Treasure Bear (Return to Bear Creek Book 19)

by Harmony Raines

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Free Book Offer

  Foreword

  Chapter One – Thorn

  Chapter Two – Emilia

  Chapter Three – Thorn

  Chapter Four – Emilia

  Chapter Five – Thorn

  Chapter Six – Emilia

  Chapter Seven – Thorn

  Chapter Eight – Emilia

  Chapter Nine – Thorn

  Chapter Ten – Emilia

  Chapter Eleven – Thorn

  Chapter Twelve – Emilia

  Chapter Thirteen – Thorn

  Chapter Fourteen – Emilia

  Chapter Fifteen – Thorn

  Chapter Sixteen – Emilia

  Chapter Seventeen – Thorn

  Chapter Eighteen – Emilia

  Chapter Nineteen – Thorn

  Epilogue

  Also By Harmony Raines

  Get In Touch

  Treasure Bear

  Return to Bear Creek

  (Book Nineteen)

  ***

  All rights reserved. This book, or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written consent of the author or publisher.

  This is a work of fiction and is intended for mature audiences only. All characters within are eighteen years of age or older. Names, places, businesses, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, actual events or places is purely coincidental.

  © 2018 Harmony Raines

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  Treasure Bear

  Return to Bear Creek

  (Book Nineteen)

  Dragon shifter, Emilia, has slept for hundreds of years on a bed of dragon treasure. Now she’s awake and is about to learn that the most valuable treasure is not gold or gems, but her true mate.

  Betrayed by a man who claimed to love her but who was not her true mate, Emilia has slept while the centuries slipped away. The world changed but she stayed the same, until the presence of her mate, Thorn, pulled her from her ancient slumber. With Thorn’s help, she hopes to embrace her new life.

  But will she ever be free when so many questions about her past remain unanswered?

  Thorn Manning knows dragon shifters are real. What he doesn’t expect, is for a dragon shifter to be his mate. What’s more, a dragon shifter who is from the old world.

  History is Thorn’s life. Whether reading ancient journals or finding forgotten relics, he loves bringing the past into the present for the world to enjoy. But Emilia is not something he plans to share. Ever.

  She is his and he will protect her from the past, present or future.

  Together Emilia and Thorn must unravel the secrets of what really happened centuries ago, so they can create a safe future for all dragon shifters.

  Chapter One – Thorn

  Thorn stood on four paws, his bear concealed in the shadows as the dragons passed overhead. Silent, magical, born from myth and legend. Yet here they were, real—if he trusted his senses—and he did. As a shifter, his enhanced senses had gotten him out of many scrapes as he traveled the world unearthing long-forgotten relics. He lived for the excitement of finding an object lost in time. Not for money, or fame, or fortune, but for the thrill of bringing the past into the future, so that people could appreciate their ancestors and feel a link with those who had lived before.

  The world they lived in today was born from the lives of the people of yesterday. Thorn understood that one day, they would all be the people of yesterday to the children of tomorrow. It was their duty to make the world richer, not in monetary terms, but in deeper values, like knowledge and hope. He wanted to expose people to the wonders of the past.

  But dragons! This was something else. They weren’t a stone statue or a golden goblet. They were flesh and blood. Shimmering scales and furious fire.

  Thorn was raised on stories of dragons. His distant ancestor, Peregrine Manning, had told stories of dragons as if the winged beasts really existed. These stories were passed down through the generations of Mannings. Thorn recalled them all. As a child, he’d gone to bed each night, lulled by the soft voice of his father retelling the stories his mother had told him.

  Over the centuries, Thorn’s forefathers had stopped believing in their truth and the stories had become just that, tales of make-believe. To people today, dragons were no longer real, they were spoken of as if they were myths, after all, there was no proof dragons ever walked this earth or flew across the skies.

  Young Thorn Manning had also believed them to be myths. But at fifteen, he’d discovered Peregrine Manning’s diary while searching the attic of his parents’ house. The journal was a dusty old tome filled with the often-mundane life of a rich, self-serving aristocrat. Mundane, until Peregrine “Perry” Manning met a woman from a poor family with no fortune. A woman to whom he’d lost his heart and his sanity. A woman who had a secret, if Perry’s veiled words were to be believed. Contained within his writing, scrawled with his own hand, was a secret he could not keep, yet could not tell another living soul.

  At first, Thorn had thought they were the words of a delusional man. A fantasy. But on his travels to the faraway places he’d visited to find exhibits for the museum, Thorn had discovered something that had made him return to Bear Creek and pull out the old journals and reread the passages about dragons.

  In an ancient temple, he’d found a book that read remarkably similar to the account Perry wrote in his journal. So the journey had begun, a journey to piece together the past. Each time he ventured deep into the mountains in some remote country, Thorn had searched for pieces of dragon lore, studying ancient text and pictures, until he was sure dragons were real.

  Of course, he could be as insane and deluded as Perry. But then Magnus Dumas, an artist who Perry hinted was a dragon shifter, a man who should have died centuries ago, walked into the museum asking questions about the past. Myth and legend had jumped off the page and into Thorn’s life and there was no going back. As soon as he got out of his meeting with the curator of the museum, he’d raced down to the basement and dragged the Magnus Dumas collection out into the light.

  It hadn’t taken him long to unearth the painting he needed. A self-portrait of the man himself. As Thorn uncovered the oil on canvas painting, he couldn’t help but admire the unique way Dumas had of capturing the soul of a person. And something else, as he stared at the painting he knew the final connection had been made.

  The same Magnus Dumas captured in the painting was the same man Thorn had met in the museum gallery. Impossible, some would say. But Thorn had seen enough on his travels to know nothing was truly impossible. Obsessed, Thorn had tracked Magnus, driven by a need to uncover the mystery of how he was still alive. Then, one night he’d gotten close enough to see Magnus shift into a mighty dragon. More than that, he’d seen another dragon, too, one with ruby red scales. How many more there were he couldn’t be sure; however, Thorn soon became certain the family Magnus lived with were all dragon shifters.

  His obsession would not let up. Compelled to know everything about them, Thorn worried he was slipping into the same insanity that had gripped Perry. Something drove him to follow the dragons each night, in an attempt to pull back the veil and discover their secrets.

  So here h
e was, high in the mountains outside of Bear Creek, spying on the dragon shifters and trying to figure out why they made a nightly trip to this same part of the mountains.

  Treasure. That was his first guess. Although he could not figure out why they hadn’t moved it. In a modern world, where hikers and climbers scaled these peaks for pleasure, a bank was much safer than a cave in the mountains.

  Well, if they were stupid enough to leave a dragon’s hoard in a remote cave in the mountain…

  His bear shook his head and snarled.

  Okay, we’re not thieves, Thorn assured him. I just want to see it.

  His bear stood for a moment staring after the dragons as they flew back down the mountain. When they had disappeared from sight he turned his broad head to stare into the distance to where the dragons had landed on a high peak. This was as close as his bear had been to the place the dragons visited. To begin with, they had started their reconnaissance mission much further away, with Thorn using binoculars to watch the dragons. His bear could sense other shifters and he was certain the dragons were even more sensitive to others from their winged vantage point. Getting eaten by an ancient beast was not on his bucket list.

  Slowly over the space of a week or more, they’d gotten closer and closer until they could pinpoint the exact location the dragons landed and shifted into human form. With his high-powered binoculars set on night vision, Thorn had watched Magnus and Ruby disappear inside a cave, where they stayed for several minutes or sometimes as much as half an hour. Occasionally another dragon with a rider on her back accompanied them. What did they do in there?

  Sex, his bear told him bluntly. They live with Ruby’s parents and need a little privacy.

  Thorn chuckled. You might be right. Who wouldn’t want to be alone with their mate on top of a mountain?

  Alone, except for a pervert with binoculars. His bear’s tone was as accusatory as ever. We will not steal from them. Treasure meant nothing to his animal side. When they went in search of ancient relics for the museum, his bear was more interested in the journey than the destination or rich rewards.

  I don’t intend to steal anything, Thorn reprimanded his bear. I’m not a thief, I only retrieve forgotten artifacts.

  His bear harrumphed. You want me to believe that if a dragon’s treasure contained an artifact that would make your name, you wouldn’t be tempted to steal it?

  Thorn contemplated for a moment as his bear checked that it was all clear and began the descent into the valley. Tonight was the night they were finally going to visit the cave. What he would do if they found treasure, Thorn wasn’t sure.

  Roll in it, his bear suggested.

  You’ve rolled in worse things. Thorn wrinkled his nose at the thought. Bears liked some unsavory pastimes.

  And you’ve eaten worse things. His bear had a point. When he’d first started traveling, a young and naive Thorn had sampled all the local cuisine. A bout of food poisoning in India soon taught him to ask exactly what was in each mouthful of food that passed his lips.

  They climbed down the side of the valley in the darkness, using their senses to navigate the rough terrain. An hour later, they climbed out the other side and began the journey along the narrow trail leading to the cave the dragon shifters were using each night.

  His curiosity was piqued by their behavior. Maybe it was because exploring was his thing. Give him a treasure map and tell him to find the treasure and he was happy. Perhaps it was because his family was one of the oldest in Bear Creek, but history excited him. Not the dry history found in a textbook, but the real history found in an ancient tomb or hidden in a ruined temple.

  Jogging along the trail, his excitement built. There was something here, he could feel it calling to him. The fur on his bear’s back stood on end and he shook his head, trying to figure out the cause of this new sensation. Perhaps he was gaining a sixth sense, like a radar that pinpointed treasure. That sure would save him some man-hours.

  He’d lost count of the times he’d been so close to hidden relics or treasures that he could feel the weight of them in his hands, only to spend another half a day finding a hidden entrance.

  Something is coming. His bear’s words yanked him back to reality. Time to focus.

  Who is it?

  Dragons. His bear slowed, there was something up ahead blocking the path.

  What do you mean dragons? They’re coming back? Great, that was all he needed, a standoff with Magnus Dumas and Ruby, daughter of the fiercest dragon this side of the mountain. Or maybe in the world.

  His bear stopped and looked up at the sky. I can’t see them.

  Thorn’s heart raced. One of the dragons could easily pick him up and drop him into the valley below. When he was found, the sheriff would assume he fell to his death. Clumsy bear.

  They stood still, the breeze ruffling his bear’s coat as he listened for the sound of the winged beasts. They could come from any direction. He had to be ready to fight.

  But they didn’t come. There was no sight, no sound of them. Yet his bear insisted a dragon was here, somewhere close by.

  The cave. Of course, it was obvious, the reason they came here each night was that one of their own was inside the cave. Damn, he hadn’t bargained on facing one of those flamethrowers. He’d get more than his fur singed if he tried to enter a cave filled with a treasure-protecting dragon.

  We can’t get inside the cave anyway, his bear said. Not unless we climb over these boulders.

  His bear snuffled around, picking up the fresh scent of dragon. Now his interest was more than piqued. These boulders had been put here for a reason and he sure would like to know what that reason was. What were they hiding in there?

  He shifted into his human form and took a good look at the pile of stone. At least as good as he could look considering it was a dark night. He’d chosen to come here on a dark moon, so no one would see him. But like any Boy Scout, he’d come prepared.

  Taking the pack off his back, he pulled a flashlight from a side-pocket and shone it over the rocks. It was tricky, but he could climb over the rocks, which were made to look like a natural landslide. They’d have to try a little harder to keep an adventurer out.

  Taking an LED headlamp from the pack, he eased the elastic headband over his head. Once it was securely in place, he angled the light upwards. This thing made him look like a dork, but he needed both hands free, so the light stayed on his head.

  With a grunt, he raised his foot, shod in his well-worn hiking boots, and stretched to reach the first foothold. Shifting his weight, he bounced twice then jumped, reaching for a handhold. Repeating this action, he climbed over the boulders. They were meant to discourage anyone who might hike this way from going further, but they were not enough to fend off an adventurer like Thorn. He’d dealt with much worse over the years.

  Dusty but in one piece, he straddled the highest boulder which sat at the summit of the roadblock. His breath was elevated, his heart rate, too. Unusual, he must be out of practice, even though he’d only just returned from an expedition. Shrugging it off, he scanned the area, looking for trouble. All he could sense was the dragon inside the cave.

  Thorn swiveled around and studied the wall of rock behind him. The dragon was close by, he could sense it. But as he climbed down and approached the cave entrance, he could see why it didn’t come out. The entrance was narrow, it looked as if there had been a landslide at some point in the past. Maybe the dragon was stuck inside, unable to shift. He placed his hand on the rough stone outside of the cave and leaned down to look inside, the light from his headlamp small and pitiful against so much darkness.

  The ground beneath his feet shifted. Had he imagined it? On occasion, he’d entered a booby-trapped cave or temple to retrieve an artifact or item of value that the previous occupants didn’t want to be moved. When those occupants had been dead for several centuries, Thorn figured he was doing the world a service by bringing those items into the light and letting the current population see just how imag
inative and clever their ancestors had been.

  Thorn wiped the sweat from his forehead, his palms were sweaty, too, and he glanced down at them in the darkness before wiping them on his cotton combat pants. Natural fibers all the way. His love of archeology and all things ancient had led to a deep relationship with the Earth and the need to preserve it so his children and his children’s children could still experience the thrill of the wild.

  Get on with it, his bear told him bluntly.

  He ducked down and worked his way along the tunnel, the light of his lamp small and insignificant, especially when the tunnel ended, and he entered a large cavern. Thorn stood up, the hairs on the back of his head prickling like a case of poison ivy. Something was wrong. Something was here.

  A freakin’ dragon, his bear reminded him. Remember?

  It’s not that, it’s something else, Thorn replied, rubbing the back of his neck. He’d relied on his intuition enough to trust it. Right now, his intuition should be telling him to run from the dragon hidden in these caves, but instead, it was telling him to find it. And find it now.

  So, when he stepped forward slowly, and his headlight shone directly onto a large pile of treasure, he didn’t even think of stopping. Really, how out of character was that?

  A rumble filled the cavern, the ground beneath his feet shook, and a roar echoed through a tunnel at the rear of the cave. That was where he had to go. That was where she was.

  She? What she?

  He skirted the treasure, not even tempted to put one single gold coin in his pocket. Something far more valuable was waiting for him. He slowed, self-preservation battling with his need to enter the tunnel and find what was on the other side.

  Thorn paused and ducked his head to look along the low tunnel leading to the next cave. A flicker of movement and a roar reached him before the whole cave lit up with a red glow.

  “I guess I’ve found my dragon.” Thorn shivered with anticipation. Not fear. He was a brave, fearless adventurer, the same blood as Indiana Jones threaded its way through his veins. He lived for danger and adventure.