Bear Love

by Belinda Meyers

  “I was wondering about the smoke,” Suzy said. “Someone had to light that fire.”

  “That’s Cort,” Mike said. A pained look crossed his face. “Don’t be alarmed.”

  “Why would we be alarmed?” Jess said, suddenly alarmed.

  “He’s … scarred. Also, he doesn’t talk much. The truth is he doesn’t handle people well. There’s a reason he lives up here all alone.”

  “Then is it really a good idea that we should intrude on him?” Suzy said.

  “Don’t worry,” Mike said. “He won’t harm a woman. Come on.”

  Jess hesitated but followed him inside, and Suzy came immediately after. Jess shivered once she was in, even though it was warmer, as if her body were just then realizing how cold it really had been. They had entered into a cavernous den with a roaring fireplace, and immediately heat enveloped her. The snow that had gathered on her cheeks and eyelashes began to melt. Gratefully, she tugged off her cap, knowing she looked ridiculous in it, and squinted her eyes into the gloom.

  Other than the fireplace, which threw hectic red light across rugs and couches and wooden walls, there was no other light in the room—or the whole Lodge, as far as she could tell.

  A large form bent over the fireplace, throwing on another crooked log. It let out a growl upon hearing the front door open and wheeled around, lips pulled back from its teeth. Silhouetted against the fire, Cort, if that was him, appeared only to be a huge shadow, still holding that log in his hand as though it were a club. Jess would’ve had to hold that little tree with two hands, but Cort wielded as though it were made of cardboard.

  “At ease, Cort,” Mike said. “It’s just me.”

  “Not … just you.”

  Jess could feel the glare Cort sent at her and Suzy.

  “Come,” Mike whispered to the women, and ushered them over to Cort, who only tensed further. Jess still wasn’t sure if this was such a good idea, but she went along with it. As she drew closer to Cort, she could see him better, and pity welled up inside her. He had been a handsome man once, she thought, and maybe he still was, but a vicious swipe of some bear’s paws had striped half his face with four long, ragged marks. He’d grown a thick beard to cover the scars, but his hairs grew white where they grew out over the claw marks, so that only helped some.

  “This is Jess and Suzy,” Mike said. “Ladies, meet Cort.”

  His intense eyes regarded them for a moment, then glanced away, as if he were uneasy in their presence. He grunted something, perhaps a curse, perhaps a welcome, then returned to the fire. He threw on the log, and sparks blazed up.

  Mike let out a breath. Something troubled flickered across his face, and Jess thought she saw sadness there, maybe even the same sort of pity she felt. It made her like him more. That was dangerous, so she tried not to notice.

  “Well, this is the Lodge,” Mike said, gesturing around at the huge open space with its aged log walls, rafters and ceiling. Dimly glimpsed rooms lined the upper floor, but the lower floor was all den, kitchen, ski preparation areas and so on. “What do you think?”

  “I like it,” said Jess. Immediately she wanted to kick herself. How bland a comment can you get? Then she thought, Come on, it’s not like I’m trying to impress him with my witty banter. Hell, I want to un-impress him! He’s impressed enough already.

  “This is where you bears come to party?” Suzy said.

  Mike’s brows arched down in a frown. “No party. Congregate. Talk clan business. Plan for the future. Bond. And yes,” he added, his face lightening, “we do have some fun here, too.”

  Suzy smiled at him, and Jess’s inner cat flared up. Hands off! Then she made herself calm down. If she didn’t claim him, why should she begrudge Suzy from trying her luck?

  And yet, damn it all, she did begrudge it. This was all so frustrating.

  “So what now?” Jess said. “How long are we supposed to stay here, anyway?”

  “That’s a good question,” Suzy said. “I have a life to get back to. Not much of one, I’ll admit, but it’s what I’ve got. I can’t stay here forever. If nothing else, I have a job.”

  “I understand,” Mike said. “And I don’t have the answers. We just have to find Bryce and his pride and deal with them.”

  “‘Deal with them’,” Jess repeated, then crossed her arms over her chest. “I don’t want anyone killing anyone. I mean, I’ve heard shifters have their own laws, their own codes, but murder is murder.”

  Mike tilted his head, just slightly, and his eyes flamed with reflected firelight. “We’ll do what must be done,” he said, and his voice was as grim and hard as she’d ever heard it.

  She swallowed and exchanged another look with Suzy, who shook her head: Don’t push him. Jess agreed. Mike was a bear shifter, after all.

  Cort glanced up from the flames. “‘Pride?’” he asked Mike. He didn’t seem to want to address the females directly.

  “It’s a long story,” Mike told him. “Suffice it to say that some lion shifters want to kidnap Jess and Suzy for mates.”

  Another growl broke loose from Cort’s lips, and for a moment his eyes burned silver. He’s going to Shift, Jess thought, and edged backward. Mike must have thought so, too, because he positioned himself between Cort and the women. At the last moment, though, Cort reined himself in. Shaking his head, he hefted up anther log from the pile along the back wall and broke it in two with a powerful wrench of his hands. Shards of wood flew, and Jess flinched at the snapping noise.

  “Calm yourself, my friend,” Mike said.

  For the first time, Cort spoke to the women directly. Gruffly, he said, “They won’t take you. I won’t let them.”

  With that, he lurched to the rear door and shoved out into the snowstorm, slamming the door shut behind him. A flurry of snowflakes danced in his wake.

  “He needs to Shift,” Mike explained. “His animal is tearing him up, I can feel it.”

  “Your animals can sense each other?” Suzy said.

  He nodded. “He’s barely in control of his bear.”

  Suzy watched the door. “What’s his story?”

  “That’s for him to tell—if he wants to. And he probably won’t. He doesn’t talk much to us in the crew, let alone outsiders. Let alone female outsiders. Women make him nervous.”

  “So how long are we supposed to stay here?” Suzy pressed. “How long until you, ah, deal with Bryce?”

  “We have to find him first. And Connor has to sign off on … what happens then. I know one thing. There’s no way a pride of lions can stand up to my whole crew. Even three or four of us should be enough. We just have to be organized, and that’s something we’ve never been good at. What makes running the resort so tricky.”

  “I still don’t understand why you’re running the resort,” Jess said. “I don’t believe it’s all for public relations.”

  Mike paused, as if weighing something. Slowly, he said, “Public relations is important. Some politicians want us shifters to have to register ourselves with the government. Like we’re weapons or sex criminals. If we can put on a good face to the world, though, and people can see that they don’t need to fear us, maybe we won’t have to.” His huge hands made fists at his side. “Assholes like Bryce could ruin everything for us.”

  “Why?” said Suzy, then seemed to realize the answer. “Because he’s going after humans?”

  “Right. Shifters like him are making humans afraid, as they should be of pricks like him. That’s another good reason we have to stop him. He could harm our whole cause, set human-shifter relations back to zero.” As if it required some effort, he opened his fists so they were just hands again. “Now—who’s hungry?”

  Suddenly Jess realized she was famished.

  Chapter 11

  Mike liked the surprise in Jess’s face as he entered the kitchen and began making dinner. It was a bit early for the meal, but they’d been through a lot, and his shifter metabolism required constant infusions of food. The ladies seemed eager for sus
tenance, too.

  “You can cook?” Jess said, as Mike chopped some onions and tomatoes and tossed them in a skillet with some butter.

  She seemed so shocked that he laughed. Maybe realizing it, her cheeks colored, and Mike thought again how goddamn hot she was. He wanted to bend her over right then.

  “I just mean,” she said, stumbling lamely. She and Suzy had sat at the huge wooden dining table, and she fidgeted in her seat. “I don’t normally think of bear shifters as good cooks.”

  “We eat, just like anyone else,” Mike said. “Hell, more than anyone else. And when you eat a lot, it helps if you eat well. And me, well, remember I grew up bein’ the oldest kid, and my parents worked hard, so often as not I had to cook. I learned pretty quick how to tolerate my own cooking.” As he spoke, he sautéed the veggies, then threw in some diced chicken. While that was going, he started on the steamed brown rice, then tossed the buns in the oven. “We get these fresh daily from a shop in town,” he added. “You should try their pastries.”

  Jess watched him with an expression that ranged from amused to intrigued, from turned on to conflicted. He liked the turned on part, but the conflicted part troubled him. Every time his gaze locked with hers, his bear growled inside him, yearning for her, but then she would get that look on her face like she simply couldn’t let herself fall for him, and he wondered if he was doomed. If his bear couldn’t be satisfied, it might tear him apart. He’d known men that grew mad because their bears lost control, or they lost control of their bears. He’d known two that had to be put down by their alphas because of it. They’d become a danger to humans.

  Jess and Suzy helped set the table, and they ate with gusto when he served dinner. Cort hadn’t returned yet from his roaming, but that wasn’t unusual. He might be out all night for all Mike knew. Cort was unpredictable.

  “Delicious,” Jess said, chewing on her first bite.

  “Yum,” Suzy agreed, and lathered her roll with butter. “Good butter,” she added, after taking a bite.

  “We get that local, too,” Mike said. “For breakfast maybe I’ll whip up some pancakes. You won’t believe the honey we bring in.”

  Jess actually giggled, and again her cheeks turned red. “Bears and honey,” she said, explaining her giggle, though he could have guessed. “Is it true bears like honey?”

  He nodded, munching. Around his bite, he said, “Some of us really like it. One of my crew is kind of obsessed with it. Jason. He has golden fur when he’s shifted, and we call him the Honey Bear.” Mike chuckled. “He gets real tired of that name, but it doesn’t slow him down when that honey comes round.”

  Jess laughed again. Suzy seemed amused, too. But she also seemed to feel awkward somehow. She kept glancing from Jess to Mike, then looking down at her plate. Mike thought he understood, and he wasn’t surprised when she stood up after finishing and said, “You know, I think I’ll hit the sack. I didn’t sleep very well last night, and I’m bushed.”

  “Of course,” Mike said. He smeared his roll around the plate, soaking up the last juices, then made sure Jess had finished. She had, so he said, “I’ll show you your rooms.”

  He brought Suzy and Jess upstairs and gave them each a room, making sure they were at far ends of the Lodge. He lived in hope that a little sound buffer would be necessary, although so far Jess hadn’t given him any indication that it would.

  Each room had a tiny TV perched on a shelf in the corner, and Suzy flicked hers on as she bounced on the bed and pronounced it satisfactory.

  “No mint, but it’ll do”, she said. Giving Jess a look that was probably significant in some fashion, she said, “I guess I’ll see you in the morning.”

  Jess swallowed, and Mike could smell a sudden wave of emotion coming off of her. It wasn’t fear, exactly, but it was definitely anxiety.

  “Um,” she said. “Yeah. Goodnight.”

  The women hugged each other, and then Mike brought Jess to her room.

  “I’ll let you get some sleep if you want,” he said. “I know you must be tired, too.”

  She stared straight up at him. Her eyes were very clear. “Actually,” she said. “I’m not sleepy at all.”

  His bear roared. Mike grinned and leaned in a little closer, letting her feel his heat and smell his scent. She still looked up at him, her lips slightly parted. He could smell her, that was for sure. She was wet. His bear growled again.

  “Me, either,” he said, his words rougher than he’d intended. He reached out and cupped her hand in his. She leaned into the touch. His heart sang.

  “Oh, Mike,” she said.

  “Jess …”

  He bent his face toward hers. Hers inclined up at him. She licked her lips, then bit them cutely. He couldn’t resist. He crushed his lips against hers, and she pressed back. He plunged his tongue into her mouth, and her tongue flicked against his. His bear growled savagely. Almost unconsciously, their pelvises pressed against each other. His cock swelled and shoved against his jeans, then pushed against her. Oh, she was so wet! Her juices filled his nose and drove him wild.

  She laid a hand on his bulging right bicep and squeezed, then moaned softly, even with his tongue still inside her mouth. She shoved her tongue against him, almost challenging him, and now she was in his mouth. He grabbed her ass and lifted her up, and she locked her legs about him.

  “Oh, Jess,” he growled.

  “Mike …”

  Her groin shoved up against his, rocking, and his cock strained against his jeans. It drove him crazy that her womanhood was only millimeters away but separated by all that denim. He wanted to tear it all away and had to restrain himself.

  Then something changed. Jess stopped kissing him. Her face drew back. Her cheeks blazed red, and her lips had swollen, but some strange light—caution? fear?—had entered her eyes. She pressed her groin against him one more time, then unwrapped her legs from about his middle.

  “Let me down,” she breathed, and he obeyed, not understanding.

  “What … ?” he said, or tried to. His mind was awhirl. All the blood had gone to his cock. His bear screamed inside him, denied fulfillment. “What … ?”

  She shook her head. Tears quivered at the corners of her eyes. “I’m so sorry. I can’t. I can’t use you as rebound lover, Mike. I … I …”

  “Yes?”

  She bit her lip again. “I care for you too much.”

  He made a fist, but it wasn’t her he wanted to punch but Andrew. What a number that bastard had done on her! Mike wanted to hunt that human down and rip him in two.

  Jess seemed to realize that his fist didn’t hold any danger for her. She laid a hand against his quivering abs.

  “I’m sorry,” she said again.

  “Me, too.”

  Chapter 12

  The pain in Mike’s eyes tore at Jess. Her mind still churned, and her loins screamed to continue doing what they’d been doing. It was all she could do to remove her palm from his rock-hard abs and step away.

  “I guess I’ll go to bed, then,” she said, hearing the misery in her voice.

  He didn’t say anything, so she turned back toward the bedroom Mike had shown her. It had come complete with sheets and pillow, though they all had to share a bathroom at the end of the hall. Jess had been worried about that bathroom—she couldn’t imagine what a clan of bear shifters would have done to it—but she’d taken a peek at it earlier, and it was spotless.

  She reached her room and turned back to Mike, but he still stood there, as if stricken, staring off into space. Again she ached to go back to him. Instead she entered the room, closed the door, and threw herself on the bed. She felt sadness well up in her, and frustration. She would just let it take her, have a crying fit, but silently, because she knew he could hear her, and then she’d feel better afterwards. She’d get it out of her system and move on. Maybe in six months or a year she’d look Mike up. Maybe.

  Someone knocked on the door before she could issue her first sob.

  “Mike?”
>
  The door opened, and he stood framed in the doorway, huge and handsome and holding some fierce emotion in check.

  “Jess,” he said, twisting his giant hands together. “I …”

  She made herself firm. “I haven’t changed my mind.”

  “I know. That’s not why I came. It’s only, you said you weren’t tired. I’m not, either. And there’s something I’d like to show you.”

  She blinked slowly. “Show me?”

  “Yes.”

  “It’s not ….” Her gaze traveled to his crotch, which was still engorged, but not as much as it had been. “Not that, is it?” She almost smiled, but didn’t.

  “No,” he said, not smiling. “It’s outside.” He paused. “I think it will answer a lot of your questions.”

  She frowned, having to recall what she’d even had questions about in the first place. “You mean, about why your crew took over the resort?”

  He nodded. “Now will you come with me? You’ll need your jacket.”

  Five minutes later they were walking through the snow-shrouded forest. Glimmering white trees stretched toward the heavens all around. The snow muted sound and leant everything a magical, enchanted quality. It was like a different world. Mike was oddly silent, and Jess cast him frequent looks.

  “When we were meeting with your alpha, you were keeping some things back,” she said, to get him started. “You said you’d tell me later. Well, now’s later.” When he hesitated, she said, “I’m not pushing. If you don’t want to tell me, you don’t have to.”

  “No, it’s not that. I’m just trying to think of how to say it.”

  “It had something to do with Bryce choosing me, I think.”

  Mike nodded his square-jawed head. He wasn’t wearing a cap, and flakes of snow settled in his wavy black hair, then began to melt. Jess had to fight the urge to reach up and brush them away.