Page 6 of Polar Destiny
"Good. Let'stalk."
He sits down right next to me; I can feel the heat emanating from his body. Must be a bearthing.
We're all sitting in silence. I'm waiting for Torben to start talking, but he's just looking into the flames. I can't stand the silence. I needanswers.
"So, you're bears. How does that work? How can you be humans and bears? You are human,right?"
Húnn chuckles. "We're shifters, sweetie. We can switch between two forms. In our case, bears.We-"
"There are other animals? Likewerewolves?"
Finn sighs. "Yes, like werewolves. Why do all stories have to be about wolves? They're a minority, but for some reason they get all thePR."
"It's better that way," Torben says. "It's hard enough keeping it a secret without humans suspecting there to be othershifters."
Ràn grumbles something, and I can see his muscles tremble under his tight t-shirt.
"Go, we can manage," Torben orders. Ràn nods and hurriedly steps out of the cabin. Torben has to be the leader of this pack. Wait, do bears form a pack? No, I remember, it's called something different. A sleuth. I remember because I thought it said 'sloth' the first time I readit.
When the door falls shut, I think I can hear a roar outside. But maybe it's just thewind.
"Did he just shift?" I dare to ask, hoping that I'm wrong. Somehow I still can't imagine this beingreal.
"Aye. It's winter, and winter is hibernation time," Torben said. "Our bears fight to be let out. Shifters don't need to sleep all winter, but our bears are the dominant form during this time. It's hard to stay human for more than a few hours at a time. I'm surprised Ràn managed it thislong."
"How long until he can shiftback?"
"A few hours, give or take. If he shifts back too soon, he won't be able to stay human for long. That's why we can't all be with you at the same time. We're going to take shifts so there's always one of usaround."
"I can manage on my own, you don't need to do that. I'm anadult."
"Not after the stunt you pulled earlier," he scoffs. "I don't want you to break anything else. You're human, you'refragile."
"Not everybody can be a giant teddybear."
"Did you just..." He starts laughing, and the others join him. Finn has the cheeriest laugh, like little bells on top of the deep throaty laughter of theothers.
"Finn, Húnn, show her what teddy bears look like," he commands, and the two guys nod and get up. Finn starts to meddle with the button on his jeans and my eyes grow wide. He's not going to strip in front of me, right? Luckily Torben agrees. "Do that outside, you don't need to scare our guest anyfurther."
Húnn flexes his muscles and grins. "You sure this would scareher?"
"Out!" Torben says, but his voice carries a trace of humour. With a suggestive grin from Húnn, they step out of the cabin, letting a swoosh of cold air, mixed with tiny snowflakes, into the room. Suddenly a fur is dragged across my shoulders. I look up and see Torben, wrapping it expertly around me. Maybe he was the caterpillar creator? The fur is soft and cuddly - will the bears feel the sameway?
Something pushes against the door,and Torben gets up to open it. A giant golden snout approaches, followed by a beautiful furry body. The bear's fur is almost the same colour as Finn's blond hair, so I assume this is him. I try and get up, but Torben stops me by scooping me up into his arms. These guys really need to stop doing that. He positions me so I'm sitting with my back against his chest, his hands grabbing my thighs. I'm ignoring how good thatfeels.
He walks us outside - the bears wouldn't fit through the door frame. It's freezing, but luckily I still have the fur around my shoulders. And Torben makes a very good heat source aswell.
Three massive bears are waiting for us outside the cabin. I've never seen a real bear before, but somehow I think they must be smaller than these three. The golden one - Finn - is slightly smaller than the dark brown ones next to him. They approach until hot bear breath reaches my face. I stretch out a hand to pet the almost black one, but he shrinksback.
"Ràn doesn't like to be touched when he's in his bear skin," Torben whispers into my ear. That throws up a whole load of questions, but when Finn presses his golden head against my hand, they disappear. His fur is much softer than I had imagined. I run my hand through the longer strands around his neck. He growls softly, reminding me of the purring of a cat. His large brown eyes are looking at mecuriously.
Without warning, he steps back and licks my hand. Ewwww. Before I can tell him off, he turns and runs into the forest, followed by the two brothers. Snow is thrown into the air where their big paws meet the ground. I don't think I've ever seen anything more beautiful than these bears, playfully bumping against each other on the way into thetrees.
After they have disappeared,Torben carries me back inside and carefully sets me down on the furs. This seems to have become myseat.
He puts a few logs on the fire and sits down next to me. We both look into the flames, watching as the fire takes hold of the newwood.
"A long time ago, Scotland used to be our home," Torben begins without warning, his voice distant. "Hundreds of bear shifters lived all over the Highlands; some in secret, some in villages with humans. Then, a thousand years ago, this changed. Bears went extinct in this country. No one knows why, but I think it's likely they were hunted until there were none left. This left the bear shifters in a dilemma. It was their home, but humans would notice if they continued to see bears running around. So they left. Most went to Scandinavia and made themselves a new home. Like my ancestors. But for some reason, it didn't work out. Fewer and fewer shifter cubs were born, and our population grew smaller. By the time of the Drowning, there were only a few dozen left. We heard our cousins in Canada didn't fare anybetter.
