Bearing Up In Wolf Rock (A BBW Bear Shifter Romance) (Wolf Rock Shifters) (9 page)

“I…that is…we…”

Tristan smiled slightly now. No one understood attraction, lust, pure animal desire like he did. He could see on Kyla’s face that something had happened.

“No need to go further. I trust your word. The question now is, if he’s innocent, why did he run?”

“I don’t know. But when we first met him he said he was here looking for someone, and I can only assume that’s still the case.”

“Well, it would be good to know who it is and what he wants. As long as there are bears about we need to keep an eye on them to prevent further bloodshed. We can’t discount Maddox’s importance in all this, even if he’s innocent. But for now, thank you Kyla.

“After last night’s discovery, it’s become all the more crucial that we kee
p this under wraps. Obviously, we need to keep a vigilant eye out for more of his kind as well as for our shifter.

“Kyla and Jay, I’d like you to head towards where you found Maddox yesterday and keep looking, for him, the other bear, hunters, anything. Any signs. The rest of us will split off into small groups and go on a run. Anyone who finds what we need, let out a howl. The rest will come running. But be careful; we don’t know what these hunters are after and there’s a real risk that it’s us.”

Jay approached Kyla when the meeting was over.

“You okay, sweetie?” he asked. “You look shaken up.”

“I am. I’m angry, confused, sad, and even a little frightened. It’s a lot of emotion to deal with at once.”

“Anything you want to talk about?”

“Nah, not just now. Let’s get moving.”

Each pack member equipped themselves with a bag which had been specially made to transport in wolf form, carrying food and clothing. They knew that
of course, wherever they’d end up after loping through the woods, they’d wind up naked if they shifted. The continually frustrating disadvantage to being one of their kind was the inability to speak in wolf form, not that many hadn’t tried it. It simply came out as gnarled syllables and comical dog-speak, and aside from growling and howling, their voices were largely useless.

However, they could run faster than most creatures on the planet. So when Jay and Kyla emerged from the meeting, they immediately shifted and began to sprint, Kyla leading the way through the woods.

They came, after an hour or so, to the cave, and transformed into humans to talk. Kyla was always grateful when she was paired up with Jay, since she knew he didn’t look at her with sex on his mind. And Jay was just vain enough to enjoy standing around naked. Like the other men in the pack, he had a great body; toned, sleek and muscular.

“So,” said Kyla as she eyed the woods around them, “I think we should head east. I lost his scent this morning but maybe we can pick it up. I suspect that he shifted along the way, and the bear will be easier to seek out than the man, not to mention that his trail will be more obvious.”

“I smell something,” said Jay.

“Oh? You think you know where he went?”

“No. But I smell that some little she-wolf got good and fucked last night.”

Kyla slapped his arm.

“Watch it, buddy. I’m sensitive right now. The bastard used my body. And I didn’t get fucked. Not exactly.”

“Even if he did,
and even if you didn’t, all I have to say is well fucking done. I wouldn’t mind being used by that gorgeous piece of manbear.”

Kyla smiled. Fair enough; she’d wanted Maddox from the second she’d laid eyes on him. She was as guilty as he was of lust and giving in when she shouldn’t.

“Okay, enough sex talk. Let’s get moving,” she said.

The wolves ran in tandem through the forest, Jay’s dark fur in stark contrast to Kyla’s blond wolf. Their large paws barely made a sound as they propelled their giant forms forward.

It was only a few minutes before Jay stopped, sniffed the air and turned his muzzle north-east as if in indication that he’d picked up the trail.

They began to sprint now,
hopeful that their hunt at least would end well. Their path was largely uphill and Kyla knew that they were making their way up one of the area’s mountains. This meant that at some point the treeline would thin and they would be exposed to the elements and, more importantly, to Maddox’s eyes. But by the same token he would be highly visible, his dark form against grey rock.

Where was he going? Kyla couldn’t figure out what his plan was, but she intended to find out.

It wasn’t long before the dense wood thinned to scattered pine trees and then they were in the open.

Kyla scanned the horizon for signs of Maddox, either the man or the bear, and then she saw him: the large, lumbering grizzly ahead, making his way up the mountain.

The wolves began to sprint again and as they drew close to Maddox, he turned to them.

He smelled the air. Kyla k
new that he’d figure out immediately what was happening. The question was, what would he do? This could end in a physical confrontation and she wasn’t sure that she and Jay could take the enormous bear down, even with all their strength. But seeing him brought back a memory of waking and finding him gone, and she found herself leaning back on her paws, the hair on her back bristling as her spine arched upwards.

She let out a low growl.

The bear looked at her and cocked his head, as Maddox the man had done the previous night. This infuriated Kyla.

She lunged at him.

As she did so, Maddox shifted, and his body took the brunt of the blow as she came crashing sidelong into him. Kyla’s twisted wolf body, trying to avoid injuring the man, who was more fragile than a bear, sent them both plummeting towards the ground.

As she rose, Maddox under her, s
he took advantage of the situation and pinned him down with her front paws, growling over him.

“Jesus,” he
said. “I’ve heard of the evil eye, but never has a woman—or wolf—looked at a man with so much animosity as you’re doing.”

Jay shifted then, removing the strap that secured his bag of supplies in place. He pulled on a pair of pants for the sake of decency and walked towards the man and wolf who were locked in a silent staring contest.

“Hey, Maddox,” he said almost casually.

The barrel-chested man who was still submitting to the wolf on top of him turned his head and smiled.

“Hey, Jay.”

“I hear you partied with my friend here last night.”

“Little bit. But I don’t kiss and tell.”

“She doesn’t either, but I did gather that you
left without a good-bye kiss to tell about.”

“Is that what this is about?” He looked into Kyla’s face again. Her upper lip was drawn back in a snarl, baring impossibly long, sharp canines.

“Well,” continued Maddox. “I’m not going to kiss you like that. I’d get a lip piercing I hadn’t asked for.”

“Fair enough. Kyla, maybe you should think about shifting now. I promise that th
e bear and I will look away while you hide your shame.”

She wanted nothing more than to slap Maddox across the face, dimples and all, but she backed off finally, allowing him to stand. He turned away, his muscular butt pissing the she-wolf off.

“Jesus, why does he have to be so gorgeous?” she thought as she altered into human form and pulled on a t-shirt and jeans.

“Fine, I’m ready to talk,” she said when she was dressed. She tossed a jacket to Maddox. “Put this around your waist. I don’t want to talk to you naked.”

He slowly wrapped the garment around himself and tied it in the front, so that it barely concealed his generous cock. Kyla glared at him, resentful of his beauty.

“Seriously though, Kyla. I’m sorry about how I left this morning.”

“Why did you do it? I trusted you. In more ways than one.”

“Because I told you, I have to find someone. It’s crucial. If I’d gone with you it would have thrown my whole plan off.”

“So you slept with me, literally, to get me to think you liked me and then took off like…like some kind of asshole.”

“I slept with you because…” Maddox looked at Jay, suddenly self-conscious. “Because I
do like you. A lot. I trusted you too, you know. Enough to do that with you…to you.”

“Well, I wish you’d told me what was going on.”

“I didn’t want to put you in a bad position. I knew that if you let me go your pack might get pissed at you. If I escaped, well, it wouldn’t really have been your fault, would it?”

“As it was, you hurt me, Maddox. I’d rather have an angry pack than a broken ego.”

“Sorry.” He stepped towards her and she thought he intended to hug her, but he seemed to change his mind.

“Now that you two have sort of made up after your love-fest, Maddox, who is it you’re looking for?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“Can’t or won’t?”

“Does it make a difference?”

“I think it does, yeah.”

“I’m looking for the person—the shifter—who’s been attacking people. Hunters, specifically.”

“So you know him?”

“Yeah, I do.”

Kyla saw a look on Maddox’s face that she now felt familiar with: sadness.

“Who is he?” she asked, wondering if she wanted to know the answer.

Maddox let out a sigh and sat down on the ground, covering himself with the jacket. The other two followed suit, taking up residence next to him.

“He’s my brother.”

His brother. This complicated matters.

“That’s
who you’re looking for?” asked Kyla, realizing as she said it that he’d already provided the answer.

“It is.”

“Maddox, why is he doing this? What’s going on?”

“It’s a bit of a long tale, I’m afraid. I told you
, Kyla, that I had a sister who died when we were kids. That she was, essentially, murdered. What I didn’t tell you is why.”

“I didn’t know this,” said Jay. “I’m sorry, Maddox. But
what do you mean, why? Who would kill a child?”

“
As I told Kyla, we learned of our powers, my siblings and I, when we were very young. My sister was the youngest of us three, alongside my brother Corgan and me. Her name was Chloe and she was a sweet little girl.

“We lived on a large ranch and so it was easy for us to shift and run around, we three kids. But one day we came too close to the neighbouring property. The man who ran that ranch saw us and went nuts. He insisted that he be allowed onto our land to hunt the bears that he said were killing his livestock. We knew it was coyotes, but he was
bent on ridding the place of the horrible young bears he’d seen romping around.”

“Jesus,” said Jay.

“He came by one day. My parents were in town buying supplies and we three, as usual, were running around, wrestling and playing. The family dog was even in on it; he was never afraid of us in bear form. We were near the house, nowhere close to the man’s land. To this day I think he knew my parents were gone.”

“What happened?”

“We were playing hide and go seek. My sister was behind the house, by the driveway. That’s where he found her.”

“He saw her in bear form?”

“At first, yes. I was on the other side of the house so I can only assume that’s what happened.”

Maddox went silent again and caught his breath, his chest heaving.

“The rancher had a rifle with him. But he didn’t shoot. He didn’t need to. He also had a dog.”

“A dog?”

“Yeah. Ours was a golden retriever. His was a bull mastiff. Corgan smelled or heard something; he’s never said which. Something made him run to the back of the house, and he saw what happened.”

Kyla waited, dreading the next sentence.

“He told me later that the man shouted a command at the dog, like a kill order. And it lunged at Chloe.”

“But…but she was a bear…”

“I know, I know. But you have to understand, she really was the sweetest girl, and she loved everyone and everything. She would never have hurt a dog, even one that was about to attack her.”

Maddox’s voice caught in his throat, and Kyla’s heart broke.

“Corgan said…he said that she shifted…just before it wrapped its jaws around her throat.”

“Oh, Maddox.”

“We think she was trying to calm it, to show it that it was all right; she was human. She was protecting the dog, you see. Not herself. She could have turned into a hawk and flown off, and to this day, I don’t…I don’t understand.”

“She was protecting you, too,” said Kyla quietly. “She didn’t want to desert you.”

“But I was the oldest. I was the one who should have saved her. I was too late; too slow. It’s my fault, you see.”

Kyla put a hand on his back, which she felt heaving as he tried not to weep.

“It was not your fault. It was never your fault. It was the rancher. How could he?”

Silence again.

“I’m sorry,” said Maddox. “I get emotional when I talk about her.” His voice was calming now. “She was amazing.”