Return to Bear Bluff Complete Series

by Harmony Raines

  She followed him into the house, musing over her thoughts. “You know that shifters are like magic.”

  He turned, his key in the lock of his front door. “In a way we are.”

  “Does that mean I need to reassess my views on Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy?” she asked.

  He burst out laughing. “Even I don’t believe in them.”

  “Maybe you should,” she said. The door opened and he stood with his back against it, letting her enter first.

  “I would say make yourself at home, but I’m going to need your help in the kitchen if we are going to get up on the mountain before we lose the light.”

  “Sure, anything to help,” she said. “Nice place.”

  “It’s cozy. A little snug, but I like it. Beats where I lived before.”

  “Where did you live before?” she asked.

  “In an apartment building. My mom and dad moved away from Bear Bluff when I was a child. My dad was struggling to find work, and he ended up in a factory. All my life they told me to get a trade, so I did. I figured everyone needs a roof.”

  “They do,” she agreed.

  “Here, bread, butter, I’ll see what we’ve got to go in the sandwiches, and I have cookies, and honey cake.” He saw her pull a face. “You haven’t lived until you have eaten my honey cake.”

  “Your honey cake? You mean you bake too?” she asked, spreading the butter over the bread.

  “I am a man of many talents. And I look forward to introducing you to all of them.” His expression was leading, and she didn’t not have to ask him what talents he particularly wanted to share with her.

  “I can’t wait.”

  He groaned, a deep guttural sound. “You are making it more difficult by the minute. Now that you are here, in my house, and the bedroom so close, I’m struggling not to pick you up and carry you to bed.”

  “Patience, Mr. Bear. You have to take me on a date first.” She took some of the chicken he’d got from the fridge and placed it on the bread.

  “And then you’ll come back here?” he asked.

  “What about the ATV and taking it back to Dylan’s?” she asked, nervous of spending the night with him, even though her body was yelling yes.

  “He wouldn’t mind if I put it in my garage,” Theo said.

  “I’m sorry.” She had to tell him how she felt, but didn’t want to hurt him. “I don’t want to rush things. Can we take it slow?”

  “Yes, as slow as you want. I keep forgetting you don’t have the same … urge, as me.”

  “I wouldn’t say I don’t have the same urge, I’m just not comfortable acting on it yet.”

  “Then we take it slow.” He kissed the top of her head. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be. I understand, and part of me wishes I could just go with it. But that’s not who I am. It’s not who I’ve ever been.”

  “And I don’t want you to change. So, I’ll have you home before midnight.”

  “Isn’t that a little late for Dylan or Steph to stay up?”

  “I’ll text Dylan to let him know not to wait up. He always leaves the door open. He’s a trusting guy.” Theo came around to stand behind her, his body pressed against her back, the hardness of his cock evidence of his arousal. “Unless I tell him I’ll take it back in the morning.”

  “Midnight.” She leaned back against him. “I promised Steph I’d babysit first thing so she could go into town alone.”

  “Midnight it is.” He dug out his phone and texted Dylan, while she finished up the sandwiches and they packed it all in a backpack that Theo carried out to the truck, and then the next phase of her adventure in Bear Bluff began.

  Chapter Twelve – Theo

  Zara screeched and hung onto Theo as they began a steep climb up the mountain path. The lower slopes had been easy, but now the terrain was becoming rougher, the stones falling away as the wheels of the ATV ran over them.

  Not that he minded her clinging to him so tightly.

  Keeping their momentum going was the tricky part. He wouldn’t admit it to Zara, but he didn’t have too much experience when it came to these vehicles, and not on this kind of terrain. He was getting the hang of it, though, and since his need to keep Zara safe was always in his mind, he made sure he took no risks. This was not a time to show off.

  No, that would be for me to do when you let me free, his bear said.

  Soon, he answered. Right now, I have to not kill us.

  The wheels of the ATV spun as they tried to gain traction on a slope. The path was made of gravel, and they sprayed out behind them, the ATV stationary, before it finally got a grip and shot forward.

  The path swung left and then sharp right, before finally opening out on a plateau. Swinging the ATV around to the left, he steered the vehicle towards the Bluff, hoping he remembered the way. Darkness wasn’t far away, and his knowledge of the mountain wasn’t as good as a bear who had lived here all his life.

  “I’d say this was fun, but might be lying,” Zara called out over the noise of the engine.

  “Take a risk,” he said lightly.

  “I think my whole life has become about taking risks.”

  The Bluff was a hundred yards away, and he slowed and approached it with care, parking some way back from the edge. “And they will pay off,” he said.

  Switching off the engine, he eased himself off the ATV, and stood up, stretching. Then he held out his hand to Zara. She took it and got off, her legs unsteady. “I feel as if I’ve been on a white-knuckle roller coaster with no safety bar.”

  “I’ll always keep you safe.” He turned her around, and pointed. “And isn’t that view worth it?”

  “Oh, wow. So this is where I’m going to be calling home from now on.”

  “It is. I know the first time I came up here it took my breath away. I’d never been so high, or seen such a view.” The thrill of climbing up here as a bear had been amazing. It had felt like coming home. And somehow he felt closer to his parents, who had roamed over these mountains when they were first together, before they’d had kids. Before they’d moved away.

  It was a thing he could never understand. What would make a person leave Bear Bluff? But he knew they’d left because there was no work for his dad and they couldn’t survive financially. It was one reason he’d worked hard, and learned a trade. Only when he heard of Dylan’s construction company and found it to be a permanent, safe job, had he contemplated coming here to live.

  “And you never want to leave?” she asked.

  “Never.” He pulled her close to him and kissed her. “Now that I have you in my life, it’s like my world is complete, and Bear Buff is the center of that world.”

  “Bear Bluff is the center of your world? I thought that was me?” she asked playfully.

  “I’m open to persuasion.” He lowered his head to kiss her, but before their lips met, he pulled away. “Want to eat?”

  “Sure,” she agreed, her voice filled with emotion. He smiled to himself as he walked back to the ATV and took the backpack out of the small basket on the back. She wanted him, maybe not as much as he wanted her, but he would take it, because he had lied when he said Bear Bluff was the center of his world.

  If Zara ever asked him to leave, he would go, to wherever she wanted to go. Even if it meant him living in a small apartment in a city like the one he grew up in, he would go. Even if it meant his bear living a life in a mental cage, he would go.

  That isn’t going to happen, he told his disgruntled bear. Zara would never ask that of us.

  “I feel as though I owe Dylan an apology,” he said, when he brought the backpack over to where she was standing looking out over the valley below them. The sun was setting behind the mountain, all orange and red. Where the sun’s rays had already left the sky, the first star appeared.

  Zara didn’t answer, she just stared at the star, as if in a trance. “Sorry,” she said, as she pulled herself back to the Bluff from wherever she had been.

  “Were you ma
king a wish?”

  She smiled bashfully. “I might have been.” She looked back up at the sky, which was turning inky blue overhead as the sun slid further down the side of the mountain behind them. “It’s stupid, I know, but I’ve always wished on the first star I see.”

  “And what did you wish for this time?” he asked.

  “For you to hurry up with the picnic, I’m starving,” she said evasively.

  “Fine, if that’s the way you want to play it. We’ll eat, and you can keep your secret.” He spread the blanket out on the ground. And then he took his jacket off and spread that down for her to sit on. “The ground is freezing,” he explained.

  “Won’t you be cold?” she asked.

  “Nope, I have bear blood in my veins. The cold doesn’t bother me.”

  She sat down, and they ate as the darkness settled around them. He pulled a small lantern out of the pack and set it down.

  “Romantic,” she said, taking a bite of her sandwich.

  “If you think that is romantic, try some of this.” He took out the thermos and poured her a cup of the hot liquid.

  “Coffee.” She burst out laughing. “Maybe I should take my wish back.”

  “So you were wishing on me?” he asked, handing her the small cup. “Try it.”

  She took the cup from him and smelt it. “What is it?”

  “Try it.”

  Zara took a tentative sip. “Oh my, what is that?”

  “Ahh, now that would be an old family secret,” he said, pouring another cup for himself. “Warms a bear like nothing else could.”

  She turned onto all fours and slid over the blanket like a lioness on the prowl. “Are you sure?”

  “I’m open to being proven wrong.” He cupped her face with his hand. “But it’s too cold here.”

  “Pity.” She kissed him. “And anyway, I want to see your bear.”

  Chapter Thirteen – Zara

  Bursting into laughter, she destroyed the moment. “I want to see your bear. Sorry, must be whatever you put in that coffee. Cognac? Maybe some whiskey?”

  “My secret family recipe. Maybe when we’re married I might tell you. Until then it stays my secret.”

  “So you want to play hardball?” Zara asked, sitting herself back down and helping herself to another sandwich.

  “I am hard,” he agreed. “But you are right, we are not getting down off this mountain without my bear putting in some kind of an appearance.”

  “I’m ready when you are,” she said, sitting cross-legged to watch.

  “First we finish eating. You haven’t tried my honey cake yet.” He took out a plastic container and offered her a piece of cake.

  “Is this a secret family recipe too?” she asked.

  “It might be. Or I may have found it while trawling the Internet for anything made of honey. My bear loves the stuff and sometimes he has to enjoy eating it vicariously through me.”

  “That’s the craziest thing I ever heard. Do you, like, share stuff? Feelings, sensations?” Zara took a piece of the cake and took a bite. “My, you know how to bake, I’m feeling more and more blessed to have you as my man.”

  “That star must be working,” he said, taking a piece of the sweet cake himself. “I should have wished upon it myself.”

  “And what would you have wished for?” Zara asked.

  “For us to have a dozen kids.”

  “A dozen! You know I like kids, but I’m not having that many.”

  “OK, I’ll settle for five.”

  “We really need to get to know each other. I was thinking about two or three.”

  “Ahh, so you have been thinking about it?” he asked. “Got you.”

  “That is entrapment,” she said, eating the rest of her cake. “That is good. Maybe you should be a house husband and look after our kids.”

  “I would love to,” he said.

  “Really?” she asked. Her career was very special to her, even if it hadn’t actually begun yet.

  “Sure, or we could both work part-time. Or,” he began excitedly, “I could strap our baby to my back and take him to work with me.”

  “OK, now you are joking.”

  “Am I?” he teased, dodging backwards when she went to push him.

  “OK, now it’s time to show me. I hope this bear of yours doesn’t have the same sharp mouth as you.”

  “He’s very lovable.”

  “So you say,” Zara said. “I think it’s time you let your mate decide.”

  “OK,” Theo said, standing up.

  “And I’ll help myself to some more of your special-recipe coffee,” she said, reaching for the thermos. She sure needed some of the warmth the coffee spread through her body, because whether it was the cold or excitement, her teeth were chattering.

  “Help yourself,” Theo said, and retreated to about ten feet away. She could only just make him out by the light of the lantern. “Now, promise me you won’t run.”

  “I’m not stupid, you know. I’ve seen Dylan’s bear, and I know I’m in more danger from the mountain than I am from you.” She sipped the coffee, and shiver of delight threaded through her veins as the liquor warmed her stomach. “I’m not afraid of a big bad bear.”

  “I’m not bad, but I am big.” To prove it, he let himself go, and she watched in wonder, as the air seemed to crackle with a small burst or electricity that lit up the night like a thousand stars exploding. That was a wow in itself, but the real wow was the way he fizzled and sparked out of existence for a split second. It was quick, but long enough to make her worry he had gone and left her here alone on the dark, remote mountain.

  Then a shape, fuzzy around the edges, began to appear. He was right, he was big, and he was a bear.

  Zara had seen Dylan years ago, seen this very same thing happen before, and yet this startled her. Maybe it was the static filling the air, making the hair on her neck prickle, or maybe it was the fear of the unknown. As much as she trusted Theo, she didn’t know him in the same way she had known Dylan when he had shifted in front of Zara.

  Or perhaps it was the thrill of knowing this bear was hers. This creature who stood with his head down, eyeing her warily, was hers, their souls wrapped around each other’s.

  Draining her coffee, she placed the small cup on the blanket and got up, rubbing her cold legs to try to get some life back into them. With her jacket wrapped tightly around her to ward off the chill mountain air, she walked carefully forward two steps, then three, until she stood by the bear’s side.

  “Hey there, Theo bear,” she said, not knowing what the hell she was supposed to call him.

  Theo bear took a step closer to her, pressing his big, bulky body against her legs, sending much-needed warmth her way. Needing more of that warmth, Zara pressed her fingers deep into his fur, wishing she could see him properly. What color was he in daylight, dark brown, tawny, or black? The light of the lantern gave her no real clue.

  “You are amazing,” she said, her teeth back to chattering.

  The bear lifted his snout and opened his mouth a little, as if he were tasting the air, or tasting her scent. She decided to do the same, but to get any scent of him, she had to bury her head into his fur. It tickled, and smelled of musk, and pine trees and damp grass, and of something she couldn’t name, and she figured it was magic she could smell, the magic that had to exist for this to happen.

  “Thank you,” she said placing her mouth by his bear ear. “Thank you for showing me your other side.”

  The bear lifted his head and looked at her knowingly, and in his eyes she saw Theo, the man and bear as one. Then he stepped back from her and the air shimmered, the static prickling the hairs on the back of her hands, and then the bear disappeared, to be replaced by Theo.

  “You didn’t run,” he said.

  “No. I didn’t.” She went to him, and put her arms around his neck, pulling him to her. “I think we should go back to Dylan’s house, before I freeze to death.

  “Of course. It was s
tupid of me to bring you up here in this cold.”

  “No, I don’t regret it one bit.” She looked up at the sky, it was clear and crisp, her breath visible as she spoke.

  Theo worked quickly to pack everything away, and then he insisted on her wearing both coats. She didn’t refuse, not after he told her for the tenth time that he didn’t feel the cold in the same way as she did.

  “I’ll believe you.” She held her arms out and he wrestled the second coat over the one she already wore, and then took out a pair of gloves, which he told her to wear. “What if I can’t hold onto you so tight?”

  “You mean what if wearing them makes you fall off the ATV?” he asked.

  “Yes.”

  “You have more chance of falling off from the cold than from wearing my gloves. Anyway, we are going down, so you will be leaning into me. It’ll be fine. I told you, I won’t ever let anything happen to you. Bear’s honor.”

  “You and that sweet talking again,” she laughed, and pulled the gloves on firmly. “You have monster-sized hands.”

  “I know. All the better for touching you with,” he joked as he lifted her onto the ATV.

  He climbed on in front of her, and then they set off, racing across the plateau, the stars bright above them, and the wind whipping her hair. She buried her face into his back and hung on, trusting him to get them down safely.

  It had been an incredible night, at the end of an incredible day. But all she wanted to do now was crawl into bed. Alone.

  Who was she kidding? She would love this big bear of a man to crawl into bed next to her. His big, muscled body was like a furnace, and he would soon chase the chill from her body, and replace it with something else. She wouldn’t need the coffee to warm her inside: his hands on her body would ignite a flame inside her that would burn for him alone, until he quenched it.

  “You’re not falling asleep back there, are you?” he yelled over the sound of the motor.

  Zara jumped, and came to. “No,” she lied, and straightened herself up in her seat.

  “We’re nearly back to Dylan’s,” he said, the ATV tilting downwards at an angle she didn’t like too much. Then they were on a gentle slope, following a trail that wound through the trees. It was so dark, that even the light from the ATV seemed to be swallowed up.