by Laurie Ames
“Look here,” he said, kneeling.
There were three large prints that crossed the trail. Amanda didn’t know what they were. Maybe a wolf.
“Cougar,” Dylan said with a satisfied smile.
Amanda’s eyes widened.
“Relax,” he said reassuringly.
Easy for him to say, she thought. If you turn into a bear at the slightest provocation, it probably isn’t too much of a worry when you see the tracks of a mountain lion, but it was a different story for a plain human like her.
“Sure,” she said, slightly on edge.
“Let’s keep going. Try to enjoy yourself,” he said.
They kept walking, winding around through the woods. The sunlight was obscured as they went deeper into the forest.
Amanda followed Dylan. They trekked on relentlessly. Amanda was sweating even though it was only about fifty degrees. The forest obstructed all wind, so it felt humid even in the cool fall air.
After a few more moments of hiking, Dylan stopped dead in his tracks.
“What is it?” Amanda asked, expecting to see more tracks of unexpected wildlife.
Dylan didn’t say anything. Amanda stepped up beside him and saw what he was looking at. The tracks were even bigger than the mountain lions. She wondered what they were and suddenly had the feeling that she didn’t want to stay and find out.
“It’s them,” Dylan said finally.
“Who?” she asked, already knowing the answer.
“Sean. His group,” he said and looked around as though they might be watching.
“What does it mean?” Amanda asked as she got more and more nervous.
“It means they aren’t respecting my family’s boundaries.”
Amanda stood still and silent as though that could keep her safe. She pretended that it would make her unseen. She dreaded a repeat of their encounter.
“It means there’s going to be a fight,” Dylan said with finality.
Amanda swallowed hard. What was she getting herself into? Could she handle this?
“Let’s go,” he said, and they took off down the trail.
Chapter 5
The next few days were strained. It was obvious that Dylan was extremely stressed about what was coming. Amanda tried to give him space and tried to let him talk about it when he wanted. On Friday night, they were going to dinner at the diner again. He met her there.
“Hey,” she said with a smile.
“Hey,” he smiled back. He wrapped his arms around her in a big hug. She took in his scent. He smelled like the mountains, rough and rugged. Manly.
They ordered and their food came. They mostly ate in silence. Finally, Dylan spoke.
“So how are you enjoying your time in Mountain View, miss?” he feigned a country accent.
“That’s not even how people from around here talk,” she said with a little laugh.
It felt good to hear him joking. Maybe he was loosening up. Maybe this whole thing would just blow over, she thought.
Dylan smiled crookedly at her, flashing his bright white teeth. She felt her insides turn to mush. She kept thinking about where they got interrupted that night in his SUV. She wondered if she did the right thing by stopping him. It didn’t matter, she concluded. It would have ended anyway because of the attack.
She tried not to think about that.
They went on eating with more jokes and more laughter. When dessert came Dylan pointed out the window. Amanda felt her stomach drop. She hoped it wasn’t what she thought. She looked out.
When she turned her head, Dylan used his spoon to put whipped cream on her nose. She turned back with a smile. She was so relieved that she didn’t even pretend to find it humorous.
“What? Not funny?” he asked, putting the spoon in his mouth and licking the extra whipped cream off of it.
She forced a smile.
“Cute,” she said in mock anger. “Real cute.”
When they finished dessert, they walked out to their cars. Amanda felt like she might throw up because of what she was about to say. She was more nervous than she ever had been in her life.
“Why don’t you come back to my place?” she blurted out.
Dylan took her hand and smiled.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
“I’m positive,” she said, acting surer than she really felt.
She kissed him quickly on the cheek and got in her car before she could second guess herself. With him behind her, they drove back up to her parents’ cabin.
She got out and locked her door and waited for Dylan to get out of his Bronco. That was when something moved in the corner of her eye.
She whipped her head around to see Sean walking out of the woods. He was wearing a black sweatshirt and jeans. His dark greasy hair fell around his face.
“I’m not here for you, city girl,” he said to Amanda. “Or maybe I am,” he said suggestively, licking his lips.
She backed up.
“Dylan,” she said. She felt like it came out as a whisper.
Dylan had gotten out of the car and was standing beside her now.
“Your beef’s not with her, Sean,” he said and stepped forward.
Suddenly, Sean’s two look-alike henchmen stepped out of the woods. It was like they came out of nowhere, Amanda thought.
They looked from her to Dylan and back again. She shifted nervously.
“Leave him alone,” she said, speaking before she even thought about it. She stepped in front of Dylan.
“Amanda!” he hissed.
“No!” she said back. “This is ridiculous,” she said facing Sean. “Get out of here and leave him alone.”
“Oh, little girl,” Sean said with a laugh. “Don’t bite off more than you can chew.”
He stepped forward and traced a long fingernail down her cheek. She shuddered at the sensation of his touch. It felt like the entire world went cold.
Dylan shoved her behind him.
“Let’s get this over with,” he growled at Sean.
Amanda stepped back and watched what unfolded before her.
All of the men dropped to their hands and knees. The transformation was beginning. She took a couple more steps back. Dylan’s face contorted in pain and his muscles contracted like he was having a seizure. She wanted to step in and stop it but she knew it was beyond her control.
Suddenly, white fur was growing out of his skin. It was like he was being torn apart from the inside out—being born again as something entirely inhuman. Amanda watched in horror.
Finally, it was over. The four bears looked at each other. Three of them on one side with Dylan on the other. He paced back and forth, sizing them up.
The bear that had been Sean raced forward, striking out at Dylan with a clawed hand. Dylan fell back onto the ground, rolling twice and getting up at Amanda’s feet. He roared back at the other bear and charged him.
Dylan and Sean rolled into a tumble at the edge of the forest, both of them struggling for dominance. Hair flew as they scratched and bit at each other, neither of them getting a footing in the fight. The other two bears paced around the scuffle, waiting for their turns.
Amanda felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. She didn’t know what to do. She grabbed a branch that was on the ground beside her and began banging it on the hood of the Bronco.
“Over here, assholes!” she shouted.
In unison, the two black bears that were Sean’s buddies turned to face her. She gulped, realizing that all of their attention was now focused on her. Quickly, she darted for the driver’s side door of Dylan’s truck. She climbed in, slamming and locking the door just in time to hear their claws scraping against the metal of the truck. She clapped her hands over her ears in an effort to block the ear-splitting sound.
The other black bear jumped onto the hood of the Bronco and clawed at the window. Under its weight, the window began to crack. Amanda could hear the fight between Sean and Dylan escalating outside of the vehicle. She scrambled over the fron
t seat and into the back, looking for anything that she might use against her pair of attackers.
Amanda clawed the floorboard in the back seat, looking for what she didn’t know. A heavy metal flashlight met her hand. She could hit one of them with it, but how much damage would it do? She could hear the windshield about to give way under the weight of one bear, and the other was steadily prying the driver’s side door. She searched faster.
Outside, she heard what sounded like a yelp and a whimper. She hoped that it had been Sean. What was she going to do if they got Dylan? There was no way she could defend herself against three bears. She had to find a way out of this.
That was when she found the shovel.
She wrapped her hands around it and struggled to find a way to open the back door. Finally, she found the release and scrambled out. The bear trying to get into the door heard her and shuffled around to the back. When its head popped out from the side of the car, Amanda swung the shovel as hard as she could, hitting the bear in the face with a blinding crack. He collapsed to the ground.
The other bear had crawled on top of the Bronco and growled when it saw her incapacitate its friend. She gasped as she looked up and saw the hulking beast staring down at her. She began sprinting towards the house.
As she ran, Sean and Dylan went by her in a quick roll, almost slamming into her and causing her to trip to avoid them as they barreled towards the other side of the forest. Amanda felt something grab the hem of her jeans. She turned to see that it was the bear from the top of the Bronco. She grasped the handle of the shovel as it pulled her closer. She rolled onto her back and swung the shovel as hard as she could at the black bear. She missed. Then there was a gruesome sounding thud and a whimper from her right. She looked over and saw that the white Kermode bear looked to be defeated. Dread knotted up in her stomach.
She swung the shovel but missed again as the other black bear darted its head out of the way. It let forth a guttural growl. She started hearing the crunch of leaves and pine needles coming from behind her. She knew it was Sean.
She leaned up and fought with all her strength to get on her feet, causing the bear to release her. She stood challenging it as she brought the shovel up. The bear backed off. She paused, then watched as Sean come sauntering up in front of her. She hesitated for a moment and then in a lightening quick second, he was on top of her. He opened his mouth to sink his sharp teeth into her neck, and she was absolutely certain this was her time to die. The shovel had dropped just barely from her reach and she strained in desperation to get it back.
Just then, a white blur came jumping over her and slammed Sean into the ground. It was Dylan. He wasn’t dead.
She fought to get the shovel and without hesitating, she swung it at the other bear whom had looked away. With a crack, the metal collided with its skull and brought it down. Amanda turned to see where the other two had gone.
Before her, the other two bears had stood up on their hind legs. The black bear made a move to go for Dylan’s vulnerable belly. Quickly, Dylan moved out of the way and the other bear tripped. When it did, Dylan latched his jaws onto the black bear’s throat and with a horrible crisp crunch, the black bear fell to the ground.
Amanda dropped her shovel as she watched Dylan drag the body into the woods. She tried to catch her breath. Suddenly, one of the men had gotten up, no longer in bear form. He raced to grab his friend, helping him to his feet. Together they sprinted off into the opposite direction.
She heard a crunching sound coming through the forest and then she saw Dylan, naked and bleeding, walking out of the woods. She ran to him and threw her arms around him, wrapping him in a tight embrace, which he returned.
Amanda draped Dylan’s arm around her and walked him to the house. She helped him in and ushered him to the shower. He was so out of it that she wasn’t sure he could take care of himself.
She turned on the water and let it get just hot enough. She tested it with her hand and helped Dylan in. He slipped and almost fell, so she stripped off her clothes and got in with him.
The hot water felt good on her back. She grabbed his hands and helped him stand up. He looked exhausted. She lathered up a washcloth and began wiping off the blood. First, she wiped off of his shoulders and chest. She touched a deep claw mark and he hissed in pain.
“I’m sorry,” she said, trying to clean the rest of him more gingerly.
“It’s okay,” he replied in a low voice.
She moved down his stomach and to his abdomen. She washed his thighs and legs and turned him around to wash his back. As she was doing so, he leaned forward against the wall. He groaned. Whether it was from the pleasure of the hot water or the pain of his wounds, she didn’t know. She then started to wash herself off.
She scrubbed herself down and was letting the steamy water cascade over her face. It felt so pleasurable after such a horrible event. She was sure that there wasn’t anything a shower couldn’t fix. She felt a hand on her waist. Her stomach tightened at his touch.
Dylan stepped closer and wrapped his arms around her, just below her breasts. Soap ran down her cleavage and over his arms.
She leaned back into him, enjoying the feel of his body against hers. His naked skin, wet and pressed against her back. He leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her shoulder and moved slowly up her neck, using his tongue to trace the indention of her collarbone.
Amanda turned her head to the side, giving him full access. She breathed deeply, causing her breasts to rise and fall. It didn’t go unnoticed.
Dylan reached up with one hand and cupped her naked breast. She moaned softly at his touch. He teased her nipple into a tight bud and then ran his palm lightly over it. His large rough hand only made it harder, sending a pulse through her body and right to her core.
He ran his other hand down her belly and into her soft pubic hair. He traced the outer edges of her folds and she felt herself become putty in his hands. She wanted this. She truly wanted it and she wanted it now.
Dylan expertly ran a finger along her lips, and she felt herself slick with desire. She’d never been touched like this and she took in every second of it like a person drinking from an oasis in the desert. She moaned softly as he teased her.
He pressed his lips into her neck and gathered her flesh in his teeth. She moaned again at the sensation. She wanted nothing more than this.
He worked his finger around her opening and used a foot to spread her legs apart. He slid in one finger and she inhaled sharply, her eyes shooting open. The pressure of him moving his finger against her wall sent her into a fit of delight. She wasn’t sure what to do with herself. He stroked her gently, moving his finger in a “come here” motion. She spread her legs further apart and he slid in a second finger.
She gasped at the size of his fingers inside of her. She had only ever used a vibrator and a skinny one at that. She moaned in ecstasy as he began to stroke the wall of her heat quicker and harder.
Amanda felt him growing hard against her ass. She could feel his length pulsing with desire and she longed to touch it. She reached behind her and took him into her palm. He immediately groaned at the first sensation of her hand. She’d thought the pleasure he was giving to her with his fingers was amazing, but the sound of him making sensual groans was even sexier.
He pulled his hand away from her and reached to turn the shower off. She stepped out, grabbing both of their towels and handing one to him.
Instead of drying himself off, he made her drop her towel to the floor. He used his to dry off her naked body, one part at a time. He dried her neck, breasts and her hair. He dipped lower to her stomach and then kneeled as he spread her legs. Instead of drying her down low, she watched as he pressed his forehead to her belly and kissed her abdomen.
Oh God, she thought. She felt her knees grow weak and wasn’t sure how long she could support herself in this position. His kisses grew lower and lower and then with his tongue, he parted her folds again, swirling the tip around her sweet spot. S
he inhaled sharply and bit her lip. He slid a finger inside of her and she grabbed his hair, holding on tight. He blew lightly on her pussy and the sensation of her wetness combined with the cool blast of air sent her into a tizzy. He pumped his finger in and out of her, rougher and rougher, until her legs started to shake. Then he stopped.
She was disappointed, but he quickly picked her up like a feather and carried her to the bed where he gently laid her down. She looked up into his eyes and found the same softness as she always had, though his eyes were almost black with desire. She felt that hers must look the same.