Page 44 of Bearly Yours
He nodded, his smile gentle.
Roarke plated my pudgy pie, and one of the others handed me my apple crumble with ice cream. Roarke and I finished around the same time, and he got up, pulling me up by my hand, and wrapped a muscled arm around my shoulders, pulling me close to him.
“Goodnight all. Sweet dreams.”
“Goodnight,” they all said in tandem.
I waved sleepily, and Roarke walked me to my room. It had been a busy day today, and I was wiped out. I was going to fall asleep the moment my head hit the pillow tonight.
Roarke and I hadn’t kissed yet, and I remembered that fact the moment we stopped in front of my bedroom door. He looked down at me, his face set in gentle lines, his eyes tired, and I reached up and ran my fingers through the front of his hair, pushing it back a little bit off his face. It was growing out enough for me to run my fingers through it, and he’d told me the other night he was going to keep it longer for a while. I think he loved it when I messed with it.
“Goodnight,” I said. “Sleep well.”
Roarke cupped a palm to my face tenderly, and I thoughtthis is it! He’s going to kiss me!But a moment later, when his arms were wrapped around me in a warm hug, I let out a tiny sigh of relief. This might sound crazy, because I was in love with my best friend and had been for a while, but I didn’t know if I was ready to kiss him yet. And Roarke being Roarke, seemed to sense this.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
Still holding me close, he shook his head. “Waiting longer will make any intimacy better. You’re doing us a favor.”
“Well, then our first kiss should pretty much knock us comatose,” I joked.
He chuckled and kissed the top of my head. “I can’t wait. Goodnight, Emrie.” He opened my door for me, waited until I went in, and then made his way across from me to his own room.
I brushed my teeth again, and then ran my hand through my honey-blonde hair. It was long and thick and took forever to dry, but the fire pit seemed to have helped. I blew the rest dry so I didn’t wake up with it trying to point directions for rockets to the moon, and snuggled in my warm bed. I used the clicker next to me to turn the electric fireplace on low. I didn’t need the warmth, but I certainly needed the comfort. I just hoped I didn’t wake up sweaty. That was theworst.
Chapter 11
Emrie
Iwoke up suddenly, completely alert.
I also woke up to pitch black. The stars of the night sky even seemed to hold their light, because there was no ethereal glow coming from my window. I reached for my phone on my bedside table, but my hand found nothing.
Had someone borrowed my phone for something? It was gone, as were the water glass that I kept by my bed and my chapstick.
Something weird was going on, because no one in their right mind would steal my chapstick.
I gently got out of bed, and fumbled my way to the window to look out. I pulled the curtain gently back, doing it by feel alone, and gazed out my window. The stars were dim, and the moon, which had been full when I’d gone to bed, was nowhere to be seen. Before I could ponder that too much, I heard the cry of a cub behind me.
I whipped around, trying in vain to pierce the inky darkness of my room with my eyes. When that failed, again, I used my sense of smell to maneuver around the objects of my room safely until I came to an open door. The sound of a cub crying was coming from this room.
My bear was warning me of danger, and I agreed with her that we should be cautious. “This is so not good,” I whispered to her. Something was wrong. Very wrong. But the cub was wailing piteously. I couldn’t just leave it in the darkness. And the fact that no one was coming to check on the cub was very concerning as well. Also, why was there a cub in the room next to me? I’d thought that room had been locked and closed and empty. Roarke and Alpha Riggs had made sure of it. I was a little sad now that I hadn’t insisted Roarke take the connecting room. Next time I’d insist.
Suddenly, the entire world seemed to go incredibly silent, and a chill seeped into my skin. My bear felt like she was clawing at my insides, frantic to shift and protect us, but I held her off. “I’m okay. We’re okay.” She calmed a little, but we still felt the sharp thump of fear and our heart was racing like a racehorse.
My skin was icy cold as fear began seeping into every one of my muscles. I was feeling more than physical darkness, there was an unsettling heeby jeeby darkness as well, and it was this darkness that was causing my bear and I to react. But this didn’t matter. I needed to get the cub.
I made my way into the connecting room carefully—it was just as pitch dark as my room—and stumbled into a crib. I reached into the crib and cuddled the bear cub close to my chest, soothing it with soft words. It mewed and gasped, it’s chest shuddering from it’s tears. “There, there, little one, It’s okay. We’re okay. Were’s your mama and daddy? Why are you in here by yourself?”
It was possible a family had come in the night, after I’d gone to bed, and they’d been assigned the room next to me, but if so, where were they?
“I think we’d better find them for you, little one.”
The bear cub sniffled, and nuzzled into my chest. I grabbed a blanket from the crib, and wrapped the cub before settling it into my arms in a firm grip. “Okay, here we go.”
We made our way to the door, and out into the hallway. I needed to check on Roarke. It was concerning he hadn’t heard the cub crying. I knocked on his door, finding it by feel alone, but didn’t hear any rustling from inside. There was no sound of movement, in fact, in all of the lodge.
“Roarke?” I called, opening the door a crack and peeking in. But there was no one there. His stuff was there, but no one was in the room.
