Bearly Breathing (8 page)

She almost let go, almost screamed when a wave crashed over her head. She breathed in desperate breaths and looked around for Edwin. The blue kayak was floating away down the river in pieces. Edwin wasn’t on it.

But she had seen Edwin change into this…no something was wrong. It couldn’t be. Her mind was playing tricks on her.

The rain started to let up, the darkness turning back to sunlight as the clouds moved on to fuck someone else’s day up.

But she had seen what happened. This bear was Edwin.

The bear swam lazily to the shore. Grace held on until her feet scraped the squishy river ground.
Ew!

She got to her feet and stood up. The water was waist high. The bear glanced at her with disinterested, soft brown eyes. She screamed and sprinted out of the water into the forest.

Grace ran.

All of those hours on the treadmill were finally paying off for something other than reducing her cellulite and tightening her ass. She raced through the trees, jumping over rocks and ducking under tree branches.

By the time that she stopped to look back she couldn’t see anything but trees. She had left that bear in the fucking dust.

And now she was lost in the woods.

God damn it!

Grace looked back to see if the bear was following her. A flash of gray darted across a clearing and disappeared behind a bush.

She gasped. But the bear was brown. She heard footsteps behind her in the other direction and spun back around. There was nothing there but she could feel a dark presence. Something was watching her.

A low growl, like her neighbors’ doberman watchdog, filled the forest, sending her closely trimmed arm hairs up.

A skinny, ragged, gray wolf walked out of the trees on her right. She spun around and gulped. This wolf didn’t look like the wolves that she saw on TV. Grace could count his ribs. His hair was matted in some areas and chewed off in others. He stared at her with hungry, desperate eyes.

Another wolf stepped out of the bushes behind her. Another in front. Two more to her left.

Grace tapped the pocket of her shorts just in case her cell phone was there to call her Senator Dad. Maybe he could drop a SEAL team from a helicopter to save her.

Nope.

She was on her own.

Edwin drank some river water in his bear form as the blond ran out of the water into the forest.
Where is she going? To the bathroom?

He stared at her baby blue shorts as she ran away. Her ass moved like a chipmunk’s cheeks full of nuts. An invisible force felt like it slapped him across the face and he jerked his head back. The forest disappeared around her as only she remained in his view. His bear legs weakened and he collapsed into the water.

She disappeared into the forest as the bonding process was complete. Edwin had bonded to Grace.

He phased back into his human form and couldn’t wait to tell her the good news. He walked onto the river bank and paced back and forth waiting for her to return.

He was so excited that he wasn’t even nervous about telling Connor that he wrecked another kayak.

What is taking so long?

He stepped into the forest and looked around. “Grace,” he yelled out. “I have great news! We’re going to be together forever!”

She didn’t answer.

Edwin sat down on a fallen tree and waited. He looked down and realized that he didn’t have any clothes on.
It’s okay. We’re mates now.

He caught a whiff of dog and perked up. Edwin lived as a bear in the woods for over a decade and was used to those pesky, mangy mutts always trying to steal his food and waking him up with their annoying howling. They wouldn’t dare attack him but what about Grace?

He heard a scream in the distance and was on his feet sprinting through the forest. His feet traveled light and fast over the forest terrain. Neither Connor nor Sidney could even keep up with him in the forest.

Edwin could smell Grace in the distance. That horrible chemical scent of suntan lotion covering the delicious smell of her sweat.

He burst through the trees and the wolves scattered out of the way. Grace saw him and almost collapsed to the ground.

“Great news!” he said, ignoring the wolves. They darted away and turned in circles in the distance. They wouldn’t attack when Edwin was there.

She looked at him jerking her head from side to side and shaking uncontrollably. She was talking to herself, speaking low and rapid.

“We’re mates!” Edwin said, stepping up to her and grabbing her hands. His shoulders slumped when he saw her face. She wasn’t even happy.

She glanced down at his naked body and her eyes widened. It was okay. They were mates now.

Grace jerked her head back towards the wolves. “Edwin,” she whispered, her lips trembling. “The wolves.”

Edwin exhaled. The wolves were ruining his moment. He dropped her hands, picked up a stick and threw it at the irritating flea bags. It skidded up to their paws and they retreated back into the forest. He didn’t want to hurt them. There was no need for that. He just wanted them to leave, so that he could share the good news with Grace.

“Grace,” he said, grabbing her hands again and looking into her wide eyes. “We’re mates.”

Her knees buckled and her eyes rolled in the back of her head. Edwin caught her as she fainted and collapsed to the ground.

He hoisted her over his shoulder and carried her back to the river bank.

Grace opened her groggy eyes and put her hand to her head. It was pounding. She gasped and sprang up when she remembered the wolves.

“Hi beautiful,” Edwin said. He was standing in the river completely naked with a squirming gray fish in his hand. Grace glanced down at his nakedness. It was longer than the fish.

“What happened?” Grace asked. Her memory was blurry.

“I bonded with you,” he said. His hand struck the water with blinding speed and he snatched another fish out of the river.

What was he talking about? She remembered him running up to her and the wolves just leaving after seeing him. Then she remembered him in the kayak, turning into a bear in front of her eyes. What was going on? She must’ve got food poisoning or something that was causing hallucinations. That couldn’t have been real.

Fucking Becca
. Grace had to get back to limos and satellite TV and cappuccino machines. This environment was not for her.

“How are we getting out of here?” she asked.

“We’ll sleep here and walk tomorrow.” He lifted the fish up to his nose and smelled it. “Mmmm,” he moaned with a smile.

This guy is a barbarian.

“We’re not sleeping here,” she said, crossing her arms. “Get someone to come get us. One of those speedboat thingies or a helicopter.”

He tossed the fish on the ground. They jumped and squirmed around desperately trying to find water. Edwin stepped up to a tree and began ripping off branches.

“Listen to me!” she said, gritting her teeth. “I’m the daughter of a Senator. I’ll have you arrested for kidnapping.”

Edwin stared at her blankly, his penis in full view.

“Will you cover that thing up?” she said, turning her head away. But the image remained in her head. His fit abs and his muscular legs. It drove her crazy that she thought of him in that way. She was high class. Sophisticated. She didn’t associate with people like him and people like her definitely didn’t sleep with people like him. But he was definitely the hottest guy that she had ever seen naked. And her body was letting her know that it liked it.

He looked down at his package. “But we’re mates.”

“Why do you keep saying that?” she asked. She glanced back at him, trying to keep her eyes above the equator.

Edwin dropped the branches in a pile and walked over to her. He squatted down in front of her. She turned her eyes away up towards the top of the trees. “This is highly inappropriate,” she said. “I am a lady.” Although she could have offered him her shirt to cover himself but she didn’t.

“You saw me change into my bear,” he said.

She whipped her head back around. “That was real?” No. It had to have been a hallucination. Food poisoning. Drinking too much river water. She’d even take schizophrenia.

He nodded. “I’m a werebear,” he said. “And I bonded to you. Isn’t that great?”

She closed her eyes tightly and shook her head. “A werebear?” she asked. “Those things aren’t real.”

“Yes we are,” he said with a smile. “And you’re going to have little, werebear cubs! A lot of them.”

She shook her head in disbelief. “What are you talking about? I’m not having anything. As soon as I can, I am out of here.” She yanked her hands away from him.

“No you’re going to stay here with me,” he said. His face dropped. “Aren’t you?”

“I have Coldplay tickets on Tuesday.” She glanced down at him one more time before standing up. “I don’t know your story. But you’re a freak. Just leave me alone.” She walked away from him and sat by the river.

She turned her back to him and stared at the water. This was all too surreal. Werebears? Hot, naked men? Shitting in the woods?

Her chin started to quiver.

I am going to kill Becca.

The sun was gone and the sky was getting dark. Her clothes were still damp and she was starting to get cold. She wrapped her arms around herself and rocked back and forth.

Edwin was breaking and snapping branches and throwing them into a pile on the ground. She gasped when she saw how fast he worked. There was enough wood to last them through the night.

He bent over the pile of sticks and in no time it was smoking. A warm, inviting flame erupted from it and Grace couldn’t help but head back over.

For the warmth of the fire and not the hot naked guy around it.

She was a lady. Sophisticated and proper.

Definitely not for the hot naked guy around it.

Edwin turned the fish on the stick that he rigged to hang over the fire. Grace stared at it like a dog watching someone eating a burger with the patty about to slide out of the bun.

He didn’t know what he did wrong. They were supposed to be together.

Connor will know. He’ll help me fix everything.

Edwin had spent so long as a bear that he forgot how to be human. It felt forced to be in his human skin, like he was wearing a disguise. Even now he wanted to phase. To become his bear. But that would just freak Grace out even more.

“Are you hungry?” he asked.

“Starving,” she said, never taking her eyes off the cooking fish. “Aren’t you cold?” she asked. He noticed for the first time that she was holding her knees and shaking.

He balanced the fish over the fire and sat down beside her. She flinched.

“Wow,” she said. “You’re like a heater.”

Edwin stared at the fire not knowing what to say.

“I’m sorry if I was a bitch,” she said, inching towards him. “I should have been nicer. Especially since you saved me. Twice.”

Edwin smiled. “Wasn’t it three times?”