SAVED BY HER WEREBEAR MEDIC!
(Steamy Werebear Paramedic Paranormal Romance)
Meghan Archer
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. All participants in these fictitious events are consenting, non-related adults over the age of eighteen.
Kindle Edition
Copyright 2015 True Desire Publishing
All rights reserved.
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SAVED BY HER WEREBEAR MEDIC!
(Steamy Werebear Paramedic Paranormal Romance)
I was only vaguely aware that I was dying. Mostly, I was concerned with the pounding in my head, the lurching of my stomach, and the way I seemed to be dangling precariously over the side of a cliff.
My seatbelt was cutting into my throat and jaw. I pushed it aside onto my shoulder, but the moment I moved, my vision swam. I shut my eyes and took a deep breath through my nose. Don’t throw up. Don’t throw up. Don’t throw up…
Very slowly, I became aware of the rain pounding against the roof of my car. Once my senses returned to me, I realized the sound was almost deafening. Obviously one of the car doors was open. Opening my eyes again, I saw that it was mine.
The start of a scream caught in my throat and came out as a gurgle instead. I could feel my lungs fluttering and straining, almost like one of them wasn’t quite working right.
Shit. Shit. I am so fucked.
I blinked away a stream of blood trickling down my forehead and stared at the chasm below. The cliffside was sheer and dropped into a void of impenetrable darkness. I watched as a gnarled chunk of guard rail toppled into it, disappearing long before I heard it hit the ground.
My stomach turned again. Cold adrenaline seeped into my veins. Okay. That was bad. Don’t look down.
I forced my gaze toward my rearview mirror. It was still intact, though skewed at a steep angle. I could see darkness behind me and sheets of rain falling sideways. Beyond that, nothing more than a dingy streetlamp and the wet pavement of the two-lane road I’d been driving on.
A memory flashed: I was on my way to visit my sister and her new baby. I’d been driving through the mountains when the storm hit. Then I’d hydroplaned around a bend. Wet roads were a bitch.
I didn’t remember much after that. Obviously I’d hit my head. Briefly, I wondered what other memories I had lost.
But I couldn’t think about that now. Not when I was teetering on the edge of a cliff and facing certain doom.
I was too afraid to move. My car was already creaking, and I was sure that if I did, it’d be enough to send me over the brink. Without changing position, I groped the console and passenger’s seat for my phone. If I was lucky, it’d still be in here. If I was really lucky, it’d be within reach.
No dice on either front. I was stranded and alone, and judging by how under-used this road was at this hour and in these conditions, it’d stay that way. I was about to die a very horrible death.
Unless a miracle happened by in the next few minutes, my remains would become a piece of modern art on the rocks below, along with whatever was left of my car.
My heart was racing, which in my condition only made things worse. The logical part of my brain told me to make whatever peace I could with whatever kind of god was listening, but it was just a whisper compared to the panic that was welling up inside of me, screaming at me to do whatever it took to get out of the car.
“Oh, God,” I managed to say, blood bubbling in my throat.
The car shifted again, followed by a horrific shriek of metal bending and scraping against the side of my car. The only thing that stood between me, a long drop, and a sudden stop were the few inches between the portion of my car hanging over the edge and my back end, still precariously planted on terra firma—a difference that was becoming smaller and smaller as the seconds crept by.
Another small lurch brought a scream bubbling from my throat, my tears mixing with the blood that was running down from my scalp. Crying usually wasn’t my thing, but when you’re seconds from hurtling to your grave, a desperate call for your mother is nothing to be ashamed of.
It all seemed hopeless until I heard his voice.
“Ma’am, are you all right?”
I couldn’t believe it. My mind tried to tell me that no one could have come by so fast, that this place was in the middle of nowhere. But lo and behold, the glare of a flashlight floated through the darkness and I heard the angelic sound of his voice once again.
“Ma’am, I’m a paramedic,” he said, and suddenly I began to entertain the possibility of God being real. “I’m going to try to get you out of the car.”
I tried to speak, tried to warn him about the cliff, about the car’s impending plunge into the dark abyss, but all I could manage was a simpering gurgle.
My savior cautiously opened the passenger door. The flashlight shone blindingly as he held it between his teeth and crawled over the mangled interior toward me. He moved slowly, making sure not to cause any undo shifting as he assessed just how fucked over I really was.
Judging by the look on his face, I didn’t think I had anything better than a slim chance in hell of making it out alive.
“It’s going to be all right,” he repeated, popping the flashlight out of his mouth as he tried to undo my seatbelt. I whimpered, afraid that the moment I was rid of the belt that I would fall straight down into the chasm below. When the belt held fast inside of the buckle I felt a strange sense of relief, an irrational part of my brain telling me that as long as she was strapped in, I wouldn’t fall.
“I won’t let you—” he began, but before he could finish the car lurched, the undercarriage scraping against the scarred asphalt and the back end rising just slightly off of the rear wheels.
I screamed, renewed tears streaming down my blood-caked face. Now I was afraid that it wouldn’t just be me dying, but I’d be taking an innocent bystander with me, a good Samaritan cut down just for being a decent person. At least I won’t die alone, I thought.
“Okay,” the paramedic said, trying to calm himself as much as he was me. “We’re going to be okay. I’m going to get you out right now, but I’m afraid that this is going to hurt—a lot.”
More than the glass in my face or the broken leg? I wondered, turning my gaze toward him as though I could convey it to him telepathically.
“No, don’t look at me,” he said, almost like he was chastising me. “Look straight ahead, and no matter what you hear, I need you to keep looking out the window.”
Something in his voice gave me pause. But as he’d instructed, I looked straight out the window, blinking through the stream of blood and salty tears clouding my vision.
I could feel him shifting behind me, grunting as though h
e was straining with something heavy. Then the car shifted back onto its rear wheels like more weight was being pressed down on it. I wanted to look, but his words rang in my ears.
Suddenly his grunts turned into something much louder, a deep, ursine roar bellowing from where I had been forbidden to look only a minute before. Jesus Christ, I thought. What the hell is that?!
I felt something pull on my seatbelt, tightening it around my throat for a moment before the sound of ripping fabric filled the air. I felt the pressure on my throat lift and I heaved a deep breath before coughing up a gout of blood from between my lips.
I didn’t even have time to register that I had begun to slip out of my seat before I felt a big, furry hand gripping my upper arm like an iron vise. I screamed, suddenly aware of my plight as my head turned in panic toward my rescuer, only to find myself locking eyes with what I almost mistook for a massive bear.
Seemingly without effort, the creature pulled me back into the car, dragging me over the center console and into the back seat. My confusion replaced itself with fear as I did whatever it took to save myself from being done in like Goldilocks. But despite my kicks and screams, the monstrous thing held fast onto my arm as it dragged me out onto the wet surface of the road outside.
I looked around desperately, hoping to find the man who had tried to save me. Please, don’t him have been eaten. But no matter where I looked, there was no sign of the paramedic anywhere. I was alone. Alone, and about to be eaten by a bear.
The creature stood over me, its long arms hanging at its sides. Something seemed so strange about it, about the way it looked down at me with something I could swear was intelligence in its eyes. The strange look it gave me made my think that it was making a decision, but about what, I couldn’t be sure.
As I looked up at it my vision began to fade, the edges growing dim and creeping inwards until all I could see was the face of that bear as it came down on top of me, its jaws open wide.
So this is how I die, I thought as everything went black. Not with a car crash, but with a bear attack…
My nose was filled with the smell of cooking food and burning wood. I was warm, wrapped up in the softest blanket I had ever felt in my life and lying on a downy feather bed. My first thought as I came to my senses was that I actually had died and that I’d made it to Heaven.
But before I could wonder what idiot had put me on the God’s “nice list,” I was greeted by a voice that seemed all too familiar.
“How are you feeling?”
I opened my eyes, turning my head to look up at the paramedic who had stopped to save me. Something felt strange as I stared up at him, taking in his handsome features and that head of wavy brown hair.
“What happened to the bear?” I asked, trying to work through the haze that had fallen over my thoughts.
“It’s gone. I—I drove it off after it pulled you out of the car.”
“You saved me from a bear?” I asked, smiling even though it pained me.
“Yeah,” he said, chuckling. “I guess I did.”
“My hero,” I murmured, my voice groggy from the deep sleep I’d only just awoken from. “I don’t even know you name.”
“My name is Cade,” he said, returning my smile as he sat down beside me. “And you’re Ashley.”
“How do you know what my name is?” I asked, brows furrowing. Was he some kind of stalker? Was that why he was so quick to arrive on the scene? Had he been following me?
As I asked myself a flurry of panicked questions, Cade plopped my purse down on the bed and quirked the side of his mouth up in a lopsided grin.
“I may have looked through your purse. I managed to grab it before I took you up to my cabin after I… drove the bear off.”
“Normally I’d be pissed at anyone who went through my bag, but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt,” I said, relaxing as I felt a little more confident that my rescuer didn’t intend to keep me shackled in his bedroom Misery-style. “Where are we, anyway?”
“My cabin,” he said, looking around the room. “The roads are washed out from all the rain and I don’t have a phone. So until the storm clears, I can’t take you to the hospital.”
“No phone? Jesus, how do you live?” I asked, sitting up slowly. I thought that I’d be in agony, but to my surprise, I barely felt any pain as I moved into a more comfortable position against the headboard. I glanced down at my wounds, only to find that they not only looked much better than I had hoped, but they were already starting to heal.
“Holy hell,” I breathed, my eyebrows raised. “I thought I’d only been here a few hours. My cuts are almost gone!”
“You have only been here a few hours. The storm’s still going on outside,” Cade said, shifting nervously beside me as I began to examine myself, pulling the blankets away. I hardly even noticed that I was naked.
“That’s not possible,” I said, looking up at him, “I had a broken leg. Hell, my face was all—”
I reached up to touch where the countless lacerations had crisscrossed over my face when my windshield had shattered into a million pieces. But as I brushed the tips of my fingers over my cheek, all I felt was smooth, unbroken skin where I knew a mangled mess should have been.
“Cade,” I whispered, my eyes wide. “What’s happening to me?”
“Let me explain,” he began, biting on his lip.
“Yes,” I said, “I think you should do just that.”
“When I was pulling you out of the car—”
“Wait,” I interrupted, my eyes narrowing. “You pulled me out of the car? I saw that fucking bear, Cade. It pulled me out, not you.”
“I…” He faltered, turning away from me for a moment before looking me straight in the eyes. “I am the bear.”
“No fucking way,” I said, leaning farther against the headboard. “You can’t be a bear. No one can be a bear and a person, Cade. What, are you some kind of weird werewolf thing, or something?”
“A werebear,” he corrected, frowning a little. “I had to transform to get you out of the car. And when I finally saw how badly you were hurt, I knew that I couldn’t save you. Not unless I did something really stupid.”
“Couldn’t save me? What do you mean? I’m—” I stopped, looking into his eyes as a kind of apprehension dawned over me. “What did you do to me, Cade?”
“I bit you.”
I couldn’t speak. My throat constricted, strangling the words before they could form. Bit me? I thought, looking around the room, then back down to the red cut on my arm, only to watch as it began to knit itself up before my eyes. I wanted to scream.
“If I hadn’t done it, you would have died,” he said, a kind of shame present in those sad, brown eyes. “If I could have kept you alive any other way, I would have.”
“What happens now?” I whimpered. “Am I going to turn into a—”
“Yes, on the next full moon,” he said, though somewhere in there I could tell he meant to say he was sorry.
“Oh, my God,” I whispered, rubbing my hand over my face. How could I explain to my mother that I was some kind of bear monster now? “Every full moon?”
“Until you can control it,” he said. “I was born into it, so I have some practice.”
“Is there a cure?”
“Afraid not,” he answered, “otherwise I would have taken it a long time ago.”
“Is it that bad?” I asked, frowning as I watched Cade’s face become solemn.
“It can be lonely,” he admitted, giving me a half-hearted smile. “You might notice I live in a cabin on the side of a mountain with no technology.”
My heart began to slow as I mulled what was happening over in my head. I was now a shapeshifting bear creature who became a beast when the moon was full. I almost thought I’d hear Wes Craven yelling “Cut!” any second now.
I looked at Cade, at the way he looked so ashamed of changing me into what he was. But he did it to save me, I thought. Shouldn’t I be grateful that he gave me a second
chance? Complications and all?
“I doesn’t have to be so lonely,” I said after the excruciating silence. “I mean, you and I are sort of in the same boat now, aren’t we?”
“I guess you could think of it that way,” he said, once again giving me that faint, almost sad smile. It was adorable in its own “lonely dreamboat” kind of way.
“And I am sort of your responsibility now,” I added, a smile touching at the corners of my mouth. “And, despite how fucked up this all is, I’m actually really grateful that you saved my life.”
“You are?” he asked, surprise painted across his gorgeous face.
“Well, yeah!” I said with a little laugh. “I mean, I’d rather be alive and have to deal with a monthly trip to the woods than be dead at the bottom of a cliff, wrapped up in the mangled remains of my car. So, yeah, I’m really grateful.”
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