Embraced by the Bear

by Vicki Savage

  Embraced by the Bear

  Book #3 in the Bride for a Bear Shifter Series

  ~ By ~

  Vicki Savage

  Embraced by the Bear

  Book #3 in the Bride for a Bear Shifter Series

  Written by: Vicki Savage

  This e-book contains excerpts that are works of fiction. While reference might be made to actual historical events or existing locations, the names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2015 by Vicki Savage

  All rights reserved. This copy is intended for the purchaser of this e-book ONLY. No part of this e-book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without prior written permission from Vicki Savage. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author's rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Biography and Other Works

  Chapter One

  Her hands were no longer bound.

  That was the first thing Shae became aware of when she woke up. Instead of being tied to the headboard, her hands were free to move about as she wished.

  The second thing she noticed was that her head hurt like a motherfucker. Blinking in rapid succession, she raised her hand—now free— and shielded her eyes from the bright light.

  “Who’s there?”

  “Oh, I’m sorry.” The harsh light dimmed and footsteps echoed through the room as someone stepped closer. “I was going to let you sleep, but figured that you might want some food, and considering your . . .” He cleared his throat. “Your state, I thought it might be best to bring you something here rather than have you eat down at the bar.”

  Shae glanced down at her body and noticed that the blankets were only half covering her naked torso. Her full, round breasts were in plain view pebbled as she realized the stranger could see her nakedness. A dull ache formed between her legs, and she groaned as she imagined the stranger climbing on top of her and spreading her thighs wide . . .

  Stop it. Shaking the erotic fog from her head, she pulled the covers up to her chin and blinked at the man standing beside her bed. Tall and in his late thirties, the man’s pasty white skin seemed familiar, as did his glasses and receding hairline.

  “Edward? Is that you?” Shae rubbed her eyes and noticed that her limbs felt heavy. In fact everything felt rather dreamlike, as if she had consumed an entire bottle of wine in the past hour.

  “It is. I’m so glad you’re okay.” As his features came into focus, Shae recognized his familiar profile, but something about him had changed. She felt an odd pull, a connection with this man that she hadn’t felt before.

  “Where the hell am I?” she asked as she rearranged the pillows and sat up in bed.

  “In Sunshine Lodge. The best place for winter fun in Alberta.” The familiar tag line helped her to focus her muddled brain. Home. Well, not home exactly, but at least this lodge was familiar. She had moved up to Canada from the Caribbean to get away from her parents and had been working as a guide on the property for the past few months. The last thing she remembered was going out to look for a lost family in a snow storm, and then falling into a ditch.

  “You found me.” Shae moved into a sitting position as he set the tray on a nearby end table.

  “Yes, we did.” Edward’s gaze didn’t quite reach her eyes, and Shae looked down to discover that during her repositioning on the bed, her breasts had become exposed once more. Her body immediately responded, and she resisted the sudden urge to slide her hand under the covers and touch herself. Instead she averted her gaze, and found herself staring at the bulge in his pants. She wondered if he was the one who had undressed her and put her to bed. Did he like touching her bare skin? She wondered if he would be willing to touch her again . . .

  Oh for the love of . . . What was wrong with her? She didn’t remember ever being this horny before. Shae resisted the urge to grab her boss and yank him into bed with her. Instead, she pulled the blankets back up to her chin and tried to think more practical thoughts.

  “Where are my things?” she asked.

  “You had nothing on and nothing with you when we found you in the snow last night.”

  She furrowed her brow. For the life of her, she couldn’t remember stripping off her clothes in the middle for a blizzard. Perhaps she was losing her mind. “You found me out in the snow?”

  Edward nodded, his gaze still focused on the patch of blanket that covered her breasts. The weird connection between them strengthened, and her pussy started to throb. This was . . . intense. And not like her. She had to take charge of this situation before things got out of control.

  Shae cleared her throat. When he glanced up, she pointed at her eyes as if to say ‘I’m up here.’

  “How long have I been gone?” she asked.

  He shook his head slightly and fumbled with a piece of fabric in his hands. “Two days, I’m afraid.”

  “Two days?” She straightened and pressed the blanket to her chest. “I was naked in the snow for two days?”

  “I’m surprised you didn’t freeze to death out there.” He handed her the fabric on his arm. “We would have come sooner, but had to wait until the worst of the storm had passed.”

  “What’s this?” she asked, taking the silky item.

  “It’s the best I could do under the circumstances.”

  She frowned and held up the flowery dress. It was a short, feminine thing made for summers on the beach, not cold Canadian winters. It didn’t look big enough to cover her ass. So unlike her, and yet she couldn’t help but feel pleasure in his choice. The dress would show off her tight ass and if she didn’t wear any underwear, Edward would have easy access to her most intimate areas.

  Shae frowned. What the hell was happening to her? She had never been attracted to Edward sexually before. This strong reaction felt so out of place. Maybe something happened to her in the blizzard, and that was why she was having such a strange reaction.

  She needed to focus on remembering what had happened over the past two days. A face had filled her dreams, a strong face with tanned skin and dark hair. Perhaps if she went back to where Edward found her, a memory would rise to the surface and she could give that face a name. She couldn’t go back wearing this, though. She’d freeze to death.

  “This isn’t very practical,” She frowned at Edward. Color rose to his cheeks, and he cleared his throat.

  “I know, but it’s the only thing we have in the lost and found.” He shifted his stance, drawing her attention back down to his thickening cock. “The snow stopped yesterday, but the roads are still impassible.” He sat down at the edge of the bed and took her hand. “Do you remember anything that happened?”

  As his fingers touched hers, the connection between them strengthened. Desire roared through her bloodstream as he stroked her palm. Shae looked down at their joined hands and how his long fingers effortlessly slid around hers. His skin seemed more translucent than she remembered, more aged. She imagined those fingers brushing against her skin, touching her wet pussy, caressing her in the most erotic of places . . .

  “Shae?” he asked.

  Ashamed, she pulled her hand from his and looked away. “Yes?”

  “Are you okay?” He followed her gaze to the tray on the end table.

  “I’m fine.” The smell of food filled the air, warm soup and freshly baked bread. Hearing her unspoken request, Edward placed the tray on her lap. Biting ba
ck a groan, Shae tasted the soup, and found it to be quite good. It was beef and barley, the lodge’s specialty. It was nice to have something to focus on besides sex. She heaped spoonful after spoonful into her mouth, hoping that a full stomach would help her to gain some control over her emotions.

  Edward watched her for a long moment in silence. “Do you remember anything about what happened out there?” he finally asked.

  Shae realized that she was scarfing her food like an animal. Carefully replacing the bowl on the tray, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and tried to concentrate on his question. She remembered some things—correction, she remembered someone. A handsome stranger who ravished her in her dreams.

  “I remember searching for that family by the fence along the border. There were tracks. . .” After a long moment, she shook her head. “It’s all quite fuzzy, I’m afraid.” Shae widened her eyes as a name flashed through her mind with startling clarity.

  Nathan. Nathan was the name of the man of her dreams. Although they weren’t really dreams at all, were they? She saw it all now, the cabin on the Native reservation, the bears . . . Most of all, she saw herself being tied to Nathan’s bed as he dipped his dark head in between her thighs.

  That tongue . . . it did the most wicked things to her body. Again and again he had brought her to heights of ecstasy, never letting her come down from her emotional high. Had he really kept her orgasming for two days?

  She remembered other things as well. Nathan had talked about destined mates and bears . . . and something about a rogue shifter killing a family from the lodge. The more she thought about the sexy shifter, the more she sensed his presence.

  I’m coming, little one. His erotic voice filled her mind like a siren call. Hang on.

  The dull ache between her legs intensified at the sound of his voice. Groaning, she slid her hand under the blankets and between her legs.

  “Shae, are you okay?”

  Blinking, she jerked back her hand. “I—yes. Sorry.”

  “Did you just remember something?”

  The voice was fading, she could feel it, and with its disappearance, the desire began to fade as well. “For a moment I thought that perhaps . . . ” She brushed a stray hair from her face. “But no, I didn’t.” She broke off a piece of bread and popped it into her mouth.

  “That’s too bad.”

  Shae focused on her bread and hoped that Edward didn’t notice her lie. Her memories were all jumbled together, and she wasn’t sure what to make of that voice. Until she figured a few things out for herself, she was going to keep Nathan and her experiences at his cabin to herself.

  “Where did you find me?” she asked.

  He considered her a moment before responding. “You were passed out next to the fence along the border between us and the reservation. It looked as if you had been out for a while.” He looked down at his hands, drawing her attention once again to how the skin seemed paper-thin and fragile. “I have to ask a serious question, and I want you to be completely honest with me.”

  “Of course.”

  He locked his gaze with hers. “Have you been using drugs?”

  “What? Of course not!”

  “You were mumbling some pretty intense stuff.”

  “I was?”

  “About bears and something called ‘mating heat.’”

  Mating heat. She remembered something about an intense desire, and how it took Nathan and two of his friends to bring her under control.

  “Oh?” She focused on her food as the memories rushed through her mind. Her time with Nathan had been so erotic, so intimate. She probably owed her life to those bears.

  If what happened was real.

  “Yeah. We couldn’t make out most of what you said, but I guess that doesn’t matter now. All that matters is that you are safe, and the fence is repaired. There should be no more accidents where people wander off onto the reservation land.”

  Shae tore off some bread as sadness filled her. No more reservation land meant no more Nathan. She didn’t know what she’d do without his touch.

  Hell, she missed any man’s touch. The urge to be dominated and ridden hard was almost too much to take.

  As Edward talked about things that had happened at the lodge while she was away, Shae focused on her food, hoping that he couldn’t see the rising desire in her gaze. She popped a slice of bread into her mouth and chewed slowly as she stared at her hands. Her skin looked whiter than normal, almost pasty, and her freckles appeared faded.

  Just like Edward’s . . . As she chewed her bread, she imagined his fingers running through her hair, then grabbing it. With a rough jerk, he’d pull her down to his lap and force his cock between her eager lips. She’d suck his dick hard, bringing him just shy to the point of ecstasy. Before he went over, he’d pull out of her mouth, throw her back on the bed, and push his thick erection deep inside her body . . .

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” Edward asked.

  Startled, she jerked her gaze up to his face. “Of course, why wouldn’t I be?”

  “You just have this funny look about you, as if you wanted to tackle something and tear it apart.”

  Shae put down her bread, the taste suddenly stale in her mouth. “No, I’m fine. It’s just all of the excitement, I guess.”

  “It’s okay.” He patted her hand. “I certainly understand. You’ve been through a lot these past few days.”

  She focused on his fingers as they stroked a very sensitive spot along the inside of her wrist. What the hell was going on? Edward was her boss, and he was totally not her type. She normally went for men who were much larger and more physically fit. Edward was not only sickly thin, but he was argumentative and rough. His world views were completely opposite of hers.

  Edward was one of the most vocal residents against establishing the reservation land in town. He and his friends saw no need to provide refuge for the wildlife and Natives in the area. Shae on the other hand, saw the reservation as a good thing, and was a big proponent of Natives’ rights. After spending time with Nathan, her convictions had only strengthened.

  There was nothing about Edward that should be attractive, and yet she couldn’t seem to stop her rising desire. She shouldn’t be feeling this strange connection with him. It wasn’t as intense or deep as it was with Nathan, but it was still there, calling out to her, and it took enormous amounts of concentration to not act on it.

  “Any word on that lost family?” she asked in an effort to distract herself.

  “Yes, we found them over on the reservation land.” Edward straightened and cleared his throat. “It seems as if they were mauled by bears.”

  “Mauled?” she asked.

  “Yes, a bear attacked them at the fence and then dragged them to an abandoned cabin on the reservation land.

  “All of them at once?”

  “It was a strong bear.” Edward tilted his head to the side and studied her for a moment before continuing. “I suspect that you were on his trail when you passed out.” He glanced down at her chest, and Shae noticed the hunger in his eyes. “Still no idea as to why that happened?”

  Shae frowned and pulled the blankets closer to her chest. “No idea.”

  “I see.” Edward stood and shoved his hands in his pockets. “I’ll have a doctor come by and check you out. Just in case.” He moved to the door, giving Shae a perfect view of his bony backside.

  Damn, she’d love to bite that ass. . .

  “What about the bear?” she asked, not quite ready for him to leave.

  “The bear?”

  She carefully placed the tray back on the end table. “The one that mauled that family.” Shae remembered Nathan talking about a rogue bear roaming the woods, and how they hoped to catch him before it did any more damage.

  “If it’s still out there, then it might strike again,” she said.

  Edward faced her, and Shae’s gaze was immediately drawn to the bulge in his pants. “Oh, you don’t need to worry about that,” he sa
id. “I’ve taken precautions to make sure that that animal never hurts anyone ever again.”

  Shae forced herself to look at his face. “What did you do?”

  Edward flashed her a sickly smile. It transformed his face from something harmless, to something evil and deadly. “I hired the finest hunter in Alberta. She’s been hunting bear all her life.”

  “Her?”

  Edward nodded. “Don’t let her size fool you. She’s as vicious as they come. She’s brought along some friends and tonight we’re going to storm the reservation and kill that bear before it hurts someone else.”

  “What about the mayor and the treaty? We aren’t supposed to hurt anyone on reservation property.”

  “You expect me to let that bear roam free after what it did?” He shook his head. “He’s far too dangerous. What if he mauls another vacationer at the lodge?”

  “Perhaps we should speak to—”

  “No.” He took a menacing step toward her, causing Shae to shrink back in fear. “The time for talk is over. We must strike before those animals hurt someone else.”

  There was something in the way he said animals that made Shae suspect that he meant much more than bears. It was widely known how much he hated the Natives living on the reservation. According to him, it wasn’t right that they should get so much government assistance while everyone else worked their asses off to get by.

  Shae shifted her position in the bed. “But the law. . .”

  “Fuck the law.”

  Shae raised her brows. Edward was not one to cuss, and the words sounded foreign to her ears. “Fuck the law?”

  “I’ll deal with the mess later. We can’t let those bastards have free reign. They’ll devastate the entire area.”

  “Those bastards? I thought that there was just one.”

  “We’ll see.” Edward smoothed his features. “None of this should be your concern. You need your rest.”

  “I want to be a part of the hunting party.” Shae didn’t know what her boss was up to, but it didn’t sound good. The only way she could put a stop to whatever he was planning was if she worked from the inside.