“Made me what?” I asked. Warily. The last time a bear attacked me, I got a very furry surprise at the next full moon.
But this bear didn’t stay to try to claw me to death like the last one did. It dipped its head and suddenly retreated. As if its job was all done here.
I watched in wide-eyed shock as he used the front of his head to nudge Holly’s bear body into the cell with us.
“What are you…?”
Takoda let out a deafening roar before I could finish. First at me. Then at the Iron Claw.
“Alright! Alright! Don’t get your fur in a knot,” the Iron Claw grumbled, raising his hands in mock surrender.
He peeled off his jacket, which was confusing enough. Until both he and Takoda turned to me with twin looks of expectancy in their amber and glowing red eyes.
Making me ask, “What?”
“You don’t speak Bear?” The Iron Claw shed his black t-shirt, revealing an impressive set of prison abs.
“Bears have alanguage?” I glanced at the animal on all fours, who somehow managed to regard me with as much disdain as Sergeant Takoda would have in his human form.
Meanwhile, the Iron Claw standing beside me gave me a look I had no problem translating as,Are you a fucking idiot?
Short answer: Yes.
Slightly longer answer: “I’m not a born bear, like you two.”And seemingly this entire town, I added with an internal eye roll. “I was only made three years ago.”
The Iron Claw stared at me, then glanced back to Takoda’s bear. “You sure about this, Koda? Yeah, he smells like maple fudge, but if you kill him now, we can find another third.”
The black bear tilted his head, as if considering the Iron Claw’s suggestion. Then growled something long and low that was definitely some sort of communication.
I instinctively took a step back and threw up my fists since my grizzly had apparently decided to abandon me. “I’m not going down without a fight.”
“Relax, Blondie.” The Iron Claw dropped his t-shirt on top of his coat and unbuckled his jeans. “Our first is saying you can stay. But if I was you, I’d start stripping before he changes his mind.”
“Stripping?” I repeated, blinking.
Another roar came from Takoda’s bear, so fierce I swear I felt the wind of it blow back my hair.
“Before he changes his mind!” the Iron Claw repeated, shoving down his own jeans.
“Okay! Okay!” I quickly removed my flannel shirt. Then the waffle-knit layer I had underneath.
“Put them under her,” the Iron Claw instructed. He was now completely naked save for socks and a pair of boxer briefs with a picture of a bear skeleton in a leather jacket throwing up devil horns. “Our first wants us to build her a nest.”
“Our first? A nest?” I repeated.
“For fuck’s sake.”
The Iron Claw snatched my shirts from where I’d let them fall and started arranging them underneath Holly’s sleeping form.
As he worked and I started taking off my joggers, the black bear lumbered out of the cell and over to the station’s closet.
By the time I joined the MC in constructing the so-called “nest,” Takoda’s bear had come back with a hanger bearing a red-and-black uniform that smelled faintly of hazelnuts.
“Good idea,” the Iron Claw said, taking it out of the bear’s mouth. He handed the uniform to me. “Here, put that under her head like a pillow while I make sure her leg’s in the right position to heal nice and proper.”
I did as instructed, folding the pants and jacket before gently tucking them beneath her head.
I’d never gotten this close to a female bear before. Especially one who’d been made, like me.
