Find Him: The Bear's Curvy Girl (BBW Paranormal Erotic Romance) (Mates of the Walkers Book 2) by Anya Nowlan
Authors: Anya Nowlan
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CHAPTER ONE
It had been a rough, long slog through the Colorado mountains. Christie was cold to the bone, wet and miserable and the oncoming weather promised to make her even more so. She had been walking down (or up and very occasionally down) the trail for days on end, expecting it to finally lead somewhere. So far, no luck. The sun had made itself scarce all day and since the last rainfall in the morning, she hadn’t managed to dry up. If she had a warm set of clothes left, she would have changed into them long ago, but as it were, all of her things had gotten thoroughly doused by torrential rainfalls plighting her trip and there hadn’t been a chance of drying them.
Christie had started feeling more and more like a drowning kitten as she trudged onward, the heavy pack on her back weighing her down and making her legs ache with more than just the long journey she had had. Every time she closed her eyes, she could imagine a toasty fire and her toes wiggling under a soft blanket, with her hands wrapped around a mug of tea, but so far she had no such luck. It was just rainstorm after rainstorm and even her tent had become sagged and sad in the constant dampness. She almost dreaded the hour when she would have to set it up again and pretend to try and get warm by the light of a fire, before curling up in the musty tent and falling into a dead-man’s sleep. There was nothing she looked forward to less than another miserable night out in the wilderness.
By all accounts, she had come well-prepared. Being an experienced hiker, Christiehad packed all the right things and spent months planning her trip. It was just her luck that a few days into the trek, the rain had washed out half her maps and shorted the batteries on her handheld GPS and her phone.
Next time, I’m packing everything in ziplock bags, she grumbled to herself under her breath for the umpteenth time. Despite her misfortune, she had stubbornly decided to go on. Her hike was supposed to take her through a set of gorgeous mountains and unpopulated valleys between them over the course of two weeks and in a stroke of pigheadedness, she had been sure that she could find her way through by sheer wit and cleverness. She had, of course, been rather off the mark in all of her assumptions. The rain ruined any chance of making out landmarks and by the end of the first week, Christie was pretty sure she had passed the same ridge at least three times.
A few days prior to her current damp state, she had happened upon a small trail leading up along the sloping curve of a mountain. For lack of a better option, she had decided to follow it. She kept hoping that any moment a puff of smoke would appear on the horizon and if she could only run a little, she would reach a house with a fireplace, blanket and the tea she so desired. It seemed less and less like a reasonable possibility, but there were really very few other things she could try aside from banking her hopes on the faded road. Though desperation was slowly clawing at the back of her mind, she had refused to give into the hysteria threatening to burst forward.
None of that. You wanted adventure, well, here you go. The knowledge that she would at least not die of thirst was of little condolence.
Christie took a trip like that at least once a year. She loved getting away from the hustle and bustle of the city and her dreary job as a manager at a department store. There were only so many customer complaints she could deal with before her brain wanted to explode from the rampant ignorance she had to deal with. There was something about shopping that really seemed to lower some people’s IQ by a good thirty points and she was always the hapless target to the ones who were both enraged because of this or that (mislabeled toilet paper, lack of fluorescent party plates, etc). Getting out into nature seemed to be the only thing that could truly calm her down in a short period of time and make her capable
It had been a rough, long slog through the Colorado mountains. Christie was cold to the bone, wet and miserable and the oncoming weather promised to make her even more so. She had been walking down (or up and very occasionally down) the trail for days on end, expecting it to finally lead somewhere. So far, no luck. The sun had made itself scarce all day and since the last rainfall in the morning, she hadn’t managed to dry up. If she had a warm set of clothes left, she would have changed into them long ago, but as it were, all of her things had gotten thoroughly doused by torrential rainfalls plighting her trip and there hadn’t been a chance of drying them.
Christie had started feeling more and more like a drowning kitten as she trudged onward, the heavy pack on her back weighing her down and making her legs ache with more than just the long journey she had had. Every time she closed her eyes, she could imagine a toasty fire and her toes wiggling under a soft blanket, with her hands wrapped around a mug of tea, but so far she had no such luck. It was just rainstorm after rainstorm and even her tent had become sagged and sad in the constant dampness. She almost dreaded the hour when she would have to set it up again and pretend to try and get warm by the light of a fire, before curling up in the musty tent and falling into a dead-man’s sleep. There was nothing she looked forward to less than another miserable night out in the wilderness.
By all accounts, she had come well-prepared. Being an experienced hiker, Christiehad packed all the right things and spent months planning her trip. It was just her luck that a few days into the trek, the rain had washed out half her maps and shorted the batteries on her handheld GPS and her phone.
Next time, I’m packing everything in ziplock bags, she grumbled to herself under her breath for the umpteenth time. Despite her misfortune, she had stubbornly decided to go on. Her hike was supposed to take her through a set of gorgeous mountains and unpopulated valleys between them over the course of two weeks and in a stroke of pigheadedness, she had been sure that she could find her way through by sheer wit and cleverness. She had, of course, been rather off the mark in all of her assumptions. The rain ruined any chance of making out landmarks and by the end of the first week, Christie was pretty sure she had passed the same ridge at least three times.
A few days prior to her current damp state, she had happened upon a small trail leading up along the sloping curve of a mountain. For lack of a better option, she had decided to follow it. She kept hoping that any moment a puff of smoke would appear on the horizon and if she could only run a little, she would reach a house with a fireplace, blanket and the tea she so desired. It seemed less and less like a reasonable possibility, but there were really very few other things she could try aside from banking her hopes on the faded road. Though desperation was slowly clawing at the back of her mind, she had refused to give into the hysteria threatening to burst forward.
None of that. You wanted adventure, well, here you go. The knowledge that she would at least not die of thirst was of little condolence.
Christie took a trip like that at least once a year. She loved getting away from the hustle and bustle of the city and her dreary job as a manager at a department store. There were only so many customer complaints she could deal with before her brain wanted to explode from the rampant ignorance she had to deal with. There was something about shopping that really seemed to lower some people’s IQ by a good thirty points and she was always the hapless target to the ones who were both enraged because of this or that (mislabeled toilet paper, lack of fluorescent party plates, etc). Getting out into nature seemed to be the only thing that could truly calm her down in a short period of time and make her capable
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