Forbidden Love: A BBW, BWWM Paranormal Romance (2 page)

“
Is that a wolf or a werewolf?” Mike asked.

“
It’s a werewolf, I’m pretty sure,”
Bud answered quietly. Alex growled in response, a mistake. Bud’s
eyes narrowed knowingly. “We’re leaving, wolf. We’re
going.”

“
I think my ribs are broken. Help me up, guys,”
Carl murmured, pain in every word. His arm was bleeding as badly as
the werebear’s leg. Neither would die from their injuries, but
both needed medical help.

Mike helped Carl get to his feet and pulled him out of
the clearing. Bud was the last to leave; he knelt to pick up the gun
Alex had knocked from his hand, his eyes never leaving the wolf’s
as he walked into the forest.

Alex turned to the werebear, who had been strangely
silent as it watched the scene unfold. He stepped away from it,
watching it as it watched him.

*****

Alice
had been astonished when the werewolf jumped into the clearing,
snarling loudly, menacingly, sending shivers down her spine. She
could imagine the humans crushing fear as they stared at this
magnificent, growling beast. She’d watched as the wolf threw
one of the men across the clearing and circled to put himself between
her and the other two poachers, knocking the rifle out of the big
one’s hands. And to her complete amazement, the men backed away
slowly, helping their fallen friend up before escaping the wolf’s
ferocious paws.

She
flinched when the werewolf turned to stare at her. She watched him
warily, waiting for him to leave so she could transform into her
human form and bind her wound. She’d have to leave the forest
as a human, which could prove awkward, but that was her only option.

Alice
grunted and tossed her head at the werewolf, indicating he should
leave, but he didn’t move. He kept staring at her as if making
a decision. She stared back, growing impatient and a little angry at
him, but she couldn’t communicate with him in bear form.
I’m
sure as hell not changing into my human form in front of him,
she thought. He may have saved her from the poachers, but that didn’t
mean she was safe from him. Hatred ran deep between her clan and his
pack, assuming he was with the werewolf pack in this area. If not,
she trusted him even less.

She
looked down at her wound, then up at him, trying to indicate to him
that she needed to tend to her wound. She nodded her head at him
again, and then moved her eyes to the left, hoping he’d go back
the way he had come. No luck.

Before
her eyes, a handsome man appeared, chiseled abs, a beautiful face,
and dark hair. She stared with her big brown eyes, memorizing every
feature.

“I’m
Alex. I know what you are. I can help you with the gunshot wound, if
you’ll let me,” he said, pointing at her leg. “You’ll
have to turn into a human, though.”

Alice’s
astonishment only increased at his words. Why would he, a werewolf,
help her, a werebear? She shook her massive head at him and raised a
paw to wave him away from her.

He
shook his own head, exasperated by her behavior. “I know you
don’t trust a werewolf, and I don’t blame you. But
there’s no way you’re going to make it back to your clan
without help and you know it. Let me help you, and then you can be on
your way.”

Alice
debated the lucidity of his words. She looked at the wound; the
bullet was still lodged in it, and she had lost a lot of blood. She
didn’t want to admit it, but she could tell she was weakened by
the loss. She stared at him and made her decision.

*****

When
the werebear finally shifted into its human form, Alex’s eyes
widened in surprise. A woman stared up at him. Her chocolate skin was
almost the same color as the fur that covered her body as the
werebear, and her beautifully ample body was perfectly shaped. Her
eyes, the brown of a squirrel’s fur, stared at him defiantly.

“Why
did you save me, wolf?” she asked almost angrily.

“Well,
aren’t you sweet?” he replied sarcastically. He looked at
her thigh where the wound gaped and oozed, and she covered it with
her hand. He was hesitant to touch her.

“Don’t
stare at me. It’s rude,” she snapped at him, shifting to
sit up so she could get a better view of her leg. She gasped in pain
when she moved even that little bit, her lips thinning and paling
simultaneously.

Alex
bent down to help her when she’d gasped. She jerked her eyes up
to him. He tilted his head and asked, “Are you going to let me
help you?”

She
sighed, her eyes boring into his to see if she could trust him.
Finally she relented and moved her hand. Alex studied the wound,
gently probing the area with his fingers, ignoring her glare, but
looking up when she gasped again.

“I’m
sorry,” he mumbled.
This close her eyes
are beautiful,
he thought. He shook his head
at the ridiculousness of the thought. “So, what’s your
name?”

She
looked up at him. Her eyes had been watching his long fingers on her
thigh. “My name is Alice.”

“What
were you doing out here? You’re very close to my pack’s
camp.” He’d stopped touching her wound and was looking at
her.

“I
didn’t know I was close to your pack’s camp,” she
said brusquely. “I hadn’t been out in the woods for a
while and needed some time in nature. I actually started far from
here, probably two miles.” She nodded her head towards the
east.

“You’ll
never make it two miles on this leg, Alice.” She liked the way
he said her name, but told herself she shouldn’t. “If you
want, I can take you to our camp and my mother can look at your leg.”

“I
don’t think that’s a good idea. Can you get me to my
car?”

“I
walked here; my truck is at camp. I can’t carry you two miles,”
Alex said quietly. He was still kneeling next to her, his face only
inches from hers. A moment of silence passed while they stared at
each other; he stood up abruptly. “Let me take you to my camp.
I promise no harm will come to you. My mother will look at your wound
and then I’ll drive you to your car.”

Alice
hesitated. “How will you get me there? I tried to put weight on
my leg and it won’t take any.”

“I
can carry you if you stay in human form. I’ll transform into a
wolf,” he explained. She stared at him, incredulous, and
snorted. “I know you won’t like that, but that’s
your best option.”

“You’re
right, I don’t like it,” she mumbled. “But I also
don’t have a choice. I can’t get myself out of this.”

He
smiled at her for the first time. His face lit up with it, and the
smile crinkled his eyes in that way that makes a man look sexy. She
stared at him, mesmerized by the beauty of his smile and the kindness
in his eyes. Some of her doubt and fear melted away. She returned his
smile with her own.

“Thank
you, Alex.”

“You’re
welcome, Alice.” He moved away from her and warned, “Ok,
I’m going to transform. I’m big enough for you to ride me
like a horse.”

She
snorted again at his unintentional innuendo. He looked at her, then
threw his head back and guffawed, his laughter echoing and scattering
the birds from the nearby trees. The tension eased with their
laughter.

“Anyway,
Alice.” He pronounced each syllable separately. “As I was
saying, ride me . . . um, I mean, straddle my . . . wow, that’s
not good either.”

Alice
laughed loudly at his discomfort, waving her hands at him. “Stop,
stop, I get it! I’ll climb on your back to get to the camp.”

“Well,
at least you figured out a way to say it nicely,” he grumbled
good-naturedly. She grinned at him. “Ok, I’m transforming
now.”

“Wait!
Will you please help me to my feet first? I may not be able to do
it.” She grimaced as she prepared to stand. He took her hand
and hauled her to her feet, steadying her with his arm.

“You
good?” he asked solicitously.

“Yes,
thank you.”

“Ok,
now I’m transforming,” he told her and stepped back.
Moments later, she was staring at him, the beautiful gray and black
of his fur tempting to touch.

“Wow,”
she mumbled. She put her hand on his back and caressed the soft fur.
He shifted towards her hand like a puppy, and she giggled. “You’re
beautiful.”

He
swung his big wolf head around to her and grinned a wolfy grin, then
nudged her to climb on to his back. Briefly, she hesitated, then
jumped on, gripping his fur for dear life as he plunged into the
forest.

Alice
could feel the muscles of the werewolf bunching and releasing beneath
her body. Alex’s silky fur tickled her legs, but it was so
soft, she pet him as he ran.
Do werewolves
purr, because I swear he just did,
she
thought.
She
wriggled a little in discomfort; riding bareback on a werewolf wasn’t
exactly the most comfortable mode of transportation, and her leg
throbbed like a fire burned within it with every bounce. Alice felt
the werewolf slow his pace as if he sensed her discomfort, and she
was grateful for his thoughtfulness.

Alice
had grown up believing horrible things about the werewolf pack that
shared this area with her clan, but Alex’s behavior was nothing
if not kind and helpful. The elders had raised her and the other
werebear cubs on horror stories of the pack attacking a solitary
werebear or trapping one and selling it to poachers or torturing it
for fun. But Alex had shown compassion and bravery, had saved her
from the poachers when he could have walked away. He was carrying her
who knows how far to his pack to take care of her wound. She had seen
the kindness, the honesty in his eyes. He wouldn’t hurt her.
But what about the others?
she thought uncomfortably.

Just
because Alex was being nice to her didn’t mean that his pack
would be. What if he couldn’t stop them from killing her, or
worse? Why had she been so stupid? She’d climbed on his back
because he was good looking and nice to her.
Dammit.
I have to look for an escape route just to be safe
,
she told herself.

This
part of the forest was nothing like the more mountainous terrain
where she and her clan lived. She’d allowed Alex to believe
she’d driven to the forest two miles from where he’d
found her, nodding her head eastward to indicate a direction. Truth
be told, her clan lived about four miles due north and up the
mountain. But no one knew that. The location of the clan was a highly
guarded secret, and any werebear who left for any reason had to
meander through the forest for hours before returning to their camp.
She’d heard the river and considered a quick stop for some
salmon, her favorite mountain delicacy. That’s how the poachers
had caught her; she’d been taking her time, admiring the beauty
of nature around her when one of them had taken a shot.

The
poachers had been upwind of her and she hadn’t smelled them.
When she’d run, panic gripping her, the forest had enveloped
her and she’d become lost quickly. When she’d stumbled
into the clearing, her leg bleeding freely, she’d been
hopelessly turned around; she would never have made it out of the
forest on her own, whether or not she’d been shot.

So
she paid attention as Alex carried her further west. Luckily, her
sense of direction was impeccable, a trait of all werebears. She
briefly wondered if werewolves also had a good sense of direction,
then dismissed the thought with the shake of her head. Probably, like
her, it was instinctive, born in them as it was born in her.

She watched for specific landmarks, like the tree that
bent at a ninety degree angle to the right of a fallen tree covered
in ants. A little further along, a large hole in the ground near a
tree hinted that a groundhog or gopher lived there. And next to that,
someone had hung a rope with a huge knot at the end for children to
swing on.
We must be getting close to the
werewolf camp
, she thought. Glancing to the
north, she could see the mountain where she lived. She’d be
able to keep that in sight if she needed to escape.

Escape,
Alice? Really, girl?
You
can’t even walk, let alone get away from a PACK of werewolves,
she chided herself, disgusted. Her leg was still oozing blood,
although a lovely scab had begun to crust over the wound. The bullet
was lodged in there and would have to be removed. Putting any weight
on it without proper binding would be next to impossible for even a
few steps, let alone the pace she’d have to maintain if a pack
of werewolves chose to follow her.

Further ahead, she saw a break in the trees, indicating
a large clearing. She prepared herself mentally to meet the werewolf
pack as Alex slowed his pace and stopped. He shrugged his massive
shoulders and gave a little whine to indicate to Alice to climb down.
She slid off the side, landing on the ground on her good leg, and
waited for him to return to his human form.

*****

Alice’s weight on his back had been uncomfortable
for him, but not because of her sexy plumpness. He enjoyed the
closeness of her, the feeling of her hands running through his fur as
if she’d never felt anything so soft. The way she’d
clamped her legs around him had aroused him, causing embarrassment to
flit into his mind.