His Bear Hands (Bear Creek Grizzlies Book 1) (4 page)

She watched it again. And again. And again. Trying to puzzle it out. Trying to understand. The bile rose in her throat, welling up along with panic and sheer terror.

He couldn't be a bear. And yet, on the video, he was.

S
imon regretted calling
her a criminal immediately. He didn't mean it. But the thought of her in his office, working on his books, in close proximity every day, drove him nearly crazy. He wouldn't get any work done. He'd have to spend weeks cleaning after she left just to get rid of her scent. So he came up with the best defense he could. And it sucked. It hurt her feelings. He chased her immediately, and thanked God he did — so he was close enough to save her when she wandered between a mother black bear and her cubs.

Instinct took over and he shifted, burst right out of his clothes to intimidate the furious mother bear, and as soon as the danger passed, he shifted back. But his heart stayed in his throat as he confronted her, terrified at the thought that she might have been hurt, or worse — killed. The thought of losing her nearly paralyzed him.

So he yelled at her the entire way back to the lodge, naked as a jaybird, and then continued yelling at her
inside
the lodge. And then saw her trying to avoid looking at his junk. So he fled like a coward, instead of going to his office to get some extra shorts. Simon paced the confines of his room, struggling with control as he grabbed double handfuls of his hair. A sharp pain in his chest spiked as the image of her, helpless on the ground as the mother bear loomed over her, flashed in front of him.

Simon growled and made another circuit. Crazy, ridiculous girl. No sense of self-preservation. Taking a fucking video of the baby bears without paying attention to anything around her. He would have to put a bell on her and wrap her in reflective tape just to get her through hunting season. And God only knew what trouble she could get in when the snow fell, she might —

He stopped abruptly. She would be gone before the snow fell. Tate would retrieve her, she'd testify against the evil CEO, and then she'd disappear into some federal witness protection program. He would never see her again. His bear roared at the thought, rigid with fury. They couldn't lose her. He didn't know how or why or what trick of fate made it so, but she was his. His mate. The other half of his soul.

Simon scrubbed his face and braced his hands on the dresser, leaning forward to stare at the floor. His mate. That clumsy, wild-eyed computer genius was his mate. The one who couldn't live without good wifi. Who didn't know how to weed a garden or walk through the forest without almost getting killed by a bear. Who was on the run from an international crime syndicate. The universe certainly had a sense of humor.

The door creaked open behind him and Simon turned, prepared to apologize to her for being such an ass, but it was Ethan. The biologist raised his eyebrows as he got an eyeful of naked Simon, and grabbed up a pair of sweatpants thrown across the chair near the door. He tossed them at Simon, then folded his arms over his chest. "So. How's it going?"

Simon shot him a dirty look but pulled on the sweatpants. "What the hell do you want?"

"I'd like to know why you're making so much noise up here, and why the girl is downstairs crying."

"She's crying?" Simon lurched toward the door. She couldn't cry. He would smother the sadness right out of her.

"Whoa." Ethan grabbed him by the shoulders and shoved him back, expression tense. "Since I'm guessing you're the reason she's crying, you plant your ass over there and start talking."

Simon's bear reacted to the challenge and the thought of his mate in pain, and a red sheen covered his vision. But his better sense prevailed and he staggered back to sit on his bed. "I'll kick your ass for that later. She went out to the meadow, got between a couple of cubs and their mother. I followed her and when the mother bear went after her, I changed. Saved her. Then I — yelled at her for being careless and marched her back up here."

"You shifted in front of her." Ethan heaved a sigh and flopped into the chair near the door. "And then shifted right back? So now she knows you're a bear. Well, that's great."

"She would have died." Simon swallowed another wave of fury at the thought and searched around for a t-shirt. "I didn't have a choice."

"You didn't bring bear mace with you?"

He shot Ethan a dirty look. "Go pound sand."

"I'll get right on it." He yawned instead. "Look, man. Level with me. The kid's cute and she'd kinda funny, and right now she's scared and alone. Why are you up here, snarling and growling, when you should be down there explaining to her how to be safe in the woods?"

"I didn't trust myself. And I was naked."

Ethan laughed and held up his hands to fend Simon off as he rounded on him. Ethan cleared his throat. "You hauled her up from the meadow in the nude? Seriously? And then yelled at her more? I'm surprised she didn't laugh in your face."

"I hate you so much right now." Simon rubbed his jaw, his beard out of control after the shift. He'd have to get Finn to trim his hair again, too. "Now get out of my way."

Ethan shrugged and levered to his feet, giving Simon the room to stride out into the hall and jog down the stairs. Simon paused on the landing, scanning the great room for a sign of her. "I thought you said she was down here."

"She was." Ethan frowned, edging past him to go into the kitchen and peer behind the staircase. "She really was, dude."

An engine chugged to life outside and Simon froze. The Range Rover.

Ethan cursed and ran to the office behind the kitchen. He stuck his head out. "She took the keys."

Simon leapt for the door, throwing it open in time to see the Range Rover rumble out of the drive and down to the road. He cursed, searching for the other truck, but the only vehicle left was a four wheeler. Ethan leaned through the door to toss him the keys and a radio. "I'll call Cooper back with the other truck. Go now and tell us where to meet you."

Simon gritted his teeth and ignored the pain in his bare feet as he strode across the rocky drive and jumped on the four wheeler. He tore down the road after her, heart in his throat. The Range Rover was a tricky old beast and the brakes were a bit soft. As long as she slowed down on the steeper curves, she'd be fine. He'd catch up and everything would be fine. He would explain everything. Of course, if she drove as well as she walked through the woods, he needed to hurry.

Simon stood on the four wheeler and roared down the road faster than he'd ever dared, listening desperately for any sign of the Range Rover ahead of him. Birds scattered and his radio crackled, the rest of his guys checking in with status reports as they converged on the road and the most likely place to find her. He couldn't breathe and his vision narrowed until he only saw the road ahead of him. The bear drove him to go faster, careening down the road, to save their mate.

Z
oe tried
to make conversation with Ethan when he came into the lodge, but by the odd look he gave her, she failed. She went back to staring at the wall, trying to decipher the next logical step. If this were a role playing game, she should get out of there. Men who turned into bears heralded a lot of sick shit she didn't want to deal with.

As soon as Ethan jogged up the stairs, she crept over to the kitchen to search for the keys to something. Any possible mode of transportation. Nothing. So she snuck into the office where Simon kept his antiquated ledger books and snatched the keys off his desk. The gears ground as she tried to pull out of the drive, but she didn't care about the transmission. Simon could pay for a new one if it fell out.

The door to the lodge banged open just as she peeled out, gravel scattering from under the tires, and she careened down the side of the mountain. She raced away, terrified that Simon would come after her as either man or bear, and fumbled with her phone to try to get a signal. She had to call Tate. Had to figure out whether Tate actually knew what these guys were or if this was some sick joke. Maybe he could pick her up. Send her a rental car or a bus ticket or something.

She wrenched on the steering wheel and stomped on the clutch to avoid flying off a switchback, and dialed Tate's number. She kept hitting re-dial, half her attention on the road, and waited until the trees thinned and she actually got a signal. The phone rang several times before Tate picked up, sounding annoyed. "Yeah?"

"You son of a bitch," she said, nearly breathless with the effort of keeping the Range Rover squarely on the road. "These people are
nuts
. Come get me. Come get me
now
."

"You shouldn't have called." Tate swore, and it sounded like he moved quickly. "Jesus Christ, what's wrong with you? It's been less than a day. Just sit tight. You'll be fine."

"I swear to God, Tate, you'd better —" She yelped as the car hit a pothole and a deer bolted across the road and she swerved. And then there was nothing below the car and she felt weightless, floating up until her seatbelt caught her, and she stared out the windshield as trees rushed up and then —

Nothing.

S
imon caught
sight of the Range Rover's tail lights before Zoe disappeared around another corner, and his heart jumped. He could catch her, could bring her back to the lodge and explain everything. Once he got her warm and fed and safe in his den, she would understand. He clicked the radio to signal he'd found her and sped to catch up. Saw the truck bounce, then lurch.

Watched as she swerved to avoid a deer.

As the Range Rover sailed off the road and plummeted toward the earth.

As trees snapped and broke but didn't hide a crash.

Simon closed his eyes and prayed for the first time since he left the Foreign Legion. Begged whatever deity would listen not to take his mate away so soon after he'd found her.

Simon brought the radio up and struggled for calm as he called to his guys. "She crashed. Get here immediately. The fifth marker. It's — not good."

It fell out of his hand as he went to the edge of the road and steeled himself to look. The Range Rover rested in a heap of broken trees, one switchback down, and smoke rose from the engine. Nothing moved. She didn't cry out or beg for help. Just silence.

Silence and his heart pounding.

Simon ran the four wheeler around the switchback to get closer. He barely heard the grumble of the ancient farm trucks approaching from above and below, and all four of his guys stood around him. The color drained from Ethan's face as he looked at the wreck. "What the fuck happened?"

"Deer. She swerved." Simon started toward the car as numbness spread through his chest. Prepared to see her broken body.

Ethan caught his arm, said, "Let me go first, man," and Finn and Noah held him back as Ethan approached the truck. It wobbled in a strong breeze and he muttered under his breath, trying to open the dented driver's side door. He half-leaned through the window, reaching for something, then called to the others. "Bring my medic bag. She's alive. We'll need the backboard and the c-collar."

Simon exhaled a breath he hadn't known he held as Finn retrieved the giant bag of medical supplies from one of the trucks. Cooper carried over a backboard and neck brace. Simon shook himself back to life and concentrated on saving her. He shut off the part of his brain that just wanted to protect her and mourn what they'd lost. She couldn't wait. The golden hour ticked away and he wasted precious seconds.

He started securing the Range Rover so it wouldn't slide any farther down the mountain, and moved to help as Ethan wrenched the driver's door open. Simon held her legs as Ethan affixed the c-collar around her neck, and Zoe cried out. His bear raged, furious that she hurt, but there was nothing to fight. Nothing to kill or maim to make it better, to fix her. He silenced the bear and concentrated on her. Her glasses had disappeared in the wreck, and for a wild second, he wanted to look for them so she could see when she opened her eyes. She would be scared if she opened her eyes and couldn't see.

Ethan started working as soon as they lay her flat on the backboard. Finn pulled out the satellite phone, cool and calm under pressure. "We need the life flight?"

Ethan didn't answer.

Simon stared at her still form. A massive cut flayed her scalp and blood covered her face. At least one of her legs was broken, and several ribs caved in. From the whistle and gasp of her faint breath, one or more punctured her lungs. Eventually her chest cavity would fill with air and compress her heart until it stopped beating. That would kill her faster than the head wound, most likely. She had minutes, maybe seconds.

Ethan sat on his heels next to her, fingers anchored to her pulse, and looked at Simon with a neutral expression. "She won't last long enough for the life flight to arrive."

Simon's emotions drained away until a husk of a man remained. He hadn't felt so empty in six years. Could remember the exact moment, standing in front of a burning village in Africa as gunfire cracked through the air and rockets exploded all around, when he stopped giving a shit about anything. It took six years to get over that, to start caring again, and as he looked at Zoe, he knew he wouldn't recover if he lost her. If his mate died, he might as well walk off the cliff next to them.

"You got the IVs?" Simon started rolling his sleeves up.

Finn put the sat phone away. "Boss, are you —"

"I'm sure. I can't lose her." He didn't blink as Ethan tied a band around his bicep and inserted an IV in the crook of his elbow, the tube connected to the subclavian vein near her throat. Crimson filled the tubing and flooded into her. He watched her face, hoping the gray waxy cast to her skin would warm. "She's my mate."

Ethan looked up sharply, taping the line in place on her clavicle. "What? When did you decide this?"

"When the black bear almost ate her." Simon loosened the rubber from around his bicep and let the blood flow freely to her. She could take as much as she needed. She would wake up a bear — his bear, his mate — and he would have a lot of explaining to do, but she would wake up. "I didn't mean to shift. I meant to scare it away. And the bear came out instead."

Finn let out a low whistle. "What the hell did we miss this morning?"

Simon pinched the bridge of his nose. "Just wait until she's fine."

Noah went to the Range Rover and retrieved her backpack, and found her glasses and a phone on the floorboard. He shoved the glasses and phone into the backpack, then paused and peered into it. "Holy shit, man. This thing is full of cash."

"Yeah." Simon sat next to her, careful not to jostle her, and wished his blood would flow faster. "She's kind of a criminal."

"Kind of?" Noah held up several packs of cash. "Dude, this kind of scratch could —"

"Leave it," Ethan said. He shoved to his feet and looked at Cooper. "Take the four wheeler back up to the house and call the wrecker to get this truck out of the way. We don't want it falling. Noah, take her stuff and the truck back up to the house to set up the infirmary. If the transfusion works, she'll live but she won't be happy. We'll need some place to lock her up. Finn, I need you to drive the other truck after we load her in the back."

The others dispersed and engines roared to life, maneuvering carefully around the wreck and where the girl lay. Ethan glanced at Simon. "If you can stand, we need to get her into the bed of the truck."

He nodded, not trusting his voice, and rose as Ethan and Finn lifted the backboard with the girl on it. He climbed into the bed of the truck as they slid her in as well, careful of the IV that still connected them. The color in her face was a little better, and though it might have been his imagination, he thought the cut on her forehead looked smaller. His shifter blood would save her. It would change her, but it would also heal the grievous injuries that would otherwise steal her away.

Finn got in the driver's seat and began the long, slow trek back up the mountain, avoiding potholes and rough patches, though they bumped along too much for Simon's liking. They were maybe halfway back to the lodge when Ethan reached for the IV in Simon's arm. "That's enough blood. You'll drain yourself dry."

"Leave it."

"Simon —"

"She needs more. I'll be fine." He wouldn't admit that his vision grew spotty and his hands felt cold. She looked better. She needed it more. He could eat a couple of steaks and take a good nap and would be right as rain. Her chest rose and fell more evenly, deeper and without the wet squelch of a punctured lung. Relief made him almost as faint as the blood loss.

Ethan took a deep breath and continued trying to align her broken leg so it would heal correctly. "Have you considered what she might say when you tell her she's now a bear? She wasn't exactly a country girl to start with. I don't know many bears that live in the city."

"I'll cross that river when I come to it." Simon blinked, feeling clammy and sweaty, and finally cleared his throat. "I think that's enough."

"So you're about to pass out? Great." Ethan leaned over the girl to remove the needle from Simon's arm, shoving gauze against the wound to stop the bleeding, but took more care with removing the IV from her chest. "Hopefully we got enough into her heart and brain to save her. Only time will tell."

Simon closed his eyes as he leaned back against the cab of the truck, wanting to float back to the lodge, but he kept his hand on her shoulder just so he could feel her skin, warm under his fingers. Something jostled him and he found Ethan glaring at him and holding out a bottle of sports drink and a granola bar.

"For fuck's sake, Simon. You know better than this. Get your blood sugar back up. We're almost to the lodge and we don't need the guests seeing you fall flat on your face."

Finn made a rude noise inside the truck and Simon shot him a dirty look over his shoulder. But he took the sports drink and granola bar, wolfing both down until he felt a little sick. Finn pulled the truck as close to the back of the lodge as he could manage. Cooper met them there, helping Ethan carry the backboard and the girl inside. "The guests are watching a documentary about the Cascades in the movie room. They'll be occupied for at least another hour. I tried to buy us some time to get her settled and looking less — dead."

Simon wanted to hug and punch the man at the same time. But he focused only on putting one foot in front of the other. They reserved the room nearest the back door for two things: uncontrolled shifts and sick bears. It locked from the outside, so a berserk bear could be contained within, and had enough equipment to treat almost anything that might kill someone in the woods. He collapsed into the comfortable chair near the door to watch them transfer Zoe to the hospital bed. Finn dropped a bag of food in his lap as he passed through, juggling bags of saline and an IV pole from the storeroom.

Simon didn't want any of them touching her. Only his blood loss settled the bear enough to let Ethan treat her wounds, but when he dipped a washcloth into warm water to clean the blood and dirt off her, Simon shoved to his feet. "I'll do that."

"You can barely stand, Simon." Ethan glanced up and eyed the other men in the room. Cooper and Finn beat a hasty retreat, and Ethan faced Simon alone across the girl's bed. "Just chill out and let me finish this."

Simon growled deep in his chest, and reached for the washcloth. "I will clean her."

Ethan massaged his temples, then held his hands up in defeat. "Fine. Clean the blood off of her, cut off her clothes so we can see whether she's healing, and call me when you're done. I need to call in some prescriptions in town, otherwise we'll run out of morphine by tomorrow night. If she needs it."

He shut the door behind him, almost a slam, but Simon didn't care. Zoe was his mate and if anyone would groom her, it would be him. She lay still and quiet in the white hospital bed. He took a deep breath as he studied her face. The cut on her scalp was definitely smaller. Most of the small scratches on her face and chest had disappeared, and her heart beat steadily on the monitor next to the bed.

Simon used the giant shears Ethan left on a nearby tray to cut through her clothes until he could pull the tatters away. They were past saving anyway, covered in blood and mud and spilled fluids from the car. He would buy her new, enough to fill up the closet in his room. He left her underwear on, uncomfortable with her being unconscious when he saw her naked for the first time, and covered most of her with one of the clean white sheets as he wet the washcloth again. He started with her hand, cleaning off each finger, then her palm, then her wrist. He worked slowly, carefully, and changed the water out for warmer as soon as it grew cloudy with debris. He dried her, too, so she wouldn't get cold.

It took an eternity but he didn't care. His back and knees ached, and his chest ached, and a sharp pain stabbed through his temple. The blood loss and stress and receding adrenaline did a number on him, but all that paled in comparison to the satisfaction of caring for his mate.

He made sure to cover her fully when Ethan knocked, though Simon still cleaned blood from her feet. The other man eased through the door and leaned against the wall, watching him more than their patient. Simon didn't bother to look at him though the irritation turned his voice deep and grumbly. "You got a question, friend?"

"You broke the code. Turning her without permission."

Simon paused, then forced his hands to continue manipulating her left ankle, still swollen and discolored despite his blood coursing through her veins. He didn't dare look at Ethan lest the rage inside him burst free. He and Ethan had been through far too much, in far too many places, for such a simple statement to ruin it. "Watch yourself."

Ethan eased into the chair near the door, picking at some of the shredded fabric and disgorged stuffing. "Even if you'd been the best brain surgeon and cardiologist and trauma doc in the entire world, you couldn't have saved her. There weren't any airbags in that truck, man. The steering wheel got her in the face and chest. So don't question your choice to turn her. It sucks and she might hate you, but she's still alive because you did that."

Simon didn't cease his work even though her feet were clean. He picked up some ointment and worked it into the knots around her ankle, then bound it up with gauze and sticky wrap bandages. Bruises always took longer to disappear. "There's not a doubt in my mind about that."

"I didn't think there would be." Ethan rubbed his face and rested his head on the back of the chair, staring up at the ceiling. "You sleeping down here for a while, I take it?"

"Yeah." He hadn't really thought about it, but Simon damn well knew he would sleep in that infirmary until she was better. Until he could convince her to sleep in his room, in his bed, so he would know she was protected and safe. He shuffled to the head of the bed and moved the sheet enough so he could bandage an ugly abrasion on her shoulder without exposing the rest of her.

"Finn is pulling one of the cots out of the storeroom for you. I'll send in food for both of you, and you eat every damn bite, do you hear me? Cooper is going to distract the guests until they check out tomorrow, but we have six new ones checking in day after. We need to come up with a plan for that. In the meantime, keep her quiet and warm. If we need the restraints, tell me. She could really hurt herself if we're not careful."