Bear: A Dark Shifter Romance

by Delta James

  Shortly before the sun crested the eastern horizon, Halley got up, put on her clothes, and walked downstairs. She left a note for Kaye propped up on the kitchen table.

  Kaye,

  I need some space. I’m going up to the cavern that was Cade’s home... and mine for a short while. Please don’t worry. I’ll be back in a couple of days. I just need some time to grieve and I think I’ll feel better there than anywhere.

  I love you,

  Halley

  She picked up the pack Charlie had left behind and opened it. She stopped breathing for a moment when she saw Cade’s buckskins and his knife. She pulled his shirt out and replaced the one she had on with it. She grabbed a couple of bottles of water from the fridge and added them to the pack. Halley had seen the dynamite, but didn’t remove it as she didn’t like the idea of just leaving it lying about. She headed out the back door and started the journey back to the place she had shared with Cade.

  As she hiked, Halley tried to console herself with the idea that at least she had known him and been his for a short while. Maybe his being with her had offered him comfort and had allowed him to leave this life knowing he had been loved. She hiked for miles, only arriving at the base of the waterfall as darkness began to overtake the forest.

  She moved up along the trail and behind the rushing water. She was exhausted—mentally, emotionally, and physically spent. She pulled off her boots and pants and curled up in Cade’s shirt on their bed, pulling the covers over herself. She knew the cavern would be cold if she didn’t light a fire, but she didn’t care. Perhaps hypothermia would take her and she would not have to endure a life without him.

  Surrounded by his scent and in his place, she slept. If she dreamt, she didn’t remember anything when she woke. Halley spent the next two days going through Cade’s things, separating those she wanted to keep and those she would leave behind. She had made a fateful decision; she would use the dynamite in the pack to destroy this place and seal it closed forever. Halley knew changing the shape of the rock behind the falls would cause a shift in how the water fell from the cliff above, but how much she wasn’t sure. She only knew this would be his memorial; her own personal shrine to the man who had altered the course of her own life.

  Halley placed what she wanted to take in Cade’s version of a backpack—a primitive basket-like contraption woven from split white oak. It was lightweight, but strong enough to do the job. Halley placed the dynamite along strategic points in the cave. She strung them together with fuse wire so that there would be a chain reaction resulting in the destruction of Cade’s home. She trekked down the rock face until she had everything out then returned to the cavern. Halley backed out of the cave, stringing the long fuse along behind her as she made her way out of the cave, down the trail, and out of the blast zone.

  Once she was at a safe distance, Halley stayed and watched as the explosion rocked the mountain and the cave collapsed upon itself. She waited until the rock had settled, the water changed course and then the wilderness carried on as if nothing at all had happened. She picked up the pack and hefted it over her shoulder.

  “Goodbye, Cade,” she whispered as she set off to return to civilization.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The next few weeks passed far more quickly than Halley had thought they might. She really wasn’t aware of much, just allowed her grief to envelop her and did as Kaye and Charlie asked. She put on a brave face for them and didn’t fight them when they prodded her to eat or take a shower or sit outside in the fresh air. She knew they were worried, but she also knew it was all she could do not to just curl into a fetal ball on the bed she had shared all too briefly with Cade.

  No bodies had ever been found and the case had been closed. There were some federal authorities poking around at the old building site and the land was being put up for auction as no one wanted to come forward and claim it.

  It had been late afternoon when Halley was surprised as she looked out the bedroom window and saw Charlie out by the grave installing the wildflower sod and other plants. It seemed so long ago that she and Cade had purchased them. She heard Kaye downstairs making something to eat. Halley decided it was time she quit letting Kaye and Charlie wait on her hand and foot and so went to join her.

  Kaye rushed over to hug her as she entered the kitchen.

  “What’s Charlie doing back there?” she asked.

  “Charlie said he and Cade talked about that first night and that you guys had wanted to do some landscaping back there. We thought it was probably best to plant all the things you and Cade bought.”

  “Funny how quickly they became friends,” mused Halley.

  “I think anyone who ever met Cade liked him... well, except for those guys who tried to kill you. But yeah, Charlie misses him too. I think they would have been the best of friends. Weird how he lived all those years and then died like that.”

  “He died protecting me. It’s what he did. He saved my life again. I led him to his death.”

  “No, you did not!” said Kaye vehemently. “That man loved you. He would beat your ass if he heard you talking that way and trying to feel guilty.”

  Halley smiled. “He’d probably wash my mouth out first.”

  Kaye reached for her hand and squeezed it consolingly. “We’ll get through this.”

  Halley nodded. “Yes, we will. I just want to say thanks for...”

  “We haven’t done anything you wouldn’t have done for us. Do you think anyone will ever find his lair?”

  Halley laughed quietly. “It was the most unlikely lair you ever saw. It was kind of homey. But no, I destroyed the interior and then collapsed the mouth of the cave. It too deserves to be at peace.”

  The timer on the stove went off and Kaye got up to take a frittata out of the oven. Charlie joined them and after washing his hands, kissed Kaye before bestowing a kiss on Halley’s forehead.

  “Good to see you up and about,” he said kindly.

  “Time to return to the land of the living, I suppose. Is there anything I need to do or be worried about?” Halley asked.

  “No, I’m just about finished out there. I want to run into town and get a few more things. I thought Kaye and I could come over tomorrow. Kaye thought you might like to go get a pedicure and I could finish up here... maybe grill some steaks?”

  Halley smiled. “You two don’t have to make a life caring for me.”

  “You and Cade would have done the same for Kaye if it had been me.”

  Kaye deliberately tried to lighten the mood and talked Halley into agreeing to visit a nail salon the next day. Halley walked with them out onto the porch and waved as they drove away. She’d had enough socializing and trying to be all right for the day. She returned to her bedroom and lay down. Closing her eyes, she slept.

  For the first time in weeks, Halley dreamed. She thought it odd as it seemed to occur as she was waking and it wasn’t like she could see anything happening, but could feel what was happening. It felt like it had when she had slept within Cade’s embrace—the weight of his arm draped over her middle, his cock nudging her backside. She sighed happily until she woke enough to remember that her reality was that she would never feel those things again... at least not on this plane of existence. She refused to open her eyes. The sensations continued as she felt her hair being brushed away from her face as Cade had often done with his index finger. She felt the hand that had been holding her waist trail down the front of her body until it slipped between her legs. Her clit responded immediately to the intimate fondling being given to it.

  Halley moaned as the hand slipped lower and stroked her labia as her pelvis undulated to the rhythm being created. She felt the bed shift underneath and sink behind her. Strong hands she had once known so intimately pulled her up onto her knees as she felt the head of his staff probe for the opening to her core and drive home. As her body responded to his dominant possession, it reacted as it most often had by climaxing as she felt him begin to thrust in and out of her.r />
  It was then Halley realized this was no dream, she was wide awake and being fucked. And she was being fucked by Cade. No other man had ever felt the way he did; no other had presumed his mastery over her body.

  “Cade?” she cried out as she tried to rise.

  He relinquished the hold of her hip with one hand as he rubbed his hand down her spine and encouraged her to keep her upper body in contact with the mattress.

  “God damn it, Cade.”

  The hand that had pressed her down into the bed swiftly connected with her backside.

  “Not even gone two weeks and your language has deteriorated once again,” he said in his growly rumble.

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” she challenged.

  Again, he swatted her behind a bit more harshly, causing the pain to radiate and combine with the slap he’d just given her.

  Halley put her own hands on the mattress and pushed, trying to at least get on all fours. Once more Cade landed a stinging blow to her bottom before wordlessly urging her back into the position he wanted. When her strength was no match for his, not only did she flatten herself, but her body betrayed her anger and orgasmed again. Her pussy pulsed along his length and the groan he made caused her to smile.

  Cade plunged his cock in and out of her, driving harder and faster and making her climax twice more before his movements became more frenzied and he found his own release. He slammed into her buttocks repeatedly as he began to pump her full of his cum, grunting as he did so before he collapsed over her back.

  He withdrew from her and rolled to her side, seeking to draw her with him.

  * * *

  God, she’d felt good. He smiled. His only thought as he was plunging toward almost certain death in the ravine was that in order to survive, he would need to shift into the bear. And he knew he wanted to survive; he wanted to be with Halley and wanted to feel her underneath him again.

  He looked up at her, expecting her to burst into tears or to throw herself into his arms. He was not expecting the storm clouds in her eyes or having her start to beat him with a pillow and not in a fun, childish manner.

  “Halley, stop it. What the hell is wrong with you?”

  “With me? You sonofabitch! Where have you been? Do you know what you’ve put me through? You bastard!”

  “Halley, that’s enough.”

  “Enough? You motherfucker! I wanted to die just so I didn’t have to go on living without you! Where have you been?” she panted, clearly distressed.

  He smiled and her response was to begin hitting him again with the pillow. Cade realized that at this point there was absolutely no way to reason with her, but he thought to give her a chance to compose herself. As the pillow descended again, he snatched it from her hand and tossed it aside. She began to pummel his chest with her fists. Cade grabbed for her waist and wrestled her onto her back with his thighs positioned between hers.

  They both felt his cock respond to the intensity of their feelings and the length of time apart from one another. Cade leaned down onto her body, trapping her beneath him and capturing her mouth in a passionate kiss. He slid his hands under her buttocks and steadied her as he drove back up into her wet heat and began fucking her with hard, long strokes.

  Halley drew blood as she bit his lip, but it did not deter him. He meant to prove to her again that he was dominant and she would submit to him. He pulled his lip from her teeth and began to kiss and nip all along her throat down one side and up the other. Halley squirmed in an effort to get away from him, but he continued to hammer her pussy with his cock, forcing her to respond. She came hard for him twice more before her body lost its angry rigidity and she clung to him calling his name.

  Cade continued the onslaught of his renewal of his dominance in both their lovemaking and in their relationship. He felt her begin to nibble on his collarbone—a reaction she had only when she had capitulated to him and desperately needed him to soothe her pussy by bathing it with his cum. He increased the strength and speed of his stroking and felt his release as he hit the back of her cunt and filled her to beyond her capacity.

  When they had both stilled, he released his hold on her and propped himself on his elbows, still remaining deep within her. Her pussy still spasmed as if desperately hugging his cock. He’d forgotten how good that felt.

  She reached up to touch his face—tentatively, reverently as if ensuring she was really trapped beneath him.

  “Where have you been?” she asked softly as tears began to roll down her cheeks.

  “Doing everything in my power to get back to you...”

  “But how did you survive?”

  Cade wrapped his arms around her and rolled to his back, bringing her on top of him. When she tried to sit up, he made note that she didn’t try to ease up off of him. He encouraged her to lie back down on him as he caressed her back.

  “Are you really alive? You’re not some spirit?” she said fearfully.

  He chuckled warmly and kissed her lovingly. “Does that feel like a spirit in your pussy? I am here, my beloved. I am not some specter come to haunt you.”

  “How?”

  “When I tackled those men, I realized as I was falling that the only chance of survival I had was to shift to the bear and pray that the water was deep enough to cushion my fall. It was. But I was swept downriver along with those who thought to harm you. They were pulled under by the current. As they would resurface trying to gasp for air, I could hear their death screams. Because of the power of my bear, I was able to make my way to the riverbank and find a place to nurse my wounds and allow myself to heal. As soon as I was able, I began to make the long trek back to you.”

  “I thought you were dead. And then I thought you were a dream.” Her fingers trailed down his face. “But you’re not. You’re here...”

  “Yes, Halley, I am here and will always be with you.”

  She flung her arms around him. “Oh, God, Cade, I thought I’d lost you.”

  He kissed her to comfort her and reassure her both of his presence and his feelings for her.

  “Now that we have that straightened out, my naughty fiancée, do you wish to apologize to me?”

  “Me? Apologize to you? I’ve done nothing wrong.”

  “Really? Did you hear the language you were using? Do you think bashing me over the head with a pillow or beating my chest with your fists—that hurt, by the way—is an appropriate way for you to behave?”

  She shook her head and then began to laugh. “You think that’s bad? I also blew up the cave without any supervision from the menfolk.”

  “You what?”

  “Blew up the cave. Sorry about that. Although it serves you right for letting me think you were dead.”

  “I don’t care about the cave. I do care, however, about you using black powder of any kind without someone who knows what they’re doing there to make sure you did so safely. You don’t have any experience in that area of expertise as I recall.”

  “No. But at the time I didn’t much care whether it was safe or not and you weren’t around to get all growly about it.” She paused and he saw tears well in her eyes. “I didn’t want anyone to find it... ever. I needed it to be a place that had belonged only to you.”

  “To us,” he corrected gently. “Still it was a dangerous thing to do and you aren’t to do it again.”

  She giggled. “I can promise you that. Trust me, I did a bang-up job, pun intended, there’s nothing left to blow up there.”

  Cade chuckled. “I’d watch getting sassy with me. I intend to ask Charlie if you’ve been behaving.”

  “That is just so many kinds of wrong.”

  “I’ll take that to mean you haven’t. Anything you’d like to come clean about?”

  “The aforementioned language is probably not an isolated incident and there may have been one or two times I didn’t exhibit the most ladylike behavior...”

  “Care to elaborate on that?” he said, arching his eyebrow at her.

  “I may ha
ve questioned the paternity of a federal investigator.”

  “Halley,” he admonished. “If you haven’t already done so, you will call him and apologize.”

  “He was an ass... jerk.”

  “Nevertheless. He did not deserve the sharp side of your tongue.”

  “I won’t.”

  “You will.”

  “No,” she said finally, trying to throw her leg over him and uncouple from him.

  Cade brought his hand up swiftly, catching her sit spot and the full roundness of her butt cheek.

  “You stay where I put you. Ease yourself back down on me.”

  When she hesitated, he swatted her again. He watched the war of emotions play across her face. He knew that she wanted to fight, wanted to reassert what she saw was her equality in their relationship. Those feelings were in direct contrast to that deepest part of her that craved his dominance, that needed to know that she would obey him or suffer the consequences. He smiled as she complied and settled herself on him again.

  He reached for her phone and handed it to her.

  “I’m not going to call him while I’m impaled on your dick.”

  “It’s my staff lodged in your sheath or a bit of ginger put up your ass. Which will it be?”

  She snatched the phone from him. “I wonder if it’s murder if I use a pillow to suffocate a man who should have died two hundred years ago and again several weeks ago. I’m sure double jeopardy has to figure into that.”

  Cade laughed and watched as she dialed. He smiled as she made her apologies, hung up, and handed him back the phone.

  They both startled as they heard the front door open and close. Cade quickly lifted her off of him and pushed her toward the bath.

  “Get in there and lock the door,” he said, reaching under the bed for the shotgun. “Now, Halley.”