The Island Of Bears: A BBW Paranormal Romance Read online

  CHAPTER THREE

  When I awoke however many hours later, I was in a bed. It was dark, with the only light in the room being faint and silvery from the moon and stars. I could see them through a large, wide window facing the bed.

  I was thirsty, and hungry, and I had to use the bathroom badly. I hoped there was a bathroom nearby in this place, wherever this place was.

  The thin light filtering in the room revealed the outline of a small lamp on a nightstand next to me. I felt around in the dark for the switch, and after a few moments, I managed to turn it on. The little lamp yielded just enough brightness for me to see a half-ajar door adjacent to the bed, with tile flooring and part of a deep blue shower curtain just beyond it. Relieved to find a bathroom so near, no matter where the heck I was, I climbed out of bed, dashed over to it, and shut the door.

  A short while later, I emerged and began surveying the bedroom in the dim light. The walls were polished planks of wood, like the inside of a cabin, as was the flooring. Across from the bed, below the windows, was a long, low dresser, and adjacent to that, a desk with chair. On top of the desk sat a tall clear glass vase holding a single stem of pale lavender-pink hibiscus.

  Next to that sat a glass of water and another of what appeared to be juice, and a plate with a sandwich stuffed with chicken and lettuce, and a heap of cut-up starfruit and mango on the side. I wasn’t sure who’d left me the food, but I didn’t even care. I was starving. After having a seat at the desk, I dug right in, hearing what sounded an awful lot like ocean waves in the distance while I ate. However, with my mental faculties still utterly spent, I couldn’t even begin to contemplate that at present.

  Once only crumbs remained on the plate, I returned to the bathroom, finding a new toothbrush and toothpaste in the medicine cabinet. I brushed my teeth with my eyes half-closed, and fell back into bed immediately after. Soon I was out like a light again, still in the sundress I’d dressed in that morning. I immediately began dreaming about alternately beating on Holden’s back and resting my face against his chest with his strong arms around me.

  When I awoke some hours later, sunlight was streaming through the windows. I could still hear what sounded like ocean waves in the distance. Ocean waves that I absolutely should not have been hearing if I were still on Ellis Island. I got out of bed, feeling a bit dazed, just as befuddled as I’d been the day before, as to what had happened to me, and what was still happening to me.

  I spotted a note on the dresser that I hadn’t noticed the night before, and I picked it up and read it. It said, Clean clothes in the dresser. Come out for breakfast whenever you’re ready. -Cora :-)

  Of course, I hadn’t the foggiest idea who Cora was. But then again, I was getting pretty used to not having the foggiest idea about anything.

  After showering, I went through the dresser drawers and saw that all the clothing, which was mostly sundresses, shorts, and summery tops, appeared to be in my size. In one of the drawers, there was also some jewelry, hair ties and accessories, and even some new, unopened makeup and cosmetics. Whoever Cora was, she’d thought of everything.

  Once dressed, I began making my way out to the kitchen to find her. And hopefully, to find out some answers about just exactly where the heck I was.

  When I entered the kitchen, which was a large, sunny room with wood-planked floors and wide windows with pale yellow curtains pulled back, a young woman about my age looked up from chopping fruit at the island. She was on the taller side, and slender, with long brown hair in a ponytail and sparkling brown eyes.

  Setting her knife down, she gave me a big smile. “Good morning. I thought I heard you up and around. Do you like pancakes, eggs, and bacon?”

  Still half-dazed, I nodded. “Um... Yes. I do, but... Well, I don’t really know where I am right now, and I really don’t know what’s happened to me. I’m hoping to get some answers right away.”

  She came out from behind the island and extended a hand, smiling again. “Of course. I’m Cora, and I’ll explain everything over breakfast.”

  I shook her hand, managing a small smile. “I’m Haley. And thank you.”

  I sincerely hoped that Cora’s explanations would make more sense than Holden’s had the day before.

  Cora poured us both coffee and fixed us each a plate of pancakes, eggs, bacon, and tropical fruit salad of pineapple, mango, and guava, and shaved coconut sprinkled over the top. We took seats on bar stools across from each other at the island, and after I’d thanked her for making breakfast, we began eating.

  After a bite of pineapple, Cora picked up her knife and fork and began cutting her pancakes, glancing up at me. “We grow or raise most of our own food here, from fruit and vegetables, to pigs, chickens, and goats for meat and dairy. And of course, we eat a lot of seafood, too.

  We even have cacao trees so we can make artisan chocolate, a lot of which Holden sells to a very upscale candy store in Manhattan. With the income generated from that, he brings us back a lot of things that we can’t make ourselves, or just don’t care to.

  He’s a bit limited by what he can bring through the portal at once, though. I think he’s still a bit salty about the time several of us women decided we just had to have microwave ovens at once, and he had to come staggering back through the portal carrying about a half-dozen microwave ovens stacked in his arms.”

  I pulled the sides of my mouth up into a smile, even while knowing I was kind of frowning at the same time. “So... So, you believe in Holden’s crazy idea about a portal to... To wherever this place is, too?”

  With her expression becoming serious, Cora swallowed a bite of pancake, set her silverware down, and took a sip of coffee before responding. “I guess I should really explain some things to you. I can’t imagine how bewildered you must be; I really can’t.

  Maybe you won’t be ready to believe some of the things I’m going to tell you right away, and that’s completely fine. I’m of the school that sometimes people need to ease into things, and come to belief, or not, at their own pace, and I’ve had a little talk with Holden about this. I’ve told him he should just give you some time to let everything sink in.”

  “Well, I appreciate that, because... Well, I can’t deny that I’m just a bit confused and baffled by everything that’s happened to me. One minute I was strolling through the grounds at Ellis Island, trying to get a break from a horrible first date, and then the next minute, I’d been knocked out or something, and I was waking up in... Wherever this place is, with Holden chasing me down, trying to keep me from going near some lake... Black Lake, I think he said.”

  Cora nodded. “You just eat and enjoy your breakfast. I’ll explain everything.”

  The first thing she told me was that the island I was supposedly on was called Black Lake Island, and it was roughly shaped like a diamond, with four different groups of people, each with their own leader, inhabiting it, one in each corner of the “diamond.” Then, roughly in the middle, was a very small lake, more the size of a large pond.

  “And... Well, I’ll tell you more about that later.”

  Next, she began telling me about the history of the island, which she said had been discovered and used by government scientists at the height of the Cold War in the nineteen-eighties.

  Kind of getting into her story a bit, I set my fork down, puzzled. “What did they need an island for?”

  Hesitating, Cora tucked a loose strand of her dark hair behind one ear. “Well, this is where things get very... Well, I’ll just say it. Things are definitely going to sound crazy to you. But just hear me out, and then you can kind of mentally digest everything later, at your own pace.”

  I nodded, wondering just what on earth she was going to tell me. “Okay. Go ahead.”

  What she told me was that the island had been used to do experiments on human men, to turn them into some sort of creatures who could shape-shift into animals. These creatures were called shifters, and Holden and all the men in his village, which was called Sun Cove, were bear s
hifters. There were others on the island who were wolf shifters and dragon shifters. All of the men who’d been turned into shifters had been soldiers in the United States Army.

  “But then, the Cold War ended, and the scientists abandoned this island and all of us on it, including several dozen of us women, who’d all come here voluntarily, to be mates for the men. We all decided to go back to the States, but that was when we discovered that we couldn’t.

  All boats we built and tried to sail away on, always came right back around to the island, as if under some sort of supernatural spell of sorts, which they probably were. See, the scientists who turned the men into shifters weren’t just scientists, at least not all of them. Some of them also had supernatural powers.

  One of them in particular wasn’t just a scientist, he was some sort of sorcerer who was the leader of a very secret, very underground occult group back in the States. We all think he did something to this island, put some sort of a supernatural spell on it or something, to make it not show up on any map, and to make it inaccessible by boat, plane, or anything else.

  “He did, however, make it so that the leaders of the four groups of shifters, and them only, could leave the island, and also return, by these special little portals, which are different for each group. Holden’s portal is a certain point of a stream that flows just to the north of our village. He just dips his hand in the water, and he’s instantly transported to a fountain on Ellis Island. From there, he can go wherever he wants, and return here to the island whenever he wants, just by touching the water in the fountain. Which, from what he said, I gather is what you accidentally did, too.

  Only it sounds like you had a much different experience that he does. Traveling through the portal doesn’t knock him unconscious at all, even for a second, but it must have been a terrible shock to your system, maybe just because you’re not a shifter and the portal wasn’t designed for you.”

  “But... Why would I have went through the portal anyway? I mean, even if all this supernatural stuff is real, why would it have affected me? Why would I have gotten ‘sucked in’ to the portal just by touching the water, if, supposedly, it’s something only leaders of this island are supposed to be able to travel through?”

  Cora shook her head. “We have no idea, but with as many people that visit Ellis Island, Holden’s always been worried about something like this. But don’t worry yourself, though. See, eventually, Holden will be able to take you back home through the portal, because leaders can bring outsiders back and forth through the portals simply by touching that person, like with a hand on the shoulder, while they, the leaders, go through the portals themselves.

  However, each leader can only do this a few times a month, and unfortunately, Holden’s already made several trips bringing an outsider back and forth this month already. We have a doctor who lives here in the village, but one of the women needed a specialist brought in for a complicated issue, and Holden was able to find the right doctor who believes in the supernatural and was willing to come to the island, which he ended up doing a few times.

  So, Holden won’t be able to take you home right away, but in a few weeks, it shouldn’t be a problem. That is, if you even want to go home at that point. The island is so beautiful, you might just fall in love with it; I certainly did. I can’t say I was that heartbroken when I found out all of us original inhabitants are pretty much trapped here. As far as being stuck somewhere, it’s not such a bad place at all. Even considering the Gray Forms.”

  “The what?”

  “Oh. They’re the supernatural creatures that live in Black Lake. The lake is like... Well, it’s like a supernaturally-enchanted body of water, with strange currents that can pull people in, which unfortunately, has happened before. Years and years ago, at different times, some shifters and several women were pulled in, and they all became Forms. Which is to say, creatures that live in the lake as shadows, but they have the ability to come out and take their former shapes, and when they do, all they want to do is kill. That’s why no one is ever supposed to go near the lake, except for the guards that make sure that the Forms never come near Sun Cove, or any of the other villages.

  “Though sometimes, the guards can’t hold them back, and our men have to fight them off, though this hasn’t happened in a very long time. Holden, my husband Conner, who is Holden’s right-hand man, and the other men do a good job of keeping us all safe. They all have, ever since the nineteen-eighties.” Cora paused and took a sip of her coffee before speaking again.

  “Which, speaking of how many years we’ve all been here, I suppose I should probably tell you how time works here. Or doesn’t, or whatever. See, it’s kind of complicated, and even those of us who live here don’t entirely ‘get’ it. But basically, time moves slower here, compared to the regular world. And that’s not to say that it feels slower, because it doesn’t, and we have regular twenty-four-hour days just like in the regular world. But compared to the regular world, time is just different.

  It just doesn’t add up the same, for lack of a better way to explain it. For example, we’ve all been here thirty-some-odd years now, but we all look like we’ve only aged maybe five. So, do you see what I mean by ‘slower?’”

  I nodded mutely, head spinning with all the information Cora had given me. I was honestly feeling a bit dizzy.

  Cora seemed to notice my discomfort right away and gave me a smile, setting her coffee cup down. “Okay. I think I’ve told you plenty right now. Probably more than plenty. You look a little pale, which is very understandable considering what you’ve just heard. If I were you, I actually probably would have fallen off my bar stool in a faint several minutes ago.

  So, no more talk of supernatural stuff for the time being. Like I said, I think it’s best if you just kind of ease into the new reality of this place, and just kind of let it wash over you at your own pace. In the meantime, I think you should just try to enjoy yourself and enjoy your time here.

  Just pretend you’re on vacation or something. Vacation with your very own private cabin included. I think it will make the next few weeks a little more bearable for you if you can do this. So, will you try? For the time being, will you just try to clear your mind of all thoughts except enjoying your unexpected vacation?”

  I said I’d try, though in my head, I thought how this would likely be much easier said than done.

  Smiling at me, Cora picked up her fork and speared a bite of pancake. “Great. Then, your vacation starts right now. And I’ll be your tour guide of sorts. I told Holden I’d be glad to help you get settled in and show you around.”

  Suddenly frowning, Cora set her fork down. “Oh, yeah. By the way, he gave me a message to tell you. He said, ‘Tell that little freak good morning from me, and welcome to Sun Cove.’ Which I thought was awfully rude of him to say—the ‘little freak’ part—but he made me promise to tell you. I’m sure he didn’t mean anything by it. He was probably just trying to be funny in a really weird way... Which really isn’t like him. He’s normally pretty stern.”

  I sighed, fighting a smile, much to my surprise. “Well, joke taken. I guess it’s sort of an inside joke between us. And I guess I kind of started the whole thing. I called Holden a few names yesterday when he was trying to stop me from running down the trail. Which, by the way, where is he?”

  Much to my surprise again, I realized I wanted to see him. Badly even, for some strange reason. I hated to admit it, but I almost had a feeling of missing him or something.

  Seeming to read my mind, Cora responded with what appeared to be a knowing little glint in her chocolate-brown eyes. “Well, he and the men are out dealing with some Form issues today, and who knows when they’ll be back. The Forms have kind of been acting up a little lately. Trying to charge out from the lake to the villages and stuff, and it’s been taking a lot of manpower to keep them at bay. But whenever Holden and the other men do return, I’m sure Holden will be wanting to check in with you right away. You know, just to be a good host and all
.”

  Pausing, Cora gave me the tiniest of winks. “Though maybe he’ll even want to have dinner with you; who knows. All I do know is that he’s been single for a very long time, but lately, he’s been seeming like he might want to settle down and take a mate for life like many of the other men. The only problem is that most of the women in our village are married, and the ones that aren’t haven’t really caught Holden’s fancy, much to their disappointment. There’s definitely no one that he shares little inside jokes with; I know that.”

  While I digested this information, thinking about the way Holden’s powerful body had felt pressed against mine the day before, a little heat rose to my face.

  Cora surveyed me for a long moment, then gave me a sly smile. “Maybe I’ll just put a little bug in Holden’s ear about how you were on a ‘horrible first date’ before you fell through the portal. Meaning, you’re single, right?”

  I nodded slowly. “Well, yes, but... I don’t think I’ll even be here long enough to... Well, I’ll surely be going home as soon as possible, so...”

  “Of course. This is just a brief vacation, and you don’t want to get wrapped up in any kind of a relationship during it. I understand.”

  An amused little twinkle in Cora’s eyes told me that she wasn’t quite convinced that I didn’t want to start anything up with Holden. Which I didn’t. I truly just wanted to go home and put the whole confusing, disorienting, unsettling experience behind me.

  However, when Cora soon changed the subject and began telling me some about the different people and families in the village, I became even more confused because I couldn’t stop thinking about Holden, and his muscular body and his pale blue eyes. Which I had to admit was kind of funny for someone who supposedly just wanted to go home.