Cracking branches and squawking birds. Heavy breathing. Heavier footfalls.
Someone was running toward them.
Mallory went rigid in his arms before extracting herself, her eyes hard as they scanned the area, clearly trying to determine where the sounds were coming from.
A bear came into view, running like its ass was on fire. It was young, adolescent probably. Possibly had only started shifting in the last year.
The bear had a tawny brown snout, wide, fearful eyes, and its ears were pressed flat against its head. It glanced over its shoulder, its front leg crashed into a fallen branch, and it went tumbling ass over tea kettle until it finally came to a halt on its side in a mound of dirty snow.
Mallory rushed over to the bear before Remy could tell her to be careful. Cursing under his breath, he hurried after her.
“…not going to hurt you,” Mallory was telling the young bear. The bear, a female, darted a distrustful gaze his way.
Mallory gave his arm a squeeze. “He’s with me. It’s okay. We aren’t”—she gave him a quick glance—“we aren’t with this pack.”
Interestingly, that seemed to calm the bear, who slowly rolled to its feet and shook like a dog. With another glance at Remy, the bear nosed at the pack on Mallory’s shoulder.
“Do you want to shift?” Mallory asked.
The animal nodded.
“I don’t have an extra set of clothes in here. I brought this pack for the clothes I’m wearing, in case I needed to shift. But I do have clothes in my car. It’s just beyond the border, over that way.” She pointed to the east.
The bear jutted its snout, then it took off at a jog, pausing a few yards away and pawing the ground impatiently.
“Either someone is following her or she suspects someone will be soon,” Remy noted.
“Definitely seems that way,” Mallory agreed. “Should we shift? I can stuff your clothes in here with mine.” She flipped the pack off her shoulder. The bear grunted and nodded, apparently agreeing with Mallory’s suggestion.
“Okay, you go first,” Remy joked, earning a smirk from Mallory. He pulled his beanie off his head and handed it to her. Then he shed his jacket, his fleece, and finally the T-shirt underneath.
Damn, it was cold out here. Although that look Mallory was giving him was definitely helping to stabilize his body temperature.
It was also perking up a certain part of his anatomy, which she was about to realize as he unlatched the button on his jeans and shoved them down his legs, taking his boxers with them.
Unfortunately, the chilled air was effectively emasculating his erection, so he quickly toed off his boots and shed his pants and summoned the magic of the shift.
His bear roared its approval in his head as his bones stretched, his nose elongated, claws sprang from his fingers while fur sprouted all over his body. A moment later, he dropped to all fours, gave a shake, and hurried over to rub against the nearest tree. The shift, with its almost-instantaneous hair growth, always made his back itch.
While using the tree trunk as a backscratcher, he blatantly watched Mallory undress and stuff her clothes into the small pack.
Damn, she was beautiful. The memory of how she’d looked, naked and spread out before him on the sheets in that hotel room four years ago hadn’t dimmed in the least, but he couldn’t deny that seeing the real thing again was something akin to nirvana.
She finished stuffing her clothes into the pack and then waved him over while she stood there stark naked and seemingly entirely at ease, other than the goosebumps spreading across her creamy skin.
He trotted over, more than happy to get close to her. She looped the pack around his neck, magic sparked off her skin, and in the blink of an eye, she, too, was a bear, albeit with dark fur instead of white, like his.
If only they could simply romp around, being bears, getting reacquainted. Unfortunately, that other bear was pawing the ground, making grunting noises, clearly impatient to get out of here. Yeah, this was not a casual meetup, and they did not have time right now to remind themselves why they belonged together.
Forever.
Shaking it off, he nodded at Mallory to lead the way, and then he trotted along with her, flanking her to the left, while the other bear fell into step and flanked her on the right.
He kept his senses sharp, but he didn’t notice anyone following them. When they reached what he assumed was Mallory’s vehicle parked on the side of a two-track lane leading to pack land, she stopped and summoned the magic of the shift again, and he got another eyeful of the most spectacular female body he’d ever seen in his life.
“Down, boy,” she murmured as she slipped the pack from around his neck.
He snorted.
