Her Enemy Protector Bear by Cynthia Wilde
Chapter 6
Nick stood there, watching her walk away from him. He still couldn’t believe this woman. He thought he had seen it all after she flipped out on him about his innocent comment about the cat. He just wanted to find Chell. How was I to know I was going to set her off? He, Nick Barrett was ready to toss her out of the fair. But his bear seemed to have other thoughts on its mind. And he was having more than a little trouble reconciling the two. In truth it wasn’t just his Bear. From the moment he saw her he had felt a pull. As she walked away all he could focus on was her lovely ass as it swayed to and fro under her flowing skirts. The bear inside him stirred, needing to possess her, calling out to her as if she were his mate. This woman aroused the animal in him to the point of wanting her on the spot, but Nick knew how ridiculous this feeling was and pushed it down and away, though his cock was rock hard under his shiny britches. His body didn’t seem to care how rude she was.
As he stared, transfixed, he decided that her ass was indeed the best part of her, because it didn't talk back. He'd thought she was beautiful in the animal rescue, but her attitude had clouded her beauty to a degree. Now, in spite of her encore performance he was even more drawn to her.
At the time he had been so preoccupied with finding Chell that he hadn’t even responded to all her crap about pure breds. Now that he saw Zoe in front of her booth Nick put two and two together. She was the boy's mother, the one who looked like Dillon, and his clothing shop rival; the bear in him still growled with desire for her anyhow. Just what I need, Nick thought.
He knew that what Zoe said wasn't entirely wrong. He knew his fabric wasn't the best, but he had a long-standing relationship with the family made his stuff. They actually depended on him for a large share of their business. He had been planning to talk to them about upping the quality, but he wanted to be delicate about it, so as not to insult them. Of course this Zoe had not even considered that he might be aware of the problem and actively working on it. That would be too much to ask.
His alarm for the show went off. For the third time in two weekends, he was going to be late. The sales of each style of outfit he wore on stage went up. He made a mental note to make sure they had enough pumpkin pants next time, before he went on. Customers had decided that if it was good enough for the mighty bear, it was good enough for them.
Nick ran as fast as he could, jumping onto the stage and bowing at the audience. He took his time with each section of guests. They clapped for him wildly. He tilted his hat, twirled his fancy cane, and flipped the half cape he wore. When it came time for his big transformation, he did a sort of tap dance to the center of the stage, and then pulled a huge sparkly blanket out. In an instant he held it aloft so that it unfurled before him. The artfully he allowed it to fall upon him, covering him completely. In an instant he shifted quickly, and then emerged as his Bear. This was a daring move but still within bounds. It was amazing but still looked enough like a trick to not cause a stampede.
The audience flipped out, screaming with appreciation and applause. The thunder of their feet and hands in the stands was deafening. He loved it. Marla pointed backstage and he trundled off, shifting back into his pumpkin goodness quickly. These were the times he blessed the fairies and their “Clothes shifting pendants.” It almost made up for their annoying love of glitter.
The audience was still screaming for him. See, purebred lady? They love it! They love my clothes, they love my act. They love the whole thing! Wait, what do I care what she thinks. He needed to get his head on straight.
Nick decided to use his new spiel to really promote his clothing line. If it was a competition she wanted, she would get a competition. He eventually planned to shift back into his human form on stage, but he needed to work out the details. And, he knew he had to clear it with Rafe. He couldn’t jeopardize the faire’s secret. If Nick were able to create enough buzz though, it could help him sell more outfits than Zoe. And soon enough he would be upping the quality. He just wanted to shut her up. If she only knew how much he had on his plate, maybe she would give him a break.
Nick needed to blow off steam, so he threw himself into the show, as both bear and man. The thought of Zoe really worked him up, and right now, he couldn't recall a time when he'd felt better while performing. He’d basically done a comedy routine tonight, and it had gone over like gangbusters. At first, when Rafe had asked him to do the show because the trained dog show pulled out at the last minute, he'd thought acting like a trained bear would be demeaning. But over time he had grown to love it.
After today performance Marla had noted he had a particular zeal about him. "I've never heard the audience laugh so much," said Marla backstage, after pictures and t-shirt sales. "What's gotten into you?"
"I don’t know, I’ve got a bunch of new ideas for the booth,” he said, “and I’m just jazzed up.” And I am gonna show Zoe. But what exactly he was gonna show her and why he wasn’t so clear on.
"Okay," she answered with a dubious tone. "Whatever you do, please make sure you don't forget that I'm juggling fire on your head. I had no idea you were going to do any of that. When you started to dance, I almost dropped one of my torches. The smell of burning bear hair would be rather unpleasant. Let's not add any more surprises, please." Nick gave Marla one of his most charming smiles. She rolled her eyes, huffed, and then walked away, throwing a friendly dirty look at him over her shoulder.
Nick dressed in a new costume after the show. He loved this one. This one was the best, by far, in his opinion; it was a shiny black material with silver trim, which he thought, looked very rich and well-to-do.
Dressing quickly, Nick decided to check on his booth again. He wanted to see if Zoe was causing any more trouble. After today's little exchange, he could technically ask her to leave after her booth payment ran out, but it was much better to have that booth occupied. It has nothing to do with her ass, he told himself. His bear roared as he continued a leisurely stroll through the crowd. He made sure to stop for pictures and hand out as many business cards as possible along the way.
When he finally made it back to his shop, Cassie was waiting for him while holding a severely torn outfit in her arms. "Mr. Barrett," she said, rushing over to meet him at the entrance of the booth. "We have a problem. I’m so glad you came by today, I don’t really know what to do." "Please come to the back so I can show you. There's more."
Nick followed his manager to the spacious back room, where many of the overstock outfits usually hung in neat, organized rows by size, color, and style. What he saw was a mess of torn items scattered all over the room. Panic raced around in his chest, this represented thousands of dollars of his stock, in shreds. Just by looking at the mess, he estimated that over fifty costumes were ruined, at the minimum.
"How did this happen?" he asked, touching many of the items. He noticed that the seams had been ripped apart, the hems were frayed, and the fabric had holes in it in some places. "I just don't understand. When did this happen?"
Cassie grew quiet and, for a moment, didn't make eye contact, but stared at the floor. Then, in a calm voice, she answered him. "I didn't come back here, this morning, to check," she said. "We didn't need to restock from last weekend. Sales have been down, and we had enough hanging up on the sales floor."
"Was the door still locked when you got here, this morning?" he asked, feeling concerned. "Maybe someone came in and did this during the week?"
"Everything was locked up. Only you and I have keys, so no one could have come in without breaking in, and I don't see any signs of that." Cassie's eyes filled with tears. In the five years she'd worked for Nick, he'd never seen her cry. "I'm so sorry," she said, wiping her eyes. "I should have looked earlier. I don't know how this could have happened."
Nick wondered if maybe Zoe had done this. Though he felt like they were rivals, he didn't think she was a supernatural sleuth that could pick a lock and rip up his clothing to spite him. Also she might have had some issues but he didn’t think she was a bad person. Nick sniffed the air for clues, and he smelled it. At first, when he'd walked into the back room, he didn't know what it was. Now, he realized that he could smell cat urine. The scent was suddenly overpowering, and Nick excused himself to get some fresh air. Cassie followed.
"What do we do?" she asked, as her hands were wringing the fabric she held.
Nick took a deep breath. He was screwed. He had just taken delivery of these outfits. There was no way his suppliers could replace them in time for the next weekend. Besides he had poured a fair amount of money into them. He wasn’t really in a position to buy more until he could sell these. He did have some money, but things were now tighter than he would like. And he had to find a way to salvage what he could of the inventory. He needed a pro. Someone who knew renaissance clothing inside and out. "Well I had better call Rafe. This literally smells suspicious.” She gave him a look at that. “And I have to find someone in a hurry to help salvage as much of the inventory as possible," he said, as his eyes came to rest on Zoe's booth. Oh boy. Instantly, he knew what he had to do. His mind raced for other options, but he came up empty. Zoe was a legitimate seamstress. Shit. He could stand to lose a whole lot more than his pride without enough stock to sell for the next few weekends. Maybe he could reach some sort of deal with her that would make it worth her while. Somehow he didn’t think he was her favorite person either.
“For now, hang up the ‘closed’ sign and save what you can. Anything that can be fixed, put aside. We’ll have to toss what is torn beyond saving. Probably goes for the most pee stained too. He shook his head. Just let me know how many pieces it is, okay?” Cassie turned and went back inside to work.
Sighing in resignation, Nick walked over to Zoe's booth with his hat in his hand. He knew that, after the confrontation they'd had a few hours ago, he would have to swallow his pride and ask for help from the one person he'd planned to take down with his masterful plan to outsell her. This was not going to be easy. At the same time he was aware of an electric excitement playing upon certain parts of his anatomy.