Octo BEAR fest (Renaissance Shifters #1)

Teaser Partridge in a Bear Tree

A shley Torben's fated mate was at the far end of the bar, drinking a pale ale and being the cutest girl Ashley had ever laid eyes on. She was was a petite redhead, so curvy, with a big braying laugh and an appealing, swaggering confidence. She vibrated energy and no-nonsense and enthusiasm, chatting easily with the people around her and obviously comfortable in her own skin.

The idea of talking to her terrified Ashley beyond comprehension.

It's fine. Her bear, the world's most patient sow, spoke gently, and Ashley nodded complete agreement. It was, in fact, fine. Better than fine. It would be wonderful. Perfect. Amazing. That was how fated mates worked.

She still couldn't get her feet to scoot even a single inch toward her.

This was full-on disaster lesbian behavior and she knew it. This was "we moved in together six months ago but I'm not sure if we're dating" territory. It was fully in the "we smooch and snuggle all the time but I don't know if she's into me" zone. She could not be wrong about this, not with the sudden, heart-striking certainty of fate on her side. Not with her bear's quiet calm reassuring her that the tiny redhead down the bar was everything Ashley had been looking for in a partner.

And yet the very thought of approaching Penny Partridge struck paralyzing fear into Ashley's heart. What if fate was wrong this time? What if Penny screamed and ran away, or worse, just wanted to be friends? What if she wasn't interested in dating women? What if?—

Somebody crashed into her from behind, swore, and muttered, "Sorry, Ash, it's a madhouse in here."

Ashley, knocked loose from her helpless, longing gaze toward her fated mate, turned to give her cousin Jon a sympathetic look. "It's nuts. I had no idea the crush would keep up a whole week after the gigs."

Jon, a big stupidly handsome guy like all her cousins were, gestured with an entire beer-glass-laden tray at the group near the far end of the bar. The group that contained Penny, and, incidentally, two other members of the actual rock band she was a part of. "As long as they keep hanging out, people are going to keep flocking to see them. I mean, Emma Hart. " He dropped his voice into a whisper, which would have made him absolutely impossible to hear if it weren't for the fact that Ashley, like most shifters, had exceptional hearing.

"She's Gwen Booker now," Ashley muttered. "She has been the whole time we've known her."

" Yeah, " Jon agreed, "except she's Emma Hart. And it was Emma Hart 's dad who was arrested in our parking lot. And it's Emma Hart who is Bill's fated ma?—"

"Now that's not true," Ashley said more crisply, if still quietly. She took a moment to glance down the bar again, where Gwen Booker, Actual Rock Star, was elbowing Penny, Actual Rock Band Drummer, and laughing over something. "Emma was her stage name, and, like, Emma was a blonde tweenager who got super famous, and Gwen is her real name and is a grown-up noirette—" Well, Gwen had dyed black hair, but close enough— "and he met her as Gwen and had no idea she was Emma, so it's definitely Gwen who's his mate. Don't be stupid about it, Jon. It's not her fault she's famous."

Her cousin eyed her. Ashley blew her cheeks out, exasperated. "It's not. She was a kid when she got really famous doing tv and stuff. You've heard her talk about it. Her parents pushed her into it, and she quit when things got bad."

"And now she's gotten herself famous again by being a rock star," Jon pointed out.

"Yeah, but that's as Gwen! It's also not her fault the media's screeching about the whole childhood fame thing! Anyway, don't be weird about Bill's mate. That's…weird." Ashley wrinkled her nose, and Jon snorted with laughter.

"Good thing Bill hired you as the general manager and not a copy writer. And I'm not the one being weird."

Ashley froze. "What are you talking about?"

"You've barely gone near Gwen all week! I know I had a crush on Emma Hart when I was about eight, but I didn't know you did!"

"I'm not not going near Gwen!" Ashley said indignantly. "Gwen's great! Get back to work!"

Jon laughed and bumped his shoulder against hers, still without upsetting the tray of mostly-empty beer glasses he was carrying. "Great rebuttal there, cuz. You're definitely not being weird. Or starstruck. Or anything like that." He slithered past her and went behind the bar to drop the empty glasses off, and Ashley leaned against the bar itself, hunching her shoulders and glowering at the grain of the its surface.

She wasn't being weird or starstruck. It was just that Penny was with Gwen a lot of the time, and Ashley couldn't manage to say anything coherent to the drummer, so it was safer to avoid the situation entirely.

You'll have a very hard time wooing your mate that way, her bear said patiently.

I can't woo her anyway if I can't even talk to her! Ashley risked a glance down the bar. Gwen and the third member of their band who hadn't yet left town, Sandy, were still down there, but Penny had disappeared. Ashley scowled after Jon, squared her shoulders, and worked her way through the crowd at the bar to go say hi to Gwen. That would show her stupid cousin. And after that she had to get back to work, because she had real plans for the brewpub, and none of them involved mooning over an adorable redhead. They also didn't involve counting on Gwen's band, the Sixty Pix, to bring in the crowds for the rest of eternity, even if it had been a great promotional event over the past week.

"There you are!" Gwen grabbed Ashley into a hug as she finally made it through the throngs of people filling the bar. "I've hardly seen you all week. Bill's got you crazy busy, huh? How's being the new general manager? Or, what did he say he was going to give you as a job title? Queen And Mistress Of All The World?"

"We went with 'General Manager,'" Ashley said sheepishly.

We are not a sheep, her bear told her firmly. You may speak bearishly, but not sheepishly.

Ashley opened her mouth, about to argue with the bear out loud, then clicked her jaw shut again. 'Bearishly' suggested she was a grumpy gus, but her sow would be offended at the idea that she might be, by nature, surly. And to be fair to the bear, it was not an ill-tempered creature at all. It was patient, mild, thoughtful, and gentle, which weren't words usually associated with bears, but then, shifter bears weren't like true bears.

"As long as he gave you the raise that should go along with the Queen And Mistress title, I'm good with that," Gwen said airily.

"Ooh, Queen And Mistress," said a bright voice at Ashley's elbow, and beers began to materialize as Penny made a space for herself in the little grouping. "I like that. One beer for you, G. One for Sandy, and one for you, Queen And Mistress Of The World." Penny handed Ashley what was clearly meant to be her own beer, since she only had three of them.

Ashley, politely but with determination, said, "Oh, no, I couldn't possibly, that's yours, and besides, I've drunk more Thunder Blunder than I could possibly need in one lifetime," and firmly but gently pressed the tall glass of beer back into Penny's hands.

At least, that's what happened in her head. What happened outside her head, out there in the real world where everybody else was a participant too, was that she said, "Oh no I'm already blunder drunk for a lifetime," and shoved the beer away in a panic, splashing most of it down Penny's shirt.