Bear Love

by Belinda Meyers

  “But I don’t understand. If you’re not a great skier, then what are you doing teaching it?”

  “Looking like an ass, mostly. I’m just the best skier my crew has, that’s all. Have you ever seen a bear ski?”

  “No …”

  “There’s a reason for that.”

  “Then …” She blinked and shook herself, slowly warming to the hilarious reality of it. “Why are a bunch of werebears who can’t ski running a ski resort?”

  He blew out a blast of air in a gesture that was half amused, half frustrated. “Like I told you: P. R.”

  She tapped her chin. “What did your crew do before you took over the resort?”

  “Woodcutters.”

  “Like lumberjacks?”

  “Yeah. It’s a pretty common job for bear shifters. We were good at it. My crew always met our quota. Sometimes exceeded it. Guess that’s why the Great Alpha picked us for this gig. Connor runs a tight crew.” In a lower voice, he added, half to himself, “Or he did.”

  Mike hardly seemed to be aware of adding this last part, and Jess thought that following up on it would only upset him, so she changed the subject. What she was most interested about was him. Not his job, not his crew. She realized that with all the excitement of last night she’d never really gotten to know him. She’d unburdened herself to him, revealed her deepest fears and weaknesses, but she’d never asked him about himself. Stupid, she thought. Stupid and selfish. I deserve it if he clams up.

  Swallowing, half afraid of his response, she said, “What did you do, you know, before you joined your crew? Or were you raised in it?’

  He cast her a sideways glance, then switched his eyes back to the road. Beautiful mountains soared in the distance between puffs of cloud, then were replaced by ancient thickets of pine and cedar still encrusted with snow. It was gorgeous scenery, but Jess had eyes only for Mike.

  “I don’t talk about that much,” he said.

  She chewed her lip. I knew it. I blew my chance. She glanced down at her fidgeting hands. Sudden sadness rose up in her, and she wanted to cry. Damn it all, I missed my chance!

  She almost leapt out of her seat when he reached over with one huge hand and wrapped it around both of hers, stilling them. His fingers were rough but warm, and his hand strong. He squeezed her gently, never taking his eyes off the road, then returned the hand to the wheel. A thrill ran through her, and she relished the memory of his touch.

  “What was that for?” she said, hearing the quaver in her voice.

  “You looked nervous. I could smell you were upset.”

  “I wasn’t—”

  “I could smell it,” he said, and from the tone of his voice she knew there could be no arguing with that.

  “That could get annoying,” she said. “You knowing what I’m thinking all the time.”

  “Not thinking. Feeling.” He quickly glanced at her again. “And what does that mean—‘all the time’.”

  “Nothing,” she said. “I mean …” What did she mean? “Talking with you is maddening.”

  He grinned his cocky grin. “So you’re mad for me now, is that it?”

  “Don’t get ahead of yourself.” But she was starting to smile. Damn him. She’d been on the verge of tears just seconds ago, and now a giddy joy was permeating her like a latte soaking into a biscotti.

  He seemed to reach a decision. “I lived in the woods,” he said.

  Her heart hammered in her chest. He was about to open up to her. “You mean, before you joined the crew?”

  “That’s right. My ma and pa were both shifters, and they lived in the woods and raised me and my siblings there. We hunted and fished and Shifted when we liked.”

  “That sounds lovely.”

  He inclined his huge head. “It was. But it was a hard life, and then man’s civilization drew closer, and closer. We could smell smoke in the air sometimes, and noise from the roads. We moved deeper into the woods, but there was a bear clan there. A vicious one.”

  “That’s right, you said some clans fought against others.”

  “Well, this is one of the worst. The Black Valley bears. And my family wasn’t a clan. I mean, we were all alone, without a tribe or a people. It was just us, and we’d stumbled into the wrong territory. The Black Valley bear shifters killed my ma first, then my pa. I was the oldest of six kids, so I took care of us after that. Tried to raise them right. One was shot by hunters. One was snake-bit and died. Two, Sam and Taggart, defected to Black Valley. They were very young, and they said some protection was better than none.”

  Jess realized she was holding her breath. “What then?”

  “It was just me and my sister. I—look, we’re there.”

  Indeed, they were just passing beneath a high wooden archway wrought in frontier style. Jess had seen it before, but she took a moment to admire it again. The words above it said PINE RIDGE.

  “Well?” said Jess, hoping Mike would go on.

  He smiled, but it was a sad smile. “Later,” he said, and she could hear the promise in his voice. “I’ll tell you later.” He looked her in the eye. “Alone.”

  Chapter 9

  Jess marveled at the town of Pine Ridge as they passed into it. Spread out along a shelf of the mountain was the quaintest little mountain town she’d ever seen. Tudor style houses with snow-covered roofs lined the cobbled main road, with faceted glass windows catching the light of streetlamps. Cute little antique shops, coffee houses, bakeries and restaurants with second-floor balconies overlooking the scenic vistas. And above skiers on chair lifts soared up bright white slopes toward the peak high above, like some god up high looking down over the town.

  Also looking over the town: the great castle-like Pine Ridge Ski Resort, abutting the rise of the slope and responsible for running all skiing operations. Jess had only caught a fleeting glimpse of it before, but she found herself smiling like a little girl as Mike drove her up to it. Thick stone walls, gargoyles, and belching chimneys were just the start.

  “It’s like something out of a storybook,” Jess said. “And this is where your clan is based out of?”

  “It’s our main business office,” Mike said, “but our den is up above. On the mountain. The Lodge.”

  Mike parked in the large parking lot, and Suzy did likewise. Together the three made their way to the resort and inside, passing skiers and vacationers, some just arriving at the resort, some leaving. Far overhead arched aged wood rafters, giving the massive lounge area an almost cathedral-like atmosphere. A great fire blazed in a grandiose stone fireplace taller than a man, and before it …

  Jess gasped.

  “Oh my God!” she said. “Bear!”

  Indeed, a massive, shaggy reddish grizzly bear stood on its rear paws before the fireplace, looming ominously over a family of five, a man and wife and their three kids. They faced a curvy young woman taking a snapshot of them grinning like fools at the camera. That done, they accepted their camera back and made their way into a room at the corner of the great lounge, and Jess had to stop herself from laughing. It was a tourist shop—not surprising at a ski resort, sure, but what was surprising were the ranks of toy bears on display, and the bear T-shirts, bear coffee mugs, bear postcards …

  “Werebears gone commercial,” she marveled.

  Suzy sniffed. “Never thought bear shifters could be tacky. Guess I was wrong. I haven’t been in here since they finished restoring the place, or at least this part of it, a few months ago. I could have skipped it.”

  “Well, I think it’s amazing,” Jess said.

  “I’m glad you like it,” Mike said.

  She appraised him with new eyes. “Hard to believe bear shifters run an inn.”

  “Oh, we hire a service company to change the sheets and so on. But yeah, we’ve been learning how to keep records, manage books … not tear annoying tourists in half …”

  As he was saying this, a child was pulling on the tail of the great grizzly before the fireplace while his mom took selfies of
herself posing by the bear’s head. The great beast was obviously growing irritated, and a growl was working its way up the animal’s throat.

  “Let’s just get this over with,” Suzy said. “Time to meet your alpha, Mike.”

  He inclined his head and led the way over to the grizzly, who was just finishing up with the selfie-taker and her brat, fortunately without any loss of life or limb. Jess sensed it had been a near thing, though. Furthermore, she sensed that the selfie-woman had no idea it had been a near thing. She was chatting happily on her smart phone, probably after sending the pics to some friend or family member.

  Mike gave the grizzly a small bow and with exaggerated formality said, “Boss, this is Jessica Quinn and Suzanne Mayhew.” In a lower voice, he said, “We need to talk to you, Connor.”

  The bear studied Jess and Suzy with burning silver eyes, and Jess almost flinched at its intensity and power. It was almost painful to endure the alpha’s scrutiny. At last the bear grunted and ambled off behind an ornate screen. Jess heard snapping sounds, like the noise of bones breaking, and grunts. Shortly a tall, broad-shouldered man with flaming red hair and short red beard emerged, buttoning a flannel shirt. He’d already donned his jeans and boots. He still looked winded from the transformation, and for the first time Jess wondered if it hurt. It had to, surely, and yet Mike had made no mention of it at all when he’d Shifted to keep her warm—and later, to move unseen in the forest. It made her appreciate him all over again. He had endured what must be agony to keep her from getting frostbite, and to protect her. She wanted to throw her arms around his thick chest, what little of it she could lasso, anyway, and squeeze.

  “Come with me,” Connor said. Sweat gleamed on his skin and in his flaming red hair as he showed the three up a grand set of stone stairs and down a hallway lined and floored with aged wood. “This place is over a hundred years old,” he said, and Jess could hear the rehearsed quality of the words. “Built in 1912 by Benjamin LeVeux. He was a hunter in Alaska and Canada who struck oil on a joint venture. Used the proceeds to move here and build this place. His own private mansion in the mountains. Back then there weren’t many people in town, but he saw opportunity here. Opened up nature trails and small inns. People started to come, and when they did they tended to stay. He put Pine Ridge on the map. Literally. Before he did all that, it wasn’t even listed. Some say he came here for the Fae. Others disagree.”

  They entered an enormous corner study, and Connor perched himself in a grand wooden armchair before an even grander desk piled high with loose papers in what appeared to be a disorganized mess. His gaze landing on it, Connor gave a deep sigh and ran a thick-fingered hand through his red beard. He looked like a Viking warrior confronted with paperwork, and for a moment Jess’s heart went out to him. The bears were men of action, of hard physical labor and endurance, not this. She wondered what it was really all about. Surely their Council hadn’t instructed them to do this simply to sell some trinkets.

  Connor’s gaze swung back to Mike. In a commanding, wary voice, he said, “Tell me.”

  Mike told him of Bryce and his pride, and of the lions’ intentions toward Jess and Suzy. He told his alpha of how the three had had to go on the run from the pride, but Jess was glad he omitted the part about the cuddling.

  “What does it all mean?” Mike said when he’d finished. “Was it just a random asshat and his buddies, or is there something more going on here?”

  Connor was silent for a long moment. He looked out his window at the driving snow and the mountain, then turned back. Jess waited breathlessly. Now, finally, she would get to learn what was really happening to her.

  “I’ve heard rumors,” Connor said. “I didn’t realize they were true, but …” He ran a hand through his flaming beard again, and Jess realized it was a nervous gesture of his. Hard to imagine such a grizzled warrior nervous, but that’s what he seemed to be.

  “Well?” Suzy pressed. “Rumors of what? I’m tired of all this mystery.”

  Connor scowled at her, but she matched his look with one of her own.

  “I don’t scare off,” she said.

  “Easy,” Mike cautioned her.

  After a moment, to Jess’s surprise, Suzy seemed to shudder, and the harshness went out of her face.

  “Just tell us,” she said, more civilly.

  “Mike wouldn’t know this, but it’s something we alphas have to be aware of,” Connor said. “The different shifter types don’t always get along. Lions and bears have always been enemies. It goes back hundreds of years, maybe longer. Bryce was likely raised hating bear shifters, and now here we are, come to the forefront of the nation’s awareness of shifters. They don’t talk about lions. They talk about bears. Can’t be easy for a proud lion shifter to bear, if you’ll pardon the pun.”

  “But why pick on us?” Jess said.

  Connor fixed her with his eyes. He had green eyes, but they were not the light, lively green eyes of Bryce. These were deep and dark, full of odd glints and mysterious eddies. “I’ve heard, and I don’t know this for a fact, that some lion shifters have taken it upon themselves to strike back at bear shifters by … taking their mates.”

  “Taking. Their. Mates.” Jess said the words again to herself, but again they didn’t make any sense. “I don’t understand. I thought … I mean, don’t bear shifters mate for life? You only get one of those. I just met Mike. I can’t … possibly … be …” Her eyes flicked to Mike, who was suddenly looking uncomfortable. Horror dawned on Jess, but also something else, something akin to the purest joy. “Don’t tell me … I can’t be your mate!”

  Mike looked like he wished he could be anywhere else. “I, uh … I mean …” He cleared his throat. “Let’s talk about this later, Jess. Alright?”

  Just like the rest of his story, she thought. He certainly was one mysterious bear.

  “Okaaay,” Suzy said. “So Bryce and his cronies want to take us as mates to, what, prevent Mike from getting a mate? And I guess I just got caught up in the crossfire?”

  “Something like that,” Connor said. “At least, that’s what I would guess. You two ladies will need to stay with us until we can end this threat.”

  Hairs lifted along the nape of Jess’s neck. “How are you going to do that?”

  Mike smacked a fist into a meaty palm. “The only way.”

  Connor raised a hand. “Wait a minute, Mike. It doesn’t have to be like that. There might be another way. As alpha, it’s my duty to end this matter without getting anyone killed if I can. If I can’t, well—but if I can, I must.” He snorted. “Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to rip off this Bryce’s head, stuff it and mount it over the fireplace downstairs, but for now …” His voice lowered. “Mike, I would love to put the girls up here, but I can't risk any violence coming to the inn. I doubt it will come to that, though. No, I want you to take them somewhere safe and remote. Take the girls to the Lodge.”

  Chapter 10

  Jess shivered as the chairlift approached the ramp. Oh God please don’t let me embarrass myself by falling on my ass. It was all too likely, she knew. She was anything but a pro skier. But when the lift reached the slope, she managed to shove herself off and skid down the short slope to the level-ish ground with only a few minor wavers and some serious belly-flops. Her legs shook, but she wasn’t sure if that was muscle strain or just nerves.

  “This way,” Mike said, looking amused.

  He began skiing down what looked like a little-used trail. Jess had expected him to move clumsily, like a bear on skis, and was a little disheartened to see him cut down the icy incline with practiced ease. Jess felt a little betrayed. He’d said he sucked. Well, apparently sucking for Mike was different than sucking for Jess. Ha, she thought. I’ll show him the true meaning of suck. Suzy handled it adroitly, too, if not quite as well as Mike. There was a reason the bears had chosen him as the instructor, after all.

  Jess followed the other two down, but she had to keep her skies in a fixed triangle. Even then, the unev
en snow beneath them made her clench her teeth and swear under her breath again and again.

  The other two had to slow down for her, and when she reached them she was gasping and out of breath.

  “How … much longer?” she said to stall for time.

  Mike smiled as if he knew what she was doing. “Not much.”

  “How come … there’s no one else on this trail?”

  “We’ve cut this route off from the tourists. It’s the only way to the Lodge, and that’s just for use by the crew, so we restrict access.”

  “Not only the crew,” Jess reminded him, and he nodded his head.

  “You two are the only others we’ve ever allowed up here.”

  Jess and Suzy exchanged a look.

  Suzy grinned. “I feel honored. What about you, Jess?”

  In the face of Suzy’s aplomb, Jess was forced to laugh. “Yeah. It was all worth it, just for this.”

  Mike handled their irony with patience. “This way, ladies.”

  He continued down the slope. Suzy leapt after him, skis parallel to each other just like his, making her go faster and straight down the mountain like a cannonball. Jess kept her skies in their customary wedge, cutting back and forth down the slope to slow her progress. Even then she was afraid she would go too fast and fly off the trail into the thick pines that crowded it.

  At long last the slope turned, then evened out a bit, and a structure that had to be the Lodge loomed before them. Huge and encrusted with ice, the monstrous log cabin belched smoke from a great stone chimney. For all its grandeur, it looked charming and inviting.

  “The original owners meant for this to be a separate inn,” Mike said. “A ski in, ski out kind of thing, only it never happened. We’ve decided it should be our crew headquarters.”

  “Why not live here, then?” Jess said. “You said you were scattered all over town.”

  “There’s only a few rooms,” Mike said. “The previous owners never began work on the second wing. That was going to be all rooms. My brother Taggart and his mate Alice stayed here for awhile after he came back from Black Valley, but they live in town now. Only one person lives here at the moment.”