Called by the Bear 1-3 (9 page)

C
arly

B
rady shows up at eight
, right on the nose. I’m hit with the aroma of coffee. He says, "I brought you a cup but wasn't sure what to put in it, so there's cream and sugar packets too."

My usual habit is to be caffeine-free to avoid the shakes when working, but the sweet gesture makes me throw caution to the wind and go for the java buzz. "How thoughtful, thank you. I'm a cream and sugar girl."

The plastic of a to-go mug is smooth in my hands when I open it. The faint smell of maple wafts up. "Is this maple coffee?"

Brady's full lips turn up at the corners. "Good nose. I almost added more to yours but after one drop realized I didn't know if you liked sugar in your coffee. I hope it's okay."

"It's more than okay, I'm beginning to wonder how I lived my life before discovering real maple syrup." Yes, I'm totally buttering him up. But the smile I get for it is so worth the effort.

"Are you flirting with me, Carly Cutler?"

"I sure am, Brady Le Roux."

He reaches over and takes my hand. Still amazed at the sheer size of him, I squeal a little on the inside at how small he makes me feel. I sip the hot liquid, and it warms my insides on the way down.

Brady says, "The plan today is to show you what I do in the morning and then take you and Sierra on a hike to a wonderful spot Keith is setting up for a picnic. How does that sound?"

"That sounds fantastic." The sun is shining, and tiny buds of green and red are peeking out on the hardwood trees. We bounce along a dirt road, and I wonder how it is I'm supposed to be drinking coffee. I decide I'll wait until we stop before taking another sip.

Brady lets go of my hand and cracks our windows open. "Can you smell it?"

I inhale deeply, and the odor of musty, rotting plant life comes to mind. "I'm smelling something."

The baritone laugh that erupts from Brady goes straight to my core and starts me twitching.
Really, body? Can't you just enjoy the man without wanting to screw him?

He says, "I suppose if you aren't used to it, it's not very pleasant. But to me it means things are starting to grow."

"And more trees means more money?"

He nods. "Yes. The tree business is in my blood." Brady throws a sideways glance at me. "Someday I hope you love this smell too."

I flash to my dreams and the musky animalistic odor I was drawn to. I think that must have been a sign. "I think someday I will."

We arrive at a plain-shingled building. It's not very big, and I'm surprised by that. I had expected something a little more elaborate, with mirrored glass and metal. I envisioned high-powered deals going down within the walls. Gravel crunches under the tires as Brady pulls up near the front door. Three other SUV-type vehicles are in the lot, but there is room for at least ten more.

Brady hops out, and before I can climb down, he's taking my hand to help. I gasp when he pulls me tight against him. He says, "I'm not sure I can go on without a kiss."

I happily oblige, and just at the point I’m ready to rip his shirt off, he pulls away.

"Damn, it's getting harder to stop." Brady's lips are flushed ruby red, and I lick mine, thinking about what I want to do with his mouth. A low noise comes from the back of his throat.

I take a deep breath, and my voice lowers an octave when I say, "Yeah, I know what you mean."

"C'mon, I'll take you to the CFO first. That's bound to put a damper on things."

I laugh and then ask, "So numbers aren't your friend?"

He grins. "Oh, they're my friend as long as I let someone else crunch them."

We enter though a glass door and take a few more steps to another one. A counter is straight ahead, and an older woman is behind it.

"Marjorie, this is Carly."

Dressed smartly in a wool suit, she pops up from her chair and comes around to greet me. I'm a bit taken aback to see she's almost as tall as I am. Is she a relative? Or is something in the water here? She says, "It's so nice to meet you. It's about time Brady found a nice girl."

I guess she spied us making out in the parking lot. "Thank you, it's nice to meet you too."

Brady says, "Marjorie is my right-hand woman. She arranges my calendar and takes care of all my details. She keeps the rest of us in line too."

She smiles warmly at him, and he leads me down a hall. The decor is quite functional, but the warm wood and brown carpet make it cozy. Forest paintings line the walls in a tasteful display. At the end he leads me into a large office. A desk that would dwarf a normal person dominates the space with its shiny dark wood.

Behind the desk is a huge picture window overlooking a valley. I walk over toward it and notice a large bird flying in the cloudless sky. "Wow, how do you get any work done?"

The heat of Brady lets me know he's behind me before his scent does. He leans down to whisper in my ear. "That doesn't distract me." He kisses my neck, and I lean back against him. "But you sure do."

He turns me around and pushes me into a large leather chair that is turned away from the desk. I land with a whoosh and chuckle. Getting down on his knees, he rolls the chair closer and positions himself between my legs. Pulling gently, he perches me on the edge and presses himself against my crotch.

With a growl he says, "The things I could do to you in this chair."

Moisture pools between my legs as I stare into his mossy-green eyes. "I was thinking about what we could do on that desk."

He smirks. "I like how you think." He gives me a quick kiss and stands. Pulling the legs of his jeans down, he says, "So this is where I work."

After a few hours of him explaining the details of his job, how the entire business operates, and meeting so many people I'm not sure I'll remember their names, it's finally time for our hike.

We meet up with Sierra and Keith at the lumber mill where Keith spends most of his days. The hum of saws is loud, and a shout rises above the din as we walk toward Keith's Jeep Cherokee. Sierra is leaning against it while Keith hovers over her. I'll bet he has a big desk too, and the thought puts an evil smile on my face.

When we get to them, Keith steps away from Sierra. Brady says, "Ready?"

Keith nods. "Yup. I'll meet you up there." He bites his lip for a second, and I wonder what’s making him nervous. Sierra has fallen hard for him already. He has to know that. After a quick kiss for her he climbs in his car and drives off.

Brady says, "Ladies, you ready for your adventure?"

Sierra snorts. "If walking through the woods is an adventure, you clearly need to get out more."

Brady smiles and winks at me. "We'll see what you say about that when we're done."

He walks toward the woods, and we trail behind him. I wonder just what surprise the guys have up their sleeve.

C
arly

T
he ground
on the path is muddy, and I happily squish through, while Sierra picks her steps carefully. As we get deeper into the woods the air is colder, but moving along at a brisk speed is heating me up. We don't talk much, enjoying the forest instead. It's peaceful, and when we step over rocks designed to create a footpath through a stream, I'm tempted to take a drink.

As if he's read my mind, Brady stops and pulls three water bottles out of an inside pocket of his open jacket. "Water break?" I catch a glimpse of the largest handgun I’ve ever seen in a holster at his waist and assume he must have put that on just before our walk. I also wonder if there are things in these woods I should be afraid of. Familiar with guns and knowing how to use the Glock my dad and Ray always kept under the counter at the shop, I'm not concerned.

Sierra gives him an enthusiastic yes, and I take the plastic container to greedily drink some down. She asks, "How much further?"

Brady answers, "About another mile."

I notice a large rock that looks familiar. I walk over to it. The pale green lichen growing on it is almost in a pattern, and it's rough under my fingers when I touch it.
Oh, right, my dream.
I frown. "This rock was in my dream." I remember something was behind it, and I move to see.

Just as I do, a large black bear crashes toward us, and I gasp. My heart jumps into my throat, and ice floods my veins. My instinct is screaming for me to run, but my brain is telling me the right thing to do is hold still. Brady's hand touches my shoulder as if to keep me in place. The stench of the animal is strong and familiar. It's bigger than I thought a bear would be.

Sierra lets out a small gasp when she sees it too, and she stops behind us. The bear has noticed us, and adrenaline is racing through me. As the bear walks toward us, the need to act is overpowering. I'm holding my breath waiting for Brady to do something.
C'mon, shoot him.
He doesn't, and I look over at him. He’s relaxed as if he's watching TV. Is he paralyzed with fear? I grab the gun from his waist. Flicking off the safety as I raise the heavy thing with both hands, I shoot in the sky to scare the bear away.

I stumble from the kickback as a thud sounds nearby.
Did I just kill a bird?
Before I can ponder more, the bear starts to move quickly in our direction.
Shit, he's going to attack.
I lower the gun to shoot.

Brady yells, "No!" His hand grabs the gun and lowers it while his strong arm yanks me back.

I'm about to yell too when the bear begins to shrink.
What the hell?
A sound like bones cracking carries over to us while fur begins to disappear, revealing skin.
Is that human skin?
The bear-thing is still coming our way and becoming more like a person as he stands on two feet.

Oh my God, it's Keith.
He's staring at something behind me, and I remember the thud. I turn to find Sierra slumped on the ground. "Did I shoot her?" But I know I haven't when I realize there isn't any blood.

Brady's still holding me, and he says, "She fainted."

Keith is stark naked and fully human when he reaches her. He sits down and pulls her into his lap, and I think about how she's going to like waking up to his cock. A laugh escapes me. It’s the kind of laugh you have when you're so tired you find everything funny. I can't control it and nearly double over as tears stream down my face.

Brady and Keith have no idea what I think is amusing, but my laughter is contagious, and they both join in. When Sierra opens her eyes, I try to stop and manage to for a moment. Then she notices the naked lap she's lying in and smiles. I lose it again and crumple to the ground.

When I finally recover, Keith says, "That wasn't quite the reaction I was expecting." Brady throws him a pair of shorts, and he grabs them out of the air.

Brady says, "Me either. Jesus, Carly. I didn't know you knew how to use a gun. What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking why the hell weren’t you doing anything to keep the bear from killing us." The reality of what just happened settles over me, and the urge to laugh is long gone. I feel anger replace it, and I look at Keith, who’s zipping up his shorts. "What the hell are you?"

Sierra steps in front of him protectively, and I realize my hands are in fists and I'm moving toward them. "Carly, don't."

I shake my head. The bear in my dream was real. My blood turns ice cold. "Sierra, he's a bear. Did you see any of that? He's a freaking bear that just morphed back to a person."

I turn on my foot to Brady. "What's going on here?"

"You watched Keith shift. We're werebear."

"What? What the hell is a werebear?"
Brady is one too?

Keith answers, "It's like a werewolf, only we're bears. We can shift from human form to bear form."

"Why would you want to do that?" The moment I ask, I regret it. The sad look on Brady's face tells me I spoke too soon.

"Carly, we didn't choose it. It's our heritage." He holds out a hand for me, but I don't take it. I step back, and Sierra comes to stand next to me.

She asks, "Do you shift a lot? Like is it something that just happens to you and you have to live with it?"

Keith answers, "Not exactly. When you first start to shift it's hard to control, but you learn how and get to the point Brady and I are at, which is the ability to shift both ways when we want to."

A crow flies over us, and the cawing distracts me for a moment. I wonder if the bird is a shifter too.

Brady's voice is low as he says, "Keith shifted for you so we could explain. The idea was that you would watch him shift and you’d be able to believe it after seeing it with your own eyes. But it didn't go as planned."

Keith says, "No shit. Carly almost shot me."

I say, "Yeah, sorry about that."

"It's okay. I probably would have done the same thing. She's got balls, Brady."

Brady smiles at me. "That she does." He steps a little closer.

I ask, "This werebear stuff, is it a family thing? Are there a lot of you?" Brady's scent wafts toward me, and my skin aches for his touch.

Brady answers me. "We call ourselves a family, but we're really a clan. Keith and I are distant relatives, not really family."

I remember Catori, the Native American woman we met in Colorado who helped us believe coming here was our destiny. I also recall Lily, the girl at the motel, who had been called too. She told us Catori said she was destined to save a clan. I nod trying to process it all. Sierra asks, "So we're here to breed with you guys and have baby werebear, right?"

Keith scratches his head. "I wish you wouldn't call it breeding. We'll have babies the way usual people do. Only when they get older they should be able to shift given your heritage." He steps closer to us too.

Our heritage?
I ask
, "
Hang on, me and Sierra have werebear genes?"

Brady looks at me. "You do." He holds his hand out again, and this time I take it. Even though I'm not sure I like him right now, I can't seem to resist. He continues, "The sign could only be seen by descendants of werebears. That's why we sent it."

Sierra asks, "So werebear are everywhere?"

Brady answers. "Because we go to regular public schools, sometimes members of the clan fall in love with normal people. We keep our shifting secret from the rest of the world, and once someone leaves us, we don't let them go back and forth between both worlds."

I ask, "I'm going to guess there's a lot of us, right?"

"That's right, but we only wanted those of you that could be our mates. It's complicated, but it was sent out to a target group. Each eligible male sent it to a possible mate." Brady's finger is rubbing the back of my hand, and his touch sends tingles through me.

Sierra asks, "How many women are going to come?"

Keith is holding her hand when he answers. "We don't know. You have to be pretty brave and willing to believe in the sign to come, don't you think?"

Sierra has succumbed to Keith’s charms, and he is now holding her. She says, "Did you not see me faint? I'm not brave, but I am willing to try almost anything."

Keith pats her hair. "And for that I'm grateful. I can't imagine life without you." He nuzzles her neck, and she giggles.

At those words, I look into Brady's eyes. I know he wants acceptance, and I want to give it to him. But a tiny piece of me can't believe the bear in my dreams is real. I let him pull me against his chest and melt in his arms. Exhaustion has overtaken me, and his embrace soothes my tired muscles.

He whispers in my ear. "You're the brave one, and I'm proud of your reaction. You must have come from warriors."

I snort. "I doubt that."

"I don't. We were made for each other, Carly. You were meant to stand by my side.”

I lay my head against his chest and let the soft flannel of his shirt caress my cheek. Catori's words echo in my mind.
"You'll find a great and powerful love. In return you'll provide the future."
Brady is my powerful love, and having children with him would help provide the future. But I have a feeling there's a lot more to this, and I'm afraid to find out.