Bear Trap

HELEN

Sam...?

~Is he here?~

I opened my eyes, and there he was.

In full bear form.

His growl split the night in two.

Standing on his hind legs, Sam towered over Chris. He had come up behind him from the forest and was readying himself to strike.

Moonlight reflected off his sleek brown fur.

Massive and powerful, his form dwarfed everything around him.

Deep breaths reverberated in his chest.

His impressive jaws opened wide to reveal long, knife-sharp fangs.

Chris swung around, his eyes panicked, rising to take in the imposing bear.

Sam growled and raised his paw.

Swiping right, the muscles bulging beneath Sam’s bearskin, he knocked Chris to the ground.

Landing with a thud, Chris turned to look at Sam in all his grizzly glory.

He exhaled sharply and smiled.

“I’ve been waiting for you!”

Sam growled and took an earth-shaking step toward Chris.

“Sam, the gun!”

Chris lifted his weapon and aimed at Sam. He pulled the trigger, and the gunshot echoed across the valley.

“ARRRGGGGGHHH!!!”

Sam’s bear form twisted about, his muscle mass absorbing the shock of the blow.

Before Chris could reload, Sam turned and trundled into the forest. In a second, Chris was on his feet, taking off after his sport.

“Is that...~Sam~?” Emma looked at me like her head was about to explode.

“Jesus...I knew he was your stepbrother...but this is a whole new level of weird.” Brittany still somehow managed to be a jerk, even now.

“We have to help, come on!”

Without thinking, I dashed back into the trees.

Chris was right. On his own, he was no match for a bear, but with a gun...it was a different story.

~Come on, Sam. You have to be okay.~

~You have to be okay!~

Emma and Brittany weren’t too far behind as I leapt over curling roots and uneven stones.

“Sam?!” I called out.

From a little distance away, I heard him growl.

I stopped and changed direction, heading for the sound.

Another gunshot crackled between the trees.

I turned around again and was beginning to feel lost when I felt the mark on my neck. It was as if it was humming.

Suddenly a sense of calm came over me.

I could feel Sam just a little way off. I could sense him.

He was alive but wounded.

Emma and Brittany came up behind me, and I led them toward a clearing.

Clutching his side where the bullet had entered, Sam stood in a ring of trees.

“You’re wounded, bear!” Chris called out as he entered the clearing. Sam spun about to face him. Chris’s gun was raised, ready to fire.

Sam lifted his head and growled at the moon.

“When this is finished, I’ll put you in my family’s trophy room.” Chris kept moving forward, seemingly unafraid. “Your head can hang right next to your mother’s!”

~WHAT?!~

Chris spat out his last words, and I saw Sam’s eyes go dark.

He bared his teeth and snarled. Dropping to all fours, he charged at Chris.

Chris fired the gun, the bullets burying themselves in the flesh of Sam’s chest, blood spurting from the wounds as he ran.

“NOOOOOOO!” I screamed as I watched in horror.

With a quick blow, Sam swiped at Chris’s raised arm, breaking the bone and ripping the gun from his grip.

Opening his jaws, Sam bit down around Chris’s shoulder. Teeth sank into flesh as he picked up the hunter’s limp body and flung him across the clearing.

Landing with a dull thud, Chris coughed and tried to stand. His arm was already broken and it looked like he was having trouble putting weight on his right foot as well.

Sam bounded over to Chris and landed on top of him, his paws holding Chris flat against the earth, his massive weight bearing down upon the hunter.

He growled in his face.

I could feel his confusion and pain. I could feel Sam demanding an explanation.

Again he roared.

But Chris offered no information. He only laughed, that same maniacal cackle.

Sam reared back and I readied myself to watch him tear Chris apart.

“Watch out!” I heard Brittany cry, right when I noticed the stick in Chris’s hand. He dug the branch straight into one of Sam’s wounds.

The bear whimpered and cried, stumbling backward, which gave Chris a moment to compose himself.

“I’ve been looking for you for a long time. I couldn’t believe it when I recognized you in Helen’s painting. That stupid patch on your snout.”

Sam was pacing the clearing, panting.

“I was there that day... when my father shot your mother. We found you down by the lake. My father aimed for your mom... I aimed for you.”

Sam growled and dug at the soil.

“I failed him that day... when I missed... But I won’t fail today!”

Chris rose from the ground, pulling Sean’s hunting knife from his boot and running at Sam.

Brandishing the weapon above his head, Chris prepared to strike but was instantly knocked back to the ground.

Sam leapt on him, his massive body obscuring my view. I heard the sound of jaws breaking through bone.

When Sam was done, he turned to look at us, blood and gore dripping from his jaws.

Chris was a broken mess, lying lifeless on the ground.

I felt Emma and Brittany flinch and prepare to run. But I didn’t move.

I knew Sam was in trouble. The mark—the connection between us—was telling me that something was wrong. He was badly hurt, and his injuries could be fatal.

I saw the patches of fur, slick and matted, darkened by the blood that was pouring from his body. I saw his eyes growing cloudy.

With a grunt and a whine, he toppled backward and landed on top of Chris.

He began to shift back into human form. Muscles cracked as his fur disappeared, his claws became fingers, and his snout shrunk and morphed until he was Sam again.

I ran to him and gasped. There were two bullet holes in his chest and one in his abdomen. Each of them was spurting blood with every beat of Sam’s exhausted heart.

“Quick! Help me!” I shouted, but Emma and Brit were already coming.

Pressing down firmly on the wounds, I tried to stop the bleeding.

“We have to get him back to Bear Creek... they can heal him there! But we have to be quick!”

“Let’s get him back to my car,” Brittany said, kneeling down to help.

“You have so much explaining to do,” Emma said, taking hold of Sam’s legs.

“In the car...,” I said, as we lifted Sam’s body together. “I’ll tell you in the car.”

***

Streetlights sped past.

“How’s he doing?” I took my eyes off the road for a second to glance in the back seat.

Emma had Sam’s head in her lap. We’d tried our best to wrap up his wounds with a blanket from Brittany’s car.

“He’s burning up,” Emma said.

I pressed down harder on the gas pedal.

“How are you doing?”

I glanced over at Brittany in the passenger seat. She was holding her shoulder and wincing. A clammy sweat covered her forehead, and she looked incredibly pale.

“These bears better have enough of that healing blood to go around,” she said before closing her eyes.

“So how long have there been shifters living in Bear Creek?” Emma asked.

I did my best to fill them in on Bear Creek and the surrounding shifter communities. I’d told them that Sam and I were mated and explained how he’d given me the mark on my neck and what it meant.

I was worried about the bears’ reluctance to accept outsiders, but I had a plan. I just hoped it would work. Hoped it was enough for them to accept Brittany and Emma...and me.

“A long time!” I answered.

“Helen…,” I heard Sam mutter.

“Don’t try to talk, baby! We’re going to get you home.”

“Helen…,” he said. “Are you okay?”

“Just try to rest…”

“No!” Sam tried to sit up, but the pain was too much and he fell backward. “Are you hurt?”

He closed his eyes and lay back against Emma.

“I’m fine, baby. Don’t worry about me.”

I slowed the car and pulled off the highway, remembering the disguised turnoff to Bear Creek. Continuing down the vine-covered path, speeding around the winding bends, I headed for Jack’s cabin as fast as I could.

“Good,” I heard Sam say as he closed his eyes and started to drift off. “Good. We have to protect the baby…”

Sam passed out.

“~WHAT~?!” I shouted, swerving, nearly driving us off the road.

“Did he just say ~baby~?” Emma was shouting from the back.

“I… I…”

“Helen!? Are you pregnant?!”