, she just wanted Melanie to change the subject. Over the last eight years, she had pretty much gotten used to being a bear shifter. She had never shifted—she just didn’t let it affect her daily life—but it seemed that one of the benefits of immortality was no longer picking up any human germs. It made her uncomfortable whenever the conversation came around to anything about that sort of thing. Maybe working as a doctor’s receptionist isn’t the best idea, Rachel thought to herself, not for the first time. It was certainly somewhere where talk of germs was rife.
Rachel thought in general she managed to hide her lack of illness pretty well. She made sure she got the yearly flu shot she didn’t need to keep up appearances and twice over the four years she had worked here, she had called in sick and stayed home for a few days, just to keep suspicions low. She would have done it more often, but she felt guilty about the lies.
“Come on, Rach, what’s your secret?” Melanie asked, sitting down at the computer next to Rachel’s. “Do you take some weird concoction of herbs or something?”
“No,” Rachel laughed, hoping she didn’t sound like she was nervous. “Just a multivitamin every day. I guess I just have a good immune system.”
That was a lie on both counts. Rachel had something far superior to a good immune system and she had never taken a multivitamin in her life.
“Maybe I should start that,” Melanie said. “If it stops me getting sick all the time and makes my skin as amazing as yours, I’ll be happy.”
“Oh, I have Acure Skincare to thank for my skin,” Rachel laughed.
Another lie. Her skin had never been clearer and her hair had never been shinier since she had become a shifter, but she suspected a big part of it was because she didn’t age. She had already had to move away from her family and friends before they started to get suspicious. She now lived in Fredericksburg where she tried to keep a low profile. She was friendly with the other people who worked here, but she made a point not to get too close to
