by Hope Ford
Ray
An Alpha Bear Shifter Romance
Hope Ford
Contents
1. Keri
2. Keri
3. Keri
4. Keri
5. Ray
6. Keri
7. Keri
8. Ray
Epilogue
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About the Author
Ray © 2020 by Hope Ford
Editor: Kasi Alexander
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
1
Keri
Arney Bealer is leading the way through the forest… and I’m stupidly following him. He says it’s a trail, but it doesn’t look like any trail I’ve ever hiked on. “So the rest of the outdoorsman group is meeting us?”
“That’s right,” Arney says.
I keep following him, and luckily he doesn’t say much. Of all the people in the group, Arney is the one that is the most annoying. He tries to be helpful, and everyone else seems to like him, but maybe he just tries too hard. I don’t know. I joined the Great Outdoors group because I enjoy hiking and never had anyone to go with me. There’s around twenty people in the group total, but usually only four or five people end up showing for each adventure. This is the first overnight trip, and even though I’m nervous, I’m also excited. I didn’t want to miss this one because it will probably be the last one before winter hits.
After about two hours of walking, he stops in the middle of a clearing. “This is it.”
I look around and there are not any other tents set up, there’s not a soul in sight. “Where’s everybody else?”
He shrugs and starts unpacking his stuff. “I guess they changed their mind.”
Suddenly, I feel like such a fool. I believed Arney when he told me he was an expert outdoorsman. I believed him when he told me he and a few of the others in the group of enthusiasts were going to rough it in the snowy peaks of the Klamath Mountains.
I scan the clearing just hoping that someone I know, someone else besides Arney, is going to be showing up any minute. We just hiked through the mountains for hours. I can’t tell him he’s a fucking jerk for tricking me into camping alone with him.
I try to hide my irritation and start unpacking my stuff. My movements are jerky, and I’m barely able to contain myself. I literally am cussing Arney out in my head. What kind of man does this? I don’t know what he’s thinking. Does he really believe that he’s going to get me out here and I’m going to fall for him or something? There’s no way.
I start unrolling my tent and right now I’m so thankful that even if I’m not trained in wilderness survival, I am trained in self-defense. He’d better not try anything.
“We can share my tent,” he says from behind me. I don’t even turn around and when I don’t acknowledge him, he says it again. I keep putting up my tent. “No, we’re not sharing a tent.”
If I can just make it through the night, we can go back down the mountain in the morning. There’s no way I’m staying up here any longer than I have to. With darkness coming, I know it’s not safe to go back down now, but as soon as the first light comes, I’m outta here.
Luckily, Arney started a fire as I was putting my tent up. I sit down opposite of him and can’t bring myself to even look his way. Holding my hands out toward the fire, I try to warm up.
When I do finally look at him across the fire, he’s smiling at me. “We’ll stay warmer if we sleep in the same tent.”
He has to see the anger in my eyes, but I don’t care. I glare at him. “I’m not sharing a tent with you. I’ll be happy to help you set up your tent.”
“Fine,” he mutters, like a two-year-old that’s not getting his way.
I help him put up the tent, and I begin to wonder how I ever believed that he was an experienced outdoorsman. I don’t even think he’s put up a tent before. He’s absolutely clueless.
When I finally get it put together and up, he makes his move. I knew it was coming. I knew he had a motive for getting me out here alone.
He wraps his arms around my waist, standing behind me. I just want to shake my head and wonder what he’s thinking. I’m at least three inches taller than him, and I’m sure I’ve got fifty pounds on him. He’s small compared to me. Did he really think he could get me out here and hit on me? And then when I say no, does he think he’ll overpower me?
I raise both my arms up and break his hold on me. “I’m not interested, Arney.”
I no sooner turn to face him and he’s reaching for me again. Maybe it’s the fact that I’m fed up. Maybe because I’m cold and I’m hungry, but my patience is thin. As soon as he grabs my shoulders, I rear back and punch him in the nose.
He falls backwards, and I’m glad he does because blood is spewing everywhere. “You hit me!” he yells when he falls on his butt.
I put my hands on my hips. “Yeah, well you didn’t seem to want to take no for an answer. Now I’m going to my tent. Alone. When the sun comes up, you are taking me back down this mountain and you’ll be lucky if I don’t press some kind of charges or something.”
I swear he’s crying when I leave him. He’s sputtering and wanting to argue with me, but I unzip my tent, grab my pack, and head inside, zipping me and all my belongings in with me.
I can hear him muttering and making a racket out there, but I don’t care. The rest of the night I sit here and ponder my life. I have no family and the only friends I have are the ones I’ve met in the outdoorsmen group. My roommate may wonder where I’m at when I don’t show up in two days. But that’s two days. I moved here to California for a job. A job that didn’t pan out. So I’ve been working as a waitress downtown for the last few weeks.
I pull out my phone and hold it up. Of course there’s no signal, and even if there was, who would I call? My roommate won’t come get me. And I really don’t know anyone from work that well. I asked for three days off work, so no one will miss me there unless I don’t make it back in almost a week. I zip it back into my pack and move the bag to use as a pillow. I pull the blanket over me and say a little prayer that I’m not going to die tonight. Don’t think like that, Keri! You will get out of here, and as soon as you do, you can put this all behind you. The sooner I go to sleep, the sooner daylight will come, and I can get the hell out of here.
2
Keri
I stretch my arms over my head as the cool morning air hits me and I snuggle under my cover again. In the light of the morning, I realize maybe I was too hard on Arney. Maybe the others did back out. If he gets me off this mountain alive, I’ll be sure to apologize to him for hitting him. I reach for my pack and pull out some trail mix. I lay here in the warmth filling my stomach as long as I can before nature calls.
I unzip the tent and step out, stopping in shock as I’m midstretch. Arney’s tent is gone. I look all around the clearing, and he’s nowhere to be seen. I tramp through the freshly fallen snow, walking edge to edge, but nothing. He’s gone.
Crawling back into my tent, I grab my bag and pull out my phone. I hold it up as high as I can and run around the clearing, hoping and praying that I’m going to get a signal.
Nothing! No bars. No service at all. I shut it off and stuff it back into my bag. Okay, think, Keri. What do you need to do?
I start taking apart my tent, fold it up, and attach it to my backpack. I use the bathroom quickly
and start walking the way Arney and I came in last night. I can’t believe I was going to apologize to him. If I see him again, I’m going to kill him.
I walk so long, I know I’m going in the wrong direction. I was walking down the mountain, but somehow now I’m walking up it. The snow has picked up and it’s too dangerous now. I can’t even tell where the edge of the drop-offs begin now because the snow is so misleading.
“Fuck!” I scream as I trip over a rut in the path. I land sprawled out, face first, and a part of me just wants to lie here, defeated. I know I’m not going the right direction, and the snow is making it harder and harder to see. I roll over onto my back and reach for my ankle, trying to wiggle it around thinking that maybe that initial pain was really nothing, but instead a sharp pain shoots up my leg. Barely able to hold back the tears, I reach for the stump I tripped over and a dead wolf head is lying there, its teeth bared.
I let out the loudest blood curling scream ever and jump to my feet, limply jogging away. Whatever killed that animal is still around here, and I’m not going to wait to see what it was. I keep walking, not even caring that at this point I’m definitely going up the mountain. When I come to a gated area, I drop my gear off my back. There’s nothing within the gate, making me think whatever they have surrounded is underground. Chills go through my body. It’s a graveyard. It’s totally morbid to even think about staying here, but surely if there is a graveyard, then there are people that come and visit it or it has to be close to a town or something, right? Why would there be a graveyard on a mountain?
The snow starts falling heavier, as if it’s telling me to stay put. I put up my tent, hobbling around on my ankle. As soon as it’s ready, I climb inside the tent, dig out some jerky and trail mix, and once I get my stomach settled, I take off my shoe and start peeling the layers of socks off my injured foot. Surely someone is going to find me.
Ray
I hear the pounding before I see it. I’m on New Law territory so I know that I’m basically safe, but I still stand behind the trees. Only seconds go by and I see Klaus’ bear and Mona’s wolf running past me. They don’t notice me—or if they do, they don’t act like it.
Once they’re past me, I keep trekking up the side of the mountain. I may be the secretary of the club, but I still do these expeditions sometimes. When there are things that need to be checked on and it gives me days away out in the wilderness, I volunteer.
And right now, I need this more than ever. There’s a shifting going on at New Law. The crew is questioning our leader, there are women joining as my brothers settle down. It’s a new day for New Law, and it’s brought me a lot to think about. I can’t help but look at my brothers and wonder when I’ll meet the one, my mate. I’m getting older and the chances of that happening are getting slim.
Shaking the thoughts from my head, I take off my pack and pull out my jacket. The farther up the mountain I get, the colder it gets. It was brought to the attention of the club that there is a missing hiker. She’s been missing for a couple of days, and my first instinct is she’s already dead. However, the area she is reported to be lost in is an area where the New Law have deposited the remains of some of the Eaters that we’ve done away with over the years. There are no headstones, but the perimeter is sectioned off and gated.
I’m traveling up the mountain to make sure the graveyard isn’t going to be disturbed.
The farther I go, the surer I am that she hasn’t survived. With the wild animals, the climate, unless she’s a seasoned hiker, or really skilled in survival, I don’t see how she will be found alive.
As I get close to the gravesite, I can see that she’s been on the trail. I track her movements and see from the dead carcass of an animal that she most likely had a close call on the way. At the opening to the graveyard, I look around. In the distance, I see a bright blue material beaming out at me. I walk over to it slowly, knowing for sure that I’m going to find her.
I unzip the tent. “Anybody in there?” I call out.
Peaking inside, I see her still body lying there, huddled in a bundle. I walk on my knees inside the small tent and stop beside her. With my hands on her neck, I can feel a faint pulse. She’s alive, but barely.
She’s the human, the missing hiker, there’s no doubt about it. I have to get her out of here before the searchers find the graveyard. If I can get her to civilization, no one will come looking for her and see the graveyard we have hidden here.
I lift her gently in my arms, and she doesn’t make a sound. I should get out of here quickly. It’s already starting to snow again at this elevation, but I can’t help stopping and appreciating the weight of her in my arms. I look down at her fair skin and her soft lips, which are almost blue. Her beauty hits me right in the chest, and I know if she was awake I would probably ask her if she’s crazy being out here like this. I carry her to a nearby cave, hoping to ride out the blizzard. But it just keeps coming.
I settle her and then get to work setting a fire, but my gaze keeps going to her. Whoever her partner was that left her out here to die, he better hope I don’t get my hands on him.
I shake the thoughts from my head. I’m thinking crazy thoughts. There’s no reason to get possessive of the woman. She’s a human… and I’m a shifter.
3
Keri
I can hear the crackling of a fire and feel the burning tingling in my fingertips and toes as they begin to thaw. Arney must have had a guilty conscience and returned.
Thanks a whole lot, Arney, wait forty-eight hours before you come back. I could be dead!
I open my eyes, pushing the darkness of fatigue away long enough to see that indeed I’m not alone. I squint at the darkness and the way the crackling fire echoes, letting me know I’m not outside. I blink three times, and each time, it becomes clearer that I’m not with Arney.
“Arney?” I croak.
“Who the fuck is Arney?” a deep voice asks me.
I feel panicked inside, but I’m terrified to find that I have no strength to do more than moan.
The man moves closer to me, and he is absolutely male with how huge his biceps, torso and hands are. Not to mention tall. But he looks almost like a wild man, if I were judging by his long hair hanging past his shoulders and his longer than average beard. He’s wearing heavy expensive-looking hiking boots, and though his jeans are well worn, they aren’t cheap either.
He squats down next to me and reaches out, brushing the hair from my face.
When I cringe at his touch, he pulls back slowly. “I’m not going to hurt you. Who is Arney?”
I shrug my shoulders and look into his intimidating eyes, unable to form a thought.
“Is he the one that left you?” he asks, his gaze glaring a hole into me.
“Yes,” I mutter.
“He’s a dead man.”
He says it so plain, like threatening to kill a man is just something you say in normal conversation. But right now, I don’t feel bad for Arney. I try to sit up a little. “Okay. How did you know I was missing? Who are you?”
My voice is scratchy, and I’m not able to talk above a murmur, but I know he hears me by the way he seems to weigh his response. “I think it was your roommate that notified the police you were missing.”
I nod, waiting for him to answer my other question. But he doesn’t. He only stares back at me intensely, like he’s trying to read my thoughts.
“So, uh, are you search and rescue? Or how did you find me?” I ask, already knowing the answer. He doesn’t look like any policeman I’ve ever seen. The way he carries himself, I doubt he answers to anyone.
Instead of answering me, he reaches behind him and turns back to me with a mug of something hot. The steam is coming off of it, and I inhale deeply just as my stomach rumbles. “Mmmm,” I moan.
He clenches the cup jerkily, almost spilling it before getting control of it again. He holds the cup toward me with one hand and cups the back of my head with the other. “Small sips.”
I nod, una
ble to look away from him. There’s something commanding about his eyes, and even in my weak state, I feel like I would do anything he asks at this point.
I take a sip of the broth and savor the taste as it hits my tongue.
I motion for another sip, and he lifts the cup to my lips again, this time giving me more. But before he can pull it away, I reach out to grab the cup, touching his hand in the process, but I still tip the cup up and chug the remaining broth.
A satisfying breath leaves me and for a second I forget to be scared of this wild man staring at me. “Um, thank you,” I whisper to him.
He doesn’t answer except for a grunt and a nod of his head. He’s staring at me again, so I have to ask. “So, uh, how did you find me? I didn’t think anyone knew I was missing.”
“Your roommate called the cops.”
I gesture for him to go on, but he just stares blankly at me.
“Ooookay, how did you find me?” I ask him.
“I hike a lot. I know this area.” He shrugs.
Deciding that I’m not going to get any more information out of him unless I drag it out, I lie back. I have so many questions, like where am I? Who is this “wild man” hovering over top of me? But I don’t have the energy to figure it out now.
He must see the worried look on my face. “You’re okay. Safe now. I’ll help you get back to town as soon as the blizzard stops. Just rest now. You’re safe.”
The side of his lips lift and it’s obvious he doesn’t smile a lot. He’s a good looking stranger—or would be if he gave his hair a little trim and had himself a good shave. I wonder if I’m delirious and imagining him as I drift back into sleep.
