by Kim Fox
She squeezed her eyes tight and cringed when he was a heartbeat away. She clenched every muscle in her body, expecting his teeth to sink into her but all she felt was a slap of wind as he flew past her.
“Wha-” she gasped, opening her eyes and turning as the flash of brown exploded past her.
Cliff roared as he collided into another grizzly bear that she hadn’t seen sneaking up behind her. The two bears crashed to the ground, snapping and snarling in a gnash of vicious teeth and claws.
Bella found her strength and jumped up, backing away as she watched, cheering on Cliff. The fight didn’t last long. The second bear got to his feet and ran away, whimpering and whining as he left a wet trail of red spots behind him.
Cliff turned and looked at her with a somber face, his heavy breaths coming out deep and raspy. She had never been this close to Cliff before. He looked so beautiful and so sad at the same time. A tragic beauty.
The scars on his face ran deep, the scars on his soul ran even deeper.
There was something about him that took Bella’s breath away. Maybe it was the mournful way that he was looking at her or the heartbroken look in his eye, but it made her want to reach out and hug him.
He wasn’t going to hurt her. She knew that now.
Cliff had saved her life and she was going to repay him with a show of affection, which he looked like he desperately needed.
“Thank you,” she whispered, her heart pounding as she stepped forward. She reached out for him and he swung his head to get away from her, but his shoulder crashed into her ribs. He was so large and strong that she flew to the side, unable to break her fall.
Luckily, there was a large rock to do it for her. Her head slammed into the rock, shaking her to the core as blackness descended on her.
The last thing she saw was Cliff’s worried face approaching before the darkness swallowed her whole.
3
“Ow,” Bella groaned, holding her head and snapping her heavy eyes shut. The bright sunlight was burning her eyes like fire. What the fuck?
Her head was thumping, her jaw and neck were sore, and she couldn’t remember anything.
Oh, wait. She remembered a little bit. Cliff knocking her down. Her head smashing against a rock. A blurry naked guy carrying her.
Geez, now I’m hallucinating things.
She took a deep breath and slowly squinted, letting her eyes adjust to the bright sun as she opened them. They flew open when she realized where she was: inside a freaking house.
What? Where? How? Who? Why?
Her head was pounding with the worst headache ever but she sat up anyway, grimacing in pain as she moved. She was lying on a bed in a small bedroom. The walls were made of logs, and not the smooth varnished logs like the expensive log cabins that her parents rented for family vacations, these logs were rough and raw with twigs sticking out of them.
The room had no decorations, just a night table made out of logs and the hard bed with the rough blanket that she was lying on. It looked how a small cabin in the middle of the woods would look like. And there was only one kind of person who would voluntarily give up the comforts of society to live in the deep woods like this.
I’ve been kidnapped by a serial killer.
Bella’s hands started shaking as she looked around, desperate for an exit. There was a small window over the bed that she could probably squeeze through. She climbed up onto her knees with her heart racing in her chest and pushed the window open. The cabin was in the thick of the forest and she had no idea where she was.
Something or someone moved in the other room and she whipped her head around, staring at the open door with her chest tight and a shakiness in her limbs.
Heavy footsteps were coming toward the room, sounding out like an executioner’s drum. Bella was frozen to the spot, any hope of escape was vanishing with every step that the monster took toward her.
She quickly dropped back down on the bed and closed her eyes, pretending that she was asleep. Images of serial killers came flashing through her mind like rapid-fire.
He’s going to butcher me and make a lamp out of my skin.
The footsteps reached the room and she held her breath, too terrified to breathe.
“I know you’re awake.”
Bella squeezed her eyes closed even tighter. This is not happening.
The deep roughness of his voice was like the voice of a beast, turning her blood cold and making the hair on the back of her neck stand up straight.
“Open your eyes,” he commanded, making her flinch.
She slowly opened them, gasping when she saw him.
He was huge. His massive body towered over her, his head almost reaching the ceiling. He was built like a truck with an enormous chest and big muscular arms. He was wearing a tight brown sweater that clung to his sculpted round shoulders and stout back. The hood of his sweater was on over his head with the fabric and shadows covering his face.
Bella could feel her face turning white, her stomach in knots. He had come to kill her. Why else would he be hiding his face?
“Are you going to kill me?” she asked in a shaky voice.
He huffed out a breath, his massive chest heaving up and down as he stared down at her.
“You hit your head.”
She glanced up at the window. Was it too late to jump out?
He caught her intentions and a low growl escaped from his throat.
“You’re not leaving,” he said, his voice deep and rumbling.
Bella pressed her elbows into her sides, making her body as small possible. “Am I your prisoner?”
“Call it what you want,” he answered, “but you’re not leaving.”
Her pulse was racing, her heart hammering in her chest. She got a jolt of adrenaline and swallowed hard. “Yes I am,” she said, swinging her legs over the bed to stand up.
He was on her at once, moving so fast that all she saw was a blur. He put a powerful hand on her shoulder and pushed her back down onto the bed. God, he’s so strong.
“Don’t test me,” he growled, leaning forward. “It’s not just my looks that make me a monster.”
His head leaned down into the sunlight and Bella gasped when she saw his face. He had four long scars across the right side of his face starting at his forehead and running down to his chin. He was horrifying.
She cringed, closing her eyes as she turned away.
“You’re not leaving,” he repeated, standing back up straight.
Bella swallowed hard and then slowly turned to look at him again. His eyes were a sad brown that looked very familiar. He had a strong masculine chin with a rough face that would have been handsome if it weren’t for the deep pink scars running over it.
The scars, they looked terrifying. Four jagged scars running parallel as if they came from the claws of a wild animal. Or from a kidnapped girl who was fighting for her life.
But they looked familiar as well. It took her a moment but then she realized.
“Cliff?” she whispered, leaning up on an elbow. She looked at the man with narrowed eyes, seeing the resemblance, seeing the truth. He was Cliff.
“My name is Logan,” he growled. “What’s yours?”
“Bella,” she said with a gulp.
“Bella,” he whispered.
“You’re the bear,” she said, still staring at him in disbelief. “You’re a shifter?”
“You hit your head,” he said, pushing her back down. “You need rest.”
She looked at him as her heart broke. She truly thought that Cliff was her friend. Why was he keeping her trapped here? Why would he save her life only to ruin it after?
“Are you going to hurt me?” she asked, her voice coming out in a whimper.
He huffed out a breath. “You’re already hurt,” he said, not really answering her question. “You’ll stay here until you get better. You will cook the dinners and do the laundry.”
“I will?” she said, swallowing the angry words that were coming rushing
out. Who the hell was he to tell her what she would and would not do?
“Yes,” he said with a grunt. “You are not allowed to leave the premises for now and you are forbidden to go into the spare bedroom.”
Bella looked past him into the hallway to the closed door with the padlock on it. “What’s in the spare-”
“I said it’s forbidden!” he shouted, making her wince.
Definitely a serial killer. Definitely dead women inside that room.
“Why can’t I leave?” she asked, her head pounding once again.
He stared down at her with his muscular chest rising and falling in annoyance. “Stop asking so many questions.”
Her chin began trembling as she looked up at him through watery eyes. She was so stupid. She had thought that Cliff was her friend and now he was going to kill her.
She dropped her pounding head back on the rough pillow and faced the wall, closing her eyes as her body shook with sobs.
“I’m-,” he said, exhaling as he breathed heavily. “Do you want water?”
Bella shook her head. “I want to go home.”
With a furious grunt, he spun on his heels and stomped out of the room. “You are home!” he growled before slamming the door shut.
4
“Women!” Logan said, spitting the word out like a curse.
He forgot how frustrating they could be.
And how beautiful they could be too. He shook his head, trying to get the image of Bella’s beautiful face out of his mind.
He marched out of his log house and ripped his ax out of the chopping block, squeezing it until his knuckles burned a hot white. She was infuriating.
He was only trying to help her and this was how she repaid him? Saying that he was going to kill her? Calling herself a prisoner?
Didn’t she realize that he only wanted what was best for her? She had hit her head on a rock and had a grade three concussion. Logan had examined her while she was knocked out and he could tell, her concussion was severe.
It wasn’t safe for her to be moving around, and especially not safe for her to be living by herself in the wilderness.
He grabbed a thick log and slammed it onto the chopping block. Of course she thinks you’re a monster. You are a monster.
With a grunt he brought the ax down on the log, easily breaking it in half.
You shouldn’t be around her. You should let her go.
But he couldn’t. Even though he had vowed to spend the rest of his days in solitude, he couldn’t just let her go. She could die.
And Logan had been responsible for enough death.
He placed another log on the chopping block and gritted his teeth as he brought the ax down on it. Chopping wood always calmed his bear when the beast got agitated, but for some reason, his bear was as calm as could be.
It was strange. His bear wasn’t trying to claw his way out of his skin to get to the girl. He wasn’t bloodthirsty and out of control like he had been the last time that Logan was around humans. It was almost as if his bear had a thing for the girl.
And why not? She was definitely beautiful.
Long brown hair that fell down on her shoulders in breathtaking waves, sparkling amber eyes as bright as the leaves in fall, a curvy body that got his heart racing, and a nice round ass that took the words out of his mouth.
He had been watching her for over a week, hanging around the pond just to catch a glimpse of her incredible beauty. Logan had spent the days pacing in excitement to see her and then went to bed, thinking of her all night. She was the first person to speak to him in years, and it made him realize how truly lonely he really was.
It almost made him want to…go back.
“You can’t go back,” he growled, slamming the ax down on the log. You know what will happen if you do.
“You can’t go back where?” she asked, startling him.
He turned around with a gasp. She had him on such a razor’s edge that he didn’t even notice her sneaking up behind him.
“You should be resting in bed,” he said, quickly turning away so that she wouldn’t have to see his hideous scars.
“I’m not tired.”
He grunted as he yanked the ax out of the chopping block. She wasn’t tired! She had a head injury and needed to rest. She was infuriating. This wasn’t going to end well.
“You’re a bear shifter,” she said. “Aren’t you?”
Logan sighed, desperately wanting to turn around to see her gorgeous face. But doing that would mean having to see the horror in her eyes again as she looked at his scars. And the pain of seeing that wasn’t worth anything.
“That was you by the water every day,” she said, not letting it go. “Why did you run when I tried to come over?”
He cringed. “It wasn’t safe.”
“Why?”
Logan turned halfway, careful to keep his scars hidden from her view. She was standing there with her arms crossed, a demanding look on her face. “Why was it unsafe?” she repeated.
Logan sighed. “Why were you coming near me?”
“Do you always answer a question with a question?” she asked, rolling her eyes. “Because that’s really annoying. I was trying to give you a hug. You looked like you needed one.”
Logan turned away, his large shoulders dropping. “You shouldn’t hug monsters.”
He grabbed another log and continued chopping, slicing three thick logs in half before she spoke again.
“I like your bear better than you.”
His mouth dropped open, his heart slowing in his chest. She liked his bear better? The bloodthirsty murderer?
Logan’s bear was the monster. The real beast.
He was the one who slaughtered all of those people, who forced him to live out here in the woods. He was the evil one, the true killer.
And she liked him better…
He sighed as the ax slipped through his fingers, falling to the ground with a thud. He had been away too long, alone for too many years.
His bear was the good one.
I’m the beast now.
Bella laid on the bed, staring up at the dark ceiling. Her headache was finally starting to fade but she knew that seeing Logan one more time would have it racing back.
He was so aggravating the way he thought that he could just boss her around and give her orders. He was crazy if he thought that she was a pushover or one of those pathetic girls who just bowed their heads and let men take the lead.
Rules or no rules, she would have stormed out of there by then if her head wasn’t pounding so much and if she could walk ten steps without black dots flooding her vision.
Her stomach started rumbling as the delicious smell of something came wafting in from the kitchen. She was starving and that smell was getting her mouth watering. After two weeks of eating canned beans and stale cookies, a home cooked meal would be pure heaven.
“Bella,” Logan grunted from the other room. “You will join me for dinner now.”
She rolled her eyes as she slowly stood up, wishing that she wasn’t so hungry so that she could tell him where to shove his dinner.
“Here we go,” she whispered, holding onto the rough log wall until the room stopped spinning. Man, I really cracked my head. Luckily, I have a hard one.
When the world settled she continued out the door, giving the creepy spare room a quick glance. It was locked up tight and the more she looked at it, the less she wanted to know what was inside. I’m just going to hope that it’s where he stashes his porn collection. Logan lived alone in the woods. He had to have a couple of skin mags hidden here somewhere.
“Bella!” he barked from the kitchen.
“What?” she snapped back, the annoyance thick in her voice as she walked into the kitchen. “I hit my head, okay. Every time you holler like that it feels like there are knives plunging into my brain. So can you please stop?”
He lowered his head and sighed. “You’re right,” he said in a voice just above a whisper. “I’ll do bette
r.”
“Thank you,” she said, sitting down at the table. The sun was setting and the kitchen was already dark. The house didn’t seem to have any electricity but there were candles everywhere, though none of them were lit.
Bella watched him curiously as he moved around the dark kitchen with the hood still over his head, hiding his face.
“It smells good,” she said, picking at her fingernails like she always did when she was nervous.
“Rabbit stew,” he answered, turning from the stove with his head hanging low. He slammed the clay bowl down in front of her, making her jump. “Sorry,” he whispered as he sat down on the overturned box across from her, keeping his face hidden.
“Thank you,” she said, watching him as she took the spoon in her hand. “You don’t have to wear the hood.”
His body froze for a few seconds and then his shoulders dropped as a sigh escaped from his lips. “It’s better this way.”
“No, it’s not,” she said, slowly getting up. She walked over to him and gently took hold of the hood and peeled it back, revealing his face. “It’s better this way.”
His sad brown eyes locked on hers for a moment before he dropped them down to the stew. She waited for him to look up at her again but he didn’t.
“I’m not around people a lot,” he said when she sat back down. “I’m not good at this.”
“Yeah,” she said with a laugh. “No shit.”
His eyes darted up to hers and the faint whisper of a smile curled up on his lips. That’s a start.
“I think we got off on the wrong foot,” she said, taking a bite of the stew. “Oh man,” she said, shoveling in another two bites. “This is freaking incredible.”
He smiled again, wider this time.
She was making progress.
“Why do you live out here?” she asked, looking around the cute little kitchen. It was bare bones but it was charming and she could tell by the carvings of birds on the shelves and the vase of fresh flowers by the window, that he took good care of his home.
He took a deep breath as he contemplated his answer. “I can’t live anywhere else.”
