Page 16 of Seer

The barista cocked her head at me. “Sorry,” she said, sliding my coffee cup across the counter. “Here’s your bear claw.” She pushed a white paper bag toward me.

“Bear,” I said, staring at her blankly. I jerked my head around again and stared up at the bear, which was now staring back, its bright eyes wide as they met mine. “Bear,” I repeated. “Holy shit.”

“Uh, hi?”

I snapped my eyes down from the extremely tall bear to thejust really tall human-looking guy who was the bear’s other self. First self? Who the fuck knew.

I opened my mouth, but no sound came out.

“Oh, fuck, yeah, Cow! Itisyou!”

A hand grabbed my shoulder and yanked me around.

I blinked. “Butch.” I shook my head. I didn’t have time for him. I turned back to the bear-guy.

Butch grabbed me again. “I’m talking to you, Cow.”

I shrugged him off impatiently. “Not now.”

Bear-guy squinted at Butch. “This guy bothering you?”

“Taylor!” the barista shouted. Bear-guy stuffed a couple of dollars in the tip jar and took his extra-large to-go cup from her.

“Oooh, is this your type, Cow? I bet you like the bigger ones, so you can be their little bitch.”

I ignored him. I had bigger things to be concerned about.

Like the fucking bear-man right in front of me.

The bear—Taylor, apparently—grabbed my cup off the counter, glanced at the name on it, and handed it to me. Then he passed me the white bag with my pastry in it. I took them both without thinking, still unable to look away from the guy and his bear-self.

He said to Butch, “You’re mispronouncing his name. It’s Cal. And I don’t like your tone.” He stepped forward, getting between me and Butch. I turned so I could continue to stare at the bear.

“Brantleigh the Fourth!” shouted the barista.

This distracted me enough that I glanced over at her. She had a slightly bemused expression on her face. Butch’s hand reached out from the other side of Taylor, and he grabbed the cup.

I snorted. I’d forgotten Butch had such a pretentious real name.

Cup in hand, he edged around Taylor, who spun to keep himself between Butch and me. “See you around, Cow!” he sang out before speeding through the exit doors.

“What an ass,” Taylor said.

“You’re telling me.” I slammed my mouth shut. What the hell was I supposed to say to the bear-guy? “Um....”

He clapped a gigantic hand on my shoulder. “I’ve got to get to work, but I’ll be seeing you around, Cal.” He paused, then said, “I hope you pick my DM. He’s the best.”

“DM?” I asked faintly as Taylor moved past me to walk out of the coffee shop. He didn’t look back.

The bear-man played Dungeons & Dragons? I tried to imagine a guy who could turn into a bear sitting down to play a game where he pretended to be yet another character.

Holy shit, Taylor could turn into a bear!

In a daze, I left the coffee shop and walked to my truck. I didn’t remember the drive to work, but somehow I made it.

Steve had arranged a meeting with Legal, and I managed to pull my head out of my ass, shove all thoughts of bear-people to the back of my brain, and focus. Arranging to leave Rogues Gallery was the priority today.

I didn’t let myself dwell on Taylor again until I was on my way home from work. Normally I was meticulous aboutkeeping my truck clean, but I’d been so distracted this morning I’d left my coffee cup and bakery bag—empty of course; I hadn’t been that out of it—inside.