Ian (BBW Bear Shifter Wedding Romance) (Grizzly Groomsmen Book 4)

by Becca Fanning

  "I'll get everyone downstairs for breakfast in ten. We can work it out then. That work for you?" She demanded, already crunching numbers and making plans in her head.

  "Yeah, sure, I'll see you then," he nodded, and closed the door. Lorne quickly went around the other rooms, pulling out the whole wedding party, until she had everyone arranged in the dining room. She grabbed a coffee and a few slices of toast, she had a feeling she was going to need her strength for whatever the rest of this day had to bring.

  Dina was one of the last to come into the room, and she looked as if she'd been hit by lightning, frazzled, shocked, and not sure what had just happened. She hurried over to Lorne and threw herself down next to her.

  "Looks like we're stuck. No-one's getting off the island for another couple of days, at least. Shit!"

  The whole table exploded into conversation, until, suddenly, Sam and the other groomsmen seemed to shuffle up in their seats. Lorne looked around, trying to gather some context, but before she had a chance to figure out what was going on, Dina's old college roommate, Maya, had grabbed her and taken her outside. Lorne hurried across to Sam, slipping next to him on the long bench that ran across the length of the table.

  "What's going on?"

  "I don't know," he frowned, watching as the groomsmen grew restless. "I think it's, we think it's another shifter, on the island."

  "What?" Her eyebrows shot up under her bangs. "Are you sure you're not just…I don't know, getting your own scents confused?"

  "Yeah, pretty sure," he replied dryly, and she realized what a dumb question that probably was. "Whatever it is, it doesn't smell like one of us."

  "What do you mean?"

  "It smells like a shifter-wolf," he replied, turning to peer out of one of the windows behind him. The dark sky and heavy rain obscured almost everything, but Lorne swore for a second she could see a figure out there, moving in the dark. She shook her head and turned her attention back to him.

  "Wait, like Freddy?" She murmured, trying to keep her voice low so as not to cause panic.

  "Yeah. And Adam and Maya saw someone on the beach last night, someone they didn't recognize." His voice was grim, and Lorne knew this was serious.

  "So, you're telling me that we're stuck on this island, with no hope of escape, with a psycho werewolf intent on doing…well, nothing good?"

  "And his pack, probably. They rarely go anywhere without their packs." He corrected her. "But other than that, yeah, pretty much."

  "Then we go deal with it," Lorne snarled, taken aback by the amount of vitriol in her own voice. She had never been much one for violence, but remembering the fear in Dina's voice the night before, the look in her eyes, and how she'd avoided all those questions about whatever it was that Freddy had actually done to her, she wanted this fucker far, far away. And she was going to do something about it.

  Sam placed a hand on her arm.

  "We're going to go do a scout of the island. You're welcome to come with me, but please, don't go by yourself, even if it's just him, you could be putting yourself in a whole lot of danger." He warned her and she nodded. She knew he was right, much as she wanted to go out there and take him down all by herself, she had never so much hunted a deer before, let alone a semi-sentient wolf.

  "Can we go now?" She replied urgently. "Just get going already?"

  "Are you sure you want to-"

  "This is about Dina. You're damn right I want to go," she shot back firmly, and stood up. "Meet you back here in fifteen?"

  "Deal," he nodded, and Lorne strode purposefully back to her room. Her heart was beating in her chest, did Dina even know about this yet? How could she not? What exactly had Freddy done to her, and what was his end game plan for turning up here? Even though she knew it was ridiculous, Lorne couldn't help but wonder if he had something to do with the storm. It was the perfect place to strike, secluded, distant, with no hope of escape. She threw on her wet-weather gear, with the wedding taking place on the beach the next morning, she had planned for every possibility, and headed back downstairs to meet Sam. She passed by the security office as she walked, and had a eureka moment. Surely, they'd have something she could use in there. She glanced around and, upon seeing that everyone was distracted, tried the door. It was unlocked. Creeping inside, she went for the cabinet on the opposite wall, managing to jimmy to lock with a pin from her hair, and found it full of weapons.

  Well, this wasn't exactly what she was expecting. She took a deep breath, and picked the biggest, scariest gun off the wall, her fingers closed around the cool metal, and she immediately hoped she didn't have to use it. She wasn't the violent type, and the thought of having to fire this gun at someone scared the shit out of her. She stashed it under her coat, and scurried back outside to see Sam already waiting for her.

  "Ready?" He rubbed his hands together. She noticed that he was hardly dressed for the weather.

  "Don't you need a jacket or something?"

  "Shifter blood. Keeps me warm."

  "Whatever you say," she shrugged, and he led her out, past the glass doors and into the wild of the storm.

  "So, where are we going?" She yelled above the wind, and he gestured to a path that led across the hill behind the hotel and towards the cliffs.

  "There're some caves down there. I'm pretty sure that's where they'll be camping out."

  "What are we waiting for?" She began to stride towards the path, and he hurried to keep up.

  "What's your plan if we find them?" He asked, struggling to match her pace.

  "I ask them to get the fuck out of here and never come back," she replied firmly, feeling a flicker of panic in her chest as she actually thought about confronting them. Whatever they were, these guys weren't invited, social niceties probably weren't at the top of their list.

  "And if they're in wolf form?" He pointed out. She hadn't thought of that. Pausing for a minute, she turned to him and cocked her head.

  "I think bear trumps wolf, no?" She carried on, striding with more purpose.

  "Yeah, but not a pack of them!" he protested. "We'll need-"

  "Let's just call this a reconnaissance mission," she offered in response. "We scour the island to find wherever they're hiding, and then we go back and find everyone and-"

  "Take them on?"

  "If that's what it takes." She replied firmly. She could already see the caves in the distance. Even though she knew she was being belligerent and probably a little stupid, she just wanted to protect Dina, and this was the only way she knew how.

  "This isn't exactly how I pictured spending today," Sam grumbled, and Lorne raised an eyebrow.

  "Oh, really? What did you have in mind?"

  "Well, I was definitely going to pluck up the courage to talk to you sooner than last night," he replied straightforwardly, and Lorne practically spluttered on a mouthful of rain.

  "Sorry, not the time to be hitting on you," Sam acknowledged.

  "You think?" Lorne snapped back, unable to keep the giddy grin off her face.

  "When you're facing a potential pack of wolves with anger issues, I guess it really makes you want to skip the small talk," he shrugged. Lorne noted what felt like a fizz in her chest, even in the circumstances, she couldn't deny the fact that Sam was cute as hell, and they were alone together at last.

  "I promise that when we've dealt with all of this, we can skip all the small talk," she responded, surprised by her own brazenness. Being this forward and this open, it wasn't like her. Maybe it was because he'd dumped a giant secret on her less than a minute after they'd met, but she didn't feel like beating around the bush. Or maybe he was right and it was the giant pack of wolves that were possibly hiding around the next corner.

  He grinned, but before he had a chance to respond, a distant sound echoed off the cliffs. His head snapped round, his expression suddenly fatally serious.

  "What? What is it?" demanded Lorne, desperately scanning the horizon and trying to figure out what bothered him so much.

  "The cav
es. They're in the caves." He froze stock-still, as if he could hide from them as long as he didn't move too much.

  "There're more than one?" Lorne demanded, taking another few paces forward till she could see into the caves.

  "Yep. And they're close. Don't get-"

  But before he could get the rest of his warning out, Lorne realized that he was right. She could see deep into the cave from this angle, and, stalking around the damp rock, she could make out three, maybe four, wolves.

  "Oh, fuck," she breathed, her words immediately whipped away by the wind.

  "What is it?" Sam hurried to her side, squinting to make out what she could.

  Maybe it was his scent carrying on the wind, or maybe it was just intuition, but all at once, the wolves turned to look up at their spot on the cliff. Lorne's heart jumped into her mouth, her brain was instantly crunching numbers, figuring out how far away they were from the wolves, how fast they could run, how far they could get. One of the wolves took off down the beach, and the other three turned out of the cave and came barreling towards them.

  "Fuck, shit, fuck," muttered Sam, and Lorne internally echoed his sentiments. Suddenly, she remembered the gun stashed in her coat, the cold metal pressing against her chest through her shirt. She reached into her jacket, and pulled it out, her heart leaping into her chest as she realized she might actually have to use it.

  "Christ, Lorne where the fuck did you get that?" Sam exclaimed with horror.

  "Doesn't matter. Will it stop them?" She snapped, lifting the sight to her eye. They had two minutes, maybe three, before the wolves got there.

  "Yeah, but-"

  "Then get behind me and get ready to run." She snapped, placing her finger on the trigger.

  "Let me shift, I can take them-" he pleaded with her, not moving.

  "You said yourself that you can't take them all by yourself. I'm not letting you get hurt for nothing, especially not when I've got a gun."

  She squinted through the sight on the gun again, and she realized she had one of the wolves perfectly lined up. Taking a breath, she fired, the boom echoed off the cliffs and inside the caves, and Lorne saw a splatter of blood arc out from the wolf's hip, but it kept coming.

  "Why isn't it working?" She snapped angrily, more frustrated than scared. They had maybe a minute before the wolves got to them.

  "I don't know!" Sam yelled above the wind, stepping in front of Lorne. By then, they could both hear the sound of the wolves' feet thundering on the ground, growing closer, growing faster.

  "We need to get out of here," he turned to her urgently.

  "They'll catch us, we can't-"

  "Not if I take us back."

  Before she had a chance to protest any further, Sam collapsed on to his knees. It took Lorne a moment to realize what was happening, but when she did, she felt a cold shiver run up and down her spine that had nothing to do with the wind. He was shifting.

  She had seen it before, well, in movies, and a couple of times when she'd been able to get deep into the dark net and find videos of it online. But nothing came close to seeing it in person. The speed, the swiftness, the elegance of it, the way Sam went from strictly human to almost entirely animal in a matter of seconds. His clothes fell to the ground, and she averted her eyes, quickly gathering them and stuffing them in her jacket.

  Lorne was still staring at him when the wolves caught up with them; they were only a few feet away when Sam nudged against Lorne until she fell on to his wide back, his rough fur scratching against her skin. Suddenly, she realized what he meant, he would carry her. She quickly scrambled to get a hold in his fur, tucking the shotgun under one arm, and as soon as he felt her hands tighten against him, he took off.

  Lorne felt as if the breath had been ripped from her body, she felt primal, hurtling across the cliffs, the rain pelting against her skin and the wind yanking her hair back. She leaned low on to Sam's back, and twisted her head to see behind them, the wolves were still close, and the one in front was quickly gaining on them. Sam's strides were longer, but slower, and the wolf was picking up his pace. Lorne finally got a good look at it for the first time, and saw that it's eyes flashed gold, like Sam's, she felt a bolt of horror through her chest as she realized that they were the same, no matter how much she would have liked to convince herself otherwise.

  Turning back round, she saw the hotel in the distance, another minute or two away at the pace they were going at. There was no way they'd be able to hold the wolf off that long. Lorne pressed herself low into his back, feeling the powerful muscles of his body moving underneath her own, and leant close to his ear.

  "Come on, Sam," she murmured, "Come on."

  Lorne could hear that his breath was coming in long, deep gasps, and she wasn't sure how much longer he could keep this up. Suddenly, she heard a snarl. Swiveling around, she saw that the wolf had latched itself on to Sam's hind-quarters.

  "Fuck!" she yelled into the wind, as the wolf's eyes flashed up at her. Sam was slowing down, letting out small snorts of pain, as the wolf tightened its jaws. Lorne was temporarily at a loss for what to do, until she remembered the gun under her arm. Maybe bullets didn't work on these animals, but it couldn't argue with the butt of a shotgun.

  Grabbing the gun from under her arm, Lorne jabbed the fat handle towards the wolf, landing it right between its eyes. It looked momentarily dazed, but held on, swiping a paw in her direction. She went again, harder this time, and momentarily knocked it lose. The wolf let out a bark that chilled her to her very core, and leapt towards her, it was only a few inches from her face when she managed to lift the gun and jam it with all her might into its teeth. With a loud crack, it slipped off Sam and down to the ground, lying there for a just long enough for Sam to push himself the last few feet towards the hotel. Lorne glanced over her shoulder, and saw the wolf scuttling off back towards the cave.

  "Sam!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, directly into his ear. "Sam, it's gone!"

  He drew to a halt, and Lorne slipped gratefully from his back, there was a reason, she'd discovered, why people had never attempted to domesticate bears for travel. Within a few seconds, he'd shifted back, and was standing in front of her, stark naked.

  "I don't suppose you have my clothes, do you?" he asked politely. She exploded into a fit of giggles-it was probably the adrenalin, but the sight of him standing there, the wind and rain whipping his naked body, was hilarious to her.

  "Yeah, I do," she nodded, and reached into her coat. She half-reluctantly handed his clothes back to him, some part of her wanting him to just stay naked. He dressed quickly, and gestured towards the hotel.

  "We should probably get inside, we don't know if he might come back with his friends," Sam pulled a face, and Lorne hurried up to the doors.

  "Wait, aren't you hurt?" She asked. The wolf had had a pretty firm grip on his haunches, after all.

  "I'll be fine," Sam waved her concern away. "Anyway, we need to get in and warn everyone."

  "You're right," Lorne nodded. "Dina needs to know that he's back. And he brought his damn pack with him."

  Dina was standing in the middle of the hotel reception, looking dazed and distant. Lorne hurried up to her.

  "Dina, Sam and I, we-"

  "I know," she nodded. "I'm certain it's him. He told me he, he told me he'd get me back. When he found out about the engagement, he said he'd find a way to stop it, but…"

  She trailed off, and stared out of the window vacantly. Lorne noticed Maya, one of the other bridesmaids, tending to a groomsman.