The Bear In Me: A BBW Bear Shifter Romance (6 page)

BOOK: The Bear In Me: A BBW Bear Shifter Romance
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CHAPTER FIVE

 

The call came in late afternoon on Sunday while Sam was busy at Lily’s cabin. Apparently, a message had been picked at the Fairbanks airport, and Lily was the first to hear about it when she overheard something at the café. She’d quickly put both new interns in control of the café and had sprinted back down to the cabins.

 

Sam was just coming out from under the sink when she burst in, tears in her eyes and breathing hard, and Sam had to sit her down on the wooden stool by the kitchen table until she could get her breath back enough to speak clearly.

 

“Settle down, Lil! It’s okay, just tell me, what’s going on?”

 

“It’s the plane,” Lily said, breaking into fresh tears, and her shoulders quaked.

 

“What about the plane?” he asked more seriously.

 

“The Fairbanks Airport picked up a message from them, a mayday. Something about a propeller malfunction … then the radio cut out. The Army’s already been alerted; they’re supposed to be sending in a search and rescue team in a few hours!”

 

Sam was visibly jolted and grabbed Lily by both shoulders and held her, his hands becoming like vices until at last she let out a little squeak of pain and he snapped out of it and released her immediately.

 

“I’m…I’m sorry,” he blurted, wide-eyed.

 

Lily stood up and gave him a hug, wrapping her tiny arms around him. “Sam,” she could only breathe, “what are we going to do?”

 

Sam stood there for a long time, and Lily could tell that he was in shock. She had always suspected the connection between Emily and one of her oldest friends since childhood. As she clung to him now and placed her head against his chest, she could hear his heart like a hammer, trying to pound its way out of him. He was afraid, and that scared her because she’d never known Sam to be scared of anything. He was like a rock, even when the rest of the world shook around him. But now, he was paralyzed, unable to move from the spot.

 

“Sam, wh-”

 

“I’m going to find her,” he interrupted before she could finish her sentence, and she pulled back and gave him a look.

             

“How?”

             

“Get your coat,” he murmured.

             

Sam ran two stop signs and a red light on the way to the Fairbanks Airport with Lily beside him. She held on for dear life but was too stricken by the look and intensity in Sam’s face to argue or say anything until he had signed them in and they were sitting in the cockpit of his Cessna again.

             

“You remember your lessons I gave you?” He asked, turning the ignition and waiting for clearance to take off.

             

“Uh…yeah,” she said, with less certainty. Sam had of course taken her up numerous times, and even tried to teach her how to fly. She wasn’t confident, but she could do it if she had to -- especially if it meant saving Emily.

             

“If they went down, it should be easy to find them. Al never strays from the flight path. That’s not the problem. The problem is getting to them… if they’re still alive,” Sam choked on his words and his hands tightened around the planes steering column.

             

“It’s Al,” Lily said, trying to comfort him. “If anyone can land a plane safely, it’s him.”

             

“Yeah,” Sam replied without conviction. A voice muttered something in his earpiece and he pulled back on the throttle and the small Cessna plummeted down the tarmac.

             

Lily was in charge of monitoring the airwaves as they beelined toward Trapper Creek – according to the Ielson Air Force base south of town, they’d already dispatched a helicopter to try and locate the scene of the wreckage or to ascertain what had happened. At their current speed, they’d arrive at Trapper Creek about a quarter of an hour ahead of them. Sam grit his teeth and increased the speed of the plane, so that the engines thrummed like wild beasts off their chains, deafening the cockpit. Lily felt another knot tighten in her stomach and looked across at Sam. He had changed. It was a side of him she had seen before, but not for a long time.

             

It was the Bear, the side of him that had come out in their childhood when Lily had been persecuted by the older boys and girls at school. It was the look that Sam had given their classmates when he’d found Lily one day after gym, crying in the corner because some of the older students had tossed stones at her, opening a gash under her eye. She could still remember that day, the way he had picked her up in both arms and wordlessly carried her to the nurse’s office. She had only heard rumors about it the next day. That Sam had walked briskly up to the two older boys responsible, asked them in a low calm voice what they had done, and then proceeded to pummel both of them almost into unconsciousness.

             

Sam had been suspended for a week but the boys had never bothered Lily again. When he came back, he was all-smiles again, that cheery façade that he wore for her benefit. But every time she saw him look at the two boys (who never failed to hurry out of Sam’s way from then on), she had seen a new look pass across his features – the protective glare of a Bear hungering for blood.

             

As they passed over Trapper Creek, another call came in across the radio and Lily motioned to Sam. The helicopter had found the wreckage of the plane, and it looked intact, but the forest was too dense to try a rescue and a storm was coming in from the north. They could already see it, a black threat of grey on the horizon, moving fast.

             

Sam took the plane into a nose-dive, increasing speed as they buzzed over the wilderness until at last they could make out the orange of the helicopter returning to base in order to mount a rescue by foot.

             

“It’ll take them nearly a day to reach the plane,” Sam grimaced.

             

“What are you going to do?” Lily said.

             

He didn’t reply immediately but did another fly-by. Sure enough Al’s plane was there, a white gleaming piece of metal in the forest. There were no other signs of life, and both Lily and Sam tried to allay their fears.

             

“I’m going to do something stupid, Lily, and I need you not to argue.” He replied.

             

“When you do something stupid, it’s really stupid,” she said disapprovingly, “what are you thinking?”

             

As they passed by the wreckage of the plane below, Sam diverted the plane over a small body of water, a deep river that wound its way into Denali National Park ahead of them, like a blue tract of vein leading into the tissue of forest.

             

“If they’re hurt down there, they don’t have a day to wait. I can’t wait for the rescue party to try and get there on foot. That storm is going to be here in a matter of hours.”

             

“You didn’t answer my question,” Lily said, turning her wide cheeks toward him. She looked worried.

             

Sam shrugged and let out a big sigh. “When we’re in Form, we’re a lot stronger and more durable. Technically, if we’re flying low enough over that river, I should be able to…” he paused, “…jump. It’ll be a hard landing, but I can survive it.”

             

“No,” Lily said flatly.

             

“There’s no other way.”

             

“You’re talking about suicide, Sam!” Lily bleated.

             

“We protect our own,” he reminded her, “I’ll get us in a flight pattern over the river. You just keep it steady. When I jump, you head back to Trapper Creek and you
stay
there. Do you understand?”

             

“Sam,” she shook her head again.

             

He reached over and touched the top of her head fondly. “I’m too stubborn to die.” He said softly, “and you’d kill me twice-over if I don’t fix your plumbing.”

             

It was a bad joke, but Lily let out a little sob and nodded, placing her hands on the second steering column as Sam made a last pass and dove in low over the ravine. The river had a straight patch for almost a kilometer, but it was still mind-numbing to be this close to the ground. Trees flashed by dangerously on either side as they hovered meters above the raging torrent. Sam let go of the controls and jumped into the back of the plane, opening the side door. A gust of cold wind slammed hard into both of them as Lily tried to hold the plane steady.

             

“Save her.” Lily said once over her shoulder.

             

Sam merely nodded and tore off his shirt, already half-transforming. The plane swerved slightly to the left as he turned into the Bear, the extra weight displacing the center of balance, and Lily grunted and tried to correct. Then, Sam jumped.

             

He was still only half in Form when he leapt out of the plane, and as he struck the cold glacial run-off he couldn’t help but let out a growling gasp. The torrent ripped at his muscly hide, flattening the dark brown pelt of hair. He growled again, and his muzzle burst from the water as he clawed at the water, trying to tread water. A stone under the water slammed into his side and he let out a moan and dug in with his huge claws.

             

In a matter of minutes he had dragged himself onto the shore. The buzz of the plane overhead shook the air and he looked up and saw Lily making a last pass, and saw her smiling in relief through the window of the cockpit.

             

He lifted his nose to the air and tested the scents. Smoke, metal. Instinct kicked in and he started to run, blitzing up the bank and into the cool shade of the canopy, his paws tearing up the earth as he ran. Desperation locked into his bloodstream as he ran, huffing every step of the way, his massive lungs filling with the smells of the forest.

             

Only one image burned itself against the inside of his mind.
Emily
.

 

It took him less than twenty minutes to find the wreckage site. The plane was still intact, but he approached warily. If the hunters were still there, seeing a giant bear would definitely arouse suspicion. As he bore down on the back of the plane he kept sniffing the air. Emily and Al’s scent was present but he couldn’t hear any movement.

             

As he rounded the plane his heart sunk – leaning against the side of the plane was Al, and he looked in a bad way. He was propped up against the metal and holding his side. When he saw the giant bear his old eyes widened in panic, but quickly died down again when he seemed to recognize the tawny face staring back at him. Sam shrunk out of Form quickly.

             

“Figured you’d find us first.” Al winked.

             

It was something Sam had taken for granted. Al had always known about him and Lily, about the others. He was a vault of secrets, things he’d take to his grave.

             

“Al, Christ, what happened?” Sam said, bending down, his naked haunch brushing a piece of sharp metal.

             

“Rotor caught,” he murmured painfully, “don’t worry, it’s just a bruised rib, I’ll be fine. You need to go and find Emily, quick as can be.”

             

“Where is she??” he asked.

             

“When we landed, she hit her head… you didn’t tell me she was a Bear, too. She turned, transformed.”

 

Sam cursed. It wasn’t uncommon, when thrown into danger, for the Bear to react unconsciously. Especially if she had been wounded at all, the natural inclination of the body was to revert into a Bear in order to protect itself. Emily had much practice in the last month with her own transformation, but she was still unaccustomed to it – especially under duress.
In all likelihood, she transformed by accident, and can’t transform back
, he thought.

 

“I think it scared her,” Al continued, “… but not nearly as much as the two hunters in the back. When they woke up and saw the bear, they figured the worst… that the bear had come and killed Emily and made off with her. The yuppy bastards… took after her, like they were going to avenge Emily.”

             

“By killing her in Bear form,” Sam winced.

             

“Go,” Al said, with a wheeze, “I saw the ‘copter.”

             

“There’s a storm coming.”

             

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