Suddenly a bird cry clove the silence of the forest. Her head snapped up. That sound had been loud. Whatever bird had made it had been large—maybe a hawk or a vulture. Definitely no doves.
“Stick close,” she whispered over her shoulder. Rick was just behind her, his eyes flinty and his face serious. This wasn’t his first foray into danger, she sensed. He had done this, or at least other risky things, before. She supposed the life of a bear shifter was violent and filled with incident. Adventure. Well, she was an adventurer now, too.
“I’m ready,” he said.
“Good. Now when I—”
The attack came out of nowhere.
Chapter 4
Rick’s eyes widened as a shadow eclipsed the sun, and he craned his head up just in time to see a beautiful brown-feathered eagle sweeping down on Barbara from the treetops far overhead. Damn it all, the bird moved fast.
He shouted a warning even as he lunged forward, knocking Barbara out of the way. The eagle fell on him instead, scratching his upflung arm and drawing blood. He struck at it with his other hand, but its powerful wings flapped gracefully and it soared back up, out of reach before he could touch it.
“Are you all right?” he said to Barbara. She was on the ground, looking thoroughly out of sorts with him.
“Never do that again,” she said. Then she saw the blood weeping from his arm, and concern filled her face. “The bird did that?”
He glanced at the wounds. The eagle really had done a lot of damage, and he could see long, deep claw marks where its talons had rent his flesh. It hurt like a bastard.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “Bear shifters heal fast.”
He reached his hand out to her, and she took it. He helped her up, slapping some dust from her rump as he did—and enjoying it. She had a hell of a rump.
“Watch it, buster,” she said.
“I think I like ‘Buster’ better than ‘Winnie’.”
“Well, too bad, Winnie.”
Damn, he loved that sparkle in her eye. Lifting his head again, he shaded his eyes with his left hand (the right arm was the one that was bleeding), but all he could see were trees. Then—a winged shadow! It struck in from the west, sweeping under and around stout tree limbs. Before he could brace himself for the next attack, another bird shrieked, and he spun to see a second eagle coming in from the other direction. This one had counted on the first to distract him and had come almost all the way upon him without making a noise. It was used to its cry paralyzing its victims, though, and had thought to do the same with him.
Instead he growled low, deep in his chest, and threw a powerful fist at the eagle even as it swept right at him.
It screamed and swerved aside.
Next to him Barbara was pivoting and raising her pistol. He wheeled about to see the first eagle barreling down on them again.
“Stop or I’ll shoot!” Barbara said.
The eagle flew on, thrusting out its talons to shred her flesh. The sight of its cruel beak and arrogant eyes made Rick’s bear growl in rage, and the thought of it harming Barbara filled him with a crazy kind of wildness, a protectiveness, that he’d never felt before.
She’d told him not to push her out of the way again, but how else could he protect her? He gnashed his teeth in frustration.
Luckily, she was no wilting lily that needed a man to protect her.
She fired her pistol, seeming to aim just under the great bird. It screamed and veered upward, vanishing into the treetops.
Panting, Rick and Barbara turned to each other.
Her eyes were wide. “Did you see that?”
He laughed. “You’re one tough cop, you know that, Officer Hotpants?”
“You’re not so bad yourself, Winnie.”
“I think that was almost a compliment.”
“Are they both shifters?”
“Yes. I can smell it. Eagle shifters. Huh.”
She was scowling, obviously thinking fast. “I can’t shoot them,” she said. “They’re people. More or less.”
“It would be self defense.”
She shook her head. “No, I won’t do it. We’ve got to take them in alive. But …”
Before she could complete the thought, the second eagle reappeared, flying straight down on them from almost directly overhead. Its wings were tucked in and its talons aimed for maximum damage. She raised her gun and fired at it, but Rick didn’t think she aimed to hit it but to warn it off. It kept coming. She squeezed off another shot, but Rick could see the irritation in her face. How could she stop the attack without killing the eagle shifters?
The raptor was almost on her. Rick could just imagine it slicing up her face.
“Sorry about this,” he said and yanked her out of the way. He pulled her hard, and they both tumbled to the ground panting, her on top of him. The eagle screamed and finished its dive with its talons rending the air just a foot above them. Then it swept back up with a powerful pump of its wings.
Rick glanced around. The other eagle was nowhere in sight. Rick had one arm around Barbara, and he liked the feel of her against him. One of her breasts pressed against his chest, and he thought he could feel a nipple. He turned to her with a grin, and he had to fight the urge to lick a bead of sweat trickling down her flushed cheek and neck. He loved seeing her face up against his, like she was coming in for a kiss.
Unable to help himself, he bent forward and pressed his lips against hers. She let out a terrified squeak and rolled off him, then rose to a crouch.
“What was that?” she said, wiping her mouth.
He tried to hide his hurt feelings. What, did she think he had cooties or something? “Just got caught up in the moment, I guess,” he said.
“Well, don’t let it happen again.”
She said that, but he noticed the way her eyes lingered on his body.
“Shit,” he said, and pointed behind her.
The other eagle blasted toward her, its cruel beak glinting in a shaft of sunlight.
“Stop or I’ll shoot!” she threatened again, and Rick thought, Yeah, you’ll shoot, but not to kill. What use was that? The eagle shifters would see right through her.
She seemed to realize it. Instead of firing, she threw herself to the side just in time, and the eagle swept harmlessly by. Rick pushed himself to his feel and leapt at it, meaning to catch its talons and swing it down, dash it against the ground and knock it cold, but it was too fast.
Even as his feet touched the ground, the first eagle dove at him again. He crouched, picked up a stone from the ground and hurled it at the bird. The stone struck with an explosion of feathers, and the eagle screamed in pain and broke off the dive, vanishing in the shadows above.
“That was some throw,” Barbara said, and he liked the way her gaze lingered on his biceps as she said it.
He made a show of flexing them, but tried to be at least a little casual about it. She didn’t seem to like it when he was too obvious.
“Ya think?” he said, aiming for humble.
She cleared her throat. “We need to leave. Those birds aren’t going to stop until we do—or we’re dead.”
“Or they are.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
He gave her his serious look, and he meant it. “It will if they hurt you.”
She looked flustered. “Anyway, I think the road is that—”
An eagle was coming back around—Rick couldn’t tell if it was the first one or the second, and he guessed it didn’t matter. Both were pretty dangerous. And behind it was another eagle. And behind that was another … and another …
“Pissballs,” said Barbara.
Rick stared. There had to be a dozen eagles coming straight at them. The first two giant birds had been screaming all during the attack, and now he realized why: they’d been summoning help. All the eagles were shifters, he was sure, which meant that human minds were guiding those wicked-looking beaks and talons.
Fire coursed through his blood, and he felt a
deep growl shake him. His bear was going nuts. In seconds it would come out to play.
“Fire your gun,” he told Barbara.
Taking aim at a point just below the incoming tide of eagles, she fired off three quick shots. The stream of feathers and talons screeched and veered around Rick and Barbara like a tide hitting a boulder, and the sound of the birds’ flapping and squawking filled Rick’s ears. The eagles circled the two like a feathery tornado, gathering their courage for another strike.
If they attacked again, Barbara would die; Rick knew it.
“There’s no way back to the road,” he said. “It’s too far. But there’s a cave—that way.” He pointed. “Just cross the creek and turn at the outcropping of stones. You’ll see the cave in the mountain wall. I’ll find you there.”
She turned terrified eyes on him. “But what about you?”
He smiled. She cares. “I’ll be fine. Go!”
An eagle dove at her. She ducked, but its talons found her scalp, and a thin red line dripped down her forehead to her eyebrow.
“Damn you!” she said and started to take aim at it, but it just joined the circling throng. The attack seemed to make her realize that Rick was right, though; she had to go. Still she hesitated. Giving him one last look, she said, “Are you sure?”
He made himself sound braver than he felt: “Hell yeah!”
She eyed him doubtfully, as if seeing through his bullshit, but she nodded. Reaching out, she squeezed his arm, and he rejoiced at the feel of her soft fingers. She might be a cop, but her skin was as soft as a dove’s behind. Or maybe he had that expression confused.
“Good luck,” Barbara whispered, and ran.
Rick grinned up at the eagles. “Come and get me, you mangy pigeons!”
The eagles dove, and his bear erupted from him.
Chapter 5
Barbara turned when she was beyond the screaming tornado of predator birds, and fear flooded through her—and amazement.
Rick, now in bear form, had reared up on his hind legs, standing fully eight feet tall. A huge brown beast with a gray-brown coat and gleaming fangs in his long muzzle, he lashed the air with a huge paw. Smack! He struck an eagle, and it went spinning to the ground. Another eagle dove at his back, raking his fur with its talons. Barbara screamed as the talons dug into him and blood flowed down his back.
Another eagle dove, and another. He batted one away, sank his teeth into another and tossed his head, throwing it to the ground, still alive but out of the fight. More and more eagles dove at him, more than he could fight off, and their beaks and talons found him, and blood leaked down his furry flanks. Anguish rose in Barbara. Unable to stop herself, she raised her gun and fired into the feathery tornado, but the birds didn’t stop attacking and she wasn’t sure if she hit anything.
The shots drew the birds’ attention. A couple of them broke off from assaulting Rick and flew toward Barbara.
“Nuts,” she said, and threw herself behind a tree. The eagles flashed past, screaming.
Before they could circle around for another strike, she ran toward the creek Rick had pointed to. She couldn’t see it, but she trusted him. She craned her neck, hoping to see him one last time (well, at least for the moment), but trees blocked the way. She knew she would never get that image out of her mind, of Rick in bear form standing tall and brave against a circling tide of outraged eagles even as blood cascaded down his gleaming fur.
And she knew, in that moment, that she loved him, at least a little. It didn’t make any sense, but there it was. Anyway, there was no time to think on it now. The creek appeared ahead, babbling pleasantly as it wound through the forest and throwing a little foam into the air whenever the channel narrowed.
Movement off to her right. She turned to see an eagle barreling down on her. She fired at it and it veered off. Shit. Only three more bullets in her clip.
The creek proved to be shallow enough for her to wade across, so she jumped right in. Water splashed around her knees and she shuddered. It might be late summer, but this must be spring water, because it was cold. She made it across the creek just as the second eagle found her; she saw its shadow on the ground, right next to hers and getting larger.
She jumped to the side, turned and lifted her gun. She didn’t fire, but the eagle veered aside anyway. Breathing hard, Barbara turned and continued running. Sweat stuck her uniform shirt to the small of her back.
There! The outcropping of stones Rick had told her to watch out for came into sight. She turned at it and continued on, ducking when a raptor flew at her head. It missed, but not by much. Ahead of her loomed a wall of rock, part of the mountain, and sure enough she saw several cave mouths opening along it. She ran toward the biggest one.
Closer, closer …
Just as she reached the cave, she saw a shadow move deep with the tunnel of stone. The shadow grew.
Crud! What now?
A bear stepped around a bend in the tunnel and growled at her. It was a big animal, but not as big as Rick, and something about it was different. Well, no time to think on it.
“I’m Barbara,” she told it, assuming it to be one of Rick’s cronies. After all, it was in the cave he’d told her about. “I know Rick Barnes.”
The bear lifted its lips and growled at her again. Ice pricked her spine, and gooseflesh popped up on her arms. Now she knew why this bear was different. This was a regular bear, not a shifter. Somehow she could just tell. She felt very foolish for having tried to talk with it.
It stalked toward her, growling deep in its throat.
She swallowed. Overhead, an eagle shrieked, and she thought it must be preparing for another dive. Great, she thought. Death by eagle or bear?
Well, hell. She’d thrown in her lot with bears, so she guessed she’d choose them. Summoning her courage, she stepped forward, toward the great beast. She glanced over her shoulder to see the eagle stop the dive it had just begun and start circling again. Good. They wouldn’t come too close to the bear. That was something.
Unfortunately, there was a reason they weren’t coming close. That bear did not look happy at all. It growled again, spraying spittle past its canines, and slapped a paw in Barbara’s general direction—not attacking, just letting her know it was tough and not to be messed with. It had heard the noise and come out to investigate, and now it was defending its home.
She holstered the pistol, feeling ridiculous. As if it saw the gun as a threat. Just the same, it seemed the right thing to do. She was trying to make peace with it, after all, and you can’t make peace holding a gun. Or at least that was her thinking.
With her empty hands outstretched, she stepped forward, toward the bear. Overhead, the eagles were still circling, waiting for their chance.
“See?” Barbara said, wagging her empty hands. “I’m your friend. See? Your friend.” She knew it couldn’t understand her, but she hoped the sound of her voice relaxed it, soothed it.
Its ears pricked forward, as if were listening. Its wet black nose quivered, scenting her, and then it sniffed again. Barbara edged forward, her heart beating so fast she was surprised it didn’t just jump out of her chest and do a little dance, maybe salsa-style. She came right up to the bear, and it sniffed her hands, seemingly curious. Barbara shuddered as she felt the bear’s breaths on her upturned palms.
Then, curiously, the bear prodded Barbara’s side with its nose. The motion startled her so much that she nearly screamed. It sniffed again, its nostrils inhaling, and she realized what it was doing. It was sniffing the jacket! It was sniffing Rick’s big sweaty cock!
The bear sniffed once more, sort of grunted, then turned about and made for its lair again. With a final grunt, it disappeared deep in the cave and was gone.
Barbara stared down at the jacket in wonder. It smelled Rick’s dong, she thought. It smelled a bear on me and let me go.
Shaking her head, she pushed further into the cave. She was trembling. Now that she was relatively safe, her body was shaking like a leaf. To st
eady herself, she leaned against the cave wall. Peering outside, she saw the two eagles still circling in the sky overhead.
She watched them for awhile, but they didn’t come any closer. Neither did they vanish. She took a deep breath and let it out. The blood that had been flowing from her scalp had stopped; the cut really hadn’t been deep, she realized, feeling it with her fingers and wiping the blood away. She was safe. For the first time since the eagles attacked, she was safe.
But what about Rick?
Worry gnawed at her, and her eyes burned. She held the tears back, though. Cops don’t cry. It was something one of her trainers had drilled into her. It wasn’t the only thing he’d tried to drill, but it was the only thing he’d succeeded in. Cops don’t cry, she reminded herself, and dried her eyes with a sniff.
It was time. She needed to call for back-up. With a sigh, she reached for the phone. Her hands clutched empty air.
The phone had been clipped to her belt, but now it was gone. Somewhere during the initial attack or the flight afterward she’d lost it.
Great, she thought, sagging backward. I’m stuck out in the forest, trapped between a bear and a swarm of murderous eagles, and I don’t even have a flipping phone! She wanted to scream in frustration.
And where the hell was Rick? He should have come right after her. Stupid brave man, he must have stayed behind longer than necessary to give her more time to get away. She imagined him crumpled in a bloody heap under a fury of flapping eagle wings and wanted to cry all over again. She held it in, though. Cops don’t cry. Cop Rule 103. Keep it together, Barb.
What cops did do was rescue civilians in distress. If Rick was still out there, then by God Barbara would just have to go after him, eagles be damned. She still had three bullets left.
Standing, she marched to the cave mouth and was about to step outside when a giant bear burst from the treeline in the direction of the creek. Rick! She recognized him. Her heart slammed back into motion.
Bear Mated: A BBW Bear Shifter Paranomal Romance (Pine Ridge BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance Series Book 2) Page 3
