Bear Protector: A WILD Security Book

by Ruby Forrest

  She moaned, Jack- Dean feeling so damn good against her. He slid further within and she cried out. The wind howled outside, the crackle of the fire and the sound of his strained breathing filling the cabin. She whimpered softly, bucking her hips against him, thrilling at the feeling of him against her, inside her. She moaned and grabbed at him, fingers digging into his skin, sensation of pleasure filling her up. Jack- Dean seemed to be feeling the same, his breathing catching in quick little gasps of desire and need, of burning lust the flooded both of their systems and set their bodies on fire.

  She needed him. She wanted him. This was perfect, and as her felt her climax overtake her body and shudder through her mind, Maria knew that she was exactly where she was supposed to be.

  Chapter 5

  I know not whether Laws be correct, Or whether Laws not be right; All that we know who lie in gaol. Is that the divider is solid; And that every day resembles a year, A year whose days are long. Yet, this I know, that each Law That men have made for Man,Since first Man took his sibling's life, And the miserable world started, But straws the wheat and recoveries the refuse With a most malice fan. This too I know—and savvy it were If each could know the same—That each jail that men assemble Is worked with blocks of disgrace, And bound with bars or Christ should perceive How men their siblings injure.

  With bars they obscure the benevolent moon, And visually impaired the goodly sun: And they do well to shroud their Hell, For in it things are done That Son of God nor child of Man Ever should view! The most contemptible deeds like toxic substance weeds Bloom well in jail air: It is just what is great in Man That squanders and shrinks there: Pale Anguish keeps the overwhelming door, And the Warder is Despair For they starve the little panicked tyke Till it sobs both night and day: And they scourge the frail, and lash the trick, And scoff the old and dark, And some become frantic, and all develop awful, and none a word may state.

  Also, with tears of blood he washed down the hand, The hand that held the steel: For no one but blood can wipe out blood, And no one but tears can mend: And the red stain that was of Cain Became Christ's snow-white seal. In Reading gaol by Reading town There is a pit of disgrace, And in it lies a pathetic man Eaten by teeth of fire, In consuming winding-sheet he lies, And his grave has no name.

  What's more, there, till Christ call forward the dead, peacefully let him lie: No compelling reason to squander the stupid tear, Or hurl the breezy moan: The man had slaughtered the thing he adored, And so he needed to bite the dust. And all men murder the thing they cherish, By all let this be heard, Some do it with a severe look, Some with a complimenting word, The defeatist does it with a kiss, The overcome man with a sword!

  Each tight cell in which we abide Is foul and dim latrine,And the offensive breath of living Death Chokes up each ground screen, And all, however Lust, is swung to clean In Humanity's machine. The saline water that we drink Creeps with a detestable sludge, And the unpleasant bread they say something scales Is brimming with chalk and lime, And Sleep won't rests, yet strolls Wild-peered toward and cries to Time.

  In any case, however lean Hunger and green Thirst Like asp with viper battle, We have little care of jail passage, For what chills and kills through and through Is that each stone one lifts by day Becomes one's heart by night. With midnight dependably in one's heart, And sundown in one's cell, We turn the wrench, or tear the rope, Each in his different Hell, And the hush is more dreadful far Than the sound of a baldfaced chime.

  Also, with tears of blood he washed down the hand, The hand that held the steel: For no one but blood can wipe out blood, And no one but tears can mend: And the red stain that was of Cain Became Christ's snow-white seal. In Reading gaol by Reading town There is a pit of disgrace, And in it lies a pathetic man Eaten by teeth of fire, In consuming winding-sheet he lies, And his grave has no name.

  What's more, there, till Christ call forward the dead, peacefully let him lie: No compelling reason to squander the stupid tear, Or hurl the breezy moan: The man had slaughtered the thing he adored, And so he needed to bite the dust. And all men murder the thing they cherish, By all let this be heard, Some do it with a severe look, Some with a complimenting word, The defeatist does it with a kiss, The overcome man with a sword!

  What's more, never a human voice draws close To talk a delicate word: And the eye that watches through the entryway Is barbarous and hard: And by all overlooked, we decay and spoil, With soul and body defaced. Also, accordingly we rust Life's iron chain Degraded and alone: And a few men revile, and a few men sob, And a few men make no groan: But God's unceasing Laws are thoughtful And break the cold demeanor.

  ***

  Maria put the book down, looking up as Alex stepped out of the bathroom, fully dressed again and ready to go. Maria smiled and pushed herself to her feet, feeling more confident, more ready to go.

  “So, when do we go?”

  “What do you mean?” He frowned and shook his head in confusion.

  “Yes, I need to start my research.”

  Jack- Dean was shaking his head, staring at her with what looked like quiet disbelief, like he did not quite believe what he was hearing. He wasn't the only one struggling to believe what he was hearing. Maria felt like ice had been shot through her system

  "Maria, you have to stop this." His voice was so calm, so rational, so very cold, "You can’t go out there like this."

  "And why not?" Her voice was strained, "That's what I came here to do. That's why I came here in the first place, Jack- Dean! You know that, so why are you pushing for me to stay here instead?"

  Her voice was trembling and she stared him head on. She wanted to know his side. She wanted to know why he was doing this, why he was pushing so hard for her to stay inside, to stay away from all the action, instead of doing her damn job.

  "Because it's not your place to decide this!" His voice cracked a little and she could hear the tension burning through him, see it in his shoulders. He shook his head, "Maria, it is not your job to sort this out, to fix it."

  "Then whose place is it? Is it yours? Are you the only one allowed to try and help the animals here? Are you the only one who is supposed to sort it all out, fix it all? It's to your place to decide that either! You might be the ranger, but that doesn't make you god, Jack- Dean. You have every right to help, but so do I!" She could hear her voice rising, hear the straining tensions in it start to crack and break free.

  "It's the bear's job to sort it out, Maria.' His voice was measured, but his words didn’t make sense, "I know you don't understand it, but this is just part of the natural order and things will resolve soon enough."

  "Natural order? None of this had anything to do with the natural order and that's the problem! The natural order is all out of whack and I am trying to figure out why so that I can help put it back in order and help save lives. Don't you care about the bears?"

  "Maria, I di care. I care more than you seem to realize. It means a lot to me to fix this-"

  Maria cut him off, her body humming with tension, aching with burning frustration, "You don't care!" She laughed and started to pace, her face grim, "You want the animals to fix problems that we cause! You don't want to escort me out to do the job I am damn well here to do because you don't think it's my place? What the hell is wrong with you? Don't you dare tell me that you care because clearly, clearly, you don't care? If you cared, you wouldn't keep pushing people out of the park. If you cared, you wouldn't keep stopping me from doing my work. You'd be helping. You'd be here to help make a difference, like I am trying to do. But instead, you're just pushing everyone away and stopping people who actually want to help, from doing it."

  She sniffed, feeling anger burn like a wildfire inside of her, "So don't lie to me and tell me that you care!"

  "Well, what do you want me to say?!" Jack- Dean's voice was gaining strength too, starting to bristle and to burn to anger, with frustration, which was starting to cause his calm words to fray at the edges. Maria relished it relished the coming undone of all his
perfect ideals and lies. He did not care and it was about time that someone called him out on it.

  "What do you want me to say, that I don't care? That's a lie, Maria. Just because I care about your safety and don't want to mess things up more in this forest, does not mean that I can't care. You could get killed out there and I will not let that happen."

  "Then escort me like you are supposed to! It's your job and I thought you would be good at it! You're supposed to know this forest well enough to help me not die out in the field. You're supposed to be here to help instead of just leaving me to fend for myself."

  Maria shook her head, feeling betrayal rise inside of her. She had thought that he cared, if not about people, then at least about the animals. She had thought that maybe, just maybe, he cared a little about her, after last night. But here he was, making excuses and treating her, an the whole forest, like trash, like it did not matter at all to him, like he knew all there was to know.

  She thought of the dream that had plagued her, the betrayal that she had felt, the hands pinning her to the wall and the whispered words, to trust him, trust him. She had trusted him, she had trusted Jack- Dean and all that he had done was betray her. The same aching hurt rose up in her chest, blinding her and stealing her breath.

  "Forget it. Forget all of it. I'll go on my own." She spun around, grabbing her things, "I don't need your damn help, Jack- Dean and I don't want it! I'll do it with or without you and I will save this forest and the bears in it."

  "Maria, wait!" His voice was firm, but she did not care. He did not scare her and she wasn't in the mood to listen. Not to him, not anymore. He did not give a damn, and she wasn't about to waste time on an asshole like him. She was here to do her job and she would do it, no matter what and no matter who stood in her way.

  ***

  Maria trembled, feeling the stress of it all twist through her body like a fever, burning in her, and burning everything in its path down as she mode. She wanted to finally get there, finally get to the end of the journey, the journey where Jack- Dean wasn’t looking to hurt anyone, where he was with her, like she thought he was from the beginning, thought that he was when they had made love in the dark.

  His words hurt like a betrayal, hurt like he had turned on her, instead of in the forest. She had believed in him, believed that he was going to help her, help the animals, help those in the forest, like the ranger that he was, like the devoted ranger that everyone thought he was, believed he was.

  Her father had trusted him, she had trusted him, and everyone at the park trusted him. Everyone seemed to have so much faith in him, believe so much in him, and believe in what he could do and what he would do. So why had he turned his back on everyone like this? Why had he turned on her when she needed him most, when the animals in this forest needed him most, when he most needed to man up and make a difference?

  Maria could not understand it and it hurt. She had admired him, the way that he was devoted to his job. But he did not even want to go out with her, did not want to help her and help the animals. He seemed to think that the bears would sort it out themselves, but that was absolutely absurd, absolutely insane. They were animals, who couldn’t fix the bigger problems in life, the problems that humans were causing, the problems like global warning and hunters that honed in on animals when they were the most vulnerable,

  Bears were fantastic creatures, strong and intelligent, vicious when provoked, but that did not meant they could stop the building of a freeway that destroyed environment, or bigger issues like poisoning, like the vicious attacks that they were seeing now.

  What was Jack- Dean thinking? What was he saying? She did not understand and it felt like he was just throwing it to the winds, like he did not care, did not care at all, like he was just lazy and uninterested. And it hurt more than Maria cared to admit.

  And so she stormed through the forest, with no idea where she was going not really. She hoped that she would stumble upon something that would start her journey, her research. Maybe the site of one of the attacks, maybe some change in nature that she could notice and mention in her paper. She did not know exactly what she was looking for, but she would have to figure it out pretty quickly if she wanted to help, if she wanted to get herself through this, if she wanted to help anyone at all, especially the bears. She needed to do this, she needed to keep going. She needed to make this work and she did not have a damn choice in the matter.

  It seemed like she really was on her own right now, like she really was staring into the valley below her without anyone to help pull her up. But Maria was more than happy to jump on her own and just hope that she caught herself on the way down, that she would fall and fall and hopefully save others in the descent.

  Maria swallowed the ache in her chest, the burn that seemed to seer through her like a poison. The dream that she had been having, about trust and betrayal and love...it all seemed so much more relevant now. No, Jack- Dean wasn’t holding a knife to her neck, but he might as well have twisted one in her heart, twisted and twisted until she was screaming in agony.

  He might as well have betrayed her, because he had let her down, but not only her, all of the people who trusted him, and all the people who had trusted him to look after the animals that he was in charge of.

  It hurt her, hurt her heart and made it ache until she could not take it anymore. She just had to keep moving, keep moving and hope that she found something. Maria walked for what felt like hours, walked and walked and walked, not sure what she was looking, but not seeing anything that made her suspicious, not seeing anything that seemed to alert to any danger or difference in the eco system. Maria was just starting to think that she had taken the wrong path, gone off in the wrong direction, that she noticed it.

  Something was different about this part of the path. Something was different about this part of the forest and Maria wasn’t about to ignore that. Something was very wrong here. There was a change in the layout, a change in the trees. Many of the trees and bushes were broken and, if Maria did not know any better she would have said it looked like a very intentional fight happened here, like someone had a grudge, or was angry at the world.

  She did not know what to make of it. The damage was big and the prints that littered the area looked like bear tracks, looked like bears and no one else. She did not see any human footprints, other than her own. She did not see anything other than the footprints of a bear and the carnage of some sort of fight. Maria felt her heartrate quicken, felt uncertainty move through her body.

  This was it. This was what she had been looking for and, now that she had found it, she did not know what to do, did not know if she should call for backup or go it alone.

  Then she thought of Jack- Dean, thought of the way he did not seem to give a damn, thought of how he hadn't even helped her, or moved with her. She was on her own and she had no one that she could call for backup, even if she wanted it. She was on her own and she had to keep moving forward, no matter what, no matter how scary it seemed, no matter what she might find when she moved forward.

  Steeling herself, Maria took a deep breath and stepped forward, following the trail of destruction through the forest, following the tracks that lead deeper and deeper into the darker part of the forest, into the darkest side of the mountain, where everything was cold and damp and the trees seemed all the more gnarled, all the more damaged, all the more painful for her to look at.

  She stepped lightly, making a point of being quiet, of going slowly, and of taking it bit by bit and watching out for any danger. Maria did not know what she was looking for, exactly, but it was a start to keep an eye out for anything and everything. It was all that she could think to do and she was not about to go back on that, not now. She shivered and looked around.

  She did not see anything. Then she heard the crack, the sounds of wood cracking beneath a foot. The sound was loud, like the wood that had been snapped was weighty, was thick, was hard to break. It was like a gunshot, like a crack through the day, through the
dim, shadowy area that she found herself in. She realized, with a sudden and sharp thought, that anything good enough and big enough and strong enough to kill a bear, was probably more than enough to hurt her and kill her.

  It was probably smarter than she had been giving it credit for. She felt panic catch it her throat and she spun around. No sooner had she done that was she greeted by an almighty roar. The sound shuddered across the forest, making the very trees shake around Maria. In front of her was the biggest bear she had ever seen. He towered over her, monstrous and massive, with fur that was dark as night, with a face like murder and thunder and everything in between. This bear towered over her and Maria knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that she was in so much trouble, that she didn’t stand a chance that this bear was going to kill her.

  She did not think that a bear could have murderous intent that a bear would act on anything but protective instinct and the desire to eat, anything other than a need to survive. But there was something different this time around. There was something dangerous about those eyes. There was something deadly. There was something dark that was lingering in the distance, hinting at more, hinting at darker. It was intense, it was something that worried her that frightened her that made her think that running could not do a damn thing.

  She was frozen and it hit her like a ton of bricks, hit her so hard, that she was probably going to die, that she was probably going to die here, with this bear ripping her to shreds. No one would find her body for days, no one would even know where she went. Maybe they wouldn’t find her body at all, maybe they wouldn’t even know what had happened to her. She thought about her life, all the good she still wanted to do, the way her father would feel when he found out what happened. Then she thought of Jack- Dean, Jack- Dean who had asked her to stay in, who had warned her, who had been so reluctant.

  Her life felt like it was flashing before her eyes. The bear was rearing up, rising as if to strike, anger and murderous rage in its eyes. She knew that he was about to strike.