Bearly Christmas

by Becca Fanning

  But it was different. Wyatt wasn’t Conrad no matter what else he was. Surely she could give him a chance. Jess vowed to think about it later, after ending Conrad. Then she’d be able to think.

  And then they heard it: the howl. It began with one voice and rose to a crescendo of hundreds of howls.

  “It’s time,” Wyatt said and stood up.

  It had been a tense couple of hours. Dealing with Wyatt’s revelation had simply added to the turmoil in her head. She was planning murder. Wondering what Wyatt would be like in bed. Surely she should be at least a little concerned that she wanted to kill Conrad. That would at least make her a good person, but right now she wanted to be free, at any cost. Even your soul? He was still a person, no matter how horrible.

  So when the howl went up, Jess shuddered but took the rifle in hand and moved to the entrance hall. Conrad would come for her, everyone knew it. So she would wait in the house where the light was best and Wyatt and the others would be outside. Only Old Charlie would be inside with her. But she had silver bullets. All it would take was one to seriously hurt the little shit. She had no idea if she would actually be able to kill him, but hurt him a lot, now that was something her conscience could handle.

  Wyatt glanced at her. She held his gaze. What passed between them was mostly longing and a fair amount of fear. Then he ducked out of the front door.

  Charlie sighed at her. “You know he’s willing to die for you,” he said to her.

  She didn’t reply.

  “Yup, that boy will hurt tonight, for you. I hope you appreciate it.”

  “Charlie,” she said, but it came out as a wail.

  “No you pull yourself together. And when it’s all over if we’re still breathing, you decide if you love him. He doesn’t deserve any games you might decide to play with him. You been hurt, so what? Who hasn’t? Just ‘cos he’s a bear, doesn’t mean he’s a bad man. I’ve known this boy’s whole family. They are good people. I don’t know you, but you seem like good people too and it’s sad when two good people let other, stupid things get in the way.”

  He took a breath, “That’s all I gotta say.” He marched up the steps and was gone.

  Jess stood in the front hall and shook. She was a mess and the more she tried to pull herself together the more she fell apart.

  Noises began outside, howls and growls, grunts and roars. Then all hell broke loose. She twitched the curtains aside and just about screamed as a wolf soared through the air right at her. She cowered expecting a crash of window glass, but it never came. A bear, a huge black one, swatted it out of the air. All around the house wolves and bears fought. The wolves were quick, nimble and agile. But what the bears lacked in speed they made up in sheer power.

  A bear caught a wolf and with a great paw twisted its neck until it broke. The creature hung limp in the bear’s claws until it was flung at an oncoming wolf. She could see so little and hear so much. The battle raged around her. All she could see were the moments when the security lights caught them in their mad fight for what, her freedom?

  “Oh, God, I’m so selfish,” she said and flung the door open, stepping outside. “I’m here, Conrad, you spineless little maggot! Come and get me!”

  A wolf stepped out of the darkness. It was grey and snarling. Somehow Jess knew it was him. It stood in front of her, blood dripping from its maw. Then it padded up to her and stood growling. She raised the gun and sighted down the barrel. Could she pull the trigger? Could she end him?

  The moment hung, as though some celestial being had momentarily pushed pause. She felt the world turn, saw herself pulling the trigger, sighting right between his eyes. She saw Conrad fall to the ground as a wolf and lie there dying as a naked man, his pale skin shining in the moonlight.

  And then time came back. Conrad pounced and Jess squeezed her finger on the trigger. The shot went wide and disappeared into the dark. Now she was running, through the house, out the back door and down into the garden. It was a mad dash, she had no plan. Thoughts fell like loose ribbons from her head. This was primal fear, this was what it had felt like back before fire, before the world was tamed. He was on her heels, could easily have run her down. But this was far more fun, watching her dash blindly through the grass.

  Suddenly, something growled. Something else grunted and she felt Conrad disappear from behind her. A big bear with brown fur rose up in the grass. He and Conrad faced each other, circling. This wasn’t about Jess any more, she could somehow feel it. This was about bear versus wolf. This was a showdown years in the making. It was about blood.

  Conrad made a faint at Wyatt, but Wyatt was watching his eyes. They growled and grunted at each other, while Jess stood on the sidelines helplessly. And then they moved. She didn’t see who moved first. It was all a blur of fur and blood and sweat. The battle was fierce, so horrible. The violence from it radiated outward. This was no longer two people fighting, this was a bear and a wolf and it would end in death.

  She couldn’t take it. They ripped and tore at each other. Gashes forming in both coats. Jess, feeling more helpless and insignificant than ever, stood on the sidelines and screamed.

  Eventually she sat in the grass, hands over her ears, rocking to and fro staring into the darkness until a gentle hand landed on her shoulder. She started in fright and turned to see Wyatt. Blood dripped from wounds all over his body. He was a mess.

  She flung her arms around his neck and clung to him. “Are you okay? Are you okay?”

  “Yes,” he said. “We heal quickly. By tomorrow there won’t even be a scratch.”

  She begrudgingly let go of him and a gleam of pale flesh caught her eye in the blood soaked grass.

  “Is he..?”

  Wyatt’s golden eyes were sad. “No,” he said. “But he won’t bother you again. If he knows what’s good for him.”

  Wyatt leaned heavily on Jess as the two of them slowly walked back towards the house. She had the rifle in her free hand and it felt like a lead weight. As they walked passed the crumpled form of Conrad lying in the grass she saw that he was a misshapen mess. Caught somewhere between human and wolf, bits of fur and skin mingled on oddly shaped body parts. His breath came in ragged bursts. There was a lot of blood. She turned away from him and looked at Wyatt who was watching her with concern. She smiled at him and in his golden eyes saw movement.

  On instinct, the rifle came up as she spun around. Pushing Wyatt away, she cocked the weapon and fired. The silver bullet ripped through the leaping creature. It dropped to the ground with a wet thump.

  Conrad was dead.

  The sun was warm on her skin as branches waved gently over her head. She lay back on the blanket and stared up at the canopy of green above her. Wyatt shifted next to her and poured more red wine into her glass.

  “This is really beautiful,” Jess said.

  “It’s my secret spot,” he said with a tone of mystery in his voice. “I come here to think, I find the waterfall to be especially conducive to clear thought.”

  “You rehearsed that little speech didn’t you?”

  “Maybe a little, especially them big words,” he pulled a goofy face and she laughed.

  “Well sir, you have outdone yourself,” she said. “The setting, the food, which is all gone I see, and the wine…”

  “Still plenty of that,” Wyatt said pouring more into his glass too.

  They lay down together then and laughed and spoke, their fingers intertwined. All the while the birds sang overhead and the waterfall, just a small one, trickled over the rocks into a mossy pool.

  After a while Jess stood up.

  “Where are you going?” Wyatt asked.

  “For a swim of course,” she said and winked at him. They had been so chaste since the fight, never more than a kiss. Jess’s skin was crawling with urges, and if this was going to be another of those afternoons that drove her wild with unfulfilled desire, well the cold water looked terribly inviting.

  So she stripped her sundress off, left her bra and panties
on a rock and waded into the water. It was deliciously cool and sweet. Suddenly he was behind her. She could feel the warmth radiating off him.

  She tried to turn around and say, “So you decided…” but it ended in a gasp, as Wyatt pulled her backwards against him hard, sliding one hand down her belly and between her thighs, working his fingers furiously. The other hand went up to cup her right breast. Squeezing it gently, pinching her nipple. Then his mouth closed on her neck, nibbling and kissing her gently. He began to suck and lick her ear lobe, sending sensations to her lower abdomen that made her want to grab him with both hands and devour him completely. She writhed in his grasp and broke free. Turning, she grinned at him.

  Her lips parted hungrily as she looked at him. He was so gorgeous with water trickling down his chest, to his washboard stomach. She ran a hand from his collarbone down over his pec, along his stomach and then, pulling herself against him, round his back. He laced his fingers in her hair then, his mouth coming down on hers.

  At first the kiss was gentle, tentative and then as the desire built in both of them, it became more urgent. The taste of wine and passion burning in their mouths. Jess could feel his hard muscles against her and the throb of him as he grew. She could feel the fluttering of her own stomach as he reached down and picking her up carried her out of the water.

  She felt the blanket beneath her and Wyatt above. He kissed her lips, her neck, her breasts, then slid his tongue down her belly and thighs. Then sliding a finger into her he began to work her to a frenzy with his tongue doing things that Jess had to admit were exceptionally yummy. She had never felt like this before. No one had ever taken the time to find every single sweet spot she had. But he was. Wyatt was consuming her heart and mind and body. And she was loving every spine tingling second of it.

  Eventually, she couldn’t take it anymore and pulled his mouth up to hers. The kiss was furtive, long and deep. As though they were both searching for more pleasure in the taste of each other. Jess wanted him inside her in the worst possible way. She reached down for him and grabbed him, working him gently but firmly, feeling him grow even more in her grasp. Then she pushed him over and climbed on top of him, taking him in her mouth. Swallowing as much of him as she could. His groans filled her ears and suddenly he was sitting up, pulling her mouth off him, taking her in his arms and lifting her easily onto his lap.

  As he slid inside her, Jess gasped and moaned. This was it. This was love. It was the most wonderful feeling, like she was home and safe. They began to move together, riding the beast as one. Each thrust bringing them closer and closer together until Jess didn’t know where she ended and Wyatt began.

  They rose and fell until fireworks went off behind Jess’s eyes. She had never felt a rush like that before. But Wyatt didn’t stop, he flipped her over onto all fours and took her firmly from behind, kissing her back and neck. Jess felt all new urges, as he then pulled out and sat back as erect as ever. She kissed him then, taking him in her mouth again. Sucking, licking, trying to draw the pleasure out of him. He moaned and whispered things to her, how much he loved her, how much he wanted her again and again.

  She climbed onto him, running her nails down his chest, feeling him enter her again and this time she had more control, more time to play with. She squeezed him inside her, drawing moan after gasp from him, until he lifted her off his lap and slammed her on to her back on the blanket, taking her breath away.

  It was a bit rough, animalistic. She didn’t care. His hunger, his desire filled her and they writhed, and moaned together as the sun slid behind the trees and the world turned. Wyatt licked her neck, gently biting her nipples as he massaged her breasts. She reached up and ran her fingers through his hair, delighting in every rock hard inch of him.

  He thrust harder and harder, his breath coming in gasps and groans. Wyatt began to moan and Jess found that she was moaning too, the air forced from her lungs in puffs. Together they found a rhythm, a steady pace, and as their desire rose, they clung to each other, moving in unison. Jess buried her face in his neck, breathing him in, licking him and tasting him. Then she felt him shudder, felt the warmth as he filled her with his love, and in that moment a miracle occurred. Never before had Jess seen the fireworks more than once in an encounter. Never had anyone taken her to these heights, to such pleasure. Her throat opened, the pleasure and release filled her and escaped through her lungs as she roared her happiness to the world in a primal scream.

  Wyatt held her then, breathing heavily, his face buried in her hair. She clung to him, aware of her own heaving breaths, and when her heart rate slowed she kissed him. Again and again and again.

  They lay together under a dimming sky as the stars began to come out and dance across the veil of the heavens. Jess didn’t know what the future held, but she was quite certain that Wyatt would be in it with her.

  Saddled Bearback

  Bear Ranchers Book II

  by

  Becca Fanning

  Three Months Ago.

  It was raining on his body. The drops that should have felt cold against his skin felt oddly warm as they slid over and he realized with sudden horror, into him. This couldn’t be happening. It couldn’t be real. Not now. Not while he had so much life left in him.

  Andrew tried to sit up, tried to move and put the bits back in that were now lying out. They shouldn’t be out in the rain, they’ll spoil, he thought and then realized how ridiculous that was. He was dying, his guts were spilling onto the ground and the early morning thunderstorm was washing it all away.

  He heard his mother’s voice. She was pleading, crying. Her face appeared above his for a moment, tear stained and with muddy streaks. He wanted to tell her it was okay, he couldn’t feel a thing, not a thing. But she was screaming, a high pitched terror scream that went on far too long. Andrew wanted her to go away. This was his last moment, surely the noise was unnecessary.

  Something wet and heavy landed next to him. Andrew turned his head slowly. It weighed more than an SUV packed full of elephants. His eyes were going dim, the image of the world he had lived in for twenty-nine years fading from view from the outside inwards. It was only an illusion anyway. But he saw her there, lying in the grass, her lovely green eyes staring at him in panic and horror. Then a paw with long sharp claws came down on the side of her head. He heard the crack of her skull and closed his eyes. They would go on together. It felt good to know that she would meet him in a few seconds in the other place, and all this silliness would become someone else’s problem.

  For the briefest second Andrew felt concern for his sister, it would all fall to Jamie now. Oh well she was a big girl, she’d handle it.

  And with the resignation of the dying, Andrew slipped away.

  The giant beast, it’s muzzle covered with blood, licked its lips and padded away while the rain fell cleaning up the mess.

  Jamie watched the rain falling in a steady stream. It was unusual. Colorado generally didn’t have many days that began and ended with constant, unrelenting rain. But this was one of those days. Her thoughts turned to her mother then. Joslyn had been a wonderful woman, tall with fiery red hair, green eyes like the grass of late summer and skin that freckled in the sun. She had loved the rain.

  “It’s really pouring out,” her father said. He was a big man, tall and broad shouldered with grey hair and hazel eyes. His skin was tanned golden brown and he placed a gentle hand on his daughter’s shoulder as he leaned down to peer out at the grey day.

  “Not a good day for farming, but at least it gives us a bit of a break,” he said and chuckled. “And I have the new cowhand starting today.”

  “I can take him round if you like?” Jamie offered. She was sitting on a window seat with her legs tucked up under her, a cup of coffee cooling on the window sill. “Let him get the lay of the land.”