Ranger Bear (Return to Bear Creek Book 11)

by Harmony Raines

  On and on she moved. Her knees bruised as she slipped and fell when the gap between the boulders was too much and she had to scramble up and down. But she didn’t stop; she couldn’t stop. She and Jacob had worked too hard for her to give in.

  At last, she could see a patch of green in front of her. She was nearly through.

  Who the hell would want to come this way unless they had to? Only people who didn’t want to be seen, or didn’t want to be found.

  Avery looked up at the high sides of the pass, and as she broke out onto the flat plateau beyond, she understood how perfect this place was. Completely hidden from view, only accessible via a rocky mountain pass. This place had to be chosen for a reason.

  Jumping down off the last large boulder, she jumped from rock to rock until her feet touched down on the green grass that covered the plateau. She wanted to stop and rest, but now was not the time. Running on, using the last of her strength, she dragged out the map one more time, and headed for the basin that sat just off-center of the grassy plain.

  Ten minutes later, she stood on the rim of what looked like a crater caused by a meteor strike or something like that. Perfectly round, it was empty, except for around ten boulders that were grouped together along the eastern edge. The boulders were similar to those that filled the Karakin Pass. But how they would have gotten here, she had no idea.

  Avery ran down the side, the downward slope pulling her faster. In the center of the crater, the ground was charred and burned, the remains of a fire. Placing her hand on the burned ground told her this fire was old. Manny and Joe hadn’t gotten this far yet. But they would. Unless they had been caught by the bear.

  “Damn it!” Avery hauled herself back out of the crater, and jogged back to the Karakin Pass. She shouldn’t have left Jacob. Somehow, she’d developed tunnel vision. The thought of getting these dealers had gotten in the way of why she was a police officer—sworn to protect people. To protect Jacob. When she first heard the bear, she should have searched for Jacob and stood side by side with him to fight it off if necessary.

  Protect and serve, that was her job. Not to run and hide.

  Stepping up onto the smaller boulders, she made her way forward, breaking a fingernail when she hauled herself up to a standing position on the first big boulder. From there she looked at the pass, checking if anyone was coming, because her choice to go back and try to save Jacob would mean possibly exposing herself to Manny and Joe.

  As she leaned forward, her hand shielding her eyes from the sun, which was sinking lower in the sky, she thought she saw movement. Was it Jacob?

  At this distance, it was hard to tell. What she wouldn’t give for a pair of binoculars. She watched, whatever it was seemed to be lower to the ground. Or maybe the person had a different way of getting over the boulders. Or maybe they were injured.

  She didn’t move, hoping that whoever it was, unless it was Jacob, they wouldn’t spot her against the green of the grasslands behind her. As she watched, she deduced one thing. Whoever it was, they were alone. There was only one person coming toward her.

  Great, if it was either Manny or Joe, she would be able to take them down if she had to. Avery had trained extensively in unarmed combat. As a woman, it often worked in her favor, because men didn’t expect her to know how to handle herself. Then she could question them to find out what had happened.

  Avery had a decision to make. Stand here and be seen when whoever it was got closer. Or go and hide, until they were through the pass, and out in the open.

  Hiding was the best option. If it was Jacob, she would come out and meet him. If it was someone else, she would wait for her chance and jump them. Or wait for the drug deal to go down.

  Did she have the luxury of time? If this wasn’t Jacob, where was he, lying injured somewhere?

  Sliding slowly down off the boulder, Avery headed to the side of the pass, and worked her way along it, looking for somewhere to hide. Somewhere out of sight, but where she would have a view of the grassland basin.

  She found it, an indent in the rock too small to be a cave, but big enough to hide in.

  Avery wedged herself into the small space and waited. And waited. Until she heard the sound of whoever it was on the boulders getting closer. She could hear them, a thud as they jumped from boulder to boulder, with the occasional groan thrown in.

  The need to be small, to make herself invisible, swept over her. It wasn’t Jacob, she was certain. So, who was it?

  Keeping low to the ground, she peered out of her hiding hole, and her heart stopped for a nano-second before it began hammering in her chest as her flight mechanism kicked in. The thing that had come out of the pass wasn’t human. It was a bear.

  Did that mean it had attacked Jacob and was now coming for her? The bear stopped and sniffed the ground, and Avery prayed it would pick up her earlier scent and go toward the crater, giving her a chance to escape.

  It did. Head down, it moved away from the pass, sniffing the ground as it followed her tracks.

  Then it did something she would never have expected. The air shimmered around the bear, and it changed into a man.

  It changed into Jacob.

  Chapter Twelve – Jacob

  She was close. His bear picked up her trail and loped across the grass, heading toward the crater. Then he stopped. If his bear got too close, there was a chance she might see him and freak.

  Although it would be faster on four paws, Jacob shifted back into his human form and jogged toward the crater, where he hoped to meet up with Avery. If she was still there. She might have gone to hide among the trees beyond the crater, just in case those punks got here before Jacob did.

  No fear. He’d made them scatter. Sending them running back the way they came. It was a risk, because they might decide to go all the way back home, instead of chancing another encounter with a bear. It had been worth it, though, to see their frightened faces.

  He grinned, feeling just a little guilty that he might have ruined this whole thing, and Avery would have made the trip for nothing. Not for nothing. How could it be, when he had found her. His mate.

  His bear chuckled. I’m sure she’ll see it that way.

  Damn it! Do you think you might have frightened them too much?

  No, his bear replied. Think about it. Whoever they are meeting here is probably more scary than us. Most drug smugglers don’t operate a friendly service. They work on fear and intimidation.

  His bear was right. Manny and Joe would give it some time, and then take their chances. It wasn’t as if he had actually bitten them or anything. Just roared, loudly.

  Jacob slowed his pace. Something was wrong. Someone was here. Avery was here.

  “Oh, crap.” Jacob swung around to see her slipping down off the rocks behind him. She was going to make a run for it, which meant only one thing. She knew his secret. “Avery.”

  “Just stay over there.” She pointed at him, her voice hostile.

  “I can explain.” He turned around and ran toward her, but she kept going, heading back toward the pass.

  “Explain what an idiot I’ve been?” She wasn’t far from the first boulders, if she took them too fast, she might hurt herself. The last thing they needed was for her to fall and break her ankle.

  “Why are you an idiot?” he asked, moving around at an angle to her, trying to get into her line of sight.

  “Was it some kind of joke? Are Manny and Joe even on this mountain?” She didn’t look at him; she just kept her head down as she put as much space between them as she could.

  “No, it’s not a joke. And yes, they are on the mountain.” He followed her. “Please, don’t run. Let me explain.”

  “You don’t need to explain, I saw.” She turned to face him. “I liked you. I really liked you, but this. What even is this?”

  “I’m a shifter. I can turn into a bear.”

  “No kidding!” She had reached the small rocks and was stepping over them. In a few minutes she would be on the boulders. He
couldn’t let her run from him.

  “I won’t hurt you. I can’t hurt you.” He was putting his heart out there, willing to tell her everything.

  “Why, did you blunt your claws on the rocks?” she asked.

  “No, I can’t hurt you because you are my mate.” There, the truth had been said, and now he had to wait for her reaction. Knowing that if she still ran from him, he would live a miserable lonely life without her.

  “What the hell! You think we’re going to spend the rest of our lives together? We’ve only just met!” She shook her head. “I don’t have to stay here and listen to this.”

  Avery pulled herself up onto a boulder before pushing up to a standing position. However, as soon as she turned to jump to the next boulder, she ducked back down. “Shit.”

  “What’s wrong?” Jacob quickly climbed across the rocks to stand next to her as she slid off the boulder.

  “They’re coming.” Avery jabbed her finger toward the other side of the pass. “I saw them, but I don’t think they saw me.”

  “Come on.” He took her hand and pulled her away from the boulders, but she jerked away from him.

  “Just like that, we’re back on track?” she asked incredulously. “You were a freakin’ bear!”

  “I was, and now I’m the ranger you came up this mountain with. The same ranger that offered to help you, because you needed a guide.” They didn’t have time to argue about this. “And those are the same drug dealers.”

  Avery turned away from him, her hand covering her face, as she shook her head. “This is the craziest thing I’ve ever seen. And I’ve seen a lot of crazy.”

  “Your choice, but we have to move now.” His voice conveyed the urgency, and Avery turned to him and nodded.

  “Where?” She eased her pack on her shoulders, looking tired and drained. They needed to rest, but they needed to be near the crater, so they had a visual on any deals that might go down

  “Do you think you can make it back to the crater?” Jacob asked, concerned for Avery.

  “Sure, I’ll just pretend a bear is chasing me.” She gave him a humorless smile, and set off at a slow run.

  “I can shift if you want me to,” he offered lightly.

  “Once we get to cover, you are going to explain all this to me,” she warned. “All of it.”

  “With pleasure. I’ve been wanting to tell you since we met, but I was afraid you might freak out.”

  She slowed, and turned her head to look at him. “Why wouldn’t I freak? It’s straight out of a science fiction movie. Part of me still thinks it was all special effects and you are playing one big joke on Avery Cooper.”

  “Never.” He spoke with a savage honesty, and she turned away from him, put her head down, and kept running.

  He kept pace with her, matching her stride for stride, even though it meant tempering his own speed. This wasn’t a race, this was about them getting to safety, to a place where they could hide, and reassess their plan. He also needed to ensure she understood what he was, and what she was to him. She had to understand. Or he would lose her forever.

  The scrubby trees, which Jacob hoped would give them sufficient cover, were close when he risked a look over his shoulder. His shifter eyesight was better than any human’s, and so he was thankful that he couldn’t see Manny and Joe. It meant they had not made it through the pass yet.

  “Nearly there.” All he got in return was a nod. Avery was tired, her breathing ragged, but she kept on going. Jacob willed her to take the next stride, and then the next, until at last they were ducking under the branches of the trees, where his mate immediately stopped and dropped to her knees.

  Slowly, she crawled along the ground, until they were hidden beneath the bent and twisted limbs of trees that clung to life in the mountain valley. Jacob turned to face the open valley as he too sank down to his knees, not from fatigue, but from a need to remain unseen. Ducking down further, he studied the terrain before him, making a mental note of landmarks that dotted the valley, and where the crater was in relation to them. In this way, he should be able to tell his position, no matter where he was in the valley.

  Behind him, Avery took a granola bar and a bottle of water out of her pack. He kept watch while she ate and rested, watching for Manny and Joe. The time passed slowly, and he was convinced they’d either changed their minds and gone back, or that they knew it was a trap and were being cautious and keeping themselves hidden.

  His relief, when they finally staggered out of the pass, was immediate and intense. Neither men paid any special attention to their surroundings: they didn’t stop and look around, they simply kept on walking. Their actions might indicate they were late, running behind schedule. This left little time for Avery and Jacob to formulate a plan. Although, before they did, there was the small matter of her being his mate, and him being a shifter, to deal with.

  Jacob slid around to sit with his back against a gnarly trunk, angling his body so that he could keep one eye on the drug dealers while also looking at Avery. “How are you doing?”

  “Better.” Avery put the granola wrapper in her pack, and offered him her water: he took it as a good sign.

  “Want to talk?” Jacob didn’t want to push her. When she was ready, he would tell her everything she wanted to know. But until then, he wasn’t going to thrust himself onto her in any way.

  She sighed, and shifted to a more comfortable position. “Not really. There are plenty of things I’d rather not have seen in my life, and a man turning into a bear might just be one of them.”

  Jacob grinned, and took a long drink of water before handing the bottle back to her. “Don’t worry, I’m not contagious.”

  Avery managed a smile. “So what, you were born like that?”

  “I was born a shifter, yes.”

  “There are more like you?”

  “A lot more, and not just bears.” He eyed her levelly. “It’s not make-believe, or fairy tales, it’s not special effects. It just is.”

  Avery wiped her hand over her eyes. “You know, until a couple of weeks ago, my life was good. Everything was going in the right direction. Now I don’t know which way is up.”

  “Avery, I want you to know that I’m still the same man.”

  “I know.” She nodded. “The run gave me a chance to put it all into perspective. You’re the good guy.”

  “I am. I know it will take some time for you to understand it all.”

  “Or I could just walk away and forget about it all. We take these guys down, and I go back to my real life, and pretend I didn’t see what I saw.”

  His stomach lurched at her words. “Avery, I…” He looked back out across the valley. The two men were halfway across the open ground, heading for the crater. “I can’t let you do that.” He turned back toward her. “Not without trying to explain what you mean to me.”

  “Your mate.” She looked at him, really looked at him as if trying to see under his skin, trying to glimpse what might be hidden there. Good or bad, she needed to know; as a cop, that was her nature, just as shifting was his nature.

  “My mate. It’s a shifter thing, maybe harder to understand than the simple fact that I can change from bear to man.”

  “Explain it.” She folded her arms, shutting herself off from him.

  “Shifters know their mate. As soon as they see them. There is only one, and no way to mistake them.”

  “Are shifters male and female?” Avery asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Go on.”

  “Fate decides, and we have to obey… I have to obey.”

  “You get no choice?” Avery studied him. “But I do?”

  “Yes, you get to walk away. I won’t ever stop you.”

  “And you? What happens to you?”

  “I live my life alone, feeling as if someone ripped by heart out.” He smiled wryly.

  “No pressure, then.”

  “No pressure. I mean it. Do what you have to do. But let me tell you one thing first. I will al
ways be there for you. I’ll always have your back.”

  “Good. Because I have a plan. But you might not like it.”

  Chapter Thirteen – Avery

  “That’s your plan? To go into the crater? With them?” Jacob asked incredulously.

  “It’s a good plan.” She’d gone over and over it in her head, assessed all possible outcomes, and come to the same conclusion. “It’ll work.”

  Jacob didn’t look convinced. “You think they’ll just let you join them? You don’t think they’ll see it for what it is, a trap?”

  “I spent six months working as part of an undercover team. The one thing I learned from that experience is to keep your story simple and plausible.” She needed Jacob to understand she wasn’t asking for permission, she was asking for his help. Or at least his bear’s help. “You turn into your bear…” She still could not believe those words were coming from her mouth. “Make some noise, and I’ll pretend I’m running from you.”

  “And they’ll invite you in with open arms?” He pressed his lips together, stopping himself from unleashing a tirade of reasons why this wouldn’t work.

  “I know you don’t want me to be in danger, but this is what I do.” Avery kept her voice low but her tone firm. He might think she was his mate, but that gave him no right to tell her what she was or wasn’t allowed to do. She was a police officer, here to uphold the law. Even if she was on vacation, and one step away from being suspended. If someone wanted Lonnie out of the way, it stood to reason if she blew this, her career might be as good as over too.

  “I know you can handle yourself, but we don’t know what we’re up against.” Jacob’s frown deepened, his features dark as they sat in the shade of the trees.

  “I think I have more of an idea than you do.” She was the cop after all.

  Jacob rubbed his jaw, which was covered in stubble. Avery’s hand itched to reach out and run her fingertips along the rough bristles. Now was not the time to think of how sexy Jacob was, and how much she wanted him. She swallowed down her longing. It was brought on by the danger of the situation; it had nothing to do with the thought of being Jacob’s mate, a thought that conjured up all kinds of delicious images in her head.