7. Cedric

The alarm tinkled beside the bed, and though I was tempted to turn it off, going out into the woods with Gage would allow me to see if I really wanted this new job. Unlike my current work, I wouldn't be sitting in a plush office writing about nature while staring at the city below. I'd have dirt under my nails and mud on my boots.

Besides, I had another motive. Not that I wanted to "mate" with Gage. But our first, second, and third encounters at the house, in the woods, and the office were unfortunate, and he was hurt. People didn't change, not that I expected Gage to, and if he was content living the way he did, great, though it wasn't for me.

But I wanted to show him that he didn't have to avoid people. Or was it humans he disliked interacting with? Whatever his experiences were with my kind—it was weird talking about my species that way when until yesterday, I didn't know shifters existed.

Harry hinted that Gage carried a lot of pain inside him, but after a very rocky start, I hoped we could be friends. Just friends. Nothing more, though his tantalizing scent had my mind going places it shouldn't.

Flinging myself out of bed and into the shower, I shivered as I stood under the stream of water. But I was dressed and hauling on my boots in less than ten minutes. Grabbing my pack, water bottle, and snacks I'd bought yesterday, I waited outside for Gage.

His pickup announced his arrival with its chugging before he came into view. A kernel of anticipation flickered in my belly as he pulled up, and I tried to open the door. It wouldn't budge, and Gage got out and yanked it open, the screeching of metal on metal signaling perhaps the passenger door didn't get used much.

"Morning."

He grunted and kept his eyes straight ahead.There was no seat belt, but Riverford wasn't busy this time of the morning, and I suspected Gage's car couldn't make it past fifteen miles an hour. I hoped I'd be safe.

As he drove, I looked out the window, and the cool breeze ruffled my hair. Gage wasn't a big talker, so I stayed silent, enjoying that I didn't have to fill the space with empty chatter.

I assumed Gage was taking me to the nature reserve, and while I didn't know my way around, he pulled off the road on a stretch of highway between town proper and the straggling outskirts where woodland lined both sides. This was where I'd wandered yesterday. Was it only the day before today? So much had happened in that short space of time.

"Is this where I… where we… I… met you and your bear?"

I didn't know the correct protocol when referring to a shifter's animal. I should have asked Reed. Maybe there was an instruction manual. His partner—no, mate—Greg owned a bookstore. But a bookstore that humans frequented wouldn't have anything about a shifter's lifestyle, would it? Unless it was listed as fantasy but only shifters understood it was real. I made a mental note to ask Reed.

"Yes."

A man of few words. I liked that. Words were overrated, and maybe the two of us could mosey along, not speaking. But when he was teaching me about the woods, I'd have to watch his every move if he didn't use words. Mmmm, I could do that!

Last night at dinner, I'd gathered that everyone thought Gage would need superhuman strength to resist the mating call, and I had visions of him standing outside my hotel room professing his love for me. I was a little squicked out by that, but maybe they didn't know Gage as well as they thought.

"Come." He grabbed his small pack.

I'd managed to get three words, or was that two and a half—did the mumble count?—from Gage this morning.

Flipping my pack on my back, I traipsed after him. He walked silently, never stepping on a leaf or banging his boot on a rock. Me? There would be no doubt a human was entering the forest, a place he didn't belong.

Without warning, Gage stopped, and as I was concentrating on where to put my feet, I almost banged into him. He didn't seem to notice and was staring upward at the branches that kept the sun from penetrating.

"Close your eyes."

That was a little creepy. But as the thought popped into my head, I batted it away. Gage and I were very different, but I trusted him. Had he earned that trust? Not really, but he hadn't not earned it. I couldn't pinpoint how or why I felt that way. I just did.

I did as he asked.

"What can you smell?"

"I don't understand."

"Block out the sounds. You already can't see, so identify the different smells."

I was a city guy through and through. What did I know about different woodsy fragrances?

But I did my best and let the darkness wash over me, blocking out everything else except what my nose detected.

"Moss. I smell the earthy fragrance of moss."

"Yes. Go on."

I had to do more? Didn't I deserve an A after my first attempt? "Okay."

There was a sweet aroma, like a summer drink of lemonade, but it wasn't lemons. Mint. That grew wild.

"Mint?" I asked hopefully.

"Yes."

I was getting good at this. I tried again. "Flowers." I hadn't seen any today or yesterday, but the floral aroma was present. It was as though I was peeling back the layers. Before there were trees and bushes, birds and animals. Now a whole new world was opening up.

"Smell this."

He must have placed his hand close to my nose because I caught a hint of… maybe decay… like soil. But behind it was Gage's unique scent. Inwardly I jolted as a surge of something like electricity had my body sizzling. That wasn't the earth, the flowers, or the moss. It was him.

My eyes snapped open. He let the earth crumble through his fingers and brushed the remainder off on his pants.

We spent the next two hours with him showing me what was edible in the woods. Dandelions, wild garlic, nettles, and fiddleheads were just a few. He insisted that people should only take what was needed.

That might be a sore point between shifters like Gage who lived on and with the land, compared to most humans who cluttered homes with stuff and destroyed environments that had existed for thousands of years.

It was nine according to my watch when Gage said that was enough for today. Where had the time gone?

"Thank you so much."

He nodded. "Mr. Lucas bought coffee yesterday."

"That was kind of him." I wouldn't have guessed Gage was a caffeine freak. I bet he liked it black and strong. I shivered as an image flashed into my head and disappeared seconds later.

He removed his pack and took out a vacuum flask. "Would you like some?"

If it'd been anyone else, I might have quipped, "Is this a date?" But not with Gage. It was anything but, and I didn't want to spoil the lovely morning I'd spent in his company.

"Thank you. I didn't have any before I left the hotel."

He poured thick strong black coffee into two enamel mugs and handed me one. Again we sat in silence sipping our brew, but I was concentrating on the sounds as the caffeine did its thing and woke me up.

Whether it was the coffee or just me being more aware, I noted birds squawking. That was easy. A rustling in the bushes, and I trusted that a bear shifter would scare away any animal who wanted to harm me. The burbling of the nearby river.

I wondered where it was going and what it had seen on its journey. I immediately felt sorry for it because it never stopped to enjoy what was beside it. That was me. Always working and never pausing to enjoy the here and now.

Maybe Riverford was a magical place.

Gage stood when he finished his hot drink and put his hand out for my cup. We traveled into town as we had left—in silence.

"Thank you." I slammed the car door, and it closed. Or it was good enough to get Gage home.

"Six o'clock tomorrow."

He drove off, leaving me staring after him. He's spoken a handful of words this morning, and they were not too many and not too little. They were just right. I giggled as I walked to my room. I sounded like Goldilocks.

Oh no. She trespassed on the three bears. Bears! Bears like Gage. Or brown bears. It didn't matter. I vowed never to mention that child and the fairy tale to him.

The day stretched before me. Reed was busy with Harry this morning, and I wouldn't be at the office until later. But I was beginning to think I might like Riverford and the prospect of a new job.

Gage and his tantalizing scent had nothing to do with it. Nothing at all.