Love to Bear: A Werebear Shifter Romance (18 page)

“
I have an idea,” I said gently, clucking my
tongue against my mouth. “Are you really in total control when
you're in bear form?”

“
Always. As long as I'm not hunting or facing down
an enemy.” His eyebrows quirked up. “What? You want me to
carry you through the snow?”

I gave him a crooked smile. It was the only thing that
made sense in this situation.

With a heavy sigh, he began to undress. I clapped my
hands and cheered happily at the unexpected strip show. Don laughed,
even if he didn't fully get the reference.

“
This isn't the first time, you know,” he
said.

“
Huh?”

“
How do you think I got you to my cabin in the
first place when I found you? You fainted on me.”

My jaw dropped a little. Then I started to laugh,
imagining him carrying my unconscious body on his big, furry back.

Can't believe I didn't know I'd ridden a bear before.
Well, at least this time I'll be wide awake for it.

Naked, muscular, and beautiful, he handed his neatly
folded clothes to me.

“
Stand back. When I nod my head, you climb on my
back. I can't talk when I'm a bear, so you'll have to keep yourself
entertained the rest of the way home.”

“
I think I can manage.” I took several steps
backward, giving him ample room to expand three or four sizes.

Shifting never failed to impress. I watched in awe as
his bones and flesh snapped, jerked, and circulated around his body
like loose clay.

Less than a minute later, I was face to face with a one
ton grizzly. Was it really smiling at me?

Don bleeted and shifted his head from side to side. The
hump near his shoulders bounced softly.

Guess that's my signal.

I swallowed hard and leaped up onto his back, tugging
gently at his fur for support. Thankfully, it didn't seem to bring
him any discomfort.

Don snorted cold smoke out his nose as I wrapped my hand
around his grizzly neck. Bear fur was tremendously softer than I'd
imagined. Maybe in a little bit, I'd stroke it, but I wasn't sure if
I'd ever be happy petting him near that huge mouth.

We walked on. Snow, leaves, and twigs snapped under four
huge feet. A few winter birds twittered in the distance, breaking up
the regular puffs of his heavy breath.

“
This is smoother ride than I expected,” I
mused, wondering if he could still understand human speech in bear
shape.

Don growled, low and soft, nodding his huge head again
as I scratched around his ear. I grinned.

He was really in there after all. It was Don, the love
of my life, and it didn't matter that he looked indistinguishable
from a creature men had feared for ages.

My bear ride tramped on through the crisp snow. The sun
had just gone behind the highest mountains, its last scattered light
smothered by the unyielding veil of thick clouds.

The ether's pale blue glow glistened another fifty feet
ahead, the boundary between worlds. I stroked his neck, humming
softly. It wouldn't be long now.

I barely heard the snap of metal before his deafening
roar started. Don's body jerked, and he threw his head back, howling
as if he were in agonizing pain.

I jumped off his back. “What? What!”

Panicked, I circled him, keeping several feet away as
the bear went completely crazy. He snarled, roared, and sent hot
spittle streaming into the snow, thrashing his monstrous head and
stomping his front paws on the ground.

It took several seconds to find the bright red puddle
staining the snow. My heart jumped into my throat, beating so hard it
rattled my whole body.

“
Oh my God! Let
me get you out of this,” I ran toward him, scared of the way he
looked at me, but more scared that he'd bleed out if I didn't do
something.

The huge bear trap had bitten deep into his right hind
leg. Still, Don kept control, preventing the bear from shaking his
rear legs too much, worsening the cuts.

Fuck! I don't know the first thing about opening bear
traps.

“
Hold still! Please, Don. I know it hurts, but you
have to!” I stared at it as crucial seconds passed, desperately
trying to keep myself from passing out as fresh blood poured from his
wounds.

I grabbed for the metal teeth. My scream cut through his
terrible, feral anguish. I pulled at the trap's teeth with all my
might, moving my arms until my muscles burned like they were dipped
in scalding water.

“
Come. The fuck. On!”

The metal hardly
budged. I stared deep into his eyes, and saw a very hurt man staring
back at me. A
man, not a
bear.

Then a strange thing happened. Don's body wavered and
started to contort. Soon, he was human again – everything
except the bloodied leg stuck in the metal. From the knee down, he
had a bear's leg, terminating in a large, wounded, hairy paw.

“
Help me open it,” he grunted through his
teeth.

He panted painfully, reached down. My hands went for the
open spaces and we pulled together, screaming from exertion. His
power managed to pry the teeth back with my help, but it wasn't
enough to free his foot.

No, no, no! Just a little bit further!

Something else kicked in as he raised his foot higher.
The leg twisted. Bloody fur retracted, leaving a man's leg.

Don groaned and fell, landing straight on his back in
the frigid snow. I ran to his side instantly and grabbed for his
hand. The deep marks in his leg were just below the knee, like his
leg had gotten caught in an old crocodile's strong, but nearly
toothless mouth.

“
My God! I'll run all the way to the clan for
help. You can't walk like this.”

He groaned painfully. But at least he was alert, and
grabbing my hand.

We were almost home. I knew I could manage the rest of
the way.

I waited for him to nod before I stood. “I'll get
someone out here as soon as I can! I promise.”

“
Just be careful,” he whispered, his voice
weak.

I stood. My knees were already burning to run like never
before, but I didn't take one step before I saw the man who made my
blood boil.

“
That's far enough, you stupid little shrew.”
Emmerick pushed the brush around him to the side. His amber eyes
glowed with fire, flames that wouldn't be extinguished until they
tasted blood.

“
Get out of the way!” I was ready to charge
him, even if it meant the end of me. If Don didn't get help soon, I
knew he'd die, and I'd rather die with him than cower before this
miserable, murderous creep.

“
How cute. My, Flood, you never told me she was
such a spitfire.” He took a long stride toward me,
intentionally blocking my path. “I wanted to put an end to this
by sacrificing you. Not Don. A shame the grizzly I sent after you
didn't do the job.

Emmerick shook his head. I practically tasted the
crocodile tears streaming in his voice. “You've given me no
choice. You'll both have to die now. I know he'd kill me for taking
you out, especially that abomination growing in your womb. You didn't
listen to me, female. You couldn't just let our kind fade in
peace...and now that will have to happen with flood and fire.”

Shit!
My scent
exposed my pregnancy to him.

I tried to jump past, but Emmerick caught me. Too fast.
He shifted then, giving me a split second to fall away.

His fur was darker than Don's. I listened to my lover
screaming obscenities as the big bear hovered over me, taking his
sweet time padding through the snow as I scrambled backward.

The big backpack I'd thrown off to help Don was only
inches away. The top came open in the confusion, and I hooked my hand
into it.

Emmerick was on top of me now. He sat on his haunches,
raised his front paws toward the sky. Muscles and claws flexed at
once, ready to sink into tender human flesh, and then finish off Don.

The crazy bastard was really going to do it. He was
fully prepared to bring his race one step closer to extinction.
Violently, too.

You're not getting away with this. Not ever, you
demon.

I was half a second away from a fatal swipe of his claws
when I touched the cool canister. I jerked the precious metal to my
chest and popped the spring.

The bear spray Jenn had given me hissed, hurling its
peppery contents straight into Emmerick's eyes. He let out the
familiar, terrible roar of a bear being injured, a scream that
sheared its way through the mountains like the winter wind.

Razor sharp claws pierced the snow just several inches
away. I screamed.

Then another roar buried everything, furious and
swarming around the Elder as he staggered about in pained confusion.
Don was on top of him.

Too wounded to get the leverage he needed to claw into
him, Don used his mouth instead. Emmerick scuttled backward as Don's
teeth tore into his throat, quick and unforgiving. Two bears made
sounds straight from hell as they fought to let their voices rise
over the bloody struggle.

Emmerick fell,
spreading his immense body on the snow. Don never let up, laying on
top of him, holding him down with his younger, muscular bulk.

Emmerick stopped moving before Don changed into a man
again. Now, blood stained his beautiful chest and seeped from his
wounded leg.

He rolled off the dead bear and I sat next to him,
softly weeping. M hot tears joined the blood, mingling in the snow
around us.

A few more minutes passed before new footsteps crunched
behind us. I spun, surprised to see Rufus and Alex standing there.

“
What the hell happened out here?” The older
man said, eyeing a very dead Emmerick. “Is that...oh, fuck!
Flood finally went and did it.”

The two shifters stared in dumb silence.

“
What happened!” I stood in a huff, still
gripping Don's hand. “Isn't it obvious, you idiots? Don had to
suffer and almost got killed protecting you from this traitor!”

My finger darted out, pointing at the Elder's gargantuan
furry corpse like a dagger. My blood seethed even as they scrambled
to help carry Don back to the clan.

My blood ran like lava. If anyone accused us of being
traitors after this, I wouldn't wait for Don's defense. I'd tear them
apart myself.

X: Loosening the Screws (Don
and Sam)

Don

“
I can't believe this.” Franklin shook his
head somberly, along with all the other Elders perched on their
bench.

Well, believe it, Uncle. Older isn't always wiser.
Sometime age brings downright crazy, malicious, and evil things.

“
The records don't lie.” I looked at my
three peers point blank.

It was strange, but satisfying to stare at them only
feet away, rather than across the room. My nails dug into the leather
armrest of Emmerick's old council chair. It would've been a lot more
satisfying to shift and stab my claws into it, but this would have to
do.

“
Should I tell you the rest of what we learned, or
should Sam?”

“
We'd rather hear it from someone with a bit less
vinegar in their voice.” Genevieve lowered her eyes. Her old
cheeks bristled with shame. At least her voice was calm.

Sam stood, came to the center of the room, the manila
folder clasped tight in her hand. She looked at me first and smiled.

“
Elders, I appreciate your attention.”

Ha! I wouldn't appreciate these old fools again if
they paid me all the gold in the back vault. Even if I'm one of them
now...

“
You've all had a chance to review the records I
brought from Kalispell last week. The test results don't lie. In our
cities, water gets filtered for good reason. When metals and minerals
get out of balance, people die. And that's not even beginning to
consider the germs and parasites we found.”

I swallowed hard. Until the doctor she saw in the city
told her everything was normal with the pregnancy, I feared giving
her our water had damaged Sam or the baby.

“
Everybody here finally realizes Emmerick was a
devious liar. It's nice not to feel like such an outcast about that
anymore.”

Genevieve's face soured. “I understand human
pregnancies can make women moody. But the female should take care,
and not let her hormones make her too bold.”

Sam blushed, and then nodded. She paced all the way to
one side of the room and came back to the center, gathering her
thoughts.

I watched the nascent bump in her abdomen and tried not
to smile. That was mine. All mine.

The greatest mark of my ownership, my love, was growing
from her beautiful flesh by the day.

“
Anyway,
I don't think the council understands
how
much of a liar he was.” She stopped, folded her hands behind
her back. “Never forget he wanted the entire clan extinct.”