“We can’t just pick the first one,” Suzy said. “Gotta make it a little more difficult for Bryce and his cronies.”
“Maybe the snow will mask our smell,” Jess said.
“I hope so, but we can’t count on it." A few minutes later, she said, "How about that one?”
They arrived before a large cabin on the edge of the subdivision. Snow heaped on its roof and caked its stone chimney, but there was something inviting about the building nevertheless, something homey. Suzy leapt up the three stairs to the porch and pounded on the front door. No one answered. She tried the door. Locked. Jess tried a window, then another. The third one proved to be unlocked, and she shoved it open and crawled inside. Suzy followed. A flurry of snow followed them inside, and Jess slammed the window closed.
“Shit!” Suzy said. She stamped her feet and shivered dramatically.
“Wish we could light the fireplace,” Jess said, blowing on her hands. Why couldn’t she have grabbed some gloves?
“We can’t?” said Suzy.
“Nope. One, the smoke might draw the lions in. Two, we don’t have any firewood.”
They looked around. The cabin was completely empty. No furniture, no wood, no guns. Nothing.
“Damn it all,” Suzy said. “The rotten luck. We can’t even barricade the doors. Should we risk going back out? You know, keep going through the woods until we find someone that can help us?”
Jess thought about it. “I don’t think so. We’d probably run into Bryce if we did, or get hurt somehow. Or get lost and freeze to death. No, it’s lucky we found this place. Let’s just hope the snow covers our smell.”
“Ride it out till morning, huh?”
Jess sighed. “Wish I’d brought my phone with me.”
“Me, too. And this place doesn’t even have a landline.” Suzy chewed her lip. “You really think it will be safe by morning?”
“Well, we can’t stay here forever. And can’t weres only change under a full moon?”
Suzy laughed as she peeked out the window. “That’s werewolves, and just in movies. It’s not a full moon now. No, they can change anytime, I think. Maybe it’s different from shifter type to shifter type. I don’t know.”
Jess moved beside her and peered through the blinds.
“It just looks black outside,” she said.
Suzy made a mmm noise. “Guess we should stay away from the windows. And we can’t turn on any lights, or the heater, or anything?”
“We probably shouldn’t.”
Suzy glanced at her, and though the room was dark, lit only by the scant light that filtered in through the blinds, Jess could see the naked fear in her face. Suzy’s eyes glistened with moisture. Her shaking returned, and she crossed her arms over her chest and huddled against herself.
Jess wrapped her arms around her friend. Together, the two slid down a wall and held each other while the wind howled outside and somewhere a pack of lion shifters hunted them. And Mike? Jess wondered. Is he still fighting for his life out there? The thought entered her mind that he might be dead, dead because of her, and horror overwhelmed her. Suddenly tears filled her eyes. This is my fault, she thought. All my fault. If only I’d had that drink with him, none of this would have happened.
Emotion welled up in her, more than she could contain, and she began to cry. Suzy wept louder, giving into it, too, finally, and they cried together in the night. Gradually, though, Jess felt the emotions pass, and when her tears dried she felt lighter somehow. Stronger.
“We’ll get through this,” she said, though her voice was still thick. “We’ll make it, don’t you worry.”
Suzy wiped at her eyes. “When did you get so brave?”
Jess laughed, surprising herself. “Must have been during the divorce. Andrew’s lawyer was a shark.”
Suzy barked a startled laugh. Sadly, she said, “You two were such a cute couple back in college, Jess. What happened?”
“I don’t think I ever saw the real Andrew, only the face he wanted me to see. When his banking career took off, he started to let the real Andrew show through.”
“What do you mean?”
“He began to turn vain—and cruel, too. He would snap at me for no reason. Sometimes viciously. Accuse me of terrible things. Put me down. He wouldn’t come home till late, and he was always traveling.”
“You think he was having an affair?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. But if he was, that wasn’t, you know, why. I mean, that wasn’t the cause of it all. It was just … him. And us, maybe. Something about us just wasn’t working. He would snap at me, and I would pull away. Or maybe he snapped at me because he sensed I was pulling away.” She let out a breath that felt caged inside her. “I don’t know. All I know is when I decided to pull the plug on it at last, he went crazy. Grew enraged. As if somehow I had challenged him. He would tell me when it was over, he said. It wasn’t over till he’d said it was. I think he would have left me just as soon as I dropped the divorce, but it would have been on his terms. He was—is—that much of an asshole. But I couldn’t take the chance. I needed out, and I needed it fast.”
“So you gave him the house.”
Jess realized she was smiling. “I got off cheap.”
Suzy squeezed her in a hug. “I’ve missed you.”
“You, too.” They had been so close in college, but then Jess had met Andrew, and Suzy had stayed single. For a long time, Jess and Suzy had stayed BFFs, but it was harder, being part of a couple and having a single friend. Then Suzy had left the city and returned to the country where she was from. The mountains. Even then they’d written to each other and flown to see each other sometimes. But it just wasn’t the same. Now, though, they were both single—Suzy had never married, even now, ten years after college—and in the same place.
“You planning on going back to San Francisco when this is all over?” Suzy said. That was where Jess was from.
“I don’t know. San Fran may not be big enough for me and Andrew to share.”
“You’re thinking of leaving?”
For some reason, Jess thought of Mike, and smiled. “Maybe.” Sudden fear for him cut at her heart, and she choked back a sob.
Apparently understanding, Suzy squeezed her again. “I’m sure he’s fine.”
“You think that was really him?”
“I’d bet on it. In fact—”
Knocking came from the door.
Jess started to gasp, then stopped herself. She and Suzy stared toward the dim shape of the door, then at each other. All Jess could see of her friend was the gleam off her eyes and a faint halo in her hair.
The knocking returned. Boom. Boom. Boom.
“Oh my God,” Suzy whispered. “You think it’s Bryce?”
“I …” Jess swallowed.
Having to force herself not to tremble, she climbed to her feet. When Suzy made motions to get up, Jess helped her, too, and together they stood facing the door as the person on the other side knocked again.
Boom. Boom.
An icy shiver coursed down Jess’s spine.
“I think we should open it,” she said.
“But what if—?”
“I don’t think Bryce would knock. And if he did and we didn’t answer, it would only piss him off worse. This way he’ll at least pretend to be civil, for awhile.”
Jess sucked in a breath, moved to the door and opened it.
A man, huge and naked and bleeding, had been resting his weight against it, and when she opened the door he fell against her, tumbling them both to the floor. Snow gusted in, swirling about, alighting in Jess’s hair, which was the only part of her it could get at, since Mike, and it was definitely Mike, was sprawled atop her. Her legs had wrapped around his hips, and his groin was very close to hers. Most men would have been frozen solid and shriveled, naked in this weather, but not a bear shifter, not just after a shift and a fight.
Even in the dimness, she could see his tired grin as he stared down at her.
“W
ell, hello there,” he said, and kissed her on the lips.
Shocked, she hesitated, then kissed back, and instantly she could feel him grow hard against her.
Then he gave out a groan, his eyes rolled up in his head, and he passed out, pinning her to the floor.
“A little help here?” she said, her words half-muffled by Mike’s body.
Chapter 6
“They didn’t see me,” Mike said after he’d recovered. After laboriously dragging him over, they’d leaned him up against a wall near a window, and Suzy had opened the blinds so that they could see his wounds better and inspect him. Jess had given him her jacket—or had tried to, anyway. He’d refused outright. He was still naked, but it didn’t seem to bother him. Jess couldn’t help but take a peek every now and then. His shaft was huge and thick. Just the sight of it moistened her panties. She was all too aware that Suzy must be getting a show, too. Occasionally they caught each other looking and blushed.
“Once the snow got thick enough, I knew they couldn’t track me,” Mike went on. Streaks of blood leaked from his chest and arms and back. The lions had truly savaged him. Bear shifters healed fast, though, Jess had heard, and even now his flesh seemed to be knitting back together, if slowly, and the flow of blood ceasing. “I broke off from them and found myself on a high ridge. I saw you girls sneaking through this place and came on down.”
“You sure Bryce and his goons didn’t see us, too?” Suzy said. She wrung her wrist as she did, as if imagining Bryce twisting at her again.
“I don’t think so,” Mike said. As he spoke, he shifted slightly, and Jess noticed that his cock had actually hardened somewhat. He liked Jess's attention. She gasped and felt herself grow even wetter. His nostrils quivered and he grinned. “They were headed a different direction. I drew them off from the area you were traveling toward.”
Jess felt her heart swell. He had risked his life once for her, and had risked it even further again. He could have died tonight, terribly, ripped apart by lions. Only his daring and strength had saved him. She wanted to throw herself in his arms. Then she remembered Andrew and her resolution to stay single and held herself back.
Suddenly Mike scowled and studied Jess, and such was his intensity that she blinked.
“What is it?” she said, exchanging a look with Suzy, who only shook her head.
“You know,” Mike said softly, his eyes on Jess. “You know what I am. You don’t act surprised.”
Slowly, she nodded. “A bear shifter.”
“How’d you know?”
She grinned, feeling her cheeks burn. “It wasn’t, ah, hard to figure out.” That word! Her eyes darted as if against their will to his cock, hard and straining upward, as if questing for her, then jerked away. Her core raged as if with fire.
“Sorry,” he said, but he was chuckling. “I get that way sometimes after a fight. When my blood goes up, makes me want to …” He let his words drift off.
“I think we get the picture,” Suzy said, and her cheeks had gone dark. Becoming aware of Jess, she twisted away.
“So, um, what now?” Jess said, staring pointedly out the window. “I hate to sound like the helpless maiden here, but I’m not sure what to do next. Wait for daylight?”
“Sounds good,” Mike said. “Then I’ll bring you girls to safety.” He lapsed into silence, and Jess turned briefly to see him frowning. He seemed to be turning something over in his mind.
She frowned, too. “Who are they? Bryce and his buddies? Just some random lion shifters?”
“I don’t know,” Mike admitted. “I was just wondering the same thing. I need to see my alpha. He knows more about the other shifters. Bear politics has always been more than I could handle.”
“Bear politics?”
“How the different clans get along. Since our coming out, things have been tense among the clans. Everyone has a different way to deal with it, and some don’t want anything to do with humans. Some want to retreat into the mountains like the Black Valley shifters under Kane. Others want to wipe out the human towns in the mountains and reclaim them as our territory. Most just want peace and understanding with humans, though, don’t worry. Anyway, guess I never really had time to figure out how all the other races were taking it. Or even paid them much attention before the coming-out, either.”
“Where’s your alpha?” Suzy asked, and for some irrational reason Jess resented her sticking her nose in. Jess wanted to shout, He’s mine! Hands off! She knew that was ridiculous, though, and fumed to herself.
“In town,” Mike said. “My crew had been just outside of town till recently, and now we’re scattered about. A couple still stay at the resort, but now that it’s partly open it’s pretty much out of room.”
“Why did you move?” Jess said before Suzy could open her mouth.
Mike grunted. “Politics. My clan has an alpha, but all the regional clans share a Great Alpha. He told Connor, my alpha, to arrange the move.”
“Like, for some ... reason?”
Mike grinned again, that infuriating confident grin of his. “We bought the Ski Resort.”
To Jess’s dumbfounded look, Suzy said, “It operates all the skiing here. The lifts, maintains the slopes. It’s a private company, but the boys who run it are local. Or were,” she added, giving Mike a sour look.
“Why would bear shifters buy a ski resort?” Jess said.
“Public relations,” Mike said. “It’s going to be our front to the world. Our public face. It’s a big thing. My crew, the Pine Ridge crew, we’re real proud to have been asked to do it. The Great Alpha said we have good heads on our shoulders.”
“You sure do,” Jess couldn’t help but say, and she was relieved when Mike’s smile only widened. His cock throbbed between his legs. She could see just a tiny drop of dew glistening on its end. She wanted to lick it off. For a moment she wished Suzy weren’t there.
Suzy was watching the two of them. “You know,” she said, with an exaggerated yawn. “Maybe I should just get some sleep. It’s been a hell of a night, after all. I think I’ll just …” She hugged Jess goodnight, then passed through an archway and into another room.
“You really don’t have to do that,” Jess called, but Suzy didn’t reply.
“Good night,” Mike called, then looked up at Jess. His annoying grin fell away, and he stared up at her soberly but warmly. She felt as if his soul were reaching out to hers.
She knelt beside him, and now he was taller than she was. Once more she realized how big he was, huge, his shoulders broad, his chest deep. Blood like oil dripped down his eight-pack and sweat greased his erect shaft. She just wanted to reach down and grip it. She knew it would be hot in her fingers. Then she would jerk it, feeling it pulse in her hand, and the bead on the tip would grow fatter and fatter …
She snapped out of it when she realized he was leaning in for a kiss. She pulled away. His hand had gently cupped the back of her head, but she jerked to the side and went sprawling.
“What was that for?” he asked.
She propped herself up. “No,” she said. “We’re not doing that.”
“But why not? My bear aches for you, Jess.”
She stared at him. He had said that so sincerely. His eyes shone by the light of the moonlight streaming through the windows. He was so powerful, and strong, and protective, and she wanted him with every fiber of her being. But it was too soon. If she just jumped from one man to another, she would never know what it was like to stand on her own two feet.
“I can’t,” she forced out. Picking herself up, she felt tears spring to her eyes. She was giving up something, someone, she wanted desperately. “I just can’t.”
Crying, she fled the room.
Chapter 7
Well, that hadn’t gone as well as Mike had hoped. Things had been going better than he’d expected before that part at the end, when she’d burst into tears and run hysterical from the room, but that last part had kind of ruined it. What had he done wrong? Was the head cup too
much?
He shook himself, a growl tearing from his lips. His bear surged inside him, angry and frustrated. It had just been about to consummate with its mate, but something had denied it, and it was about to break Mike apart from the inside in its fury. He growled again and pounded the floor. Slowly his bear subsided.
The sound of Jess crying softly from another room reached his keen shifter senses, and his bear growled again. Her own pain had put it on edge, and Mike knew it wouldn’t calm down until she did. His whole being vibrated with her pain.
With some effort, he rose to his feet. Pain threatened to overwhelm him, and a wave of dizziness made him press a hand against the wall to steady himself. He really had lost a lot of blood against Bryce’s pride and probably shouldn’t be moving around. But Jess’s sobs compelled him to shove off from the wall and press through a doorway into another room, then another. He found her in what he supposed was a bedroom, although without furniture or decorations it looked just like any other room—and he could see it, quite well, with his shifter vision, bare walls and carpet and all. Doubtlessly Bryce could have seen it even better with his cat eyes. The lions’ ridiculously good vision had made losing the asshats doubly challenging, though luckily not even a lion’s vision could penetrate a snowstorm.
Jess huddled in a corner, crying softly, the very picture of misery.
Mike hunkered down next to her. “What’s wrong? I mean, besides everything.” He tried to smile, to show it was a joke, although it wasn’t, really, and she must know that. Real smooth, he thought.
She glanced up at him from red-rimmed eyes, though he knew she wouldn’t be able to see him clearly, only be aware of him as a huge shadow.
“Andrew,” she said simply. Emotion choked her voice.
Worry raced through him? “Andrew?” Was that her mate? Was she already taken? Suddenly he felt dizzy again and pressed a hand against the wall.
“Are you okay?” she said, apparently able to see that much.
Instead of answering, he said, “Who’s Andrew?”
Bear Love Page 3