The Bear's Arranged Mate: A Bear Shifter Romance Novel Read Online Free Page B

and sat up again. Whatever the case, the only real option was to try and find Connor – she didn’t know what would happen after that.
     
    *
    The Canadian forest was unlike the Washington forests, but Sarah was able to pick up several scents and followed them, more as a way to test her own reflexes than anything else. She suspected that Connor had definitely seen, or at least heard, the thumping of the helicopter hours earlier, and was more than likely on his way to try and find her – whether to secure their marriage, or assassinate her, Sarah didn’t have a clue.
    It didn’t take long for her to find a scent that wasn’t a human or a bear, but something in between. Carefully, she took off all her clothes and set them beside her knapsack, including the gun, near an upended log – in the dwindling light, she was surprised at the sexual energy that was flowing through her. She bent low on all fours, raising the angle of her buttocks in the air and felt a gust of wind run between her legs, over her sex, and let out a small gasp of pleasure.
    The transformation was immediate. Muscles bulged and a black hirsute layer of hair erupted from her arms and back. She lifted her muzzle toward the sky and shook her shaggy mane. It always felt like pulling off old clothes when she changed – it was liberating.
    She caught the whiff again and followed it along a riverbank, keeping low and quiet. Finally, she caught sight of a black shape stirring in a bed of grass below and peered through the ferns. It was another Bear, like her, with a ruddy brown coat – not overly large and bulky, but clearly strong. He seemed to be sniffing in the grass, trying to root out grubs or roots.
    Instinctively she knew it was Connor in Form. There was something quite un-bear-like about him, as if he hadn’t had much practice with his transformation. A red desire, halfway between blood lust and passion, bubbled in Sarah’s veins. This is the perfect chance , she thought. If Patrick had told Connor to kill her, it might be her only chance.
    She took it. Without warning, she charged through the underbrush and barreled toward the lighter colored Bear, blindly thrusting her whole body toward him with claws outspread. Connor turned and his ruffled ears flinched, and Sarah thought he looked unusually complacent for someone being ambushed.
    As she brought down a claw against his unprotected face, she was surprised at his agility – he deftly dodged and plowed his whole shoulder into her like a football player, an uncharacteristically bear-like maneuver that caught her off guard and she gasped trying to fill her lungs with air.
    She growled and tried to swipe him again, but he was ready, ducking on his hind legs and swiping out with his own bared claws. Sarah felt several cuts indent against her belly region, a stinging pain that filled her whole body and she howled. Connor took advantage of the opening and lunged down on top of her again, pinning both her paws under her and raised his right paw high above his head in a threatening death-move.
    Sarah closed her eyes and turned her head, waiting for the final blow and cursing her own stupidity and uselessness. But the blow never came. Slowly she opened her eyes. Above her, a lean young face stared sternly back, his fist raised. His tousled shaggy hair was the same color as the bear, but his eyes had become human – they reminded her of Patrick. Hard and uncompromising, but never reckless. Like me , she thought bitterly.“What the fuck?” she heard him ask.
    His straight jaw had only the hint of hair on it, and he was quite handsome. His long tanned arms flexed with inherent muscles, a kind of wiry and ripped whipcord frame that bespoke of an athlete. He was still breathing hard, and his broad muscular chest was brimming with sweat. A hot drop left his shoulder and she felt it land on her abdomen, and realized that they were both naked – in her fear and acquiescence to her death, she’d unconsciously