Bear Love Read Online Free Page B

roof and caked its stone
chimney, but there was something inviting about the building nevertheless,
something homey. Suzy leapt up the three stairs to the porch and pounded on the
front door. No one answered. She tried the door. Locked. Jess tried a window,
then another. The third one proved to be unlocked, and she shoved it open and
crawled inside. Suzy followed. A flurry of snow followed them inside, and Jess
slammed the window closed.
    “Shit!” Suzy said. She stamped her
feet and shivered dramatically.
    “Wish we could light the
fireplace,” Jess said, blowing on her hands. Why couldn’t she have grabbed some
gloves?
    “We can’t?” said Suzy.
    “Nope. One, the smoke might draw
the lions in. Two, we don’t have any firewood.”
    They looked around. The cabin was
completely empty. No furniture, no wood, no guns. Nothing.
    “Damn it all,” Suzy said. “The
rotten luck. We can’t even barricade the doors. Should we risk going back out?
You know, keep going through the woods until we find someone that can help us?”
    Jess thought about it. “I don’t
think so. We’d probably run into Bryce if we did, or get hurt somehow. Or get
lost and freeze to death. No, it’s lucky we found this place. Let’s just hope
the snow covers our smell.”
    “Ride it out till morning, huh?”
    Jess sighed. “Wish I’d brought my
phone with me.”
    “Me, too. And this place doesn’t
even have a landline.” Suzy chewed her lip. “You really think it will be safe
by morning?”
    “Well, we can’t stay here forever.
And can’t weres only change under a full moon?”
    Suzy laughed as she peeked out the
window. “That’s werewolves, and just in movies. It’s not a full moon now. No,
they can change anytime, I think. Maybe it’s different from shifter type to
shifter type. I don’t know.”
    Jess moved beside her and peered
through the blinds.
    “It just looks black outside,” she
said.
    Suzy made a mmm noise. “Guess we should stay away from the windows. And we
can’t turn on any lights, or the heater, or anything?”
    “We probably shouldn’t.”
    Suzy glanced at her, and though the
room was dark, lit only by the scant light that filtered in through the blinds,
Jess could see the naked fear in her face. Suzy’s eyes glistened with moisture.
Her shaking returned, and she crossed her arms over her chest and huddled
against herself.
    Jess wrapped her arms around her
friend. Together, the two slid down a wall and held each other while the wind
howled outside and somewhere a pack of lion shifters hunted them. And Mike? Jess wondered. Is he still fighting for his life out there? The thought entered her mind that he might be dead, dead because of her, and
horror overwhelmed her. Suddenly tears filled her eyes. This is my fault , she thought. All
my fault. If only I’d had that drink with him, none of this would have
happened.
    Emotion welled up in her, more than
she could contain, and she began to cry. Suzy wept louder, giving into it, too,
finally, and they cried together in the night. Gradually, though, Jess felt the
emotions pass, and when her tears dried she felt lighter somehow. Stronger.
    “We’ll get through this,” she said,
though her voice was still thick. “We’ll make it, don’t you worry.”
    Suzy wiped at her eyes. “When did
you get so brave?”
    Jess laughed, surprising herself.
“Must have been during the divorce. Andrew’s lawyer was a shark.”
    Suzy barked a startled laugh. Sadly,
she said, “You two were such a cute couple back in college, Jess. What
happened?”
    “I don’t think I ever saw the real
Andrew, only the face he wanted me to see. When his banking career took off, he
started to let the real Andrew show through.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “He began to turn vain—and cruel,
too. He would snap at me for no reason. Sometimes viciously. Accuse me of
terrible things. Put me down. He wouldn’t come home till late, and he was
always traveling.”
    “You think he was having