Chapter Four
She woke with a start, and lay still for a long moment, scenting and listening. The sun was up, streaming through the building’s cracked, filthy windows.
She smelled someone nearby. Female bear. Well, that was good news, right? What were the odds that a female would try to mug her?
Then again, this was the Badlands. Anything was possible. She’d have to be ready to run for it.
She shifted and changed into her clothing and shoes from yesterday, and walked out the back door into an alley. A teenaged female bear shifter, in human form, was rummaging through a trash pile.
“Hey,” Flora called out. “I’ve got twenty bucks, if you need money for breakfast.”
The bear girl let out a startled shriek and jumped about a foot. Then she quickly snatched up a canvas bag that had been lying on the ground, and clutched it to her chest. The bag was filled with some kind of aromatic weeds that spilled out of the top.
She looked as if she’d be really pretty if she just took a bath – which she obviously hadn’t for some time now. Her dishwater-blonde hair looked greasy and unwashed. There was visible grime all over her face and on her baggy gray sweatshirt. There were holes in her jeans, and she wore a necklace with a big red “R” dangling from it.
She backed away. “I wasn’t stealing anything!” she cried, eyes wide with panic.
“Of course you weren’t,” Flora said soothingly. “That’s a giant pile of garbage. I’m sure you can just help yourself to it. Seriously, I’ve got enough money for breakfast if you want. My name is Flora, by the way.”
The girl fished in her pocket and pulled out a knife.
“I’ll cut you,” she said, jabbing in the air at Flora.
“Well, you’re a bear. Wouldn’t it make more sense to shift and rip me open with your claws?” Flora suggested helpfully.
The girl looked at her suspiciously and tucked the knife back in her pocket. “Why would you say that?”
“It has been suggested that I am often too helpful for my own good,” Flora conceded.
“And you just told me how much cash you have on you, and you offered to buy me breakfast when you don’t even know me, and I’m a bear and you’re a lynx. I’m pretty sure you’re crazy.”
Flora nodded. “That has also been suggested to me. More than once.”
Of course, it had mostly been in the context of, “You think you’re too good for Loren Haig? You think you’re too good for any man, for that matter? A fat nerd like you, whose own family threw her away? You’re crazy.”
“I’m Flora,” she added.
“I’m Madison,” the girl said cautiously.
Flora glanced at the bag of weeds the girl was carrying.
“I paid for that,” the girl said defensively.
Flora shrugged. “Really, not my business.”
Madison took a slow step backwards, watching Flora as if she were about to lunge for her throat. Which was just silly. Had Flora done anything to warrant this level of suspicion? She thought not.
As Madison took another step back, they heard loud male voices off in the distance. Madison stifled a squeak of fright and clapped a hand over her mouth. Flora sniffed the air. Lions. But not Finn, she realized with a stab of disappointment. There were maybe half a dozen of them, a block or two away. They were talking loudly. They passed by and were gone.
Madison looked at her curiously and seemed to relax a little. “You didn’t rat me out.”
“Why would I do that?”
Instead of answering, Madison walked up to her, still clutching the bag of weeds. “You’re not from around here, are you?”
“New in town,” Flora said.
The girl glanced around. “Would you mind walking me back to my territory, in case we run into any of the Hudson patrol? I mean, don’t come in, of course. Just ’til we get to the border.”
