by M J Waverly
Soon, Kimber found herself gazing over a valley with Boreas Mountain in the background. An eagle soared overhead. She took in its beauty.
"Such a pretty area." She inhaled, taking in the good clean air and releasing her anger at Eli. "Let it go." Always good advice, Elsa.
Sticks crackled behind Kimber, and she whirled around, only to stare into the eyes of a large grizzly bear. How had it snuck up on her? It watched her intently with liquid brown eyes.
Her bear spray was in the Jeep. Oh. I won't run into bears. All the bears would be sleeping away for their winter's nap. Ha. Ha Ha. Wrong.
Remaining calm was of utmost importance. Don't move. On the other side of Kimber, another large grizzly bear appeared and stood on Khis hind legs. Both bears growled menacingly at one another.
One of the bears seemed familiar.
Kimber tapped into her fairy magic and pulled moisture from the clouds. She created a mini-snow blizzard around the huge standing bear as it snarled and swatted at the whirling snow. Using this much magic would make her dizzy and weak. Earlier, her anger had fueled the snow over Eli.
The familiar bear cocked his head in confusion. Something about his expression reminded her of Eli. Focus on the weather.
Exhaustion came upon Kimber, and she couldn't keep the mini-snow blizzard in motion. The other bear motioned with its paw for her to go.
Kimber narrowed her eyes. Was this bear trying to communicate with her?
She backed up, and her eyes remained locked with the bear with the snowflake pattern on its side.
The other bear roared with fury as the mini-blizzard dissipated.
"Run, Kimber, run." The snowflake bear shouted.
Kimber froze. "Eli?" He couldn't be a shape-shifting bear? She'd heard of such things.
The other bear growled.
"Run. I can't protect you and save this wild bear." Eli dropped back down on all fours.
Kimber whirled and bolted down the trail. She had to make it to the nature center. If she made it inside, she would be safe. She could call for a park ranger.
Or someone.
She pumped her legs and bolted. The nature center was up ahead.
"Kimber," Eli shouted her name.
"You're safe." A deep voice boomed in her mind.
Kimber stopped and spun around.
The familiar bear emerged from the trees.
Kimber drew back. "What magic is this?"
The bear cocked his head to the right and then to the left. "An interesting response. Most people would faint when they see a large bear. A lot of people run. However, whenever a person hears a bear speak, they think they're hallucinating. Not you, Kimber Gold. You asked what magic is this. I'll show you."
Bright starbursts erupted in front of Kimber, and instead of a shaggy blonde grizzly bear, a naked Eli Whitlock stood in front of her.
Chapter 4
Eli kept his gaze locked on Kimber. She didn't say a word, but her eyes grew large and round. A shimmer of blue light surrounded her. More snow began to fall.
Eli arched an eyebrow. "I'm not the only one with magic. I think it's time we talk." He held out his hand and motioned with his fingers. "Keys, please."
Reluctantly, she handed them over to him, while maintaining eye-level contact. "Where are we going?" She asked.
"Back to the cabin. We need to talk"
He walked around to the driver's side.
"Are you going to drive naked? What if we get pulled over by the local sheriff or something?" Kimber kept her eyes focused ahead on the windshield.
He laughed. "My clothes disappear when I shift into a bear. Sometimes, they return to my house. Or sometimes not."
Eli sensed her curiosity. And he was curious about her. She'd used snow magic on the other bear and on him.
He needed to speak with Jacque or Barron. Were they already allowing other bears into the sanctuary?
The other bear could've been after Kimber. A potential lifemate to another shifter.
"We must claim her as ours, or Artemis will intervene." His bear's fear of losing Kimber tore through Eli.
His lifemate peered out the passenger side window, but occasionally her eyes darted over at him. Her phone dinged, and she checked it. She began texting back.
He had bungled their meeting, and their second meeting had been a disaster despite intervention from Artemis.
"Do you want to tell me about yourself?" He asked.
"No." Kimber didn't even look up at him. "Take me back to the Grizzly Gulch Motel."
Eli flashed her what he hoped was a charming smile. "We have to talk. I'm taking you to my cabin."
She narrowed her eyes, and her cute nostrils flared. "What do you want?"
"I want nothing but to help you and protect you. Our second meeting did not go well because I sensed the other bear. You needed to leave because it's seeking a mate."
She guffawed. "A mate?"
"He was a shifter like me. I don't know him, but he must have caught your scent back at my cabin and pursued you through the woods to the Bear Bay Nature Center. I'll need to keep guard. It's another reason you can't return to the motel."
She scowled. "Why me?"
"It's because you're my lifemate."
"Yours?" She laughed. "I can't be your life mate. Never in a million years."
Eli's muscles tensed. "Why not?"
"You're not lifemate material. You're too much into doing." She held up her two index fingers and made quotation marks. "Your own thing, including the Spirit Competition."
He pursed his lips. "I like having a balance in my life."
"Good. Your balance is not sharing your life with someone. I'm not signing up for that. My brother, Justin, is the same way. Singular focus like a laser beam. Doesn't matter whose feelings you hurt as long as you achieve your goal." She reached for her purse and removed her cell phone. "Damn, no reception."
"Who were you texting?" Eli wondered if she had a boyfriend in Oregon. The thought had never occurred to him.
"My brother. This was his idea for me to travel to Alaska to meet with Artemis Wilde. He can help me."
"Let me feed you, and I'll take you back to the inn."
"Feed me? What? Honey." Kimber shook her head.
Eli threw back his head and laughed. "I have some vegetable soup simmering on the stove. I do have honey to go with the homemade biscuits I'm making."
Kimber's eyes quickly darted down, and then up. "Homemade vegetable soup and biscuits. I do need to eat before I head back into town."
At his log cabin, Eli opened the door, and the smell of homemade soup greeted them. A reluctant Kimber entered his cabin. Snowboards hung on the wall along with a couple of paintings of bears he'd completed while he recovered from his addiction.
"I'll dress, and then prepare the biscuits while you rest," he said.
Kimber sat down on the sofa and yawned. She'd been quiet after he mentioned the soup and honey as if tiredness had set in.
Once he dressed, he checked the soup. Perfection. From the living room, he heard soft tiny snores. He looked around the doorway, and Kimber slept. Her golden curls splayed against the green plaid. She looked like an angel catching a few winks. He'd let her sleep, and make the biscuits later.
"She's mine." His bear insisted.
"Yes, she is. But how do I convince her she belongs here with us? You were right, my friend. I may have messed up our chance with our mate."
Kimber woke up with the aroma of delicious smells reaching her nose and her stomach rumbling. Her head spun as vertigo set in. Damn. This is what happened whenever she overused her magic. The Spins.
She opened her eyes, and Eli stood over her with a tray. "Dinner is ready."
She levered up onto her elbows. rHe lowered a tray filled with a pottery bowl filled with a delicious vegetable soup onto her lap. Hot, fresh-out-of-the-oven biscuits sat on another small plate. Small bowls of butter and honey to the side.
"There goes my diet," Kimber mumbled.
>
"Why are you dieting? You're beautiful."
Kimber laughed. "Did I hear Eli Whitlock give me a compliment?"
"Yes. You did. You are beautiful."
She blushed and changed the subject. "I'm ready to eat. Where's your food? She would eat and then get him to take her back to the motel before she couldn't leave. Whenever she used a lot of magic, her body reacted as if she'd drunk several beers. She called it the spins.
"I ate a bowl of soup earlier. I wanted to let you rest."
"Thank you." She noticed through the cabin windows. It wasn't daytime. "What time is it?"
She grabbed her phone. "It's nine o'clock."
"I need to go." Her brother had texted her several times, asking what was happening.
Eli pointed at the bowl. "Food first."
Her stomach growled. She really should eat, and then she'd drive back to the Grizzly Gulch Motel before The Spins hit her too hard.
Kimber spooned up the vegetable soup. "It's delicious."
"Thank you." He sat down in a blue damask chair across from her.
Kimber cut her eyes over at Eli, who shifted around uncomfortably in his seat. He'd changed into jeans and a blue tee-shirt when they arrived at the cabin. Why did she keep rubbing her temples?
"Do you think we can start over?" Eli suddenly asked.
Kimber jerked her head up and then winced as another pang of vertigo and light-headedness slammed her. "What do you mean? A do-over."
He gripped the arms of the chair. "Pretend me never met in Oregon or our previous meeting today? Hit the reset button." His face brightened.
"I don't know." Kimber lowered her soup bowl. "I've seen you turn from a bear into a man. That's a lot to process."
He flashed her a smile. "You got to see a lot of me."
But, this wall of resistance she'd developed toward Eli began to melt away. Not good.
He straightened and leaned forward. "True. Can we try and begin again? You can start with any questions you want to ask. I'll share my secrets without asking about your unique abilities." He raised an eyebrow.
Feeling relaxed, Kimber wasn't ready to leave because the room began to whirl. Just yet. It had to be the spins. Something about this man pulled her to him.
He called her beautiful, and he could be a real jerk. It could be the way he presented himself to the world after his injuries. She sensed a softer side to Eli. And her curiosity about his bear-shifting ability prompted her to stay. And her reluctance to drive when she was having The Spins.
"How did you become a bear-shifter?" She grabbed a napkin and wiped her mouth.
He smiled. "I became a bear shifter during my adolescence. Artemis came to me when I was around twelve and explained how I would change. She taught me how to handle being a bear and to be part of the world."
Kimber took in a deep breath as shock and realization hit as everything together in a big revelation. "Artemis? Artemis Wilde? The lady who I met outside of the Mountain Peak in Courtland, and then at the Broken Toe Cafe."
Kimber leaned forward. "Is she the goddess, Artemis?"
Eli leaned forward. "Yes, she's the goddess of wildlife."
Chapter 5
Eli studied Kimber's shocked face as she assimilated the fact that Artemis was a goddess.
Kimber bit down on her lip and wrapped a curl around her finger. He saw the outline of a pendant beneath her shirt. A silver chain glinted around her neck.
"What do you have?" He pointed.
She seemed reluctant to show the pendant to him, but she slowly pulled the chain from beneath her shirt as she swayed to the side. A giggle escaped.
Surprised, he didn't move. A bear charm with a snowflake symbol on the side. His bear slammed against the magical wards which kept him within. "Kimber is our mate."
A sense of panic washed over Eli, and he jumped up. Where was his charm? It'd disappeared when he shifted. He drew in a calming breath and reached into his jean pocket. Clasping his hand around cold metal, he held it out.
"Artemis gave this to me. This proves you're my lifemate." Eli bent down on one knee. He wanted to see Kimber's face.
She stared disbelievingly. "I don't understand. We just met. I can't be your life mate because a goddess decrees it." She swayed to the left, slumping over at an odd angle.
Eli helped her sit upright. "There's no logical answer. I tried to fight it, but you can feel this energy. A connection between us." He sat down beside her on the couch. We're meant to be together. My bear knew it the minute he saw you."
She seemed confused. "I do feel a connection between us when I first saw you, but I don't know." Her eyes dilated, and her face turned red.
He reached squeezed her hands gently. He knew he needed to tread carefully. Why hadn't he listened to his bear?
Kimber rubbed her hands up and down on her pants. "I could use a drink of water."
He went to the kitchen and returned with a glass. She gulped the water down, and then leaned back, closed her eyes.
"What's wrong?" Eli reached for her hand.
"I have The Spins." She wiped her hand across her forehead.
"The Spins?" He touched her shoulder.
Kimber held out her glass. "More please."
Eli jumped up and returned with more water. He wasn't sure what to do. "What are the spins? Do I need to call a doctor?"
Shaking her head, she finished the glass and lowered it onto the table. "You saw me summon the snow magic."
Eli nodded.
She ran her fingers through her thick gold curls. "The Spins are what I call my reaction to my magic when I overdo it. It's sort of like being drunk. Once I sleep it off, I'm fine."
"Interesting. Tell me more about your magic." Eli decided she would stay with him tonight. She didn't need to be alone to recover from the Spins as she called it. He had the opposite reaction. His shifter magic energized him, which was why he'd spent so much time as a bear after his accident.
"I am descended from the nymph, Khione. She is the daughter of the North Wind, and some of her descendants can summon the snow." Kimber pointed to her tee-shirt, with Khione Snowboards written on it, which is one reason we have a snowboard company. He couldn't help but admire her full breasts.
"You're sort of like a snow fairy," he said.
A line formed between her brows. "Khione was the inspiration for our company, so you can understand what you said about my company was completely untrue."
Shocked, Eli leaned back as his mind went numb. He didn't know how to respond. He reached for her hand and stroked the back of it. Her skin was so soft. "I was wrong. I apologize for my cruel words. Why a snowboard company?"
She stared at their hands and then gave him a guarded look. "My brother gravitated to snowboarding as a kid. He loved it."
Kimber was a descendant of a snow nymph. Artemis needed Kimber's magic for the sanctuary.
"Do you snowboard?" He leaned closer to Kimber, he wanted to kiss her full soft lips.
"Yes, but it's not my passion like it is Justin's. I manage the company."
She inched nearer. "What about you, bear shifter? You said Artemis came to you as an adolescent. How did a bear shifter become involved in snowboarding?" Her voice became husky.
He edged closer. "My father was an Olympic skiing champion. He wanted me and my brothers to follow in his footsteps, but I was the different one."
"The black sheep of the family." She focused on Eli, and a bright smile lit up her gorgeous face. "So, you picked up a snowboard, and that was it."
"Yes. My father didn't approve, but when he saw me on a snowboard. He decided to let me pursue my goals."
"Does your Dad know you're a bear shifter?" Kimber skimmed her fingers along his arm. The hairs lifted on the back of his neck, and his cock hardened.
"No. That's a part of my life I keep secret from my brothers and family. They always knew I needed solitary time out in the woods, so it worked. I could run free as a bear while they thought I was training."
&n
bsp; "What about your parents?" Eli wanted to know everything about Kimber Gold, his snow nymph. His lifemate.
She stared down at the blue on the floor. "My Mom and Dad ran an outdoor hiking store in North Carolina. They loved being out in the woods among nature." She gave him a slight smile. "I loved it, too. I majored in forestry, but Justin was passionate about snowboarding, so my parents relocated to Mount Hood, so he could pursue it."
"What about now? Are they supportive of your company?" Eli asked.
Kimber lowered her glass and stared down at the blue rug on the wooden floor. "My parents died six years ago, leaving me to raise Justin. The company was a way to honor their legacy and give my brother direction. He had fallen in with the wrong crowd, so snowboarding filled the void and helped heal his grief." Her hand slid away from his as she scooted away.
Their growing intimate moment was broken as she remembered her family's past.
Eli felt like an ass when he remembered how he treated Kimber at the Mountain Peak store in Courtland. His cold indifference.
The shield he built around himself to protect himself from others had almost cost him, Kimber.
"Sounds like you did an amazing job with your brother," Eli reached for her hand as she rose from the sofa.
"He can be headstrong, but I love him." Kimber wobbled to the left, then straightened. "I'm getting kind of sleepy. I think I should drive back to the Grizzly Gulch."
"I don't think you have the ability to drive. You can stay here. You can stay in my bed."
She moved her finger back and forth. "Not with you. I have to admit you're nice looking, and you have a hot body, and I have seen you naked." She grinned mischievously.
"Thank you." He stretched out his body. "I think you're quite beautiful, and I can't wait to see you naked."
