Her Bear and a Baby: BBW Bear Shifter Baby Paranormal Romance (Who's the Daddy? Book 2) (7 page)

It was into these forests he pulled the truck, parking on the side of the track, leaving enough room for other vehicles to get past, but as far as he knew, no one else came here. Which was exactly why he had chosen this place.

Switching off the engine, he sat in silence for a second, looking out of the window, sure he could see the ghosts of children playing hide and seek in the trees. He pictured Louisa, her blonde hair flowing as she ran, her laughter filling the air.

He smiled. It was a good memory of the past, but he had to remember that was the past and the woman next to him was his future.

He was lost to her, his gaze distant, and she let him have this moment; she could wait, wait for him to come back to her. These trees held memories for him, and those were precious things. Elise knew when a person was not there anymore, not flesh that you could touch, or call up on a phone to ask how they were, then there were only the memories. Most of them of death and decay. If he could find something more here, something that reminded him of who his sister was, not how she ended up, then she would let him have it, and hold on to it for as long as he needed.

“Shall we go?” He turned to her, a sad smile on his face. “There’s a clearing a couple of miles away, it’s on a steep slope and when you look out from it, it feels as if you are top of the world.”

“I’d like to see that,” she answered and opened her door, slipping down to the ground, scenting the trees, pine mixed with deciduous, warmed by the midday sun. It felt good to be out here in the wild; she hadn’t allowed her bear to run properly since they had gone home to her sister. At first because of nursing her, and then because she hated leaving Connor alone. He was her last link to Eleanor, and her promise to look after him was never far from her thoughts.

“This way,” he said, coming around to join her. He hesitated and then reached for her hand, which she gave willingly.

Her bear wanted to be free. With each step the struggle to keep control was harder, not least because she wanted to show off to their mate.

“Is it as difficult for you?” he asked.

“What? Your bear too?” She wasn’t sure if that was what he was referring to or not. For all she knew he could be talking about the death of her sister, but all her brain could focus on right now was stopping her bear coming out to play.

“Yes.” He stopped and looked around. “This spot was always secluded, so I think we are safe.”

With that he grinned at her, the strain melting away as his bear came forth, and all she heard, like a whisper on the wind, was, “Let’s go.”

She watched as he shimmered out of this world, and for one instant she lost him, the bond gone, before a dark shape appeared in place of the human Beau, and there stood a big brown bear, his four paws firm on the ground, supporting stocky legs so thick they could be young tree trunks. Damn, his bear was as magnificent as the rest of him.

Her own bear agreed, and there was no way she was about to miss out on the fun. With a grin of her own, she let herself go, let her brain forget everything apart from the hunt for honey or wild berries on a summer afternoon, as her bear escaped at last. In an instant she was butting into Beau, laying down a challenge, and then she ran.

As she looked back, she saw him standing there watching and the same look he had when he was staring out into the woods only minutes before crossed his face. Then he roared, low and deep, and he took off after her. She felt the ground tremble as he thundered after her, and she picked up speed, her claws digging into the damp earth as she propelled herself forward.

Freedom. Not just the act of running, but freedom from all her fears and frustrations. Things were so much simpler like this and she could understand why sometimes people shifted and never returned to their human forms.

She had no idea where she was going, so she dodged around a thicket of trees and let him run in front. He moved with a purpose, following paths that were invisible to the untrained eye, always heading in the same direction. He knew exactly where he was going; these forests were like a second home to him.

Then the trees thinned, and as he promised they burst out into a clearing on a steep slope of the mountain, and from there they looked out onto the surrounding area, with the ground dropping away so steeply it really was as if they were on top of the world.

He shifted back into his human form and she did the same, taking control back from her bear. “Come.” He took her hand and silently moved through the grass of the clearing. She followed, her eyes fixed, not on the view, but on his back, longing to know what he was thinking.

They walked to the very center of the clearing, and he put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. “I used to come here when I was a child, we thought we could conquer the world.”

“Do you want to tell me what happened?” she asked.

“Yes.” He nodded. “But I hate talking about it.”

“I understand.” She sighed. “It never gets easier. People say time heals, but it hasn’t so far.”

“I don’t know if I want to heal. I’m scared if I do, that I will forget her.”

She laid her head on his shoulder. “You won’t.”

“Some things I wish I could forget.”

“She was murdered, that must be tough.” He looked at her sharply and she added, “Abbi told me.”

“Ahh.”

“Not what happened. She said that was for you to tell me. But they think your sister’s death, and mine…” She shuddered involuntarily. “That they are linked in some way.”

“Yes.” He nodded, and placed his hand on her arm. “I think they may be right. Brad has put a lot of the pieces together. Something I should have done, but instead I gave up looking for her killer and wallowed in my self-pity.”

“Don’t,” she said. “That does no one any good.”

“But what if I had kept looking? If I had found him, then your sister might be alive.”

“It’s done. This man, whoever he is, has done enough damage. Don’t let him hurt you forever, don’t let him kill us too.”

He kissed the top of her head. “I knew you came into my life for a reason.”

“Then let that reason be stopping this Gable, or whatever his name is, together. We’ve come this far. Let’s finish it, so he never hurts anyone again.”

“Yes.” Beau turned to her, his face close to hers. “You have given me something to live for. I would have eventually become so much like my other side, that I would have gone off over the mountain one day and never came back.”

She tilted her face to his and kissed him. “If it wasn’t for Connor, I think I would have been tempted to do the same thing.”

“But you didn’t.”

“And neither did you.”

“She was an undercover cop,” he began, his voice faltering. “On the trail of this new drug. Niq It.”

“A drug?” Elise asked.

“So Brad tells me. I didn’t know at the time. She was a god cop, never talked about the cases she was working.” He was silent, as if remembering, and Elise didn’t let the silence become uncomfortable; she moved her hand to squeeze his, encouraging him, but not pushing. “The last time she spoke to me, she told me she was close to the end of the case. I never knew that would mean the end of her.”

“How did she die?” Elise asked.

“She’d been beaten. Then strangled, and left in the bottom of a ditch. No fingerprints, no forensics. Nothing, whoever did it knew what they were doing. Or so I was told.” He shook his head. “I tried to find out more, tried to hunt the person who did it. But her unit wouldn’t tell me anything. I was a PI, a damn good PI, but that wasn’t good enough for them. I spoke to Brad briefly; he made no headway either. They closed ranks.”

“Why?” she asked.

He shrugged. “I figured they had screwed up in some way. The inquest was private, death by misadventure as if it just happened, a mistake she made. They didn’t want the truth to get out.”

“And do you know what happened now?” she asked.

He looked at her, and then raised his hand to stroke her cheek. “This drug, Niq It. They found out it works on shifters.”

Cold dread crept over her. He had said this was linked to her sister’s death. She didn’t want to know, but she had to hear what he said, “Go on. What does this have to do with my sister?”

“The drug alters people’s perception. From what we can make out, the drug, if given in the correct quantity, makes a shifter susceptible to being persuaded they have found their mate.”

“Oh shit. It makes sense now, why he walked away. Why my sister was so devastated. It was never true, but she thought it was, believed it was.”

“She was one of the first. I don’t suppose he meant to get her pregnant, but he did intend to dupe her.”

“She was his guinea pig!” Her fists balled at her sides. “He mustn’t ever know about Connor.”

“No. Never,” Beau agreed fiercely. “I trust everyone else who knows the full truth, this secret stays between us.”

Then she did something she had not done for months: she buried her face in Beau’s chest and cried.

Elise sobbed in his arms, and he held her so close, wanting to protect her from everything out there in the world, even though he knew he couldn’t. He knew he would die trying this time, that he could not let anything happen to her or Connor. His bear roared in agreement, and it was then that they both realized that the only way to keep them safe was to get rid of this Gable, or whatever name he went by now.

Thoughts of revenge would have to wait, though. He needed to get Elise back to the house, needed for them to make sure Connor was happy. Then he would plot his revenge.

“We should go back,” he said when her tears had subsided.

“In a little while. I would like to just sit here for a while. Do you mind?” she asked.

“Not at all,” he said, and he took his jacket off and put it on the ground for her.

“You know, you are a real gentleman, Beau.” She smiled down at him, and he took her hand and pulled her down to sit by his side. “I mean it.”

“I would do anything for you, Elise. You know that,” he said, his voice catching in his throat.

“I know. I also know I would do anything for you.” She rested her head on his shoulder, her hands threaded through his.

“Then stay safe. Don’t let this guy hurt you anymore,” he said.

“I don’t know if I can promise you that.” She sighed. “In the same way I don’t think you could promise me.”

“You have Connor to think about,” he said, his hand stroking her hair, turning her face to look at him. “He is so precious.”

“I know, and anything I do, I do it for him.” She leaned forward and kissed him, her lips warm in his, stirring emotions in him he had known were there, but had seemed forever dormant.

He kissed her back, tenderly at first, and then with a hunger that would never be sated even if he made love to her a thousand times or more. Her tongue met his, stroke for stroke, playing, teasing, her lips parting to allow him entrance, only to chase him away again. His cock hardened and the need for her was too intense to deny. He wanted to make love to her here in this special place.

His hands moved to stroke her breasts through her clothes, testing to see how far she was willing to go. If at any time she told him to stop, that she didn’t want to make love to him here in the open, he would break away from her, he could never force himself on her. Yet he hoped that wouldn’t happen. He hoped she wanted him as much as he wanted her.

She gave him his answer. She began to undo his shirt, the buttons giving her some difficulty, and he knew she was both excited and apprehensive. His hands covered hers, and he helped her undo the buttons, shrugging his shirt off his shoulders and baring his chest to her.

“I have wanted to see this chest of yours since the moment we met,” she said, running her fingers across his hard abs, and lower to tease him along the top of his denim jeans. “And as for what is hidden here, that is something I have thought about touching, and stroking…”

Her words trailed off as her fingers closed around his hard cock, the denim blocking out most of the sensation, but it was enough for him to groan, and decide that they should both be naked. He pulled away and quickly stripped her clothes off her body. Only when she sat next to him with not a stitch of clothing to hide her modesty, did he pause to take in her lush curves.

“Wow,” he said and saw her squirm beneath his gaze. “You are the most beautiful creature I have ever seen.”

She giggled nervously, and he was glad her earlier tears were forgotten. This was a time for them to consummate their relationship, to live in the here and now, not think about the past or the future. As he stroked her skin, the mountain breeze whipped up around them and her nipples hardened. He reached out and tentatively touched first one and then the other, watching the raw emotions as they played over her face.

Leaning forward, his lips replaced his fingers, and he sucked her right nipple hard, and heard the sharp intake of breath she took. He smiled to himself, and then set to work, licking and sucking, his tongue rolling over the taut bud until her arousal grew to the point she was clenching her thighs together to ease the obvious need to be touched there.

He had to oblige, she was right, he was a gentleman and whatever his lady wanted in the bedroom, even if the bedroom was the mountainside, she would get. Stroking her thighs, he gently eased her legs apart, a slight pressure to encourage her to open for him. Then he slipped his hand higher, slow circular motions to help her relax, until at last he reached his prize, and rubbed her clit. She sighed against him, his mouth torturing her nipples, while his fingers stroked her sensitive bundle of nerves, before dipping inside her warm wet sex.

Damn, she was wet. His fingers gliding in and out of her easily, she relaxed, her knees dropping down to allow him better access, and he knew how he would like to access her. Lifting his mouth, he reluctantly left her nipples to the mountain breeze, and slid down her body, coming to rest between her thighs, his breath warm on her skin.

She was just as beautiful from this angle, and extremely inviting. Leaning forward, he kissed her thighs, working his way toward her aching sex. Her hands fisted his hair, and she pulled him closer, wanting him to lick her and suck her here. But Beau wanted her to want him more, so he moved with agonizing slowness until she was lifting her hips off the ground and offering herself to him.