Bear Cop: BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (5 page)

In the pale light of the first rays of the morning sun, Chris at last started a fire while Eve looked through the cupboards of the shack. Pasta, rice, some instant ramen—at least they wouldn’t starve, she thought, then had to laugh at her melodramatic thoughts. They’d get rescued later today anyway. Or tomorrow, depending on how busy the search teams were with other areas affected by the flooding. But they had food, and there was a nearly full box of teabags as well. No coffeemaker though, as she noted with a sigh. Well. She’d have to be happy with the fact that they hadn’t been forced to spend the night outside in a cave.

“What do you think of rice for breakfast?” she asked, and he laughed and kissed her.

“Perfect! Actually I’d eat anything right now.” His stomach grumbled, and he gave her a sheepish look. “Sorry. I eat a lot, and we both missed dinner yesterday. Although I love the sweet treat I got instead!”

Eve couldn’t help but laugh. “I’d love to make pancakes, but that’s a sweet treat that might have to wait for another morning.” God, she hoped there would be a lot of other mornings like this! “Let me see if I can keep you fed. You might need your strength later.”

“Oooh, you’ve got plans for me?” he asked with a grin, and she slapped at his hand when he made to pull her into his arms once more.

“Breakfast first!” she said with mock sternness. “And then…”

“And then I think I will take care of lunch,” Chris replied slowly. He had turned around to study what the owner of this cabin had left behind, and now pulled a fishing rod from a shelf. “Look at that! Have you ever gone fishing?”

Perhaps it wasn’t the most romantic first date, but when they sat together on a stone already warmed by the sun an hour later, watching the line bob gently in the slow-flowing creek they had discovered behind another hill, Eve couldn’t think of anything she would rather do.

Chris had wrapped his arm around her and held her close. The sound of the water slowly flowing past was soothing. The water of the creek was clear, unlike the raging, mud-colored torrent that had torn both bridge and car away, and Chris had already filled and carried back a large pot they’d found in the cabin, so that they would have water to drink and to cook.

Even if we don't get rescued today, it will be fine,
Eve told herself, breathing in Chris’ scent as her eyes followed a leaf floating by.

She had never experienced anything like this. Chris’ company was so comforting. She wanted to trust him. No, she trusted him already, even though she’d only known him for a day. Wasn’t that crazy? But he just felt right. And he had saved her. Chris had already proven himself worthy of trust in a single day, when Jeremy hadn’t managed in a year.

But could she trust him with her secret? After all, he was a cop, she thought with another glance at his no longer pristine uniform shirt. She swallowed, her throat dry as she imagined his reaction. But it wasn’t like she had done anything wrong. Unless… she’d been too scared to follow the news for years now. What if one of her dad’s old buddies had tried to blame her again, and someone had believed him? What if even now, there was an arrest warrant out for her?

Breathe. Just breathe, Eve. That can’t be true. And I know that I did nothing wrong. Chris would believe me.

The thought calmed her. It was strange to think that and believe it, but it was true—Chris would hear her out. She knew he would. She took a deep breath. That left only one thing to do now…

“There’s something you should know about me.” The words nearly hurt her throat. She’d kept this secret for so long that it was hard to speak now.

“My dad… my dad’s in jail. Has been for a long time. It must have been around ten years now. And you are a cop, so if you don’t want to…” She gestured helplessly, her heart aching at the mere idea that she could lose all of this again, just when she had dared to believe that happiness might be possible after all.

“I’d understand,” she ended softly. She didn’t quite dare to look at him.

He was silent for a moment. Then his arm tightened around her, and she could feel him press a gentle kiss to her hair. She nearly wanted to weep in relief at his kindness.

“That must have been hard,” he murmured. “What happened?”

Where to even start? She felt tears prick her eyes at the memories that suddenly returned with full force. The way her dad had returned home later and later. The awful friends he’d acquired. The way her dad had worked longer and longer shifts for the security firm that had hired him, and yet it was never enough for the rent and the bills and the groceries. The calls from his friends; the shouting matches with her mother.

And then, that day when the police stood before their door, and their dad had been dragged away in handcuffs as the neighbors watched…

“He was convicted for robbing a jeweler, Mr. Alsbach. My dad worked for a security company, you see. He had the keys and knew the codes. He kept saying his friends tricked him, but the doors were opened with his keys.”

Chris stroked her hair. “Did they find the jewels on him?”

“They never found anything.” Eve swallowed. “They… for a while, they thought my mother and I were involved as well. They held us for interrogation. It was horrible. I never even knew that his friends had all been sentenced before—robbery, blackmail, kidnapping, that sort of thing. But they never found out where he’d hidden the jewels. So when they finally released me, I just—left. My mother had begun drinking. I had to drop out of our local community college. I felt like everyone was staring at me.”

Even remembering those horrible weeks was enough to make her tear up after all this time.

“They all knew I was the daughter of a criminal,” she continued after a moment. “And how many believed that I knew where he had hidden the goods? I just couldn’t bear it anymore. So I left. Eventually I washed up here, lonely and broke, and I saw a sign in the window of the bakery. They needed someone to help out during the weekends.”

“I wish I’d been there. I wish I could have told you how brave and smart you are.” Chris’ voice was rough, and when Eve allowed him to turn her head towards him, he kissed her very gently on the lips.

“None of it is your fault,” he went on. “It doesn’t matter to me, Eve. You are not your father. And you never should have had to suffer for the crimes he committed.”

Eve swallowed against the tears that still threatened to spring up. “All this time, and I’ve been so terrified that one day, I’d find myself arrested because they decided I was involved after all. I’ve worked so hard for so long. I practically run the bakery now, and I know the Herberts would be so pleased if they could retire and sell the business to me, but…”

“You were afraid of putting your name into the contract?”

Eve nodded. “I changed my name, but still… They ran a report about my wedding cakes a while ago on TV, when I won a local competition. Every time the telephone rang after that, I was terrified that someone called because they had recognized me.” She hesitated a moment. “My name was Eve Connolly.”

“Connolly.” Chris made a thoughtful sound. “Eve, if you want... I can ask around. I've still got friends in the city too. It's not right that you have to hide like this. That's not justice, living your life in fear even though you've done no wrong.”

Eve swallowed again. It felt like there was something stuck in her throat, a huge mass of grief and fear that wouldn't let her breathe.

This is what I’ve carried around with myself for years,
she thought suddenly. She'd become so used to it that she hadn't even realized what a crushing burden this fear had become.

“Would you really do that for me?” she whispered, barely able to believe what he had offered.

After so many years, life without fear seemed impossible. And yet, she wanted it more than anything. A normal life. A real life, with a real home and no secrets. And someone who believed in her.

“Of course,” he murmured. “Of course I would, Eve. Perhaps we can get the case re-opened. You can get closure. I don't want you to be afraid anymore. You never deserved that.”

Distantly, Eve realized that tears were running down her face. She raised a hand to wipe at them until Chris drew her into his arms, his thumbs very carefully brushing the tears away. Then his lips were on hers, warm and gentle. A moment later the fishing line was forgotten as he pulled her onto his lap and she wrapped her arms around him.

I love him
, she thought as warmth spread deep inside her, filling that place that had been home to nothing but fear and emptiness for so many years.

I love him; I really, really do.
There would be no more secrets. She would never have to lie to anyone ever again.

She pressed herself against him, sighing when his hand slid up to cup her breast. His thumb brushed against her hardened nipple. She gasped, the tears forgotten as all of a sudden a new heat sprung up in her—and then there was a loud splash. Water rained down on them, and they nearly tumbled from the rock into the creek as the largest trout she had ever seen flopped angrily in the shallow water, fighting the pull of their line.

With their lunch secured, they set to work together once more. They opened all the shutters, aired the bedding, looked through cupboards once more, and Chris, who’d eyed the small pile of rapidly dwindling firewood, had grabbed an axe that had rested in a corner, and had in less than an hour produced enough kindling to last them through a few more days.

While Eve cooked some of the pasta they had found, he made his way back down to where the bridge had washed away. The message he had scratched into the stone was still there, white against the dark concrete, but so far, there had been no sight of any rescue team. Just to make certain that their message wouldn't be overlooked, he fetched an old towel from the hut—a somewhat bleached red that he hoped would still attract attention if someone came this way—and tied it to a tree that grew next to the last standing pillar of the bridge.

It’s strange,
he thought as he made his way back to their cabin. He actually wouldn’t mind if it took them another day or two to find them. They had everything they needed; it was like a little vacation.

Of course, there were people worrying about them right now.

Chris sighed and looked up at the sky. Once they had searched the roads, they’d send out a helicopter. With the fire they had going, and the damage to the bridge that had to be visible even from above, they should be hard to miss.

Still, he couldn’t help the way his heart beat just a little bit faster as he stepped back into the hut. One more night. All he asked for was one more night with her.

He had planned to tell Eve about the bear when they went out to the creek this morning. But then her own confession had come. How could he have upset her even more in that situation? She had wept in his arms, and he had been allowed to comfort her. And he wouldn’t give up that moment for anything in the world. Eve
trusted
him. And that meant that everything would turn out all right in the end.

The bear huffed impatiently in the background of his mind, but he forced himself to block him out. The bear could wait another day. Maybe he’d ask Eve to take a walk with him this evening. Or maybe he would tell her when they sat together in front of the fire as the sun went down, and it would seem silly then and not scary. She wouldn’t even believe him until he shifted, and, after having laughed at him, she certainly wouldn’t be scared. Not his brave Eve.

When he returned, he found the shack filled with the aroma of frying fish.

“That smells delicious!” he said as he came in. Eve was kneeling in front of the fire; a blackened pan sat on the burning wood. Fish was sizzling on the hot surface, and he heard his stomach grumbling again while she laughed at him.

“I hope you’re hungry!” she said. “I forgot that we have no fridge, so—I fried all the fish, since it won’t keep.”

“I’ll catch more tomorrow. Or this evening,” he added as he sized up the gently charred trout.

She laughed again and brushed the hair out of her eyes. It left a smudge of coal on her cheek, and he stepped closer and then knelt down by her side to gently wipe at it with his shirt.

“You’re that hungry?” She gave him a doubtful look and prodded the trout once more.

It was nearly too large to fit into the pan, but his bear was making an approving sound, and his stomach grumbled again.

“I can eat a lot,” he said and then dipped into the soot and flicked his fingertip against her nose. Laughing, she batted at his hand and then retaliated.

“I’ll paint you a mustache if you don’t stop!” She held her blackened fingertip threateningly in front of his face.

He raised his hands in surrender, and then he leaned forward to press a kiss to it, ignoring the soot. She grinned at him, proud to have won that battle, all radiant and glorious with the fire behind her making her hair gleam like gold.

She really is perfect,
he thought again. Those luscious curves and her breasts that pressed enticingly against her shirt, her tousled hair and her laughing eyes and the soot on her nose.

Mate
, the bear huffed, and he agreed.

She’d already made this shack feel like home. One day soon, they’d fill a house all of their own with love and laughter.

After their lunch, they took the pan to the creek they had found to scrub it clean. The sky stretched blue above them, and Chris noted the absence of clouds with relief. The thought of a day or two all alone with Eve in this little shack was tempting, but he was worried that more rain would make the river swell even more. They should be fine as long as they stayed on top of the hill. Eventually a rescue team would show up—still, his bear did not like the thought of their mate in a situation that might prove dangerous for her, and Chris had to agree.

Once the pan had been cleaned, they walked along the creek for a while. Chris regretted that he hadn’t brought the fishing rod along. Upstream, there were larger rocks, and once or twice, he saw the movement of silvery bodies in the eddies shadowed by the stones.

At last, after they had walked for half an hour, the creek ended in a pond. Hawthorn grew around it, and witch-hazel; it was very quiet, save for the solitary call of a bird in the distance, and Chris tensed all of a sudden as he looked at the pond.

He could not quite say what it was, but something within him had abruptly become alert. Slowly, he turned, eying the brush that grew around the water. He could not see any threat, or indeed anything out of the ordinary—they were all alone here in the forest, or so it seemed. And yet, there was a tingling sense of alarm.

He glanced at Eve, but she did not seem to feel that something had changed. She knelt by the side of the pond, watching a tiny lizard that clung to a branch there. Once again, Chris regretted that he had not told her yet. If only he could shift now. His bear might be able to scent if danger was nearby.

The lizard plunged into the pond, creating tiny ripples, and he tensed once more as he wondered if a snake was near. There were no large predators in these parts; he had looked into that before he had moved to Linden Creek. And there were no shifters that he knew of.

Something rustled behind them.

In alarm, he turned, half expecting to see a wolf stare at him—but there was nothing to be seen. A second later, a bird rose with an annoyed trill and flew away, and Chris took a deep breath, trying to calm his suddenly racing heart. There was no danger here, he told himself again. It was just a bird. His bear was unsettled because they had only just found their mate and were out in the forest cut off from all roads, but there was no—

Somewhere to the east, a howl arose.

No, not a howl. It was a horrible cry, shrill and rough at once, filled with an animal fury that made the bear inside him roar at the challenge.

Down
, he thought at it, even as he ran to Eve’s side and pulled her up.

She gave him a questioning look, but there was no time for explanations now. His heart was pumping furiously. The bear inside him bristled with anger and protectiveness.

Defend our mate
, it roared.

He had to fight down the overwhelming need to shift, to use the muscles and the bulk of his bear to keep her safe.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

He was silent for a moment, watching their surroundings. He could not see any movement. And the sound had come from further east.

“We need to be silent now, and very quick,” he said, leading her back the way they had come. “That was a jaguar. Or some great cat, but—”

“A jaguar? Here?” She clearly did not believe him, but she kept her voice low and hastened back along the creek by his side.

He kept scanning their surroundings. The sense of danger he had felt suddenly fell into place, because Eve was right: a jaguar here made no sense. Which could mean only one thing.

A shifter. A shifter on the hunt. And there was nothing to hunt here but the two of them. It still made no sense, but there were the rare occurrences of shifters gone mad, no longer satisfied by hunting down deer or other game. A shifter who had gotten lost in his animal or in his rage. All of that was possible. All of it meant danger.

“I’ll explain once we’re back at the cabin,” he whispered, still listening for the sound of paws. If only he’d used his chance to tell Eve yesterday… “You need to believe me. It’s very real. And very dangerous. Trust me, Eve, please.”

“I trust you,” she whispered back.

He could hear the fear in her voice, but her hand tightened around his. She kept very close as they turned away from the creek at last. Only a few minutes to the cabin now. Before them stretched a hollow filled with dry leaves, and beyond rose the slender trunks of birches, their silver bark a welcome sign that they had almost made it back to safety. They only had to make it up the slope now, and then Eve would be safe…

The jaguar attacked when they crossed the hollow. It exploded out of the brushes to their left with a snarling sound of fury, and there was no more time to think.

“Run!” Chris shouted and shoved Eve forward, just in time before the large, spotted cat landed where they had stood a moment ago.

Lips pulled back as it turned its head to look at him, showing off sharp fangs. There was intelligence in its eyes, and a great deal of anger.

Shifter
, Chris thought again even as the bear within him roared and took over at last, his uniform pants stretching and ripping along with his shirt as the change came over him.

Then all that was left was his own rage at the threat to his mate, and the scent of his adversary that had dared to challenge him in such a way.

***

Eve couldn’t believe what was happening. One moment, everything had been perfect bliss, with Chris by her side and the many years of fear finally falling away from her—the next moment, there was the terrifying roar of a large cat exploding into the clearing they were crossing.

She heard Chris’ cry, the command to run, and with the growl of the attacking beast close enough that she feared to feel teeth close around her leg any moment, she did the only thing she could and raced for the birches.

It only took a few steps, but it felt like an eternity to her. Her heart was pounding against her ribs, her mouth was dry, every sense heightened as she listened desperately for the movements of the predator. It roared again, so furious that the sound was almost human—but then she had made it to the trees and clutched at a trunk, daring to look back for the first time, terrified that she would see it tearing Chris apart.

What she saw instead was just as shocking. Chris was standing in front of the beast—indeed a jaguar, she noted in confusion, and that made no sense, why would there be a jaguar here?—and then, something happened that made her feel dizzy.

Before her eyes, something around Chris seemed to shift. She couldn’t make sense of it. One second he was there, the next second she saw his pants and his shirt rip and fall off. Instead, in the middle of the leaf-strewn hollow, there now stood a large, shaggy bear, all brown fur and muscles. It rose to its hind legs and let out the loudest, angriest roar she had ever heard. It made the birch leaves rustle and her knees tremble, but she was still too shocked to feel fear.

She hadn’t seen wrong. She had seen it happen. Something about the air around Chris had changed, and then he’d just… morphed. Transformed? She had to bite back a hysterical giggle. Magicked himself into a were-bear?

Oh God,
she thought as she stared at where the jaguar and the bear were still facing off. Chris was… a were-bear? Or maybe she had hit her head during the accident and was now going mad. Or it could be a concussion. Concussions were a perfectly normal, sensible thing. It had to be a concussion!

The jaguar growled, showing long, sharp fangs, and then it pounced.

With a loud snarl, it impacted with one of the bear’s giant paws. There was another roar, loud enough to make the birch she was leaning against tremble, and then the jaguar dove forward once more, this time closing its jaw around the bear’s hind leg. A moment later, the bear and the cat broke through the brushes in a furious tangle. Eve kept holding on to the birch, her heart contracting fearfully.

Nothing made sense, but if that bear was really Chris…

The jaguar yowled in pain and anger. A powerful bat of the paw sent it back into the clearing, where it landed with a sickening thud. Eve gasped, then bit her lip, terrified that the beast might have heard her. She remembered at last that Chris had told her to run.

It wasn’t far to the cabin now, she only had to make it up the slope. Then she’d have a door she could lock. And the axe; there was the axe Chris had used to cut wood! And—

The jaguar’s head rose with a hiss. For one moment, its eyes met hers. They were small and black and filled with anger, unsettlingly human in the face of the animal. Her heart skipped a beat. She couldn’t breathe. Its lips rose again, and she could see its fangs, sharp as knives. Blood dripped from them—the bear’s blood.
Chris’
blood!

Once more the jaguar growled—and then the bear barreled into it. Furious, it took the neck of the jaguar between its teeth and shook it with another mighty roar while the large cat yowled in pain.