Rescued by her Bear (Black Ridge Bears Shifter Romance Series Book 2)

by Felicity Heaton

  Her hands gripped his shoulders, fingertips pressing into his muscles, and she moaned, another little breathless one that sounded more like a gasp as she stretched around him.

  “Lowe,” she whispered, a plea and a demand in his name, and damn, he liked the way she said it, as if she couldn’t get enough of him, might go mad without him or if he didn’t do what she needed him to do.

  He covered her with his body, tangled his left hand in her hair as he rested his weight on his right elbow, and kissed her as he began moving inside her. Each long, slow stroke was torture and bliss rolled into one. He swallowed her moans as he thrust into her, trying to keep the pace of them leisurely, a tender joining of their bodies and entwining of their souls.

  He drew back and looked down at her again, lost himself in her eyes as they moved together. The instincts grew stronger, clearer still, and he couldn’t stop himself from gripping her nape, from holding her at his mercy as he pumped her, curling his hips to reach all of her. She didn’t seem to care that he was holding the back of her neck, keeping her in place.

  In fact, she seemed to like it.

  She moaned and arched against him, pressed her nails into his shoulders and then shifted her right hand to his nape. Her face screwed up as she gripped it hard, digging her fingertips into it, sending a thrill bolting down his spine that had his cock growing harder still and came dangerously close to wrenching control from him.

  He growled and dropped his head, seized her lips and kissed her hard as he began to pump her faster. He shifted his weight to his left elbow and gripped her hip with his right hand, lifted her slightly and relished her sweet cry as he plunged deeper still. Her nails scored his nape, sent heat blasting through him to make his thoughts hazy as he felt the sting of them raking over his skin. Another growl pealed from him as he took her harder, unable to hold himself back as she pushed him deep into his instincts.

  His fingers flexed against her nape, his claws emerging as the hunger to bite her there mounted inside him, threatening to tear what little control he managed to retain from him.

  He drove into her again.

  Groaned and shuddered as she cried into his mouth, as her body trembled and throbbed around his, shattering the urge to bite her as her release triggered his, had seed boiling up his cock. He breathed hard with each hard pulse of his length, heat and tingles racing through him as he gently thrust into her, as he pressed their bodies close together and clung to her.

  Sweet gods.

  She sagged beneath him, her breath leaving her on a contented sigh that had calm washing through him.

  Lowe sank against her, kissed her slowly, softly, savouring the warmth and the deep sense of connection that rolled through him. He felt her smile against his mouth as she stroked his back, as she feathered her fingers down his chest and kissed him, was sure she was feeling the same way as he was, swept up in this moment, deeply aware that what they had was something special.

  Once in a lifetime.

  Something she confirmed for him as she eased back and her eyes darted to her nails, widening as she stared at them. “Oh my God. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”

  He silenced her with a kiss, one he hoped would chase her worries away, because he wasn’t angry that she had clawed his nape so hard she had drawn blood.

  He was overjoyed.

  Because her reaction to him could only mean one thing.

  Cameo was his fated mate.

  Chapter 14

  Cameo nursed her coffee as she stood on the deck of Lowe’s cabin, enjoying the afternoon sunshine, not feeling the bite in the air as the warmth of the log burner escaped the open door behind her and heated her back. She stroked her fingers over the soft material of the cream sweater Lowe had taken great pains to clean for her, idly shifting them back and forth. She couldn’t stop smiling as she took in Black Ridge, and it wasn’t only because the valley was beautiful, with its towering white peaks bright against the clear blue sky and snow-dusted pine forest.

  It was because her leg was already feeling better, wasn’t causing her any pain. Lowe had given her a pair of too-large black sweatpants that fitted over her cast, and it was nice being in something clean and being more mobile.

  It was because she felt incredibly sated. She had never been with someone like Lowe. What they had shared had been intense, incredible, and she wanted an encore, but Lowe had needed to speak with Saint and Knox about something and had left her with only a kiss when she had tried to get that encore going.

  Cameo was sure that it was because of what she had told him about Karl.

  Just thinking that name was enough to set her on edge, had her casting her gaze over the cabins situated around the clearing and then the trees that surrounded her on all sides. How long would it be before Karl found this place? She hoped the answer to that was never. Karl wasn’t the kind of man who enjoyed mountains and the great outdoors. He preferred cities.

  The sensible part of her said that wasn’t going to stop him from coming after her.

  The only way to stop him was to get him his money or deal with him.

  Her stomach squirmed at the thought, at how easily she could think about killing him and his men. It wasn’t like her, and she knew deep in her heart that even if she had the opportunity to take him down, when it came down to it, she wouldn’t be able to go through with it. She wasn’t a killer.

  Was Lowe?

  She hated herself for thinking that. Lowe was kind. Gentle. Didn’t strike her as the sort of man who would murder someone. She looked at the mountains again. He did live up in this wild place though and he did seem able to handle himself. If it came down to it, she felt certain that Lowe would do whatever it took in order to stay alive or in order to protect her.

  Her thoughts drifted to the mountain, to when the man had grabbed her and how she had reacted. She had fought him. The instinct was there inside her too and she had the feeling that if she saw Lowe in danger or was facing death, she would find the strength and courage to do the unthinkable.

  She wasn’t sure what that made her.

  Cameo looked down at her feet and sipped her coffee, tried to distract herself from her dark thoughts. She wriggled the toes of her left foot, pleased when her leg didn’t ache. She had taken one of the pills Yasmin had left for her this morning when her leg had been a bit sore, and they had been quick to steal that pain away. She smiled. Her feet looked so funny with one in a black plastic cast and the other in a boot. It made her lopsided too. The heel of her boot was higher than the one on the brace. Lowe had chuckled about that when he had found her walking around his cabin, testing her leg because she had wanted to get some fresh air.

  The need to see Lowe that had been steadily building inside her reached a crescendo and she willed him to come back to her. She wanted him to take her mind off everything and she knew just the way he could do it.

  She lifted her head and took another sip of her coffee, and her smile widened as Lowe stepped out onto the deck of Saint’s cabin, as if he had felt her need of him, and quickly took the steps down to the compacted snow. He turned towards his cabin, his stride hitching as he spotted her and then falling back into an easy rhythm as he strolled towards her.

  Cameo wanted to growl at the sight of him.

  He looked more than good with his dark green and black checked fleece hugging his broad chest and navy jeans tightening across his powerful thighs with each step. He looked like a predator on the prowl as he closed the distance between them, and she shivered as she stared into his eyes, aware that when he reached her, he was going to eat her whole.

  Lowe suddenly spun away from her, twisting to his right and landing hard in the snow.

  The gunshot reached her ears a split-second later.

  “Lowe!” Cameo darted for the steps of the deck, shrieked as another bullet tore through the wooden post to her right and fell back towards the cabin door, dropping her mug.

  It smashed as it hit the wooden boards near her feet.

&n
bsp; Cameo stared at Lowe where he lay in the snow, breathing hard as adrenaline surged through her, making her limbs shake and heart race. Her eyes widened as she tried to figure out what to do, as Saint stepped out onto the deck of his cabin and immediately ducked back inside as a bullet ripped into the side wall of it.

  It hit her that there was only one way to save Lowe.

  She stared at him as he rolled onto his back, leaving a deep crimson patch on the snow.

  She didn’t want to leave him, but if she remained, she would end up getting him killed. She glanced at Saint’s cabin. She would end up getting them all killed. She couldn’t let that happen. She had to do something.

  Lowe looked at her, their eyes locking, and in that heartbeat of a moment she knew that he knew what she was going to do.

  She smiled for him and then hurried down the steps to the snow and broke left, heading for the trees that lined the edges of the clearing, running north as quickly as she could manage.

  “Cameo, no!” he bellowed.

  Her heart ached as she forced herself to keep running, ignoring the urge to turn back and go to Lowe. She had to do this. She had to draw the man away from the people who had been so kind to her.

  From the man she was coming to love.

  Her breath fogged the chilly air as she ran, the cold swift to invade her sweatpants and slip icy fingers through every tiny crevice in her cream sweater. Her leg began to ache, but she pushed onwards, into the trees, and shrieked as a bullet ripped through the trunk of one she had just passed. She ducked and kept running, her heart shooting into her mouth to drum there at a fierce rate as adrenaline surged again.

  Threatening to make her legs wobble beneath her.

  She held it together and kept running, determined to lead the man away from Black Ridge, unsure what her plan was once she had achieved that. Would Lowe come after her? Every instinct she possessed screamed that he would. He wouldn’t let her fight this man alone.

  She glanced back over her shoulder as she veered right, following the forest around, heading back towards the centre of the valley.

  Bit back another shriek as a deer exploded from the bushes ahead of her, bouncing off into the distance.

  The man fired again, the bullet whizzing past her as she ducked and fought to remain upright and keep running. She moved around a dense shrub and ran in a straight line with it at her back, hoping it would make it harder for the man to see where she was going.

  The ache in her leg worsened, becoming a throbbing that had a pulse of heat shooting up to her thigh whenever she placed her weight on it. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could keep running.

  She cursed herself.

  She should have come up with a better plan before breaking cover. This wasn’t like her.

  But the thought of the man killing Lowe had propelled her into action.

  She didn’t want to die, but this was her problem, not Lowe’s. If anyone was going to be caught or killed, it should be her. Not that she intended for either of those things to happen. She rounded a stony cliff and paused, sure she recognised it. The place where she had spent the night with Lowe. Her first instinct was to hide inside, and it was hard to resist the urge as adrenaline and fatigue caught up with her, panic making her head hazy as her thoughts collided. It would be a mistake. The man was bound to check it.

  Cameo kept running instead, heading past the small cave, moving north still.

  Boulders dotted the land, heavy with moss and snow, surrounded by towering pines that offered her little cover. She moved from rock to rock, trying to use them to conceal her trail, making it hard for the man to spot her. She rounded a large boulder and exited on the other side of it.

  Threw herself back behind it when a bullet pinged off the rock, ricocheting into the trees.

  She landed hard on the dead brown pine needles and twigs, grunting as the air burst from her lungs and her leg throbbed madly. She clutched it and shuffled back onto her feet, gritted her teeth as the pain grew more intense. She had to keep moving.

  Cameo looked around her at the forest.

  Cursed when she realised she had run into a shallow bowl, one that had a steep slope surrounding it on all sides except the direction she had entered from. The thought of heading back the way she had come had her pulse pounding faster, so she made a break for the section of slope that looked the easiest to scale.

  She scrambled up it, grabbing roots and saplings, her teeth clenched hard as every step she took had pain rolling through her.

  Screamed as someone grabbed her left leg and pulled her backwards, slamming her face-first into the dirt. Cameo reacted on instinct, kicked out with her booted right foot and nailed the man in his face. He grunted and lost his grip on her. She scrambled forwards, desperate to reach the top, her heart thundering so fast she feared she would pass out.

  The man grabbed her again and yanked her towards him, flipping her onto her back this time, and all thoughts of kicking him fled her mind as she came face to face with the barrel of his rifle.

  Cameo swallowed hard and sank against the ground.

  It was over.

  A vicious roar echoed through the trees.

  Chapter 15

  Fire pulsed in powerful waves across Lowe’s right shoulder, stealing his breath as the snow beneath him stole his body heat. He grunted as he tried to move and growled through his fangs as they descended and he made it into an upright position. He shoved his hand to his shoulder, grimacing at the slick warm patch on his fleece shirt, and got his left foot beneath him. Pain ripped across his ribs as he lumbered onto his feet and condensed in his heart as he stared in the direction Cameo had gone.

  His bear side roared for her to come back, even when the human part of him knew the reason she had run.

  She had done it to protect him.

  She didn’t want him pulled deeper into her trouble, into danger because of her, but he couldn’t let her do this alone. He had told her that he would help her and he meant to keep that promise.

  “Lowe, wait!” Saint barked, but Lowe wasn’t listening.

  He gripped his shoulder and ran, following the trail Cameo had left in the snow.

  His heart pounded hard against his ribs as he raced through the trees after her, growls rolling from his lips as he thought about her in danger. Fur swept over his hands and his fangs elongated, but pain stopped his bear side from emerging.

  He leaped over a fallen tree and landed hard on the other side of it, broke right as he scented Cameo in that direction, together with the disgusting smell of gun oil. Another snarl rumbled in his chest and fur raced over his hands again. The bastard would pay for shooting him. He would pay for daring to chase after Cameo.

  His thoughts darkened as his instincts seized hold of him, roused by Cameo being in danger. His nails transformed into claws and he had a hard time resisting lashing out at everything that got in his way as he thundered through the forest, tracking her scent.

  When her scream tore through the trees, it was game over.

  His bear side roared to the fore despite the pain he was in, had the change coming over him so swiftly that it made him feel sick. His muscles expanded as his bones shortened in places and lengthened in others, his clothes tearing as his body grew in size. He landed on his front paws and kept running, shaking off the remnants of his clothing and kicking off his boots.

  He roared as his paws pounded the dirt, as he scented Cameo’s fear. It drove him deep into his instincts. They swallowed him and the pain in his shoulder disappeared as a single need consumed him.

  Save Cameo.

  Protect his fated mate.

  She shrieked again.

  Lowe thundered forwards, the hunger filling his mind growing darker as her scent and that of the man grew stronger. He was close. He growled as he caught sight of something through the trees ahead of him, shook his head and flashed his fangs as he realised it was Cameo, desperately trying to make it up an incline.

  She fought bravely.
r />   His beautiful mate.

  When the man flipped her onto her back and shoved a gun into her face, Lowe lost it.

  He ran harder.

  Roared as he leaped onto a huge boulder in the middle of the bowl-shaped clearing.

  He kicked off it as the man dressed all in black swung towards him, bringing his rifle up, moving it away from Cameo. She stared wide-eyed at Lowe, her blue eyes filled with fear, terror he knew in part was because of him.

  It didn’t stop her from reacting though.

  She kicked the man in his stomach with both feet, launching him backwards. He lost his grip on the rifle as he hit the dirt on his back. Lowe snarled as he charged him, taking advantage of the fact he was unarmed.

  The human reached into his jacket and pulled out a handgun, had squeezed the trigger before Lowe had time to react. The first bullet ripped past him and the man adjusted his aim. Lowe growled and turned, banking left, dodging the next bullet. He kept weaving, his larger form making it hard to avoid being shot as the man unloaded the gun.

  He came back around the boulder, growling when he saw he hadn’t managed to draw the man away from Cameo at all.

  Her wide blue eyes gained a flicker of something as she stared at Lowe.

  They darted to the man’s back as he reloaded.

  And then she was on her feet and leaping onto his back.

  The man grunted and tried to shake her, hitting her with his elbow as he twisted and turned. Cameo clung to him, battering the side of his head with her fist whenever she could manage it.

  Lowe thundered towards the male, using the opening she had given him.

  He reared up onto his hind legs and splayed his front paws, aiming them at the man’s head, hoping Cameo had enough sense to make a fast exit. Her eyes locked with his and he could see in them that she knew what to do.

  She struck the man one last time and then heaved backwards, trying to tip him off balance, exposing his chest to Lowe.

  The human threw her and she cried out as she landed hard on her back.