Dare to Bear (Book 1 Trail Guardians Series) (4 page)

“Are you out of your mind?” she squeaked.

This guy had serious adrenaline junky issues. Or a death wish.

To her utter shock, the bear met him halfway. As if Mason had trained the fearsome creature to recognize and trust him.

“This is freaky,” she said to herself.

“Hey, there, buddy.” Mason treated the bear like a friendly, oversized dog. “Nice day for a stroll, huh?”

Then Mason actually reached out and ruffled the top of its head. Stephanie blinked. “Is this actually happening?” She stood up cautiously. “Jeez, what are you, the bear whisperer?”

Mason glanced back at her and grinned. “You could say that.” The glimmer of amusement in his eyes put her at ease for absolutely no good reason. “See? Nothing to be afraid of.”

She crossed her arms and harrumphed. “Says you.”

“I also say, you shouldn’t be hiking alone on the trail. There are tons of bears in this area,” he said, as the creature ducked into the woods away from the trail. “I think you need a guardian. Someone to make sure you’re safe out here.”

A little confused, she dusted off her hands. “Are you volunteering?”

“I am.”

Her arms fell limp at her sides. What a thoughtful gesture, but… “Why?”

“There is an important supply I need to deliver to the next Bear Necessities post on the trail. Three days’ hike from here. Care for some company?”

Although she appreciated his thoughtfulness, and wanted to say yes instantly, she admitted, “I barely know you, Mason.”

He chuckled as though her comment struck him as amusing. “I realize that.” He shrugged. “But it seems you could use some help. At least, when it comes to fending off bears.”

“I suppose.” She peered at him and edged away slightly. “How do I know I can trust you? Like, you’re not some serial killer who accompanies lone women on the Appalachian Trail, and they’re never seen or heard from again?”

He spread his arms. “Do I look like a serial killer?”

“That’s a trick question.” She lifted her chin. “Plenty of serial killers were very attractive men.”

A sly grin tugged at his sensual lips. “So you find me attractive?”

Heat crept from her neck to her hairline. “I mean, kind of.” She threw her hands up. “Oh, come on, you know you’re hot.”

His eyes glittered. “I guess I do now.”

“Please.” She set her hands on her hips. “As if I’m the first woman to point out that detail about your appearance.”

“Regarding your concerns, my appearance is irrelevant.” He shrugged, though a faint grin lingered at one corner of his mouth. “I run a thriving company, with dozens of associates and business partners.” He reached for his cell phone. “Here. Call Dr. Tyce, if you want proof of my credibility.”

After putting him through the ringer, she sighed. “I’m sure you’re perfectly normal.”

A dimple popped into his left cheek. “Not exactly, but I hope you have enough to go on for now.”

A thought struck her. “How would I be able to call Dr. Tyce? We’re out in the middle of nowhere, with no cell service.”

“We have satellite phones. We run survivalist quests and trips all the time, along the trail. If anything goes wrong, we need emergency access to the nearest lodge.”

“Wow. You survivalists think of everything.” She straightened. “To answer your question, yes, I would like to speak with Dr. Tyce.”

After a brief conversation with the kind doctor who’d given her a legal antibiotics prescription, she felt much better entrusting her safety to Mason. And that Mason’s quest to the next lodge was a legit errand on Dr. Tyce’s behalf.

Most of her concerns relieved, she struck out to complete her journey with the sexiest man she’d ever met. He offered her protection, companionship, and great eye candy.

She smiled.

This trip is starting to look up
.

Then she thought of the bear she’d encountered, and how easily Mason had warded off the beast. There had been something odd, surreal, about the scenario.

Mason was still vastly unknown to her. She reluctantly admitted she wanted to discover the secrets he hid behind those unforgettable deep green eyes.

3

The sun arced toward its peak at high noon. Shifting patterns of light penetrated the thick canopy above, dappling the path and forest floor.

For the past few hours, Mason had indulged Steph’s questions about his family’s business, his four brothers who ran the other Bear Necessities posts on the trail, along with the one who acted as sheriff in the next town, and why they had chosen such a unique niche industry to start a company. Regarding the last question, he could only offer half-truths to satisfy her curiosity.

Honestly, he was glad for her endless questions, and the pleasure of her conversation. It distracted him from the internal struggle he was having between his logical mind and his sexual instincts. Mason couldn’t ignore growing certainty he’d met his one true mate. Steph was
his
, and the bear in him snarled its protest at the stoic restraint he managed around her.

More than anything, he wished he could reveal the reality of his true self. The reality of life forms, like his kind that defied human comprehension, relegated to the stuff of myth and legend.

Hell, Sasquatches had more credibility than shifters, which annoyed Mason. While werebears had sworn an oath to protect humankind, the Saches ignored them, living in nature but not actively part of the wildlife community. They kept to themselves, despising the human population, uninterested in their closely-related genetic kin.

Why were people so fascinated by Sasquatches? They were disgusting, smelly, foul-tempered creatures. But, Mason supposed, they lured attention away from shifters, so he couldn’t complain too loudly. Still, when it came to spreading the word about the gruesome rabies strain impacting shifters, he would receive no help from the Saches’ quarter.

Stephanie turned to him. “Wouldn’t it have been easier to drive to the next lodge?”

He shrugged. “With the recent rainfall, many of the back roads aren’t accessible in my truck. I can move faster on the trail.”

Disappointment wreathed her face. “Not with me holding you back.”

“I don’t mind keeping pace with a beautiful, fascinating woman.”

Her expression brightened. “Really?” Then her face fell. “How do you know I’m fascinating? I could be beyond boring, you just haven’t spent enough time with me.”

Reaching out, he tucked a loose curl of red hair behind her ear. The glossy texture tempted him almost as much as the lustrous shade. He was extremely partial to the color, since redheads didn’t exist in his kind. He could run his fingers through her auburn waves all day if she’d let him. “I don’t believe that for one second.”

Her light blue eyes softened at his touch and words. “You barely know me.”

“I want to,” he said, in an earnest, gruff tone, his bear clawing inside him for dominance. His base nature wanted to strip her naked and let his mouth savor her sweet flesh, licking and tasting her. His erection throbbed against the coarse fabric of his canvas shorts. “Tell me all the fascinating things I don’t know.”

Along the trail he kept two paces ahead of her, clearing wayward branches and kicking away larger stones to make her path easier to tread.

“I’m not sure there’s much to tell,” she said. “What do you want to know?”

When she wasn’t looking, his glance lingered on her longingly. “Everything.”

As she described her upbringing as a foster child, never having known her birth parents, questions swirled in his mind. He centered on the most compelling one. Could she be half-shifter?

A sad reality was that often their kind—without proper initiation—ended up in the system as foster kids, or adopted out, or they turned to the streets as runaways. Most weren’t able to fit into traditional society. Part of them knew they were intrinsically different. Sometimes they turned to substance abuse to deal with their outcast feelings. Their heightened sensitivity made them susceptible to addiction, eternally chasing the escape, the need to feel a fuller life in ways regular society didn’t understand.

Shifter or not, Steph seemed to have defied the odds. As he listened, captivated by her life story, he felt a surge of pride that she’d achieved so much.
His mate.
She amazed him in every way.

Until she revealed why she’d come to tackle the Appalachian Trail alone. Her description of her douche bag ex-fiancé appalled him.

“The guy is an idiot.” A fierce edge sharpened his tone. How could the man not see the prize he held? “You deserve a far better man.”

Glumly, she stared at the trail. “That’s what my friend Ashley keeps telling me.”

“Your friend is smart. And right,” he said, with a soft growl. “You should listen to her.”

Her chin lowered. “Listening and believing are two different things.”

He hated the ripples of sadness radiating from this gorgeous woman. “Your ex didn’t appreciate you. Not the way you deserve to be appreciated.”

One of her hands swiped at her cheek. “Damn mosquitoes,” she muttered.

The dampness on her lashes betrayed the real reason she’d wiped her face.

Mason stopped and grasped her shoulders, turning her to face him. “Hear me out.” His gaze locked on hers. “You are special. Considering how you started in life, you’ve accomplished remarkable things.”

She scoffed.

So he cupped her chin until her startling blue eyes returned to his. “There is a man out there who will adore you exactly as you are.”
Me.
“Who would give you everything, if you asked him to.”
Me.
“Whose world would rise and set on you.”
Me.
“Who would protect you until his dying breath.”
Me.

He poured himself into the words. Forced to hide the truth, the agony of not claiming his mate twisted inside him.

Can’t you feel it, too? Don’t you see what you are to me? What I am to you?

Couldn’t she sense the pull of their fated attraction at all? When she stood motionless, his heart fell. She didn’t feel it. She felt nothing at all for him. He slowly lowered his hands.

She let out a humorless puff of laughter. “When you find him, introduce us, would you?”

In that moment, he wanted to shed his coat of businessman-respectability and seize her lips with his mouth, slide his tongue inside and claim her taste, inhale deep and own her breath. He stopped himself. Barely.

Without warning, she glared at him and took a step back. “Did someone put you up to this?”

His eyebrows drew together. “Do I seem like the type of man who lets others run his life or make his decisions?”

“No. But you don’t seem like a serial killer either.”

The words felt like a punch to the chest. “You still don’t trust me.”

The realization infuriated him. A shifter never doubted the protective devotion of her mate. Maybe she had no shifter blood in her, after all.

Before he did something stupid—like reveal the animal inside him clawing to break free of human reasoning and restraint—he stormed off the path into the woods. He needed to put distance between them.

“Where are you going?” The concern in her voice hinted at her desire for his presence. Small consolation.

“Taking a piss.”

Fists clenched, he stopped and leaned his back against a tree. Sweat beaded on his forehead.

Taking an ordinary female as his mate proved far more challenging than expected. Another of his kind would’ve experienced similar urges, the mating sequence coded into their DNA, as natural and effortless as breathing.

Once triggered, the sequence couldn’t be altered or undone. He wasn’t even sure it could be delayed.

But for her sake, he needed to slow this down. Without the trust and consent of both partners, the ritual of their mating held no meaning, therefore no validity. She’d never be accepted by his clan. And if another werebear or shifter—unbound by Trail Guardian law—took her for his own, Mason had no grounds to object.

The hair stood up on the back of his neck. His muscles clenched as though prepared to attack. The thought of her with another male pumped poisonous jealousy through his veins.

Bears were fight-to-the-death territorial.

No matter what, he would complete the mating sequence with Steph. He’d do everything in his power to seal their bond. To do that required a level of patience and persistence beyond him—but he would find a way. He needed to ease her resistance, dismantle her guardedness, gain her trust. She would be his. Just not today.

Resigned, he shook out the tension from his body and returned to the trail, to her side. Where he would remain always…if she let him.

*

Stephanie hiked beside Mason the rest of the afternoon, careful not to let her defensiveness breach their newly formed friendship. He’d seemed sullen when he’d returned from his bathroom break earlier, but his mood improved as she continued making small talk with him. He took opportunities to point out various herbs and plants with medicinal properties every good survivalist knew. She found his vast knowledge impressive.