Shiftr: Swipe Left for Love (Adaira) BBW Bear Shifter Romance (Hope Valley BBW online dating app romances Book 6) (8 page)

But what if she couldn’t find the track again? Ascham had led her through some very dense forest. She was well aware how dangerous it was to veer off into the trees. You could easily become disoriented, and end up walking in big circles, while you became increasingly dehydrated and hungry. What other choice did she have though? She had to at least try.
Wait! Isn’t my compass in my bag?
She ran over to her pack and went through the pockets. Yes! She’d thought about not bringing it, as she had one on her phone, but she’d packed it at the last minute, knowing she could use it if her phone died or malfunctioned. This could be a game changer. She stuffed her water bottle into her pack, picked up her sleeping bag and went back into the bathroom. She stood on the bathtub and pushed the sleeping bag and then the pack out of the window. She heard them land on what sounded like earth. Then she hoisted herself up, jumping and scrabbling at the wall with her feet. The edge of the window scraped her breasts and cut painfully into her soft tummy, but she barely noticed. She was now leaning right over it and she could see her pack lying on the ground outside. She eased herself through a little further, hoping she’d be able to pull her knee through the gap and exit leg first, but it was impossible. Her body completely filled the space. Not for the first time, she cursed the size of it. If she’d been a size 4, she’d have been through in no time. Her only option was to climb through headfirst, which would mean landing on her hands. She sucked a breath in. Which could result in her ending up with a broken wrist, or two. She thought of the alternative: of Ascham returning and deciding that he wasn’t going to wait for her to accept him as his mate.

She braced her hands against the window frame and pushed hard. Her hips stuck, and she suppressed a groan of frustration. She pushed and pushed, and little by little, they squeezed through. Who knew what kind of bruises she was going to have tomorrow. Now, the only thing stopping her from hurtling head-first towards the ground was her hands clutching onto the window ledge, and she was fast losing her grip. Holding on with her right hand, she began to let herself drop, turning as she did so she wouldn’t smack her face into the ground. Her left leg slid out, and it was working, and she was almost there, only three feet to go. And then she landed heavily on her left leg, on something much harder than earth. Her ankle twisted and she screamed in pain.

Leigh was sitting outside, on the same rock he’d been on all afternoon, staring glumly into space, when the ghost of a sound came to him on the breeze. It was like the call of an animal, far, far away.
It’s Adaira
, he thought. Then wondered why he’d thought that. No. It was more likely to be an owl. He tilted his head and listened for it again. It didn’t come. Had he imagined it? Already, the memory of the sound had gone. He stood up and looked down at the dark mountain. There was nothing to see, only blackness.
It’s your mate
, his bear told him. If that was true, it couldn’t mean anything good. It was a sound of pain, or fear. He walked to the start of the trail and came back again, restless. Should he go and find her? Make sure she’s ok?

Just then, there was another sound, different from the first. It was much louder. A clear, high tone, and so piercing that he shook his head to kill the buzzing in his ears. That was not a human, or an animal sound. It was something manmade. It came a second time, continuing for longer this time. It was like one of those alarms that humans like to put in their cars, which have a tendency to go off at random times and terrify passersby. It had to be something to do with Adaira. He didn’t know what. But the cry, followed by that sound was a heck of a coincidence. He ran back into his cabin, stripping his clothes off as he went. He shifted, his bear bursting out of him with a roar, and he began to hurtle along to trail to the point where Adaira had disappeared with the mysterious figure.

Ten minutes of sprinting at full pelt later, he was there. There was the scent of a woman – light sweet, fragrant and very sexy. He breathed it in deeply. Adaira was his mate. There was no doubt about it. His skin tingled, and the blood pounded in his veins. The mating urge was overwhelming. However, his mate’s smell was accompanied by a much less pleasant odor: wolf. He wrinkled his nose and let out a roar of rage. There were wolves all over the mountains. He never saw them, of course, as they were too scared of him to come close, but he didn’t trust them one bit. For the most part, they were sneaky and underhand. He followed the trail into the trees. It was much easier for a bear to make his way through the dense forest than a human, and it wasn’t long before the stink of wolves became much stronger. There was an entire pack of them, not very far away. He ran on, his senses heightened, ready to pick out any sign that there was a wolf in the immediate vicinity.

Leigh came to the edge of the dense forest and saw a clearing straight ahead. He sniffed hard. He could smell Adaira. Not the track she’d left earlier, but her actual scent. It was a deeper, sharper smell than before though – it was the smell of her fear. He suppressed a sound of anger. What the hell had that wolf done to her? The smell of the wolf was strong too. As he emerged from the clearing, he sighted a collection of cabins. Keeping low to the ground, he crept towards the cabin from where Adaira’s smell was coming strongly. She was very close by. He approached from the back, looking up at a small open window, high up, with an electric light coming from the room inside. He gathered himself, preparing to jump through it, when he heard a tiny whimper coming from somewhere near to the ground. The cabin was raised off the ground, with a dark space beneath it. He ducked his head down. Adaira was right there, curled into a ball, looking tiny and afraid. She was crying; he could smell the salt of her tears. And he could also smell her pain. To a bear, it was a very specific smell – bitter and cloying.  How was she injured? As she looked back at him, her eyes widened in terror and she started to scream, before clamping her own hand over her mouth. Instead she hyperventilated, letting out little whimpers as she gulped for breath. His heart went out to her, and his stomach twisted in the knowledge that this amazing creature, his mate, was suffering pain and fear. He gave a little rumble, intended to be an encouraging noise, and took a step closer. She shrank away, and tried to kick some earth at him.

He needed to talk to her, to tell her that he was Leigh, her mate, and that she needed to jump on his back so he could carry her away. In short, he needed to shift. But it was so risky – wolves were everywhere. He picked out at least three individual scents, less than a mile away. He’d have to be quick. He’d shift, speak to her quickly, then shift back and carry her away to a safe distance. Two shifts in such quick succession would take a lot out of him, and he’d be exhausted by the end of it, but it was the only option.

He stood up straight and willed it to happen. His bear growled and huffed as it was forced inside his human body. It always felt like he was trying to stuff something huge into a space that was way too small for it. And then there was the cracking and contracting of his bones. As Leigh fully assumed his human form, he covered his crotch with his hands and knelt down. Adaira’s face was a mixture of shock and growing relief.

“Adaira, it’s Leigh,” he muttered urgently. “How are you hurt?”

“Oh, thank god! It’s my ankle. I think I’ve sprained it. I can’t stand on it at all,” she replied.

“Ok, we have to be quick. I’m going to shift back. Climb on my back and I’ll carry you away, ok?” She nodded. He stood up again and willed the shift to happen.

His joints began to loosen and his skin burned as it began to stretch, ready to accommodate the huge size of the bear. And then Adaira screamed. A split second later, there was a terrible pain in his right shoulder, and a bloodcurdling growl behind his ear. There was a wolf, its fangs sinking into his flesh. A glance over his shoulder revealed that there were another four wolves ready to pounce. He shook himself, trying to get rid of it, but the wolf had a good grip on his human flesh. His bear let out an almighty roar, but it was trapped inside him. He was stuck, half way through his shift. Panic and anger coursed through his body. Five wolves could easily finish him off. And there would be no-one to protect Adaira.

“Cover your ears!” Adaira yelled.

“What?”

“Do it!” A piercing shriek seemed to tear the air in two, and he jammed his hands over his ears. The pain in his shoulder stopped, and he spun around to see the five wolves cowering on the ground, crying and whimpering. It was the breathing space he needed.

“Come on, shift,” he muttered to himself. His bear tore out of him, growling and snarling, until it stood, huge and proud in front of the five wolves. The unbearable noise had stopped and his ears were ringing. He didn’t delay a moment longer. He launched himself, with his full weight, on top of the wolf that had bit him. It yelped as his teeth sank into its flesh. It turned its head, nipping at his ear, but a swipe from his razor-sharp claws sent it flying through the air. He leapt on it again, seizing it by the throat this time. It fought fiercely, kicking at him with its strong legs, trying to bite him wherever it could. But it was no match for a bear. He shrank back from killing it with his teeth, not wanting to taste it. Instead, he delivered the final blow with his claws, ripping its throat right open. The metallic stench of its blood thickened the air. He lifted his head. The other wolves stared at him, not moving. He’d killed their alpha, he realized. He snorted and pawed the ground, asking
who’s next?
As one, the four of them turned tail and ran. His muscles bunched, ready to go after them. But then he stopped. He was exhausted from his shift. He figured he needed his energy to make sure he got Adaira home safely.

He dropped his head and looked at Adaira. She was scrabbling towards him, dragging her injured leg after her. He purred, encouragingly. She cleared the underside of the cabin and hauled herself to her feet, trying to stand on one foot. She’d pulled her backpack with her, but now she looked down at it, sorrowfully, and stuffed it back underneath the cabin. Leigh came and stood on her left side, and she hoisted her injured leg over his back, laid her body flat against him, and wriggled until her weight was distributed evenly. As her fingers gently grasped the loose skin at the back of his neck, he began to move.

Her grip on his body felt light, hesitant at first, but as he speeded up, she clung on, squeezing with her thighs. It was a nice feeling having her wrapped around him; more than nice, in fact. He ran into the dense forest, and kept going for a mile or so, and then he stopped. He had used every reserve of his energy, and he could barely move. Being attacked while he was in mid-shift had had a huge effect on his body. Shifting was so difficult for a shifter in the first place, and being caught mid-shift was something every shifter dreaded. There was a danger that he could’ve been trapped like that, half man, half bear, and unable to return to either form. There were folk tales of unfortunate shifters who had suffered this fate, and had to spend the rest of their lives looking like freaks. He shuddered at the thought. Adaira stroked his back and behind his ears, seeming to understand that he needed to regain his energy. He allowed his muscles to relax, but his ears and nose were on high alert, ready for the wolves to come after them. There was no sign of them though, and he wasn’t too surprised. He’d just killed their leader. Their energies would be occupied by figuring out who was going to be the new alpha. Wolves. He hated the way they were so obsessed with their hierarchies.

“Leigh, are you ok?” Adaira said, her voice startling him. He made a purring noise. She gave a soft laugh.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” He stretched his body. He felt better now, capable of the journey back up the mountain. He began to move at a walking pace, listening out the whole time, just in case.

Some time later, they were back at Leigh’s cabin. He hunkered down beside the rock he’d been sitting on all afternoon, allowing Adaira to slide off his back and sit on the rock, and then he dashed inside. He wanted to get back to his human form as fast as possible so he could speak to her. He pulled on the t-shirt and jeans he’d discarded earlier and came back outside. Adaira was gazing up at the sky. It was very clear tonight, and so many stars were visible. He stopped in his tracks and gazed at her. Up until now, she’d been an injured person that he needed to get away from the wolves as quickly as possible, but now he saw her with new eyes, as the woman he’d seen in her profile photos, but even more beautiful in the flesh. Despite having just carried her on his back, he hardly dared approach her now.
She’s your mate
, his bear insisted, scrabbling beneath his skin.
But she went off with the wolf
, he silently reminded it. It huffed, as if that was of no consequence.

Adaira turned at the sound of his step.

“Are you ok?” he asked.

“Yes, I’m fine now, thanks to you,” she said, her voice soft.

“Let me take a look at that leg.” He walked over to her, knelt down and untied her boot with trembling fingers.

“It’s just a sprain, I’m pretty sure,” she said. He felt around it as gently as he could.

“I think so too. It just needs plenty of rest, and then it’ll get better. I don’t have any ice, because I don’t have an ice box up here, but I think it’ll help if you put it in cold water.”

He ran to the stream and came back a moment later with a bucket of fresh water. She sighed as her foot sank into it.

“God, that feels better already,” she said. “I can’t believe I made it out of that damn window in one piece, only to land on a rock!”

“You climbed out of the window?”

“Yep. That wolf had me trapped in there.” He felt a burst of anger, at the wolf who’d trapped her, and at her for deciding to go off with him.

“Why did you follow him to his lair instead of coming to see me?” he said, more harshly than he’d intended.

“I thought he was you!”

“What? But why would you think that?”

“Your photos on Shiftr are quite similar, even though you look different in the flesh. He came and met me as I was getting near to your place. Nothing he said made me think he wasn’t you. I was surprised when he led me off the track instead of us walking to the end of it, as you’d described earlier, but I assumed there was another way there or something. The last thought in my mind was that someone might be impersonating you. And he took my backpack. After that, I pretty much had to follow him.”

“I saw that,” he said. Her eyes flashed.

“What? You saw him abduct me, and you didn’t come after me?”

“I – I just thought you’d decided to go with that wolf instead.”

“But I was coming to see
you
. You really though I’d be that fickle?”  He hung his head.

“I didn’t know what to think. I’m not very experienced with the ways of women.”

“Ways of women?” she repeated, and threw her head back, giving in to a gale of laughter.

“I guess that sounds kind of dumb, doesn’t it?” he said, feeling his cheek warming. She shot him a sideways glance.

“No, it sounds kind of cute, I guess.” Relief flooded Leigh’s body. She hadn’t decided to be with the wolf instead of him. She hadn’t abandoned him. His bear purred, and he fought back the impulse to jump for joy.
She’s your mate. Take her; claim her for your own,
his bear kept insisting.

“What happened after he took you to his lair?” he asked abruptly, trying to cover his embarrassment at having judged her so wrongly.

“He left me in there, saying he needed to go out hunting for food, and I decided to take a shower, because I felt dirty after my hike, you know? But as he was leaving, I saw him as a wolf, and then, of course, I realized that he wasn’t you. I freaked and tried to get out of the cabin, but it was locked. When he came back, I told him I was going to leave. I had a plan to try to make it through the woods and back onto the track to come and see you.” He shuddered, only imagining how lost she could’ve got out there by herself, not knowing the woods, and lacking a shifter’s instinct for direction. “He said I wasn’t leaving, and he was going to keep me there until I accepted him as my mate. Like that was ever going to happen!” she finished, eyes flaming. Leigh’s stomach flipped, sickened at the thought that that lowdown wolf could’ve forced her to be with him. “And then he started making these pervy comments about not being able to wait forever, so I realized that I had to get out as soon as I could. He locked me in again while he went to attend to some business, and I saw an opportunity in the bathroom window, and I took it.”