Safe with Her Bears

by Madeline Hill

Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened in shock. No...

  Her hand shook violently. She dropped the shirt to the ground and just stared, completely frozen in place. Flabbergasted.

  There was a loud static blip that made her jump. She leaned over and pulled out a black walkie-talkie, holding it gingerly, as if it were a snake that might bite her.

  “Carter! You read me?” A man’s distorted voice rang out of the speakers amid a sea of static. “For Christ’s sake, Carter, pick up. You guys okay out there? I’m about to send someone out.”

  Jules dropped the walkie-talkie, a shiver of cold fear running through her. ‘You guys…’ So not just Carter. Max, too.

  Both of them had lied to her. They really had been undercover the whole time.

  And now she felt like the biggest idiot of all time. She shouldn’t have trusted either of them. She should’ve run. For some reason, she thought she was safe because they were shifters. As if shifters couldn’t also be liars. As if shifters couldn’t be cops.

  Worst of all, what kind of asshole cop would actually seduce and fuck their suspect before arresting them? Who the fuck were these guys?

  You shouldn’t have told him who you are, Jules... now they have a verbal admission of guilt.

  Jules thought she heard a branch snap. She whipped her head around towards the cabin, but there was nothing. Everything was still. She had to get out of there fast, before they woke up. Her purse was still there in the cabin. But she couldn’t risk going back. She’d have to find a way to survive without cash once she got back to civilization. She could do it.

  She dug around in the pack once more, seeing what she could find. There were more clothes, regular everyday clothes. A wallet. She opened it up and snatched out two wrinkled twenty-dollar bills. It wasn’t much, but it would have to do. Then at the bottom of the backpack, she felt cool metal against her fingers.

  She pulled out a Glock, fully loaded. Bingo.

  Jules checked the safety and stuffed the gun into the band of her shorts before breaking into a run. She had to get as far away from these bastard shifters as she possibly could. She swore to herself, if she saw either of them ever again, she’d shoot them dead.

  She’d never had such a terrifying thought before, but if it was her or them, she’d choose her. She’d survive.

  11

  Max startled at the sound of a loud snore crossed with a growl. He wrenched his eyes open and it took him a few seconds to get his bearings. Carter was passed out on the cabin floor next to him, looking like he was in the midst of a deep hibernation. Max smacked him hard on the shoulder, but he didn’t budge.

  Max sat up, stretched his arms and swiveled his neck back and forth, working out the kinks. A hard wooden floor wasn’t the best place to sleep. Still, he’d slept like a baby. Only now there was something missing... Jules was gone, and his body cried out in her absence.

  Images from the previous night flooded his mind. Her beautiful emerald green eyes. Her sleek black hair that gleamed bluish in the moonlight. Her curves, the soft flesh of her pale white body. Her ample breasts with those hard pink nipples, the deliciously sweet wetness of her. The feeling of her on him... her intoxicating scent. Her tightness as he pumped inside of her, filling her completely. The way her breath hitched in her throat, the way her cheeks grew flushed with arousal. Her scream as her pussy clenched around him, riding a wave of ecstasy. His ragged, desperate thrusts. The bear inside him roaring as he released deep inside her.

  Max’s cock twitched, standing at attention. Damn, he needed her again. But where was she?

  Suddenly he remembered everything else. The warmth inside him grew cold as he realized the absolute absurdity of the situation he and Carter had placed themselves in. She was a criminal, for God’s sake. Their little fantasy love story would have to end, sooner or later.

  Panic struck him when he realized she might have run away again. She had confided in him, so he’d figured she would stay, but maybe she had a change of heart upon waking up. A wave of relief washed over him when he spotted her purse on the floor. She wouldn’t leave without taking it—there was a decent amount of cash inside that she’d need once she got out of the park. Curious, he crawled over to it and looked inside. When he saw the cash still in place, he sighed in relief. She was probably just going to the bathroom.

  He knew he had limited time. He shook Carter roughly.

  “Carter! Wake up!” he said, his voice hushed.

  Nothing.

  Max slapped him across the face. Carter startled, his body jumping. He opened his eyes, confused.

  “Carter,” Max said. “Wake up. Jules is outside. I think she’s going to the bathroom.”

  Carter furrowed his brows, looking totally bewildered. “Wha... huh?”

  Then he remembered and smiled dreamily. “Oh... Jules...”

  “Yeah, listen,” Max whispered. “She told me last night. You were asleep. She admitted to everything. The drugs, running from the cops.”

  “She did?”

  “Yeah.” Max sighed. “Carter, I don’t think anyone forced her into it. She owned it all.”

  Carter’s smile faded. “Well, what do we do?”

  “I don’t know. She says she wants to stay with us. Come to our cabin. She trusts us, I think. She thinks we’ll protect her.”

  Carter propped himself up on his elbows. “Well, we will, won’t we?”

  Max inhaled deeply. He felt pained. “I don’t know, Carter. We got ourselves into a real mess, you know that?”

  “Yeah, I guess so.” Carter shook his head. “But I can’t... I can’t just turn her in. Max, I think I... I think I love her.”

  Max pursed his lips.

  “She’s my mate, Max. I know it. I just know it. The bear inside me... it’s chosen. And it’s the same for you, isn’t it?”

  Max didn’t want to answer. But he knew the truth. His bear had spoken as well. It had chosen her.

  He shrugged his shoulders. “It doesn’t matter. We’re shifters, yes. But we’re cops, too. What we’ve done so far... it’s beyond unethical. And to hide her away? Protect her? Lie to everyone? We’ll become criminals just like her. And if we’re caught, all three of us will be going to prison.”

  Carter shook his head, an angry growl escaping his throat. “It isn’t fair, Max. It isn’t fucking fair.”

  Max looked down, not wanting to meet his best friend’s eyes. “I know.”

  Carter stood up and peeked out the window. “Fuck it, Max. I don’t care. I love her. She’s my mate. That’s more important to me than ethics. It’s more important to me than some stupid job. I mean, that’s all this is, right? It’s not our calling to be cops or rangers. It’s not our passion. All we’re meant to be, destined to be, are shifters. We’re destined to meet our mate and stay with her for life.”

  “But if we get caught—”

  “We won’t! We’re smart enough. Jules is smart, too. We can get away with it.”

  Max’s mind was spinning. This was insane. “Carter, how are we going to tell her the truth? How do you think she’ll react? She’ll never be able to trust us!”

  Carter shook his head. He clenched his fists tight with resolve. “We’ll tell her now. Get it all out in the open. The sooner, the better.”

  He stepped forward, shoved the door wide open and went outside, Max following behind.

  “Jules!” Carter called out. “You out here?”

  12

  Carter boldly marched outside, his heart hammering in his chest. This was it. It was now or never. Jules was the woman for him. He knew it beyond a shadow of a doubt. Carter, as a person, was sometimes prone to making bad choices. But the bear inside him was always right. In fact, the times when he screwed up the most, it was because he ignored or disregarded what his bear was trying to tell him. He wouldn’t make the same mistake again.

  He was certain that Jules loved him, too. He saw it in her eyes. It was inconvenient for her, certainly, given the situation and the timing. But deep d
own, she had to acknowledge it.

  He didn’t know how she’d react to their confession. It would be difficult. She might turn against them. Building trust between the three of them would be a monumental task. But he and Max would do everything in their power to convince her to stay with them. And she would. He knew she would. Somehow.

  “Jules!” he called out. There was no response.

  He looked around. The forest was still and quiet.

  “Jules, we need to talk to you!” Max yelled. There was only the squawk of a distant bird.

  Carter turned to Max, who stood behind him, wearing a worried expression. “You don’t think she ran away again, do you?”

  Max shook his head. “I don’t know. Why would she run away without taking her money?”

  “Something doesn’t feel right,” Carter said. He sniffed, her scent still lingering in the air. “Let’s follow. I don’t think she’s far from here.”

  The two shifters marched forward into the woods, following her scent trail. She smelled like honey, sex, and strawberry shampoo, an intoxicating combination. After walking a few minutes, Max stopped dead in his tracks.

  “What is it?” Carter asked.

  He pointed a solemn finger ahead. Carter looked, spotting the green-gray of his backpack several meters away, near a blackberry bush.

  He scrambled over to it. It was on the ground, its contents scattered all around.

  “I put it in that tree trunk,” he said. “Someone must have...”

  The reality struck him hard. “You don’t think she—”

  Max inhaled deeply. He crouched down and dug through the backpack, pulling the rest of Carter’s clothes out. He searched through the belongings frantically, then paused. He bit his lower lip. “The gun, Carter.”

  Carter’s eyes widened. “She took the gun?”

  Max stood, looking straight ahead, his brows furrowed. He clenched his fists. “We have to be careful, Carter. She’s upset. She took that gun to protect herself... from us.”

  Carter felt his heart crack into two. The woman he had made love to only hours before, the woman he’d claimed as his fated mate, now feared him, hated him, felt betrayed. She might even kill him, if given the chance.

  They had to find her, fast, and explain themselves.

  “Let’s shift,” Carter commanded. Max nodded in agreement.

  Carter clenched his eyes shut and let out a roar. He felt his skin prickle with a thousand goosebumps. A wave of intense heat passed over him. He felt his body contort, his spine bend and grow, and a blanket of heavy fur emerge, hair by hair, out of every pore. His face twisted and his fingernails grew into claws. He felt as if he’d been struck by a bolt of lightning that invigorated him and sent him into a temporary euphoria. He opened his eyes and his vision sharpened, every sense within him heightened.

  Next to him crouched Max in his bear form, a hulking golden grizzly. They gave each other a knowing glance before each breaking out into a run, following Jules’s scent like homing missiles, making the earth under their paws tremble with every heavy step.

  It didn’t take long. Far off in the distance, Carter spotted the unmistakable gleam of raven black glinting in the sunshine as her hair whipped up and down. Jules was running fast. Carter was impressed at her speed. Humans were usually slow and clumsy, especially out in these woods, and especially ones who carried any flesh on their bones. But he knew she was running on pure adrenaline. She’d undoubtedly heard the roar. She knew they were upon her.

  The two bears advanced quickly, Jules’s form growing larger as they closed the distance between them. Next to him, Max shifted back to human form as he ran. It was an impressive sight. He didn’t miss a beat. In the blink of an eye, he was back on two legs, his muscles flexing.

  A large boulder obstructed Jules’s path, so she slowed and whipped around, pulling the Glock out of the band of her shorts and aiming it right at Max as he closed in on her. Her chest heaved, her lungs desperate for air. Her aim wavered as she panted, but her eyes were fixed on him.

  “Jules, let us explain!” Max yelled.

  Jules clenched her eyes shut and pulled the trigger. A deafening BANG rang through the air. Carter reflexively looked away, and when he looked back up, Max was on the ground and Jules was scrambling away, darting around the boulder. Carter roared in desperate fury before shifting back into a man.

  He ran to Max and crouched down. Rivulets of deep red blood ran down Max’s chest and body, from the point of impact right under his left shoulder.

  Max gritted his teeth, his face pained. “Get her,” he breathed.

  Carter shook his head. “I’m not leaving you.”

  Max whipped his hand up, gripping Carter’s forearm with incredible strength. “Go!” he roared. “Go now!”

  “But you’re—”

  “GO!”

  Carter ripped his arm away angrily. He looked up, her scent still rich in his nostrils. He would catch her in only a few seconds. He just had to figure out how to avoid getting shot. He scanned the forest floor. Perhaps by circling around and surprising her from the front, he could tackle her and wrestle the weapon out of her hands before she had a chance to react.

  As he stood, a guttural screech pierced his ears. He looked around just in time to see a large mountain lion land briskly on top of the boulder. It glared right at him, its bright yellow eyes glowing with fury. It opened its mouth wide and let out a high-pitched feline roar. The cat gripped the rock with its claws before leaping down and barreling towards him.

  In an instant he felt the claws sinking into both of his shoulders. He tumbled back, the cat’s weight on top of him. He flung back his arm and clenched a tight fist, striking a hard blow into the cat’s ribs. The cat growled as he punched it, but it didn’t budge, pinning him to the ground, the muscles of its sleek body flexing. It lifted its paw to give a swat at his face, but before it could land, there was a roar as Max tackled him from the side. The two bodies wrestled, tumbling over and over on the ground, Max’s blood smearing into the cat’s tan fur. Max groaned as he fought, wincing in pain.

  Carter took this opportunity to shift. He grew bigger and stronger and charged hard towards the cat. He felt more powerful and fierce than he had in a long time, fueled by adrenaline, fury, despair, and now frustration. What the hell was this cat thinking, attacking them for no reason?

  He slammed into the cougar, using the full weight of his massive grizzly body. He almost felt the cat’s wiry body squish into the ground under his weight. It yelped before scrambling away. It circled around him and pounced on him from the back, digging its claws into his flesh and sinking its teeth deep into the back of his neck. Fortunately Carter was protected by a thick layer of fur and ample skin and fat, yet the cat was still able to pierce deeply, drawing blood. Carter roared, swatting his paws behind him, when Max tackled the cat again, sending it flying to the ground.

  They wrestled, swatting and clawing at each other, Max’s torn human body lined with deep red scratches. Max struggled to keep the cat’s jaws away from his face. Carter barreled at the cougar with a loud roar, but before he made contact, the cat sank its teeth right into the area of Max’s gunshot wound. Max let out an ear-piercing scream of agony. Carter slammed into the cat and rolled over it, nearly squishing it again, but it slipped out of his grasp and bolted, leaping on to the boulder, and then onto the branches of a tall pine, the flimsy wood bending near the breaking point. It hopped before the branch could break, then moved skillfully from branch to branch, escaping off into the distance with incredible speed and agility out of Carter’s sight.

  Max groaned in agony. Carter whipped to face his wounded friend. He shifted back quickly and ran to his side.

  Max was in poor shape, his entire upper body smeared with blood. There were deep gashes in his chest and stomach, and the previously non-fatal gunshot wound was now a hemorrhaging mess, parts of his flesh torn away by the cougar’s sharp teeth.

  Carter’s heart raced in his chest. “It
’s okay, Max, it’s okay, we’ll get you some help.”

  “Jules...” Max whimpered, his face winced in pain.

  “Shh, don’t speak,” Carter hushed. “Everything will be okay.”

  Carter brought Max’s arms around his neck and pulled him up to his feet, Max crying out in pain. Carter turned around and made sure Max clasped his arms tight around him. Then he shifted back into grizzly form and broke out into a run, carrying Max on his back, his friend’s blood matting into his fur. He ran faster than he ever had in his life, his heart racing, fear coursing through his veins. He tried not to worry. He tried not to panic. But this was bad. Very bad.

  Max needed help or he would die.

  13

  Jules raced through the woods. She hadn’t stopped for even a second. Her body screamed out at her, begging for rest. But she didn’t listen. She couldn’t.

  She was completely out of breath, her lungs overworked and gasping for air. Every single muscle in her body throbbed with intense pain.

  But adrenaline carried her. Fear carried her. Her survival instinct. This was life or death. She wasn’t ready to die. And to her, going to prison was a fate just as bad if not worse than death. She was determined not to let that happen.

  Agony wracked her heart along with the searing of her muscles.

  When she’d seen Max fast approaching her, his legs carrying him swiftly over the forest floor, his face stern and his brows furrowed, she had panicked. She’d felt the walls closing in on her. He had shouted something at her, but she didn’t hear it. In that kind of situation, she just didn’t have the time to stop and think, to listen, to weigh her options. She had to act fast. Her finger twitched and that was it.

  Nick had taught her how to shoot. She refused to carry a weapon on her, but he still insisted on teaching her how to use one properly. He said that one day, sooner or later, the skill would come in handy. At the time she refused to believe she would ever get to that point. She wasn’t a gangster like all the others. She was just a girl who was... vaguely affiliated with gangsters. That’s the lie she told herself, at least.