Mate Fur Hire (Bears Fur Hire #3)(45)

Vera and her fox were okay.

In the shed, she fell asleep against him, her back to the wood burning stove. And when her breathing turned deep and her muscles relaxed in sleep, he slipped out from under the blankets, dressed silently, and set the letter he’d written on the empty cot.

At the door, Tobias allowed himself to look back once. His mate was tucked on her side, knees drawn up, the curvature of her body beautiful under the thick blankets, and her face relaxed in her sleep for the first time in weeks. He closed the door gently, adjusted the strap of his backpack on his shoulder, and strode away from the closest place to home he’d ever known.

Link’s gray and white wolf sat somberly near the cabin as if he’d been waiting. He trotted beside Tobias through the woods until he reached the edge of Wolfland.

And when Tobias continued on and couldn’t see the bright-eyed wolf behind him anymore, the haunting notes of Link’s howl sent him off into the night.





Chapter Eighteen


Something shook Tobias hard. With a soft warning growl, he relaxed again. A small prick of pain, like a bee sting, burned through his shoulder.

He let off another growl, but was helpless to wake up.

He could hear the murmur of voices now, slurred and too low to understand. Men’s voices. Humans. Shit.

He tried to pry his eyes open to defend himself but couldn’t muster the energy.

His shoulder had ignited as if someone had built a tiny fire on his fur. With a grunt of anger, he managed to move his paw. So f*cking tired. How had they found him? He was deep in the den, hidden from the outside world. He’d bled three bruin bears to claim this spot. Stupid humans. He would bleed them, too, for waking him from hibernation.

Clamping his jaw against the pain, he blinked his eyes open.

“Oh, shit, he’s waking up.” Was that Dalton Dawson?

“Not fast enough.” That was definitely Chance Dawson.

“Should we give him another dose?” Dalton asked. “Vera said it might take two.”

“No,” another familiar voice murmured. Link? “Let him come out of it easy.”

Something hit Tobias in the chest, and the fragrant smell of cooked chicken hit his nostrils.

“Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey,” Dalton sang.

“Let’s go,” Link said. “He’ll wake up pissed.”

“I don’t want to die out here,” Chance murmured low.

“Me either,” Dalton admitted. “Tobias is a beast. I’ve never seen his bear before. Holy f*ck, dude, he’s huge.” The voices faded, echoing off the cave walls. “It’s cold as dick out here.”

Just before the trio disappeared around a rocky corner, Chance shoved Dalton. “Man, dicks aren’t cold! That doesn’t even make any sense.”

Tobias couldn’t understand them anymore, though he could still hear the Dawsons arguing. The pain was too bright now, the snarl in his throat unavoidable. Something awful was happening to him. His eyes flew open as agony rippled up his spine. It was followed by a hundred tiny cracking sounds. His bones. His bones were breaking. The anguish became so bright, he roared, but as his body exploded with pain, the sound in his throat turned to a scream.

He landed on his hands and knees, gasping and confused. His human hands were splayed against the branches he’d gathered for the floor of his den. His bleary eyes focused on a whole cooked chicken on a paper plate, a bottled water, and three plastic containers. They held what looked like green beans, mashed potatoes, and stuffed mushrooms, like the ones he’d eaten with Vera on their last date. Vera.

He jerked his attention to the tiny dot of blood on his shoulder. It wasn’t April yet. Too cold still. Had she done it?

His stomach clenched in on itself, making him sway. In a rush, he ate every last bite down to the chicken bones. His body wasn’t working right as his fingers fumbled with the zipper of his backpack. He was shaking now, from cold or from whatever the medicine was doing to him. Where was his bear? He tried to reach the animal with his mind, but there was nothing there. Only him. Only the man. She’d done it. Hope bloomed in his chest as he struggled into his warm clothes. His body wasn’t even emaciated yet. He’d probably lost fifteen pounds at the most.

He fell three times onto the unforgiving and jagged cave floor as he dragged his jerky body out of the cave, and when he stumbled out into the muted sunlight, he fell to his knees again, unable to push himself farther. His shins were bleeding and warming the legs of his jeans.

Dalton stared at him, head canted, and naturally dark eyes blazing silver. “You still smell like a bear.”

“Dumbass,” Chance muttered, his blond brows jacking up at his cousin. “He was a bear not more than half an hour ago. Of course he still smells like fur.”

Link pulled a sweater over his bare torso, then smiled at him with that lopsided half-crazy grin of his. “It’s good to see you human again.”

“Why are you naked?” Tobias slurred, his mouth feeling numb and his words coming out hoarse.

Chance picked up Tobias’s backpack and shouldered it. “See, you made Link swear not to bring Vera out here—she’s going to maim you, by the way—so he got around the swear by bringing us for backup instead. Only we had to search every damned den on Kodiak Island since you gave us zero clues to where you hibernate, so Link had to go wolf and sniff you out, since we don’t know your bear smell. Me and Dalton brought the food and supplies.” Chance gave Tobias a slow grin. “And medicine.”