Husband Fur Hire (Bears Fur Hire Book 1) (10 page)

Usually, fishing was tedious and boring for her because she spent the entire time on the pole, thinking about all the things she still had to do back at the homestead. But today, she was having a blast. Ian knew the area and knew the exact fishing technique for this spot in the river, and they were on the fish. Each one they caught would feed them for several meals. Plus, she knew her workload at the homestead had been cut in half with Ian’s presence, so she could let the never-ending to-do list go for a while and just have fun.

For hours, laughter mingled with the soft gurgling sound of the river as she and Ian teased each other. He was hard to look away from, smiling like this. He had dimples, which she would’ve never guessed under his beard. And time and time again, his eyes were drawn to her, as if he was having the same trouble keeping his attention away.

Finally, Ian said, “I think we have as much as we can carry.” He hopped easily up the boulders, jumped the stream over to her, and pulled her against his chest, swaying as he dropped the net to the muddy bank. “You are my good luck charm. I don’t think I’ve ever caught so many on one trip.”

“We make a good team,” she murmured happily. He was getting her all wet, but she couldn’t even muster the energy to care. She was tired, hungry, and her arms shook with fatigue from hauling the heavy fish, but she hadn’t ever been so happy. Maybe Ian was magic.

“You know what I keep thinking about?” he asked in a naughty, low voice as he scanned the woods behind her.

Oh, she could guess, but she would play along. “What?”

Ian dipped down and sucked on her bottom lip, grazing his teeth against her before he eased back with a wicked grin. “You touching yourself.”

“I thought you said that wasn’t appropriate talk for our first date,” she joked.

“I changed my mind,” he whispered, then kissed her again, deeper this time.

“Mmm,” she moaned helplessly as he guided her backward. Her shoulder blades bumped against the rough bark of a tree, and she stretched up on her toes and whispered against his ear. “I’d like it better if you touched me.”

Ian froze for just a moment before he leaned against her and asked, “Really?”

Elyse nodded and ran her hands up under his damp shirt to his warm skin underneath. His muscles were hard as bricks, and she flattened her palms against his abs just to feel them flex with every ragged breath he drew. Ian’s lips were on hers again, kissing her slowly, thoroughly, as he popped the snap of her jeans open. He smiled against her lips and pulled her zipper down slow. Holy hell, she was desperate for his touch. Shifting his weight to the side, he slid his hand down the front of her pants under her panties.

“Cold!” she gasped out as his river wet hand cupped her sex.

“Sorry,” he murmured, but he didn’t sound sorry at all. He had that sexy, growly voice again.

Slowly, he slid his hand upward and back down, brushing her clit softly. “So wet already,” he murmured, dragging a trail of fire down her neck with his lips.

“Please,” she begged, needing more.

“Please what?” he asked innocently.

“Inside,” she said on a breath.

His response was instantaneous, and so was the curious humming in his throat. He pushed his finger into her, and she cried out at how good it felt. She hadn’t been touched like this in so long, and Ian had been building a slow burning fire inside of her since the day she’d met him.

“Noisy mate,” he said.

Mate? Her thoughts were swirling. His words didn’t make sense, but right now, with him moving his finger inside of her, it was hard to care. She moaned and closed her eyes, tilted her head back to give him access to her neck.

A low feral sound filled the air, and he whispered, “I like when you give me your neck, woman.”

Desperate to feel more of his skin, she pushed the hem of his shirt upward, over his head, and threw it on the ground beside them with a wet sound. His arm and chest were flexed as he worked her closer to release, but the hard definition of his muscles weren’t what had her drawn tight like a bow. He was marked up by dark red scars. Four long ones across his chest, and a mess of them across his ribcage. She wanted to know what happened—wanted to know everything, but not when she was so close to release. Right now, she wanted to appreciate his rugged sex-appeal. Burly, dominant, scarred-up man who had softened for her.

He pushed into her again, making sure to touch her clit every time until the pressure that built inside of her was blinding. So good. His touch was perfect. Just what she needed. He cupped her hard as she writhed against his hand, and then he pushed a second finger into her. She bowed against him and cried out his name as her body pulsed around him. So fast and so good, she was overwhelmed as he continued to stroke until every last aftershock was finished.

And when her legs locked under her, Ian was there, arm around her back, holding her against him and pressing his lips against her hair. Elyse hugged him as tightly as she was able. He couldn’t understand how much that had meant to her. No one had ever cared about her pleasure before. They’d just taken from her, but not Ian. He was laying sweet kisses against her and holding her close, completely content not to take it a step further until she was ready. And something deep inside told her that Ian would only push for more if she was verbal about her needs.

“Ian?” she asked.

“Mmm?”

“I’m ready for more with you.”

Ian eased back and smiled down at her, but when he opened his mouth to say something, he jolted to a stop and lifted a hard gaze to the woods instead. His nostrils flared as he inhaled deeply. Slowly, he maneuvered her behind his back and eased her toward the waterfall.

“What’s happening?” she whispered, adrenaline dumping into her bloodstream, making it hard to move slowly as Ian was urging her.

“She has cubs,” he murmured low.

Cubs? Elyse dared a peek around his wide shoulders and stifled the scream clawing its way up her throat. An enormous grizzly bear was walking slowly toward them, eyes intent on their pile of fish. And behind her followed two small cubs.

A whimper came from Elyse’s throat as she tripped over the rocks that lined the bank. Ian didn’t catch her or even turn around as she fell. He was unbuttoning his pants in what had to be the most inappropriate reaction to being stalked by a momma brown bear. Flashing his dick at the animal was not going to scare her away!

“Ian,” she whispered, frozen to the rocks.

“Elyse, run.”

“What?” You were definitely not supposed to run from a grizzly. Play dead. That was brown bear survival one-oh-one.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered in a broken voice as the bear stood on her hind legs and roared. “Run!”

Elyse watched in horror as the bear charged, but Ian’s neck snapped back and his shoulder joints hunched forward with the painful crack of breaking bones. He grunted an agonized sound as Elyse scrabbled for the rocks and up onto a higher bank. The bear skidded to a stop in front of Ian, but the second Elyse took off on level ground, she could hear paws pounding through the brush and the heavy breaths of the bear chasing her.

She let the scream out now because it didn’t matter. Ian was broken on the bank and nothing would save her from this bear’s wrath. Elyse pushed her legs harder than she ever had until she was almost flying through the forest, but still, it wasn’t nearly fast enough. The bear was gaining and was so close, Elyse could almost feel her breathing down her neck, right behind her. Any step now, she was going to be on top of her. Terrified, she reached out, hooked her hand on a tree, and pulled herself sharply out of the animal’s path. The bear skidded to a stop and gave chase. Elyse had only bought herself a few seconds at most. Damn it all, she’d been afraid of dying alone, and here it was—her death come early, and it was about to mean excruciating pain.

The bear clipped her leg with her long, curved claws, ripping her skin as she tripped her. Elyse hit the ground hard and shielded her face from the long canine teeth she knew was coming for her. But in the second she should’ve felt the puncture wounds, something huge barreled into the bear with enough force that their impact made a sickening thud and shook the air around her.

Elyse looked up in horror as another bear roared and slapped and sank its teeth into the first one. This one was much bigger than the other. A brawler if his torn ear and scarred body were anything to go by. She’d never seen such raw violence as the massive dark brown bruin pushed the smaller bear farther away from her.

She had to find Ian. She had to get them both out of here before the bears turned their murderous attention back on them. She tried to stand and cried out as her leg wouldn’t bear any weight. The scent of iron was strong in the air, and her ankle was warm with the blood that was now soaking her tattered jeans. Sobbing, she crawled away as the roaring of the bears echoed through the forest. The best she could do was drag herself behind a tree and cover her face with her hands to quiet her panicked crying.

They would come back. Any minute now, those monsters would come back to finish her off. How could they not? Even she, with her dull human senses, could smell the thick scent of blood flowing from her leg.

Minutes stretched on and felt like an eternity as she sat there, afraid to move, afraid to breathe. The woods were quiet now. Not a bird chirped, and from here, she couldn’t even hear the water from the river. With violently shaking hands, she reached over and grabbed a thick branch that had fallen from the tree. She stood on one wobbly leg and stripped the extra twigs until it was just one baseball bat-sized club. She’d played two years of softball in high school, and dammit, if she was going out like this, she was going out swinging for her life.

“Elyse,” Ian said from behind her, scaring a scream and a swing from her.

With a loud crack, he caught the club before it hit him in the face. Then he yanked it out of her hand and hugged her so tightly to his chest, she couldn’t breathe.

“It’s okay. It’s okay,” he chanted. “She’s gone, and she’s not coming back. You’re okay. I’ve got you.”

Frightened sobs filled her throat, and tears blurred her vision. “What happened to you? I saw—” Elyse shook her head hard to try and sort out what she’d witnessed. “You were breaking, and I was alone!”

“You weren’t alone. I had you. I just needed you to buy us some time.”

“You had me?” Fury blasted through her veins. “You told me to run from a fucking furious grizzly bear and then you passed out on the river bank!” She shoved away from him. “And why the hell are you naked?”

“Shhh,” he warned, eyebrows arched high as he scanned the woods.

“Don’t you dare shhh me. Answer me, Ian. What happened back there?”

“I’m the bear.” He straightened his spine and glared down at her, daring her to look away. “I’m the bear that protected you.”

“Fuck off, Ian.”

“Scars across the ribcage. Torn ear.” He pulled his own ear in front of her and jammed his finger at a healed gash that had taken a small notch out of it. “Dark brown bear who pulled that grizzly off you. Why would a wild bear do that, Elyse? Why would he protect you if you weren’t…”

Horrified, she asked, “If I weren’t what?”

“Why would a male grizzly protect anything that wasn’t his? You want to know why I haven’t kept a woman? Why my eyes turned brown when I kissed you yesterday? You want to know why that growl rattles my chest when you affect me? Because I’m a fucking bear shifter, Elyse.” He turned and gave her his back, which would’ve pissed her off right now if it weren’t for the long, seeping claw mark down it. He gave her a sad stare over his shoulder. “I told you. Brown bear country doesn’t scare me. I belong with the monsters. Always have.”

Panic clogged her throat as everything clicked into place. Of course he was a monster. That’s why a man who looked like him wasn’t already married and running a home of his own. A tear trekked a warm stream down her cheek. “You’re a bear?”

Ian looked sick and swallowed hard. “A bear and a man.”

“I think I’m going to…” Elyse blinked hard as the forest began a slow spin around them. “Ian. I think…I’m going…to…”

Legs giving out from under her, the ground came at her face fast, but she didn’t hit. Ian caught her, of course, but when she moved her lips to thank the bear-man, nothing came out.

And the spinning world went dark.

The sound of the steady beeping of a machine woke Elyse from a deep sleep. She cracked her eyes open, squinting against the light as her vision blurred and focused, blurred and focused on the man pacing outside the large window of her room. Ian.

She knew this place. She was in the medical center in Galena.

“She’s my wife,” Ian said. “Look at that ring on her finger. I gave it to her. I’m the one who brought her in here, and I don’t want her waking up alone.”

“Sir, calm down. No one here knows you, but we all know Elyse,” Dr. Vega said, pointing into her room.

“Ian?” Elyse whispered, throat dry as a desert.

“See?” Ian said. “She just asked for me.”

“I didn’t hear anything.”

“Ian,” she said, louder.

Ian gave Dr. Vega a go-to-hell glare and threw open the door, then rushed to her bedside as the doctor and one of his nurses followed.

“Hey,” Ian whispered. “I’m here.”

“You were hurt, too,” she said, worry unfurling in her chest. “He’s hurt. Growly claws and babies, she was stealing our fish like a thrief. Thrief. Thief. Like a McCall.” Why was she slurring? “She hurt my…Ian.”

“No, baby, I’m okay,” Ian said. Something sparked in his eyes. A warning?

She poked his cheek. “Your eyes are brown.”

Ian leaned down and pressed his lips against her hand. “I’m okay, Elyse. Please.” His voice was barely audible in his plea.

Elyse blinked hard to clear her thoughts and murmured, “Sorry, I think I’m confused.”

“That’s the pain meds talking,” Dr. Vega said as he lifted the blanket from her leg. Her ankle was bandaged.

“Still clean,” Dr. Vega murmured to his nurse. “I think she’ll be okay to go home tonight if she can stay off it.” That last part was directed at Ian.

“Of course,” Ian said. “I’ll make sure she takes it easy.”

The fog was lifting from her mind by the second. “Is it bad?”

“No.”

“Yes,” Dr. Vega said at the same time. “You were attacked by a bear, Elyse. You’re lucky to be alive.”

Ian narrowed his eyes at the doctor, then dragged his dark brown gaze back to her. “Four cuts from the claw, only one was deep enough to require stitches.”

“Six stitches.” Dr. Vega grabbed her chart and gave her a significant look.

“I think I prefer my husband’s bedside manner to yours tonight, Dr. Vega. Thanks for saving the leg,” she said dryly.

Ian snorted, but covered it with a cough.

Dr. Vega narrowed his eyes at Ian and said, “She’s free to go. Do see that you take better precautions from bear attacks next time you go gallivanting off into the wilderness.”

Ian nodded once and gave him a little salute as the doctor ushered the nurse out and followed closely behind. After Elyse dressed in the cut-up jeans she’d been wearing earlier, the nurse came back with a wheelchair.

“Is that necessary?” She would limp, but the claw marks didn’t feel wheelchair-bad.

“Afraid so. Vega is in a mood tonight. We don’t get many bear attack survivors in here.” At least the nurse didn’t talk down to her, so Elyse smiled and acquiesced.

Ian wheeled her out front to where his truck was parked at an angle on the curb. The passenger side door was still hanging open, and their supplies had been thrown haphazardly in the back.

“The fish,” she gasped.

“I got them.”

“Of course you did.”

Ian helped her into the seat and shut the door gently beside her.

Jamming the key in the ignition, he said, “Just so you know, it only took me about two seconds to get those fish on a line to carry.”

“Wait, you carried all of our equipment, the fish, and me all the way to the plane?”

“At a dead sprint.”

Elyse scrubbed her hands over her face. “Is that part of the bear-man stuff?”

“Strength?”

“Yeah.”

He nodded.

“This is a lot to process, Ian.”

“Elyse, you should know I’ve never told anyone about my bear. Never. You’re the only one.”

“Are you afraid I’ll freak out and tell the world?”

“It’s crossed my mind,” he said carefully. “It’s not just me who would be hurt by the backlash.”

“Your brothers?”

He nodded again. “There are so few of us, there isn’t safety in numbers. Do you understand?”

“Sooo, is this like a full-moon deal, or can you change into that thing whenever you want?”

“That thing,” he repeated softly.

“Sorry,” she said, eyes on his rigid profile.

“The moon has nothing to do with it, and neither does magic. It takes me a minute to Change, but I can do it when I want. Sometimes I do it when I don’t want to. It depends on if my bear is being reasonable or not.”

“Will you hurt me?”

“Never.” His voice had gone hard as steel. “My animal loves…” A long tapering growl sounded and Ian shook his head hard.

“Say it.”

He sighed a long exhalation. “My animal loves you as much as I do.”

“Because I’m your mate? You said that in the woods. You called me your noisy mate.”

Ian’s Adams apple bobbed as he swallowed hard. “Yes. Because you’re my mate.”

“Okay,” she whispered, dragging her gaze back to the dark woods that surrounded Ian’s truck now.

“Okay?”

“Well, I need time to wrap my head around everything, but okay. I don’t want you to leave because of this. I mean, I didn’t know animal people existed before, and it’s a lot, and I have horribly painful claw marks on my leg. And now I’m living with someone who can change into the biggest grizzly I’ve ever laid eyes on, or seen in text books or in a museum. I’m engaged to a bear. Man. A bear-man.” She inhaled sharply and bit her lip to stop her rambling.

“There’s more.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Ian. What else could there possibly be?”

“You’re right. We should talk about it later once you’ve had some time to deal with what I am.”

“Well, spit it out now. Best to get it all out there at once.”

“I hibernate.”

Elyse cast him a prim look and said, “I’m sorry, what now?”

“Every October, I go to sleep, and I don’t wake up again until April.”

“Six months.”

“Yep.”

“You just sleep for half a year straight.”

“Yep.”

“That’s fantastic. Fantastic news for me.”

“You sound angry.”

“I’m pissed, Ian!” she exploded. “You timed it just right, didn’t you? You waited until I was head over heels in love with you before you told me this. I wanted a full-time husband! I wanted to have company in the winters so I wouldn’t live another as lonely as the last one. You’ll be asleep, and I’ll be by myself, fighting cabin fever alone. How is that fair?”

“It’s not,” he said quietly.

“Then why did you answer that ad, Ian?”

“Because I wanted you.” He let those words linger between them for a long time as they slowly bounced over the rough dirt road. “From the first time I saw you, I knew you were mine. And it didn’t matter how much I fought it or how selfish I knew I was being, you were it for me. I want to protect you and provide for you.” His voice cracked, and he slammed his head back against the rest. “Down to my bones, you feel like mine, and I hated what Cole did to you, and I wanted to do it better. I want to make you happy.”

“But only half of the year.”

“Do you think I want this? Do you? I’ve lived alone my whole life trying not to taint someone else’s with my bear shit, and I was happy to do it until you came along. And then there you were, so perfect and brave and so goddamn beautiful, and you were asking me to stay, and I couldn’t say no. There. There it is, Elyse. I’m weak, and I gave in to the idea that I could keep you. This right here is why I didn’t want to marry you until you saw what life with me would be like. I wanted you to know the real me before you went all in. I know it’s not fair what I’m asking. Six months of providing for you in the warm season, six months away. It’s not what I want for us. It’s not what I imagine a woman would be willing to put up with, but this is all I have to offer. Everything I have is yours. And I know it’s not enough. I
know
it. But I guess I was hoping if you came to care for me enough, you’d at least consider me.”

Tears were streaming her face now in uncontrolled rivers.

She’d almost had everything.

She’d been
this
close.

The silence was no longer easy, and neither one of them moved to turn on the radio. Instead, she allowed the weight between them fill the cab of his truck, and when Ian pulled to a stop in front of the cabin, Elyse couldn’t escape fast enough. Her leg hurt, but that didn’t stop her from hobbling into the house and into her room. She cried as she absorbed the thought of spending every winter alone. At the thought of losing him completely.

And tonight, just like the first night, Ian sat quietly in her bedroom doorway and waited for her tears to run out.