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It’s actually pretty impressive when you think about it. Birds can fly, humans can’t. But we built airplanes that can fly farther and faster and higher than any bird. Hell, we’ve been to the moon. Elephants are strong as hell, but a human with a crane can lift far more weight than a dozen elephants. Fish can swim, but fish can’t build a three-thousand-ton submarine that can swim around the world without refueling and they can’t build a three-hundred-thousand-ton container ship that can carry goods all around the world.
There’s a reason we’re the apex predators of the planet. We have tools.
But none of that helps me right now. My tool is gone. I used it poorly, and now it matters very much that pound for pound, that mountain lion makes me look like a stick bug.
Finally, the cougar releases my arm and takes aim for my throat again. I scream and ram my elbow up into its snout. It snarls and hops off of me, shaking its head. I leap to my feet and try to run, but it leaps onto my back and slams me into the ground again. My head hits a rock and I see stars.
I feel the lion’s weight on my back and wait for the end. Then I hear an ear-splitting roar, louder than anything I’ve ever heard in my life. The next instant, the weight is lifted from my back. I hear a scream from the cat, and this time, there’s no rage, only fear. I hear a loud crunch like a branch snapping, then there’s silence.
I roll over, my head pounding, my vision swimming. I must already be going unconscious, because the black bear I see in front of me holding the limp cougar in its jaws looks bigger than any bear I’ve ever seen, at least three times the size of the biggest black bears in the area.
I realize that this bear is far more of a threat even than the cougar and try to get to my feet, but my injuries are too much for me. I collapse back to the forest floor and my eyes close as darkness takes me.
Russel
The woman is beautiful. No, she’s beyond beautiful. She’s easily the most attractive woman I’ve ever seen in my life. Not that I’ve seen a great many women, since I spend very little time in the company of other humans, but I’m confident that even if I had seen millions of other women, the one lying on the ground in front of me would easily be the most attractive.
She’s young, too. Probably in her early twenties. I can’t be sure about that, since I’m not too familiar with how the appearance of humans changes as they age, but I’m sure that she’s only just reached adulthood maybe a few years ago.
What the hell is she doing out here by herself?
I drop the cougar and shift it into human form. Then I bend over and pick up the girl. She’s unconscious and probably will be for some time, so I’m not concerned with my nakedness.
She’s hurt. I hope she is not hurt especially badly and will only need rest for a few days but I won’t know for sure until I get her to my cabin.
“It’s all right,” I say. “You’re safe now.”
I have no idea if she can hear me or if my words would reassure her if she could, but I say them anyway. I spend far too long staring at her and wondering at the smoothness of her skin, the softness of her features, and the wavy, shimmering brilliance of her hair.
She’s perfect.
I feel my body responding in a way that it shouldn’t.
Bears aren’t usually attracted to humans. Sometimes we are, but since we generally live alone and prefer to be apart from people, the idea of a relationship with one is almost always out of the question, and we rarely find one of them attractive enough to mate with.
That’s not to say that we only have sex in bear form. Bear shifters often mate in human form, just with each other, not with humans.
But this woman is beautiful, and I could easily see myself mating with her.
God, where the hell is my mind at? It’s only been in a place like this years ago, with one human woman. It was just as surprising for me to find that woman so…
The only girl who ever…
I stare down at her.
Holy… It can’t be! I brush the hair from her face. It’s her. It’s Melody. Once again, she’s tracked a wounded animal, just as she tracked one with me. The wolf caused her no trouble but this mountain lion did. Am I wrong? Is it really Melody? Is it just a girl who looks like her? I lean down and inhale deeply. Her scent fills me.
It’s her.
And she’s hurt, perhaps badly hurt!
I put that out of my mind and carried her to my cabin. She is lucky the journey is short for me, even in human form. I bring her inside and set her down on the couch.
My home is spartan. I really only use it to sleep, and even then, not often. The only furniture is the couch on which the woman now lies, a small table and a single chair, and a bed.
I don’t have much in the way of supplies to help her. If she is injured seriously, I will need to take her to the nearest hospital, which is a few hours away. Longer if I have to walk.
I remove her clothes carefully and notice two things: first, she is not seriously injured. Second, she is even more beautiful than she appears at first. She is even more beautiful than I remember.
