Page 2 of True North
JT felt a little awkward about asking, but he’d come here specifically to get information and wasn’t going to chicken out now. “I was actually hoping to ask someone about a bear I’ve seen nosing around my place. Not sure you can help me with that.”
“Hmm.” She cocked her head at him, studying him with her dark eyes. “I’m going to send you to the owner for that. He’s in the office doing some paperwork. All the way down that hallway, door across from the men’s room.”
JT thanked her and followed her directions. The door in question was unmarked, and JT hoped he was in the right place as he rapped his knuckles against the glass pane. He heard some shuffling from within, and after a few moments the door opened, revealing a tall, dark-bearded man JT recognized from seeing him around town: Lenny, a big white guy who along with his Ojibwe wife was the informal leader of the local shifter community. Most shifters looked like ordinary people, but Lenny looked like a bear in human form, big and hairy and prone to wearing flannel. He was hard to miss.
“JT Howlett, as I live and breathe,” Lenny said, not even pretending he didn’t know who JT was, which was refreshing. “What can I do for you?”
“The bartender sent me back here,” JT said, gesturing back in the direction of the bar. “I’ve got a bear who keeps soaking in my hot tub. Hoping you can give me some advice.”
Lenny grinned, showing off his crooked front teeth. “In your hot tub, eh. Sure, come on in.” He stepped aside and let JT into the cluttered office, a small, windowless room dominated by a huge desk piled high with stacks of papers. Just looking at it was enough to give JT heartburn. Hockey had its own stresses, but at least he didn’t have to do paperwork.
They sat down on either side of the desk. Lenny opened a tin decorated with an image of Santa and a reindeer and offered it to JT. “Peppermint puff?”
Why not. JT took one and unwrapped it. “I won’t take up too much of your time. This guy’s been hanging out at my house, going through my trash cans and whatnot. I told him to get lost but he keeps coming back. I’m not sure how to handle it. I don’t really want to get the cops involved, you know? Seems like overkill.” Starting drama with the local shifters wasn’t high on JT’s list of fun offseason activities. With his luck, it would get picked up by the press and he’d spend all of training camp in the hot seat.
Lenny nodded. “You sure it’s a shifter and not an actual bear?”
“It’s a grizzly, so.” JT popped the mint in his mouth. “Pretty sure.”
“Oh,thatguy.” Lenny leaned back in his chair with a sigh. “Ragged ear, right? Skinny?”
JT nodded. “That’s him.”
“Yeah,” Lenny said. “He’s not one of ours. Showed up this spring. Won’t let anyone get close enough to try to have a conversation with him. We think he’s a feral. Shifter, though, for sure.”
“What exactly does that mean? That he’s feral.” JT had a vague idea, but if this guy was going to keep camping out at his house, he wanted to know exactly what he was dealing with.
“Out in the woods alone for too long,” Lenny said. “Probably hasn’t shifted back into his human form for—who knows. Months, years. Forgotten how to be a person. Still smart as a person, but with bear instincts.” He sighed again. “I wish we could help you. We don’t like shifters bothering people, it’s bad for community relations. This guy’s so skittish, though.”
“Yeah, not your fault. I thought maybe it was a teenager messing with me or something. I guess it’s good that it’s not one of your guys, but I have to admit I was hoping you’d be able to put a stop to it.”
“I’ll ask around,” Lenny said. “See if anyone on the Michigan side has had run-ins with this guy. Weirdest thing is, he’s not even a grizzly. He’s a Eurasian brown bear. So we’ve really got no idea where the hell this guy came from.”
“Eurasian,” JT said. “So he’s, what—from Siberia or something?”
Lenny shrugged. “Most likely. Could be from somewhere in Europe, maybe China. Hard to say if he won’t shift. I’m as confused as you are, believe me. We’ll keep trying to establish contact with him, but I can’t promise you we’ll have any luck.”
He and JT exchanged contact information and agreed to keep each other updated. JT went home with no real answers, but it was good to know he wasn’t alone in his bafflement. He still didn’t have a clue what he was going to do about his ursine visitor, though.
* * *
“How’s your bear doing?” Alex asked him a few days later, on one of the mornings they met up in town to skate.
JT groaned and bent over to lace up his skates. “He’s notmybear.”
“Close enough. Hey, maybe he’s got a crush on you. Or he’s a hockey fan. Wants to hang around the great Howlett, eh?”
“I’m going to kill you,” JT said, only partly kidding. He didn’t appreciate Alex invoking the specter of his fame.
He would have better training opportunities if he stayed in Toronto for the summer, but he liked coming home and just being JT instead of captain and face of the franchise. Toronto maybe wasn’t as bad as Montreal, but he was still under a lot of pressure, especially because several years of high-profile trades and signings had failed to yield a Stanley Cup championship. This year they’d exited the playoffs in a humiliating first-round loss to a mediocre team, and JT had turned his phone off for a solid two days after locker cleanout, unwilling to subject himself to the hot takes on Twitter. He liked to get away from all that for a while. His trainer, Curtis, didn’t mind hanging out in the Sault for a few months, and Alex was fun to skate with and even as a third liner had plenty to offer in terms of competition on the ice. This was their third summer training together, and it worked well for both of them. They were pretty good friends by now, and JT always enjoyed hanging out with him and shooting the shit.
The downside was that Alex absolutely felt comfortable enough to rag JT about his personal life, and he thought JT’s bear problem was the funniest thing that had happened all year. To be fair, JT would probably find it pretty funny, too, if it were happening to someone else. As it was, he was mostly confused and a little stressed out. Cleaning up garbage every few days wasn’t a lot of fun.
“Maybe he can be your new boyfriend,” Alex went on, clearly not getting the message that JT wanted to drop the subject.
“I never should have told you about the fucking bear,” JT said, also wishing he’d never told Alex he was gay. “Forget it. Put your gear on. We’ve got work to do.”
“Aye aye, Captain,” Alex said, laughing, but at least he finally dropped it and finished gearing up.