Big Bear Mountain - The Complete Series (7 page)

A
s the chopper
descended into the small clearing, Jarrad, with Elle in his arms, ran toward
it. He ducked low to avoid the spinning rotors. Most people did that out of
habit, even though they were nowhere near tall enough for the blades to pose
any threat. Not so in Jarrad’s case.

Spider had already
been briefed by Jarrad earlier, as soon as he could get reception on his cell.
No flight plan had been filed and the evac was carried out completely off book.
Their lives were at stake, now, and that included Spider. The three of them
against a formidable enemy.

“Just like old
times, Preacher.” Spider could barely contain his enthusiasm.

“You don’t have to
sound so happy about it,” Jarrad responded into his mic as he tried to turn
around to make sure Elle was buckled in the back securely. She gave him the
thumbs up.

“What can I say? I
miss the action.” Both men made eye contact. They both missed it, in their own
ways.

“Have you told her
yet?” Spider jerked his thumb toward the back of the helicopter.

“How did you —”

Spider rolled his
eyes. “Come on, man, I saw the way you looked at her when we picked her up.
Don’t tell me you two love birds didn’t hook up all alone up there. So, does
she know?”

“We didn’t … well,
I couldn’t …”

“Oh shit! You mean
—”

“Yeah. She’s the
one.” Jarrad looked right into Spider’s eyes when he told him.

“Is that you or
the bear talking?”

“Both of us. He
scented her first and knew straight away. Me? I wasn’t so sure, but now I am.
She’s my mate.”

“Congratulations.
Took you long enough. Rosie and I were sure you’d given up looking.” Spider
gave Jarrad a good natured punch in the arm to make his point. “Seriously,
though, you haven’t told her?”

“I can’t. She
doesn’t want me and you know how it works. I can’t mate with someone who
doesn’t want to bond with me
and
my bear. I think I might have stuffed
things up, like I always do. The whole thing’s totally FUBAR.”

“Hello!”

Elle’s voice
crackled through the intercom. Spider and Jarrad looked at each other. Then
turned to look at Elle as she fiddled with the volume control on the headset
she’d found on the adjacent seat and put on, like she’d been shown during her
previous flight.

“Would one of you
like to explain to me what in the hell you’re both talking about?”

“W
ell, don’t all
talk at once …?” Elle glared at them both, making it clear she wasn’t letting
this go and demanded answers.

Jarrad didn’t know
where to start. He looked to Spider for backup. The look that crossed Spiders
face made it clear that even their friendship, hardened in the fierce heat of
battle, wasn’t going to draw him into the fray. Jarrad was very much on his
own.

“We’re landing in
ten minutes. I’ll explain everything once we get squared away and we organize
something more appropriate for you to wear.”

“And shoes. I need
shoes!” she shouted into the mic.

Jarrad recoiled
and pulled the headphones away from his ears.

W
hat passed as a
town in the Big Bear Mountain region looked more like a movie set from an old
Western movie to Elle. There was a post office, the HQ of the Mountain Rescue
Service, a general store, an outdoor clothing store and a diner. All in one
small wooden building. Above the diner was a small Bed and Breakfast catering
to those not interested in camping or climbing. Elle would have cried if she’d
not been so desperate for some warm clothing, a hairbrush and a decent pair of
boots.

“Come in dear,
come in,” Rosie took her by the arm as she stood at the front of the
multi-purpose building where Spider and Jarrad had left her before scattering
like cockroaches in an effort to avoid her interrogation.

“You’ve had quite
the adventure from what I’ve heard.”

“How did you hear
—”

“I’m the
dispatcher for the rescue crew. I also handle the postal service and own the
local supply stores and diner. Welcome to Big Bear Mountain, dear. Now, let’s get
you some proper outdoor clothing. You’ll catch your death in
that
outfit.”

Elle stopped
suddenly. “I don’t have any money ...” Her eyes brimmed with tears at the
thought of yet another vast hole in her survival and escape plan.

“Oh, we don’t
worry about stuff like that up here, dear. You’re not in the city now. Up here,
we’re just one big family and we look out for each other. I’m sure we can work
something out. You wouldn’t be the first to work off their tab with a few
chores.”

Elle was about to
say she had no intention of staying any longer than she had to in this tiny one
horse town, assuming it even had a horse, which she very much doubted. But
something stopped her. This kind old woman had a certain maternal air about her
and Elle warmed to her immediately. She saw no reason to dis the generous old
lady’s hometown, no matter how small it seemed.

“N
ow let’s see if we
can find you some good hiking boots to go with that country-girl outfit.” Rosie
rested her hands on her ample hips and nodded in approval when Elle was finally
dressed, ready to take on the great outdoors.

“I don’t really
plan on doing a whole lot of hiking,” she said doubtfully.

Looking at herself
in the mirror, though, she was pleasantly surprised that the outdoor apparel
suited her and even her soft curves looked good in the outfit Rosie had
insisted she wear.

“That’s pretty
much how we get around up here. There’s very few trails cars are allowed on, so
most of us get around on foot. You better get used to that, dear.”

City girl Elle
severely doubted that.

L
acing the big ugly
hiking boots, Rosie sat alongside Elle on a hard wooden bench which comprised
the ‘footwear department’.

“He’s a good man,
you know,” she said, not taking her eyes from the task at hand.

“Jarrad?”

“You know very
well who I mean. You think I haven’t noticed you peering out the window to
catch a glimpse of him out there every chance you get?”

“He’d be difficult
to miss.” Elle couldn’t resist another glance out the window, despite her
desire to prove Rosie wrong.

“Big man. Big
heart. That’s our Jarrad. Don’t let his rugged ways fool you. He’s a big cuddly
bear deep down.”

“Ah, yeah, about
that —”

“Has he told you
already?” Rosie cut her off.

“Why does everyone
keep asking that?” Elle squinted slightly as she stared Rosie down.

“It’s not my place
to tell you, dear.” She placed a comforting hand on Elle’s knee.

“I just wish I
knew what was going on. One minute we’re … well, having a moment, next thing,
he won’t let me even touch him. And then there’s the weird conversation he had
with Spider on the flight down here. Something about bears and mates. I
couldn’t work out if that was their military call sign nonsense or they were
for real.” Elle shook her head slowly, and then looked into Rosie’s eyes which,
despite their age, sparkled with wisdom.

“They weren’t
talking nonsense, dear. Jarrad is actually a bear. He’s a Grizzly Bear shifter,
like his daddy before him and proud of it.”

Elle waited for
Rosie to slap her on the knee, laugh and say ‘Gotcha’.

But she didn’t.

“D
on’t look so
surprised, dear.” Rosie kept threading the laces through the countless metal eyelets
as if she’d just announced Jarrad liked Bourbon instead of beer. As if it was
no big deal.

“You mean like
werewolves and all that stuff?” There was a word Elle never thought she’d be
saying out loud.

Werewolf?
Really?

“No, no, dear.”
Rosie rolled her eyes as if Elle had just said the most ridiculous thing ever.
“Big Bear Mountain has been the home of bear shifters for hundreds of years.
Maybe longer, nobody really knows for sure.”

“You mean there
are others who can … change into bears?”

“Of course.” She
finished lacing one boot, then picked up the other and started work on that
one.

“Can you?” she
asked, fascinated as the dexterous fingers of the old woman worked their magic.

“Oh, no. I’m not
the cub of a shifter. My grandfather was a hunter in these parts many, many
years ago. After he found out their secret, he vowed never to hunt again and he
settled here with my grandmother and opened this store to encourage hikers and
climbers to the area, instead of hunters.

“Now I’ve brought a different kind of
hunter into this quiet, peaceful place.” Her glanced toward the window again
and this time she caught sight of Jarrad walking toward the store with a
ridiculously large crate slung on his shoulder like it was nothing.

He looked like an action movie hero, but he
was right here, in real life and he looked, to Elle, like sex on a stick.

“W
hat’s in the
crate,” Elle asked, proud of herself for pretending she couldn’t care less that
the man she was falling for could, at any minute, turn into a giant grizzly
bear.

Jarrad was
sporting an ear to ear grin. He’d either just got laid or the crate contained
the tech he’d mentioned earlier. Elle doubted he’d just got laid, but she
reserved judgement until after she saw the contents of the crate.

Half expecting him
to find a crowbar to crack open the screwed down lid of the wooden box, Elle
wasn’t in the least surprised when he simply hooked his fingertips under the
edge of the lid and tore it off the box like it was made of cardboard. Inside
the box, nested in foam recesses were a bunch of cables, an antenna, something
that looked like a cross between a laptop computer and a tablet and another
item that she didn’t recognize.

“This bunch of
junk looks like something you bought at a Baggage Battles auction,” she said
with disappointment in her voice. She had hoped to see a high tech rocket
launcher or something equally bad-ass to fire at the cartel goons next time they
showed up.

“This,” Jarrad
announced proudly, “is our BMW finder. He waved his hand over the contents of
the crate like a magician performing his big reveal.

“And just how do
we do
that
,” she pointed to the assortment of junk in the box, “with
that
?”

“This so called
bunch-of-junk is a long range RFID reader. I had Spider ‘borrow’ it from an
army buddy. We can use it to pinpoint the exact location of the Bimmer. Or
what’s left of it, anyway.”

There was
something particularly cute about a colossal, hardened army man getting his
geek on and becoming so theatrical when explaining his new toy. Elle was barely
able to contain herself.

Rosie and Elle
remained silent and unmoved by the riveting explanation, forcing Jarrad to
continue before the awkward silence became unbearable.

“Every European
car has a transponder built into the key as part of its EWS – Electronic
Watchdog System. Without the transponder, the car won’t start. Your key was in
the ignition, so the key should be in or near the remnants of the car, right?”

Elle nodded, still
unsure where this was leading.

“OK,” he
continued, “so this RFID reader can be configured to 315Mhz so it can pick up
the signal from your transponder. There can’t be too many Bimmer’s lying around
at the bottom of the mountain, so it shouldn’t be too hard to zero in on the
signal and retrieve the SD card.”

Jarrad smiled when
he saw her face light up at the recognition that his plan could actually work.

Maybe he’s
smarter than he looks
.

Without warning,
Elle laced her fingers behind Jarrad’s head, pulled him down to her level and
gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“What are we
waiting for? Let’s go Bimmer prospecting!”

Jarrad looked at
Rosie as she smiled knowingly at them.

Despite being
confused by Elle’s change of attitude since last night and the incident in the
helicopter, Jarrad had business to attend to. Understanding the ebbs and flows
of a woman’s emotional state would have to wait, for now.

Breaking free of
the awkward embrace, Jarrad said, “Rosie, I need to get in touch with that
grandson of yours.”

“A
re you sure this is going to work?”

They’d been at it for 3 hours and Elle was
beginning to lose faith in the plan. Jarrad’s confidence appeared  steadfast,
but she knew that was just the military leader in him shining through.

“Of course it’ll work. We just have a lot
of ground to cover, that’s all. Be patient.” He needed to give her something
else to think about.  “How’re the new boots working out?” he asked.

“Not exactly the Jimmy Choo style I’m used
to, but they seem to work just fine,” she conceded.

“Jimmy who?”

“Never mind,” she sighed.

“Rosie told you, didn’t she?” Jarrad,
curious about Elle’s change in attitude,  had asked Rosie how much she had said
during the time they’d spent together.

“Some,” Elle replied. “She didn’t seem too
keen to talk about the bonding and mating stuff, though. Apparently, you and I
need to have that talk.”

Jarrad continued waving the antenna back
and forth as he walked across the rocky terrain, unsure how to answer the
question Elle left hanging. He’d never had to have ‘the talk’ before. He didn’t
want to have it now, but he had no choice. This was his mate. The mate chosen
by his bear, who somehow just
knew
she was ‘the one’.

“Bears mate for life. You get that, right?”
he began.

“Sure. I watch Discovery Channel, you
know,” she replied seriously.

“The bear uses its sense of smell to find
the perfect mate,” he continued. “They’re almost never wrong.”

“Almost never?” Elle quizzed.

“OK, never, then,” he conceded. “Not among
our clan, anyway.”

Jarrad took Elle’s arm and helped her over
a patch of loose rocks and tree roots before continuing.

“Neither the bear nor the human can
actually mate
—”

“You’re talking
about sex, right?”

“Yeah.” Jarrad
looked uncomfortable and started to take his antenna waving duties more
seriously.

“Sorry, I didn’t
mean to interrupt. Go on …”

“Before we even
get to the sex part of the whole deal, there’s a bonding ritual. The chosen
mate has to choose to bond with the bear and become its mate before the human
couple can actually have sex.”

“I think I get it.
You’re saying I have to accept your bear if you and I are to be … together?”

“Kind of.” Jarrad
shrugged his shoulders, unsure how to proceed.

“What am I
missing?” Elle asked, placing her hand on his chest to halt his search for the
missing car.

Her hand found his
rock solid pec, and she recalled how good his muscles felt under her hands last
night. Before he rejected her.

“You have to touch
my bear and not be afraid of it.” There, he’d come out and said it. Relief
crossed his face.

“Oh.”

“See, I knew this
would happen. It’s one thing for my bear to find what he thinks is my mate for
life, but that doesn’t suddenly make a human unafraid of a giant bear and want
to touch it.”

“But you pushed me
away last night. That’s the thing I don’t get. All this stuff about your bear —
I don’t believe I just said that, by the way — means nothing if
you
don’t want me.”

“I do. That’s why
I pushed you away last night.”

“Oh right. And
that makes perfect sense because …” Elle rested her hands on her hips, waiting
for an explanation. And a damn good one, at that.

“That’s what I’ve
been trying to tell you, bears mate for life and only mate or have sex with
their lifelong mates.”

Elle held up her
hand to halt the flow of the conversation. She thought for a moment.

“So, if I can’t
accept and bond with you when you’re in your bear form, then you and I can’t
have sex?”

Finally
, Jarrad thought, but kept his mouth shut
and his best poker face on.

“Can I have a peek
at it?”

Jarrad’s gaze fell
to his crotch.

“You idiot!” Elle
snapped. “Your bear! I want to see you shift into a bear. You can’t blame a
girl for being a bit curious, can you?”

“Or a bit
skeptical, maybe?”

Raising her hands
in surrender Elle confessed, “Maybe a little skeptical. Can you blame me?”

“Of course not.”
Jarrad raised his brows. “You really sure you want to do this? It can be pretty
scary and I don’t mean just the first time, either.”

“You … your bear …
you know what I mean, you’re not going to hurt me, are you?” she asked
cautiously.

“There’s nothing
me or my bear wouldn’t do to protect you and keep you safe. There’s no way
either of us could ever hurt you, in any way.” He gave her a look that made her
feel that he meant more than just physical harm.

Having come from a
dysfunctional and interfering family, Elle was touched by the warmth behind
Jarrad’s words. Nobody had ever cared for her or about her, without ulterior
motives, before. She liked how that made her feel. Selflessly cared for and
protected. Maybe even loved?