Stolen by her Bear

The noise came again, dragging him up from a deep sleep. Saint’s ears twitched and he tried to shut out the sound, burrowed deeper beneath the pile of furs and shuffled the pillow over his head. He hooked his arm over it, pressing it to his ear.

His mind emptied, the waiting arms of sleep that hadn’t quite released him pulling him back into the darkness.

He sank into it.

Growled as the distant laughter pulled him back up.

They just weren’t going to shut up.

He needed them to shut up!

His thoughts blurred, heavy intangible things that bled together with his bear instincts, had his actions sluggish as he tossed the furs off him and tried to sit up. His whole body felt too heavy, his limbs like lead as he wearily blinked, as he fought to lift his right hand and rub the sleep from his eyes. Another growl rumbled from his chest as he heard the noise again, part of him straining to catch it whenever it happened now, so tuned into it that he could only focus on it, making sleep impossible.

Irritation flared hotter in his veins as he glared at the small window on the gable end of his cabin to his right.

A blackout blind obscured his view of the world, but he would bet his left nut that it wasn’t spring yet.

Saint yawned as he pushed onto his feet, grumbled a curse as he had to grip the pitched ceiling to stop himself from falling on his ass when his knees weakened, unused to bearing his weight. He must have been asleep for a while at least, possibly a few weeks. Not nearly enough of them to get him through the winter.

His bear side growled and swayed, filled him with a black need to roar and lash out at the world.

He just wanted to sleep.

Saint stumbled to the wooden spiral staircase that led down from his loft bedroom, took each step carefully as control of his body slowly came back to him and he began to shake off the effects of his winter sleep. His stomach growled as loudly as his bear instincts, and he rubbed it through his cream long johns, his mouth watering as his mind turned to steak. It would have to wait.

First thing he needed to do was find out who the hell was making that ruckus.

Maybe if he knew who it was, knew it wasn’t a threat to him and his kin, he could finally shift his focus back to sleeping.

He gripped the newel post at the bottom of the staircase and rubbed his dark eyes again, unleashed another yawn that was so big he was in danger of snapping his jaw off.

Saint grimaced as he placed one foot on the wooden floor of his cabin and quickly snatched it back to set it on the last step of the staircase. He glared at the freezing cold boards and then his gaze leaped to his slippers. A curse pealed from his lips. He had left them near the worn dark brown couch that had its back to him, faced the log burner and the wooden wall opposite him. He had always been the kind of bear to hibernate through the winter, sleeping the short frigid days away, dreaming of spring. He should have spotted the signs that the winter sleep was upon him, should have known it would be months before he woke again, and that the cabin would be freezing by the time spring roused him.

Saint switched the order of things.

First port of call was getting the fire going.

He pulled a face at the frigid floor and then went for it, swore when he tried to move too fast for his recovering body and slammed into the back of the couch, ending up bent over it. He huffed and grabbed his slippers, was swift to tug them on.

Saint scratched his backside as he yawned and trudged to the black log burner. He sank in front of it and cleaned it out, set up a new fire and lit it. Stared at it as the kindling caught and flames began to dance around the split logs. Warmth curled around him, tugged another yawn from him as a desire to go back to bed and back to sleep filled him.

Gods, he just wanted to sleep.

He dragged a hand down his face, over a month’s growth of beard. He couldn’t sleep though. Not until he knew the source of the noise.

He had a duty to ensure his pride were safe. Only the twins, Knox and Lowe, were overwintering with him at Black Ridge, their territory deep in a valley in British Columbia, Canada, but that didn’t change his duty as their alpha. He had to make sure it wasn’t hunters or humans out there in the valley.

Although, he had the feeling he knew who was making that ruckus.

He growled low, forced himself to leave the fire and grabbed his thick black and green checked fleece from the back of the couch. He tugged the padded shirt on, buttoned it as he moved to the door to the right of his small kitchen. Another growl rolled from him as he shifted the blackout blind on the door aside and flinched, the brightness of the sun bouncing off the thick layer of snow outside almost blinding him.

He was going to need more than a fleece and jeans to check out what was happening.

He huffed as he pivoted on his heel, as he crossed the room to the far end and the tall cupboards that filled the space on the right of it, beneath one corner of his loft bedroom. He yanked the wooden doors open and grabbed a heavy winter jacket and thick waterproof trousers, kicked off his slippers and pulled the clothing on. He bent and rifled around in the bottom of the cupboard, snarled when he didn’t find what he was looking for.

Saint slammed the doors, his mood degenerating rapidly as the thought of all the snow that waited outside, blanketing his territory, only strengthened his desire to sleep, until it fogged his mind and had his limbs feeling heavy again.

He tried to shake off his bear instincts as he opened the next cupboard and found what he was looking for in the bottom of it. He grabbed his heavy fleece-lined winter boots and pulled the socks he had bundled into balls out of them as he stomped to the couch. A couch that felt too inviting as he sank onto it to tug the thermal socks onto his feet, made him want to roll onto his side and just sleep.

The noise came again.

Fuck sleep.

He was going to kill whoever was out there disturbing his peace.

He yanked the socks on, followed them with the boots, and shoved to his feet, stormed to the door and pulled it open. A foot of snow cascaded into his home, covering his boots, and he looked down at it.

Roared as he kicked at it, frustration getting the better of him. “Get the fuck out of my home.”

“Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed.” The deep male voice that drawled that at him came from his right, and had his focus shifting there.

His eyes watered as the bright snow assaulted them and he blinked to clear his vision as he stepped out onto the deck of his cabin and tugged the door closed behind him. He looked to his right, but the overhanging pitched roof that provided some protection for the front of his cabin obscured his view, forcing him to move to the wooden railing that enclosed the deck.

Saint leaned against the capping rail and looked across the deep blanket of snow to the twin cabins that were closer to the trees on that side of the clearing that formed the heart of Black Ridge. Beyond those cabins, the forest rose up the side of the towering mountains that sheltered his territory, the dark evergreen canopy capped with white as far as the eye could see.

He grunted at all the snow.

Knox stood by the door of the cabin on the left of the two, looking just as grumpy as Saint felt, wrapped in a thick checked robe and sneering at the snow.

The sandy-haired bear wasn’t the only one awake either.

Saint glanced at the cabin to the right of Knox’s, at the more ash-blond male who was shovelling snow off his deck, and who, unlike his twin, was already wearing sensible winter protective gear.

Had Saint woken the brothers from their winter sleep, or had it been that damned noise?

He cocked his head as he listened for it, starting to think maybe he had imagined it.

But then another round of raucous laughter and cheering echoed through the trees.

Trees that stretched from the foothills of the mountains on his right to the river hidden somewhere beneath the snow to Saint’s left, separating Black Ridge from Cougar Creek.

Saint growled again as he twisted to face that way, his fangs dropping this time and a need to shift surging through him. Damned cougars. It had to be them. No human was insane enough to venture up the valley in the dead of winter, when the snow drifted to over six feet deep in places.

But it wasn’t like the cougar shifters to be noisy in winter.

They were usually silent once the snow began to creep further down the mountains and began to fall in the basin of the valley, the last of the visitors bidding goodbye to Cougar Creek for the year, leaving their alpha, Rath, alone there throughout the long winter months.

Saint poked his head out from beneath the protruding roof of his cabin and glared at the sun where it skimmed just above the mountains to his left, on the rise. Normally, he enjoyed seeing the sun shining against the vivid blue sky, liked gazing at the jagged mountains and the dense forests that covered the land on that side of the creek.

Loved lazing by that creek, watching the fish.

Couldn’t do that now, with it buried under several feet of snow and ice.

He turned his frown on the snow that reached almost as high as the deck, had to be at least three feet deep where it had accumulated against the underside of his raised cabin. His gaze tracked across the undulating snow that stretched between him and the thick forest of lodgepole pines and spruces.

This was going to be one shitty walk.

Putting it off wasn’t going to make it any nicer though, or make his mood any better.

He wasn’t the only grouchy bear on the property either. He glanced to his right at Knox and Lowe, could see by their faces they were as pissed as he was by the disturbance. Having the three of them tired and grumpy would only make all of them worse in the long run, would bring out the bear in them and cause them to bicker and fight, destroying the peace they normally enjoyed. So as much as he despised the thought of dropping down into three feet of snow, he was going to have to do it.

Gods, he was glad Rune and Maverick had gone to Vancouver for winter as they always did, the two of them travelling to a bolthole they shared there. Neither of them was the sort of bear to sleep the months away, preferred to be awake through winter, but like him, they didn’t like snow. Saint had once made the mistake of convincing them to stay at Black Ridge for winter, had denied the urge to sleep so he could stay awake with them.

It hadn’t gone well.

They had made it to December before Rune and Maverick had gotten into a brawl so bad he had feared they would kill each other, and then all three of them had holed up in their individual cabins until the snowmelt. It had been the longest damned winter of Saint’s life. He hadn’t been able to sleep, had stayed awake to make sure Rune and Maverick made it to spring.

He scrubbed a hand over his beard, hoping like hell things didn’t end up that bad this time. If they couldn’t get back to sleep, ended up having to stay awake, then he wasn’t sure he would be able to keep his cool and smooth the edge of his own mood to maintain order within their makeshift pride.

As it was, he was itching for a fight.

If Knox or Lowe tried to start anything, just looked at him the wrong way, he was liable to blow his top.

Knox kicked the snow off his deck, grumbling, “I’m tempted to go deal with whoever is making all that noise.”

“Rein it in, or I’ll be tempted to deal with you,” Lowe muttered as he finished pushing the last of the snow off his own deck, piling it up around the thick wooden pylons that raised the cabin off the ground.

It wasn’t like the usually laid-back Lowe to be grumpy. Normally, the ash-blond bear took things as they came, rolling with whatever life threw at him without worrying too much. Saint blamed Knox’s mood. It was his brother’s agitation that had Lowe on edge too.

Lowe always got like this whenever Knox was fired up, felt a need to weigh in and have his twin’s back.

“I’ll go see what the deal is.” Saint turned away from them and murmured under his breath, “Just got to get through this crap first.”

He huffed and took the first step down from his deck, forced himself to keep going when the next one was hidden by snow. His pride needed him to do something, and he would do it. He would make the cougars shut up so he and his kin could get back to sleep, and when he woke, all the snow would be gone.

He held on to that fantasy, filling his mind with images of green grass and warm sunshine as he trudged down the steps. It shattered as he fumbled for the final step and slipped, had to grab the railing behind him and brace himself to avoid falling on his backside.

Saint growled as he pushed away from the steps and waded through the deep snow, heading for the forest that would lead him to Cougar Creek. He glared at the field of white as it sparkled, the weak sunlight reflecting off it enough to almost blind him. As it was, it made his eyes water again, and that moisture felt as if it was turning to ice in his eyes.

There was nothing magical about winter.

He huffed and snarled as he pushed forwards, ploughing a path through the snow. At least he wouldn’t get as cold and damp on the way back, after he was done murdering whoever had woken him and his kin.

If he somehow managed to rein in the urge to spill blood, maybe the fresh air and struggling through the snow would tire him out enough that he could sleep when he got back to his cabin.

He finally reached the dense forest, where most of the snow clung to the branches of the pines and firs, keeping the amount on the ground down to less than a foot. He picked his way through the fresh snow, careful not to snag his boot on a root or rock because falling flat on his face in the snow would probably be the match that lit the fuse of his temper.

Saint breathed a little easier as he reached an animal track, a path through the forest that had been kept clear of snow by the constant back and forth of the local ungulates. His muscles began to relax, the tension that had stiffened them during the walk through the icy snow fading as he picked up pace.

When he neared the invisible boundary between Cougar Creek and Black Ridge, he slowed and fell silent, his breathing levelling out as he moved with stealth into the trees, veering off the track. His ears twitched as he listened, the only sound that of distant birdsong and animals moving through the trees. No laughter. No voices.

His breath fogged in the air as he slipped from tree to tree, peering ahead of him through the trunks and low branches and the scrub, seeking a sign of life as he drew closer to Cougar Creek. His palms began to sweat as his heart drummed a faster, harder rhythm against his ribs, as he honed his senses and searched for danger, in case it was hunters who had come to the cougar territory and they were the ones laughing.

Overjoyed by capturing or killing a shifter.

He spat on the ground, cursing the hunters. They had taken too many from his kin.

Had taken too much from him.

He had barely matured, had only just passed a century old when the mortal hunter organisation Archangel had executed a raid on a nearby underground fae town. His parents had been there, had tried to escape and hadn’t made it out alive.

Last year, a helicopter had circled over Black Ridge, heading back to Cougar Creek, and Saint had heard the distant gunfire. Part of him had wanted to go and check it out, to see if Rath needed help.

The rest, the alpha in him, had made him stay at Black Ridge in case there were more hunters in the forests and his pride needed him.

He tipped his head up and dragged in a slow, deep breath as he pushed those memories aside, focusing on the present in case it was hunters. He couldn’t let himself get swept up in the past, had to stay alert and aware of his surroundings and any danger that might be lying in wait for him.

Saint scented the air, trying to catch something that would tell him what to expect ahead of him.

He froze, locked up tight as he caught a scent, as warmth spread through him in response, roused a hunger in him that was powerful and commanding.

He dragged in another breath, aching for another delectable hit of that scent. And it was delectable, like sweet berries, and utterly feminine.

Which was enough to set him on edge.

Females didn’t stay at Cougar Creek in winter.

Saint veered off course again, unable to stop himself from tracking the scent through the forest, curiosity gripping him and filling him with a need to find the owner of it. His mouth watered, the hunger clenching his gut growing fiercer as the scent grew stronger. Ahead of him, the bushes and trees gave way to man-made clearings, openings in the forest where small cabins had been constructed.

He huffed.

Cougar Creek.

He stealthily inspected the two cabins he could see, keeping his distance from them. Snow had fallen through the canopy of the forest and was thick on their roofs, and it was pristine on the decks, untouched. No one was staying in them.

Saint banked left, heading down towards the river, to a cabin he knew was there. The raised L-shaped wooden lodge sat at the head of a fifty-foot clearing in the forest, one that stretched down to the creek.

He remained in the shadows of the trees as he moved towards that river, giving the place a wide berth. He eyed the deck and the steps and the ground just beyond them. Someone had cleared the snow away. The place belonged to one of the three brothers of Rath, the alpha of the pride, and it was usually empty over winter.

Looked as if the male was staying this time.

Was he responsible for the ruckus that had woken Saint and his kin?

He sharpened his instincts again and frowned as he sensed more than just Rath and one brother at the Creek. He pinpointed at least five other people, most of them close to the main clearing. One of them was bound to be the female Rath had mated with last year, one Saint had seen for himself a few times.

He thought her name was Ivy, was sure he had heard the alpha cougar call her that a few times when she had been photographing bears near the river. The female was human, and not the only one at the Creek either.

The bastard Storm had a human female of his own. Saint had caught her in the woods last year when she had been running from the male and had scared her witless. He regretted what had happened now, but he had been in a foul mood, his bear at the fore. Their run-in had happened only a week after the Archangel helicopter had come and the need to protect his kin had been strong, fierce enough that he had viewed her as a threat.

Saint had figured Gabi for a huntress, still thought she was a member of Archangel and one day Storm was going to wake up to find a blade in his heart.

He backtracked up to the two empty cabins and headed past them into another area of dense scrub that provided cover as he moved towards the heart of Cougar Creek.

His ears twitched.

Voices.

He eased lower and peered through the bushes and trees towards the clearing. Stilled as he spotted two males and a female in an area that had been cleared of snow near the top of the long sloping strip of green that formed the centre of the cougar’s territory. The felines had been busy. It looked as if they had cleared snow in a patch roughly sixty feet in all directions from the front of Rath’s cabin. That cabin sat nestled among the pines and spruces, its back to the forest that covered the base of the mountain, facing the clearing and the creek at the bottom of it.

What were they up to?

Rath straightened and planted the tip of his snow shovel against the ground, leaned on the handle of it as he pushed his thick black hat up and wiped his brow. He pulled his dark green scarf down and undid the top fastening of his black winter jacket.

“We taking a break now?” the male with him growled, a hint of warmth and teasing in his tone as he set down his own shovel and tugged at the blue scarf wrapped around his throat. Like Rath, he wore a black protective coat and matching hat, and irritatingly kept his back to Saint so he couldn’t make out which brother he was. “Only been at it an hour. Still a lot more snow to clear.”

Rath huffed and scrubbed a hand down his face, over a thick dark beard. “Remind me again why we’re doing this.”

The big male chuckled, the warmth in his voice lingering. “Love, apparently. Not sure why I got pulled into shovelling duties though. Storm should be here, clearing the way for this ceremony. Where is he anyway?”

This time, Rath was the one who chuckled, his grey eyes brightening with it. “Where do you think?”

The male shook his head. “I have half a mind to go bang down his door, but I don’t want to get an eyeful. Flint could at least have offered to help, but he’s about as useful as Storm.”

Flint and Storm weren’t present then, which meant the big male with Rath was Cobalt. Cobalt was a mad bastard. Saint had never seen a cougar fight like he did, as if he had nothing left to live for.

Rath and Cobalt were as big as each other, packed with muscle and good fighters, but if it came to a one-on-one fight, Saint could take them. Provided they didn’t resort to low blows like their brother Flint.

He shuddered at the memory, his balls aching. It had taken him weeks to heal them after the male had run his claws over them during a brawl. He still hadn’t forgiven the cougar, wanted a piece of him, and Storm, for the scars they had given him. A low growl curled up his throat, his blood running hot despite the cold, and he wanted to unleash it but bit it back instead. As much as he wanted a fight, he wanted to sleep more.

Besides, he couldn’t let his foul mood get him into a brawl right now when his body was still recovering from a month-long sleep. He would probably lose and that would only make his mood worse.

Saint drew down a steadying breath and stilled as the delicious scent of berries hit him again. It was weaker now, but still warmed him, roused a hunger to hunt the owner of that scent and see her for himself.

The door of the cabin behind Rath opened and a female came out, wrapped so heavily in winter clothing that he couldn’t make out much of her face between her colourful striped scarf and woollen hat, or her figure through the thick cream coat and brown ski pants.

He knew her scent though.

Ivy.

In fact, he knew most of the scents of the females belonging to the brothers. He had put Gabi’s scent to memory when he had captured her, and he had done the same with Yasmin’s when Flint had come to Black Ridge looking for a fight in order to impress her.

Maybe he had imagined the sweet scent in the woods.

Berries were his vice after all.

He loved them and found them impossible to resist.

“Come warm up for a few minutes.” She looked at her mate and then at Cobalt.

Both males nodded and let their shovels fall into the thin layer of snow, and Rath waited for Cobalt to reach him before they both started towards the cabin.

“Does Ember want to drop in for a warming drink too?” Ivy said with a look at Cobalt.

Ember. Saint wasn’t familiar with that female.

“She went for a walk.” Cobalt tugged his black hat off, revealing mussed blond hair. “But she’ll be back in time for the practice run.”

Rath glanced at his brother. “Did your certificate come through?”

“Yup. I’m officially ordained.” Cobalt flashed a grin at him and chuckled. “That’s not something I ever thought I would be. Not many cougars out there needing this sort of thing.”

Saint watched them go inside, debated going to the cabin and speaking to Rath, but fatigue was rolling up on him, his eyelids feeling heavy again as the fresh air lost its effect on him and his bear instincts growled at him to go back to sleep. He knew what the noise was now. It wasn’t humans or danger, just a bunch of irritating cougars celebrating something. That should be enough to calm the instinct to protect himself and his pride, and allow all of them to get back to sleep.

He rose to his feet and turned away from the cabin, picked his way to the animal track and followed it back towards the Ridge. Maybe he would fix himself some food before he hit the sack again, something to take the edge off his hunger and tide him over while he slept. He was clearly hungry.

Because he was fantasising about sweet juicy summer berries again.

Could smell them stronger now.

He frowned and slowed his pace, lifted his head and drew down a breath. The scent was stronger. His mouth watered, heat suffusing him, and he pivoted on his heel, was tracking the smell of berries before he realised what he was doing.

Saint dropped to his haunches when he spotted a lone figure ahead of him, near the frozen river.

A female.

He dragged down a breath, every inch of him locking up tight as he caught her scent.

Sweet berries and a hint of vanilla.

He scented something else on her too. She was cougar. Was she Ember? Did she belong to Cobalt?

Saint told himself to go, but found himself easing lower instead to observe her. Silent. A predator.

She tilted her head up as she turned, raised her gloved hand to cover her eyes as she peered at the canopy. Birds sang there but he paid them no heed, was too arrested by the sight of her.

Raven hair spilled from beneath her dark purple woollen hat, cascading over a form-fitting weatherproof coat in the same colour, and grey eyes with a strong hint of emerald sparkled as rosy lips curled into the semblance of a smile.

His heart started at a hard pace, drumming against his ribs as his blood heated.

She was beautiful.

A need to stand and go to her pounded inside him and he struggled to deny it, to remain where he was and merely observe her, studying everything about her. Like the fact she had to stand at least a foot shorter than his six-seven, and looked as if she weighed nothing more than a feather. There was a delicate sense of beauty about her, with her porcelain skin and the hint of pink on her cheeks, and he lost himself in watching her, the world around him fading away.

Until there was only her.

Her slender shoulders suddenly stiffened, her smile disappearing as she tensed and went still.

She had sensed him.

Saint lingered, wondering what she would do. Run away or stay?

Seconds seemed to stretch into an eternity as he waited, as her grey-green eyes slowly took in the forest.

Strange disappointment flooded him when she suddenly turned on her heel and walked in the direction of Cougar Creek, her pace brisk, boots chewing up the frozen ground beneath the pines.

Saint stared after her.

Driven to follow.