Stone Bear: Guardian (A BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance) (Stone Bears Book 3)

by Amelia Jade

  She wasn’t sure in the darkness, but she thought he smiled. “I’ve done a lot of training to get to this point. But to answer your question, no, I’m not. I’m a shifter.”

  Teeth clenched, she growled at him, obviously not having meant her question in that way.

  “How much farther?” she asked as they crested the top of the slope.

  “We’re here, actually,” he replied.

  She looked around in surprise. He was right. They were there. The burbling sound of the river had been replaced by the roar of the rushing torrent of water. The river had almost swelled over its banks by the rainfall.

  While she paused to catch her breath, Raphael jogged ahead, pulling branches aside to unveil a green, brown, and grey-colored kayak. A set of paddles was lodged inside. He tugged it free of its concealment and with one hand carried it down toward the water’s edge.

  “Shit,” she said aloud.

  “What?” Raphael had dropped the kayak and was staring into the forest behind her, searching for a threat.

  “Nothing,” she replied. “I just realized we have to take our chances with that.” Her finger pointed at the frothing water that surged past them at a fast clip.

  A flash of lightning followed swiftly by a loud boom of thunder washed over them. Raphael was no longer looking at her, but beyond her. Turning, Karlie realized they could see much of the forest, and in the distance the compound itself was visible, highlighted by lights.

  The power was back, it seemed. Even as she watched, several lights raced away from it in the general direction of the pair of escapees.

  “Okay, the river it is,” she said, joining him at the river.

  Carefully they climbed inside, and with one strong push from the rear seat, Raphael set them adrift. The current quickly picked them up, their speed increasing rapidly as they shot along the river, bobbing wildly in the thrashing water.

  Although the ride was anything but smooth, Karlie found her attention beginning to drift as the adrenaline from her escape began to wear off. Her eyelids began to droop, and she felt her head drop. Sleep sounded so good right then.

  The kayak bumped hard against something, making a terrible grinding sound.

  Chapter Five

  Raphael

  He cursed at the same time Karlie cried out in surprise.

  “Rocks!” he shouted over the din of the storm. “Keep your eye out for rocks!”

  “I’ll try!” she replied, and moments later she shouted back. “Go left!”

  Frantically he dipped his paddle hard onto the left side, holding it still, fighting the pull of the current. Slowly at first, but picking up speed, the nose of the kayak swung to the left and they eased around a rock jutting from the water by the barest of margins.

  He frowned at how close they had come to hitting it.

  “Right! Right!” she yelped from up front, and he reversed his stroke, pulling their course back to the right.

  This time the bottom grazed the rock, though nowhere near as bad as the first time. He was honestly surprised the bottom of their escape vehicle wasn’t flooding with water. That first rock had to have done some serious damage to their hull.

  “I need more notice!” His voice cut through the roar with ease.

  “I’m working on it!” she shouted back. “Right!”

  They moved to the right once again.

  A large outcropping of rock whipped by just to his left, so close that he instinctively yanked his head back.

  This was not going the way he had planned. While the storm had provided unexpected cover for his rescue attempt, Raphael hadn’t been ready to move quite so quickly. More planning and preparation was needed, as well as learning the layout and schedules of the guards. But when he had seen the lights across the entire compound go out at once, he’d known he had to act.

  As they narrowly missed yet another rock, he wondered if perhaps he’d been a bit hasty in his planning. For whatever reason, Karlie was having a hard time seeing the rocks. He could understand she was likely rattled to the bone at the unexpected evening activity. She had almost passed out before they hit the rapids. A frown creased his face as another unexpected kink hit his plan.

  They were going to have to stop soon. The storm was getting worse by the minute, and sooner or later their luck was going to run out and the kayak would hit something and send it to the bottom. That would end their chances of outrunning the guards.

  Vincent. The boss’s name was Vincent. Karlie hadn’t dismissed him out of hand, meaning he was likely at least semi-professional. As were the guards he had with him. Raphael swore. Yet another thing he hadn’t had time to assess: the number of guards Vincent had at his command.

  “Karlie,” he shouted, getting her attention as the river calmed in front of them slightly.

  “What?”

  “How many guards are there?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t know. Left!”

  “Shit!” He dug in hard, pulling the nose to the left. “How many?” he repeated.

  “There were sixteen. But that’s changed.”

  There was something in her voice…

  “And why did it change?” he asked, not sure he wanted to hear the answer.

  “There was an escape attempt two days ago. He brought in more guards after that. I don’t know how many!”

  Around them, the storm seemed to breaking. The rain slowed, as did the wind. The water was still moving fast and furious, but some of the excess spray and chop was subsiding slightly. Raphael took a moment to hope that it would continue.

  “Who tried to escape?” he asked sharply. Had there been someone else there, someone he had left behind? Why hadn’t Karlie mentioned them earlier?

  “Uh, I did,” she said, embarrassed.

  The sheepish way she admitted to her escapade struck a chord with Raphael, and he began to chuckle. He liked her; she had spirit. He tried to ignore the fact that his rescue attempt might not succeed either. With Vincent now being forewarned, who knows what extra layers of security he may have implemented?

  “Are you laughing at me?” she demanded, half-twisting in her seat.

  “Pay attention!” he shouted, but it was too late.

  The kayak veered sharply as its nose collided with something immovable, spilling the pair into the cold, turbulent water.

  ***

  “I’m sorry,” Karlie said as he dragged the kayak from the water. She was standing on the shore of the river, arms wrapped tightly around herself.

  She was looking rather bedraggled, her hair plastered to her head, clothes hanging limply from her—and if he didn’t miss his guess—she was beginning to shiver as well. Pulling the Kayak farther up the bank until it would be safe from any increase in the river due to the weather, he opened the waterproof sack tied to the plastic vessel.

  “Come here,” he said, pulling out a heat-insulating tarp and handing it to her. “Wrap yourself up in it. Keep it between you and the ground as well.”

  She nodded slowly, her shaking hand causing the material to crinkle as she grabbed onto it.

  He frowned. She clearly wasn’t dealing with the cold very well at all. Had they been underfeeding her? Was she weaker than she looked? Something odd was going on, but he wasn’t sure what it was. Asking her now wouldn’t be the most prudent thing, he decided. If she got defensive about telling him anything, it could make the rest of their trip that much harder.

  Watching her as she wrapped herself up in the tarp and slouched back against a rock, he suddenly felt bad for her. She must be terribly embarrassed right now. Here I come, breaking her free from her prison, and she screws up, dumping us in the drink. Keeping a smile from his face was harder than he expected. His cheeks twitched slightly as he fought it down.

  Bare feet smushed through the wet sand as he moved next to her, sitting down beside her.

  “Open up,” he urged, helping her unwrap the silvery material until he could move in next to her. Then he wrapped it back around them.<
br />
  “What are you doing?” Her lips were looking slightly bluish and her teeth chattered as she forced the words out.

  “Helping,” he said, putting his arm around her and holding her close.

  He barely felt the cold, knowing his own body was putting off far more heat than he needed. At first she sat rigidly next to him, but as the inside of their little bundle began to warm she relaxed, curling herself closer.

  All of a sudden he became aware of the sudden proximity of a beautiful woman, cuddled up in his arms. Her skin was pressed against his in places, and where it touched he felt a tingling sensation. Fighting to maintain control of his body and not making any rash decisions, Raphael simply stayed still, letting Karlie siphon his body heat until her shivering subsided.

  “Who are you?” she asked, her voice quiet but intent.

  He raised an eyebrow at her. She had seemed to be on her way to sleep, but now she wanted to know who he was? Raphael shrugged. He owed her that much anyway, and if it kept her closer to him for a bit longer, all the better.

  “My name is Raphael,” he began.

  “What’s your last name?”

  He paused, a grimace on his face. “I don’t have one,” he answered truthfully. “I was rescued as a child. I have no real memory of my mother or father. I was an orphan as far as I can tell.” Raphael looked around, painful memories burbling to the surface as he spoke.

  I’m sorry,” she said, placing a hand on his chest to comfort him.

  “It’s okay. It wasn’t the most pleasant time of my life, but it certainly led to something great. I was adopted by a pair of gryphon shifters.”

  “Oh, I think I know them,” she said. “They run the place Ferro lives, right?”

  He shrugged his shoulders. “Sort of. They actually run a company called Lionshead Mining Consortium,” he corrected her gently. “It owns much of Genesis Valley, where I come from and where Ferro lives, yes, but there is a town with its own civil government as well.”

  Karlie nodded in understanding, her head moving slightly against him as she did, emphasizing their proximity to each other. “I remember now. Mark and Violet, or something, right?”

  Raphael couldn’t help himself. He laughed. In an effort not to make too much noise he kept his normal booming laughter contained, but he couldn’t stop his shoulders from shaking.

  “What? What’s so funny?” she asked, sitting up slightly, pulling away from him.

  “Violet,” he chuckled, forcing himself to calm down. “Now that’s a good one. I’ll have to let him know about that.”

  She was looking at him confused now.

  “Their names are actually Marcus and Valen,” he said with a smile.

  Karlie made a sound from next to him as he supplied the real names of the gryphon brothers.

  Raphael frowned, his head turning slowly to stare at her. Even in the dim light he could see her cheeks flushing rapidly.

  “Did you just…snort?” he asked in disbelief.

  Karlie shook her head rapidly. “No?” she said in a small, terrified voice.

  “Liar,” he said softly, pulling her back into him again. She didn’t resist, but the tension between the two of them seemed to click up another notch, the ease with which they interacted making them both aware of each other in a way they hadn’t been before.

  “So, Raphael of Genesis Valley. How did you get tapped to come rescue me all by your lonesome?”

  She was teasing him about his lone ranger attitude, but at the same time it was obvious she wanted to know. Why him?

  Raphael wished he had an answer to that last. Even now, having broken her free and in the midst of attempting to escape, he still hadn’t figured out what caused him to stand up and volunteer for this mission. He just…had.

  “Well,” he began, stalling as he tried to figure out a way to politely explain everything that had happened. “Umm, with you here and under Luthor’s—err, your father’s—‘protection,’” he corrected.

  “I know my father was up to no good,” she said.

  Raphael sighed as she let him off the hook while he stumbled around trying not to step on her toes.

  “Basically,” he agreed. “He wanted to do some pretty bad things, including killing a whole lot of people that didn’t deserve it. We tried to stop him, but if Ferro hadn’t gotten involved, we would never have stood a chance. Not against a dragon shifter. So I guess after he did join our side, I felt like I owed him. A lot. When he said he couldn’t come get you himself, I could see how much it hurt him to admit that, so I told him I would do it.”

  Karlie sat up, looking at him both in surprise and consternation. “Wait. Grandfather actually chose a side? And is he okay? Why couldn’t he come after me? Is he…I mean, my father didn’t…did he?”

  She was tense, and though he wanted to pull her close and comfort her, Raphael knew she deserved to hear the truth.

  “He did get involved, at the very end. Said that despite what might happen to you, he knew you would approve of him doing the right thing. He went toe to toe with your father, and…”

  “He killed him, didn’t he?” Karlie said, her voice oddly calm.

  Raphael paused.

  “Don’t lie to me,” she said firmly, her eyes flashing as they met his.

  He nodded. “Luthor gave him no choice. He had to, or else we would all be dead.”

  Karlie looked thoughtful as she digested that information. “Why couldn’t grandfather come himself?” she asked, her voice thick with emotion.

  Oh how he ached to hold her. To pull her tight to him and whisper in her ear that it would be okay. To stroke her hair and remind her that not all was lost, despite the way something like this could tear a family apart. But something told him she was stronger than that, and he needed to let her deal with it on her own. In the meantime, all he could do was answer her questions.

  “Nobody has heard from the Dragon Council in months,” he replied slowly. “Nothing.”

  She nodded as understanding hit her. “And grandfather is the only one who can find them.”

  “Exactly,” he said. “Otherwise I’m sure Ferro would have torn this place apart to save you.”

  “And instead I get you,” she teased, some of her former life returning to her. At the same time, she leaned back into him. As if by some unseen sign, all her energy seemed to depart at once.

  Raphael had no doubt it would be a long time before she truly reconciled the fact that her father was dead, but for now, she seemed to be coping fairly well. There’s more of her grandfather in her than it might seem.

  “Yep, little old me,” he replied, allowing a smile to play across his face.

  “Thank you,” she said sleepily, nuzzling her head firmly on his raised knees and using them as a pillow.

  Raphael forced the lump in his throat down, trying his best to remain completely still so that he didn’t disturb Karlie as she fell into dreamland. A few minutes later the slow methodical rise and fall of her shoulders told him she was fast asleep.

  Without meaning to, he rested his lips on the top of her head, giving her a soft kiss.

  “Sleep tight,” he whispered, sitting back against the rock that sheltered them from the worst of the winds.

  He would keep watch for the night. In the morning they could resume their journey.

  ***

  “Time to go,” he whispered, shaking her gently.

  “Wha?” she replied sleepily.

  “I can hear an engine of some sort to the southwest of us,” he said, repeating it a second time as she looked at him with confusion. “They’re getting closer. We need to move. Now.”

  That got her attention, and they swiftly broke their little camp. Raphael didn’t have much to eat besides a stash of protein bars, but once they were in the kayak and heading back downriver, he broke one out and handed it to her.

  “Thank you,” she said as she chewed furiously.

  “Hope you like them,” he said dryly. “It’s all we have
for a bit. The rest of our food went overboard last night.”

  In front of him her head dropped slightly. “I’m sorry,” she said.

  “It’s okay,” he replied, letting some lightness enter his voice. “Seriously, it is.”

  He meant it. Despite a few deep gouges in the bottom of the hull, the kayak had never been punctured and was therefore still usable. The river itself, while still fast moving, was a shadow of its former self. Clouds covered the sky, keeping the light to a minimum even as the sun began to break over the horizon ahead of them. As they maneuvered themselves out into the middle of the river, the current grabbed the light boat and shot them forward. There were fewer rocks now, and those that they did come across Karlie called out well in advance.

  Without much chatter they swiftly zipped down the river, leaving the sound—whether a truck, ATV or boat he wasn’t entirely sure—far in the distance.

  “Problem,” Karlie said, moments before the boat grated across the ground.

  It wasn’t the harsh grinding of plastic on rock, but more the soft hush of the boat hitting sand. They had been making good time for several hours, but now it seemed they had another obstacle to overcome.

  “Time to go overland for a bit I guess,” he said as they disembarked, taking a look around. The river had widened considerably, but the flow hadn’t increased to keep up with it, meaning that the area in front of them was too shallow for them to cross. The kayak didn’t even draw a foot or so of water, even with the both of them in it. In some places the water might have been that deep, but in much of the river ahead it was shallower.

  “Just how I imagined spending my day,” she told him sarcastically. “I was just getting ready to start tanning as well.”

  He shook his head, impressed with her spirit after everything they had been through in the past twelve hours or so. More importantly though, after everything she’d endured for the past nine months and change. For her to be so buoyant after that long spoke volumes for her inner strength.

  “You have the pack,” he said, untying it. “And the paddles.” He scooped them up and tossed them toward her. She snagged the pack with one arm, flinging it over a shoulder before tucking the two sets of paddles under her other.