“You don’t have to be. We handle things our own ways, and you needed to go off and spread your wings and learn about the world and how you fit into it.”
“I got lucky to have such a wise dad,” Skyla said.
“And that man of yours got lucky to have my daughter in his life.”
“I’ll make sure to tell him that,” she said. Sitting up, she took in the handful of other patients on the ward. The nurses were always checking instruments and charts; she wanted to thank each and every one of them for doing their job, but most of all she wanted her dad out of there, and home again with his beloved Dorothy.
***
“Thank you for taking Dorothy home.” They were in the elevator, heading back to their room, and she was exhausted. It was past midnight and she wanted to fall into bed.
“It’s OK, she needed the ride, must have been scary for her traveling in the back of the ambulance while they tried to stabilize your dad.”
“She’s a strong woman, though, isn’t she?” Skyla had got to know her stepmom more in the last twenty-four hours than she had in the all the rest of the time she’d known her.
“What did you expect?” Jordan asked, taking her hand. “Look how your dad has raised you. Did you think that he would go for a woman completely different than you?”
“I never thought about it. I just saw the woman who was taking my dad away.” She wanted to flop down on the floor and sleep. She didn’t care if she made it to her bed or not. “I was childish and unfair.”
“Well, when they come to visit, you can make it up to her.”
“I hope so. I hope we can be a close family again.”
“Is that a hint?”
“About what?” she asked, confused.
“About me and my family.”
“No.” She shook her head. “I am much too tired to think in any kind of subtle-hint way.”
He pulled her to him and sat her on his lap. “There, it’s the closest to a knight in shining armor on a white horse I’m ever going to get.”
“I’ll take it,” she said, resting her head on his shoulder.
“Are you sure you’re OK about us going home tomorrow?” he asked.
“Yes, I said we’d pop in to see Dad in the morning, and then we’ll go home. Your new motorized wheelchair is arriving and so is the gym equipment. Anyway, now the emergency is over, and Dad is feeling back to his normal self, he’ll be fine, with Dorothy there for him.”
“And you can come back and visit in a couple of days. I think you can trust me home alone.”
“Oh, I’m not sure about that, who knows what mischief you’ll get up to?”
“Dylan or Ben will keep an eye on me.”
“And am I supposed to trust them?”
“Yes. We’re all old mated men. Soon to be all married men. I feel the need to ask your dad for your hand in marriage.”
She burst out laughing. “It’s not his to give. Anyway, you already asked. No returns.”
“I’d never return you.”
The elevator opened and he wheeled them both along the corridor, and to their room. She should have offered to walk, but she was too tired to move. Once inside, they both quickly changed and she dragged herself into bed. As she fell into a deep exhausted sleep, she heard him say he loved her. She hoped he heard when she murmured it back to him, but by then it might have been a dream.
Chapter Twenty – Jordan
“I thought you wanted to get home quickly,” Skyla asked him as they entered Bear Bluff and he steered the car up along the northern ridge instead of driving towards their home.
“I wanted to get back to Bear Bluff.” He was being cryptic, he knew that, but he didn’t want to get her hopes up too high. He didn’t want to get his own hopes too high either, but he guessed it was too late for that.
“Care to tell me where we are going?” she asked.
“Dylan’s place.”
“Any particular reason. Is it about the job?” she asked.
Jordan had called ahead to check Dylan was in. He was. It had taken all his restraint to drive home slowly, when he wanted to get here faster than the speed limit would allow. Now they were so close, he almost felt like turning the car around and going back to his house, and leaving himself with the glimmer of hope his idea had spawned.
If this didn’t work, he would be back to square one. Back to nowhere, with no bear.
“It’s not about the job,” he admitted as he turned into the drive he had cycled up many times as a kid when he sometimes hung out with Dylan. That was before they grew up and Dylan ended up in juvie.
Jordan was surprised the place looked the same, or at least Dylan’s grandpa’s place looked the same. As they wound their way up the road, a larger house came into view, from where it snuggled in amongst the trees.
“Oh my,” Skyla said. “That is a beautiful house.”
“It gives me some ideas,” Jordan said.
“I bet it does.” He stopped the car and Skyla got out, going to fetch the wheelchair while Jordan waited impatiently. He knew she was going as fast as she could, but she didn’t know the urgency that was filling him now, the sense that this was right, that he had discovered a way to find his bear.
“I thought I heard the car,” Dylan called as he came out of his house. “What can I do for you? Is your father all right, Skyla?”
“Yes, thanks,” Skyla answered. “As for what you can do for us, I have no idea.”
“I wanted your help, with something. A kind of experiment.” Now he was here, with Skyla and Dylan, his plan seemed so ridiculous. What if he was wrong, what if he messed up and something terrible happened. What if he never really moved his ankle, as he thought he had?
“Jordan,” Skyla said, “whatever it is, please tell us.”
“My dreams have changed. It’s no longer me looking for my bear, I see my bear looking for me.”
“So you can at least see him?” Dylan asked, sounding excited.
“I’m not sure if I see him, or feel him. But I’m sure he’s close. It’s as if the longer I spend with Skyla, the more he comes to me.” Jordan felt like an idiot saying that, but it was true.
“The mating bond is strong; it could be enough. Like bait,” Dylan agreed thoughtfully.
“And I’m hoping it’s all tied in with me not being able to walk.” There, he’d said it, for better or worse. He was sure, no, not sure, but so incredibly hopeful that if he could find his bear, it would trigger his ability to walk again.
“Wait, are you sure?” Dylan asked. “I can’t see the connection.”
“I know.” Jordan looked at Skyla. “I didn’t tell you, but I’m sure I moved my ankle. I mean, it may have been my imagination. No, I’m sure it wasn’t.” He felt so uncertain, and for a man who had always been certain of everything, always confident in himself and his abilities, this was hard to admit.
Skyla went pale. “You moved your ankle. You felt it?”
“Yes. The night you got the call, you were so upset and I wanted to get to you, to hold you, I was certain. But I haven’t been able to repeat it, so now I don’t know.”
“I saw you move your legs,” she admitted, her face almost white in the dimming evening light.
“What! Why didn’t you say?” he growled, unable to understand why she would keep this information to herself.
“It was while you were having a nightmare, the first night. Your legs were thrashing about. It gave me hope, but I didn’t think you would believe me, and you were already caught up in the thought that the doctors thought you were lying about not being able to move.”
He let out a breath. “They might be right. It is all in my head.”
“Then let’s get it out,” Dylan said, coming to stand by Jordan. “I think I know what you need me to do.”
“What? What do you need him to do?” Skyla asked, her tone uneasy. “Can you explain it please?”
“It’s hard to explain.” Jordan nodded to Dylan. “But you think
it will work, don’t you?”
“I think it might reset your link.” Dylan was thoughtful for a moment. “Did you die?”
“What?” Jordan asked.
“Did you stop breathing? It’s just a thought, that for some reason you became disconnected.”
“I don’t know. Local villagers took me in until a medevac team arrived.”
“I may be wrong; it might be that you took a hard-enough hit to your back that the link became disrupted.”
“Dylan, stop trying to piece it together, let’s just see if it works,” Jordan asked, knowing he had reached some invisible point of no return.
“How do you want to do this? I could hold you in my arms. Or are we only at a hand-holding phase?”
“Hand-holding.” Jordan looked up at Dylan. “You sure you want to risk this? What if us doing this together disrupts things?”
“You mean what happens if we both end up in my bear’s body?” Dylan shook his head. “One time I shifted while fighting with some kid from town. Tommy Keller. We never got mixed up; I don’t think it works like that. Hell of a static shock, though.”
“Just get it over with,” Skyla said, her hands to her face, as if she wanted to cover her eyes and not watch.
Dylan took another step forward, held out his hand, and asked, “Ready?”
Before Jordan had a chance to answer, he felt a sharp jolt as they touched; the air filled with static electricity, and Dylan began to shimmer. It spread outwards, consuming Jordan with a sensation he had been unable to replicate on his own, but now felt as natural as the breath in his body.
The world around him fell away, and for a split moment there was nothing. On the threshold where he would normally meet his bear and exchange places with him, there was nothing. Panic filled him. Would he be able to find his way back to the other world? Or would he be stuck on the wrong side of things, with no part of him in the real physical world?
Then the touch of familiar fur brushed against the inside of his mind, and his bear was there, surging forward, leaping through the air, and into the world where their mate stood waiting. Jordan relaxed, he had found his bear, and his bear could use his legs. His fear of finding his bear had often been obliterated by the fear of finding his bear was paralyzed too, that this beautiful creature would never be able to run across the mountain, or swim in the river.
“Oh shit!” Skyla’s voice called him back to the real world, only this time he was in his bear’s head, he was letting their mate run her fingers through his thick black fur, while his bear shivered in appreciation.
His bear was back. His bear was whole.
Jordan turned to see the other bear, Dylan, watching from a safe distance, and part of Jordan wanted to run at the big grizzly, and bite his legs, challenging him to a chase through the mountain paths. But this wasn’t the time. His experiment today wasn’t through.
Pulling himself away from Skyla, he moved a safe distance away, and then let the air shimmer around him. He was coming back as a man, but would he be a man who could walk?
The change was sudden, his legs buckled under him and he fell to the ground. Skyla screamed and rushed towards him. “Jordan, are you OK?” She knelt beside him, and lifted his head to rest on her lap.
“It doesn’t matter that it didn’t work, we can still keep trying to find other ways. I love you as you are. At least you have your bear.”
Tears were coming down her cheeks, and he wiped them away before lifting his head and kissing her. “I needed to hear that,” he said. “But I think I’m going to be OK. I need to build my muscle strength back up, and I feel as weak as a baby. But I can feel my legs.” He shifted his weight. “I can move my legs.”
“Some guys will do anything for some sympathy,” Dylan said with a wink. “I’ll leave you two alone. Call me on Monday about the job, if you still want it.”
“Thank you, Dylan.”
“Pleasure to lend a hand.”
“And I do want the job,” Jordan called, and then dropped his voice. “Not as much as I want you, though, Skyla.”
“Let’s go home, Jordan.” She got up and grabbed the wheelchair and brought it to him.
“I am never getting in that thing again,” he said. “I don’t care if I have to crawl, but I am not sitting in another wheelchair.”
“Come on, I’ll help you.”
He got to his feet shakily, with Skyla supporting him. Then, one slow step at a time, they made their way to the car. As she helped him in, she leaned down and said, “I like your bear.”
“Thank you. There’s a part of me that’s functioning properly now too, which I would very much like you to meet.” He adjusted his pants. “I think I have the biggest erection ever, as if all the hours I’ve wanted you have rolled into one.”
“Then let’s get home. We don’t want it to go to waste.” She giggled and shut the door, then she ran around to the driver’s side and got in. “What is the speed limit in Bear Bluff?”
“Whatever it is, I suggest you break it.”
“I moved here to enjoy a quieter pace of life,” she said, pulling off slowly.
“I thought you came here to meet the bear of your dreams.” He slid his hand up her thigh, and pushed it between her thighs. “And this bear wants to claim you, in every possible way.”
“Maybe if I drive a little faster,” she said, speeding up as they reached the road.
“Just keep us safe, Skyla. This black bear has been down once; he doesn’t intend for it to happen again.”
“It won’t. But if it did, I’d be here to help you back up again.”
Chapter Twenty-One – Skyla
Skyla picked the train of her wedding dress up and looped it over her arm as Jordan bent down and lifted her up in his arms. “I never thought I would get to do this, Mrs. Williams.”
“Neither did I, Mr. Williams. And I am trusting you not to drop me,” she said, wrapping her free arm around his neck.
He lifted her higher, so that her dress didn’t drag along the ground as he walked up to the house. Reaching the front door, he held her close, her head resting on his chest, while he unlocked it and pushed it open.
“I think this should be celebrated with a kiss,” he said.
“Haven’t you had enough kisses for one day?” she asked with a resigned sigh.
“Never.” His lips met hers, and the fierce passion in his kiss was a promise of what was to come when they finally made it to bed. “And don’t try to make out you are tired of them.”
She stroked his cheek, her thumb brushing his lips, and then she pressed her lips lightly to his. “I’ll never tire of them. I’ll never tire of anything you do.”
“There are so many things I’ve imagined doing to you tonight, my wife.” They crossed the threshold, and he walked into the hallway and kicked the door shut behind them. They were man and wife. After a whirlwind romance, their bond was finally complete, not that they needed a ceremony and a marriage certificate to tell them they were one.
“Well, husband… I can’t believe I’m actually saying those words.” He set her down on the floor, but she kept her arms looped around his neck. “I plan on making you the happiest man alive tonight.”
His hands caressed her body, sending shockwaves through it. Skyla had been waiting for this moment ever since they had both said the words I do. Standing on tiptoe, she kissed him, nipping his bottom lip playfully, hoping he wanted her as much as she wanted him.
“I plan to make you the happiest woman. Not just tonight, but for always.”
“And how do you plan to do that?” she asked.
He took her hand and led her through the house to the stairs, hesitating at the bottom, looking up. “When we first came here, I was helpless. Now, life seems too perfect.”
“Hey. It can never be too perfect; don’t you ever think you don’t deserve to be happy.” She took his hand and pulled him up the stairs to their bedroom. The room he had used as a downstairs bedroom before his legs began to wor
k again had been turned into a second sitting room; it was the perfect place to sit at the end of a long day and look out of the huge window at the valley below. Tonight, she was going to tell him he would need to work on an extension. But not yet, first she wanted him to make love to her.
“I’m sorry,” he said, when they had reached their bedroom and he held her in his arms, his face buried into her neck. He kissed her softly, butterfly kisses. “Today has been the most wonderful day. But seeing some of the family members of those who died in the crash, it brought it all back, how they won’t share these special occasions with their loved ones.”
“And that is not your fault.” She lifted his face, one hand on either side of his cheek, and kissed his lips. “They came because they wanted to see you happy.”
“And I am.” He pulled her close, his hands going to the small buttons running down the back of her dress. “How long is it going to take me to undo all of these?”
“As long as it takes. There’s no rush, we have the rest of our lives.”
“Tell that to my cock. It has been straining at the seam of my pants all day.”
“That is more like it. My insatiable husband back to thinking about sex.”
“I’m not just thinking about it.” He turned her around to make his job quicker. As each tiny button was opened, he kissed her back, until he could push the dress off her shoulders and let it fall to the floor. “Oh, my.”
He sighed, and she wasn’t sure if it was because he liked what he saw, or if he was contemplating how much longer he was going to have to spend undressing her. Her wedding dress had a fitted waist, before flaring out at the back, with a long train. It hugged her body, and to make sure it showed her figure off in the best possible way, she wore lacy lingerie that wouldn’t look out of place in a historical romance novel. But there was no way he was going to rip this bodice.
“This is a lesson in patience,” she said, as he got to work removing the last barrier that stood between him and her body.
“I think I should leave it on you, and fuck you like you’re a wanton woman, who’s been teasing her husband all day.”
Black Bear Down: BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (Return To Bear Bluff Book 3) Page 10