Dare to Bear (Book 1 Trail Guardians Series)

by Julian, Christine

  “A shower. I smell that bad, huh?”

  “Scent is the least of our worries.” He offered a kind smile. “You need some reviving to be at your best, if you want to be there for him.”

  She stifled a yawn. “I guess that makes sense.”

  “A shower will do you good.”

  As a completely random thought occurred to her, her brow furrowed. “Do bears shower a lot, all year around? I mean, like, do you guys hibernate in the winter?”

  Tyce chuckled. “We are as human as you, though with a few bear-ish quirks of our own.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “Quirks?”

  “Well, we have our advantages and disadvantages. Is that so different than humans?”

  “No,” she sighed in concession. “It’s just, he seems so fragile right now. Nothing like the big, badass bear who defended me against the wolves.”

  That brought a hearty laugh from the stoic doctor. “I assure you, Mason is anything but fragile. Did I tell you about the time, when we were cubs, and Mason dared me to leap off a waterfall?”

  Soon she realized she could barely focus on the scar Tyce showed her on his arm, thanks to Mason, let alone follow the details of his story. She wanted nothing more than to drop where she stood and fall asleep. Although his recounting of their youthful adventures couldn’t hold her attention, a luxurious rain-head shower would.

  She excused herself to go next door. She grabbed soap and towels from the shop clerk. Then she let the cascading warm shower water shed the dirt from her body and the dullness from her spirit. Enlivened by the feeling and scent of her own clean skin, she donned the terrycloth robe and white flip flops, and headed to the row of sinks to use one of the hairdryers attached to the wall.

  When she glanced in the mirror, she dropped the hairdryer. A strange sensation embraced her, like an out-of-body experience. As if she was looking at herself, but someone different looked back at her. She looked different.

  Everything about her appearance had changed. Her eyes sparkled bluer than the crystal-clear Appalachian sky. Her skin glowed. Her hair appeared glossier than usual. And she’d lost weight—a lot of weight. Her face showed off the heart-shaped point of her chin and her high cheekbones. She seemed so much slimmer than she’d been over the past year.

  Or had her negative perceptions of herself blocked the beauty she radiated from within?

  Granted, she’d anticipated shedding a few pounds over the duration of her hike. Yet she’d been hard on herself since she’d gained weight, as hard as Kyle’s subtle, off-hand comments were to take. Perhaps this fuller, healthier version herself was actually the better version.

  She flashed a smile in the mirror. She felt great, inside and out. Was this strong, pretty, curvy girl what Mason had seen in her from the beginning?

  Self-acceptance washed over her, sinking into every cell of her body. She was beautiful. She deserved love in her life. And she deserved the love of her life. Mason had shown her the true beauty she held inside. She fell in love with him a little bit more.

  Slightly giddy with a renewed awareness of all she had to offer, she picked up the hairdryer and finished drying her hair.

  Sandy, Dr. Tyce’s assistant, had suggested she try out the sauna, right off the women’s locker room. Stephanie did, and found herself blinking awake later, staring at the cedar slats above her.

  Crap, how long had she slept? Desperate for water to quench her thirst, she changed into laundered clothes from her pack. It had been tracked and retrieved, along with Mason’s, by a friend of Dr. Tyce. She’d anticipated Mason’s brother might’ve sent someone, disappointed that when he’d visited Mason hospital room he’d all but ignored her. The man remained laser-focused on his brother’s recuperation. Understandable, but his cool indifference left her feeling like she’d mangled and maimed Mason herself, instead of the wolves doing all that harm. He clearly disapproved of them being together. She wasn’t about to breach his icy exterior to ask him why.

  She exited the locker room and saw Sandy discussing a work-related issue with the young male clerk behind the counter. The woman seemed like a natural teacher, gently explaining why the company followed certain protocols.

  She walked up to Sandy. “Any change in Mason’s condition?”

  Sandy smiled encouragingly. “Not yet, but Tyce told me the fever looks like it’s finally breaking.”

  “That’s great,” Stephanie said, relieved. “Can I go back to him?”

  “I’d wait a few minutes.” Sandy sighed. “Midas is with him now.”

  “Oh.” Stephanie understood. Better to let the brothers have some time alone. She was the newcomer, and they were family.

  To pass the time, she wandered through the town’s Bear Necessities store, fully appreciating the clever double-entendre in the name.

  As an avid reader and marketer in her real life, she picked up several different magazines perched on their shelves. Flipping through them absently, she started to wonder why Bear Necessities didn’t have their own magazine displayed more prominently. That way people could identify the trademark right away, as soon as they walked through the door. Come to think of it, why weren’t their brands of clothing and necessities better displayed on the shelves?

  If their own personal chain of outlets offered these bears their survival through sales, they needed to change the layout of their stores. Completely.

  Since the family was in the midst of its personal powwow, and Sandy had disappeared into a back room, Stephanie seized the opportunity to talk to the clerk. She pointed out her concerns, and the young man helped her rearrange the floor space to better promote company-specific items. The teen seemed to agree, eager to help change what had been in place long before he’d landed the job.

  Their companionable interactions gave the clerk a chance to vent about his minimal role regarding website maintenance. Oh, she could totally help him there. She joined him at the computer workstation at the end of the counter, and they dove into the task.

  After two hours spent updating the website SEO and visibility, she asked him where they advertised online.

  “Um…” was his shrugging response.

  “Here.” She reached for the keyboard and moved it in front of her. “Step aside, if you don’t mind. I’ll access a program from work I can run to determine your online reach and the best places to set up advertising.”

  Finally—finally—she felt useful. Validated. Within the next hour, she updated their Facebook page to sync with their website updates and links. Then she reached out to fellow advertisers for cross-promotion. Then she set up Twitter and Instagram accounts—neither of which they’d engaged with previously—and through those portals she connected to other relevant companies. Plus, she uploaded a dozen images, to start bringing attention to their survivalist provisions.

  Smiling, she sat back in the chair the clerk had vacated on her behalf. Helpful at last, she thought. Maybe she couldn’t administer emergency medical care, or navigate through a pathless forest, or traverse a cavernous ledge by herself. But she could provide Mason’s business with valuable marketing venues, navigate the Web on the company’s behalf, and scale the numbers necessary to improve visibility for their venture.

  Her stomach rumbled. She realized she hadn’t eaten much of anything in two days, stationed vigilantly beside Mason, hoping beyond hope he’d pull through.

  She swiveled in the chair to find Tyce, Sandy and the clerk staring at her with equally mesmerized expressions on their faces. “Hi,” she said, ducking her head. “I guess I kind of took over. Sorry, I should’ve asked permission first. It’s an occupational compulsion.”

  “One we’ve sorely needed,” Tyce stated.

  “Most definitely,” Sandy concurred.

  “For sure,” the clerk agreed.

  Tyce waved her into the back office of the store. “After watching you in action,” he said, deep contemplation grooving his forehead, “I’d like to do something unheard of, and undertake something truly i
nnovative for our company.”

  “Really?” Excitement coursed through her. “If you need advice or help, I’m happy to give suggestions. There’s a lot you could do to expand your reach, actually. When I get home, I can negotiate a discount with my business for you. I mean, there’s so much I can offer—”

  “I know,” he said with a patient smile, as he cut off her enthusiastic rambling. “I know exactly what you can do. I talked it over with Sandy, since she’s the head manager of all our branches. I’d like to extend you an offer.”

  “With my business?” She beamed. “They’ll never suspect I got this lead by hiking the Appalachian Trail.”

  “You misunderstand. I want to extend an offer to you, Stephanie. Directly.”

  Taken aback, she wasn’t sure she’d heard him right. “Me?”

  “You bring knowledge to the table we sorely lack. We make our living through this company. We support family and friends, as well as the community. And while we’re doing well in the marketplace, seeing you in action has led me to believe we can accomplish far greater things.”

  “I know you can,” she agreed. “With some changes and tweaks, we can put this company front and center of the market.”

  He half-sat on the edge of the desk, facing her. “That’s why I want to hire you, specifically—not your company.”

  “Oh. Okay.” She licked her lips. “I mean, I was supposed to fly home yesterday, but I think I can eek out a few extra vacation days to help out here, and teach Leo—”

  “We don’t want you to teach, Steph.” He folded his hands on his upraised leg. “We want you to do.”

  She cleared her throat. “Do what, exactly?”

  “Come work for Bear Necessities. We’ve needed someone with your expertise for ages, to expand our brand and bring us more fully into the twenty-first century to ensure our future.”

  She blinked. “You mean, work here? For your company? In the wilderness?”

  “That’s exactly what I mean.” He grinned. “We won’t seem so ‘backwoods’ with your help. Trust me, this decision is overdue. There’s only so much visibility we achieve with our locations on the trail. They’re good, but they’re not enough. You can usher us into a more lucrative phase of our business plan. Bear Necessities, two-point-oh.”

  Then he collected from the desk’s surface some of the drawings she’d done while sitting at Mason’s side. She’d sketched alternate logos for the one that the company currently had in place. She shook her head adamantly. “Hey, those were just doodles. Something to keep me awake while Mason recovered.” She swallowed. “At least, I hope he recovers.”

  Tyce pointed to one of the sketches that she’d personally favored, a simple blocking pattern of a bear separated by white space, with the peaks of mountains behind. “This is genius.”

  She wrinkled her nose, hesitant to take credit, since her boss always did that for her, after denouncing her efforts. “Really? Because back at my office in California, they hated my logos.”

  “I assure you,” he said, dipping his chin in a gesture of respect, “no one here hates your ideas. We welcome them. We’ve fallen behind in the age of fast-paced Internet marketing. People like us, like Mason, prefer the outdoors and doing what we love in nature. We need someone with your skills and talent to help us upgrade, so to speak. To be our bridge, expanding us more fully into the online world.” He sent her an intent stare. “If I offered you a position here, with our company, would you stay?”

  Dumbfounded, the possibility had never crossed her mind. “I don’t know.”

  “I can offer you sixty-thousand a year, plus stock options. And we have a shrewd financial advisor who’ll match the retirement plan you currently have. It may not provide the upward mobility you’ve always dreamed of, but we’d give you full control of the department. In fact, you’d be the department. You’d become our Director of Marketing. We could supply you with two or three of our tech-savvy workers, who’d appreciate being a part of the new vision.”

  Director of Marketing? Just thinking of such a lofty title thrilled her.

  On the one hand, she’d take a huge pay cut. Sixty-thousand a year was about half of what she earned in California. On the other hand, the cost of living in this area was far cheaper than where she rented her condo currently. And what, other than Ashley, did she really have to return to when she went back? A great but frustrating career, where her boss took credit for all her ideas and made her feel sub par? Here, she could pioneer all sorts of fresh, innovative ideas, thoughts she’d never dared to raise for fear of looking stupid or foolish. Most important of all, she and Mason wouldn’t have to go the long-distance-relationship route. They could see if they worked together right here, where he had so much support from friends and family.

  Family. The thought made her retract. She folded her arms across her stomach. “What would Midas say? He doesn’t like me very much.”

  A closed expression cinched Tyce’s face. “He has his own career as a sheriff, separate from the business. And he has his own reasons for doubting the capacity of a human-and-shifter mating. Don’t take that personally. He wouldn’t interfere with your position or your place here among us.”

  “I would have a place? With you?” she asked hopefully.

  Tyce smiled softly. “Of course you would. You’re Mason’s mate, so you’re one of us. Although I didn’t offer you the position for that reason, your bond with him might strengthen if you to moved here to be with him, not to mention his recovery.”

  “I would like that,” she admitted. “Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, me working for the company?”

  “Absolutely. You’re a natural fit, Stephanie. I hope you’ll consider my offer.”

  “I will,” she said, though the logistics of it all would be a serious departure from everything she’d planned for, plus it required leaving her life in California.

  Suddenly, Sandy burst into the room. “Midas just called. Something’s happening with Mason.”

  “Oh, my God.” Stephanie flew from the office, barreling out of the lodge as she ran to the hospital next door.

  She raced up the steps toward Mason’s room. Midas caught her around the waist before she could enter.

  “You don’t want to see what’s in there.” His low growl of warning terrified her as much as the unknown possibilities.

  She stood her ground. “I don’t care. It’s Mason. I’ll be there for him, no matter what.”

  Midas’s sharp glare bored into her. They stood locked together for a tense moment. Then he let her go, and she sprinted to her mate’s side.

  Witnessing Mason’s ashen state, she swallowed a gasp, her chest clenched with fear. When she grabbed his chilled hands, she barely felt a pulse in his wrists. How could this happen? Sandy had told her it looked like the fever might break any minute.

  God, no. “Mason, don’t leave me,” she pleaded, her tears dripping onto his face as she clasped him. “I’ve found a way to be here. I can stay with you. Don’t leave. Please, don’t leave.” She said a prayer to the Ancients, to the Ancestors, to God—whoever would listen. “I love you, Mason. I love you.”

  *

  Mason wasn’t sure when he’d stopped fighting, when he’d let go. But the burning had ended. The raging storm inside him had ebbed.

  He drifted in a strange gray space. A world between worlds. Not dead, but not alive. His spirit seemed to hover in an unknown state. But he was there. It was him. His thoughts and beliefs and ideals lingered here. He’d expected to see the glowing white light he’d heard of in the Ancestor’s lore. Instead, there was just drifting, and…nothing.

  Then a violent tug grabbed him. A powerful sensation jerked him, and strange twinkling lights sped past him in a blur.

  Suddenly, he could feel again.

  The glare of florescent bulbs impacted his eyelids. He cringed at the searing effect. The recognition of wet droplets pelting his face made him flinch. Each new visceral response rained down on him like he stood
in a hail storm, welcoming yet dreading each sensational blow.

  Then the most beautiful words met his ears. I love you.

  “I love you, Mason. Please come back to me.”

  He heard Steph. She wasn’t a ghostly figure in his dreams. He heard her voice ring as loud and clear as church bells at dawn.

  No longer lost and adrift, he felt himself slam into his body with a mighty impact. He gasped and choked and sat upright, stunned by his sudden re-entrance into physical form. He flailed uncontrollably. “I…I’m…I—”

  “Don’t speak.” Tyce’s familiar voice calmed him.

  The back of his head hit the plush surface of a pillow like a bowling ball. He struggled to stay still beneath hands that pressed him to a mattress.

  Was he back? Was he home? Away from the Dark Ones and the flaming nightmare that had engulfed him?

  “Stay still,” Tyce’s voice instructed. “Or I won’t get this IV back into your vein, my friend. And then you’ll be a real mess.”

  “Tyce,” he exhaled.

  “Yes, I’m here. We’re all here. You’ve made it. You’re going to be all right.”

  Mason’s whole body shuddered. He wheezed, “Steph?”

  “She’s here, too.”

  Extending his hands, he grasped for her blindly. “Steph!”

  “Here. I’m right here, Mason. I’m with you, always.”

  The pent-up tension in his body relaxed. “Thank the Ancestors.”

  Gradually, his senses returned to their full capacity, and the gray nothingness released its hold on him. The cool temperature of the room sheeted down his arms, and his body shook with chills. His teeth chattered. “S-so c-c-cold.”

  A heavy blanket draped over him, and a pair of warm arms cradled his torso. The chill subsided. “Steph. I need you. I love you.”

  “I need you, too, Mason.”

  The former hailstones transformed into soft droplets streaking down his face. Tears. Her tears. “I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

  “It’s okay.” She released a soft laugh. “They’re happy tears. I’m so happy you’re alive, you’re well again.”