So Much To Bear (A Werebear Erotic Romance) (12 page)

The fact that it was so empty seemed to
imply to Jennifer that Damon at least was alive. No one else would
have taken the trouble to clear out his cave; the people of the
town would have just destroyed everything, or left it alone. No one
would have cleaned it so considerately, to almost suggest that
Damon had never existed or lived there. On the other hand, Jennifer
thought, the thoroughness with which it was cleared suggested that
Damon was long gone from the area. He had probably gone on to
another place, maybe deeper in the woods. Or maybe, she thought, he
had left the area altogether, to find other werebears, or to simply
get away from such a dangerous place. But she couldn’t let herself
give up the hunt for him. If he was alive, then she would have to
find him if it was at all possible. Jennifer steeled herself and
turned on her heel, making the climb down from the cave and back to
the ground level of the woods, trying to remember where she knew
his different chore sites were. Where would he be at this early
hour? Would he be washing clothes, or would he already be at his
snares? Jennifer decided to follow the same track she had taken at
Damon’s side the week before.

She came to the river and didn’t see
him; turning around and around, she remembered where his concealed
clothing line was and headed in that direction. When she pulled the
branches that concealed the drying line back, however, there were
no clothes—not even the line itself. She sighed; it was only
further proof that Damon was totally gone from at least this
section of the woods. She could spend days searching for him and
never find him. But Jennifer reminded herself that she was going to
go to all of the sites where Damon did his chores. Two locations
didn’t mean anything; he might still be in the process of packing
up. He might have only moved some of his personal effects to
another part of the woods. He might still be there, might still be
around and willing to see her.

Jennifer followed the trails until she
came to the berry bushes he had stripped for her the first morning
they’d been together; they were starting to show new growth, a
promise of renewal, but she could see where the berries had all
been plucked. Jennifer located the first of the places where the
snares were hidden and pulled aside the underbrush to reveal it;
like the clothesline and like Damon’s cave, it was empty—the snare
gone completely. The next trap revealed the same situation, and for
a moment Jennifer considered just coming to the conclusion that
Damon had left her life for good, and moving on as best as she
could from that. But she forced herself to see through her trek in
the woods. She would hit every last one of the places where she
thought Damon could be, and if she found no evidence of him
whatsoever, she would decide that he was better off without the
added complication of her in his life—and that he had already
decided on the same point.

She went to the place where he had
charmed the bees with smoke, keeping a distance from the active
hive; she couldn’t even find the smoking bundle that he had used,
even as she searched the undergrowth where it might be hidden. She
climbed up to the cliff he had fallen from, wondering if there was
any sign of what had happened; it had been a windy few days, with a
spattering of rain, since Jennifer had walked out of the woods in
the wake of the mob that had nearly killed Damon, and there was not
even the faintest trace of blood to inform her of what had
happened.

She decided that Damon had moved on,
and that she had better do the same thing, if she wanted to hold
onto her sanity. Jennifer made her way slowly back to the cave,
climbing up to the landing and sitting in front of the curtain for
a long moment while she caught her breath. The day had warmed
slightly, and the layers of clothes she had put on, combined with
the physical exertion she had gone through to search the woods for
Damon, had left her sweaty and exhausted. Her stomach growled and
she bit back tears at the memory of Damon curtly informing her that
her stomach was making enough noise to scare away prey before
feeding her the ripe, rich berries. It was all gone. She had to
come to terms with that fact. She would never see Damon
again.

Jennifer took a deep breath, thinking
about what was left to do before she left the town. She might as
well return to her dorm, even though the building would be nearly
empty for several more days; she had told everyone she was going
back to campus, and she didn’t want the questions that would arise
if she stayed at home while she waited for classes to resume. The
loneliness would actually suit her current state of mind. Jennifer
stood and made the climb down from Damon’s cave, trying to feel
less deflated than she was. It had only been a few days; she was
stupid to think that she was really and truly in love with Damon.
She had only spent one day and two nights in his company—and only
one of those nights had included sex.

Jennifer looked up as she turned back
towards the woods itself, feeling a weird twinge of precognition.
As she peered into the trees, she saw a figure bathed in shadow.
Jennifer started initially. Someone must have seen her, and
followed her into the woods—but how she hadn’t noticed the person
watching her until now was beyond her. Or maybe, Jennifer thought
with rising panic, someone was in the woods looking for Damon as
well, and they had seen her. Jennifer’s throat and mouth went dry
and she thought of what she should do. If it was Liam or one of the
members of the town who had been involved in the mob, she knew that
she wasn’t willing to hold back—she would see them and immediately
her fear would transform into rage, knowing that because of that
person, Damon had been wrenched from her life. If it was Robert,
she didn’t know what she would do.

The figure shifted, and Jennifer’s eyes
widened as light began to fall, highlighting a pair of shimmering
golden eyes. The figure came out of the darkness, stepping through
the trees, and Jennifer cried out as she saw that it was Damon,
standing tall, looking as strong and kind as he ever had before.
She fell to her knees in relief, closing her eyes. She almost
couldn’t believe it was true; she thought for a moment that it had
to be a figment of her imagination, that she had to be dreaming,
the whole trek through the woods a setup to yet another tantalizing
but unsatisfying mental tryst with the man she cared about so
deeply. But when she opened her eyes, Damon was still there,
smiling shyly, his golden eyes full of kindness and
affection.

Jennifer leaped to her feet, uncaring
of if she was imaging it all. Damon was right in front of her, and
she wasn’t going to be apart from him for any longer than she could
help. She ran towards him, throwing out her arms and almost
colliding with him in her urgency to get close to him once more.
Jennifer sighed with relief as she felt Damon’s strong, warm arms
coiling around her tightly, pressing her body against his. There
was no sign of weakness, no indication that he was anything other
than completely recovered. “Oh god—Oh, Damon, I missed you so
much,” Jennifer said, burying her face against his chest. “I didn’t
know if you were really alive—I wanted you to be alive, but I
couldn’t quite believe it.” She was shaking, and Damon’s arms
tightened around her.

“Shh, I know. I wanted… I thought about
going into the town, trying to find you.” Jennifer pulled back and
stared up into his golden, shimmering eyes.

“They’d have killed you on sight!”
Damon nodded, smiling wryly.

“That was what kept me back, as much as
it made me feel like a coward.” Jennifer rolled her
eyes.

“It’s not cowardly to avoid certain
death—it’s smart. But how did you even manage to survive that?”
Damon shrugged.

“The wound wasn’t that deep. The fall
was worse. But I somehow came back to myself and managed to crawl
away.” Damon smiled slightly. “I was thinking about you the whole
time. I hoped you would come back to find me.” Jennifer pressed her
face against Damon’s neck, breathing in the lemon and earthy musk
scent that clung to him.

“I almost gave up hope. I thought for
sure you’d moved on by now, that you’d decided to leave.” Damon
stiffened against her slightly.

“I have decided to leave. It’s not safe
for me in this forest anymore.” Jennifer nodded.

“That makes sense. I don’t want to hold
you back.” Damon pulled her away from him, looking down at
her.

“I had hoped—I wanted you to be able to
come with me. That was why I was waiting.” Jennifer’s eyes
widened.

“You want me with you?” Damon smiled
slightly.

“I know we haven’t known each other for
a long time. But I can’t imagine being without you.” Damon pressed
her body close to his once more, kissing her lightly on the lips.
“But we should get out of here quickly.” Jennifer started to demur;
no one knew that she was in the woods, no one would think to look
for her. Everyone in town thought she was headed back to campus.
They could take their time. But then, she thought, at any point
someone could get curious; someone could decide to walk through the
woods for a completely different reason. While the woods were big,
it wasn’t impossible that they might decide to see if there was any
sign of Damon’s body.

“Okay, where are we going to?” Damon
hesitated a moment.

“I don’t… these woods are all I’ve
known, my entire life.” Jennifer nodded. Damon had some education,
and a great deal of woodsman skills gleaned from living off the
land. For the moment, she would be able to float them, but they
would need to find somewhere to be together more
permanently.

“Let’s get to the next town, and we’ll
see what we can come up with from there,” she suggested. Damon
nodded, looking relieved that she had a plan. They began the trek
through the woods, and Jennifer thought back to the fateful trip
that had landed her in the werebear’s life; her companion was as
different as could possibly be—a man who knew the woods like the
back of his hand, not just someone who tromped through on the
occasional hunting expedition or used them as a short cut. The next
town over from the one Jennifer had been raised in was not that
far, and Damon’s possessions were light; he had gotten rid of his
furniture and carried only his clothes, some food, and the few
pieces he could stow in a knapsack.

They took a break at the river,
shielded by the low branches of a tree, and Damon opened up a
sealed pot to reveal more of the rabbit stew that Jennifer had
enjoyed so much, still warm. She smiled at the sight and they both
ate from the pot itself, snagging morsels of potato and bites of
tender rabbit and spooning up the juices. Damon took her on a path
through the woods that was totally new to Jennifer, avoiding any of
the areas that might have regular people from either of the towns.
Jennifer feasted her eyes on the peaceful surroundings, stopping to
examine flowers she had never seen, to pick berries that she shared
with Damon. In spite of the fact that they were leaving their old
lives behind, chased out of the woods and the possibility of their
lives there together, there was something idyllic about the
trek.

Damon asked her about the next town.
“We never really went far in that direction,” he explained. “My
people knew some of the people from your town, but the other… they
were total strangers to us. I don’t think they ventured into the
woods that frequently, or they might have encountered us in spite
of the way we tried to avoid regular humans.” Jennifer had been in
the next town not frequently, but enough to have a general idea of
where everything important was. She told Damon about her nights out
in the other town, the friends she had made there.

“Technically our school and the school
there were ‘rivals,’ but none of us really took that seriously.”
Jennifer grinned. “All of our pranks were pretty mild. We filled
their school gym with soap bubbles during one homecoming week. They
replaced our school banners with theirs. It was just a bit of
silliness.” Damon had never gone to a regular school; he was hungry
for details of what it had been like, dubious about the wisdom of a
system of education that didn’t include any emphasis on knowing the
land around them. When Jennifer explained her college years to
date, telling him about her elective courses in self-defense and a
few other ‘odd’ choices, he surprisingly approved them.

“You know, you laugh but obviously
taking self-defense classes was useful to you. I mean, Liam would
have gotten a lot farther in his attempt to bend you to his will if
you hadn’t had that training.” Jennifer had to admit that he was
right.

“It’s just that everyone
always thought it was so silly. ‘Why would you need to learn
that?’” Jennifer shook her head. “I figured at the time that I was
going to be going to places where I couldn’t depend on the police
to keep me safe.” She laughed. “I guess that was true enough.” That
observation brought to mind the fact that her final semester at
college would be starting in a little more than a week and a half,
and Jennifer stopped herself from wondering just what would happen
to her; she would never have thought that she could give up on the
idea of getting her degree and going on to study other cultures—but
how would she fit Damon into that life?