The Bare Truth part 2

Chapter 6

"You should have warned me," Sierra told Joe.

They were back at the Governor's Mansion now, safely tucked away in Joe's bedroom, far from prying eyes and nosey roommates.

"About what?" Joe asked.

"About the telepathy. About having the resting pulse rate of a humming bird. About destroying my furniture by shifting in my sleep. Have you ever done that? How do you hide this with all these people around you all the time? I can't even keep it secret from Molly."

Joe chuckled and sat down on the big oak four-poster bed.

"I invest in sturdy furniture. And you'll have more control when you're older. Last time I shifted in my sleep was in a French brothel in 1945. That was awkward..."

"You're going to have to tell me that story," Sierra insisted.

"Beautiful, I'm going to my grave with that story," Joe replied. "Do you remember what you were dreaming about?"

Sierra sighed. She sat down on the bed next to him and took his hand.

"Strangers," she said simply.

"What are you talking about?" Joe asked.

Angry, Sierra pulled her hand away and stood up.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about!" she said. "I'm talking about whoever was out there in the woods that scared you!"

"What makes you think I was scared?" Joe demanded defensively.

"You aren't as good as shielding your thoughts as you think you are," Sierra responded.

Never mind that all she caught was a single word. He didn't need to know that. Sierra took some satisfaction in watching his eyebrows raise as he puzzled over how much she knew.

Joe sighed.

"I can't hide anything from you can I?"

"I'm an investigative journalist. Of course you can't hide anything from me. Nor should you, if you'd like to sleep with me sometime ever again."

"Well I'm a politician and a shifter. I should be capable of lying to anyone. Even gorgeous and annoyingly tenacious journalists," Joe muttered.

Sierra sat back down.

"So who are they?"

"I don't know," Joe said.

Sierra's eyes narrowed.

"Really!" Joe insisted. "I don't know who they are. I didn't recognize their scent. They shouldn't have been in my territory. There were at least five of them, and I didn't like the odds on a confrontation. You can't even run and not fall down."

Sierra was confused.

"Five of them, you said." Sierra responded slowly.

"At least," Joe said.

"Five...what?"

"Shifters," Joe said simply.

"So...there's...other bears? Besides the ones that live in Sleuth?"

Joe shook his head.

"Well, there are other bears, yes. But they weren't bears."

"There's other kinds?" Sierra asked.

Joe nodded.

"I've met bobcats, cougars, hawks, foxes...I met a lion once when I was in Germany. And yes, there are such thing as werewolves. We don't tend to socialize much. Most of us don't trust other shifters. I try to keep an open mind myself...but there's an order to things. We have rules. They should have come straight to me and asked permission to be in my territory. The fact that they didn't...they're either young and don't know the rules....or..."

"Or they're breaking the rules deliberately," Sierra finished.

"Precisely," Joe said.

Sierra stared out the window at the manicured courtyard below. There were Canadian geese nesting in the pond. The scene was peaceful. Serene even. It didn't jive with the worried feeling curling in her gut. Something told her these strange new shifters were not simply unaware of the rules.

"I don't suppose they might just be were-bunnies or something?" Sierra asked without much hope.

Joe shook his head.

"No. Afraid not. They were some kind of predator for certain."

"What are we going to do?" she asked.

"We keep an eye out," Joe responded. "That's all we can do right now. I've doubled the patrols around Sleuth, and sent search parties into the woods. They clearly don't want to be found just yet."

"And when you do find them?"

Joe shrugged nonchalantly.

"I'll ask them why they're here. If I don't like their answer...we'll figure it out then."

He squeezed her hand.

"It'll be fine. I won't let anything happen to you."

"I believe that," Sierra told him. "I believe you can protect me. Just promise me you won't try to protect me from ever knowing about the danger in the first place, okay?"

"I promise," Joe said solemnly.

"Now what can I do to make it up to you?" he said as he trailed his fingers over the buttons on her blouse.

"You can get a dog."