Page 11 of Taming Her Bears

I didn’t have an assembly line, yet. I had friends. I’d dated casually, but had never fallen head over heels. At twenty-three years old, I wasn’t in a hurry. I wasn’t sure an assembly line was the answer—not at any time in my life, and certainly not with these fellas. They were matched to a T in terms of good looks, fabulous builds, and quirky behaviors, and they were bonded. Brotherhood-type bonded. You get in the middle of a brotherhood bond, and you become a wedge that drives them apart. Or, you can be the glue that keeps them together.

“No, I’m not going to forget it. I’m not going to choose, either. I don’t want to play games. I like all of you equally. If you can accept that, so can I.”

Lee did a little dance that nearly spun him crashing into me. “Are you going to give me a wallop the way you did Darkhorse?”

“If you deserve it.”

“I’ll try.”

I had a long way to go in understanding bears.

Josh

Iwas trying to ignore what she was doing to me, but she brought it up herself. That first whiff of her, driving me insane before I had shifted into my human form. And the name “Denisovich” was so familiar. It nagged at me. I remembered hearing it years ago, but I couldn’t remember why—only that the name provoked rage. I’d burst into the clearing where that poor girl was standing without a thought as to my appearance.

Why is the flesh so weak when it’s surrounded by gristle and bone? Beginning with the first evening out in the open, when she slept at night, I kept careful watch and noticed when the cold crept in, turning her lips blue. I shifted, giving her a warm, furry rug to lay against. Longing for their own fur coats, the others had shifted, too, cradling her in their giant paws, keeping away the stealthy night that touches with deathly, frozen fingers. I knew there was a chance she would have a conscious memory of it, but we had shifted as much for her survival as our own.

It was a relief to see everything out in the open, like getting a rotten tooth pulled. We couldn’t say how much longer we would be on the island. The radio had dried out, but there was still the matter of cleaning and checking all the parts to make sure there would be a good connection. If we fried the radio, someone would have to swim across to get help. Natalia would not be able to withstand the water, even if she rode on our backs.

After our initial awkward, embarrassing, and finally forthright meeting, we all went to work either patrolling the perimeter or helping Roy with his jumble of wires, circuit boards, or whatever else he needed for equipment. The sky had begun clearing by the time the radio crackled with its first signs of life. This was both a blessing and an additional worry. The clear weather meant if we carried the radio outside, we would get a stronger signal. It also meant the speed boats could come back. I hurried Roy along, wanting to get the message out ahead of the slave traders.

Roy didn’t like to be hurried. He wasn’t a communications specialist, but his hobby was radios. He loved them. He had been a short-wave operator on the North Slope before he could spell “Mississippi” correctly. He listened to the static as though it contained its own guidance system, turning dials, wriggling loose wires, until a faint voice answered his emergency signal. “Switch me to Coast Guard Cutter 739, Commander Peter Swenson.”

More static and a rumbling voice that rode above the white noise. “Commander Swenson speaking.”

I grabbed the mic from Roy. “Pete, this is Josh. No time to explain, but we’re marooned on an island about seven miles west of where they picked up the stranded fishermen. I need you to bring the cutter.” I gave the coordinates my best shot. “And Pete. Bring a skeleton crew. Only the most trustworthy. Bring no other personnel, enlisted or non-enlisted. You are operating under my direct orders.”

“Yes, sir,” he said. “Thirty minutes, sir. I’ll be there inside thirty minutes.”

I didn’t doubt him. Pete wasn’t a shapeshifter, but he was a member of a very select group that knew we were. His loyalty was unshakable. His crew would be discreet and would ask no questions. The radio sputtered and went out. Its battery was weak and there was nothing available for recharging it, but it had done what we needed it to do.

The entire time the rest of us hung around the radio, listening to the fading voice over the wire, Darkhorse had kept guard, moving restlessly from one end of the clearing to the other. I didn’t pay much attention. Darkhorse had a radar that kept him on alert twenty-four seven. Half the time, however, it was sheer paranoia. I settled on the pier and waited for my boat.

Darkhorse joined me a few minutes later. “Do you hear something, Captain?”

I turned my head in the direction he indicated. In the far distance, I picked up the thin wail of a four-stroke engine. “The speed boats,” I said in a low voice. “They’re returning to the burn-out.”

“They will be searching for Natalia.”

I clenched my teeth so tightly together, my jaws ached. “They aren’t going to make it this far. I’m going after them.”

“I’m going with you,” said Darkhorse.

I had already begun strolling toward the far edge of the clearing but turned to face him. “No, you’re not. I need my lieutenant out there in front, in case the boat arrives before I get back. That’s an order, sir.”

“Then take Lee. He’s chomping at the bit.”

“Lee it is, but I’m not waiting up for him. Tell him to meet me at the lean-to.”

I left Darkhorse to explain the slight change of plans to the others while I pounded through the forest as quickly as my legs would carry me. My body wanted to shift, desperately. I stopped with a groan and tore off my clothes, rolling them into a ball. I heard someone panting behind me and wheeled around.

“Reporting for duty, Captain Josh,” announced Lee cheerfully.

I let out my breath in a whoosh. “Am I getting old? I had a five-minute start.”

“Number one in special unit long-distance track. Your island is but a spot in the Denali region.”

“All right.” I placed my hand on his shoulder so he would pay close attention. The one thing that kept Lee from moving up the ranks as quickly as Ray was his astonishing selective hearing. “You circle around to the left of the burn site and I’ll circle to the right. Stay in the woods, though. If they see a bear sniffing around in the open, they might shoot at it. I want to draw them far enough inland that they can’t make it back to the boats.”

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