Bear With Me: Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (10 page)

BOOK: Bear With Me: Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance
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Jamie lay slumped on his back as he walked. He could feel her breath on his ear, warm in the cold rain. When they came in sight of the tree that had destroyed the condors’ nest, she suddenly stirred and say up.

“Stop! Look!”

Mark followed her pointing arm across the water. There, clinging to the fallen tree, just above the waterline, were the two condors.

No. Three condors.

Now Mark understood why Jamie had been in the water. She had been trying to save the baby bird.

The water was still rising. Much further, and the chick and its parents would be swept away.

He could feel Jamie’s hands clutching at his shoulders. More than that, he could sense her anguish.

She wouldn’t ask him. She couldn’t.

But he could still do it. For her.

Mark sat down on his hindquarters and shrugged gently. Jamie slid off his back, her hands still holding tightly to him.

“What? Why are—oh.” Her eyes widened. “Mark, you don’t—you don’t have to.” She took a deep, shaking breath. “It’s only—it’s only a bird,” she said weakly, as though just saying the words was draining life out of her.

Mark shook his head. As Jamie watched, he strode back to the river.

His bear coat might be thick, but as he entered the river this time, he felt the cold seeping through to his bones. He struck out towards the fallen tree with its lonely passengers. The birds croaked half-heartedly as he approached, too cold and weary themselves to attack.

The chick was shivering between their feet. Water was just slopping over the edge of the pile of leaves it was standing on. The parents tried to push it further up the trunk of the tree to safety, but it was too weak. Every time its parents nudged it on, it fell back down.

Mark reached out with one paw—and stopped.

Paw, not hand.

Claws, not fingers.

This was going to be a problem. Mark’s bear form was built for strength and resilience—not so much picking up delicate baby birds.

Mark maneuvered himself just upstream of the fallen tree, so the current of the river was pushing him into the branches. He concentrated, and felt his bear form fall away as he shifted back into human shape. Instantly, cold hit him like a wall.

The condor chick’s parents were hopping from foot to foot anxiously. They had retreated when Mark swam up to their refuge. Now they were watching him with beady, suspicious eyes. Mark hoped that once he grabbed their chick, they would fly off of their own accord—and ideally not dive-bomb him.

“Here goes nothing,” he grunted, and scooped up the bedraggled nestling.

The chick’s downy feathers were saturated and cold, but under them he could feel its tiny heart beating like a drum. He cradled it to his bare chest, trying to share his own warmth with the baby bird.

Not that he had much warmth to share.

Mark looked up. The condors had been nesting in a crack in the rock. While their old nest had been completely swept away, the fissure crawled further up the cliff, away from the water.

With one mighty heave he pushed upwards, feeling the tree-trunk collapse under him as he used it for leverage. He tipped the tiny scrap of down onto the ledge, and, as the log disappeared beneath him, fell backwards into the water.

He was prepared for this. The cold water stung, but he twisted and struck out once again into the river. The water pulled at his body. His human shape was strong and fit—but without the sheer power of his bear.

The cold bit into him, bone-achingly deep. Mark felt his muscles begin to weaken, and then slow. He forced himself on with sheer force of will, but knew he could only go on for so long. His head dipped under the water, once, twice. Spluttering, he pushed forward in one final, massive effort.

Small hands grabbed his arm, then hooked under his armpits to pull him out of the water. Stones crunched under his knees, and then he was falling again, falling into warmth and safety and Jamie’s arms.

“Why didn’t you change back?” Jamie’s voice was choppy with cold and fear. “You should’ve—oh, hell, you’re frozen.”

She rubbed his arms and chest with brisk strokes. Mark felt warmth begin to seep back into his limbs, even through the pounding rain and lingering chill of the river.

“Come on. A—a bear’s pelt is going to be warmer for you than this. Please. Change back!”

* * *

JAMIE

 

Jamie woke up—to her immediate regret. Her body felt like the wildebeest stampede from
The Lion King
had taken a detour over her on the way to stomp Simba. God, this was worse than the hangover she’d had after Kes’s wedding. And she was willing to bet whatever caused it was way less fun than celebrating her best friend’s marriage.

A sudden memory of being tossed around by the river swept over her, so strong she almost choked. The rocks on the riverbed might as well have been hooves, the way they had pummeled her. And the water…

She took a deep breath, just to prove to herself that she could.

The fresh air was as good as a shot of caffeine. Brain still sluggishly reviewing the events of the previous day, Jamie pushed herself into a sitting position. Muscles groaning, she leaned back and rested against what she assumed was her pack.

Images flashed through her mind as she pieced together what had happened the day before. She remembered wading through the rising river to get the nestling to safety, and slipping into the water. She took another deep breath as that particular memory surfaced.

So, she’d slipped, and then—okay, fast-forward the screaming horror of being trapped underwater—and then…

Jamie frowned. Mark had been there? Well, that would explain why she had woken up in her tent, and not on the banks of the river. It probably explained why she’d woken up at all. But how had he…?

Jamie pushed back against her pack for balance as she tried to get to her feet, but instead of sturdy nylon her hands met thick, rough fur. At the same time, she realized that whatever was behind her was warm, and breathing—and huge.

Jamie screamed and leapt away, colliding with the side of the tent with a loud
ri-i-i-i-i-ip
. She stumbled, landing on her butt half-in, half-out of the tent just as the huge creature woke up. Brown eyes shone in the sun streaming through the hole in the tent.

The bear yawned, revealing long, white fangs.

Three things happened then.

First, the conservationist part of Jamie’s brain thought:
Wow! A brown bear! We haven’t had any reports of those in this area!

Second, the part of Jamie’s brain that had been sluggishly connecting the dots of her memories thought:
Ohhh, now I remember…

…But not in time to stop the third thing, which was that she started screaming blue murder.

“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!”

Jamie back-rolled out of the tent and scrambled backwards until she came up short against a tree. The tent collapsed in front of her, then billowed up as the bear rose to its feet.

“MURRRRROOOOOMMMMM?” came a booming grumble from the tent, and then the yellow nylon subsided again.

“Oh, my God,” Jamie murmured. She stood up, keeping the tree at her back.

Brown bears are unable to climb trees when fully grown, due to their weight
, Jamie’s helpful interior monologue blithered. She tensed against the rough bark.

She could climb the tree. She might only be wearing a T-shirt and undies, and still be creaking with aches and pains, but adrenaline trumped achy muscles any day.

But even though her heart was thudding in her ears, she held her ground. Those flashes of memory from yesterday were starting to fall into place, and the picture they made was … incredible.

Whatever was inside the tent stopped moving.

“Mark?” Jamie called, tentatively.

The yellow nylon shifted, as though something was trying to find its way out. Something that was definitely smaller than a bear. Jamie held her breath.

“Jamie?”

Mark’s head emerged from the ruined tent. Half-fighting his way out, he stepped forward and stumbled slightly. Jamie rushed forward to steady him and, as he straightened, their eyes met.

All the breath left Jamie’s body in a rush. She remembered everything. Even encouraging him to shift back into a bear to ward off hypothermia.

So, it had been her fault she’d woken up next to a bear, after all.

“I feel like I have some explaining to do,” Mark said hesitantly.

“You’re a
bear
,” Jamie breathed. “You saved my life! And you can turn into a bear.”

Her brain didn’t feel capable of making longer sentences than that at the moment, so with the basics covered, she flung her arms around his shoulders and pulled him down into a passionate kiss.

As a bear, the only thing Mark had been wearing was the tent, and however the whole bear-human transformation thing worked, it clearly didn’t include magicking up clothes. Jamie’s hands drifted across his shoulders, down the strong lines of his back, to the delicious, muscular curve of his waist and behind. She stood on her tip-toes, pushing her body up against his, and—

“Jamie.” Mark’s voice was muffled as he trailed kisses across her skin. “Jamie, I really do think I should explain before … Oh, Goddammit.”

He placed both hands on her shoulders and, gently, pushed her away. Jamie looked up at him, her lips burning.

“Oh,” she said. “It was happening again, wasn’t it?”

Mark ran his fingers through his hair, leaving strands stuck up in all directions.

“Yep. And, again, not that it wasn’t great, but…”

“…Explanations.” Jamie nodded, started to reach out to touch Mark’s arm—strictly platonically, just to show how much she understood and agreed with what he was saying—then, realizing what she was doing, crossed her arms firmly in front of her chest.

Mark did the same.

Jamie licked her lips. Mark’s biceps looked
amazing
when he crossed his arms.

“So. As I was saying … I … Uhh…” said Mark.

Jamie shook her head. “What? Sorry, I was, uhh…” She blushed.

Mark groaned. “I can’t believe this. Maybe we should tie ourselves to separate trees after all, if we’re going to focus on having this conversation.”

“Tying me to a tree isn’t going to do anything to stop my imagination,” Jamie said promptly. “And tying
you
to a tree…”

“…Yes?” Mark prompted her after a moment’s silence.

“…Would
also
be very distracting,” Jamie finished decisively. “Okay, seriously, this is
ridiculous.
I am going to turn around, and sit down and look at this tree, and not think about anything else while you explain to me about the bear thing.”
I hope
, she added to herself.

Jamie got comfortable on the leafy ground.
Okay, girl, time to focus
, she told herself.
For real, this guy is some sort of werewolf-bear … were-bear?... and all you can think about is jumping his bones for the millionth time? What is wrong with you?

“Right,” she said out loud. “Let’s go.”

She heard rustling behind her, and forced herself not to turn around. Eventually, Mark spoke.

“Okay,” he began, his voice muffled.

Jamie sneaked a peek. Mark was lying on his back on the forest floor, his arms folded over his face.

“So, I’m a bear. A bear shifter. Which means—”

“—you can shift into a bear?”

“It’s more than that. It’s not just another shape—the bear is a part of me. Even when I’m human, I can feel it, and when I’m bear-shaped, my human self is there, too.” He groaned. “Is this making any sense?”

“Not a lot,” replied Jamie happily. She realized she was leaning closer to Mark, and scooted back towards the tree. “I mean, how did it happen? Did you get bit by a radioactive bear, or something?”

Mark laughed. “That would make a
way
better story. Nah, it’s genetics, actually. At least, so far as we can make out.”

“Genetics?”

Leaves rustled as Mark shrugged his shoulders.

“It’s not really my area, but one of my cousins is looking into it, why some families are all shifters, and others only produce shifters some of the time, or every other generation, or—”

“Wait, wait.” Jamie whirled over and placed her hand over Mark’s mouth before he got any further. “What do you mean,
families?
Your bear thing isn’t a one-off?”

Mark nibbled on her fingertips before answering. “N-nooo … Hey, what happened to sitting by the tree?”

She waved his protestation away. “You’re telling me your whole family are were-bears … Er, were-shifters? Bear shifters?”

Her mind whirred as fast as a hummingbird’s wings. The implications of this were incredible. Human beings, who could turn into colossal predators, but still retain their human mind and intelligence?

BOOK: Bear With Me: Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance
8.08Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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