“You're burning up,” he said. “How long have you been like this?”
All she could do was moan and shake her head.
“There’s some medicine in my first-aid kid,” he said, pulling a bottle of flu medication from his backpack.
She shook her head no. But he helped her sit up and swig several long draws.
“I need to keep you warm. It's freezing up here.”
All she could do was whimper as the medicine hit her nearly empty stomach. Buck kissed her cheek gently and caressed her shoulder.
“It’s going to be okay, Maria. I’m here now.”
He laid her down gently and stood. She could hear him moving behind her and then the distinctive sound of cracking and groaning that accompanied a shift.
His grizzly grunted and sniffed her face. She felt a subtle sense of repulsion from deep within as her lioness wanted to rail against him. She was far too tired and too sick to be bothered. Her body was wasted and broken no matter which form she took. Buck’s grizzly curled up behind her, wrapping his arm gently over her and pulling her body against his chest.
The heat of the massive beast behind her radiated through her and warmed her to the core. She let out a long sigh and relaxed as sleep overtook her mind and body.
In the night, she dreamed broken fragments of her past. The men who had taken her from Los Angeles and had thrown her in a truck with a bunch of other girls. Their sneering, snarling faces. Their stinking breath. The words they used to make her less than human. She felt it swirl and sink deep, deep down inside.
At the same time, she felt Buck’s grizzly encircling her, wrapping her up in his arms and keeping her safe. She knew somehow that what Buck said was true. He would do anything for her, forever and always. He had shown her his devotion. No matter how much she pushed him away, he always seemed to arrive just when she needed him most. She had to believe in something and the only thing she could believe in right now was Buck.
She woke late in the morning with Buck’s body still pressed against hers. The fever had broken and she felt renewed. She was sweaty and disoriented and dehydrated, but the worst had passed.
She wiggled under Buck’s grizzly paw and he let her up, grunting and twitching his huge bear nose.
“How did you sleep last night?” she said, reaching out to stroke the thick hair on the bear’s cheek.
He looked up at her with his huge golden eyes. She could see the gentle man inside him as he nuzzled against her palm.
“I feel much better this morning,” she said.
Buck growled and huffed before his body curled backwards in the miraculous and instantaneous body morphing that was a shift. Even as a shifter now herself, Maria didn't think she would ever get used to the sight of it. Buck sat naked beside her, looking at her with gentle, caring eyes. He pulled a pillow over his lap and cupped her face with the warm hand that had just been a massive paw.
“I'm glad you're feeling better,” he said, moving his hand to her forehead. “It looks like your fever has broken.”
“I think it has. I was really worried for a while last night. I had to walk six miles naked back here after a shift and the temperature started to drop.”
“I was worried about you,” he said.
“I’m glad you came,” she whispered, knowing that she was ready to leave the cave with him now if he asked.
“So am I,” he said softly. She waited for a long time for him to ask her to go with him. What he said next surprised her. “I’m curious about your life up here, Maria. Do you think you could show it to me?”
“What… What do you mean?” she asked.
“How do you spend your time while you’re up here. What is your day like? I want to know everything about you.”
“Oh,” she said, at a loss for words.
She looked up into his shining blue eyes.
“Can I help you fix something to eat?” he asked, moving to pull on his pants. “What do you usually have for breakfast?”
“Well, depending on if I’ve been feral recently or not, I will sometimes have fresh meat. Like the venison I had the other day. Sometimes, I eat food I’ve scavenged from the campground nearby. I don’t steal anything, I just take what people leave behind. Since you came, I’ve had this dehydrated stuff. That’s a lot easier.”
“What’s that tea you make?” he asked her.
She was surprised he was taking such an interest in her life. Up until now, all he’d been interested in was taking her away from here.
“I make it out of Oregon grape root, dandelions, nettle, and dried thimbleberries.”
“Huh,” he said, as she picked up her jar of the concoction. “It’s pretty good. How did you know how to make it?”
“I learned a lot about plants at the Bright Institute before the incident…”
“You don’t have to talk about it.”
“It’s okay. I liked my classes a lot. I was studying botany. It’s helped me stay alive up here.”
“Do you forage in the woods?”
“I find berries and mushrooms. There are some new raspberries ripening down near the stream that leads to the campground. Do you want to see?”
“Sounds like a date,” he said. “Is it very far? Can you make it today?”
“No. Not far. I’ll be fine.”
“Let’s go after we have breakfast. You can tell me all about it.”
“I’d like that,” she said softly, not sure how to interpret the change in attitude from Buck.
After he finished dressing, he helped her build the fire up and put some water on to boil. He pulled a bundle out of the backpack he’d worn up to her cave the night before, revealing coffee grounds and a French press.
“Is that really what I think it is?”
“Yup. Do you like coffee?”
“Do I? Oh my gosh. A frappuccino would be even better, but I’ll settle for anything.”
She giggled, the smell of the rich coffee grounds wafting through the air. She took a deep breath in and then sighed. Her stomach rumbled.
Buck put coffee grounds into the press, poured boiling water over the whole thing, before pressing out the coffee. He poured a cup for Maria and one for himself. He then brought out little packets sweet creamer and added it to the black brew.
Maria couldn't have been more thrilled, and her heart leapt in her chest as he stirred the creamer into her coffee. She accepted the finished drink and took a long sip, savoring the rich creamy flavor that she'd missed so much all these weeks alone on the mountain.
She drank down her coffee and looked out at the morning sunlight streaming through the trees. For a moment, she felt okay. More okay than she had in a very long time.
“It’s so good to have you here, Buck,” she said.
Chapter 9
Buck followed Maria down a well-worn deer trail through the forest and down a rocky hillside. After a while, she turned to him and asked if he wanted to see the campground where she foraged for supplies.
“I'd love to see you do that,” he said with a laugh, imagining his mate scavenging a campground.
As much as he hated to think of her out on her own, he still respected her strength and resourcefulness. He knew she was in desperate need of help, but she had done well in taking care of herself, considering the situation.
The more he thought about it, the more he respected and admired her. Maria’s long brown hair was matted with mud and blood and was twisted up on the top of her head in a messy bun.
“I want to find another bar of soap to wash my hair,” she said. “I used most of my soap to wash out a wool blanket I found.”
“I forgot to bring soap,” he said, suddenly realizing that he'd left that off his shopping list.
“What you brought me was more than generous,” she said. “Especially since I kept running you off.”
“You didn't run me off.”
“I tried,” she said with a giggle.
“Nothing you could do could ever push me away,”
he said earnestly. “I've been waiting for you for a long time. The moment I saw your picture on Mate.com, I knew that you were my mate. When I found you in the woods, my grizzly wanted nothing more than to take you home and keep you safe.”
“And I wouldn't let you,” she said.
There was humor in her tone, and Buck was glad for that. He didn't want her to feel guilty for not wanting to leave her cave. He had come to understand why she was so adamant about staying on the mountain.
At first, he’d left because the sight of her feral teeth and claws had freaked him out. Then he’d come to realize he didn't have the right to force her to do anything. Finally, he’d come to understand why it meant so much to her. She needed to learn to control her animal.
His grizzly had been able to force her out of her shift, but Maria needed her shift to be under her own power. A woman like Maria could never be in a relationship unless she was her own person and her own lioness. Until she had herself under control, she wouldn’t be able to trust him not to control her.
The most important thing Buck could do was give her space to heal so that she could come to trust him. When he'd suggested she show him around, she'd been more than willing to give him a tour of her life. Buck decided that was a step in the right direction for both of them. They continued down the hill and walked through a clearing until they came to a thick stand of willow trees by a creek. Maria crouched behind the trees and scanned the campground in the distance.
“That's it,” she said.
“What do we do now?” Buck asked. He didn't have any experience scavenging campgrounds.
“Come on,” she said, waving him on behind her.
They walked down a trail along the creek that bordered the campsites. Maria stopped and checked the trail to see if there were any campers in the site. The first one was occupied so they went on to the next. The second site was clearly empty.
“What do we do now?” Buck asked in a low voice.
“Just look around for anything that campers might've left.”
She opened the camping cabinet and gasped with glee.
“This is exactly what I needed,” she giggled.
“What is it?”
She pulled out a bar of soap and showed it to Buck. He laughed and told her good job.
They checked the other sites using the same technique as they had with the first. Buck was starting to get an adrenaline rush from being so sneaky. He knew there was nothing illegal or ethically wrong about what they were doing, but Maria felt the need to keep a low profile. And she was probably right. The Rangers might run her off if they caught her.
At the next few vacant sites they checked, they found a can of artichoke hearts, half a box of spaghetti noodles, and an unused box of camping brownie mix.
They shoved everything into the pillowcase Maria had brought and turned around to head back toward the cave.
“I'm going to show you that hot spring where I find raspberries now.”
“Oh yes, let's go check it out,” Buck said.
They went back up the same trail, but diverged to continue along the creek. They climbed back up a hill along the rocky shore of the creek bed, stepping up past waterfalls. Finally, they made it to a large pool that was created in the creek bed by a natural dam.
“There's a hot spring here,” she said, pointing across the water at a place where it was blue and brilliant under the other edge of the pool.
“Really?” he asked.
“Yeah, I bathe here all the time,” she said, kicking off her hiking boots. “The raspberries are on the other side.”
“You’re getting naked to get raspberries?” he asked.
“Nah, I need to wash my hair,” she said.
Buck watched in amazement as Maria peeled out of her clothes and dipped into the water. His grizzly started to growl, the scent of his mate making him dizzy. His cock hardened and he had to make a decision.
He pulled out of his own clothes and followed in behind her, trying to keep his grizzly under control at the site of her beautiful tanned skin. She had delicate, slender curves and perky perfect breasts with dark nipples that pointed toward the sun. His mouth watered and his bear rumbled uncontrollably. He squeezed his eyes closed, trying to calm down.
Maria waded over to the hot spring and settled into the water along a rocky ledge. There was a natural bench there that she sat on while she dipped her hair into the water and lathered it with soap. All mention of raspberries was forgotten. Buck found the sight of her tight nipples and curvy hips far more enticing than any wild fruit.
Buck waded to Maria and sat beside her, watching her run the bar of soap through her muddy dreadlocks.
After several washes and rinses, she was satisfied and set the soap down. She began to run her fingers through the long strands of her dark hair. Maria turned away from Buck and flipped her hair over her shoulder.
“Could you help comb out my hair?” she asked, looking up at him over her shoulder.
“Sure,” he said, coming closer.
The warm water from the hot spring felt good on his body. The feeling of her hair between his fingers and the smell of her body so close was better than anything he'd ever experienced before. His cock stiffened so hard he didn't know how much longer he could deny its need.
Running his fingers through her hair, he untangled each knot and then ran his hand over the long black cascade over her back, inching closer to whisper into her ear.
“That's better,” he said softly, and kissed her neck gently. “You smell so good.”
“So do you,” she purred.
He reached around her and slid his hand under her tight little breast. He squeezed and tweaked her nipple gently, not able to hold himself back a second longer. Instead of pushing him away, Maria tilted her head back and rested it against his chest. He turned her to kiss her, and she climbed into his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck. His tongue slipped between her lips and he pulled her hard against him.
His fingers found the soft folds of her core, teasing out the slick wetness of her sex. She gasped as the pad of his finger pressed her tight mound. He kissed her more deeply, his grizzly going wild with demanding growls of desire. He slid his finger down her wet slit, circling around her opening and pressing against her clit again.
“Buck,” she groaned, squeezing him to her.
“Is this okay?” he asked, twisting his thumb on her mound.
“Oh yes.”
He lifted her over the ledge of the pool so that she rested on the soft green grass and leaned back across it on her back. Buck kissed down her body, sliding between her legs. His tongue slid up her pussy, licking up her sweet cream.
She groaned and writhed under him. He had to hold back every instinct in his body not to climb over her and drive his cock deep into her wet warmth. The taste of her sex was enough to satisfy the beast for now. He loved every second as his tongue lapped up her pussy. She ran her fingers through his hair, threading them tightly in his locks. She bucked against him, unable to contain her desire. It was so beautiful, he couldn’t resist her any longer.
“Mate,” he growled, pressing two fingers inside her wet core.
“Oh Buck,” she cried, her body spasming on his fingers as he slid them against her g-spot.
He growled into her clit and then sucked it to push her even further. A scream of pleasure ripped from her lungs as she came. She squeezed her legs around his head, holding him tight. He slid his hands up her hips and slowly parted them, moving up to kiss her and rest his pelvis between her thighs. His cock pressed against her ready entrance as he gazed down into her blazing brown eyes.
She was so beautiful. So perfect and innocent. He moved his hips, sliding his cock up and down her slit. She groaned, and tipped her pelvis toward him, inviting him in.
He gritted his teeth, trying desperately to retain control. He needed her more than he’d ever needed anything in his life. It was like she was the oxygen he needed to live. Without her he’d suffocate.
But he kept himself back. He held onto control. Buck angled the head of his cock against her opening and cupped the nape of her neck, looking into her eyes.
“I need to be inside you. Do you want me to stop, Maria?”
“I want you, Buck,” she gasped, pressing back against him.
He growled and gazed down at her with the intensity of his desire. His grizzly was frantic to claim his mate, and Buck couldn’t withstand the need much more. Maria’s eyes grew wide as Buck slid a fraction of an inch inside her.
He leaned down to kiss her. His eyes almost closed before he saw it happen. His beautiful little mate, with the goddess like curves, full pouty lips, and sweet wounded soul, shifted right below him.
One second his queen was a perfect young woman, the next she was a screeching mountain lion. The female cat hissed and scratched at him, crawling away from him defensively.
“Maria,” he said, stepping away from the cat’s warning hisses.
He instantly lost his desire, his heart pounding and his head fuzzy, wondering what he’d done wrong.
“Maria, please. Did I hurt you? Was I going too fast?”
She hissed at him again and took a swipe at his face. Buck ducked away, unable to comprehend what had just happened. He was stuck in place, stunned and immobile. Before he could stop her or shift himself, she bolted, tearing away into the forest.
“Maria! Wait! What did I do?” he yelled after her.
He knew it was no use. Her cat had taken over and Maria was no longer there.
Chapter 10
1Buck violently shook the water from his fur and roared. He picked up her scent on the air and rushed after her, charging into the forest. His animal mind was frantic with worry and rage. He had been so ready to claim her, to mark her as his for all the world to see. To finally bond as mates and to feel each other deep inside.
But somehow, he’d made a mistake. He’d made a wrong move and scared her. He was sure that she wanted it. She’d said she did. It must have been the feral beast inside who had reacted poorly. The lioness had ripped out from within Maria and stole a precious moment they could never get back.