Heart of the Bear (Hells Canyon Shifters Book 5) (4 page)

“I can’t get the sleeve over the cuffs. Sorry, princess. You’ll have to suffer until Ethan decides to give us the keys.”

The word
suffer
was funny when used for his perfectly sculpted torso, but on the other hand, he was causing a whole lot of inconvenient stirrings between her thighs. A shirtless Jesse made her want to simultaneously run away and rub up against his leg like an attention-deprived kitty. She’d have to try real hard to look at anything other than his perfectly rippling abs and the impressive bulge he was currently buttoning into his pants.

Jogging behind Jesse toward a big tent in front of the cabins, Rae looked longingly at the road she’d almost escaped on. She had a real life to get back to. One where she needed to call the police on Shay for stealing her car, and one that didn’t involve an off-limits sexy werebear who was shooting warm tendrils into her stomach as he intertwined his fingers with hers. Sure, he was probably just trying to lessen the strain of the handcuffs, but she hadn’t held hands with a man since her ex, Matt, and even then, it hadn’t made her feel all tingly inside like this.

This must be another bear shifter power. All of the males probably had the ability to seduce a woman with a glance or a touch so they could get what they wanted—whatever that was.

“What trail?” Jesse asked as he pulled back the heavy looking canvas tent flap.

Ethan looked up from a huge map laid across a scuffed table. Red pins were pushed into it by a winding line. “They headed up the bank of Snake River and were only supposed to go a couple of miles and turn back. Tarran and Reese are already up there looking, but I need all eyes we can spare in the woods right now. I have Landon at the tower, and he’ll be coordinating grids, but you and I need to be out there now.”

“And what do I say when I find them and I’m still handcuffed to Rae?”

Ethan’s bright, inhuman eyes narrowed to slits. “I don’t give a fuck what you tell them. Kinky game, cops and robbers, whatever. I can’t afford for her to escape out there in the chaos.”

“I have a name. It’s Rae, and I swear I won’t run away. I can help look for the missing hikers.”

“Oh, you’re going to help,” Ethan growled out. “You’re going to see exactly what we do, and how we live, and how little a danger we pose to the unsuspecting humans around us. Because
if
I choose to let you go, it’ll be because you know exactly how many lives you carry in your hands and because I trust you. And if I don’t feel like I can ever trust you, I’ll have you turned into one of us.”

“Hey, man, that’s enough,” Jesse said low. “She doesn’t need to be turned. We’ll stay handcuffed. Just ease up. We’ll take this area right here. I’ve got my radio on if you need us, and we’ll stay in contact with Landon. We’ll find them, Ethan. It won’t be like last time.”

“Jesse?” Rae asked as he pulled her toward his truck. “What happened last time?”

He helped her onto the bench seat of an old Ford that was so jacked up, she had trouble climbing up into it. Jesse slammed the door beside him and yanked her hand toward him to turn over the engine.

Rae’s heart was pounding as she imagined a couple of scared kids out at night in the woods. Already, the stars were twinkling above them, and someone was lighting lanterns in front of the row of cabins.

“What happened last time?” she asked louder when he jammed the gas and skidded onto a dirt road at the tree line.

“Ethan isn’t a bad guy, Rae. He has a lot to shoulder. He has to keep his clan safe, and he has to keep the people visiting Hells Canyon safe, too. All while trying to control his animal. He’s special—a Cress alpha. He’s strong, or he wouldn’t be able to run this place. Not with Bear inside of him, but he hates intruders, and that lion showing up in his territory today is setting him off. He has a lot to lose. And right now, he doesn’t have a second to help him maintain control. He only has his mate.”

“Second. You mean like a second in command?”

“Yeah, like that.”

“Why aren’t you his second? He seems to depend on you.”

His nostrils flared as he inhaled deeply and took a sharp turn around a rotten tree stump. “I’m trying, but it’s not that simple. I have to fight a lot, and my bear isn’t as dominant as some of the other challengers. It’s prolonging everything.”

“You didn’t answer my first question,” she said softly.

“Last time a hiker was lost, he died, and it shredded Ethan. He was out all night, unprepared, and we didn’t get to him in time. He fell down a ravine and Ethan found him. We aren’t killers, Rae. We’re protective of humans, especially the ones we feel responsible for—the ones in our territory.”

Burning tears stung Rae’s eyes, and she blinked hard, then looked out the window. The moonlight was bright enough for her to make out the passing spruce, firs, and pines in a blur of dark green. What an awful way to die, scared and alone. She was mad at how Ethan talked to her, but how much of his soul had he given up to shoulder those kinds of burdens?

“I’m sorry.”

Jesse clenched his jaw and released her hand between them. “It’s not your problem.”

And just like that, he’d pushed her away. Reminded her she was an outsider. She’d only been here a little while, but something about this place had called to her, and Jesse was making sure she didn’t get too comfortable here beside him.

She was human—
other
—and he was bear.

The revelation about their utterly different worlds made her clench her hands against the disappointment.

Jesse pulled a handheld radio out of the sling of a utility belt slung low around his waist. “What are their names?” he asked into it.

“Braylan and Courtney,” came a masculine voice on the other end. “They are brother and sister. The girl is fourteen and the brother seventeen.”

“Thanks, Landon. C’mon,” he said, pulling gently on the handcuffs.

Jesse had parked beside a black mustang that probably belonged to the teenagers. The road was a dead-end as far as Rae could tell.

“I’ve never been in the woods at night before,” she admitted. Damn her voice as it shook. She was nervous for the kids and scared of the dark, too, and the result was sweaty palms and trembling.

“You’ll be fine.” He lifted their manacled hands and gave her the ghost of a smile. “I swore not to let anything hurt you, remember?”

Right. She should definitely feel safer in the woods with someone who had turned into a freaking bear.

“I sure wish I had my multi-tool with me right now,” she gritted out as she slid out of the giant truck.

“I don’t,” he deadpanned, then adjusted a hat he’d had on his dash and pulled it over her head.

With a click, a pair of flashlights in the bill turned on. She angled her chin toward the forest floor, amazed that she could see again thanks to the convenient beams of light.

“Don’t trip,” was all he said before he pulled her toward a line of towering pines.

Jesse didn’t seem to have any problem seeing in the dark, but even so, she did her best to point the light down near his feet.

“Reese and Tarran went south. Ethan is going to search a crossing point in the river in case they switched sides, so we’ll try to pick up their scent going north,” he explained in a whisper.

The fact that a big, strong bear like Jesse felt the need to talk quietly told her he wasn’t the only predator in these woods. Chills rippled across her shoulders, and she pulled the sleeves of her sweater farther down to cover her hands. Jesse’s cargo pants were the color of the woods, but her bright red shirt probably screamed for the bogymen to eat her first. She’d picked it to match her wedges. God, she was a terrible camper.

Jesse paced the tree line, drawing air into his lungs over and over, and she followed as quietly as she could.

“The scent is old and has saturated everything. I can’t tell from here if they went this way or not.” He frowned down at her, but his look was faraway. He grabbed her hand again and pulled her into the woods.

The frogs and cicadas were deafening here by the bank. Over the noise, she could hear the soft babbling of river rapids, but couldn’t see the Snake River. A bird took flight above them, and she hunched her shoulders up to her ears like that would protect her from the sound of the fluttering wings.

Heart threatening to burst through her sternum, she stepped around a log and held on a little tighter to Jesse’s hand. There wasn’t any grass here, but that was likely due to the thick evergreen trees that blotted out the sunlight. A blanket of pine needles covered the forest floor and muffled their steps.

“I spent the night in a graveyard once on Halloween,” she whispered, desperate to take her mind off the fear that hummed through her veins.

“See any ghosts?” Jesse asked.

Her shoulders sagged with relief that he was actually following the conversation. Just hearing his voice, all calm and collected, settled her.

“We saw two raccoons. They stole our box of donuts right out of the car we’d driven there.”

“Who were you with?”

“My ex-boyfriend and my college roommate.”

Jesse shot her a thoughtful look and led her up an embankment. “What was your ex like?”

“Dreamy. I always thought he was out of my league, and as it turns out, I was right. We didn’t last long after graduation.”

“He sounds like a tool.”

“He wasn’t a tool. He deserved better. Now he has a wife and two daughters. He sends me a Christmas card with a picture of them all sitting by a fireplace every year.” She swore to everything that if she cried right here in front of Jesse, she was going to stomp her own toes. “He has a beautiful family.”

“Yeah, well only a tool would send his ex-girlfriend a picture of his new family. It was you who deserved better.”

She smiled sadly and shook her head at his back. “You don’t understand.”

He offered his hand and helped her around a boulder. “Make me understand.”

She wanted to tell him everything but needed him to like her for a while longer. To not pity her. Right now, he seemed open with her, and if she told him her great shame, he’d shut down forever. Which would be fine when they weren’t handcuffed, and she could go back to her life in Portland.

“What about your girlfriend?” she countered. “What’s she like?”

“I don’t have a girlfriend.”

“Then whose shoes am I wearing?”

“You’re wearing Miranda’s hiking boots. My ex. She used to live here with me. Now she doesn’t.”

“Is she a werebear, too?”

“Stop calling us that. And yes, she is a bear shifter.”

Her voice dipped lower, and she rushed the question before she could chicken out. “Do you still love her?”

He didn’t answer her for a long time. Instead, he led them deeper and deeper into the dark woods. Finally, he murmured. “I thought I did, and I didn’t want to move on because she broke me apart when she left. Now things are different.”

“What things?”

“Shh. Do you hear that?” he asked, frozen in place, his eyes on the horizon.

She strained her ears, but if she was a betting woman, she’d bet her bra human senses sucked compared to Jesse’s. “I don’t hear anything but the wind.”

It had picked up, and the branches above creaked and swayed.

“This way,” he said, and pulled her forward at a quick jog.

Rae struggled to keep up as they cut in toward the river. The rapids grew louder as they approached until it was all she could hear. A thin trail weaved along the bank, and Jesse began to run.

She could hear it now. Someone was crying for help.

“Oh, God,” she whispered, as the fear in the girl’s voice made Rae run faster.

“Help us, please!” the girl screamed at the top of her lungs. Sobs accented her words as she repeated the phrase over and over again.

She and Jesse came to a craggy part of the bank, and Rae stumbled over the loose rocks, desperate to reach the children. She slipped and pain zinged up her leg. She grunted at the ache in her knee and kept on, determined not to slow Jesse down. At a clearing, he came to a stop so fast, she ran into the back of him.

Panting, she looked around his wide shoulders. Something dark and big was clawing at what looked like a pile of brush, and when she lifted her headlamp to the thing, it turned furious eyes on her.

A giant black bear stood on its hind legs and roared.

“Rae, get to those kids,” Jesse said low, unbuckling his pants.

“How?” she asked, panic closing her windpipe until the word sounded forced.

Jesse kicked out of his clothes and hunched in on himself, and with a smattering of pops that sounded like gunfire, his bear ripped out of him. Rae screamed as her arm was yanked forward. Jesse’s claws raked across her forearm, and the force of his change sent her sprawling between him and the wild bear. Wheezing for breath, she gripped the pine needles under her palms and looked up slowly. Jesse wasn’t in the handcuffs anymore. The metal had been mangled and only clung to her now.

The wild bear charged, and Jesse barreled over her. The sound of their clash wrenched a whimper from her throat.

“Is someone out there? Help us!” the girl cried out from somewhere behind the brush.

Adrenaline pumping through her system, Rae shot upward and bolted for the gnarled mass of brambles and logs that had likely washed up in a flood. Her headlamp shook with each jerky movement. Her knee and arm were on fire, but Jesse had told her to get the kids, and if he was going to fight for them, then so was she.

“Come on, come on, come on,” she chanted, pulling at the logs at the pile.

“In here,” the girl sobbed.

A log moved, and Rae pulled it with all of her strength. The sound of the brawling bears fueled her panic. Roaring and slapping, and she knew every claw against Jesse’s skin would make those same horrible marks that were on his shoulder. Injuries that would match her arm now that it dripped with warmth and burned like hellfire.

A girl’s face appeared behind the log, smudged and tearstained. “My brother’s hurt,” she said, voice trembling.

Rae threw two more of the logs out of the way and put her hands under the boy’s arms, then braced her legs and pulled. He wasn’t moving, but he was still warm to the touch and a soft moan came from his lips.

“The bear got him,” the girl whimpered. “We were trying to get in here for shelter, but it hurt him. Braylan was trying to protect me.”

“That bear is going to get us all if we don’t move. Let’s get out of here.”

Jesse had dragged the fight into the woods, but Rae could still hear the battle clear as day. What was she supposed to do now? She couldn’t just leave Jesse to whatever outcome a wild bear fight would bring him.

“Here, get under your brother’s other arm and help me drag him. There’s a radio somewhere over here. We have to call for help.”

The boy was heavy, and Rae had to strain her legs so they wouldn’t lock up on her. She frantically scanned the forest floor near the pile of Jesse’s discarded clothes and found the radio near a tall tuft of bunchgrass.

“Hello?” she asked. Jamming the button harder, she said, “Ethan or Landon or Reese or Tarran or anyone. We’ve found them. The boy is hurt and Jesse needs help. He’s in trouble. Please! Is anyone out there?”

“Where are you?” came Ethan’s voice over the speaker. Static followed, and she looked around, wide-eyed, as the beams of light from her hat illuminated the shadowy woods. Where was she? In the fucking forest! There weren’t exactly road signs.

“Rae, easy,” Ethan said in a soothing tone. “Look around. What do you see?” The sound of an engine revved just before the radio went to static again.

“The Snake River. We’re right on the bank.”
Think, think, think.
“We parked by the kids’ car in some sort of parking area. Reese and Tarran went south, so we went north.”

“Good girl. I’m coming. We’re all coming. Just keep those kids safe.”

Crimson trickled down the metal of the handcuffs as she lowered the boy to the base of a giant spruce tree. She raked the headlight from her hat over the claw mark across his chest and gasped. She really, really hated the sight of blood, and today had been bathed in it. The girl huddled close to her brother, a whimper eking from her throat with every breath. She looked around, her eyes huge and frightened, her curly hair wild and whipping in the wind.

“Everything is going to be okay. Courtney, right? I’m here, and my friend is in those woods protecting us, and we have a whole fleet of badass forest rangers on their way here right now. I’m just going to pick this branch up, and you stay there with your brother.”

Rae swallowed a lump in her throat and turned, holding the branch in front of her like a bat. “You motherfuckin’ motherfucker,” she muttered under her breath. “You better not come back.” Her voice sounded much stronger than she felt.

A movement on the edge of the woods had her jerking her light, but nothing was there. She couldn’t hear the bear fight anymore.

“Jesse, Jesse, Jesse, please be okay,” she murmured under her breath.

Another flash of movement pulled her attention, and she glanced to the right. Her light illuminated an enormous bear that stood just at the edge of the shadows, watching her. For the life of her, she couldn’t be sure it was Jesse and not the wild bear. They looked so much alike.

Her arm hurt so badly, but she fought to lift the branch higher, gritting her teeth against the pain. The sound of an engine echoed through the woods, and the bear twitched his head toward the noise. Apparently giving up, it backed into the shadowy woods, and Rae bit back tears of relief.

“Rae!” Ethan called, his voice booming. “Where are you?”

“We’re here!” Her voice cracked with emotion. “We’re by the riverbank.”

Minutes later, Ethan emerged from the tree line, and the branch sagged in her arms. The blond-haired woman, Reese, and another woman, Tarran, she assumed, followed and rushed to the children. Reese called out numbers, coordinates perhaps, into a radio at her shoulder while Tarran, knelt down with an oversized first-aid kit next to the boy.

“Jesse!” Ethan called, pacing the woods.

“There was a bear,” she said. Casting her gaze to the teenagers they’d just rescued, she lowered her voice and clarified, “A wild bear.”

Ethan frowned at her and grabbed Jesse’s pants from the ground, then threw them into the forest. “He’s fine then. Stay here and wait for him. I’m going to take the kids to where the medical team will come in.”

“What if he’s not fine?” Rae asked in a terrified, mousey voice.

“I’m okay,” Jesse called from somewhere in the woods.