Page 81 of So I Fell for Bigfoot

“It’s been my home for centuries. I plan to keep it that way. These hunters won’t be the only threat I’ll ever face. I’ve survived them all so far.” I growled.

“I know you’ve seen more things than I can possibly comprehend. But here’s the thing. You have one more date with Hannah. Then we go on stage—some casual viewers will still be expecting Armand, and hopefully, we won’t get any surprise visits from him at that point. After that, you and Hannah must decide what your life will be like.”

“I hope she’ll choose music,” I said, remembering how alive she looked the night we’d gone to the concert. A stark contrast to last night’s nightmares. “I’d like to set something up in the mountains. Small. Intimate. So the artistry could truly shine, and Hannah would be able to manage everything however she wanted.”

“That sounds lovely. We already have a strong tourism sector related to the show, and that would draw even more viewers to our beautiful area.” Bibi beamed at me. “What would you like to do? Laura and Wendy have expressed interest in asking you to work with them. Possibly give some talks about what ancient life was like in the valley.”

“Oh.” I wasn’t expecting that. “You think people will want to hear my story? It’s not what’s in those books.”

“I think they’ll be absolutely fascinated by every part of it.” She rose from the table. “You finally have a chance to control what we know about you. To introduce us to your history. We’re all fascinated by you. Those hunters represent the worst of us, but I’ve said it before, the world can’t wait to fall in love with you.”

There was a knock at the door, and Hugo came in. He and Bibi shared a look that had definitely intensified since I’d left them last night. It didn’t take a wild stretch of the imagination to fill in the blanks.

“Talked to some of the local shifters, as well as law enforcement,” Hugo said. “Took quite a bit of work to convince them that there were two Bigfoots, and now there’s just one, and the one responsible for the mayhem is gone. Got a little creative with my explanation of how we made that happen, but the important news is, it worked.” He chuckled. “The hunters will be restricted from the mountains, and Lars, you have been declared an endangered species.”

“What does that mean?”

“If anyone even tries to so much as hurt a hair anywhere on that giant fuzzy body, there will be hell to pay,” Bibi explained. “And you’re free to go home.”

* * *

So much had changed, and yet everything was still the same. My mountain home needed a cleanup after my brother had made himself too comfortable here. Never again would I let anyone invade my home, my land, my life like that. I was mourning what I had to do, but it all still felt like a bad dream.

I’d learned a valuable lesson. The past was the past. Would I give those talks that Laura and Wendy had asked for? Maybe. What would be the lesson?

Right now, I was excited about the future. Having a possible partnership with humans—and especially Hannah. Even though we were almost done with our episode, I felt like I’d hardly had a chance to spend time with her. I took one of the seats at the overlook, where someone had hung the birdhouse and wind chime. I imagined one of Hannah’s fuzzy zebra print pillows in the other chair. Her on my lap, doing one of those sexy little stripteases….

The image in my mind flashed between Tanyth and Hannah. It wasn’t fair to anyone. But my brother’s mission wasn’t successful. Tanyth would always have a piece of my heart.

Hannah was my future.

As I thought about them, my fur stood on end, alerting me that I wasn’t alone. I rose to look down the mountain. There was no way it was a hunter. The vibration screamed shifter, and no human could make the climb to get to this part of the mountain.

Armand.

“What do you want?”

He shook out his fur when he reached the overlook. “I heard about your raid on the camp. Impressive. And I see you managed to shift, which makes me assume you have the Scepter back in your possession.”

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” Problem was, I didn’t. We hadn’t found it yet, as getting the humans out of the blood lab had been the top priority. I hadn’t had the heart to go back to the site, in case Tanyth’s spirit was still there.

But that meant he didn’t have it, either.

“Be coy all you want, Lars. We found it once and we’ll get it back.”He huffed, pacing back and forth, invading my space. He met my gaze.“You’ve set us way back, but I still think we could do something great here, Lars.”

I didn’t even want to hear his idea of ‘great.’ “I don’t trust you.”

“You probably shouldn’t.”He grinned.“But are you sure you’ve chosen the right side in this matter?”

“One hundred percent.”

He stepped closer.“Those women you’re working with—”

“Bibi?”

“Don’t think she’s as doe-eyed as she’d like us to believe. She’s working with the humans.”

I took my seat and leaned back. “Enlighten me.”

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