Bear Pause (BBW / Bear Shifter Romance): A Billionaire Oil Bearons Romance (Bear Fursuits Book 6)

by Isadora Montrose

  “That’s right,” she agreed. “But we wouldn’t want to have a picnic over there either, those fields are all full of cow patties.”

  “I was trying to think of a way to get you to myself,” Steve explained.

  “Well, here I am, away from other people. What did you want to do?” Her eyes were sparkling and she was almost laughing.

  “I had intended to make love to you in the great outdoors.” Steve patted the blanket and the stones underneath. “But this is a little firmer than I expected.”

  Laura’s laughter rippled out, young and frivolous. Steve stroked her cheek. “I have another idea, but it also involves taking our clothes off.”

  “Yeah?” She grinned at him.

  Steve shrugged out of his leather jacket. He folded it in two and laid it on the blanket. His hands went to his shirt snaps and he began to undo them slowly. “You might want to take your own clothes off,” he suggested with a lascivious look that made her giggle.

  “I thought you said the ground was too hard to make love?” She was still chuckling.

  “We could probably work something out,” he said. “And maybe we will, later. But right now I think we should have some fun another way.”

  Laura’s face got a touch wary, so he gave her a hand with the buttons of her shirt. And with her bra. He didn’t need an excuse to kiss her breasts. Or pinch her nipples. And he didn’t offer her one. She giggled harder when his hands went to the snap of her leather pants.

  “You’ll never get me out of these,” she said smugly.

  “Did I ever tell you that it’s a huge mistake to challenge a Green Beret?” He dove for her hips and hoisted her into the air.

  She was laughing so hard she could hardly meet his lips with hers. Steve let her feel some of his urgency. She had to know he couldn’t always be a gentle, tender, and considerate lover. Sometimes the feeling between them was going to be too elemental for him to hold back his bear. And here, outside, with the sun beating down on them, and the birds singing, and crickets chirping, and the smell of grass and wildflowers all around, was one of those times.

  While he was sucking her tongue down his throat, he was also wrestling those skin-tight leathers down off her butt. He found the zippers at the back, and the front. It was still a struggle to peel the leather pants off, but he was up to it.

  Kissing Laura when she was laughing, and squirming, was exciting. It made him feel like a hero to have her respond without a single trace of fear. He hoped that she was becoming used to the idea that he found her beautiful, desirable, and everything a man could ever want.

  When he got her pants as far as her knees, he had to put her down because he hadn’t enough leverage to pull them any further. She leaned against him, weak from laughter and he hoped with passion. “What the heck are we going to do bare naked?” she asked still laughing.

  “I thought we go swimming,” he said slyly. He bent and unlaced his boots and removed them and stuck his socks inside.

  Laura sat on the blanket and pulled off her cowboy boots. “That creek isn’t deep enough to swim in.”

  He liked that she continued taking her clothes off even though she thought he was quite mad. Laura didn’t have enough chances to play. He didn’t know when she had decided that life was so serious, but it seemed it was long enough ago that it had left her somber. He planned to alter that.

  She leaned back on her hands, her naked breasts wobbling as the posture shoved them forward. Her nipples were rosy and peaked. He noticed that she had left her panties on. She was still shy. But not too shy to admire him when he pulled his own jeans and his shorts down. But she stopped chuckling when she saw his cock. Good thing. No man liked to have his dick mocked.

  He stood up before her perfectly nude. And then he dropped down onto his hands and knees beside the blanket. He began to take bear. He knew what Laura would see. His bear was dark brown with a golden muzzle and golden eyespots.

  He was fairly large for a black bear. The shifters in the Holden clan were all smaller than he was. He had always thought that that was because he didn’t have the same genes that they did. He hoped that he wasn’t so much larger than Laura’s bear that she would be frightened of him.

  She did look a little appalled. She smiled uneasily. He saw the moment when she decided to follow his lead. She pulled off those white panties that she favored, and he was almost sorry that they weren’t going to make love now, because she was so beautiful. She smelled so rich, and right, and ready for him, that it was a waste. But getting her acquainted with her bear was important too.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Laura felt self-conscious stripping down in front of Steve. For all that he was such an attentive and affectionate lover, she still had trouble believing that he found her fleshiness attractive. She preferred to make love in half-light, or even in darkness. When it was dark she could pretend that she was as beautiful as Steve was with his clothes off.

  She looked at him out the corner of her eyes. Yes, he really was one hundred percent male. All hard muscle and hairy legs and arms and chest. His backside was tight and firm and her mouth watered. She took her own clothes off and folded them as Steve had done with his.

  She didn’t know why he was pretending that they weren’t going to make love. But if he wanted to play games, she was willing. Laura’s eyes widened when Steve thrust his pants down his legs and kicked them aside. His cock was already erect, purple, and dripping. He was such a tease.

  To her surprise, he winked at her, dropped to his hands and knees, and began to morph into his bear form. Within moments, he was a huge black bear with golden eye-spots and a magnificent, muscular body. He made a chuffing noise and padded off on silent paws as big as dinner plates to drink from the creek. He looked back at her expectantly.

  She didn’t want to do this. But she didn’t want to disappoint him. Her own change hurt like the dickens. It felt as though someone was tearing the bones out from her body. Wrenching them into new shapes and then stuffing them back in willy-nilly, oblivious to her agony. She moaned. She howled with the pain. But eventually she was a bear. At least she thought she was. He clucked his tongue at her in what she thought was approval.

  But her senses were overwhelmed. The hundred scents of grass and sage bush, of wild flowers and alders swirled together in a delicious miasma. Sunlight bounced off the water and dazzled her eyes. She could see the trout in the stream leaping about. She was pretty sure that she had never seen such a thing in human. Steve was wading into the water and bouncing up and down on all four legs. She joined him because she didn’t know what else to do.

  The water smelled wonderful. Full of life. She smelled frogs and fish. Somewhere close by there was a nest with ducks. She scanned the other side of the stream, wondering if she could spot the waterfowl. The nest was camouflaged, and the female sitting on it was a mottled taupe, but they popped out at her as if they were brightly colored.

  Steve turned around. One enormous front paw dipped into the water. He flipped water right in her face. This time his chuff sounded like laughter. She jumped. All four of her paws smacked the water at once and waves splashed up and wet his belly. He rushed at her and tumbled her onto her back. She discovered she was nimbler than he was. She flipped over and, half swimming and half running, she darted away from him.

  At some point she realized that she was playing tag with a gigantic predator, but that she wasn’t the least bit afraid of this big boar bear. She wouldn’t have gone so far as to say she was aroused. But she was certainly happy. And enjoying her game.

  She wasn’t even worried that there would be people who spotted her. Not out here. She was sure she would be able to hear anyone who approached. After all, she could clearly hear the woodpecker chipping himself a hole in a dead tree, and the ground hogs tunneling in the higher ground on the other side of the stream. Other than the sweet sounds of wildlife and the wind soughing through the new leaves, it was very peaceful, if not silent.

  Of course,
Steve could’ve caught her at any time. If he had cared to spring, those big muscular haunches of his would have launched him twenty feet. He could easily have pounced on her back and subdued her. But she knew he was not going to do any such thing. He smelled protective. That was the only word for it.

  Until now, she had not really understood what he meant when he said she was his mate. But today her shift had made it obvious to her that he was hers. And that part of being a bear was being able to smell emotion. She spun around. Faced him. Her mouth opened and a low, urgent moan issued from her throat.

  Steve responded immediately to the noise she had made. He moaned back at her on an even deeper note. But she knew his moan meant the same as hers. I love you. In bear, it seemed, she was incapable of lying to him.

  She didn’t know if she could lie to other creatures, she supposed she must be able to. Bears were predators. And predators had to deceive their prey. But she was not Steve’s prey. She was his mate, and infinitely precious to him, as he was to her. She had not thought it was possible to be so happy, to enjoy her senses so completely. She gave herself up to the uncomplicated joy of being a she-bear romping with her mate.

  * * *

  Steve had fully expected that he would find Laura as desirable in her bear form as he found her as a woman. How not? She was his fated mate. But it had never crossed his mind that her bear would be so tiny. She was only half-grown. A bear cub really. He supposed that if you never acknowledged your bear, never took it out for a run, it didn’t grow up.

  Laura’s bear was a pale golden color that was not quite cream and not quite tan. In fact, Laura’s fur was the same soft color as her muff. But she was pretty. From her little pale ears, to her stub of a waggling tail, she was adorable.

  Springing this on her had been the right thing to do. She smelled happy. He splashed water at her. She responded by bouncing in the stream. Her little bear cub paws splashed him back. She wetted his belly. That was as high as she could make the water go. He feinted at her. She took off running, while he lumbered behind laughing.

  Their game took them far upstream. Here the banks rose even above the water on both sides. The rocky shore gave way to reeds and grasses. On the far bank, salmonberry bushes grew out over the water and dangled temptingly over their heads. The berries had ripened. The fragrance was rich in the humid air.

  He saw the moment that Laura noticed the pink berries. She plumped down on her haunches in the water. He could see she was trying to figure out how to get to the tantalizing fruit.

  She stood up on her hind legs, but even with her forelimbs extended the fruit was just out of reach. He felt like a hero coming up behind her, and standing up so he could use his long forelimbs to force the branches down to his mate’s greedy mouth. She began to gobble as if they had not just eaten the picnic lunch.

  He nibbled a few berries, but his delight came in watching his mate feed. But this was not just about provisioning his wife, this was about setting her spirit free. He had a feeling that Laura was never going to be the same again, and his spirit rejoiced with hers.

  Her pale snout was stained pink by her feast, and still she wanted more. She scrambled up the deep sides of the stream bed, plowing through the rushes and weeds to get to the bushes. Steve followed behind. He was no longer hungry, but he suspected Laura was ravenous because she was in cub.

  Probably there was no danger out here, where there were no people, but the thought of letting her out of his sight made him uneasy, and he had long learned to listen to his intuition.

  The roots of the bushes were six feet above the water and the climb to the top of the bank was steep. Twice he had to shove at Laura’s bottom to stop her tumbling backwards.

  The far side of the salmonberry bushes held even more fruit. The birds had not yet found the berries and the clusters were heavy. Steve crouched behind Laura enjoying the sight of her feasting.

  Yet up here, on the higher ground, it was not only the scent of fruit that he could detect. The breeze carried the distinctive aroma of cattle to his sensitive nose. It took a moment, before his brain registered that there should have been no cattle to smell. None at all.

  Laura had told him that this entire sector was being left fallow until June, as summer grazing. He nudged her gently with his shoulder. She turned and butted him playfully with her head, bouncing away. She began to scamper through the high grass, playing at hide and seek.

  He was briefly exasperated. But, of course, in bear, Laura was just a baby. He could remember when his younger brothers and sisters had come into their bears. How annoying they had been when they were taken into the woods. They had frisked and frolicked and made noise, scaring the animals, and messing up their spoor.

  Laura plainly had not yet smelled the cows. But the wind was bringing him the distinctive, musky aroma of domestic cattle, overlaid with the pungent smell of fresh dung. Since he had no way of telling Laura what he thought, he set off towards the smell. She bounced after him. He turned. She was invisible in the high grass. But the tall stalks waved in her wake, so he knew she was following.

  He wondered how long it would be before she noticed the scent of cattle on the wind. He didn’t have long to wait. Two paws bopped him on the ass. When he turned and whuffed at her over his shoulder, she was excited and urged him on.

  He headed into the wind. He listened carefully for people or vehicles, but heard nothing. They padded along for several minutes until they were close enough that he could hear cattle lowing. Now and again, a calf bleated and was answered by a deeper moo from its dam.

  Abruptly the high grass ended, and the ground dropped away. They were standing at the top of a rise. Erosion had exposed a twenty-foot slope of white limestone on which nothing grew. Below them a vast herd of cows grazed in a natural pen formed by a hollow in the prairie.

  Laura was bouncing about trying to get a better look. He turned sideways and braced himself. Annoyed, she swung her haunches into him. And then she realized what he meant. She braced her front paws on his back and looked out over his broad back.

  Without warning, she turned and began to scurry back the way they had come. He couldn’t know of course, what was in her mind, but he figured she had something to tell him. The sooner they were back in human the better. He was damned if he could figure why there should be cattle on land she had told him was lying fallow.

  Together they scrambled down the bank and crossed the stream and stalked back along the stony shore to where they had left their blanket. Steve took his human form again, and kept an eye on Laura who seemed to be having difficulties.

  It was a little comical to see her round ass and lovely thighs take shape, when her torso and head were still pale and creamy bear. But her moans distressed him. He knew her shift was still painful and difficult, but he knew no way other than frequent practice to change that.

  Laura would simply have to go through this phase as every other shifter had done before her. She looked tired, when she was back in woman. But she wrestled her tight leathers back on as quickly as she could.

  “I have to call Gary,” she said urgently. “We need to put a guard on those animals.” She had her satellite phone in her hand and was giving Gary Evans orders, before she had thrust her feet into her boots.

  Steve deduced from their conversation that Gary was as astonished as he was. What the hell was this all about?

  “I don’t have the exact coordinates,” she said. She gave Gary the GPS coordinates for their picnic spot. “I’ll expect you in an hour,” she said. “As soon as we get back over there, I’ll give you the updated coordinates.”

  They packed up swiftly. “Do you know how we can get across the stream and back into the open range from the road?” he asked her.

  “This is my land. You bet I know.”

  “But first I want to know what the hurry is.”

  “We’re missing two thousand head of cattle,” she said. “We figured they were taken by rustlers. But it looks like I found some of them. W
e have to get them moved before the cattle thieves come back.”

  If Laura had slapped his face, he could not have felt more hurt. So much for her loving him. She didn’t even trust him enough to share her troubles.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Laura had a moment of panic when it seemed that she could not get her upper body to return to human. She glanced across at Steve. He stopped doing up the snaps on his shirt. She read dismay and sympathy on his face, not amusement, but it spurred her efforts to take human.

  She didn’t know how he had managed his shift so quickly and without apparent pain. She once again felt as if her entire body was being remade by an angry giant. But at last the wrenching experience was over and she was back in human form, even if she was trembling and sweaty. It was hard to tussle her leathers on over her damp skin, but she managed.

  She had to call Gary and get those cows where they could control them. Gary could hardly believe what she had found. He was full of questions, but she cut him off. The important thing was to get the animals secured and moved before whoever had collected them in this spot returned.

  Steve’s blank face frightened her. He was moving with the speed that the situation called for, but he wasn’t happy. She began to pack up the picnic things. Steve folded the picnic blanket. She wasn’t surprised when he demanded an explanation. His face got even harder when she gave it.

  He said nothing about the rustling. But he opened the lockbox in front of the driver’s seat, took out a pistol and a pair of field glasses and handed both to her.

  “I hope you know how to use a handgun,” he said.

  She checked the clip by way of answer. She fastened the buckle of her helmet, and was ready to ride. They were no longer two lighthearted lovers on an excursion, but hunters. And even though she could feel his dismay, she could tell he was still determined to keep her safe.

  They rode slowly north along the gravel road until she found the gap that would allow them to enter the fields on the other side of the stream. A motorcycle was never a quiet ride, but Steve barely fed any gas, and she thought they would hear the approach of any other vehicles.