by Jessica Ryan
“Are you okay?” Rain asked, cocking one eyebrow.
“I’m relieved,” he said, groaning as he tried to sit up. “I was afraid my legs would be a mess and I’d be crippled.”
“You heal fast, don’t you?” she asked. “All shifters do.”
“You answered your own question,” he said, smiling. His eyes narrowed and he turned to business as he pointed at the cabin door. “Inside the cabin you’ll find a first aid kit with bandages and antibiotic cream inside it. It’s under the kitchen sink.”
Rain didn’t say anything; she just sprang into action, running inside to grab the first aid kit. He looked up as she appeared in the doorway, holding the kit.
“Well, come on!” he hollered. “We don’t have any time to waste.”
Her eyes were wide and her hands were shaking. Something was very wrong.
“Do you smell that?” she asked.
Beorn sniffed the air, catching the faintest scent of something that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up—wolves. They weren’t close, but they were coming, and coming sooner rather than later. They had no time to waste.
“Hurry!” Beorn called. “Bandage me up and let’s go!”
His booming voice seemed to break the funk that Rain was in. She shook her head and blinked several times before rushing forward, pulling the roll of bandages out as she went. The antibiotic cream would help and he would be able to stand with the bandages stopping the bleeding, but he didn’t know how effective he would be in a straight fight.
Chapter 21
Rain knew they weren’t close, but they were closing in with each passing moment. Her hands frantically worked the cap on the antibiotic cream, spreading it over the wounds on Beorn’s legs. As she did so he threw his head back and hollered, feeling the sting of healing. After getting the cream on she grabbed the bandages and began to quickly wrap his legs in them. She tried to get them tight enough to prevent any further bleeding, but she didn’t want to cut off circulation.
It was a rush job, but it was good enough for the time being. When she was finished she stood up, looking down at the massive, naked body of her new mate. She had to admit he was simply ravishing. His chest was broad and defined, with just enough hair to make him look rugged but not so much that he looked like a slob. His arms were thick and powerful, without much difference in size between his upper arm and forearms. His wrists were so large she wondered if she could ever buy him a watch.
It was a funny thought to have at this moment, but the thought of a future with Beorn calmed her frayed nerves and forced some clarity into her brain. They could very well die today, but they wouldn’t go down without a fight.
Beorn rose to his feet, nearly stumbling backwards as he tried to work the stiffness out of his legs. After a few moments of stretching and kicking he smiled and puffed out his chest. “They’re already healing. It’s good to be a bear.”
“Well, it’s better to be a living bear,” she said. “We have to go.”
“Hell, no,” Beorn said, walking towards his cabin. “I’m not running anymore.”
“You’re what?” she asked. “Are you crazy? Who knows how many members of the Oakdale pack there are coming. That’s a pretty strong scent for how far away they are! There could be two dozen of them!”
“I’m hoping there’s more than that,” Beorn said, walking to the door of his cabin.
Rain’s jaw dropped as he fisted his cock in one hand and turned his back to her. What the hell was he doing? Was he really thinking about sex at a time like this? Her mind had wandered, but quickly returned to the task at hand.
As she watched Beorn from behind, a strong, pungent odor hit her nose. At the same time she noticed a stream of piss falling between Beorn’s legs. He was marking the cabin with his scent.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Marking,” he answered as he began to work his way down the side of the cabin, marking the whole way.
“I can see that,” she said. “Why?”
“To attract the wolves.”
“Are you insane?”
“Nope,” he said. “Just smart.”
After he finished, Beorn turned back to her and smiled. “Trust me.”
Rain threw her hands up in the air and decided to help. Whatever he was doing, it was obvious he had a plan. “So what now?”
Beorn ignored her and disappeared into the shed behind his house. He emerged a few minutes later carrying two large black canisters.
“What’s in those?”
“Deer piss.”
“What?”
“We’re going to mask our odor with this.”
“Where did you get that?”
“At a human hunting store in Cedarville,” he said matter-of-factly. “Stand still while I spray you.”
Rain closed her eyes and stood silently, waiting for Beorn to complete his task. The smell was nauseating, enough to make her vomit, but she held it in. Meanwhile her wolf was growling and gnashing, wanting to find the source of the deer smell. Her stomach growled and she realized she hadn’t eaten yet at all and her wolf would greatly appreciate a meal. The scent of the deer was too much to overcome for her wolf.
“Now spray me,” he said.
Rain took the other canister and emptied it all over her massive mate. She hoped there was enough to completely cover him and block out his pungent odor, but she figured he’d already thought of that. It was obvious he was wanting to lure the wolves to his cabin, but he hadn’t revealed to her yet why.
After the canister had been emptied Beorn smiled and walked into the cabin, leaving Rain standing outside alone. She quickly followed, still in the dark about his plan. As she walked through the door she opened her mouth to ask, but she was immediately hit with a pair of underwear.
As she coughed and pulled it away from her face she realized it was her own blue satin thong. Beorn tossed the rest of her clothes at her before disappearing into the bedroom. Taking the hint, she quickly pulled her clothes on. A few seconds later Beorn emerged from his bedroom, wearing a pair of jeans and a tight Harley Davidson t-shirt. He looked absolutely delicious in the tight clothes.
She could feel her excitement pooling in her groin as the insides of her legs got slick from looking at her man. But her wolf was having none of it. Beorn smelled like a deer and she did not approve of that.
Focus, Rain, she thought. We can’t have your arousal on the wind.
She closed her eyes and tried to think the unsexiest thoughts she could. Immediately Eva flew into her mind, but she found that was doing no good. Eva was hot and Rain couldn’t deny it. She kept searching for something, anything that was unsexy. Gradually a strange image of Rowan, wearing nothing but cut-off jean shorts, and Aster, dressed the same, entered her mind. They were cleaning her car together while “Cherry Pie” played in the background. Playfully Aster chased Rowan around the car, throwing soap at him while Rowan laughed gleefully and sprayed him with the hose.
Her eyes flew open and she shuddered, feeling her arousal completely gone. What a horrific thought her brain had just come up with.
“What is that?” she asked as Beorn tossed a large pack down on the ground. He smiled and squatted down, unzipping it to pull out a hunting rifle.
“A gun?” Rain asked. “You’re using a fucking gun?”
“My cover against humans is being a crazy old survivalist in the woods,” Beorn said, slinging the rifle over one shoulder. “That doesn’t mean some of it hasn’t rubbed off.”
“So you have weapons out here?” she asked.
“More than weapons,” he said, reaching into the bag and pulling out a handgun. Rain didn’t know anything about guns and she couldn’t begin to figure out what kind of gun it was, but Beorn faked throwing it to her before actually tossing it into her hands.
It was a heavy, black gun that felt just right in her hands. She held it up, tryi
ng to figure out exactly how she would shoot it. There was something empowering about having the power to deal death in the palm of her hand. Then again she was always empowered because just existing made her a powerful killing machine.
“Hold it with two hands,” Beorn said. “Just steady it, point it at what you want to shoot and pull the trigger.”
“If it was that simple, everyone would be an expert marksman,” she said.
“That’s true, but if they’re close enough you can’t miss.”
“So why are you trying to lure them to the cabin? Are we going to hide out in here and shoot anyone that comes through the door?”
“Oh, no,” Beorn said, laughing. “We’re going to do a lot more than that.”
Rain took a deep breath and smiled weakly. There was something about the look on Beorn’s face, something about the gleam in his eye that made her uncomfortable. He was like a predator smiling as its prey unwittingly walked right into its trap.
“Beorn,” she said, taking a deep breath. “What are you going to do? Please tell me.”
“You really want to know the truth?” he asked. “This place is wired with explosives.”
“What?” Rain jumped in place and then started for the door. She did not want to be in this place anymore, not at all.
“Calm down,” he said. “They’re not going to go off.”
“Not going to go off? You live in a place that can explode. You were going to have me stay the night in a place that can explode. Are you insane?”
“It’s not a cheap bomb,” Beorn said. “I learned how to make it a long time ago. I hid the bombs in four different points in the walls. It’ll take a detonator to make them blow.”
He reached in and pulled out what looked like a remote control car controller. As she stared at the buttons and knobs it dawned on her that she was staring at the detonator.
“There’s a small risk they’ll go off on their own, but very small. We’re quite safe if the detonator isn’t tripped.”
“And what happens when the detonator is tripped?”
Beorn smiled and made the outline of a mushroom cloud with his arms. “Kaboom.”
“I think I’m going to be sick,” Rain said. She hadn’t known Beorn was like this—so bloodthirsty. Then again, he did live in the middle of the forest by himself and he needed to protect himself from intruders. Still, this all seemed to be very excessive.
“Don’t be upset,” Beorn said. “These are just precautions I took when I noticed the wolves were beginning to encroach on my territory. I just wanted to be prepared in case they attacked en masse one day.”
“Okay,” Rain said, shoving the handgun into the belt at the back of her pants. “What’s the plan?”
She was trying to remain calm. She had definitely given her heart to Beorn, but she hadn’t expected this side of him. Part of being with someone was taking the good with the bad, and she had to accept the bad. Besides, this wasn’t too bad. In the end he’d be protecting them both.
“Well, we’re going to get upwind of these bastards and wait,” he said. “They won’t smell us and we can stay pretty well hidden. I have some camouflage nets we can use to hide.”
“That’s kind of cool,” Rain said, thinking about it. She was turning into freaking She Wolf Rambo out here.
“When they all converge on the cabin, I’ll hit the detonator,” he said. “That place will blow sky high. We have to get pretty far back to avoid the blast, but we should be safe. Then we’ll get closer and pick off the stragglers.”
“What if there are some hiding in the forest?” she asked.
“That’s what you have your handgun for.” He reached into the bag and pulled out one more handgun, shoving it down the back of his pants.
“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” he asked. “There’s no going back and the killing is really going to make your wolf go into overdrive.”
“We don’t really have a choice, do we?” she said. “They’re not going to let us get back to town without a fight. This is our best chance to win.”
“That’s my girl,” he said, leaning in to kiss her on the forehead.
Rain smiled. Before all the bloodshed, it was nice to feel her man’s rough lips and scratchy beard against her skin. It was a tender moment before all hell was going to break loose.
Chapter 22
Beorn wasn’t even sure his bombs were going to work. He’d gotten the idea one day while having some whiskey at a bar in Cedarville. There was a TV show on in the background with some federal agents getting ready to storm a compound. When they reached the front door they were immediately blown back by an explosion that took the whole building out.
He knew it was just a television show and wasn’t reality, but the idea got him curious. He went to the library in Bucklin and began searching online, finally finding different schematics for making a bomb and placing the bomb. It was a lot more elementary of a design than he had expected, and he wasn’t too bad with his hands.
After some trial and error he’d finally built four radio-controlled bombs. After that he cut holes in the walls of his cabin and stashed them, waiting for the day he might need them. He understood Rain’s reaction; it was unnerving to have explosives that could end your life in an instant surrounding you. But Beorn wasn’t worried. He had wired them well and they weren’t going to go off without some sort of trigger.
As they walked away from the cabin he sighed deeply, looking back at it one more time. For nearly twenty years this place had been his sanctuary from the rest of the world. He’d tilled the fields and grown his own food. Not many people got to hunt their own fish and then return to eat their own homegrown salad. It was a pleasure Beorn had taken for granted and now it was going to be ripped from him in one glorious moment of self-defense.
Speaking of pleasures: he couldn’t get over how great Rain’s ass looked, especially with the gun sticking out of her waistband. His bear growled its approval, seeing past the deer piss she was covered in and demanding satisfaction right now. He had to soothe the amorous beast inside. Business, then pleasure.
He’d never been one to use guns, but nothing was hotter than his mate holding pure, hot lead in her hands. His eyes fixated on the gun handle then travelled down to the supple, round curves protruding from the material of her pants. The pants hugged her ass perfectly and called to him. Each step created a bounce in her cheeks that forced blood to his nether regions. He could feel the skin of his cock tightening behind his jeans, growing with each passing second.
Beorn shut his eyes and shook his head, trying to force the carnal thoughts out of his brain. They were in mortal danger and they were about to find themselves in a fight for survival. He had to have complete mental clarity; he couldn’t be focused on getting his dick wet right now. First he would sate his bear’s bloodlust, and then he would sate its sexual desires. All in due time.
“How far out do we need to go?” Rain asked as she glanced back at Beorn. She looked down at her ass and then back up at him, the hint of a seductive smile playing across her lips.
“I think we’re far enough out,” he said, stopping and turning back towards the cabin. The range on the detonator wasn’t impressive, but this seemed like a distance where it would go off and they wouldn’t be damaged by the concussion.
“How powerful are these bombs?” she asked.
“Powerful enough to blow up the cabin and anyone close to it,” he answered.
“Are you sure we’re going to be okay?”
“Yes. Besides, we’re not going to be standing here with our mouths hanging open like two fools. I want you to hide behind the tree over there. If any of them come close, you roll out and open fire. I’m going to hide in the undergrowth and pick them off with my rifle.”
“It feels like we’re in some kind of awesome action movie,” Rain said gleefully.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t a movie. It w
as real life, and it was going to become very dangerous. It did please him that she was coming around to the idea of fighting for survival and wasn’t so freaked out by what was about to go down.
It was probably her wolf’s inherent violent streak and need to defend itself that was taking over her thoughts and actions more than anything, he told himself. She still wasn’t able to completely mesh them, allowing one to become more dominant than the other at times. Hopefully things wouldn’t get crazy enough that her wolf forced a shift. He’d only seen a few forced shifts in his life, but they’d all happened at times when the beast’s will couldn’t be contained anymore.
“Beorn?” she asked from behind him, now lowering her voice.
“Yes, beautiful?” he asked, turning to smile at her.
Rain giggled and then continued, “Are we still going to go on our date if we get through this alive?”
“You don’t consider this a date?” He tried his best to look completely serious. “I’m having a blast and I’m turned on.”
Rain studied him for several seconds, her eyes looking him up and down, trying to figure out if he was telling the truth or not. Finally she laughed. “This is not my idea of a great date. I was looking forward to our…shifter date.”
“Ahh, the shifter date. Yes, I was looking forward to that too. Don’t worry, pretty lady. I’ll make sure you get all the fun of chasing my bear through the woods. I’ll even treat you to a nice trout dinner down at the river.”
“That sounds lovely,” she said, giggling. “No man has ever gone all out for me like that before.”
“I’m not any normal man.”
“What are we going to do after our date?”
“Well,” Beorn said, dropping to his knees so he could prepare his rifle. “I figure afterwards we’ll explore and have dinner. Then we’re going to shift back to human form and I’m going to fuck your ever-loving brains out. I don’t care if you want it or not, I’m going to impale you on my cock against a tree and fuck you so hard the damn thing uproots and we all tumble over.”