Page 1 of Goldie and Her Bears (Dirty Paranormal Fairytale Haremlan 3)

PROLOGUE: CASSIE

Cassie found herself at a dead end. Not because the road ended, but because she couldn’t drive any further. Not without risking getting her car stuck, and there was no way she could reconcile calling out AAA to pull her out of the muck.

The rain had started a few miles back with just a few sprinkles. Now, larger drops fell and were picking up, and she was fully aware that if she had any hope of arriving at the cabin before the storm hit full force, she had to leave immediately.

The only problem was the road that should have been in front of her was overgrown due to the years of neglect. She could barely see the outline of the driveway—rather, what she assumed was the driveway—hidden beneath the layers of dried leaves, moss, and grass.

Not wanting to spend the night in her car, she resigned herself to hiking the rest of the way to her family’s cabin and coming back in the morning for the rest of her things.

As she climbed out, she questioned her decision on staying for a month again. Not as though she had anything better to do. And since her main responsibility was taking care of Allison, she figured she not only deserved the break, but it would give her something to do with her ample free time.

“Here goes nothing,” she told herself as she started on the final stretch to the cabin.

Using her phone as a guide, and what she could see of the driveway, she made her way deeper into the woods of the Olympic National Park. As she stepped along the rough terrain, the driveway faded more and more. The rain increased as the storm grew in strength, and just when she thought things couldn’t get any worse, a dense fog billowed up from the ground, making finding her way even more difficult.

Cassie figured she had made a mistake in coming. She considered turning back. She even went as far as pulling her phone out of her pocket only to realize the battery had died.

“Crap!” she shouted. Her voice echoed between the trees, drowned out by the storm.

She tried desperately to find the faintest hint of the path she was supposed to be walking on, but her efforts proved fruitless. She had no choice but to keep moving forward. She very well couldn’t stand in the middle of the woods during a storm. Besides, she wasn’t certain of what sort of creatures lived in these woods, and she didn’t want to be easy pickings for a starving cougar or some other predatory animal.

Her only option was to keep moving forward and maybe, by the grace of whatever being was looking after her, she would make it to her family’s cabin before the sun completely set. She was already shivering, thanks to the chill of fall and the ice of the rain. The tips of her fingers were turning red. She realized she wouldn’t last the night if she didn’t find shelter soon.

Cassie kept on moving. Walking as the trees grew thicker and denser, and the rain was stopped only by the canopies of all the tall cedar, hemlock, and spruce trees that surrounded her. Little good that did for her though. She was still freezing.

She didn’t walk much farther before she caught the darkened outline of a cabin nestled in the shelter of a handful of trees pressed against its walls. Her feet moved forward without paying much attention to the landscape. She tripped over a few of the lifted roots of the trees in her haste to find someplace warm and dry.

Her hands burned like fire, but she didn’t care. She was almost out of the storm and just in the nick of time too. Much longer and she would be suffering the effects of hypothermia.

She stumbled onto the front porch and banged on the door, shooting tendrils of burning pain through her palms.

No one answered.

She took a moment to look around, hoping to see the owner of this cabin… if there was one. As she raked her eyes over the surrounding area, she noticed the layers of dirt and cobwebs that covered the porch. This place hadn’t been shown a lick of love in many years.

That sparked hope within her, and she wondered if this was her family’s cabin.

She tried the door, shocked to find it unlocked.

Maybe not.

“Hello!” she called out.

Though the cabin looked abandoned on the outside, the inside smelled delightful. She might just be delirious though.

Regardless, no one answered, and she decided to let herself in. It would be far better to explain herself than stand outside freezing to death. She couldn’t do that to total strangers.

She closed the door behind her and carefully made her way to the bathroom to dry off and wring out her soaked clothes. Next, she cleaned up the puddles of water she trekked through the small cabin and helped herself to some of the bread that sat on the cabinet, cooling.

Whoever lived here, she figured they would return soon.

She took a seat on the couch and felt herself succumbing to her exhaustion. Not wanting to startle the owners when they returned, she headed for one of the rooms and laid down on the bed. She was dry enough, and if they had an issue with her taking one of their beds, she would make things right by washing the bedding before she left.

With little other thought, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Jasper

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