Bears of Burden: WYATT

by Candace Ayers

  We’d been walking about an hour and a half when we came to a little lodge on a level piece of land.

  “How did you —” I began, forgetting that I’d already told myself I wasn’t going to ask him any more questions until he answered the one incredibly pressing question I’d already asked.

  He turned toward me, one eyebrow raised.

  And I was right back there, thinking about the damn bear again.

  “They’re here,” he said, moving toward the door, knocking briskly on it. “Cadets!”

  The door was pulled open immediately, by cadets who looked to be in much better shape than we were. The blonde at the door — the same boy who had reached for that tree in the first ill-fated experience of the night — looked utterly relieved at our appearance.

  Bedraggled as I’m sure it was.

  “Sorry, we’re late,” Chad said, stepping into the little cabin, nothing but a single room on the inside. “We got caught in the rain. And a slide. And by a mountain lion.”

  They responded only with silence, but I was guessing based on how we looked, all of those things seemed plausible.

  Maybe even highly likely.

  No one even ventured a laugh.

  “Anyone have a phone? Anyone find one on the premises? A radio?”

  He was stepping through the room, opening cupboards, waiting for an answer.

  “We were unable to find anything, sir.” A girl from the back said.

  He finished his search anyway, and I knew it was because it would be unlikely to find a cabin this far out without some sort of emergency kit.

  In the end, though, he wasn’t able to turn anything up either.

  “Alright, team, we’re going to have to hoof it back on our own. Keep your eye out for the missing bag full of gear. I’m sure the base is waiting to hear from us.”

  We’d left most of our things in the hurry to escape the storm, but apparently that wasn’t pressing because Chad was leading us down the other side of the mountain, away from the mess we’d left behind.

  Away from everything that had happened in that little cave. Everything I couldn’t stop thinking about.

  Chad

  We’d made it back unscathed.

  At least, the cadets had.

  I could have used one or two less injuries, but I was on the mend, too.

  The biggest damage done was that Brenna knew.

  I’d done my best to avoid her finding out. I’d done my best to redirect the conversation after she’d put the pieces together.

  And in the end, after we had reached the campus and the cadets had departed, I had been quick to escape her presence.

  I couldn’t be near her and not think about the cave — her body hot against mine, writhing, exploding.

  The thought of her had my dick hard all over again.

  And if one thing was beyond evident, it was that it would never be able to happen again. She already knew more than she should. More than was safe for either one of us

  My solution was juvenile and faulty, but I figured the best thing I could do, at least for the time being, was to avoid her.

  At all costs.

  And that meant no going back to the bar where I’d run into her that first night. Even though I told myself I wasn’t going there to look for her, and it wouldn’t make any difference to me whether or not I saw her car in the parking lot.

  Of course, avoiding her was only going to do me so much good when we still had weeks of classes left.

  I gave the cadets a week off, figuring they’d earned the time after the experience they’d had. I asked them to reflect on it and write me a paper, and I thought that was probably enough to justify the lack of class.

  I knew it was mostly so I could put off seeing Brenna. I also knew I wasn’t going to be able to do that for much longer.

  But, to my surprise, the Monday after the week off, the cadets trickled in.

  And no Brenna.

  I thought at first, maybe she was running late, that she might feel awkward about our tryst in the cave, how I’d touched every inch of her and would sign up to do it again in a heartbeat.

  But, no Brenna. I even dragged my feet, making sure to double check my files and sort through papers that didn’t need sorting. Class commenced, class was dismissed. Still, no Brenna. She hadn’t shown for class that day at all.

  Or the next day.

  Or the day after that.

  In fact, I didn’t see her again until Friday, back on the green where we usually met.

  The cadets had already gone, preparing for their next practical experience — a week-long trip we were hosting next to a lake, in the hopes that we would be able to foster some different kinds of skills in that landscape — when I spied her walking across the field toward me.

  She looked just as good as she had when she’d been naked and pressed against the wall of that cave, her body hot against mine, searching for the same thing I had been.

  Brenna was flipping through a sheaf of papers she had in her hand, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what was in them, especially if her expression was any indication of what it might be.

  “Major,” she said tartly.

  “Doctor,” I said, stepping in toward her even though her body language told me it wouldn’t do any good.

  I couldn’t help myself.

  “Brenna,” I corrected myself, my voice low.

  She was pressing the papers in to my chest. “This is your blood work. I pulled samples from your clothing.”

  I looked down at the charts in front of me, the vague numbers attached to valued I didn’t understand.

  “And?” I finally asked when it became clear she wasn’t going to provide me with any more information.

  “And, it’s not good. In fact, it’s probably the worst news you could ever get. Because you’re not human. According to these values, you just aren’t human.”

  She was stabbing at something on the paper, something I was to understand must be the defining thing that made me not human.

  I caught her hand in mine.

  “Stop,” I growled, not wanting her to go on, knowing I was in a horrible, vulnerable position with her acquisition of that knowledge.

  “Do you know what might just be worse, though?” she asked, and in the bright day light her eyes were inky and endless, and I wanted to get lost in them, not talk about my deficiencies as a human being. “It’s that you’re a bear.”

  “That’s not possible,” I said flatly, not knowing what else I could do, desperate to end the conversation and find a way to put it all behind us, to wipe the knowledge from her mind. “Do I look like a bear?” I asked instead.

  “No,” she said, her eyes fixing on mine. “You don’t look like a bear. Now. But I imagine sometimes, you do. I’m not an expert on things like that, but Major, I think that makes you a werebear.”

  I froze. I suddenly felt exposed and naked with the truth laid out there like that.

  “And?” I asked.

  “And,” she clipped, “I want to know more. How? Why? I want to ask all the questions and have all the answers.”

  “Well, I’m not sure I have those for you.”

  That part, at least, was true. There were so many unknowns in it, even for me.

  She was reaching out for me suddenly, her hands twisting in the fabric of my BDU. “I need to know, Chad,” she said, and there was a rawness in her voice, a hunger, that had me thinking of that moment back in the cave. “I need to know how I can care so much, want someone so much, when he’s not even human.”

  That, I definitely didn’t have an answer to.

  Brenna

  I waited impatiently.

  To be honest, I didn’t have much of the virtue of patience, and today I was especially lacking.

  I hadn’t meant to storm away from him, not really, but I couldn’t stand to look into those cool grey eyes a second longer. I couldn’t stand knowing what I knew and having him deny it to my face.

  And I didn’t
want him to see how much he affected me.

  By the time I’d thought better of it, it was too late to go back. I knew he would be long gone.

  I headed back to the hospital, thinking I might be able to find something there to occupy my time, but there was nothing in my office or in my paperwork that could capture my attention enough to draw it away from Chad Matthews.

  Not long enough, not completely enough, not exciting enough.

  It took just a moment to find his current address in the hospital’s database, and then I was on my way to temporary housing.

  I’d stood outside his door. Walked up and down the hall. Perched on various inanimate objects, waiting for his eventual return.

  I had barely processed his arrival before I was leaping to my feet and moving toward him, the small space that moonlighted as a window seat at the end of the hall, disappearing behind me.

  I knew the minute he saw me, his step faltered, as though he was weighing whether or not he should continue forward, or whether he should turn around and run. Could he could move away from me more quickly than I could move toward him?

  “What are you doing here?” he asked bluntly.

  “I came to see you,” I said with just as much tact. “I shouldn’t have left earlier. We weren’t finished. There’s still so much more I need to know…”

  “Look,” he growled, his voice filled with gravel and laced with angst, his hand reaching out the grab my upper arm, his fingers biting into the soft flesh there, a reminder of his physical strength. “I don’t know what you think I can tell you. I’ve given you everything I have to give.”

  His touch had already sent me back to that moment in the cave, and now with those words on his lips, I was melting into him, a veritable puddle of emotions and desire.

  His mouth came crashing down on mine as he roughly hauled me up against him, his tongue teasing against mine, his hands moving over my body like he already owned me.

  And I was thinking he already did.

  Somehow he managed to open the door to the little suite while kissing me, a feat I was going to have to marvel over later, and we were crossed the room toward the bedroom at the back.

  I knew exactly where we were going, and I had no qualms about going there at all. I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him since the first time I’d let him slide his hard cock into my body, and now, I wanted him back where he belonged.

  I was moaning against him, saying his name, because I knew it was something he liked, and something I’d tried so hard to hold back from him.

  But now I was putty in his hands, turning into whatever kind of pliable thing he wanted me to be, desperate to have him.

  “Does it matter?” he asked, his teeth nipping at my lip. “Does it really matter?”

  I twined my arms around his neck, letting him carry me the rest of the way to the bed, moving eagerly against him.

  “No,” I heard myself say, and my voice was ragged, pleading.

  It didn’t matter, I suppose. I thought it had, but the truth was, it didn’t matter at all.

  The only thing that mattered was that I was here with him, our clothing being pulled from our bodies one piece at a time, exploring one another with a sweetness and an urgency and a desperation that reminded me of our time in the cave all over again.

  Would it always be like this?

  And I was certainly going to look forward to finding out.

  THE END

  THE LION’S CLAIM

  STORY DESCRIPTION

  Everyone in the city knows Jakob Moore, the billionaire playboy whose face graces the covers of multi- national newspapers and magazines. Referred to as one of the world’s richest eligible bachelors, as well as a cutthroat businessman and CEO, Jakob is well aware of his reputation. He’s proud of it!

  After all, he’s the CEO of a highly successful corporation, King of his lion shifter pride, has a different girl on his arm every night… what man in his right mind wouldn’t envy him? His life is damn near perfect until the fateful afternoon he runs into sweet, curvy Bree Reynolds. Literally.

  Suddenly, Jakob’s fabulous high-powered world becomes hollow and superficial. In fact, nothing in his life means anything to him unless he can claim Bree as his mate.

  Bree Reynold’s parents are pressuring her to marry, but not to just any man. They want her to find a husband whose financial and social status will rival their own. But, there's not a man alive who can pin Bree down. If her parents' horrendous marriage wasn't enough to convince her that love is a sham, then her last few years working as a marriage counselor certainly was. Bree has been surrounded by awful relationships and painful, troublesome marriages.

  When Jakob Moore enters her life, he's already got two strikes against him. He's rich, and he thinks he loves her. He’s quick to learn that the only thing Bree hates more than the phony concept of love, is money.

  Surrounded by yes men, Jakob is used to getting what he wants, but with stubborn, headstrong Bree, he certainly has his work cut out for him. Bree’s mind is made up, and no man will convince her otherwise. Not even Jakob Moore, the sexy CEO who makes her pulse race and her knees weak.

  When Bree gets dragged into danger because of him, Jakob has had enough and now he will stop at nothing to save her and mate her. But, will Bree accept this Shifter into her life before it's too late, or will her stubbornness be the end of her?

  Chapter 1

  Bree Reynolds sat in her office listening to Mary and Peter Ableman discuss their sex life—or lack thereof—for the third time this month. When she'd ditched law school to go into marriage counseling, she'd thought she'd be saving marriages, helping people. Since graduating and getting her job at Oasis Counseling Services, she hadn't seen one couple successfully redesign their marriage into a happy one. Oh, plenty of couples stayed married after coming to see her, but those marriages consisted mostly of women who'd decided to accept their husband's infidelities, or men who'd decided to stay with their nagging, ball crushing wives for the kids' sake.

  That was a big one: for the sake of the kids. She heard it all the time from couples. She knew she should just stop asking, but inevitably she'd put the question to them: Do you still love each other? Think about each other during the day? Miss each other when you're not together? The inevitable answer was always: Well, no, but for the sake of the kids...

  Her phone vibrated and she looked down to read the text from her mother.

  Are you coming to our anniversary dinner? I haven't received your RSVP. Your father's not well, you know. It could kill him if he doesn't see you.

  Talk about passionless marriages. Bree's parents had decided that making money was their top priority, and everything else was a distant second. They were richer than Bree would ever be, but they hadn't loved each other since she was five. She was twenty-six now. That's a lot of years to spend with someone you can't stand. Bree rolled her eyes and looked up to see Mary and Peter staring at her.

  "Sorry," she said, "did you say something?" Bree caught her reflection in the mirror and smiled at her new haircut. The hairdresser had been right. It complemented her round face and the curves of her body. Somehow her bright green eyes looked that much brighter with a cute bob and red highlights.

  "I asked," Mary said, her voice barely audible over Peter's heavy breathing. "If you thought it was worth it for us to stay together?" She burst into tears then and Peter automatically stuck out his hand and patted her knee. It would have been sweet if Bree didn't know the main reason for Mary's tears was because of the twenty-year-old secretary she'd caught Peter screwing not long ago.

  Bree replied with her much rehearsed answer to such questions. "There's still a lot of work to do, but if you love each other, that work can be done. Marriage is tough for everyone."

  Which is exactly why I'm never getting married. No marriage plus no kids equals a happy life.

  She looked out the window and wished she could be outside and away from this constant reminder that all the movies and
songs got it wrong. There was no such thing as happily ever after.

  ***

  Jakob Moore sat behind his mahogany desk and looked at his watch. The overhead lights flickered on the gold, creating a rich tapestry of yellows and creams that made his watch look shiny and expensive. Considering the fact that it was expensive—very, Jakob appreciated the opulence of it as it gleamed against the tan of his skin.

  Blake scanned Jakob's face, uncertain if he should speak. He hated feeling inferior to anyone, especially Jakob. But that's what being second in command meant—you were always inferior to the King above you.

  "Well?" Jakob asked. With this new deal coming up, there was nothing to be left to chance. Jakob had planned this takeover for too long. Putting his competition out of business was the only thing he'd thought of for the last several months, carefully plotting each move before taking action. That was what any good leader did—thought of a solution, then implemented it. The takeover wasn't about getting rich—Jakob already had billions more than he could count—it was about protecting his pride from their rival company.

  If one rival was able to make a dent in his production, reduce his income by even one percent, the whole pride would suffer. The pride depended on him not just for money, but for their lives. It was Jakob's company—he was the alpha, the King, after all—but it was run by his pride, and they all depended on him to make sure it continued.

  "Well?" Jakob demanded, baring his teeth a little more. He did not like waiting for answers.

  "If I gave anyone the impression I was displeased with you in any way," Blake said, hiding the snarl that tried to rise in his throat, "I apologize. You know that's not true. My only intention when speaking with Mark was to emphasize how important this deal is. When we crush Remy Riders, it will make our own product that much stronger, and our pride that much more powerful."

  Jakob nodded. He knew Blake wasn't being entirely honest, as pride leader he could sense even the hint of a lie, but he also knew Blake was loyal. If he'd sensed any semblance of disloyalty, he'd have banished him from the pride right then and there. As the King, it was sometimes important to distinguish between disloyalty and someone blowing off steam.