Bear Run: A Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (Pine Ridge Bear Shifters Book 1) (4 page)

“Either.”

“I don’t see anyone, and I haven’t
smelled them for a time. They’ll both seek shelter in the rain, and I doubt
your family could track us in the dark.”

“Pa’s a heck of a tracker,” Alice
said, strangely wanting to defend her father. “And they’ve got this gadget they
bought off a lady who says she’s a witch. I don’t know if she is or not, but I
thought it was funny how Pa and Bradley never had any use for shifters or magic
until they needed it to
fight
shifters and magic.” She shook her head. “But you’re right, they wouldn’t do
much on a night like this.” She brightened. “You think the rain will erase our
tracks? I think that gadget’s range is limited, so if they can’t find our
tracks they can’t find
us
.”

He turned to her, laying a hand on
her shoulder, and once more she relished the feel of his huge strong hand.

“I think so,” he said, and she
could hear the ease in his voice, the confidence. He thought they were safe. “I
think we’ve made it. In the morning we’ll go as soon as it’s light, raining or
not, and put some distance between us and this area. If we’re lucky we can make
it to a main road before either side starts after us again.”

“I like the sound of that.”

“Me, too.”

He removed his hand and turned back
to survey the cabin. Instantly she missed his touch. As she swiveled to follow
his line of sight, her flashlight beam caught a glare of white on a leaning
table that looked like it might have been the end table for the living room’s
couch at one point. The couch was long gone, but the table was still there, and
there seemed to be something ... a wax-treated envelope held down by four
stones, one at each corner ...

Alice and Taggart must have seen it
at the same time, as they both sucked in breaths simultaneously.

“What in the world?” Alice said.

“I don’t know.”

They glanced at each other, and she
could see the depth of emotion in his eyes. He had hoped to find some trace of
his brother Mike here. At first it had seemed that he’d failed, but now here
was a second chance.

“Do you think ...?” Alice started,
then began again. “You think it could be a letter from Mike?”

Taggart blinked, and she thought he
might be trying to hold back his emotions. He didn’t want her to see him as
weak.
If only you knew
, she thought.
She would
love
to see some sign of
vulnerability in him, this magnificent forest god bear-man who demolished other
bear shifters in single combat. And here it was, the inner Taggart, the
sensitive Taggart, only he didn’t want her to see.
Come on, let it out
, she thought.

He reached out for the letter, and
his fingers trembled. Part of her rejoiced to see that vulnerability, but part
of her cried for him. She knew that whatever that letter contained might well
hold his fate. This could be a life-changing moment. And here she was to share
it with him. Whether willingly or not, he had let her into his inner circle
(circle of two, anyway), the most private of his private self. This one letter
could contain ... well, everything.

She prayed it held good news.

His hand paused when it reached the
envelope, then quickly snatched it up and tore it open. If anything he ripped
it open even faster than he had the snack bar. And with an appetite even more
acute than that which had finished off the oat bar, an appetite he’d built up
over many years, he stared at the letter that had been inside.

“Well?” she said, anxious. She
could feel her own heart smash against her ribs in expectation.

“I ...” He swallowed. “Maybe it’s
because I’m tired. I ... I’m having trouble making out the words.”

She gaped. “You ... can’t read it!
You can’t
read
...” Instantly she
realized she’d said that too excitedly.
You
poor thing.
“I mean, um ... the Black Valley clan must have crap schools.”

He let out a long sigh, but there
was no anger or reproach in his eyes as he offered her the letter. “Can you ...
make it out?”

She took the letter. Her rifle was
slung in a strap across her back, so she had both hands free, except that there
was a flashlight in one. She beamed it on the letter. Her hand shook a little,
and so did the paper. Thunder cracked overhead as she began to read:

“‘Taggart, Sam, I hope you’re
reading this and not some forest hobo again. Shit, I’ve had to replace this
letter a dozen odd times now. Getting tired of this. Connor tells me I’m nuts
to keep doing this, but I’ve got to. Someday you two idiots might get free of
that clan of fucktards and come back home. Well, as you can see there ain’t
much home left. I high-tailed it long ago, not long after you did. Your new
buds plus all the damn hunters made it impossible to stay.’”

She paused and looked at Taggart.
He was staring at her, then the letter, his face taut and his eyes utterly
intent. She pulled in a breath and kept going:

“‘Anyway, I found a crew of bear
shifters run by this guy, our alpha Connor. A tough bastard, but a fair one.
And the guys on the crew are alright guys. A rough lot, but good. If they were
hookers, they’d have hearts of gold. Not sure if you’ll get that reference,
being all Black Valley-ish. But it’s a good thing. Anyway. For a long while the
crew and I worked as woodcutters, but the Great Alpha has us doing something
else now. We’ve just begun restoring an old run-down ski resort in Pine Ridge.
If you read this, come and find me. I’ll give you two rejects a place in the
crew. Don’t worry, Connor won’t give you any shit. It’s hard work, but you two
are tough, and we have fun, too. As I always say when I rewrite this damn
letter, I hope to see you soon.’”

Swallowing past the lump in her
throat, Alice finished, “Then it just says ‘Later, Mike’.”

Taggart took the letter back and
ran his eyes over it, but she knew he wasn’t seeing much, not reading it, just
replaying the words in his mind. He blinked often but he didn’t cry, although
there was a little rain leaking in from overhead and his face was wet, so she
couldn’t be certain. Her
own
eyes
were burning something fierce.

At last he looked up, his face
resolved. “Looks like I’m going to Pine Ridge in the morning.”

She reached out and stroked his
forearm. “Looks like we’re
both
going.”

Taggart found some old waterproof sleeping bags in a closet,
the only things resembling intact beds around here, and she discovered that one
of the little bedrooms, maybe built for the kids—maybe even Taggart himself,
although he wouldn’t say—was fully functional, with no gaping holes in the
floor, walls or ceiling. Sharing another snack bar (she still had a couple
left; hopefully they would do for breakfast), Alice and Taggart found a dry
corner and stuffed themselves inside their sleeping bags. She kept her clothes
on, partly to stay warm and partly out of embarrassment.

That in itself was kind of silly,
she thought. Here he was, having been naked around her all day and not seeming
in the least bit shy, but she couldn’t even ask him to turn his back for a moment
while she took off her shirt and jeans. She would’ve kept her granny panties
and big girl bra on, though, thank you.
God,
why did I have to wear the granny panties?
Then again, what else would you
wear on a hunting trip? Lingerie?
Not
this mountain girl.

Thunder cracked overhead, and the
patter of the rain had become oddly soothing to her. Alice secretly enjoyed it
all. Here she was, stranded at a forest cabin with a big sexy bear shifter who
was tough and protective and charming but who very clearly had a tender side.
Don’t throw me into that briar patch!
she
thought, and giggled to herself.

“What’s so funny?” Taggart said
beside her. Half of him stuck out the sleeping bag, propped up against a log wall.
Her flashlight has stuck up an angle, held up between her knees, and its light
threw the ridges of his muscles in stark relief against his abs and chest. His
pecs were huge, and she loved the hollow between them that ran all the way down
to his tight eight-pack. The sleeping blanket hid what was below that, but she
remembered it very well, and her imagination brought it back to her. Vividly.

“Nothing,” she said, hearing the
slight quaver in her voice. “You know,” she said, keeping her voice mild, “if
we zipped these blankets together we would be warmer.”

He craned his neck to look at her,
his eyebrows raised. “Oh?”

“I mean,
you
may not need to worry about that, but for me it’s kinda cold.”

“You sure that’s the only reason?”

“Well ...”

He grinned. “Okay.”

He unzipped his blanket with a
flourish, and she unzipped hers a bit more sheepishly. Then they zipped them
together, creating a much bigger blanket. Immediately she could feel the heat
of him radiating out from his huge body, filling the blanket and warming her.
She kind of wanted to cuddle against him but told herself not to act like a
total slut. Besides, there was still that stupid voice in the back of her mind
that said,
What are you, cow, some sort
of demon-lover?

Shut
it, Pa.

“That better?” Taggart asked.

“Mm-mm,” she nodded.

Damn
,
she thought. If she wanted, she could reach out and grab his huge thigh. Maybe
trace her fingers up to his manhood, run her fingers through the hair there,
then slide them down to the shaft. Was he hard? She bit the corner of her lip,
both trying to picture it and at the same time trying to make herself stop
picturing it.

Demon-lover!

Shut
it!

“What’s wrong?” Taggart said.

She sighed and shifted position.
Accidentally, her leg brushed Taggart’s, and a thrill ran through her.

“Nothing,” she said. “Only ...”

“Yes?”

He seemed interested. She couldn’t
ever remember having a man so interested in what she had to say. Certainly Pa
and Bradley never had been. And she’d sure as hell never had a sexy guy like
Taggart looking at her like that.

“I just wish we could pick our
parents,” she said. “That’s all. It’s weird how things we never did or thought,
or at least
wanted
to think, can
actually influence what we do think. You know?”

“Brainwashing.”

“Exactly.”

To her shock, he reached an arm
around her shoulders, and she almost jumped at the contact. Instead she felt a
tremendous heat build in her, and despite herself, or at least her inner Pa,
she snuggled closer to Taggart, actually letting one of her legs come to rest
against his. Too bad she was still wearing jeans. She wanted to feel his skin.

“We couldn’t help how we were
brought up,” Taggart said. “But we can help how we act now that we
are
up.”

“Yeah. We’re free of all that now.
Only we’re not, really. It’s in our heads, messing things up.”

He looked down at her, his eyes
deep and unblinking. “Maybe we should forget what’s in our heads and let our
bodies do our thinking for us.”

Gulp
.
“W-what do you mean?”

He smiled again, a confident cocky
smile that sent a bolt of lightning all the way through her. Suddenly she could
feel her granny panties getting soaked.

“I think you know what I mean,” he
said.

He leaned down so that his face was
right up against hers. She could feel his breaths stirring against her cheek.
She stared deep into his, and they seemed to swallow the whole world.

“I, uh, don’t,” she started but had
no idea how that sentence was supposed to end, and he didn’t let her find out.
His lips caressed hers and whatever she’d been about to say, or stammer more
likely, vanished from her mind like smoke on a windy day. His lips brushed
hers, and his teeth bit gently on her lower lip. She gasped and kissed back,
pressing her body against him. He was still totally naked under the sleeping
bag, and his huge cock, instantly hard, slid at an angle against her belly,
rucking up her shirt. She could feel it throb against her stomach.

He kissed her cheeks, then trailed
his lips down her neck, sending butterfly pulses all through her, and she
melted under his touch. With deft fingers he plucked the buttons of her blouse,
and she helped, unsnapping her jeans and wriggling out of them, then scrunching
them down to the base of the sleeping bag. Soon she was down to huge bra and
soaked granny panties. He took care of the bra while she shimmied out of the
panties, grateful he couldn’t see what an impact he’d had on her. Of course, he
could probably smell it. Shifter senses and all.

She ran her hands over his chest,
which was deep and broad, his flesh hot beneath her fingers. She paused as his
lips found her breasts.

“No,” she said, hearing that she
was out of breath.

Confused-looking, he drew back.
“What is it?”

“I don’t ... I’m not ... “

He’s
a damn demon!
she could hear her pa say.
A dastardly untrustworthy animal!
Bradley chimed in.

“What’s wrong?” Taggart said.

She stared up into his eyes. One of
his legs was between hers now, his knee up against her groin, and she couldn’t
help but rub herself against it. She made herself stop.

Demon!

Her eyes burned, and Taggart
dissolved into tears above her. She closed them. Taggart kissed her eyelids
softly, then her cheeks, and his large calloused fingers ran through her hair.
He kissed her behind the ear and her pulse jackhammered.

“Put all that behind us,” he
murmured in her ear, and it was as if he could read her thoughts. “We’re going
to live new lives now.”

She opened her eyes and stared at
him. “Do you mean it?”

His breath was a puff against her
lips. “Yes.”

Demon!
her inner pa said.
Animal!

SHUT!
UP! PA!

And, for once, and hopefully for
the last time, her inner Pa fell silent.

“Good,” was all she said, and
kissed Taggart passionately. Her sudden ardor seemed to catch him by surprise,
but he responded quickly. He kissed back, hard, shoving his tongue against hers.
“Yes,” she said between kisses. “Yes.”

“Oh, Alice,” he said, “finding you
is like a dream.” His lips trailed down her neck again, then found a nipple. He
teased it, his tongue making circles, and she gasped. One of his hands had
cupped her sex, and she ground against it, moaning. “I never thought I’d meet
someone like you,” he said.

“Someone like what?” she said,
holding the back of his head, feeling the soft wavy hair there.

His cock probed at her crevice, and
she wrapped her legs about his middle.

“A mate,” he said, and his voice
was almost like a prayer.

She gasped. “A
mate
?” She knew bear shifters didn’t say stuff like that lightly. A
mate was a big deal to them. She’d heard that bear shifters only found one true
mate in a lifetime.

His face was solemn yet warm.
Loving
. “A mate,” he affirmed.

For a wild instant, fear filled
her.
Mate
sounded like such a
commitment! But then she looked into his eyes and all of that fell away.

“Oh, yes,” she said, sliding
herself up and down his shaft, slicking it with her juices. “Mate.”

“Do you want that?”

“Yes.”

He grabbed her by the hips and
thrust inside her. She gasped again as he pushed into her, filling her,
stretching her. He was so
big
. He
pushed in and in forever, and she loved it. Waves of sensation rippled through
her, making her shudder, and he moaned and closed his eyes in obvious pleasure.
She could feel a sort of vibration pass through him, like a growl, but also
kind of like a cat’s purr. He shuddered through her, and she loved it. Bear
shifters
rocked
.

Going slowly at first because he
was so big, she pumped her hips against him.

“Are you sure?” he said. Obviously
he was concerned for her, worried that he was too large for her.

She nodded. “I’m sure.”

She moved against him, and he let
out a moan again. She loved that look of pleasure on his face, loved that fact
that she was responsible for it. She was making him, this huge hot sexy forest
god, feel so good that the entire rest of the world had fallen away. There was
only him and her and the contact between them.

Slowly, he slid deeper into her,
and she let out a sigh and leaned back, shoving her breasts upward. She was on
her back with him between her, pumping into her, her legs wrapped around his
middle. They were still in the sleeping bag, and it had grown so warm in here,
even hot, that sweat stood out on her skin.

She leaned forward and kissed one
of Taggart’s firm pecs, sliding her tongue across the nipple, then kissed the
hollow between them. Her hand traced his eight-pack, and she liked how his
muscles quivered as he swelled even further inside her, so huge, so hard, and
driving faster, ever faster. She lolled back, overcome by sensation, moving
against him even as he moved against her.

She applied some pressure with her
thighs, letting him know she wanted to change position, and slowly they rotated
so that she was on top.

“Ooh,” she said, gyrating against
him, taking him deeper.

One of his hands cupped her
breasts, his thumb playing with her nipple. “Yes,” he said through gritted
teeth. His face was locked in ecstasy. “Yes.”

Now that she was on top, she ran
both her hands across his tight abs, tracing the contours of his pecs. He
filled her, shoving up into her, and delicious waves of pleasure swept through
her, overtaking her, lifting her up higher and higher on a golden wave of
wonderfulness the likes of which she’d never known. It built and built inside
her, and as it did she moved faster and faster, but hardly aware of it. She had
never felt so good, so alive, so free. Dimly overhead she could hear the
thunder boom and the wind shriek, and it seemed the storm moved in time to
their lovemaking, getting louder and more fervent when they did, slowing when
they did, but always building, building, building ...

At last she could take no more but
screamed out as ecstasy carried her up on shining wings, and she trembled and
shook even as he still pumped into her. Her orgasm must have triggered his own,
as suddenly he cried out loudly and arched his back, the cords on his neck
standing out, and she could feel his hot jets fill her, one pulse and then
another, gradually fading. She still moved up and down on him, delighting in
the feel of him, loving it, loving him.

With him still inside her, she
looked down at his flushed face and smiled. “Mate,” she whispered, and he
smiled up at her.

“Mate,” he said.