by Elena Aitken
When Gabriella had stumbled upon the ad for a chef at a mountain lodge in the middle of the wilds of Montana, she’d jumped at the opportunity. It had seemed like the perfect solution for her problem. A problem that involved getting as far away from her clan in Argentina as possible. She hadn’t considered things like the weather, or the logistics of getting to the lodge. None of that seemed important. The only thing that was important was that the mountains of Montana were thousands of miles away from the hills of Argentina, her family, and more importantly, where Carlos Murez was. That was the only detail that mattered. Everything else—the snow, the ice, the complete and total remoteness of where she was headed—none of it mattered. As long as she was safe.
The fact that the place was called Grizzly Ridge—surrounded by bears, much larger bears than her own bespectacled bear clan—was a detail she’d also carefully considered. It definitely couldn’t hurt. Especially if they were all as friendly as Axel Jackson, the alpha she’d spoken to on the phone. He knew vaguely of some of the clans in South America, but didn’t know hers specifically. A fact she liked. A lot. It was best if he, and everyone else she met, believed her cover story of wanting to travel and see the world. Besides, it wasn’t entirely a lie. She did want to see the world. But not as much as she needed to escape the bonds of a strong patriarchal society that cared more about mating her to the right bloodline than they did her personal safety. She’d been promised to Carlos since they were both cubs, a fact that Carlos had always taken to mean he could do with her what he liked. And usually what he wanted was to use her as a personal punching bag when he’d had too much to drink.
She’d had enough. Which was why she’d run. It was time to start over, and that was exactly what she was going to do—if she could make it up to the lodge without skidding off the road into the valley below. Gabriella hadn’t let herself get excited about where she was going, not until she was on the plane to the States. Getting out of Argentina had been tricky, but she’d accomplished it with a series of bribes and moving quickly, mostly at night, until she got over the border to Chile and on the plane to Miami. Once she was stateside, it was easier to move around, but she’d still taken a twisted web of flights and bus rides across the country until she’d arrived in Billings, Montana. She’d seen more in the last two weeks than in her entire lifetime. Not that she’d had time to enjoy it. But she would. Gabriella fully intended to enjoy every part of her new home in Montana. She’d flipped through magazines and books during her travels that showcased the rugged beauty of the wilderness. It was so different from everything she knew. It was perfect. But first she had to get there.
She tightened her grip on the steering wheel and started to ease her way around the next bend in the road. But the tires had other plans and slipped on ice she couldn’t see. No matter how much she turned the wheel to the right, the car continued to move in the opposite direction. In a panic, Gabriella slammed on the brakes, but that only seemed to accelerate the car through the turn.
She screamed as the little car whipped around again as if it were a carnival ride. The world, white and frosty, flashed past the windows in a blur. The last thing she remembered was thinking how she would never see the ridge and the views of the mountains that were supposed to be her new home. She closed her eyes and braced for impact.
His blood pumped hot and hard through his body so he could feel every beat of his heart and every single nerve ending throughout his body. It had been a long time since Kade had shifted into his bear, but he recognized the feeling. He needed to shift; his body felt as if it were literally on fire. The feeling came on hard and fast while he was talking to Axel. Something was wrong. His instincts, as dulled as they were, were raging.
Ignoring his brother, who was mid-sentence, Kade pushed his way out the door and into the frigid January air. He stuck his nose up in the air and sniffed, knowing it would be more effective if he used his bear. Axel was right behind him.
“Do you smell that?”
Axel shook his head. “What are you—”
“Try.”
“What’s going on?”
“Just try,” Kade snapped, losing his patience. “Something’s wrong.”
He looked as though he might protest again, but Axel shook his head and did as Kade requested. “I…I’m not…”
“Shift.”
“What?”
Kade could barely think, the blood was rushing through his head so quickly. All he could focus on was the sensations of his body wanting to rip apart around him and the instinctual idea that something was wrong. Very wrong.
“Axel, I need you to shift so your senses are stronger.”
His brother crossed his arms over his chest and glared at him. “You shift.”
Kade shook his head sharply. It wasn’t an option. He didn’t deserve to shift. Not since he’d failed at keeping his sister in the clan. He’d failed his family, and he wouldn’t risk the chance that he would do it again. He no longer deserved to indulge in his bear. And Axel knew it.
“There’s no time for this bullshit right now, Axel. Just do it.”
With a sigh and another glare from his brother—which told Kade in no uncertain terms that he’d have to deal with Axel later—his big brother finally did as he requested. He disappeared back into the garage, no doubt to stash his clothes safely, and returned a moment later as a formidable dark grizzly. His nose was already working at the air, and then when the furry beast froze and snorted a sharp snarl, Kade knew he was correct. Something was wrong. Axel took off a moment later, down the road. Torn, Kade looked between his brother’s lumbering bear form and the garage where the truck was.
“Dammit.”
Giving in to his stubbornness, Kade went for the truck and followed as quickly as he safely could.
Gabriella fluttered her eyes open. Slowly at first, and then a bit more when she heard the snuffling. Scared that something might be broken, she moved slowly, turning her head first to one side and then to the next. That’s when she saw it. A giant bear head looked through the passenger window of her car.
Where am I?
Confusion clouded her brain as she struggled to remember where she might be and what she was doing in a car.
Snow.
Snow?
Snow!
It came back to her in a flash. She was in Montana. The roads were icy. She went off the road. She looked back to the bear and the friendly eyes looking back at her.
It had to be one of the Jackson brothers from the lodge. The idea that she was calmed by a giant grizzly bear looking in her car struck her as funny and a giggle bubbled out of her throat.
The grizzly bear head shook side to side and then turned away.
“No!”
Gabriella’s laughter turned to panic and she screamed for the bear to come back. “Help! Oh Dios mio! Please.”
Hot tears slid from her eyes. When she moved to wipe them away, a sharp pain flashed through her left arm. Broken. She must have hit it on impact. So the impact was hard enough to break a bone, but not hard enough for the air bags to go off. The thought was so random, it almost made her laugh again. But the appearance of a new face, a human male face, at the window dried up the laughter in her throat.
He was the most handsome man she’d ever seen. His dark eyes looked right at her, calming her almost at once with a steady presence. His dark hair was shaggy and a bit wild, but it only seemed to match the scruffy beard on his face. It seemed strange to be noticing the appearance of her savior with such detail, but there was something about the man.
And then he spoke.
“Are you hurt?”
She was too stunned by the fire flowing through her body at the sound of his voice to answer him. Her body felt as if it might just explode right then. She hadn’t shifted into her bear since puberty, a common practice for her clan, but she remembered distinctly what it felt like, and shame and fear immediately flooded through her. Was she about to shift? Right there in the car? In the middle o
f a rescue?
More tears slid down her cheek.
“Hey!” The voice came again. “Are you okay? Don’t worry. I’m going to get you out of there.”
His voice had a calming quality on her and she believed him. He’d get her out of there. Gabriella forced herself to take a deep breath and then another, until the tears stopped.
“Okay, I’m going to open the door,” he said. “I just need to clear the snow away, okay?” She nodded. “I’m not going anywhere.” He disappeared from view, but she could hear him working and talking to someone and then he was back and the door was opening. But not easily. He pulled and tugged and finally it was open. “I got you. Can you come across to me?”
She stared at him, momentarily unable to speak. His scent washed through her, flooding her senses. Despite the fact that she’d just been in a crash and was now in what could be a very precarious situation, she was totally frozen. And most definitely not from fear.
“Hey.” His voice startled her out of her fog. “Are you okay?”
Gabriella nodded sharply. Whatever he was—or more precisely, whatever effect he’d just had on her—would have to wait. She clearly had more important things to deal with. Like her personal safety. She twisted to undo her seat belt, but with her broken arm, she couldn’t manage it. “I can’t...I can’t quite…”
“I’ve got it.” The next thing she knew, the huge man crawled in through the passenger door. As he got closer, his scent grew stronger. Pine, like a Christmas tree, but earthier. It was unlike anything she’d ever smelled before, and her whole body strained toward him. “Don’t struggle.” The man reached across the console, and released her belt. “There,” he said. “Now, let me take your—”
His hand rested on her good arm. Even through the down of the parka she’d bought in town, she could feel her skin light up from his touch. Gabriella swallowed. He was watching her intently, his face hard, unreadable.
She couldn’t be sure how long they stared at each other. It may have been minutes, or mere seconds. And judging by the way they’d both locked in, it could have gone on indefinitely if it hadn’t been for the car shifting under her. The movement spurred both of them into action. His hand clamped down on her good arm and he pulled her easily out of the driver seat and with him out the passenger door.
The blast of cold air hit her the moment they were outside. It was cold in the car, but protected from the wind, it wasn’t nearly as bad as being exposed. She looked behind her at her little rental car. The hood was buried in a snowbank and one back wheel was suspended in the air, but all in all, the crash wasn’t too bad. Gabriella wrapped her good arm around her body, cradling the broken one, and scanned the road around them. It could have been so much worse. On one side of the road there was the imposing mountain wall, and on the other side, with the exception of the ditch she’d landed in, were sharp drop-offs into the valley below. If she’d only been a few feet over, she could have…she would have…
The thought sent a fresh round of shivers through her.
A second later, the man’s arms were around her, warming her. “Are you okay?”
She nodded against his hard chest. Because the moment he touched her, she felt perfectly fine.
“You’re freezing.”
“I’m fine.”
He pulled away and held her at arm’s length for a second before he patted down her arms. When he reached the broken arm, which had already started to heal up, she flinched. It may be healing, but it still hurt.
“You broke your arm.”
She shrugged, because it wasn’t a question.
“I need to get you warmed up.”
Before she could respond, he bent and scooped her up easily into his arms. Gabriella wasn’t a large woman, but her petite build was ripe with luscious curves and she’d never considered herself the pick up and carry type of girl. Of course, all the men in her clan were much smaller than the one who currently had her in his arms. She’d never seen such a large, manly man before. And she liked it. As did the bear inside her.
Chapter Two
He had to get her to the lodge. He needed to get her inside and warmed up and…away from him. But the idea of Kade being separated from the woman he’d pulled out of the car and settled next to him in the cab of his truck made him crazy. He couldn’t be separated from her. Which made it even more important that he did so.
Axel had already taken off, back to the main lodge, no doubt to alert the others. They couldn’t risk letting the woman see him in bear form. Except…she was a bear, too. Of that, Kade was sure. What kind of bear…he couldn’t quite pin down. He’d never scented anything like her before. And she was tiny. Curvy in all the right places, of course, but much smaller than the females he was used to. He snuck another glance at her. She had her arms crossed over her chest and was huddled up in an effort to get warm despite the heat blasting from the vents. She was still favoring her left arm, but it didn’t seem to be bothering her very much.
A quick healer.
A shifter for sure.
But there were still so many questions. Not that he was going to ask any of them. It was best that he stayed quiet. He didn’t trust himself to speak. Not to her. Not when there was such an emotional storm raging inside him.
“Thank you,” she said and he noticed for the first time that she had a slight Spanish accent.
He nodded gruffly, but still didn’t speak.
“I’ve never driven in the snow before,” she continued. Her English was perfect, and she was obviously working hard to minimize her accent. “I didn’t realize it would be so difficult. And the—”
“You had no business driving in the mountains in a silly little car like that,” Kade snapped and instantly regretted it, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself. “You need a truck to be out here. At the very least, an SUV.”
“Is that right?”
Kade expected her to maybe shrink away from his anger, or even cry after all she’d been through; instead, her tone was hard. Intriguing. He risked a look in her direction and immediately wished he hadn’t. His body responded at once to the fiery look in her eyes. She stared at him in a way no woman had ever done before, with challenge flashing in her eyes, and it made him want her with a ferocity that almost had him driving off the road.
“That’s right. In fact, you have no business being out here at all.”
“Usted es un hombre arrogante.” She huffed and turned away.
A retort was on the tip of his tongue, but given that he had no idea what she’d just said to him, he opted for silence the rest of the way up the road. As he suspected, Axel and Harper waited on the porch. Kade pulled up as close as he could, put the truck in park and slipped out the door without bothering to turn the engine off.
He needed to get away. Axel and Harper would take care of the mystery woman. They would be better equipped to handle her anyway. Especially considering his feelings alternated between annoyance and extreme attraction. It would be safer in his cabin. Alone. He needed to be alone. He needed very badly to be alone.
“Whoa.”
Kade’s shoulder slammed hard into a solid mass. He didn’t look up; he didn’t need to.
“Where ya going, little brother?”
“Cabin.”
“No deal.” Luke grabbed Kade’s arm and spun him around. “Axel said we all need to be at the lodge. Something about a wreck and—wait a minute. Weren’t you there?”
Kade shrugged.
“It’s a yes or a no.”
Kade jerked his arm away and shoved his hands into his parka. “I was there.”
“So what happened? Is she okay? Axel said her car went off the road and…wait a minute.” His brother grinned. The type of grin that made Kade want to slap it right off. The kind of grin that only meant one thing. Trouble. “It’s the woman.”
“I don’t know what—”
“Axel said you got all weird, like you knew something was wrong. You made him shift.”
A gr
owl deep inside Kade’s throat rumbled, threatening to get out. “He sure had a lot to say.”
“I think there was a lot to say.” Luke nodded smugly. “What’s with the woman?”
“Nothing.” Kade wouldn’t meet his brother’s gaze, but he was pretty sure the lack of eye contact wouldn’t matter. “She’s fine. I left her there for Harper to fuss over.”
“And I’m sure she’s doing just that. But we better go check it out.”
“Can’t.”
He tried to walk away again, but Luke once more grabbed his arm and this time he wasn’t letting go. “Alpha’s order.”
Kade growled again, and this time, judging from Luke’s laughter, he was pretty sure his brother heard it.
“Oh yeah,” Luke said. “This is going to be good.”
Dios mio! He made her crazy. He clearly had issues, but Gabriella didn’t think he would leave her like that, sitting in the truck alone without even one word. Hell, she didn’t even know his name. What kind of man didn’t introduce himself after saving a woman? Not that she had much experience with being rescued, and the argument could be made that she hadn’t introduced herself either, but that didn’t matter. The point was, he clearly didn’t have any manners and worse than that, he certainly didn’t know how to treat a lady.
Not that she cared. Why should she? It wasn’t any of her business if he knew how to treat a lady or not. Besides the fact that it was just common sense and common curtesy. That was the only reason she cared.
