Bear Territory (Bear Lodge Shifters Book 5) Read online

  She ran to his side, and Gray knelt down with him so she could reach him.

  “Jake!” she cried out, voice breaking with anguish. Gray made a pained noise, and Julia ran up beside him.

  “He was talking, Anna. He was talking. He was conscious off and on. He's still healing. He'll come back, okay? He will.”

  But there was a shake in her voice, and tears glimmered in her eyes.

  They put him to bed in her room with towels under him, his body still limp and unresponsive save for the occasional eyelid flutter. Now and again he twitched slightly— but that was all. Anna took off her shoes and crawled into bed with him, curling against him, arms around him. Sometimes she couldn't help it, and would simply start sobbing aloud, face against his shoulder as she hugged him as tight as she could.

  As he lay there, breathing softly, though, it was easy to pretend he was just asleep.

  The idea calmed her, even if it was off base - just resting. Just recovering. He'll wake up and be fine. That's what being with a Bear is like. You get the miracle sometimes. You do. I will. He's going to wake up.

  Finally, huddled with him in the dark, she started talking.

  “You know... the stupidest goddamn thing happened, Baby. I hope you'll forgive me when you wake up. But mail came from the obstetrician while we were getting ready for the big fight. Malik must have dropped the mail run off before he went to infiltrate the Hunters. And I'm really glad he did. But it also means that I had to leave the letter unopened while we went about all of this. And the letter, well... it's my copy of the ultrasound, and the test results. Including the sex.”

  She pulled the envelope off of her nightstand and curled back against his chest.

  “I didn't have time to open it. I had to put it aside. So I've kinda been holding out on you without meaning to. I'm so sorry, Jake, sweetie. I swear that this wasn't how I wanted to do this. I figured we'd put all this garbage behind us, sit down and open it up over a cake and some ice cream. Or maybe one of those steaks you like and my stomach seems to like too....”

  She wiped her eyes. She couldn't tell if he could hear her or not, or if that thing about people in comas being able to hear those who talked to them was just crap.

  “So... I've got the letter here, and I w-wondered if you'd like to maybe wake up and read it with me.” She waited, but he didn't so much as twitch. She swallowed a lump in her throat. “Or, you know, maybe you can j-just hang out and I'll read it to you.”

  She bit back another sob and covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes brimming over. Then she took the envelope in both hands.

  “Yeah, I'll do that.”

  She opened the envelope and pulled out the small sheaf of papers inside, unfolding it.

  “You saw the ultrasound. This is just our copy. Little guy looks like an alien right now or something. Apparently that's, um, normal.” She read her way through the papers, setting aside the gender test and ultrasound conclusions for last. “So are all the hormones and stuff. Our kid's perfectly healthy, Jake.”

  Finally, she read the last two papers, and smiled sadly, a little, sweet laugh escaping her.

  “It's a boy. Jake, you're gonna have a son.” She wiped her eyes and looked down at him. “Jake... please, you have to wake up. You lost your father when you were a man. How much worse is it going to be for him to grow up without a dad at all?”

  Her eyes blurred, and she laid her head on his chest, which rose and fell evenly. She started crying again, clinging to his shirt as she tried to listen to his heart for reassurance. But the torrent of tears swept her reason and focus away.

  She didn't realize until she had already cried herself into a headache that he was slowly stroking her hair.

  Her head snapped up.

  “Jake?!?”

  He blinked his eyes open, and smiled at her sleepily.

  “Hey baby,” he murmured. “So... it's a boy, huh? That's... that's really neat.”

  She hugged him tightly, her sobs now of gratitude and relief. He petted her gently, his movements slow and weak, but gradually gaining in strength.

  “Told you I'd come back to you,” he murmured.

  “Yes, you did,” she whispered back, astonished and humbled.

  I'll never doubt him again.

  Soon she would walk out and tell the others sitting vigil down the hall.

  And they would have yet another reason to celebrate. But for now, she and her mate just held each other, curled around their yet-to-be-born son, who would grow up knowing his father after all.

  The End

  I Hope that you enjoyed

  ‘Bear Territory’.

  You’ll find a preview of the first book in the series

  ‘Hunting Party’

  after the About the Author section of this book.

  Find out what led to the events in ‘Bear Territory’ – read the rest of the series!

  About the Author

  Kyrii Rayne has always been fascinated by the paranormal – by the possibilities hidden in the world around us. She enjoys writing stories that explore those possibilities – and the challenges they bring to the lives of her characters, especially when it comes to finding love.

  She lives in Australia, and travels a lot – and always listens to the old folk tales everywhere she goes – there are story ideas everywhere!

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  https://www.facebook.com/Kyriirayneauthor/

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  Sign up for Kyrii’s newsletter to make sure that you are the first to know when she releases a new book!

  Go to:

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  sign up, and receive ‘Jake’s Secret’, the prequel to the Bear Lodge Shifters series, for free when you do!

  Here is your preview of

  Hunting Party

  Bear Lodge Shifters– Book 1

  Kyrii Rayne

  Chapter 1 - Anna

  Sometimes life throws you a curveball, Anna Moretti thought as she gazed out of the helicopter window at Jackson Hole shrinking below them. Off into the mountains they went, swept away to a private resort owned by the father of her new boyfriend, Jake Matson. She felt her stomach drop as they rose high enough to make her nervous, and instead turned back to Jake, who sat there smiling with his arm around her.

  Jake was huge, six and a half feet of muscle, with a sweet clean-shaven face that looked younger than his massive body, soft brown eyes and slightly floppy coffee-colored hair. A gray weathered t-shirt stretched across his chest under a black motorcycle jacket, and black jeans molded to his powerful thighs. She couldn't look at him and not feel warmth running through her. Especially after the last few days.

  “You okay, baby?” he asked gently, reaching out to slip his hand through her shoulder-length honey-colored hair.

  She was tiny compared to him, and soft-bodied, with luxurious curves and bright green eyes. She wore jeans as well, with a big fluffy teal sweater, and nestled against his shoulder as he spoke.

  “I'm good,” she purred. And she was.

  Last night especially had made sure of that.

  Jake had started out shy with her, just a few days ago, coming by her desk at the seminar they shared in grad school, and introducing himself. Offering an afternoon coffee, someone to talk environmental law with, then later someone to walk around campus with until an autumn rain drove them indoors again.

  Hand-holding, walks and long conversations had evolved over a few days, and he had shocked her with an invitation to Wyoming for the weekend. Always adventurous, and having had no chance to hike anywhere for a few years, Anna had jumped at the opportunity. And then Jake had made another proposition, and she had smiled slowly... and jumped at that chance as well.

  They had spent last night exploring each other, mapping each other’
s' bodies with fingers and mouths, learning the caresses that brought each other to trembling heights, and then resting and trying again.

  She was pleasantly exhausted as she sat through the flight, and dozed a little against his side, feeling the warmth pouring off him even through his jacket. It was amazing how she could know him for only a few days, and already feel so safe around him.

  “My Father's holding an event this weekend, some kind of hunt. Probably moose, something like that. I told him I had someone special to bring along, and he said it was fine.”

  He leaned forward to nuzzle her hair. Strange, how having sex with her had left him even more affectionate than before. In her experience it was usually the opposite: a guy slept with you, and then stopped trying because he had gotten what he wanted. Not Jake. Last night in the middle of his first climax he had looked at her suddenly, amazement and joy spreading across his face, as if an angel had whispered in his ear. And since then, his sexy, friendly affection had become something infinitely more tender and intense.

  It was almost frightening... but he never did a thing to try to hurt or control her. He simply seemed so hopelessly smitten that his enormous size and sheer masculinity somehow made it even more adorable.

  “That's really nice of him. Will it be safe to go hiking with the hunt going on?”

  “They hunt to the north and west. There are some good hiking trails to the southeast that we can use. It's not a big deal.” He smiled down at her, and leaned down to give her a gentle kiss.

  “Okay. That sounds good. I haven't been able to do any hiking at all since I started grad school. I really miss it.”

  “Did you bring good boots? It could snow.” He rubbed her back, and she nodded.

  “Good waterproof hikers, yeah. I don't have a compass right now - do you have one?”

  “Yeah, there's one set in my multi-tool. I've barely ever used it for anything though. I've turned into a city boy.” He smirked gently. “This should be pretty interesting.”

  “Okay, well, we'll figure it out.” She managed another glance out the window, and watched the landscape slide past far below: tree-clad mountains, stone outcroppings, drifts of dead leaves. Sometimes a flock of birds flew by underneath. Once or twice she saw other animals: deer, elk, a female moose with her yearling. The land looked so pristine, so untouched, save for a few cell phone towers and the odd pair of power lines. Back as a kid she had hiked the Sierra Nevadas with her uncle every summer, traveling overland for miles and miles. She still kept her mileage up every day, surprising Jake with how easily she had taken the hills and stairs of the UC Berkeley campus. She was built for cuddling, as he had commented, and the idea of her powering up a Wyoming mountain path had intrigued him.

  She was a contradiction by nature: avid hiker but not athletic-looking, emotionally tough but soft-eyed and snuggly, dedicated to environmental sciences but neither a strict tree-hugger nor any other kind of extremist. She was fiercely independent, and a student of the School of What Works; she called herself a moderate but whether she was or not depended on the subject. And Jake was much the same. Of course, in his case he had been born with a silver spoon in his mouth that he didn't really need; they were both scholarship students, both at the top of their classes, but he had come from a private school and she was the product of one of the less successful public school systems in California. His plan was to start a series of green businesses, such as renewable hemp and bamboo farms to replace wood in the local paper making industry. Meanwhile she had planned to become a lobbyist in local government.

  Somehow, she suspected that his ventures would be more successful, with his father's money behind them. But she didn't mind; it wasn't a competition. As long as the work got done, she was happy enough. Though there really was something to be said about having a lover who could sweep you off to a private hunting lodge for the weekend with one phone call. “So what kind of guy is your Father?” she asked casually — and was surprised to feel him tense a little against her side.

  “He's... eccentric. He's mostly just wrapped up in his work and environmental causes. You know, one of these Type A people who are always pulling all-nighters on this or that project but don't spend anywhere near as much time on people. We aren't super close.” He hesitated, and she watched his face, and the conflict in it, and wondered.

  “Am I going to be welcome there? Because I don't want to cause problems between you and your Father.” She felt a small stab of concern, but he just smiled.

  “No, he already said it was fine, he isn't the sort of guy to go back on his word. Don't worry about it.” He took her hand and squeezed it, rubbing his thumb over the back. “Seriously, we'll have a great time.”

  “What's the lodge like?” She craned her head around to catch sight of any sign of civilization, but except for a single, winding road and an old fire tower in the distance, she saw nothing. She smiled, sighing with an odd satisfaction. It wasn't that she disliked the sight of other people, but there was something about unspoiled land that made her deeply happy.

  “It's huge. Looks like one of those log fortresses from the Colonial days but on a bigger scale. Geothermal heating, wind and solar electric, its own spring, seriously — the works. The designer, Helga Thorsdottr, is a good friend of my father's. She was like an extra grandma growing up. I hope she's feeling well enough to join us this weekend, I'd love for you to meet her.”

  “It sounds awesome.” She felt a touch of mischief replace the apprehension. “Do they have private hot tubs?”

  His eyebrows went up, and he gave her a lazy grin. “Yup.”

  “Those will definitely come in handy.” She slid her hand up and down his chest and he got a gleam in his eye.

  “Hey now,” he whispered in her ear. “You keep that up and I'm joining the Mile High Club and embarrassing our pilot.”

  She blushed, and stopped petting, but only reluctantly. He chuckled. Half an hour later, she saw the lodge, its massive shape crowning one of the mountains. It had its own helicopter pad, and the pilot headed for it, fighting the mountain winds now and again and making her stomach jump. But the reedy man in the bulbous helmet knew what he was doing, and after a shaky descent, set them down in the middle of the helipad. “That's it, kids,” he rasped. “Wait for the rotors to come to a stop before you get out, this isn't Hollywood.”

  Anna looked out of the helicopter window at the slowing rotors and saw, beyond them, a tall figure in a suit, waiting for them at the edge of the pad. His hands were in his pockets, his overcoat blowing past his powerful legs and his pale face strangely expressionless. “Is that your father?” she asked Jake, getting his attention.

  He tensed strangely again, and let out his breath in a sigh. “Yeah, that's him. I'll introduce you in a minute.”

  Continued….

  Other Books from Kyrii Rayne

  The Bear Lodge Shifters Series

  Hunting Party

  Bear Brother

  Bear Hunt

  Bear Trap

  Bear Territory

  Coming Soon:

  The Ember Dragon Series

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