Bearilicious - Collection (19 page)

IX.

I cried for what seemed like hours until my tear ducts could no longer produce tears. I felt mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted. At least if I’m numb, living a lifetime of disappointment and misery wouldn’t be so bad.

Someday I would die, and then I’d be completely free with Dorian. I’ve never really been one to believe in an afterlife - I guess just from my parents dying and never visiting me or giving me a sign of their existence - but now I had to believe in something. What else could I do?

I thought back to my life barely over a week ago. I’d taken my last final and regretted not talking to Bradley Ryan. I’d been feeling sorry for myself for not having the courage to talk to men. I never thought I’d be kidnapped or meet the love of my life (and lose him) soon afterwards.

I didn’t even know what a bear shifter was, let alone that more than one existed. On that, I’d never been told about what my parents truly were.

I wish I would’ve just stayed home instead of going on the camping trip. It would be better than this.

I fell asleep after some time, hoping that I’d never wake up. In the middle of the night, I was awoken by the door creaking open. The light of the hallway flooded into the room, and my kidnapper’s figure stood silhouetted in the doorway.

I balled myself up in the sheets of the bed, hoping that would somehow protect me. If he couldn’t get to me, he couldn’t do anything to me.

“Are you ready?” he asked with malice. “It’s time for me to impregnate you and claim you as my mate.”

“I’m not going to let you. I’ll never betray Dorian.”

He laughed spitefully, “You stupid girl. Why don’t you just accept that your Dorian is dead? I killed him. I am the better man.”

“Since when is the better man a murderer and kidnapper?”

He snarled and came towards me. Before he could get to me though a crash came from somewhere near the front of the house. My kidnapper didn’t seem concerned and kept coming toward me.

I searched around the room for anything to defend myself. I reached for a lamp near the bed, but it was hooked to the wall like in a hotel. Maybe this place is actually a hotel that he commandeered. I wouldn’t put it past him.

A roar came from just out the door. This time, my kidnapper paused, looking back just as a standing bear grabbed him from the back by the neck.

He screamed in surprise as he disappeared from view. My weary body decompressed - the bear had saved me. I burst into tears again as another roar came from somewhere outside the room.

It sounded like an all-out war, but I needed some time to let out everything. I didn’t think I had any tears left, but apparently it had just been the eye of the storm.

I wondered why, if my kidnapper was the king of the bears as he said, another bear would break into the mansion/ commandeered hotel and attack.

The bear seemed to want nothing to do with me; in fact, it seemed centered on finding me and helping me. I immediately felt safe when the animal entered the room. Could it be that the bear was actually Dorian? Had he never been killed at all?

It made sense that my kidnapper would lie. Or maybe he really thought he had killed Dorian. I’m sure my Dorian could be crafty enough to fake his death and follow the evil bear to my whereabouts.

My kidnappers false sense of security felt too stable to me when he bragged about Dorian’s murder - he must’ve thought he’d actually won the fight. But he wouldn’t be fooled again. Because Dorian would win this time, and he’d save me. I will not run away this time.

X.

I hurried into the war zone. Two bears fought now, tearing at each other with ferocious might. One, the darker of the two, slapped the other across the muzzle with a powerful swipe, causing the bear to fly into the extremely fancy couch.

The couch splintered into expensive pieces, flying across the room. I ducked to avoid the shrapnel. They destroyed some ancient vases and antique tables next, destroying the painstakingly decorated living room.

As I watched, I wondered if this was what the French or Russian Revolutions looked like. Beautiful furnishings and art destroyed in the heat of the moment.

In a way, with a bear attacking his king, this was kind of the same. Except, you know, the whole royal family wasn’t getting murdered, including the children.

Still, I felt like I were looking in on a historical event I shouldn’t be witnessing - like it was an imprint of a disaster from another place in time.

As more furniture splintered across the room, speckling of blood followed. The lighter colored bear bled from his mouth and a gash above his brow.

With another swipe, the darker bear knocked his opponent out with another splash of blood splattering across the room. The bear then turned toward me and moved leisurely. I shrunk back, not sure who this one could be.

The bear transformed, becoming the gorgeous man I knew and loved, Dorian. He looked a bit worse for wear, limping slightly but smiling as he came toward me. My worries washed away the closer he came.

“I thought I’d never see you again,” he said softly. “I’m so happy you’re safe.”

“I’m a little traumatized, but I’m all together okay,” I answered. “He told me you were dead.”

“He probably thought I was. He got me pretty good. But I couldn’t let him take you again. Even if you didn’t want to be with me, I couldn’t let him force himself on you.”

I wanted to wrap my arms around him and plead for him to take me back, but movement stirred behind him. The other bear rose from his dazed state and wobbled towards us. I stepped back in fear, making Dorian turn just in time.

“You might want to consider getting out of here,” he warned.

“I’m not going to leave you again,” I responded. “I made that mistake before.”

He smiled again before turning back to the dilemma at hand. He transformed again without a second look at me and raced toward my kidnapper. I moved out of harm’s way, but still kept close.

I decided to search the upstairs for some kind of weapon just in case. I may be the damsel in distress in this situation, but I could take care of myself in some way. Plus, if Dorian could be beat before, who said he couldn’t be beat again?

In one of the upstairs rooms, there hung a bayonet on the wall. The more I saw this place, the more I expected hallways hanging with portraits of royals and ancient relics of monarchies gone by.

Who knew the bear shifter kingdom went back so far? I barely knew bear shifters existed before all this happened.  I almost wanted to just keep exploring, but that defeated the whole purpose of going to find a weapon.

I hurriedly rushed downstairs with the bayonet, careful not to trip and impale myself with it. The fight had grown to even more epic proportions.

The living room was completely destroyed, and it looked like they had blown through the formal dining room - RIP fancy china plates and sterling silverware - to continue battling in the kitchen.

I didn’t think the kitchen would even work for such a bloody endeavor, but it appeared I was wrong. They kept their path of destruction, leaving the gas stove torn away from the wall and gas blasting into the room.

This presented a whole other problem. Though I didn’t want to run away, I also didn’t want to explode.

“Hey! Bears!” I called. They both turned to look. “Though I’m sure you’re pre-occupied with your epic battle, you’ve caused a gas leak. I suggest we continue this in a place outside of this house.”

The two looked at me, the gas leak, and then each other. After a moment of grunting collaboration, they stampeded out the front door into the woods.

I used the kidnapper’s phone to call 911 about the leak (just in case it did explode and cause a wildfire) and ran out of the house. As I ran, I thought of calling my friends too so they could stop worrying about me, but, then again, I didn’t actually care.

If Dorian and I made it out of this, they’d know soon enough. If he didn’t make it out, I’d stab myself with the bayonet and be done with it. A whole
Romeo and Juliet
thing, you know?

All bets were off once the fight changed settings. My kidnapper, the lighter bear, seemed to have gotten his second wind and would not back down.

As Dorian swatted him away, he just kept coming with ferocious fervor - his teeth and claws snarling like a grizzly bear much larger his size.

I never imagined the standard brown bear, of which I’d always considered a non-threat unless I had food in my car or I didn’t want my trash eaten, to be so dangerous. Watching them battle each other showed the animal that could maul a child sleeping with a candy bar under her pillow.

Watching them fight with abandon made me want to run again, just take off and never return, but that hadn’t done me much good before. Especially when it came down to trusting people in the woods to help. I stayed a safe distance away with my bayonet ready for action if my kidnapper were to lurch toward me. I may not be able to match him in strength or the whole being-a-bear thing, but I could stab as hard as I could.

My kidnapper made another lunge toward Dorian, but the villain came in at a bad angle. Before he’d kept his most vital areas somewhat covered in his attacks, but with this jump in particular, he had his neck free and unattended (if that meant anything.) Dorian’s head moved quickly, going in for the jugular.

I closed my eyes and turned away. From all the carnage I’d already witnessed, that seemed just a bit too much. One of them cried out in pain and a heavy object fell to the forest floor with a thud.

I couldn’t bear to look. What if my kidnapper had really done it this time?

What if I thought Dorian was going in for the kill, but he really wasn’t?

A hand touched my shoulder, startling me. I circled around to see Dorian, looking especially worse for wear and covered in blood.

“It’s over now,” he said with a sigh of relief.

I set the bayonet down and embraced him. It didn’t matter if he was bloody - he’d saved my life. Again.

XI.

We walked slowly back to Dorian’s cabin. The mansion actually stood pretty deep into the woods, much further away from his homestead than I ever would’ve thought.

He showed signs of weariness, but he kept moving for me. My body had warmed slightly from the numb shell it had been before Dorian returned, but I still couldn’t wait till we arrived back home.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” he spoke after a long (but comfortable) silence. “I was just afraid of how you’d react. You weren’t exactly introduced to bear shifting on a good note.”

“No,” I chuckled. “I certainly wasn’t. I wish you had told me, but I understand why you didn’t. Did you… did you know him before?”

“Who?”

“My kidnapper.”

“I did. We went to school together. He was a few years younger than me. Plus, he was the heir to the bear clan throne. Of course I knew who he was.”

“Had he always been so… evil?”

“Oh, I don’t know about that. He was just a spoiled kid who reacted erratically when he couldn’t get his way. He’s never been told no.”

"He didn't even give me the chance to say no though."

"Well, his personality didn't exactly help him out in the woman department, you know. I think he just became more and more resentful of his duties and women in general that he decided to choose a mate and go for it."

“I’m sorry I ran away. It was all just so hard to comprehend. After my kidnapper being a bear shifter, I just didn’t know what to do.”

“It’s okay, I understand. You really scared me doing that though. I thought you wouldn’t come back or you’d be killed or worse.”

“What could be worse than being killed?”

“Marrying that spoiled brat and having to birth his children.”

I laughed and grabbed his arm. He winced slightly, but allowed me to walk this way with him. The trip proved somewhat arduous because we got lost at some point. He promised he knew where we were going, but we wandered in the wrong direction for a little while.

“The woods look a little different at night,” he said. “I might have a concussion.”

“Likely story,” I answered.

He ended up leaning on me towards the end, his battered body needing help to keep going. Eventually, we got back to his cabin.

He collapsed onto his couch and laid so still I thought he might be dead. I laid down on the floor next to him and told him I’d be there if he needed anything. I fell asleep there on the floor, the exhaustion overcoming me completely.

When I awoke, the sun had risen. Dorian hadn’t moved from the couch. My mind started to race - what if he did have a concussion and I let him fall asleep? After all of this, I’d just let him fall asleep and die.

He opened his eyes, catching me staring down at him, “Good morning, beautiful.”

“Good morning,” I answered.

“I will admit, waking up with you staring down at me is a little creepy.”

“I’m sorry, I thought you might be dead. I let you fall asleep with a concussion.”

He laughed, sitting up, “I don’t think I have a concussion. I just said that. Would you like some breakfast?”

“That would be wonderful. I haven’t eaten since the day before yesterday.”

“We can’t have that!”

He rose slowly and moved to the kitchen. I followed him to help with the breakfast since he looked so frail. He smiled though as we made bacon and eggs together.

We fell right back into the affection we had a few days before. He didn’t seem angry at me for running off, and his secret didn’t at all bother me anymore. After all that had happened, I relished in just having him near me and finally being in a safe place.

“Do you want to head back to town now to let everyone know you’re okay?” he said. “I think we’re safe now.”

“Yes, we could do that,” I smiled. “But I was thinking maybe we should do something else first.”

“What did you have in mind?”

I kissed him, holding him as close as I possibly could. He winced slightly, explaining his ribs hurt, but he responded to the kiss and held me closer as well. We moved together back onto the couch. I laid him down, and we both started to undress.

I kissed down the length of his body, around the scratches and bruises he’d gotten from the fight. He breathed in deeply with every piece of skin touched. As I went further downward, he brought my face up and kissed me again.

I readjusted my body and straddled him to give him easier access as I whispered in his ear, “This is more what I had in mind.”

“This is perfect,” he responded, kissing me again. “I love you.”

“I love
you
.”

He pulled away with a sharp intake of breath as I slid onto him. We both moved gently together to help with his wounded body. It felt even better the second time around, as though with all we’d been through we now were completely connected.

His skin felt soft and warm next to mine and his steady breathing made my own skin tingle with pleasure as we moved in a perfect rhythm.

It felt as though since he finally could be completely honest with me about the bear shifting, he now could completely give himself to me in other areas as well.

We kept at a steady, connected rhythm, each thrust met with a sliding movement to match it. He felt like a perfect fit, and his response told me he felt the same way.

Time seemed to stop as we enjoyed each other. When we climaxed together, time took another deep breath and started to tick again. We readjusted again so that we could spoon each other and, again, fell asleep.

When I awoke in the mid-afternoon, his breathing still warming my neck and sending tingles down my body, the sun shone in with a beautiful pink-ish sheen. It illuminated the room, making everything seem to glow with effervescent light.

I wrapped my hand in his - he responding by sleepily pulling me closer - and watched our hands weave together. If a voyeur were to look in on us, he or she wouldn’t be able to distinguish whose thumbs were whose.

That, I felt, made everything that had happened all worthwhile - I had some emotional scars, but I had a soulmate to fix them.

***