Page 5 of His Bear Hands (Bear Creek Grizzlies #1)

5

SIMON

S imon regretted calling her a criminal immediately. He didn't mean it. But the thought of her in his office, working on his books, in close proximity every day, drove him nearly crazy. He wouldn't get any work done. He'd have to spend weeks cleaning after she left just to get rid of her scent. So he came up with the best defense he could. And it sucked. It hurt her feelings. He chased her immediately, and thanked God he did — so he was close enough to save her when she wandered between a mother black bear and her cubs.

Instinct took over and he shifted, burst right out of his clothes to intimidate the furious mother bear, and as soon as the danger passed, he shifted back. But his heart stayed in his throat as he confronted her, terrified at the thought that she might have been hurt, or worse — killed. The thought of losing her nearly paralyzed him.

So he yelled at her the entire way back to the lodge, naked as a jaybird, and then continued yelling at her inside the lodge. And then saw her trying to avoid looking at his junk. So he fled like a coward, instead of going to his office to get some extra shorts. Simon paced the confines of his room, struggling with control as he grabbed double handfuls of his hair. A sharp pain in his chest spiked as the image of her, helpless on the ground as the mother bear loomed over her, flashed in front of him.

Simon growled and made another circuit. Crazy, ridiculous girl. No sense of self-preservation. Taking a fucking video of the baby bears without paying attention to anything around her. He would have to put a bell on her and wrap her in reflective tape just to get her through hunting season. And God only knew what trouble she could get in when the snow fell, she might —

He stopped abruptly. She would be gone before the snow fell. Tate would retrieve her, she'd testify against the evil CEO, and then she'd disappear into some federal witness protection program. He would never see her again. His bear roared at the thought, rigid with fury. They couldn't lose her. He didn't know how or why or what trick of fate made it so, but she was his. His mate. The other half of his soul.

Simon scrubbed his face and braced his hands on the dresser, leaning forward to stare at the floor. His mate. That clumsy, wild-eyed computer genius was his mate. The one who couldn't live without good wifi. Who didn't know how to weed a garden or walk through the forest without almost getting killed by a bear. Who was on the run from an international crime syndicate. The universe certainly had a sense of humor.

The door creaked open behind him and Simon turned, prepared to apologize to her for being such an ass, but it was Ethan. The biologist raised his eyebrows as he got an eyeful of naked Simon, and grabbed up a pair of sweatpants thrown across the chair near the door. He tossed them at Simon, then folded his arms over his chest. "So. How's it going? "

Simon shot him a dirty look but pulled on the sweatpants. "What the hell do you want?"

"I'd like to know why you're making so much noise up here, and why the girl is downstairs crying."

"She's crying?" Simon lurched toward the door. She couldn't cry. He would smother the sadness right out of her.

"Whoa." Ethan grabbed him by the shoulders and shoved him back, expression tense. "Since I'm guessing you're the reason she's crying, you plant your ass over there and start talking."

Simon's bear reacted to the challenge and the thought of his mate in pain, and a red sheen covered his vision. But his better sense prevailed and he staggered back to sit on his bed. "I'll kick your ass for that later. She went out to the meadow, got between a couple of cubs and their mother. I followed her and when the mother bear went after her, I changed. Saved her. Then I — yelled at her for being careless and marched her back up here."

"You shifted in front of her." Ethan heaved a sigh and flopped into the chair near the door. "And then shifted right back? So now she knows you're a bear. Well, that's great."

"She would have died." Simon swallowed another wave of fury at the thought and searched around for a t-shirt. "I didn't have a choice."

"You didn't bring bear mace with you?"

He shot Ethan a dirty look. "Go pound sand."

"I'll get right on it." He yawned instead. "Look, man. Level with me. The kid's cute and she’s kinda funny, and right now she's scared and alone. Why are you up here, snarling and growling, when you should be down there explaining to her how to be safe in the woods?"

"I didn't trust myself. And I was naked."

Ethan laughed and held up his hands to fend Simon off as he rounded on him. Ethan cleared his throat. "You hauled her up from the meadow in the nude? Seriously? And then yelled at her more? I'm surprised she didn't laugh in your face."

"I hate you so much right now." Simon rubbed his jaw, his beard out of control after the shift. He'd have to get Finn to trim his hair again, too. "Now get out of my way."

Ethan shrugged and levered to his feet, giving Simon the room to stride out into the hall and jog down the stairs. Simon paused on the landing, scanning the great room for a sign of her. "I thought you said she was down here."

"She was." Ethan frowned, edging past him to go into the kitchen and peer behind the staircase. "She really was, dude."

An engine chugged to life outside and Simon froze. The Range Rover.

Ethan cursed and ran to the office behind the kitchen. He stuck his head out. "She took the keys."

Simon leapt for the door, throwing it open in time to see the Range Rover rumble out of the drive and down to the road. He cursed, searching for the other truck, but the only vehicle left was a four wheeler. Ethan leaned through the door to toss him the keys and a radio. "I'll call Cooper back with the other truck. Go now and tell us where to meet you."

Simon gritted his teeth and ignored the pain in his bare feet as he strode across the rocky drive and jumped on the four wheeler. He tore down the road after her, heart in his throat. The Range Rover was a tricky old beast and the brakes were a bit soft. As long as she slowed down on the steeper curves, she'd be fine. He'd catch up and everything would be fine. He would explain everything. Of course, if she drove as well as she walked through the woods, he needed to hurry.

Simon stood on the four wheeler and roared down the road faster than he'd ever dared, listening desperately for any sign of the Range Rover ahead of him. Birds scattered and his radio crackled, the rest of his guys checking in with status reports as they converged on the road and the most likely place to find her. He couldn't breathe and his vision narrowed until he only saw the road ahead of him. The bear drove him to go faster, careening down the road, to save their mate.