Bear's Gold (Erotic Shifter Fairy Tales) (2 page)

With something following her, she
couldn’t go back the short distance to her car and lock herself inside so she
had to give it all she had and make it to the light.
Please, God let it be a
house.

The fierce pumping of her blood from
her heart filled her ears and the wind whipped across her body and face, making
it hard for her to decipher the sounds around her from hers or something else.
Her sneakers dug into the ground and slipped more than once but she refused to
stop. When she thought she heard a growl behind her, she made a misstep and
fell face down in the mud and debris. Scrubbing the woodland flooring from her
face and eyes, she rolled over, glancing in the dark as her hands searched the
ground to find her phone as she peered into the darkness.

She came across a broken branch
about the size of a club. Wrapping her hand around it she pulled it closer as
she used her free hand to locate her phone. When her fingers finally connected
with her slick cell, she quickly pushed the on button and waved the soft light
around wildly. Something was out her with here and she knew it in every fiber
of her bones. As she scrambled to her feet, she swore she saw eyes reflecting
in between on opening in the trees and a large dark form when light dimmed.
What
was that?

Pressing the button again, she aimed
it in the same direction, but didn’t see anything.

It was probably a deer. She tried to
tell herself as she moved backwards not wanting to turn her back on whatever
was out there.

What if it were a wolf?
A hungry wild dog ready to tear
into her and drag her back to his pack. But the shadow she had seen appeared
larger and wider than a wolf. She bumped into a tree, screamed then bit down
hard on her bottom lip to stifle anymore noises, and high-tailed it through the
woods.  Whatever was out there was not going to catch her easily. She refused
to give herself over like a silly woman in a horror movie.

Squeezing the branch just in case she
needed the makeshift weapon, she tried to protect her face and body from the
trees and bushes she ran through. However, she could feel the tearing of her
clothing and light jacket.

Finally, she broke through the grove
of trees and almost passed out with the relief when she saw the two-story log
cabin style home before her. The light she had seen was affixed to the front
porch. The house was dark with the exception of a soft glow coming from an
upstairs window.
Please let someone be home.

She crossed the twenty-foot distance
between her and the house, barely recalling her steps. Once she arrived at the
door she started pounding on it, hard enough to wake the dead, her mother would
have said, but this was not the time for good manners. Not with a hungry beast
on her trail.

~YH~

Theo heard the hard knocking on his
door that resembled the force of the beating going on in his chest. Grabbing
his jeans that lay haphazardly across the top of his washing machine, he pulled
them up quickly and moved through his house to the front.

Yanking open the door he stared at
the woman before him, covered from head to toe with mud and debris. He could
barely tell what her clothing or features looked liked she was so disheveled.
However, her outward appearance didn’t stop his body’s reaction. His heart rate
kicked up another notch and his mouth went from parched to salivating in
seconds. The worst of all was the fact that his skin felt tight as if it didn’t
belong to him, caused by the tension in his body. Flexing his hand, he attempted
to alleviate some of the tightness and keep himself under control.

“Thank goodness.” Her eyes stretched
wider and her hands began waving wildly around her as she looked from him to
behind her then turned back around as she attempted to communicate. “My car….broke
down.  Chasing…something… Wolf. Deer…run…cell…”

He’d never heard anyone speak so
fast and definitely not so incoherently. “Stop,” he growled low. “Take a breath
or two.”

Resting a hand on her chest, she did
just that. The breaths she was taking were so fast he was concerned that she
would pass out on his doorstep. “Come in and take a seat.”

Stepping back, he allowed her to
enter his home.

“Thank you.” She stopped only two
steps in the door.

“Take any chair you like.” He
frowned, wondering why she didn’t move forward. She was still breathing heavily
and swaying a little on her feet.

“I can’t see them. Can you please
turn on a light?”

Glancing over his shoulder, he
realized that with the exception of the glow coming from the porch light that
barely crossed the threshold of his door the house behind him was pitch black.
Used to moving around in the dark and low lighting without any problems, it
sometimes took him a moment to realize there weren’t lights on.

“One second.” Shutting the door,
darkening the interior even more for a moment, he flicked up the light switch
on the wall beside it.

When the light came on, he watched
her glance around his home. He wondered what she thought as she took in the
sight of the large plush area rug over his hardwood floor. Instead of a couch
and love seat like some of his friends had in their living room, he had three
recliners in a semi-circle before a large flat screen television. The reception
in most of Den County was nonexistent, forcing the residents to watch videos
for entertainment, especially during the winter months.

“I’m pretty filthy…” she glanced
down at herself.

“No worries, they're all leather and
can easily be wiped off.” Keeping a good distance from her, he led the way
deeper into the living room. “Please, sit.”

Following him, she got to the
sitting area and he watched her glance from one chair to another; one narrow, a
medium plush and the last one larger and wider than the other two.

Standing on the other side of the
oak wood coffee table before the chairs, he couldn’t help but feel the pride in
chest as she went to the middle chair and gingerly sat down. His chair.

“Tell me… Miss…” he allowed that to
drag out.

Hoping that she would not only fill
in her name, but also that she would not correct him and tell him she was
married.

“Riley is fine.” She rested a hand
on her chest and took another deep breath. Looking directly at him, her eyes
pierced him, intense.

The beating of his heart kicked up
another notch. He needed more distance. Stepping back, he leaned against the
wall beside his television, balancing on his shoulder. Clearly, he understood
what was happening to his body. Since he was a youth, he’d learned to control
it and over the last two years, he conquered stifling it. He’d do it again.
Especially around this strange woman.

“Okay, Riley, I’m Theo Kodiak,
welcome to my home. What brings you way out here in Den County?” Visitors in
the county never happened. It wasn’t a tourist location, campers didn’t even
venture into their area. He heard recently that the main road had ended up as
an obscure route down from Oregon, but rarely did even a single traveler take
it. Except for the county sign that led into their small town, there was
nothing else here to the unknowing wanderer.

“I was more or less passing through
it, when my tire blew and my car got mounted on a tree.”

Hearing that she’d had an accident
gave him a start. Concerned, he pushed slightly from the wall. “Are you
alright?”

Running a hand over her wild,
tangled locks and pulling the mass to one side, she nodded. “For the most
part.” She frowned and moved the hand away from her hair and held it out in
front of her. “I think I’m still a little shaken up. I think some kind of
animal was following me. Now I can’t seem to calm down.”

He saw the tremors in her hand and
noted the rapid pulse on the side of her neck. He knew what she had seen out
there, was completely aware what had followed her hasty path to his house. His
mind told him that it was a plausible reason for her response. However, his body
didn’t agree.

“Don’t worry, Riley, you’re safe. No
harm will come to you here.” He assured her.

Her gaze traveled from his face down
his bare chest and took in the jeans he wore, not fully fastened until she got
to his bare feet. He saw her swallow and lick her lips.

“Sorry for getting you out of bed,
Theo. I’ll be out of your hair soon, if I could just use your house phone, my
cell doesn’t have reception out here.”

“I don’t have one.”

“Excuse me?” She looked at him as if
he’d just grown horns and a tail.

He shrugged. “The county doesn’t
have service. We never had a need to get it installed out here.”

“Then how do you communicate…uh,
watch TV?” She gestured toward the plasma on the wall.

“DVDs and radio.”

Her hands shot up then slapped
loudly against her thighs. “It’s the technology age and you still use radios?”

“Den is a pretty small town and the
residents here live pretty simple lives. We have no problem in taking care of
our own needs.”

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to
offend you.”

“None taken.”

She dropped her head into her hands.
“I don’t know how I’m going to get help or call—”

“Your  boyfriend?”

 “Oh, no.” She looked fearful for a
moment, but the expression went away just as fast. “My family. I need to let
them know where I am.”

“I can take you into town tomorrow.
The sheriff’s office does have a landline there.”

“Great.” She stood up.

“They won’t be open until tomorrow.”

 “But it’s the sheriff.”

“It’s Den County.” He didn’t expect
her to understand, but the law in town was only to settle disputes, each person
could take care of their own safety. If not one on one, then with the help of a
friend.

“Are you injured anywhere?” He
allowed his gaze to travel along her body, keeping control not to linger to
long in any one area as he assessed for blood coming through anywhere.

She shook her head. “I’m fine. It’s
just my car.”

He nodded. “If you were, I would
have radioed in for help and woke both the doctor and Sherriff.”

“Okay.” She frowned, her brows
pinching toward the center. “If I can trouble you briefly to give me a ride
into town so I can get a room for the night, I’d appreciate it.”

“Can’t do that.” He took a step toward
her and ignored the increasing heat of his body.

“Why not?” Her shoulders dropped
looking defeated. “You don’t have a car…do you?”

“My truck is out back. Wheels aren’t
the problem.”

“What is?” Shadows clouded her eyes,
making them appear darker.

“No hotel in town,” he informed her.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

He kept his gaze on her face.
“Nope.”

“A bed and breakfast… something?”

“Sorry. Den is—”

“A small community,” she finished.

“We don’t get visitors.”

This time she shoved both her hands
in her hair and for a moment, he was concerned that she might try to rip it out
in her frustration.

“We have an extra bedroom.” He
pointed to the door on the other side of the living room. “I promise you will
be safe.”

“We?” She didn’t even glance in the
direction he pointed; instead she kept her gaze fixed on his.

He wondered if she was trying to
figure out the same thing that had plagued him earlier, his marital status. “My
two sons and I,” he clarified.

She clutched the thick waist ties of
her short jacket, that was more about fashion than about something that would
keep her warm in a few weeks when the weather dropped.

“I’m sorry. I was banging on your
door like a crazy woman. I hope I didn’t wake them.”

“Trust me those two haven’t mastered
the skill of light sleeping yet, so it’s fine.”

“Thank goodness.” She let out a
short laugh. “My brother always says once his children are out, they are like
hibernating bears.” Sitting in the quiet for a moment, as if in deep thought,
she finally said, “I guess I don’t have many options before me.”

“None I can think of.”

“Thanks for the offer.”

He didn’t comment on that. “I’ll show
you the room.”

Crossing the short distance with her
behind him, he arrived at the room and pushed open the door. Going in he
located the lamp and turned it on. “It’s not much, but the sheets are clean and
it’s comfortable.”

He was sure that the room didn’t
hold much appeal with its queen size bed, small dresser, and nightstand. It was
the room his in-laws used when they used to visit. They hadn’t come in years.

“It’s fine.” She looked down at her
clothes with the layer of dry mud caked to them. “I don’t have anything to change
into and I’d hate to get everything all dirty.”

“I can get you something to put on
for the night.”