The bear just stood there, assessing him. When it began moving toward him, Max continued to stand perfectly still, never breaking eye contact with the strange were. He swore he saw something, maybe a warning, flash in the bear’s eyes as it passed him and ambled into the forest, never looking back.
He released the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. That was weird, he thought. He’d been in plenty of altercations with other werebears but there was usually a reason for a fight. Never had he heard of one were attacking another unprovoked. And certainly not when one of them was in human form. Not that this one had attacked, but it was definitely trying to let him know who was boss.
Did it know who he was or was it just asserting its position? He had no idea but he hoped that were, and any others like it, didn’t underestimate him. He’d hate to hurt anyone from the clan he’d been brought here to assist but he wouldn’t hesitate to defend himself.
The run back to the hotel helped shake off some of the residual willies he had from the encounter. He’d noted the male bear’s scent so he would recognize its human form if they met again. He had no idea how, or even if, this bear would affect his mission here, but something was telling him to watch his back.
By the time he got back to the hotel, he was wet all the way through from the heavy mist that had been like running through a cloud. His feet were completely soaked. In other words, he was cold, wet and hungry, not to mention distracted by that damn werebear.
That explained why he didn’t notice anything amiss when he opened his door, why his inner bear smelled the intruder before Max realized what was happening, and why he let his bear take over the instant he saw a dark form hurtling at him. In the blink of an eye, the intruder lay in a heap at his feet and, just as quickly, he sank to his knees, a single word escaping his lips before a howl of grief shook the walls.
“Bethany…”
“The run’s pretty strong this year, Fred,” Jess said to his chocolate lab. The dog’s blotchy tongue sagged happily from his mouth as his big brown eyes watched his owner’s every move. “The bears are going to go into hibernation this fall with big fat bellies, my friend.”
Kneeling down, he stuffed his notebook in his backpack and took Fred’s head between his hands, digging deep behind the ears. One hind leg started thumping as the dog’s eyes rolled back into his head from sheer bliss.
“Well, we’d better get back to the cabin before those bears fill their bellies with us, dontchya think?” Fred barked and bounced in response as Jess grabbed his pack and rifle, and they made their way up the barely-there trail from the creek.
Normally Fred’s exuberance made Jess laugh but all he could muster today was a wan smile. It had been days since Veronica had shut him out, literally. He’d emailed a few times but she never responded. One day he saw on his contact list that she was online so he opened a chat window but she quickly logged off. No doubt she’d set her profile to private so no one could see when she was online after that. Either that or she’d suddenly lost her internet connection.
At first, he’d been worried. Even when she dodged his previous invitations to meet, she hadn’t cut off all communication with him. Horrible images of her in a car wreck flitted through his mind during the first couple days, but when she’d gone offline so quickly that day, he knew she was fine; just didn’t want to talk to him.
Fred was tearing up the trail and back, barking madly and generally making a fool of himself. He seemed to sense Jess’ moods and now he was trying to cheer up his human. Just that lifted a bit of the weight from Jess’ heart, but when the dog actually started doing crazy backflips and somersaults, he couldn’t help laughing. “What are you doing, you maniac? Come here, fella.”
The dog obediently trotted over to his owner, panting loudly, his mouth so wide it looked like he was grinning. Jess gave his head a rub and together they jogged up the trail to the clearing in front of his cabin.
A blacktail deer jerked her head up as they burst out of the brush and tore off in the opposite direction. Fred gave chase, but only half-heartedly, returning almost as soon as the deer was swallowed up by the forest.
“Good boy. Now let’s go scrounge you up some chow, huh? Whaddya say?” Fred barked in agreement and bounded into the cabin as soon as Jess opened the door.
After carefully putting the gun in the wall rack and setting down his backpack, he filled the food bowl to the top and watched in amazement as the dog wolfed down the entire contents in less than a minute. Licking his chops, he gazed up at Jess hopefully, his tail wagging so hard his backside swayed.
“That’s all you get, boy. Can’t have you getting fat and slow, now can we? How would you outrun the bears?”
Fred blinked, understanding that there was no more food forthcoming. Defeated, he wandered over to his bed and curled up, keeping one eye on Jess, no doubt in case he decided to take mercy on his poor, starving pooch.
Jess took out a single-serving-sized vacuum-packed piece of salmon from his freezer and set it in a bowl of water in the sink to thaw. He’d meant to pop it in the fridge that morning but he’d been anxious to get out on the trail to do his daily survey of the streams. It normally didn’t take all day, but he hadn’t got much sleep the night before, wondering what the hell was going on with Veronica, and he was determined to stay out of the cabin — and away from the computer, which he seemed to check incessantly.
So he packed up a lunch and his camera before he left that morning, and had an enjoyable day photographing Fred, flowers, the fish, and even a grizzly he spotted upstream. He was downwind and the bear was busy catching easier prey than him, so he wasn’t worried, but he didn’t get any closer either. A healthy respect for the wildlife was required for this job.
While he was waiting for the salmon to thaw, he moved over to the small table he used as a desk and flipped on the computer. Disappointment had stopped flooding him every time he logged on to find no message from Veronica, and today was no different. Instead, his resignation just grew deeper. It was a feeling he didn’t care much for but he recognized it as essential for getting over her — it was the same as when he was recovering from his divorce.
The weather looked good for the next week or so, and his supervisor wanted him to report any unusual bear activity with his usual fish reports. “Wonder what they consider ‘unusual’? Eating fish?” Shaking his head, he got up to finish getting dinner ready.
Twilight wouldn’t arrive for several more hours, and then it would only last a handful of minutes before brightening again, but his stomach was telling him it was time to eat. A tiny deer-proofed garden near the back door provided fresh veggies, and he still had some bread left over from his shopping run in town. A giant zucchini — one of the side benefits of gardening in the land of the midnight sun — and a handful of greens would be a nice accompaniment to the fish. He snipped off some chives for a white wine-butter sauce and headed back in.
Just as he was stepping over the threshold, he heard a loud rustle from the dense forest surrounding his little clearing. Always on high alert when he was in the field, he whipped around but there was nothing to see.
He stood stock still for a moment, calculating how long it would take a charging bear to cover the distance from the trees to his door and estimating if he would have time to grab his rifle. Not a chance, he thought. At most, he’d be able to close the door, but he wasn’t entirely confident the simple latch could withstand an irate 1,000-pound bear.
When nothing else moved, he slowly backed into the cabin and shut the heavy door. Heart thumping, he turned to find Fred standing in the middle of the room, growling at the door, hackles raised. The hairs on Jess’ neck stood on end and another shot of adrenaline rushed through his veins. Something was out there. And he couldn’t shake the feeling that it was watching him.
The heebie-jeebies had a firm grip on him, so he did something he’d never felt the need for since he’d arrived at the cabin: he set the two-inch by six-inch piece of barricade w
ood into U-brackets on either side of the door. He repeated the process for the front door. The shutters for the windows had to be set up from the outside, and there was no way he was stepping out there right now. Besides, only a cub could fit through the cabin’s small windows. He and Fred were about as protected as they could be right now.
“Stand down, boy,” he said, scratching the dog’s neck to calm him. Slowly, the hackles smoothed out and Fred’s posture eased. His worried brown eyes gazed up at his master.
Kneeling down, Jess wrapped an arm around his companion and whispered, “It’ll be okay, bud. It’s just a bear wondering what a crazy dog and human are doing all alone out in the woods. C’mon, you want a treat?”
At the magic word, all anxiety left the dog who immediately rushed to the cabinet he knew held his beloved snacks. He sat at Jess’ command and did his best to wait patiently for his reward for being the best guard dog ever.
“Wait,” Jess instructed as he placed the treat on Fred’s snout. “Waiiit. Waiiit. Go!”
At the command, the dog’s head jerked and mouth snapped, the biscuit disappearing in a flash. “Damn, you’re fast!”
Jess gave the front door — and the window next to it — one more wary glance before returning to the kitchen to fix dinner. He normally ate at the table, which overlooked the clearing, but tonight he opted to eat at his small desk, which sat in the corner of the main room. No windows.
He surfed the net as he chewed, grateful that the government had set up the cabin with satellite internet. He didn’t spend much time on it, but it was nice to keep up with world news — as depressing as it was — while he was isolated during the summer.
He scraped his plate clean and set to work writing up his report. Remembering his new mandate to report any “unusual” bear activity, he made a note at the end about the Kodiak he’d spotted.
“Observed one Ursus arctos middendorffi feeding approximately 150 meters from my post. No unusual behavior noted.”
He paused briefly, wondering if he should make note of tonight’s incident. “What the hell…” he mumbled as he typed.
“At approximately 7 p.m., the sound of a large animal in the brush outside the cabin caught my attention. No animal was observed, but my dog behaved in a way that leads me to suspect it was a bear. This is all supposition, but I got the distinct impression that it was observing me. I have taken appropriate precautions for protection.”
Report sent, it was time to clean up the kitchen. The feet of his wooden chair scudded across the rough wood floor of the cabin, causing Fred to raise his head sleepily from his bed. Just as he started to close the laptop for the night, the computer binged. Sitting back down, he opened it again and an email from Veronica popped up. His heart leaped to his throat as he stared at her message: “Tomorrow, 2 p.m., Caribou Cafe, Main Street. <3.”
“YES!” he shouted, drawing a bark of surprise from Fred. Elation just barely overpowered the sense of wariness that was sending warning bells to his brain. She’s been dodging you for days now…be careful. He told that part of his brain to shut the hell up, and started typing. He backspaced and retyped several responses until he came up with one that didn’t sound too eager.
“See you then!”
He almost went with a period, but that seemed too sedate. He had to exude some sense of excitement. After all, she’d put the shorthand for a heart at the end of her message. The least he could do was add an exclamation point.
“Ridiculous,” he mumbled, the grin never leaving his face. “Fred, never fall in love. You become this lame needy dork.” The dog just sighed and snuggled his head deeper into his cushy bed.
It had been far too long since Jess had felt such euphoria. Not only did she finally email, but she wanted to actually meet! This was it. The beginning of something major, he could feel it deep in his bones.
He stayed up late scrubbing every inch of the cabin, trying to work out some of his pent-up energy — and, he wasn’t going to lie, just in case Veronica came back here with him. Catching sight of the time out of the corner of his eye, he knew he needed to get to bed so he could be up early enough to file his daily report and make it to town by 2 p.m. But how on earth was he going to sleep? He was still completely amped.
Sleep took its sweet time to overtake him, but when it did, it eased up on him like a warm blanket. Forget sugar plums, visions of Veronica’s sweet rump sheathed in tight black Lycra danced before his eyes as he drifted off, completely oblivious to a hackled Fred standing in front of the door growling at whatever was prowling outside.
“Max, I’m fine, really.” Bethany pushed away the wet washcloth Max was trying to hold to her head. “You just startled me, is all.”
“Are you sure? Do you think I hurt the baby? Should I track down the local healer?” He moved to pick up the room’s phone.
“No!” she called out to him. “Honey, really. Believe me, I’d tell you if I thought I or the baby were hurt. You barely even connected with me. It was the fall to the floor that took my breath away.”
Anxiety creased Max’s handsome features. Smiling gently, she tugged him down next to her on the bed and pulled his head to her ample bosom, just like she would do someday to the child that was growing inside her.
“Babe, you thought I was an intruder. You had no idea I was coming here and I surprised you. It was stupid of me not to give you some kind of warning. I know you would never hurt me, Max.”
He wrapped his arms around her and snuggled his head into her, caressing her belly. “If anything ever happened to you, B…”
“Shh, it won’t. I’m not going anywhere, okay?”
She felt him nod against her body and hold her just a little tighter. They lay entwined for several blissful moments before he tipped his head up to her.
“Not that I’m not happy to see you, but why did you come? We could have hashed this out over the phone, you know.”
“I dunno, I…” she stammered, trying to find the words. She’d practiced what she was going to say to him when she arrived, but he hadn’t been here and it all flew right out of her head the moment he knocked her to the ground. “Things have been tense with us lately, you know?”
His lips grew thin with regret. He didn’t need to say anything for her to know he felt it, too.
“I thought if I came here, we could get away from the shit going on at home,” she said. “Like a vacation or something.”
Max opened his mouth to protest, but she interrupted him. “I know you’re here to work. I understand that, and I won’t get in your way. But after work…”
Her hand crept up to his cheek, a thumb tracing the arch of his brow, a finger tickling the ridge of his ear. His eyes twinkled in response, but his hand reached up to still hers.
“Bethany, I never thought I’d love someone like I love you. Which is why I didn’t want you to come here.”
He pulled away to sit on the edge of the bed, his back to her. “Listen, before we go any further, I need to say something. I’m sorry for what I said back home.”
He turned to face her, reaching for her hand. The anxiety lines were back. “I was trying to explain what the Brotherhood assholes think, not what I think. This is a stronghold for them, and they’re not going to be as friendly as the jerks back home who were harassing us. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
The ember of fear that Bethany had felt back home started to glow. “Okay, I’ll be careful. Won’t go out at night, make sure no one is following me, and so on.”
Max shook his head. “No, babe. As in, you don’t leave this room. We can’t take any chances.”
She barked a loud laugh. “If you think I’m going to be a prisoner here, you’re wrong, buster. I have work to do, too, you know.”
His brow furrowed. “What work?”
“Veronica! She’s here in Kodiak. Don’t you remember the business we started together? While you’re working, I can help her figure out how to navigate the joys of a shifter-human relationship.”
She tried to launch herself from the bed in a huff, but her huge tummy made that impossible. She had to settle for scooching to the foot of the bed and easing herself upright, slapping away Max’s hand as he tried to help her. How humiliating! She couldn’t even storm off by herself anymore.
“Bethany, c’mon,” he said in a conciliatory tone. “I’m sorry I forgot, but it’s been a pretty crazy 24 hours.”
Sighing, Bethany went to the bathroom and got a glass of water. She made the mistake of looking in the mirror. Damn, if she thought she’d been fat before she’d gotten pregnant…
Stop it! she told her inner critic, the one who was always trying to break her spirit. But rather than risk looking at her reflection again, she stepped back out into the room and leaned against the doorjamb.
“How about this: You drop me off at Veronica’s on your way to work in the morning. I’ll work with her, see if I can help, then I’ll have her bring me straight back here. Do not pass go, do not collect $200.”
The look on his face said Max wasn’t entirely convinced.
“Max, I’ll either be with you or with her. I mean, how much trouble could I get into?”
It was his turn to laugh, but his was good-natured, not angry. “Plenty,” he said, giving her a wry smile and a wink.
His smile melted her heart, as it always did, bringing one to her own lips. He stood and crossed over to her, taking her face in his hands, gazing into her soul.
“Promise you won’t go out on your own, not even to the lobby. Promise.”
Max’s cinnamon-flecked eyes still never failed to leave her speechless, and this moment was no exception. She struggled to even nod, a choked sigh serving as agreement. He pulled her body to his, burying his face in her hair, her own tucked into his neck, breathing him in. Their baby was pressed between them, between their love.
Laid Bear 2: The Kodiak Clan Page 5
