Free Bearing It by Zenina Masters

Chapter One
     
     
    Winifred Northrup carefully smoked her bees before checking on queen development. Still no full chamber, but they were starting the build.
    She lowered the brood box back into position and stacked the honey supers back in place. The elegance of the hive was something she envied. If she were the queen, her dating problems would be over. Sure, she would be the bride of the fastest male with the most stamina, but as a bear shifter with few prospects, it wasn’t such a bad idea.
    Fred returned to the shed and removed her beekeeping nets and suit. It was a safety precaution. The bees didn’t really like bears, and she didn’t like them, but they gave her honey and kept her fruit pollenated, so they enacted an uneasy truce.
    She slipped out the door furthest away from the hives so as not to tempt fate, heading back to her home via the lush fruit fields of her business.
    Steffi waved at her. “We are ready for the party.”
    Steffi was a beaver shifter, and her attention to duty was something that made her a valuable employee when Fred had to involve herself with Shifter Council business. She was the representative for her family and her species, so it was important that she be free to drop everything at a moment’s notice. Stefani Lorring was the perfect person to direct the Northrup U-Pick when Fred wasn’t home.
    Steffi had been married to her childhood sweetheart since high school, and she valued the chance to work near her home. Charles enjoyed having his wife close at hand as well. The Lorring Construction Company had been in operation for four decades, and whenever he had a chance, he spent the afternoon with his sweetheart. It kept them both happy, and Fred was just glad to be a part of it.
    The grey hair hadn’t changed Steffi much in the last decade. “What is on the menu for the evening?”
    “Blueberries, blackberries and raspberries. I am saving the elderberry copse for another event.”
    Fred smirked. “Your granddaughter is coming into her first shift, isn’t she?”
    Steffi gave her an innocent look. “She might be. That poplar grove around the elderberries is perfect for beaver shifts.”
    “It certainly is. I am thinking that might have been what you had in mind when you planted them.” Fred laughed. They walked together to the house, and Steffi gave her the breakdown of current supplies, the different areas and which events were booked for the next few weeks.
    Northrup U-Pick catered to the human public as well as shifters. The humans got the strawberries and a select ten acres of berry bushes, and the shifters got the rest. A first-shift party was made sweeter by having the newly shifted animal able to eat from nature. Most omnivore species in the area made their reservations for their event the moment that the change began to make itself obvious. Usually, it took six weeks to six months from the first moments into full shift. Every time they hosted a shift, Fred got all weepy, remembering her first time.
    She stared out at the fields beyond the deck where she was sitting with her friend and employee, and she thought of all the parties still to come.
    “So, do you think its fine, Fred?” Steffi was asking.
    “What?”
    Her friend poured the tea and slid her cup over. “What were you thinking about?”
    “Cubs. I have seen so many men and women here with their families, and now, even my cousin has managed to find a mate. If Buzz can do it, so can I.”
    Steffi sipped at her tea. “You are thinking about the Crossroads?”
    Fred closed her eyes and put her hand over them. “Yes. It is so embarrassing. I always thought that I wouldn’t have a problem catching a man.”
    Steffi snorted. “Your problem is that you practice catch and release. You need to find a man who won’t just let you dismiss him.”
    Fred huffed. “I need a guy who isn’t gutless.”
    “You need a guy who doesn’t know your family. They are a scary bunch of bears.”
    It was true. Even for bears, the