ice fisherman. Next to him is Tyler Cox, a personal trainer. And then Alan Jensen, a writer. He likes to call himself a jack of all trades, which really just means he does a whole lot of nothing.” All of the men except Alan laughed, which mercifully broke up the tension in the room a bit.
“Of course,” Neal continued, “You already know Ryker. Together, the five of us make up the remaining members of the Northern Lights Ice Bears Clan. Are you familiar with shifters, Kenzie?”
“Well, I mean, I’ve heard stories about them before. But I always thought they were just stories, until last night.”
Neal nodded. “Most people don’t think shifters exist, even here in Alaska where folks tend to be a little more believing of myths than most people. But we do exist, as you now know.”
“So, what are you, actually? Bear? Human? I don’t understand.”
“We aren’t fully bear, but we’re not fully human, either. We’re caught in a world between. We tend to spend most of our time in human form, but sometimes our inner bear demands to be let out. And we hunt in bear form, as well. The Arctic used to be full of polar bear shifters, better known amongst ourselves as ice bear shifters. But many humans have tried to kill us off, thinking we’re dangerous and evil. Which isn’t true at all. We try to keep to ourselves as much as possible. Rivalry between the ice bear clans has done quite a bit of damage to the ice bear population as well. Most clans, like the Northern Lights bears, have been reduced to less than ten members. The only clan left with a large number of bears is the Blizzards. The Blizzards are weaker bears, physically, but they’re smart. They have a knack for sneak attacks, and they’ve been able to kill off quite a few clans that way. They almost completely eradicated the Northern Lights Clan through poisoning. But the five of us managed to survive. Now, they’re trying to finish us off completely. We had laid low and evaded them for a while, but it looks like they found us.”
Understanding dawned on Kenzie. “So those dead bears last night—those were all Blizzards?”
“Exactly,” Neal said. “Luckily, they weren’t able to take down Ryker. But we’ll have to be more careful. They’ll likely be back.”
“So, all of you here can change into bears?”
“Yes.”
“How… how does it work? And is it contagious?”
Neal laughed. “It’s not contagious. It’s not a disease. And it’s not as magical as some people make it out to be. It’s a genetic mutation. Millions of years ago, whenever humanity was first evolving from animals, some animals didn’t completely lose their animal DNA. Their cells evolved in such a way that they were able to switch back and forth between human and animal form at will. It’s actually a dominant gene, so the offspring of a shifter and a human will have shifter capabilities. But the shifters are dying off because we tend not to mate with humans that often. Full humans tend not to like us, if they know who we are. Like I said, they’re afraid of us and try to kill us off. So we stay away.”
Kenzie sat back in her chair and tried to process everything Neal was telling her. “But, you guys must be pretty hard to kill. I mean, Ryker fought off five or six bears on his own. And he was so badly wounded last night that I thought he wasn’t going to make it. But, today, all he has to show for it is a nasty scar on his chest.”
“Yes, bear shifters are difficult to kill. The Northern Lights bears, especially. Our clan had an additional genetic mutation that allows for lightning-fast healing during sleep. But we do have some weaknesses, including a vulnerability to silver and silver weapons. That’s how the Blizzards killed most of our clan. Silver poisoning.”
Kenzie stared down at her plate for several moments. She felt overwhelmed, and she had no idea what she was supposed to do with all of this information. Neal seemed to sense her
“Of course,” Neal continued, “You already know Ryker. Together, the five of us make up the remaining members of the Northern Lights Ice Bears Clan. Are you familiar with shifters, Kenzie?”
“Well, I mean, I’ve heard stories about them before. But I always thought they were just stories, until last night.”
Neal nodded. “Most people don’t think shifters exist, even here in Alaska where folks tend to be a little more believing of myths than most people. But we do exist, as you now know.”
“So, what are you, actually? Bear? Human? I don’t understand.”
“We aren’t fully bear, but we’re not fully human, either. We’re caught in a world between. We tend to spend most of our time in human form, but sometimes our inner bear demands to be let out. And we hunt in bear form, as well. The Arctic used to be full of polar bear shifters, better known amongst ourselves as ice bear shifters. But many humans have tried to kill us off, thinking we’re dangerous and evil. Which isn’t true at all. We try to keep to ourselves as much as possible. Rivalry between the ice bear clans has done quite a bit of damage to the ice bear population as well. Most clans, like the Northern Lights bears, have been reduced to less than ten members. The only clan left with a large number of bears is the Blizzards. The Blizzards are weaker bears, physically, but they’re smart. They have a knack for sneak attacks, and they’ve been able to kill off quite a few clans that way. They almost completely eradicated the Northern Lights Clan through poisoning. But the five of us managed to survive. Now, they’re trying to finish us off completely. We had laid low and evaded them for a while, but it looks like they found us.”
Understanding dawned on Kenzie. “So those dead bears last night—those were all Blizzards?”
“Exactly,” Neal said. “Luckily, they weren’t able to take down Ryker. But we’ll have to be more careful. They’ll likely be back.”
“So, all of you here can change into bears?”
“Yes.”
“How… how does it work? And is it contagious?”
Neal laughed. “It’s not contagious. It’s not a disease. And it’s not as magical as some people make it out to be. It’s a genetic mutation. Millions of years ago, whenever humanity was first evolving from animals, some animals didn’t completely lose their animal DNA. Their cells evolved in such a way that they were able to switch back and forth between human and animal form at will. It’s actually a dominant gene, so the offspring of a shifter and a human will have shifter capabilities. But the shifters are dying off because we tend not to mate with humans that often. Full humans tend not to like us, if they know who we are. Like I said, they’re afraid of us and try to kill us off. So we stay away.”
Kenzie sat back in her chair and tried to process everything Neal was telling her. “But, you guys must be pretty hard to kill. I mean, Ryker fought off five or six bears on his own. And he was so badly wounded last night that I thought he wasn’t going to make it. But, today, all he has to show for it is a nasty scar on his chest.”
“Yes, bear shifters are difficult to kill. The Northern Lights bears, especially. Our clan had an additional genetic mutation that allows for lightning-fast healing during sleep. But we do have some weaknesses, including a vulnerability to silver and silver weapons. That’s how the Blizzards killed most of our clan. Silver poisoning.”
Kenzie stared down at her plate for several moments. She felt overwhelmed, and she had no idea what she was supposed to do with all of this information. Neal seemed to sense her
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