Husband Fur Hire (Bears Fur Hire Book 1) (18 page)

Ian rubbed his giant muzzle over her face, and his lips lifted against her skin. His gleaming teeth grazed her, and as he eased back, he snuffled loudly against her hair. He scented her gown and between her breasts as if he was allowing his animal to put everything about her to memory.

“My mate,” she whispered.

Ian responded with another soft noise in his throat.

“Tell me you can Change back, Ian.” Tears burned her eyes and blurred her vision. “Tell me you aren’t Changed for the winter.”

Ian released her and backed away, shaking his head sharply. With a soft roar, he strode for the woods.

Baffled, she waited for her beloved to return. Without his warmth, the autumn air lifted her dress and chilled her blood, raising gooseflesh over every inch of her body, but still, she waited. And when Ian, human and naked, strode from the tree line, blue moonlight illuminating his bare torso and powerful legs, her face crumpled with relief. Her Ian was still here.

“I didn’t catch him,” he said in a gravelly voice. He looked sick about it.

Elyse held her arms open and sighed as he lifted her off her feet and spun her slowly. “I can’t protect you when I’m sleeping, Elyse.” The gravel in his voice turned to glass, and a slow, angry rumble vibrated against her belly.

“Oh, Ian. You don’t have to.” She eased back and cupped his cheeks, so certain of her destiny now. “You protect me during the warm season, but now it’s my turn to protect you. We’re a team.”

Miller’s threats had opened up something dark within her. Something fearsome that had only existed in the shadows of her soul before. He’d made threats on her mate and on her, but her fear had changed in those minutes she’d been waiting for Ian to return from hunting that damned wolf. If she wanted to keep Ian, she had to be his protector when he hibernated, just as he’d done for her this past month.

She’d always thought herself too weak for this life. It had been her greatest fear, but she’d been wrong. Ian had shown her how strong she could be.

As it turned out, she wasn’t the damsel in distress.

She was the knight.

And she’d be damned if anyone hurt what she and Ian had built here.

Elyse’s boots splashed onto the beach as she jumped out of Ian’s boat and helped him drag it up the bank, out of the way of the changing tide. She’d never been to Afognak before, but even from here, she could see where the rumors of its haunting came from.

The morning fog rolled in waves across the pine forest, and the forest floor was like none she’d ever seen. Covered in moss and intertwined tree roots, it was a lush kind of green that only existed in dreams.

Ian didn’t speak, but then, she wasn’t surprised. He’d explained to her that the island required silence if they wanted to take red meat from it. Sitka black-tailed deer were abundant here, but so were brown bears. This island could give and take away so much.

Even Miki trotted silently beside her, brushing her leg every other step like the Velcro dog he was becoming.

It didn’t surprise her at all that Ian had called this place home. He was tough as leather and his inner animal was as wild as these woods.

The second she stepped onto the squishy moss forest floor, chills blasted up the back of her neck. It was so quiet here. Ian was always silent when he moved through the woods, but here, with the lichens under her rubber-soled hiking boots, even she, in her natural human clumsiness, was silent when she moved.

Ian handed her a backpack, then pulled on his own. In silence, they chambered a round of ammunition in their rifles and checked the safety on each, then shouldered the weapons and made their way up a small trail that led upward between two moss-covered boulders.

Ian pointed out a set of enormous grizzly tracks on the beach sand headed up the same trail, then cupped the back of her head and whispered, “How old?”

She squinted at the prints, bigger than her head, and remembered everything Ian had taught her about tracking animals over the last month. These were half dry on damp sand. “A few hours at least,” she whispered against his ear.

As a reward, he leaned down and sipped at her lips, massaging the back of her hair gently. “Good. Keep alert, but he should be out of the area. They’re on the hunt right now, not sleeping much, trying to build up last minute fat reserves for winter.”

Ian had been doing the same thing. Even nervous about following a grizzly trail, she smiled. While her backpack was full of ammunition, deer tags, hunting knives, and a bedroll tied on the outside, his was full of food.

The deeper they hiked into the Afognak woods, the eerier they became and the thicker the fog rolled in. Sometimes they walked blind in the thick cloud cover and other times hiked through a clearing, surrounded by the thick fog. She relied on Ian’s instinct to guide them because she couldn’t see any great distance in front of her. They could be hunted right now by a brown bear, and she wouldn’t know, but Ian constantly turned his head at every sound. This way and that, he angled his ears, and she could almost see him identifying each one and tossing them away as non-threatening.

The claw mark on her leg was almost healed, but it tingled here in the quiet wilderness of the haunted woods. The remembered pain from that bear raking its six-inch claws through her flesh made it hard not to panic and give in to the claustrophobia that the island pressed against her.

Deeper and deeper Ian led her into the heart of the island, each step silent against the spongy moss. The vibrant green lichens grew so thick on everything, she could be walking over boulders, tree roots, or bones of the dead, and she would never be able to tell the difference.

Ian’s need to bring her to Afognak wasn’t just about hunting or showing her his charred den. He hadn’t been able to get a hold of Clayton to tell him about Miller’s threats, and Elyse knew a piece of her mate was hoping there would be an order for the crazy wolf waiting at the entrance of his winter den where they’d always been delivered before.

They weren’t hunting now, though Ian’s eyes were always scanning their surroundings, as were hers. It was natural to search for opportunities now that she’d been on hunts with Ian. He was slowly adjusting her instincts, honing them to look for wildlife that could serve as food during their long winters. She was more aware of her surroundings than she ever had been.

Over a rocky ridge, a Sitka doe bounded away. Ian’s gaze followed her until she disappeared, but he didn’t seem inclined to track her. Not now. Instead, he turned and offered his hand up the side of a slick, exposed rock surface, helping Elyse up. And after what seemed like hours of hiking, half-afraid of what would charge out of the fog, Ian led her into the small mouth of a cave. She had to crouch down to get through the opening. Once inside, she could stand.

Ian squeezed her hand, pulling her to a stop, then kissed her forehead. “Welcome to the Monster House. Stay here,” he said on a breath as he clicked his flashlight on. “Let me make sure it’s clear.”
Of grizzlies claiming my den.
He didn’t have to say the last part, though. She was understanding more and more about Ian’s life and of the wild animals he had to live alongside.

Two minutes later, and he was back. He jerked his head in invitation, and she pulled a headlight from her backpack, slid it onto her forehead, and clicked it on.

The cave smelled like smoke and charred wood, and when she laid eyes on the rubble, she hated Miller even more.

He’d taken Ian’s home from him.

There were burnt remains of what looked like a cabin built into a corner. She moved through a scorched doorway and bit her lip as she arched the beam of her headlamp over the rubble. Everything was ash and blackened wood remnants, and she couldn’t even tell what the furniture had looked like before.

“I slept there,” Ian whispered, pointing to a corner. Only a few spruce limbs remained. Pine and smoke clogged her throat, and she pulled the front of her jacket over her nose so she could breathe easier. “Over there was a dresser. Nothing fancy. I made it one year when I miscalculated my hibernation and had a week to kill up here.” He faced her and dragged her waist closer, then dipped his lips so close to her ear she could feel the vibration of his murmured words. “Over there was a stool I stacked my clothes and pack on, ready for when I woke up. I always kept money from my deliveries in a safe so I could go find food immediately when I woke up.”

“Tell me about your first hibernation.”

He let off a soft breath and hugged her closer. “It was the only one my brothers and I did together. Our bears were juveniles then, and we could stand to be around each other. And we were so scared about what was happening, it was a comfort not to be alone. We were sixteen, and Dad hadn’t told us what to expect. Whenever we asked him, he would say, “It’s instinct, boys. You’ll know what to do.”

“And did you?”

Ian shook his head slowly, the scruff on his cheek rasping against hers. “No. We were all scared shitless, and when Tobias went down while we were out in the woods, Jenner and I dragged him under a rock ledge. Only, he hadn’t Changed into his bear before he fell asleep, so he woke up a few days later, starving, and we had barely any food between us. He woke up the next day, too, and Jenner and I didn’t know what to do. We were getting tired and didn’t know how to feed Tobias if we were asleep. The fifth day, Tobias Changed into his bear when he woke up, but he wasn’t right. He was what they call a winter bear, ravenous. He almost killed Jenner.”

“Oh my gosh, Ian. What did you do?”

“Sewed him back up as best I could. His healing had already slowed down like the rest of his body, and Tobias was in the wind, hunting for anything that would sustain him. Jenner and I figured out we needed to sleep as bears or starve, so we Changed and waited, scared, clinging to that shallow rock face, scared that Tobias would come back. Scared that he wouldn’t. Tobias showed up on the sixth day. He was still a bear, but the crazy was gone from his eyes. He was dragging his body, exhausted, and we all tucked ourselves in that tiny den and went to sleep. It’s a wonder a hunter didn’t find us. We were so close to the hunting cabins here, and we nearly froze because the den we’d chosen was too shallow. And when we woke up after hibernation, it was war. We were starving to death, emaciated, and none of us had the sense to Change back. We just went to battle, bleeding each other until we were all nearly dead. That was the first and last time we hibernated together.”

“I can’t believe your dad let you go into it blind like that. It makes me sick to think of you that young, trying to figure all of this out. It’s too much on a kid. Too much.” She squeezed her eyes tightly close and thanked God Ian had survived at all.

“Shhh,” he crooned, brushing her hair off her shoulder. “It’s done now.”

With a sigh, she looked out the burned door to the dirty cave floor. “There’s no envelope.”

“I know.”

“It’s okay, Ian. Miller won’t get to us. I won’t let him. Not ever.”

“Strong mate,” he murmured. “Do you know how sexy it is watching you come into your own? Soft to steel.” He kissed her gently, then walked her backward until her shoulders rested on the cave wall. “Watching that determination flash across your eyes. I thought I couldn’t love you any more than I already did, but then I watched you learn so much.” He brushed his fingertips up her neck and cupped her cheek. “You work harder and longer than anyone I’ve ever met, and you never get frustrated when I’m teaching you something new. You just try harder until you get it. My wood-chopping, rifle-slinging, fierce-as-hell Alaskan mate.” He sipped her lips again. “I’ve never met a woman stronger than you.”

And that right there was the difference between Cole and Ian. A weak man was intimidated by a strong woman. Cole had lashed out as she’d discovered herself little by little. He’d stunted her to make himself feel more in control. But Ian,
her Ian
, had worked to push her from the ashes like a damned phoenix and fell more in love with her as she’d transformed into a better version of herself. That’s what love was supposed to be—not some power struggle. It was both people pushing the other to be better. To be stronger.

Breath shallow, she shoved the straps of the backpack from his shoulders and set his gun gently against the wall. She took her time unzipping his jacket. And after she shoved it off his shoulders, exposing his sweater with the top button undone, she traced the strong lines of his muscular neck down the deeply shadowed indentation between his pecs.

He’d never shared this place with anyone else. He’d never shared this part of himself, but for her, he’d opened up and let her in. And she knew how scary that was because she’d been learning to trust him, too, and damn it all, it was terrifying to let another man really see her after Cole had stripped her bare and exposed the ugliest parts of her.

But Ian wasn’t running. He wasn’t throwing his hands up and telling her she was “too much work.” He wasn’t leaving for town just to escape her. Instead, he was showing her the bottomless adoration a good man was capable of. He was telling her without words that she deserved everything he could give her.

That she was worthy of unconditional love.

That she was
enough
.

Ian slipped her headlamp off and let it fall from his fingers to the floor, then he cupped both of her cheeks and kissed her. This wasn’t the desperate passion-saturated love-making they’d done in the barn. This was an apology for hiding from her before. It was a promise that he would always be with her, trying. It was a declaration he would work as long as necessary to gain her trust back after his secrets had been exposed.

“I hated sleeping away from you last night,” she whispered against his lips.

“Then I won’t do it again.” He undressed her slowly as his lips moved gently against hers. He shifted his weight from side to side as he removed her clothes. Angling his face, he slipped his tongue past her lips.

She melted against him as he slid his hands up her bare ribs. How were his hands so warm? Somehow, he seemed to run hotter the closer to winter it became.

Writhing against him, she gripped the back of his hair and brushed her lips against his throat. Tugging at the neck of his sweater, she exposed the mostly healed bite she’d given him. She kissed it gently, and a shudder took his shoulders. A soft growl filled the small space, and she smiled. It was easy to tell when she had him.

He dragged her waist closer and rocked his hips against hers in just the right spot to draw a gasp from her lips.

“Ian,” she sighed, and the name echoed off the cave walls.

The jangle of his belt and the slow rip of the zipper dumped warmth into her middle, and now his teeth were on her, grazing, nipping down her neck, and working back up until his lips crashed onto hers. God, she loved him. Loved him claiming her body in his den, making her a part of this place.

His eyes were dark in the muted light that her discarded headlamp provided. Here, in the place he’d spent so much time, vulnerable and asleep, she felt more connected to him than ever. She felt safe here and could understand why he’d chosen it as a den. Outside, the world spun on. It was harsh, cold, and the constant struggle for survival was unending, but in here, with the man she loved more than her own life, she was safe. For the first time ever, she felt whole.

Ian lifted the back of her knee and deepened his kiss, stroking his tongue against hers as he brushed her wet entrance with the tip of his swollen cock. A needy sound wrenched from her throat as he pushed in an inch and slid back out, teasing. She clawed down his back to punish him, but he smiled against her lips as though he enjoyed it.