Bear Fur Hire (Bears Fur Hire #2)(26)

Did he want to take her in the woods and make her scream his name? Hell yeah, now more than ever. She was his. His Lena, his mate, and that faint scent of brown bear had him feeling desperate for the first time in his life. His insides were churning with something he didn’t quite understand, and as he looked back at her, something slowly clicked into place.

For the first time ever, he was afraid.

He was afraid that he wouldn’t be enough to keep her safe out here.

Ripping his gaze away from the fear in her eyes, fury flooded his veins. His inner monster pulsed within him, angry at this moment of weakness. He was beast, and none of these grizzlies out here had anything on him. With his life, he would protect Lena.

Fuck being afraid. He would keep her safe.

He had to.

She was his mate to protect now.





Chapter Nine


Lena had never felt as exposed as she did now, hiking beside Jenner through an open field. There was a grizzly eating vegetation to their left, but it was too far away to get a proper picture. And besides, that one didn’t seem to be the one Jenner was hunting.

He gave the bear a slit-eyed glance, then inhaled deeply and led them toward the river, adjusting the strap of his rifle as he walked with long, deliberate strides beside her.

If Jenner was nervous, she couldn’t tell. She, on the other hand, was shaking so badly that it was hard to walk in a straight line.

“You smell like fear, Lena. Cut that shit out. I’ve got you.”

Like she could control it. Lena sniffed her shoulder but didn’t smell anything other than the natural, eco-friendly body wash she’d used in the creek last night. She smelled like earth and pine sap, not terror. With a frown at Jenner, she wondered just how long he’d spent out in nature to take on such animalistic senses. She spent most of her time out of doors, and she didn’t have the knack for finding animals based on a heightened sense of smell. He barely even looked for scat on the ground when he was tracking like she’d seen other guides do.

A large chocolate-colored bear climbed over the ridge of the river bank directly in front of them, less than a hundred yards away, and Lena jerked to a stop, heart pounding in her chest and breath frozen in her lungs. When it saw them, it hunched down, startled, then sauntered slowly toward them, eyes suspicious, ears alert. Bucks and Backwoods had sent her to grizzly behavior class, but all her training went right out the window when she saw how big they were in real life. The bear’s bottom lip was relaxed, giving her the perfect view of the long canines, and with every step toward them, it gave a glimpse of six-inch black claws.

“Take your pictures, woman,” Jenner murmured. To the bear, he said in a loud, confident voice, “Go around. No, go around!” He gestured smoothly to the bear, and for some reason, the animal actually altered its course.

Lena lifted her camera carefully and began to shoot the animal, one click after the other, sure that at any moment, it would charge and they would both be made into bear poop.

Slowly, eyes ever on them, the animal made its way in a long arch around, then disappeared into the woods they’d come from.

“Holy shit,” she said on a breath. She reviewed the last couple of pictures and looked up in shock at Jenner. “I got him.”

“Yeah, well, that him was a her, and she was a young bear, easily manipulated.” Jenner grabbed Lena’s hand and pulled her forward toward the river. “That was just the beginning.”

As he led her to the edge of a small, grassy ledge that snaked parallel to the river bank, Lena’s mouth dropped open and her eyes went so wide they ached. Jenner had been right about that bear being young. Lena had thought it massive, but it was a miniature compared to the five bruins in front of them, standing on a short waterfall and fishing in the river, waiting for salmon to jump.

And now even she could smell her fear.

Jenner’s hand, big and strong, gripped the back of her neck, and his lips pressed onto hers. She froze, shocked, then leaned forward and kissed him back. Jenner eased off and rested his forehead against hers. “Lena, you have to keep calm or I won’t be able to… You’re making me feel like I need to defend you, and it’s dangerous to be around them in that kind of mind-set. Keep your cool, breathe. I won’t let anything happen to you. I promise.” He straightened up and let off a sharp sigh, but his eyes looked strange. They were darker, and now she remembered how they’d changed color last night, too. They looked browner than blue, and this time, she couldn’t blame it on a lightning storm behind him.

“Your eyes,” she said on a breath, reaching for his cheek to touch just under the morphing color.

Jenner’s dark eyebrow quirked up, and he grabbed her wrist so fast, he blurred. Canting his head and offering her a warning glance, he murmured low, “Not now. Take your pictures so I can get you back to camp.” In one piece.

She narrowed her eyes as he gave her his back and crouched down, scanning the river and beyond. Until camp then, but they would definitely talk about his mood-ring eyes later.

At least Jenner had been a beautiful distraction. As she set up her tripod a few feet from the grassy ledge, some of her fear dissipated. And as the bears seemed to notice their presence one by one and immediately returned their interest back to fishing rather than chomping on her bones, Lena’s anxiety evaporated even more.

Or maybe she was in shock. This all felt surreal as she clicked her camera into place on the tripod and adjusted the shutter speed to compensate for the clouds that had drifted back over the sun. Cloudy days were her favorite because it was like having the magic hours all day.