Bears of Burden: STERLING

by Candace Ayers

  “Jandric and Virlek aren’t here,” Zarek said, looking around as he jogged to the other side of the lab.

  Aubrey and Zarek didn’t meet with any resistance as they made their way to the elevator. They didn’t meet with any resistance in the lobby, either. The entire building was eerily silent and empty. The security stations and reception areas were abandoned, their screens black. Jandric and Virlek had certainly cleared the way, but that wouldn’t last long.

  “We can’t take my car,” Aubrey suddenly realized. “They’ll be looking for it.”

  She stopped at the valet station, opening the cubby that held the keys. The keys hung on pegs, each peg labeled with a lot number. She chose a key to a car that was parked near the entrance of the parking garage. Fortunately, she had chosen well. The compact, silver Honda had a full tank of gas that should be adequate to get them to their rendezvous destination.

  Over four hours later, they arrived at the edge of a forest leading to the meeting spot. Aubrey parked the Honda on the side of a dirt road. She didn’t know if there were any access roads into the forest, so they would have to walk.

  Aubrey and Zarek walked as quickly as they could through the trees and undergrowth. Finally, they arrived at a clearing. Aubrey froze, staring at the enormous ship. Its triangular running lights looked as though they were made of a kind of gelatinous substance from what Aubrey could surmise. They emitted a pulsing, green glow. The ship, too, was triangular. A door was open under the bulky ship, and a ladder hung from the door to the ground. Two men stood at the bottom of the ladder. Aubrey, still frozen in wonderment, stood still as Zarek ran to Virlek and Jandric, embracing them each in turn. Zarek motioned for Aubrey to join them.

  “The others are waiting for us,” Aubrey heard Jandric say as she approached. “They know about your mate. They’re waiting to meet her, too. They are very grateful, Aubrey. We all are.”

  Aubrey smiled and was about to say something in return, but she saw movement in a corner of the clearing. Pairs of headlights, one after another until there were hundreds, were making their way into the clearing, surrounding the ship.

  The Plarizakians started toward the door of the ship, but the vehicles were too quick. A large SUV speedily approached the small group. Military men climbed out from the back seat and hatch section. A tall, rotund man stepped down from the passenger seat.

  The man was Raymond Moss, Aubrey’s father.

  “Kill them all,” he said. He looked straight into his daughter’s eyes when he repeated, “All of them.”

  Aubrey watched as her father spoke, unable to believe that even a man as cold-hearted and cruel as her father could utter such words.

  “Get behind me!” Zarek hollered to her. Aubrey turned and ran behind the transforming dragons. She watched as Zarek shifted into a green dragon with thick scales and leathery wings. His majesty, even under these circumstances, was awe-inspiring. A rush of fire shot out from somewhere in front of her. She watched as Jandric, now a thick, stocky black dragon, spewed fire on the military men. Virlek, too had transformed, and was hovering above the enemy, reigning down torrents of fire, his dark blue body darting back and forth in the air. Zarek remained on the ground, fighting in front of Aubrey, trying to protect his mate.

  The military men wasted no time firing their own rounds on the dragons, but most of the bullets simply ricocheted off the dragons’ scales and back toward the soldiers. One hit Zarek’s scales at an angle, though, and instead of flying back toward where it had come from, the bullet bounced and slid over Zarek’s scales. It made a path straight for Aubrey, lodging itself into her chest.

  Aubrey felt searing pain. A moment later, she heard a gut-wrenching dragon-scream, and within the next few seconds she slipped into blackness.

  Chapter Twelve

  Aubrey’s eyes fluttered open. She tried to open them completely, but the white light was too bright and her head hurt.

  Am I dead? she wondered.

  “Where am I?” she asked aloud, her voice emerging in a dry croak.

  “Shhhh,” she heard a female voice hush her.

  “Where am I?” Aubrey repeated, louder this time.

  “Hush,” the voice said again. “You need rest.”

  “Where is Zarek?” she asked, finally forcing herself to open her eyes. All she could see was white light. It burned her eyes and she squinted, but she kept them open. The woman didn’t answer this time.

  “Where is Zarek?” Aubrey repeated, the volume and pitch of her voice rising. “Where is he?” What if he was hurt? What if they killed him?

  Aubrey tried to sit, but a woman approached her and pushed down on her shoulder.

  “You really need to rest.” The woman wore a white coat. Aubrey guessed she was a nurse or doctor.

  “Tell me where Zarek is. I’ll rest when you tell me that.” Aubrey’s anger was rising. She tried to push against the woman’s hand, tried to sit up despite her wound. She flinched as her chest muscles tightened. Still, she kept trying to sit up.

  Aubrey heard a door open. The door seemed to appear out of thin air.

  What kind of hospital is this? Aubrey wondered.

  The figure in the doorway was just a dark outline at first. Then, the shadow stepped in and the door closed. Aubrey tried to focus her eyes on the figure, but had a hard time making out its features. Then, the figure took a few steps forward.

  Zarek.

  Aubrey tried even harder to sit up.

  “Careful, mate,” Zarek’s deep, wonderful voice reached her from across the room. “You need rest.”

  Aubrey stopped struggling. She laid her head back on the pillow.

  “I’ll watch over her for a bit,” Zarek told the nurse. The woman nodded and exited through the door Zarek had used to enter.

  Zarek held Aubrey’s hand. He bent to kiss her. The feeling of his hand on hers, of his lips on her lips, calmed her more than anything else possibly could have.

  “Where am I?” she asked.

  “You’re on a hospital ship,” he said. “Virlek, Jandric, and I brought you here as soon as we left Earth. They say you’ll have to stay for a few weeks, so we docked my ship in a bay for now. We’ll stay with you as long as you’re here. Then, when you’re healed, we’ll head back to lead the caravan. My people have found a completely unsettled planet. We’ll colonize it. We’ll have a home.”

  Zarek paused before continuing. He looked into Aubrey’s eyes. “You’ll have what you have never had the pleasure of experiencing. We’ll start a family.”

  “I would really, really like that, Zarek,” she responded, smiling from ear to ear.

  “I know,” he said his face breaking into a grin to rival her own, “So would I.”

  He bent down to kiss her, and she was overwhelmed with a feeling of contentment.

  “I can’t wait to get started on making that family,” he grinned, pulling away. “but, you need to heal first.”

  She sighed in disappointment.

  “Awww, am I healed yet?” she asked, smiling.

  “I wish,” Zarek said, his bulging hardness apparent under his uniform pants.

  THE END

  Want to read more? This is book 1 in a two-book set. Book 2, Virlek, can be found in Amazon’s Kindle store.

  OFFICER BEAR

  STORY DESCRIPTION

  Major Chad Matthews is a soldier's soldier.

  He’s made a name for himself in the Air Force by doing things better, faster, and with more confidence than the next soldier.

  It hasn’t always been easy for him to hide the fact that he’s a bear shifter, but he’d managed.

  When he was assigned to teach survival skills at the Air Force Academy, he had no plans to change his staunch, uncompromising approach to life and to his career.

  No plans at all.

  So, when the tough and sexy Doctor Brenna Thiel is placed as his medical consult, the sparks immediately begin to fly.

  And not the good kind.

  He thinks she's un
reasonable and inexperienced, she thinks he's arrogant and impossible.

  Neither one suspects they'll fall for the other.

  Neither one could have been more wrong...

  CHAPTER 1

  Brenna

  I was under no illusions about my new colleague

  When I heard I’d be working with Chad Matthews, I knew exactly what to expect. I’d heard the stories. I knew dozens of men like him during my military career.

  I’m not saying all military men are arrogant assholes— not by a long shot. And I’m not saying I don’t know any good ones. I do. A lot of them.

  All I am saying is that Chad Matthews isn’t one of them, and I was dreading every minute of working with him. No ifs, ands, or buts.

  That being said, it didn’t matter what I felt about it. My assignment was my assignment. As a relatively new medical school graduate and a Captain in the U.S. Airforce, I didn’t have a lot of sway with the higher ups.

  So, I was stuck being the medical advisor for the survival training class.

  I had nothing against the cadets needing to learn survival techniques. It wasn’t that long ago that I’d done my own training — it was a required component. What I wasn’t crazy about was getting stuck with a job no one wanted simply because I was the new face on the block.

  The reason no one wanted the job was because the bulk of the program would take place in the foothills of the mountain during the hottest, driest, part of the season. No one in their right mind wanted to be outside roughing it then.

  The reality was, though, I could be as unhappy about it as I wanted — it wasn’t going to change a damn thing.

  Chad

  It was good to be back in the States.

  Not that I minded the long deployments. Not really. They kept me on my toes.

  Kept me in touch with that part of me I always had to curb. That part that was always hungry for something just beyond my reach. And, it managed to keep me in check, too. Always there, right under the surface, ready to come to the forefront in a moment of need.

  But coming home was nice, too. Especially, after the recognition I’d received for my most recent tour, and with the cushy interim assignment I’d been given at the Academy, where I would be teaching the thing I loved the most.

  Survival.

  Skills.

  The things the cadets would need to know if their plane went down and they were on their own in the middle of nowhere.

  It could happen to anyone, no matter how much experience you had or how good you were. It happened every damn day. And if I was the one to give these men and women the knowledge that could save their lives, you better believe I was going to take pride in giving it.

  I would have liked it better if I could go at the job alone, without a medical advisor. That was just how I was — a lone wolf, so to speak. And I didn’t need someone else there telling me things I already knew.

  I’d done my best to have her position removed, but apparently a medical doctor was required while doing ongoing survival simulations.

  Something about unexpected catastrophic injuries and negative experiences in the past.

  I argued that I could triage with the best of them and that it was almost the same thing as having a doctor on site, but that hadn’t changed the final verdict.

  Overruled.

  I was stuck working with a newbie doctor. Zero combat experience. Fresh out of med school. A woman with literally no experience surviving anything other than midterms and boards.

  I couldn’t wait to hear all her “expert” advise. It was bound to be six weeks of pure torture.

  So far I’d been able to avoid coming face to face with her, though she had been pointed out to me once in a near miss, dressed for PT with her dark hair up in a ponytail.

  I hadn’t paid much attention to her beyond that. And I figured I would have my fill of her soon enough, so no need to rush anything.

  I was in the middle of praising myself for my ability to skulk around the campus without having had to engage in any kind of conversation with my soon-to-be-coworker when I heard the sound of a clearing throat behind me.

  I knew who it was immediately, even before I turned to see her standing in the doorway, and it served me right for getting all cocky about having avoided her.

  Damn if she didn’t smell sweet and fresh, like a garden in bloom right after a heavy rain, and I resented that fact immediately. I didn’t want to have to be reminded of her femininity, how far removed she was from the reality of the survival course out in the field.

  “Major Matthews?” she asked, and I equally resented the sound of her voice, husky, sure, and no-nonsense.

  I frowned. This was absolutely not what I needed.

  “Yes?” I asked, not at all hiding my impatience.

  “Dr. Brenna Thiel,” she said, giving a little acknowledgement of my seniority with the dip of her head before thrusting her hand out toward me and waiting for me to take it.

  I did. I didn’t want to. But, as our working relationship was going to be difficult enough already — I didn’t need to make it more awkward by leaving her hanging.

  “I’ve been assigned as your medical consult,” she said. Her voice told me that she was about as thrilled with the idea of working with me as I was her.

  “Correct,” I said, as though she’d asked me a question instead of stating a fact.

  It didn’t faze her. “Classes begin next week and I was wondering if you wanted to discuss the medical histories of your cadets and the best way to structure the program —”

  I cut her off. I didn’t need to hear any more of her pitch. “That won’t be necessary.”

  “I would have preferred to do it earlier, but you’ve proven difficult to get ahold of.”

  I suspect that was her code for unresponsive and refusing to return her emails or phone calls. “I have the program outlined just the way I want it. It’s proven and effective and I don’t feel it needs alteration in any way. Additionally, the medical backgrounds of the cadets will, in no way, play into the course.”

  I could see her glowering, the corners of her mouth turned downward, and I couldn’t help but wonder how those lips might look if she weren’t glaring at me.

  I had to rein myself in. It was apparent I was still adjusting to being home after the deployment. If this conversation was any indication I needed to get out and spend some time at the bars, maybe meet a pretty thing I wasn’t going to hate spending time with.

  Maybe then I would stop studying the doctor like she was a woman I might want to take home. Maybe then I would stop noticing exactly how her voice rasped against my skin and the way sweet fresh way she smelled. Like wildflowers.

  “Well,” she snipped. “I’m not entirely sure why you even have a consult and advisor on the team if you’re refusing to take any suggestions or input.”

  I tried not to notice how her hands fit on her hips, or the way her uniform swelled over her curves.

  All of that fell directly under the category of things I should, most definitely, not be paying any attention to at all.

  “To be entirely honest, Captain, that makes two of us. I specifically requested several times to work the course alone and was denied repeatedly. It looks as though you and I are just going to have to make the best of the situation and accept the fact that neither of us will be enjoying our time together.”

  “That certainly is what it looks like,” she said, before turning on her heel and storming away from me.

  I couldn’t help watching her go.

  And enjoying every second of it.

  CHAPTER 2

  Brenna

  He was exactly how I thought he’d be.

  Worse, actually.

  An infuriating, frustrating ass. Yes, a total ass. A misogynistic, selfish, arrogant, ass.

  I wanted absolutely nothing to do with him.

  Yet, I would be forced to see him daily. It would be imperative that we kept ourselves in check around the cadets. They didn�
��t need to see their superiors arguing. It set a bad precedent and I didn’t want to be responsible for setting free on the military an entire group of people just like Matthews.

  God knows, one of him was more than enough.

  I thought a run would help ease the hostility I was feeling, but in the end, when I stopped to catch my breath, hands on my hips, dripping sweat in the summer heat, it was worse than it had been when I started. After a quick shower, what I really needed was a drink.

  It was good to wear something other than my issued clothes, but anything fancy was out of place for midweek at a local bar. Especially one where the food was barely passable and the liquor was watered down.

  Not that I was going to enjoy it any less because of those things. That was exactly what I needed.

  I pulled on my favorite pair of blue jeans and a cream colored tank top. I liked it because the color made me look more tan than I actually was. Not that it was going to matter once I was seated in the dimly lit bar, where most of the lighting came from neon lights advertising cheap beer.

  A swipe of lip gloss and that was as good as it was going to get tonight. Flip flops, my bag, and my military I.D. and I was out the door.

  I drove myself. Partly because I didn’t want to subject myself to any more physical activity in the heat, but mostly because it would be a good way to keep my drinking in check. I did not need to get hammered the week before classes started. I wasn’t the young thing I’d once been, and my recovery periods could now extend beyond 12 hours.

  Way more.

  The things you miss about youth.

  Evening was just beginning to settle, the sky moving from blue to grey and into that pretty husky limbo between day and night. I found a parking spot and headed in.