Cindy Spencer Pape - [Guardian Investigations 01] by Heart of the Bear (html) Page B

not proud of what I did next, but it
seemed logical at the time. Instead of stopping to appreciate the work of art
in front of me or sending a snap kick at his face, I screamed, dropped my
backpack onto the porch and ran like hell into the woods.
    I don’t think I ran very far, but the
adrenaline surging through my system made it impossible to keep track. I heard
someone crashing through the underbrush yelling at me to stop. Yeah, like that
was going to happen. I ran faster.
    Eventually, of course, I tripped. I sprawled
face-first onto a thick bed of pine needles that lined the forest floor. The
rain continued to lash my skin as I inhaled the pungent scent of crushed wet
evergreen and pushed myself up with my arms. My hands were scraped, but I
breathed a sigh of relief to find that all the bones and muscles seemed to be
in working order.
    That’s when the bear showed up.
    I guess it was just my night to be screwed
with by the forces of nature. I heard the growl and looked up into the dark
eyes of a very pissed-off black bear. Her lips were drawn back, exposing big,
pointy yellow teeth. She was close enough for me to get a whiff of some really
serious halitosis.
    I heard another noise behind me and tilted
my head just a fraction. Fabulous. The sight of the two roly-poly bundles was
disgustingly cute and yet utterly terrifying. I’d landed smack in between a
mother bear and her twin cubs. There was no way I could get to my feet and run
before mom ripped my head off. I was toast.
    Just when I was about to say my last
goodbyes, another roar, deeper and even louder, split the night. The black
bear’s eyes widened, and she chuffled at her cubs. All three spun and fled into
the brush to my left. With a sick pool of dread roiling in my stomach, I slowly
turned my head to the right.
    There was the biggest damned grizzly I’d
ever seen.
    He was less than five feet away, reared up
on his hind feet. Looking up from where I knelt on the ground, I could see every
silver-tipped brown hair. I could even tell it was most definitely a male.
    At that point, my overloaded nervous system
just decided to quit. With a pathetic whimper, I collapsed back into the pine
mulch and passed out.

    Chapter Two

    I awoke with my cheek pressed against
something warm and fuzzy. It felt nice, so I snuggled into it. I was shivering
like crazy and none of my limbs seemed to be working, but I could tell I was
moving. After a second, the fog cleared and I realised I was being carried. The
pleasant warmth came from a broad and hairy male chest.
    By the time my eyes opened, we were up the
wooden steps and at the cabin door. I’d like to think it was common sense that
kept me from fighting him when I realised I was being carried back to shelter
by the same naked man I’d run from in the first place. I could even blame my
psychometry, since I got no sense of threat emanating from the places where we
touched—just warmth and security. To be honest, though, I think I just held on
because he felt and smelled incredible. My body simply overruled my fear.
    Once inside, he set me down in front of the
fireplace. My legs wobbled a little, but without too much help from his strong
arms, they managed to hold me upright. I looked up at his ruggedly handsome
face. High cheekbones and strong chin were framed by medium brown hair that was
sun-bleached or frosted at the ends and fell in sort of a straight shag cut.
His eyes were a deep rich brown.
    “Wh-wh-who are y-you?” I asked through
chattering teeth.
    “My name is Evan Maddox.” His voice was a
deep bass rumble as his big hands moved to the zipper of my jacket and began to
peel off layers of wet clothing. “Anything else you want to know, I’ll tell you
after we get you warm.”
    Even to my fuddled brain, that made sense.
I lifted my arms over my head to allow him to pull off my hoodie and the soaked
t-shirt under it.
    Had I imagined the little groan I thought I
heard? I looked down to where his hands were undoing my jeans and