Bear King's Curves: A BBW Werebear Shifter Romance (4 page)

I opened my mouth to scream. The bear fell back on all
fours. It stared at me and opened its mouth, showing the finger sized
sharp teeth filling its mouth.

I never heard his fearsome roar. I collapsed into a deep
churning blackness, a bourbon and fear fueled coma broken only by
sharp scratching sounds outside the window behind me and a few hushed
voices.

“
Ma'am? Jesus Christ! Are you alright?”

I jerked awake. My head was pounding, easily the worst
hangover in years since I'd gotten over hitting up the bars as a
giddy twenty-one year old.

I tried to answer. Something thick and rubbery was
stuffed in my mouth. I just ended up slurring breath and words
instead.

“
My God! What the fuck was in here?”

I looked over the middle aged hotel manager's shoulder.
Wooden splinters, mud, and clumps of dark brown hair matted the
carpet.

It took him a couple stumbling minutes to undo Nick's
leather belt, the only human sign left that he'd ever existed. Then
he pulled at the washcloth pinched between my teeth.

Gasping for air, I held my knees, wishing the brutal
thud in my head would go away. Outside, it was another morning in
Klamath Falls, cars and trains running parallel.

My car!

As soon as I remembered, I jerked up, spreading my palms
on the cool window. I sighed with relief when I saw it was still
there – except the trunk was uneven, unhinged, as if a big
animal had broken inside.

“
You gotta be shitting me. You mean the parking
lot had break-ins too?” He sounded exasperated, and I didn't
blame him.

“
Just one,” I muttered.

Turning, I looked at him, and then edged my way past. I
needed some water before I started to heave.

“
Hey, Miss, do you know anything about this?”
He called to me as I stood at the bathroom sink, gulping plastic
glasses of cool, refreshing liquid.

“
A random act of
brutality. This guy I met at a bar...thought I knew him. He took my
shit and broke
into the car.
That's all there really is to it.”

I came out, wiping the water I'd smeared across my
forehead. The hangover headache seemed a tiny bit better. Maybe.

“
Hold up,” the manager said. “I'm
gonna need you to come down to the lobby and wait until the cops show
up. You're the only witness here. Your story doesn't explain all this
damage...and what the fuck is this hair!”

He reached to the floor, picked up a clump of bear hair,
and twisted it between his fingers. His face alternated shades of red
and white, base rage battling dumbstruck confusion.

“
You'd really make me relive that?” I
swooned, twisting my voice until I sounded a lot more upset than I
really was.

He took a step back, shocked by the weird discord that
came over me.

“
I...I'm sorry,” I blubbered. “This
isn't the first time I've been held up. Please, sir, just let me grab
my things and forget about this. The robber drugged me...I don't
think I'd remember him anyway.”

There's a big fat lie. Nick's face is burned into my
brain for good, man and bear, especially that firestorm in his eyes.

I saw it even now. Remembering his face sent fury
tickling up my spine, alongside a wicked and unwelcome wish that
things had gone a different way in this room last night.

“
Okay, doll. I get that you're upset,” the
manager said. “But we're never gonna catch this guy if you
don't...you know...”

He turned away from me and released a pent up sigh. I
bit my cheek, hard enough to make the tears come easy and hot.

“
Alright, alright. Just please tell me you know
what caused
this
!” The manager waved toward the mess on
the floor in front of the TV.

Ha! You'd have me committed if I told you the truth.
I doubted any hotel in Klamath Falls had ever gotten a bear inside
it.

I shrugged. “No idea. Please, just take my money.
I have to go. Now.”

I zipped up my jacket and reached into my purse.
Plucking out several crisp twenties, I pressed them into his hands.

Thankfully, the manager lingered in the room, still
staring at the mess my grizzly intruder left behind.

I threw my stuff into the backseat and checked the
trunk. Something huge had ripped it open by one hinge. The metal
bobbed beneath my hand like flimsy paper.

Annoying, but nothing I couldn't get the nearest garage
to tie down. I jumped in the car. It started without issue and the
radio kicked on.

Good. Sorry, Nick, looks like you weren't smart
enough to cut a brake line or give me a nasty leak.

You really should've slowed me down.

The man who held me hostage and stole my treasure didn't
know me. He thought I'd turn tail and run after being threatened like
that.

He thought wrong.

I gripped the wheel and pulled out of the parking lot,
pointing it onto Klamath's main strip leading out of the town, toward
the rugged wilds of northern California.

I didn't give up easy. I swore I'd take that big jade
ball back or else make my new friend finish his hit.

The door popped easily with a quick screw and turn of
the knob. No creak, its hinges were well oiled.

Thank God for small favors.

I'd never been in a werebear's house before. Just a
couple rickety dig outposts nearby, where their inattentive
researchers scratched and pulled up new treasures, seemingly at
random.

In bear territory, they clearly didn't bother to lock
their doors. I supposed the bears didn't have thieves among them, and
the idea of a human interloper coming through wasn't very threatening
when any one of them could change and make her into a snack in a
lightning minute.

I swallowed, held my breath, and crept gradually inside,
pushing the door gently shut behind me.

The place smelled remarkably clean. A few wood carvings
were on a shelf near the wall, just below a painting of huge, snow
capped mountains that looked like they'd been fashioned from Western
Montana's jagged peaks.

I picked up an owl and turned it over. NICHOLAS T. was
carved on the bird's flat little podium. The signature was more
uneven than the sign I'd seen outside engraved with the same name.

I've come to the right place. But where the hell
would he keep it?

I put the owl down and very slowly walked through the
small kitchen. The bears normally slept late on their own turf.
Morning to early afternoon was always the best time for artifact
raids, before they woke to prowl around at night.

Normally. But hell, was there anything normal about
this?

A big, faint growl from the room up ahead curled the
air. I froze, feeling hot adrenaline cool into icy fear in my veins.

I didn't move a muscle for a full five minutes. When
there was nothing else, I moved forward again, unease nipping at my
back.

As a big girl, I wasn't exactly the most sneaky or
nimble. I relied on smarts, patterns, everything I'd learned about
the Klamath Bear Clan after dear old dad's death.

My studies drilled in one thing: these skinwalkers
always very regular, ritualistic creatures.

According to one of their legends, their human and bear
sides communed deeper during sleep. A bear who didn't get a proper
rest wasn't just risking his physical life, but the two spirits
inside him, animal and man.

I stopped and stared into Nick's bedroom. My jaw
dropped.

He slept naked, the lower half of his body barely
covered by a big furry blanket. He was stretched out from the waist
up, bare chested and immaculate, his big arms curled up around his
head.

That's one big, pretty, sleeping baby.
I inwardly cursed myself, wondering how anybody's good looks could
make me forget about what he'd done.

Just now, I needed to forget the rage, though. I had to
get past him, to see if he was still hiding that damned thing in his
room.

I took another step, bracing one hand on the frame
leading into his bedroom. I peered around the corner and nearly
laughed.

Holy shit! Right on his dresser, still in its paper
wrapping and all.

All muscles. No brains. Figures.

I took a long, slow breath, mentally prepping for the
hardest part. One foot forward at a time, I moved in.

Sweat beaded on my brow as I came closest to his bed.
Making a single sound would've been a big mistake. And looking at him
too hard or intently just might make me do it.

No time for any distractions, pleasant or otherwise.

Come on, Lyla. Focus. Focus!

Closer, closer, steady and stealthy...

I was hunched over walking forward now. I passed a
mirror, frowning when I caught my chubby thighs in the periphery.
They were thick slabs even though they worked well.

Self-consciousness about my figure stirred at the worst
possible time. It made me think of seeing myself naked, and that led
to thoughts about the sleeping Adonis next to me, buff and perfect in
every way.

Oh, except for that whole I-need-to-kill-you thing.

Good thing I didn't come here to win Miss Oregon. I
plucked at my bottom lip with my teeth and pressed on.

Finally, I was at his dresser. I wondered how often
bears needed to re-stock their drawers when they tore their clothes
to shred with every transformation.

Nick stirred behind me and flopped over on his side,
making me look anxiously over my shoulder.

Fuck. Don't let him wake up now. We're on the home
stretch...

Then I remembered it was wrapped up tight in that
crinkly paper. Damn it! There was no hope of moving it without making
one hell of a ruckus.

Behind the artifact, he had a small box filled with
nicknacks. My eyes searched, looking for anything sharp and heavy to
free my prize, so painfully within reach.

Scissors. Black handled, beautiful, shiny scissors!

My heart thumped when I saw my golden ticket to freedom.
They were a small hand held pair, like something a man might use to
clip stray hairs or trim his mustache.

Easy...easy...

I picked them up, testing to see how smoothly they
pivoted apart. More luck was on my side. They moved quick and easy,
without making more than an almost imperceptible snap.

I chose to start at the top of the artifact's wrapper
and work fast.

Some noise was inevitable. I avoided the worst
crinkling, forming a clean cut along the side, exposing the dark
green surface inside.

The thing sparkled a little bit when the sunlight hit
it, gold slits around the little bears on the side glowing. One of
many reasons I'd found it sitting in an unguarded box in the first
place.

I let myself smile when
the wrapper was off.
Come to momma!

I nestled it against my breast, admiring its smooth,
cool shape. This pretty baby promised to bring in some serious dough
and piss off the great big grizzly man behind me like nothing else.

I still had the sphere clutched tight when pure force
slammed into me from behind.

Not tight enough. The artifact jumped in the air and
landed on the dresser with a thud, rolling against the wall, easily
launched by two hundred pounds of masculine fury behind me.

Rolling around, I screamed, feeling for Nick's face. I
didn't stand a chance unless I scratched at his eyes.

The thought of putting out the beautiful fires dancing
there forever saddened me. Made me weak too – painfully weak.
This was combat, damn it, where every second counted big.

Nick caught me first, tugging at my hair. I screamed
again, rolling as he clasped me in the other arm. He turned me all
the way around and we dipped, tumbling to the bed, flattening me on
his messed up covers and mattress.

“
You're not welcome here, female!” He
roared, one hot, menacing threat in my right ear. “Your
persistence is going to fuck you up bad. And I really, really didn't
want to be the man to do it.”

I kicked at his legs. He just snarled, tugging harder at
the ponytail fisted in one hand, growling the whole time.

“
Maybe you wouldn't have to if you were better at
protecting your – what is it? – your precious culture.”
I sneered. “Do it. Release the beast inside you. Finish me!”

The inferno hardening his face weakened. He looked at me
more softly, moving his face so close to mine I could feel each
breath.

Probably wondering why I have a death wish. Why I'm
not afraid of him and his stupid bear power. Not like I should be
afraid, anyway.

“
What the hell is wrong with you?” He
snapped. “What did my people do to make you like this?”