Page 26 of Caught Bear Handed (Sawtooth Security #3)

Chapter Twenty-One

Kayla

To be honest, I thought these fire watch cabins that Beau had told me all about were little more than a figment of his imagination.

My bear had hit his head hard in the crash, and he was definitely not himself.

There was no chance of getting medical care this far out until we could pick up a signal.

Our equipment had been down for too long.

I knew next to nothing about what went into jamming communications, but it didn’t seem like a permanent solution, especially when we had a world-class tech team working on the front lines for us.

Beau needed to shift, but the bear was being stubborn.

For some reason, he insisted on staying human.

My wolf was begging to come out, but I was staying human for him, even though it was painful.

My justification was if something happened, I needed to be able to communicate as a human.

We didn’t put together an off-the-grid with an injured bear playbook with the rest of Sawtooth Security.

I knew Barrett and Bellamy had a plan—they had to. Problem was, I had no idea what it could be. I was trying not to get frustrated with these planning gaps. There was no way to have a contingency for getting unexpectedly run off the road.

The relief I felt when this fabled cabin finally came into sight was immense. Not just because I was exhausted and sore and every animal noise we heard as the light faded had me almost jumping out of my skin. They weren’t close enough for me to pick up a scent, but that didn’t provide any comfort.

“This one isn’t too bad,” Beau rasped as he turned the doorknob on the old cabin. It had definitely seen better days. “Everything’s still intact. Some of them have succumbed to the elements.”

It was a far cry from the cute and cozy cabin we’d spent the last few weeks in, but like Beau said, it was intact, and I was thankful.

Everything ached, my head pounded, and my mouth was completely dry.

I’d been keeping Beau talking, trying to keep him alert and focused, which had become increasingly more difficult.

He most likely had a concussion, and I was happy to see the ham radio.

Now, to figure out how to make it work so I could get him some medical attention.

The cabin had one cot, and some bedding folded at the end. I was more than grateful for a sink with running water and a rudimentary bathroom.

Beau reclined on the cot. “So tired.”

“You can’t fall asleep.” I wasn’t sure if it was still protocol to keep someone with a concussion awake, but letting him fall into unconsciousness felt scary.

Gigi gingerly hopped onto the cot. She’d been favoring her right front paw over her left, and once I got everything settled, I’d check it out.

Beau alarmingly hadn’t noticed her limp, but he did wrap his arm around her, and murmured something.

Gigi would help me take care of him. All the time we’d been together, he’d been taking care of me, and now I had the opportunity to return the favor.

I wished for so many things right now. I got Gigi water, and I took a long sip from a glass that hadn’t been washed since last fire season. Beau’s eyes were closed, and my heart sank.

“Beau,” I said sharply, knowing that time was racing away from me. “How do I use the radio?”

“Push the button.” The words slurred.

Problem was, I didn’t even see a button.

There was a dusty metal box on a table and a curly cord.

I felt around until I found the opening and flipped the well-worn top up.

There were a myriad of knobs and switches.

Beau didn’t have a tutorial in him, and I needed to play with things until I got someone, anyone on the other end.

I found the power button, which felt like a giant win.

The machine hummed, and there was the faint smell of warm dust that intensified to burnt toast, which I tried not to let alarm me.

I assumed that the knobs had been tuned the last time someone had used this beast, but there was no telling who they’d contacted.

Hopefully, they were helpful, because moon willing, they were about to hear from me.

The microphone popped when I pressed the button. Static greeted me, and my heart sank.

“Hello? Hello!” I called out, hoping to connect.

Someone answered. I almost passed out from relief. Their voice was garbled, and I assumed that their equipment was slightly more modern.

“This is Kayla Mitchell. I’m with Beau…” I didn’t know Beau’s last name. “He’s hurt. We’re in a cabin somewhere north of Granger Falls on the Sawtooth Scenic Highway. He needs help.”

“We have your location.”

A chill ran down my spine, and I prayed whoever was on the other end of this call was a friend and not a foe.

The voice continued talking.

“I’m only picking up every other word.” Which was frustrating. “Please call Sawtooth Security. Tell them we’re here.”

“Copy that,” the voice said.

“What should I do?” The question was futile, because I’d miss half the details.

“Stay there until help arrives.”

“Copy,” I responded with pride. That was set lingo. It made me feel like I could do this.

I put the microphone down, but left the radio on in case I needed to send another message to my mystery responder in a hurry. Turning to the bed, my heart dropped. Beau’s eyes were still closed, and his breath had slowed and deepened. He’d passed out while I figured out the radio.

Gigi picked her head up and looked at me, concern plain on her face.

“I know, girl,” I said softly as I sat beside them on the bed. I put my hand on Beau’s leg. Electricity shot through my body on contact. I took that as a good sign. “Hey. I need you to stay with me.”

His eyes opened, another small miracle I was thankful for on this long, cold night. “Mate.”

More electricity shot through me. “Mate,” I repeated. “Tell me where it hurts.”

I wished I could’ve asked my mystery responder what I should do with him.

“Doesn’t,” he said.

“Liar.”

That got his eyes to widen.

“Lie with me,” he said, patting the tiny patch of bare cot above Gigi.

She took the hint, rose from the cot with a sigh, and moved down to the floor. I owed her big time.

“You need to shift,” I said as I positioned myself beside him.

I swore to myself I’d keep this neutral, but he pulled me against his warm, hard body. Problem was, there was no neutral with Beau.

I wanted to tell him how scared I was, but he needed me to be brave right now. It would take everything I had, but I’d take care of him until help arrived.

“Do you want some water?” I asked.

He shook his head. “I want you.”

“Beau.” There were a thousand reasons why that was the absolute worst idea in the world. Not just in the top ten. Top of the freaking charts. But before I had a chance to plead my case, his lips were on mine.

I put my hands on his shoulders with the intention of pushing him away, but the kiss intensified. I justified it, telling myself that if he had the energy to kiss me like this, he had to be okay.

And maybe I needed this kiss more than I wanted to admit.

As Beau’s lips moved against mine, the aches—not just the one in my muscles, the one deep in my soul—melted away. I could pretend he didn’t have that gash on his forehead or he hadn’t been talking pure nonsense for the last mile of our trip.

I could pretend none of this was my fault. That those awful people would never hurt my bear to get what they wanted from me.

His hand slid under my shirt, up my side, and his rough, primal touch made me shiver. This was a man on the edge of a shift, who had to let this energy out in some form.

“I need to get you cleaned up,” I protested as his lips left mine, traveling down to my neck.

He moaned an objection against my skin.

“Beau.” This time, I had the strength to push him away. He blinked, startled, like I’d brought him back from another world. I made the right decision. “The rescue team will be here soon.”

I could only hope that was true. No ETA had been given.

“I’ll make a deal with you,” he said. “I’ll let you do what you want to me, and then you let me do what I want to you.”

The muscles between my legs throbbed at his proposition, begging me to agree.

“Deal.” It took everything I had to pull myself away from his warm, strong body.

Gigi startled when I managed to get off the bed. There was no sunbeam for her to soak in, and I had no idea where Rudolf was. I hoped for her sake we didn’t lose him.

Outside of Beau’s vortex, my muscles stiffened. My wolf was on high alert inside me, but there was only so long I could put off this shift without my human body paying the price.

The washcloth near the sink had seen better days, so I pulled a T-shirt out of my bag, thankful that I hadn’t abandoned all my clothes in that ditch. My possessions were just things, but with so much in my life impermanent, I treasured them.

I let the faucet run for a moment until the water was cool and clean, then dipped the end of the shirt into the stream.

Beau watched me with curiosity and a feral lust that could only be found this deep in the forest. I carefully sat on the edge of the bed. I had to keep control of this situation. As amazing as that kiss had been, the bear wasn’t thinking straight.

He hissed as I pressed the cloth to the wound. It gave me confirmation this was the right move. Once we finally shifted, the laceration would heal, but if this got infected, that complicated things. And they were already messed up enough.

“Shit,” I said under my breath. It was a pretty nasty gash, and there were tiny shards of glittery glass stuck in it.

“Am I dying, doc?” He grinned. It kept fooling me into thinking he was okay, but this wasn’t my Beau. Under normal circumstances, he’d be the quiet calm in the storm, fixing everything that had gone wrong.

“No. Hold still.” My hands shook as I attempted to extract one of the bigger shards. His body jumped as I freed the intrusion from his skin, and I’d reopened the wound. Quickly, I pressed the T-shirt against his forehead to make the bleeding stop.

I wished that Regina played a surgeon on The Wolf’s Moon instead of a down-on-her-luck single mom who worked in a diner. They’d trained me how to wait tables, even gave me a few books on motherhood—but saving a life had never been part of her script.

I was torn. The glass could cause an infection, which if it spread too quickly, could cause harm to his body in both forms. But pulling it out wasn’t smooth sailing either. I wasn’t sure if Beau had lost more blood, or had other injuries.

I grabbed his hand and pressed it over the T-shirt. “Hold this in place.”

He did as I asked without any wiseass remarks. Taking the time to decide if that was a good or bad thing seemed like a luxury. Instead, I pushed up his shirt and found a mottled, crescent-shaped bruise peeking out from his chest hair.

“Tell me if it hurts,” I instructed as I applied light pressure.

A few presses later, my efforts earned a wince from my bear.

“You might have a cracked rib.” Which was definitely worst-case scenario. “You need to shift.”

He shook his head. “Already tried. Can’t.”

“When?” That was news to me. I would’ve known, right? We’d held on to each other the entire way from the crash site to the cabin. I would’ve felt the heat rise in his body. The presence of his bear.

“Couple times, when the pain got to be too much.” He closed his eyes and winced again. If he was actually admitting he was in pain, we were so screwed right now.

I’d never felt so helpless in my life. “I need you to try again.”

“Kayla.” The word was strained. “I need to conserve my energy.”

I hated that he was probably right.

“What if I shift?” I suggested. My wolf was absolutely begging to come out, but she had a tendency to be reckless first and ask questions later. We couldn’t afford that. But maybe I could make a bargain with her. “I’d at least be able to lick the wound clean.”

He shook his head. “Things are too unpredictable.”

I wanted to scream. We needed a solution. Now. “If there’s something you’re not telling me, you need to spill it right now.”

Gigi barked. At first I thought it was in confirmation of some secret, but as it quickly intensified into a bark storm, it became clear she was delivering a message. Or protecting us.

“Good, the first responders are here.” I rose from the cot, but Beau grabbed my hand.

If I was right, the knock on the door should’ve come by now.

He sat up, not letting go of me. “I smell fire.”