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Published by The Hartwood Publishing Group, LLC,
Hartwood Publishing, Phoenix, Arizona
www.hartwoodpublishing.com
Grizzly Mountain
Copyright © 2017 by Becca Jameson
Digital Release: April 2017
All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination, or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales, or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Grizzly Mountain by Becca Jameson
Heather Simmons is excited to start a new job in Alberta, Canada, as a glaciologist. But when a minor accident leaves her trapped on a hiking trail overnight, she finds herself facing a burly mountain man and a pair of grizzly bears. From that moment forward, things could not get weirder.
Isaiah Arthur knows instinctively that Heather is his mate the moment he scents her clothing before heading up the mountain to rescue her. The sensation is confusing since she is obviously human, and converting a human to his species is strictly forbidden.
A rogue shifter takes Heather’s transition out of Isaiah’s hands, however. Isaiah is left with no choice but to take her home and find a way to inform her of her unintended fate, while fighting the intense need to make her his as soon as possible.
The North American governing body, the Arcadian Council, is not amused by the rare turning of a human, and chaos ensues as Isaiah races against the clock to bind his mate to him forever before someone steps in the way and takes the opportunity out of his hands.
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to Heather, who helped me with both the plot and the setting. Can’t thank you enough for being such a loyal fan!
Chapter One
Isaiah Arthur leaned against the side of the brand new, dark blue Honda Accord, holding a woman’s jacket to his nose. He didn’t need the proximity to her clothing to catch and memorize her scent. The open car door was sufficient.
He breathed in deeply again, letting his eyes close briefly as he inhaled her essence. Clean. Feminine. A hint of vanilla, probably from her shampoo. “When did she go missing?” He tried unsuccessfully to shake the lure of her pheromones from his head.
The woman was lost. He had a job to do. Find her. She might not even be alive, and his cock was stiff from leaning into her car to grab her jacket in the first place. One whiff of Heather Simmons and his knees buckled.
“The last time anyone heard from her was yesterday morning. I think she has a room at Bear Lodge in Silvertip. She emailed her hiking route to her mother but never checked back in last night. Mrs. Simmons called us about an hour ago.” Glen Montrose, of the Parks Canada Warden Service, ran a hand through his thick dark hair, his face grim.
Isaiah lowered the jacket, tossing it back into the car reluctantly. “At least we’re dealing with a smart hiker this time.” It was a good sign that she’d informed someone of her intentions and arranged a check-in time. From that little information, he had hope she also had hiked away from her car prepared for the elements.
He glanced at his watch. Eight o’clock. Heather spent the entire night in the mountains somewhere. He had no doubt he would find her, but had she brought enough clothes with her to survive a night in the cold? The temperatures had dipped below freezing last night.
Isaiah closed his eyes and breathed in. The only scents in the area, besides Heather’s and Glen’s, were wild animals and pine. The only noise was the rustling of the trees and the scamper of small animals.
He glanced around the small gravel parking lot. No other cars had been left overnight in this secluded area where hikers sometimes parked before trekking up the mountain. The gravel area was surrounded by a thick grove of trees, and when Isaiah lifted his head, he had the most glorious view of the mountains to the north. Alberta, Canada, was one of the most beautiful places on earth.
Heather Simmons was up this mountain somewhere.
Isaiah was restless to get moving. The sooner he found the missing hiker, the better her chances of survival. And he prayed she was indeed alive.
This was the thirteenth rescue he’d done for Banff National Park, and it never got any easier. Nine of the hikers he was asked to locate had been found alive, either lost or injured. Three had not been as fortunate. He said a silent prayer that today would turn his saved tally to a double digit.
Shoving off the side of the car, he rubbed his hands together and faced Glen. “I better get going. It’s cold out here.” He stated the obvious, but he didn’t need any further details. He had what he needed—her scent and the last known time of contact. Nothing else mattered.
It wouldn’t take him long to track her. As a bear shifter, his sense of smell was superior to nearly every other shifter known to exist. He could shift quickly, run fast, and track in minutes.
Montrose knew that. It was the reason he’d called Isaiah an hour ago to request his help. They had an arrangement. It worked. Although only a select few people working for the National Parks Service were shifters, they managed to connect with Isaiah’s extended family whenever their assistance was needed. It wasn’t feasible for a park warden to shift and take off looking for a hiker in the middle of the workday. Eyebrows would rise.
Isaiah’s only concern was the location of Heather’s intended hike—way too close to the divide between his family, the Arthurs, and the neighboring pack of bear shifters, the Tarbens. The feud between the two packs went back more than a century, and crossing into the other pack’s territory was forbidden.
Isaiah personally thought the entire feud was shit, but he wasn’t a member of the ruling body, and frankly, he didn’t want any part of it. If the two packs wanted to battle over a fucking imaginary line in the mountains, let them duke it out for all he cared, as long as no one asked him to get involved.
The truth was, he had friends in the Tarben family. He knew for a fact several others in his generation did, too. They kept their relationships private to avoid pissing off the elders from either pack, but secret meetings had occurred between members of the two families for decades.
Isaiah had known one of his best friends, Austin Tarben, for half his life. The two of them had met up secretly for fifteen years. They bitched often about the absurdity of their families’ feuds.
Shaking the errant thoughts from his head, Isaiah stepped away from the car, closed his eyes to settle his mind, and shifted. In moments he shook off his human form and allowed the transformation to take place. He leaned forward as his hands became paws and his body took on all the qualities of his other half—the grizzly bear. Fur replaced skin, bones lengthened and shortened, his face elongated.
The few humans aware of the existence of the bear species often referred to the process as magic, but Isaiah didn’t see it that way. Shifting was simply a trait he possessed, no different from being able to roll his tongue, wiggle his ears, or lift one eyebrow while lowering the other. The members of his pack could transform into bears.
Isaiah glanced back at Glen before bounding away. He could have spoken to the other shifter telepathically, but there was no need. He already knew which direction to head. His ability to scent was as fine-tuned in human form as it was in his grizzly, but he could cover more ground faster with a more direct route as a bear. And he was instantly warmer.
His temperature ran high even in human form, but racing through the trees and climbing over rocks and foliage was far easier and more expedient in his bear form.
How far had Heather managed to get before she got lost or injured yesterday?
Please, God, let me find her alive.
Finding a victim no longer living was never pleasant, but something about this particular woman had his fur standing up. Her scent called to him. Lured him.
He hadn’t even seen a picture of her. It wasn’t necessary. He would know her by her scent the moment he got close.
∙•∙
Heather Simmons was furious with herself. Her self-recrimination was unreasonable because she hadn’t done anything to warrant the feeling, but it consumed her nonetheless. She had followed her usual strict protocol for hiking—carrying a backpack filled with everything an experienced hiker needed, informing someone of her plans, and educating herself on the lay of the land.
None of that made her less frustrated that she’d stepped wrong about two hours into her hike and twisted her ankle badly. Now she was cold, tired, hungry, and pissed. She wasn’t overly concerned about being rescued. Her mother was diligent about her checking in. When Heather hadn’t made the call last night to assure her parents she’d made it back to civilization, they would have informed the cavalry.
She was on the path, wrapped in her Mylar blanket, eating a protein bar, and waiting.
She had studied the map of the area thoroughly. It was three miles back to her car. That distance was too far for her to hike with her left ankle swollen and painful. About two miles off the path to the east she would encounter a ranger station, but that would require her to break a cardinal rule—never leave the path.
It was still early in the morning. She wouldn’t make a decision like that until midafternoon. If she had to, she could go another night. But damn, it was cold.
With a deep breath, she glanced at her surroundings. It was truly breathtaking. If she wasn’t cold, frustrated, and a bit nervous, she would be enjoying the scenery. It was late in the hiking season. Fall in the Banff National Park could be unforgiving. When the weather changed, the path she was on would no longer be hikable.
But today it was gorgeous. The path itself wasn’t wide where she had twisted her ankle. It was extremely unobtrusive, surrounded by dark green pine and fir trees. The ground cover was still lush. And every time she lifted her gaze, she was treated to snow-capped mountains.
Closing her eyes with a sigh, she tucked her face toward the ground and huddled under the Mylar to warm her cheeks.
Water was going to be a problem before anything else. She had carried enough to last more than a day, but when she’d left for a ten-mile hike, she had not anticipated being gone over twenty-four hours. As soon as she’d realized she was in trouble, she’d begun to ration her water supply.
“Fuck,” she muttered under her breath. This trail was popular. Another hiker would probably come upon her before long, even if no one had been sent to rescue her. The trouble was, it was late in the season for hiking, which cut down on the number of people willing to endure the lower temperatures. She had also left a bit later in the day than most hikers, which meant no one passed her on their return last night.
A noise caught her attention, and she lifted her face to find her worst nightmare. A grizzly bear. A big one, too. It was simply meandering around, paying her no attention, but her heart rate soared.
The snap of a twig to her other side caused her to jerk her gaze in that direction to find a man approaching. A giant of a man wearing jeans, hiking boots, and a flannel shirt. He didn’t have a coat. He held up a hand, palm out, fingers spread. With his other hand, he touched his lips with his index finger.
She jerked her gaze back to the primary threat, the huge bear. Hopefully the human was there to help her or she’d gotten lucky, but the bear was another story. It hadn’t come to help.
Suddenly, the bear turned toward the man and rose onto its hind legs.
Heather sucked in a sharp breath and held it. The animal was even larger than she’d thought, and it looked like it was about to charge the man still approaching in her peripheral vision.
“You do not want to do this, dude. Back off,” he stated, as though English were a language the wild grizzly would obey.
She twisted to lift her gaze toward the man, stunned to find him two feet from her side. He was equally impressive in his stature. At least six five. Huge. His brown hair was thick and recently cut and styled, and he had a few days’ growth on his face.
Even though she was injured and her life should have been flashing before her eyes, she found herself unable to take her gaze off the burly mountain man. Damn.
“Heather Simmons?” he asked, glancing down at her as though now was a good time for introductions.
“Yes.” Her mouth was dry, and it had nothing to do with a lack of water. She tried to swallow and spoke again with a bit more umph. “That’s me.”
“Isaiah Arthur. Your mom called the park warden.”
Heather smiled. Of course she did. And then a roar filled the air, causing her to yank her attention back to the bear as it clambered onto its front paws and padded forward, stalking them. “Shit,” she muttered.
“Listen, asshole. Back the fuck off,” Isaiah shouted as he stepped past Heather and got between her and the bear.
Is he insane?
The giant grizzly kept creeping closer, lowering its head. If she wasn’t mistaken, it narrowed its eyes in defiance and bared its teeth in anger.
Every piece of literature Heather had read about how to deal with bears in the area suggested she not engage them. If she sat perfectly still, it would probably wander away and ignore her. But this crazy mountain man seemed to have a different idea.
Isaiah straightened to his full height and pumped out his chest. His hands were fisted at his sides as though preparing for a fight. Yep. He was certifiable. Was he the only person the local police could come up with to rescue her?
“Shouldn’t you maybe not taunt it?” she proposed.
Isaiah ignored her, continuing to advance.
She had to lean to one side in order to see the bear’s face with Isaiah in her line of sight. What good would it do for him to get himself killed after coming to rescue her?
“Back off. She’s injured.”
How the hell did Isaiah know that for sure? And again, why did it seem he was trying to reason with a motherfucking bear?
Okay, so yes, he probably assumed she was injured. Otherwise she would have hiked out of the mountain yesterday and never met him or the enormous brown mammal, who could and probably would snap her in half and eat her.
Although she hadn’t been able to hike out of the mountains on her injured ankle before now, faced with this angry grizzly, with her adrenaline racing through her blood, there was a decent chance she would find the strength to ignore her ankle and run down the mountain while the bear enjoyed his first meal—Isaiah Arthur.
She had no intention of being dessert.
The bear growled again, a menacing sound that came out like a warning. If she didn’t know better, she would think the two males were communicating. Isaiah lowered his head, his feet spread wide. She couldn’t see his face, but she truly believed he was staring the bear down in a contest of wills.
Yep. He was indeed certifiable.
The Mylar blanket slid from her shoulders to pool on the ground. Her backpack lay next to her. It seemed prudent at this point to back up, so she dug her good foot into the dirt on the path and scooted backward, wincing as she dragged her other leg along.
Perhaps she could at least haul herself in
to the trees and hide. Is that a thing? Hiding from a bear? Don’t they have an amazing sense of smell?
As if her situation weren’t beyond dire, a noise behind her alerted her to the approach of someone or something else. She jerked her head around to find another huge grizzly prowling forward.
All the blood rushed from her face, leaving her faint. She thought she might pass out, and then she noticed something that didn’t make a damn bit of sense. The newcomer didn’t even glance at her. Its focus was on the idiotic man and the first bear in their ridiculous standoff. In fact, giant furry guy number two padded right past her to stand next to Isaiah, increasing the intensity of the standoff.
Isaiah didn’t glance at the newcomer either.
The world had gone completely mad.
Obviously, Heather was asleep. This was a dream. A nightmare. A strange coma caused by hypothermia or something. She didn’t think it had been that cold during the night, but maybe she’d fallen asleep and not woken up.
Suddenly, the first bear rose onto its hind legs again and rushed forward, knocking Isaiah to the side while shoving past the second bear. It happened so fast, as if the first bear caught Isaiah off guard. Hell, it caught the second bear off guard, too.
Heather stopped breathing when she realized this was it. Her life was over. She was going to die on this mountain on her third day in Canada. She would never show up for her first day of work. She would never be able to tell her parents she loved them. She would never see her sister again.
She continued to scramble backward, to no avail. There was no chance of escaping this enormous grizzly. It loped toward her rapidly. As soon as it hovered over her, it lifted a paw and batted at her, hitting her arm. Its claws ripped through her thick jacket and her thermal shirt to score her biceps.
She saw the wetness of her blood oozing into her clothing, but felt nothing. In a flash of fur and a roar of noise, the attacking bear tumbled to the ground beside her. The second bear to arrive on the scene pounced on the first, and the two of them rolled to the side, away from her, in a gruesome battle.
Grizzly Mountain (Arcadian Bears Book 1) Page 1