Bear This! (A 300 Moons Book) Read online

  She slid a hand across her belly.

  Even with the money, I wouldn’t have been able to give you a life as good as you’ll have at Harkness Farms, baby. No amount of money could give you that. You’re going to be the luckiest kid alive.

  They reached the top of the stairs, Evangeline carrying the gold, and Ethan still clutching the old halligan like some sort of security blanket.

  “Wow,” Ethan said.

  Through the plate glass windows they could see nothing but swirling white.

  Evangeline shivered, the bad feeling was sinking into her bones again. Her skin tingled, like it had outside, just before the streetlight…

  There was a loud mechanical sound and the lights flickered and went out.

  Soft blue cove lights came on to take their place.

  “We’re on back-up power,” Ethan said.

  It’s just the storm, nothing more, she told herself.

  She set the gold down on the desk in the corner as Ethan slipped a cell phone out of his pocket.

  “Oh, boy,” he said. “Cell service is out too. Guess we’ll have to share our news with the chief in the morning.”

  Evangeline didn’t answer. She found herself drawn to the windows. She wandered closer, trying to make out the little town in the moonlight through the flakes that streaked past. She put her hand to the cool glass.

  “Are you okay?” Ethan asked, his voice low and gentle.

  “Something’s… not right,” she said, admitting it to herself as much as to him.

  “Is this your, um, animal instinct?” he asked.

  She’d never thought of it that way before.

  The bear paced in her chest.

  “Yes,” she agreed. “I think it is.”

  “Do you think it’s the storm?” he asked.

  “I don’t think so,” she said. “Maybe.”

  No.

  “You know we’re safe in here, right?” Ethan asked.

  She turned to him.

  He gazed down at her, his blue eyes filled with concern. The soft blue light behind him formed a nimbus around his golden hair.

  Evangeline felt that if she could wrap herself in his strong arms, nuzzle into that muscular chest, she could escape the storm outside, the bear inside, and the universe of fear she felt for her unborn child.

  As if he had read her thoughts, Ethan wrapped his arms around her.

  “You’ve had a long journey getting here,” he told her. “It makes sense that she’s frightened. But I won’t let anything happen to you, to either of you.”

  And although she knew he meant the bear, Evangeline allowed herself to believe for just a moment that he meant the baby.

  She closed her eyes and nuzzled his warm chest, dreaming of a chubby-cheeked baby cooing on a rag rug in front of their own hearth, in their own small house - a miniature Harkness Farms for three.

  Then Ethan was stroking her hair, cupping her cheek in his large hand so that she had no choice but to meet his eyes.

  “Evangeline,” he whispered.

  It was both a plea and a warning: stay in his arms and wind up in his bed.

  Ethan Chambers was an exceptional person.

  He might desire her body right now because of old times, or because he was a young healthy guy and he was literally snowed in with her. But when the sun came up and the snow melted, she knew that a well-adjusted engineer who came from money would not want to be saddled with a desperate bear shifter who was pregnant with an unknown man’s baby. Evangeline had no career, no goals beyond finding her next meal, and she had lived her adult life as a prisoner.

  No, Ethan was an exceptional guy. He would wind up with an exceptional girl.

  So when he leaned in to kiss her, Evangeline was surprised to find that she couldn’t seem to pull away.

  His mouth was warm. His big hands spread out, one on her back and one on her hip, making her feel small and safe.

  She wound her arms around his neck and kissed him back with all she had. Into that kiss she poured all the unspent love and longing of the last seven years.

  Ethan’s hands went still on her body. Then he growled, breaking the kiss, and sweeping her up in his arms.

  She tucked her face into his neck as she felt him carrying her up, up, up the stairs into the bunkroom.

  The softness of the small bed enveloped her, and then Ethan was covering her body with his, kissing her forehead, her eyelids, her cheeks.

  “You came back to me,” he crooned into the shell of her ear, as he trailed kisses down her neck.

  Evangeline’s body sang with pleasure. Every place he touched seemed to shimmer with euphoria and she thought she might have been able to see the trail of his kisses, if she could take her eyes off the man himself.

  His hair tickled her sensitive skin as he nuzzled his way between her breasts, his big hands oh so gentle as he lifted her sweatshirt, slid it up, out of his way, and gazed down at her body with rapturous eyes.

  “Beautiful woman,” he praised her.

  She blushed and tried to look away.

  “But,” he added firmly, cupping her cheek to bring her gaze back to his twinkling eyes, “you’re a little on the delicate side for my taste. You’re going to have to start eating more and then I won’t have to be so gentle with you.”

  Before she could take that in, he was already distracting her by lifting his own shirt over his head and peeling it off.

  Oh. Dear. God.

  Ethan looked fantastic with his clothes on.

  But this… This was out of control.

  The wide planes of his chest were bare, tiny nipples only serving to demonstrate the sheer size of his big body. He flung his t-shirt onto the chair across the room, creating a symphony of flexing biceps.

  He turned back to her and though she tried heroically, she could not meet his eyes and instead stared openly at his magnificent six-pack, and the two sharp angles where his abs melted into his hips and a light trail of hair led to the fly of his jeans.

  He laughed, a warm sound.

  “Wow,” she said, looking into his eyes at last in spite of a blush she was sure had turned her face as red as a stop sign.

  “I’m glad you like the way I look,” he told her. “But I want to feel us together.”

  And with that, he was lowering himself on top of her.

  Evangeline sighed with pleasure when she felt the heaven of his warm chest against her bare breasts.

  He caged her head between his arms and leaned in to kiss her.

  She kissed him back and he thumbed open her jaw, his tongue invading, claiming her.

  She whimpered into his mouth, her whole body aching with need.

  He slid one hand slowly down her ribcage, wrapped it around her hip and clenched as he angled his own hips against her.

  She felt his erection through their clothes, hot and huge against her.

  The wave of desire she felt in response was dizzying.

  And then he was kissing his way down her neck again, pulling her half up so he could thread her arms out of the shirt and throw it across the room to join his own.

  Evangeline forgot to feel shy. She lifted her hips to make it easy for him to slide off the sweatpants. Before she knew it she was naked beneath him.

  “Oh, sweet girl,” he murmured, falling on top of her again and covering her face with kisses. “You’re so beautiful, so perfect.”

  She wanted nothing more than to tell him how devastatingly gorgeous he was, how she loved his arms, his kiss, his kindness. But she knew that if she opened her mouth, she might speak to him of love for Ethan himself - a love that at best was pointless given that there was no future here, and at worst would make him think that she was crazy.

  So she whimpered and moaned instead and sank her nails into his shoulders, begging him with her body to hurry, though what she wanted she wasn’t sure. She had been living in a prison for so long -she had never dated, never kissed, never done any of the things she so urgently needed to do with Ethan
Chambers.

  15

  Ethan’s body practically boiled with lust.

  Evangeline lay beneath him, warm, naked and whimpering with desire. Although he was an experienced lover, he felt like he’d never been with a woman before - like he didn’t know what to do first, didn’t have enough hands or mouths to touch and taste her every place he wanted.

  He tried to take a breath and then her nails sank into his shoulders and he buried his face in her breasts, licking and sucking, pinning her writhing hips to the bed with his own.

  She gasped at the feel of him and he felt a momentary pride. He was pretty well-endowed, and she was noticing. She would certainly notice it later.

  His cock throbbed almost painfully at the thought.

  Down boy, not your turn yet.

  He forced himself to abandon her breasts, though he was still enthralled in the sweet spot he’d found between them. She was ready - he could tell by her sounds that he was teasing her too much.

  So he kissed the soft skin of her belly and lower still until he was on the edge of her curls.

  When he pressed her thighs apart, Evangeline went still and quiet.

  Her eyes were closed, but there was tension on her face and her fists were curled by her sides.

  “Evangeline.”

  She opened her eyes.

  He smiled up at her and she smiled back, sunshine returning to her face.

  “I want to kiss you here,” he told her, “very much. May I do that?”

  He saw the expression of uncertainty cross her features and then the naked lust in her eyes.

  “I will stop anytime you want me to,” he told her.

  She nodded slowly.

  “Thank you,” he whispered.

  She blushed again and he lowered his head to inhale her delicate scent, hoping she would feel less shy as soon as he got started.

  His own organ throbbed and he prayed for patience, willing himself to go slowly and carefully, to give her what she needed without thinking of himself.

  He kissed her warm mound and her belly tensed, as if she were holding her breath.

  He ran his tongue lightly along her opening without penetrating.

  She let her breath out in a gasp.

  Encouraged, he lapped at her again, maddened by the taste of the sweet liquid that met his tongue.

  When she began to lift her hips up to meet his tongue, he used a hand to part her folds and licked her again, slowly and firmly.

  Evangeline cried out and her legs straightened slightly.

  Half-crazed with lust, Ethan worked his tongue frenetically, sliding a finger against her opening and easing it inside as he sucked and flicked at her stiffening clit.

  “Oh,” she moaned, her fingers threading through his hair.

  He moved his finger slowly inside of her, she was so tight, it was almost as if…

  Evangeline came apart on his mouth, squeezing his finger spasmodically and crying out her pleasure in the exact moment that he realized she had never been with a man before.

  16

  Ethan crawled up to cradle Evangeline in his arms as her tremors slowed. Somehow, the idea that he was her first added to the tenderness he had felt toward her since the beginning.

  Intellectually, he knew it wasn’t good. His feelings were dead serious, yet this sweet girl didn’t have enough experience in the world to commit. How could she love him when she had nothing and no one to compare him to?

  Yet his heart sang with the ancient idea of her being his and no one else’s.

  She opened her eyes, holding him captive in her dark-eyed gaze.

  “Wow,” she whispered.

  “Wow,” he smiled back at her.

  She reached out and stroked his cheek gently, so gently.

  He closed his eyes and leaned into her touch.

  “Do you need…” she trailed off.

  He opened his eyes to see her cast her eyes downward. Though he ached at the idea of her returning the favor it was too much already. He should have taken things more slowly.

  “No, love,” he whispered. “Just rest.”

  She eyed him suspiciously, but when he pulled her against him she relaxed with her cheek against his chest.

  “So sleepy,” she whispered.

  He nuzzled her hair and began to trail his fingers lightly up and down her back.

  Soon her breathing became slow and regular.

  Ethan soaked in the warmth of her small body, and gazed through the window at the swirling snow outside. The violence of the wind out there made the bunkroom seem even more cozy.

  A particularly hard gust blew through one of the trees out front. The branches scraped the window as if they were trying to get in, tiny prying fingers in the darkness, reaching for the light.

  Evangeline whimpered in her sleep.

  “It’s alright, love,” he reassured her.

  She relaxed again, but a moment later her hands and feet were moving slightly against him as she ran in her dreams.

  Ethan was strangely reminded of his dad’s old golden retriever, Dolly, who would run and chase things in her sleep.

  The branches scraped the window again, then splayed flat against it with a clatter.

  Evangeline growled and leapt to her feet.

  “It’s only the wind,” he told her, sitting up.

  She stood in the center of the room, her long hair hanging down, partly covering her face. Her stance was wide, and although she was small and naked, there was something ferocious in her, something that reminded him of the bear he had seen before.

  “Evangeline,” he murmured, getting to his feet.

  She turned to him, eyes flashing amber. She drew in a pained hiss of breath, her hand going to her wrist as if something had stung her.

  He opened his mouth to ask her what was going on, but an explosion of sound and motion at the window stopped him. It didn’t seem like trees in the wind anymore.

  Something was trying to get in.

  Before the thought had fully formed in his head, the glass shattered. Snowy air blasted in, instantly sucking the heat out of every crevice in the room.

  Evangeline stood in place, her hair filled with glass fragments and snow, trembling.

  He had to protect her.

  Without thinking, he grabbed the halligan he’d brought upstairs with him. It felt warm in his hand, seeming almost to hum with satisfaction as his fingers wrapped around the handle.

  “Stay back, Ethan,” Evangeline said in a voice that wasn’t her own.

  “That’s not going to happen, sweetheart,” he warned her.

  She roared, and shook her head. Her whole body seemed to shake as if she had a pelt.

  And then she did.

  One moment she had been a beautiful yet terrifying young woman. The next she was a huge and glossy bear.

  The instant she took her other form, the snow changed colors.

  No.

  It only seemed to change color.

  But that wasn’t the snow. It was some kind of smoke, inky black and swirling independently of the wind outside. It was alive.

  As sure as he knew it was alive, Ethan knew it was evil.

  “Evangeline,” he cried, launching himself across the room.

  17

  The shadow lunged and the bear followed.

  In her human form, she had been confused about what was happening outside. But the animal was a simple creature, she always knew what was right and natural, and what was not.

  The wind and snow were not normal.

  And the living shadow was not a trick of the light.

  Enraged and revolted by this thing which did not respect the natural order, the bear rose onto her hind legs. She wanted to scent the thing, track its movements.

  But it didn’t have a smell.

  It brought cold in with it too - an ice cold that was worse than the wind outside should have been. She felt it through her thick pelt.

  She followed the movements of the tendrils with her eyes
, the least acute of her bear senses. The fingers of the thing unrolled into the air around her, reached out inquisitively.

  From behind her, Ethan called her name and launched himself across the room toward the thing.

  Before he made contact, the shadow broke into a flock of ghostly, black birds and rained down on her.

  They weren’t real, it was all smoke. But she could feel the beaks like little icicles.

  She roared and swiped at them.

  The shadows lifted and fused into a larger bird, so tall it towered over her.

  She put herself between it and Ethan, bellowing with fear and fury.

  The inky bird cocked its head at her.

  Then it spread its ethereal wings until it was nearly as big as the room.

  Evangeline waited, beyond fear.

  This was the bad thing, the thing she had been waiting for, the feeling she’d had of being followed. This was the dark thing she was destined to disappear into.

  There was another scream as Ethan ran toward the bird again, halligan cocked over his shoulder like a baseball bat.

  This time, the creature was so focused on her, that it barely had a chance to turn its head before Ethan brought the tool crashing down.

  Stupid human.

  Even the simple thoughts of the bear were enough to tell her that the shadow bird couldn’t be hit with something so mundane. This thing was magical. It would take magic to defeat it. Strong magic. The metal would slide through it, and Ethan would leave himself vulnerable to attack.

  And he didn’t have her thick pelt and strong muscles. It would tear him apart.

  But instead of passing through the living shadow, the halligan connected with a resounding clang.

  The bird shrieked in pain and hopped backward.

  Ethan went after it again, and this time the bear joined him.

  The bird lashed out at Ethan with its obsidian beak and Ethan tumbled back, halligan clattering to the ground.

  Evangeline stalked forward, roaring, as the bird-thing tried in vain to dodge her attacks. She swiped at it, her claws rending bits of inky smoke from its torso. The creature steadied itself for another attack, then seemed to think better of it, darting back out the window into the cold, black night.