Big Bear: A Bear Shifter Romance (Werebear Creek Book 4) by Layla Silver

Author:Layla Silver [Silver, Layla]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-08-25T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8 – Jericho

When I worked search and rescue, I had to be discrete about using my bear senses to assist. Now, alone in the storm, there was no need to hide them, and I openly used all my senses to track Rue. I needed them. Sheets of rain were washing out tracks and scent, but the bear in me could follow the path in the dark easily. Even through the rain it smelled of people and use in ways the rest of the woods did not. My human mind tracked time and distance, aware every moment of how far I was from where I’d started and where Rue had been headed. Even at the fastest pace I could manage, I wasn’t going fast enough. The risks escalated every minute Rue remained out in this howling storm. No matter what gear she’d brought, it couldn’t have been enough, and there were no ranger cabins here. She’d be exposed.

I was drenched, every step a muddy slog. This high up the rain was cold, despite it being the dead of summer. Ahead, the trail rounded a bend in a series of deep, shallow steps. I tried to smother the worry gnawing at me. Much of the trail was like this. If Rue had fallen, taken a spill over one of the many ragged drop-offs, I could already be too late.

No. Focus. Worry would only distract me, and I couldn’t afford that now. I mounted the stairs, then paused two steps up when the wind shifted. A distinctive scent brushed over me—bear. There was a bear ahead. What was it doing so close to the trail?

Continuing up the steps, I turned the corner cautiously then stopped, my stomach dropping through my feet. Rue lay sprawled near the top of the stairs. Her skin was bone white, and her clothing and beautiful dark hair were plastered against her. Shivers wracked her slender body hard enough that I could clearly see it from here. A pack lay just out of her reach.

Directly between us, an enormous black bear loomed. It rumbled, snuffling at the air and then half-turned, its small dark eyes fixing on me. Fuck. It sniffed again. The rumble became a growl, and it lumbered around to face me.

It thinks I’m a challenger, I realized, my heart pounding. It was still the tail-end of mating season for bears, and if he could smell the bear in me, he’d think I was on his turf. This close to the end of the season, he’d weigh less than he had at the start and generally be less aggressive, but he’d still never allow a challenger within his boundaries.

He sniffed again, his eyes darting around. Confused, probably. He smelled a bear and saw a man. For a few heartbeats I considered trying to get past him in human form. If he thought there was another bear around and went looking for it, this might not have to turn ugly.

Rue moved. It was just a small movement, but the bear swung around snarling.

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