Built Fur Love Box Set

by Terry Bolryder

Garrett and Dawn looked at her sympathetically. “That makes sense.”

  Hunter was eyeing her carefully, probably wondering if she was telling the truth or if she suspected it had anything to do with her stalker after all.

  But she couldn’t say more about it. She was finally feeling safe and normal. Even cared about. Until the bear actually showed up—and she hoped it never would—she would keep her lips carefully shut.

  The rumble of a truck sounded outside, quickly approaching.

  “That’ll be Grayson,” Garrett said, placing a kiss to Dawn’s lips before getting ready to head out.

  “We’ll be back later,” Hunter said, grabbing a last piece of toast and standing to follow Garrett. “You girls stay safe and call us if you see anything wrong.”

  Dawn nodded. “Take care.”

  And then the door was opening and April was walking in, and Hunter was disappearing with the other men toward Garrett’s big blue truck.

  Kelly had to admit it was nice to have people looking out for her, rather than running away.

  “So what do you guys think?” Hunter asked his friends as they paced around the deck, trying to discover more than he’d been able to in the short time he’d had last night.

  He could still remember it like it was still happening.

  Frankly, he was just glad Kelly was safe.

  “It’s kind of like bear. Yet not, at the same time,” Grayson said, standing at the edge of the deck and taking in the fresh morning air. Even in the wake of what had happened, the forest was beautiful, seemingly undisturbed at all by the previous night.

  “It’s hard to tell. It doesn’t remind me of any of the bears I became acquainted with back west. But at the same time, I spend most of my time in human form these days, so I’m not exactly sure what it could be.” Garrett picked up a broken piece of glass and ran it between his fingers gingerly, sniffing at it for a moment.

  Hunter supposed if some random stranger saw three grown men sniffing around for something like bloodhounds, it would be a very odd sight indeed.

  “If it’s a bear, it’s not like any I’ve smelled before,” Grayson asserted, turning around and folding his arms. “Probably something else.”

  “So you’re an expert on bears now?” Garrett questioned.

  “No, I’m not. Therein lies the problem,” Grayson replied unhelpfully.

  While they kept talking, Hunter found some distressed bushes a few feet from the house and followed his intuition. On the ground, a large area of foliage had been moved aside, the dirt kicked around by something that had apparently left in a hurry. As he continued to survey, Garrett and Grayson joined him.

  “Whatever it was, it’s something big, for sure.” Garrett knelt and took a closer look.

  “Probably a shifter, then,” Hunter muttered, trying to follow any signs that could lead to their culprit.

  “But then why did it try to get in the cabin? And why did it just leave afterward?” Hunter asked, more to himself than anything.

  A few more broken sticks here and there and a disrupted log lay ahead. Then suddenly, the tracks broke off and disappeared into nothingness. No footprints. No evidence of any large creature only fifty or so feet away from the house.

  If the creature had shifted, it was now long gone.

  “Don’t worry, Hunter.” Garrett clapped his hand on his friend’s back. “You can stay with me until we figure it out. We’ll put up cameras, keep an eye on the place in case whatever it is comes around again.”

  “I’ll get the equipment from my truck,” Grayson said, the first helpful thing he’d offered to do all day.

  “Thanks, boss. I really appreciate it.”

  “You know I hate it when you call me that.” Garrett grinned, flashing white teeth behind his especially overgrown beard. Domesticated Garrett was still the same old lovable bear. “How about you and me get that roof redone while Grayson works? We both know he’s better with that stuff anyway.”

  Grayson was already back from this truck, several boxes in hand and his tool belt slung over his shoulder.

  “Whatever this thing is, it’s smart. It knows how to avoid detection. It’s done a good job of masking its scent with smells from the forest, things that could throw us off track,” Grayson remarked, plopping his stuff into a little pile on the ground.

  “Ah, that’s why it’s so faint,” Garrett said thoughtfully.

  “We wolves do it sometimes. Especially when we’re trying to sneak up on something, go in for the kill. It’s important to stay downwind, make sure you roll around in—”

  Hunter shot a glare at Grayson, not liking the implications he was making right now.

  Grayson just shrugged, though he did look at least a little bit remorseful. “What? I’m just saying. That’s what wolves do. But clearly, this is not a wolf, or I’d have the entire pack out looking for it right now.”

  Hunter sighed. At least he was trying.

  Garrett clapped his meaty hands together excitedly. “C’mon, Hunter. We’ll race. Whoever finishes their side of the roof last buys the other dinner tonight.”

  Focusing on something other than the unknowable sounded like a good idea, so Hunter followed Garrett up the hill, leaving Grayson to do what he did best while he and Garrett started moving heavy boxes of wooden shingles onto the roof to replace the old ones.

  Thankfully, Hunter trusted that the women would be safe at Garrett’s house. In the wake of the almost disastrous fiasco Garrett’s mate had with the local wolf pack, Garrett had made sure to reinforce every possible part of the home he’d built for Dawn. The place was practically Fort Knox with stucco walls and a white picket fence.

  That and Dawn had her phone on her, too, so they could contact them if needed.

  Hunter started by tearing off old wood, noting with dismay that many pieces were cracked in multiple places from years of rain and sun and snow. It was a good thing they were fixing the roof today, since it could rain at any time with fall fast approaching.

  But he couldn’t help wondering if this whole thing with the intruder last night was the baggage that Kelly kept talking about. From the start, he’d thought it had been a relationship, something that often went wrong with humans since they didn’t have mates the way shifters did. A lot of women had opened up to him about their past troubles over the years.

  But it didn’t explain why Kelly seemed so afraid, different than the fear a person might have for another person. And since this thing was most likely not human, Hunter couldn’t be sure exactly what it was that Kelly was running from because she hadn’t told him yet.

  Hopefully, he’d find out soon.

  Just as Hunter was about to start the real work, his phone began to ring. When he checked it, he saw Dawn’s number.

  Hunter felt a pit in his stomach and picked up immediately.

  “Dawn? What’s up?”

  Dawn’s voice was harried, rushed. “It’s Kelly. Something happened. She went into her room and locked the door and won’t talk to us. I think something scared her to death.”

  “Be right there.”

  Hunter didn’t even think. He leapt off the roof, heavy boots thudding on the ground as he bolted for his truck. He was already inside before Garrett had even registered that his friend wasn’t on the roof with him, but Hunter would just have to call him and fill him in as he drove, white truck tearing over the uneven road at reckless speed.

  If Kelly was scared, he needed to be there, and fast.

  Chapter 11

  Kelly still couldn’t believe she’d seen the bear. She’d been working with the women, enjoying making lunch and talking about their men, and she’d just happened to look out the window.

  It was there at the edge of the clearing, huge and stark and grayish-brown, standing out against the dark line of the pine trees that surrounded the house.

  For a second, she’d thought she was just seeing a mirage, borne out by sheer paranoia. But then her eyes had adjusted and it had been so solid, so very re
al.

  So focused on her.

  She’d stepped back with a scream, dropping the dish she’d been washing. By the time the other women had stepped away from the range and walked over to the window, the beast had disappeared back into the trees.

  Making her look utterly crazy.

  Now she was locked in her room, heart nearly seizing, wondering how to explain any of this to the people around her who didn’t deserve to be thrown into this mess.

  How had it followed her this far? How could it possibly have known where she was?

  It was just a fucking bear! Nothing was right about this at all. She began to pace again, furiously, even as she could hear the women talking worriedly outside.

  Luckily, they wouldn’t be going outdoors where they would be in danger. Then again, would anyone really be in danger other than her?

  She almost wished she could just say she was crazy. That she was imagining it all; thus, it wasn’t actually a danger to anyone around.

  But even Bradley had seen it. And run.

  She was pacing for a while before she heard male voices, along with Hunter’s, as the men must have entered the house.

  Of course Dawn and April would have called their guys back. Kelly’s face burned with embarrassment at the thought of the trouble she’d caused.

  But she’d been so happy, even been able to open up to someone romantically, and it just sucked to have all of that fade away with one sighting of the bear.

  Now everyone was going to think she was crazy, and when she told them what was going on, she was going to lose her new friends.

  “Kelly? Kelly, let me in.”

  That was Hunter, and she couldn’t help the spark of relief entering her heart at the sound of his voice.

  Even if she knew what was coming next would be anything but comforting.

  “I can’t. I don’t…” She had no idea what to say. A part of her had hoped she would never have to tell him about the nightmare she’d endured.

  Something that made no sense for any human to go through.

  “Please let me in,” he said urgently.

  She sighed, knowing there was no way of holding him off. He would just keep trying to get to her. After what they’d shared last night, she couldn’t just shut him out.

  She opened the door reluctantly, and he charged forward, enveloping her tightly in his strong arms, holding her against his large, reassuring chest as he murmured soft words of comfort.

  “I… but I know everyone thinks I’m crazy.”

  “I think they know you’re scared,” he said quietly. “I think after last night, you have every right to be.” He pulled back, looking her over carefully, and relaxed slightly when he saw she was okay. “I think it’s probably time you told me everything.”

  “I know,” she said reluctantly.

  He took her hand and pulled her over to the bed, sitting down with her on the edge of it, keeping her hand in his. “You know you can tell me anything. I’m not going to judge.”

  She took a deep breath. “I shouldn’t have brought anyone else into this. I really thought he wouldn’t follow me this far.”

  “Your ex?”

  His tone was so understanding she didn’t want to see him look at her with alarm for her mental state, like everyone did when she tried to tell them what was going on.

  She let out a small noise of exasperation. “No. It’s… it’s too crazy to say.”

  “Trust me.” He tucked a stray curl behind her ear affectionately. “I might be more familiar with crazy than you think.”

  For some reason, her mind wandered to the scratches on his back. The way he worked so quickly. Then she shook those thoughts away because they seemed irrelevant. “No one believes me. Well, except one who finally did when they saw it, but…”

  “What happened?”

  Her throat felt tight, and she tried to keep herself from crying. “He ran.”

  It had been such a betrayal, particularly because she’d had such hope. Bradley had seemed to understand her, and even though he was skeptical about the bear at first, she’d thought if he did see it, he would understand.

  Not so much.

  She looked down at her hands, which were folded carefully in her lap. “So I get it if you want to run as well. You haven’t known me long, and you weren’t signing up for—”

  Hunter simply gave her hand a warm squeeze. “You haven’t even told me what I’m facing. Why don’t you let me decide what I want to sign up for?”

  She sighed. What choice did she have? Her only other option was just to run away, and he didn’t deserve that. He deserved to know what he was trying to get himself into.

  “Here.” She pulled out her phone and opened the most hated bookmark on her browser. “Maybe it’s better if I just show you this.”

  She handed her phone to him, knowing nothing would be the same after this moment. She sort of felt as if she were leaving her body, and she waited for him to give a response.

  But she also tried to reassure herself that this had all happened before and she had survived it. She would hopefully survive it once again, no matter how much it hurt.

  He scrolled through the article, reading intently, and she waited for strained laughter or cursing or yelling in shock.

  Instead, he just seemed to look a little angrier, his eyes narrowing as he picked up pace, scrolling down with terse little motions as his eyes widened slightly in shock.

  “I can’t believe this,” he said, handing the phone back to her. He let out a long, deep breath, then ran a hand through his hair.

  Her heart fell like someone kicked her off an airplane midflight. Of course he wasn’t going to believe her. Of course—

  He leaned forward with his hands on his knees, then straightened, looking straight into her eyes. “Look, I don’t think you’re crazy. If you say there’s a bear following you, there is. Now we just have to deal with him.”

  Of all the things she’d expected, that was the last of them. She felt suspended midfall. No one had ever reacted like this before. “What?”

  Hunter let out a sigh and flopped back on the bed heavily. “Man, when I got that phone call about you, my heart stopped. I was ready for you to tell me anything. Just a bear? We can deal with that.”

  She felt like the blood had left her brain, leaving her bereft of rational thought. “But… Did you read the article? He’s followed me everywhere. For months.”

  Hunter stayed where he was on the bed but nodded. “I read everything, but tell me whatever you can.”

  “But you said you couldn’t believe it.”

  “I couldn’t believe the shit the article was saying about someone who’s clearly a victim here.”

  “Oh.” As she slowly realized he was actually accepting her, her heart began to fill with warmth. She lay back on the bed next to Hunter, finally ready to tell him what had gone on.

  “He first showed up when I was on my deck in Wyoming, painting. I thought he was kind of pretty. But then he came around more, and there was something in his eyes. He started showing up when I was trying to leave the house. He never attacked me, but…”

  Hunter put a hand over hers. “But you were worried about it, obviously. Since being followed by a bear would terrify anyone.”

  Why did he make it sound so reasonable to believe her when no one else had?

  “Right. I carried bear spray, and I tried to just go about my business. He’d stay away for a good amount of time, but the weird thing is…”

  “What?”

  She flushed. “Oh God, I can’t say it.”

  “Say it. I believe you.” He turned his head to look into her eyes.

  “He doesn’t like when I’m… dating.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “That always made him come out.”

  “Oh. I think the article mentioned you saying that.” He looked back at the ceiling, considering it thoughtfully.

  “My dates wouldn’t believe me,” she said, rattling it all o
ut so she could just be done. “I’d see him outside, and when they got to the window, he wouldn’t be there. Like what just happened in the kitchen. I know my exes all thought I was crazy when I didn’t want to go outside or for them to go outside because of a bear.”

  “Was anyone attacked?”

  “No. Not yet. But even though it sounds crazy, I can sense that he would, if pushed far enough. I don’t know why. I just sense it. Whenever someone breaks up with me, he goes away for a while. I know that sounds insane.”

  “No, I don’t think so.”

  She bit her lower lip, surprised every time by his kindness. “That’s why I flew all the way out here. I thought there was no way a bear could follow my scent when I was on a plane, but I was wrong.”

  “But you say one man actually saw it?”

  “I think so. He came to the window when I asked, and he actually saw the bear. But he was like, ‘Fuck this. You have a bear stalking you. I’m not about to become bear food.’”

  “Asshole,” Hunter muttered. “A man like that isn’t even good enough to be bear food.”

  She couldn’t help letting out a giggle.

  Hunter rolled onto his side, propping himself up on his elbow. “So how did this article come about?”

  “One of my exes was drunk at a bar and thought the story was funny. This isn’t the one who saw the bear, obviously.”

  “Obviously,” Hunter said. “They tried to make you sound insane. But I know you’re not.”

  “How?” She turned on her side to face him as well.

  “I know you,” he said, brushing her cheek lightly. “If you say something, I believe you, okay?”

  She swallowed. “Okay.”

  “Now we just have to figure out how to get him,” Hunter said thoughtfully.

  She shook her head mournfully. “I’ve tried everything. I’ve hired bounty hunters, regular hunters. Depleted my savings. I don’t know why he’s doing this, but I do know he doesn’t want me to date. He wants me to be alone, and I have a feeling that at some point, he’s hoping to get me alone with him.” She flopped on her stomach on the covers. “But what a stupid bear could want from me, I just don’t know.”