Page 10 of Wrong Turn, Right Bear
“Theo. I’m coming.”
Oh, my gods. I wasn’t alone. With both hands at my mouth, I blubbered, “I’m safe. Safe.” But how did Ash know where I was? I hadn’t dropped a trail of breadcrumbs and he wasn’t a wild beast, picking up my scent and following it.
But he called again and his voice was closer. Unless that was my mind playing tricks. Anything was possible.
Not wanting to appear desperate and as if I’d been in a battle, I brushed the dirt off myclothes and wiped away the tears. I stuck my grazed hand in a pocket and stayed where I was in case I swerved into the wrong path and missed Ash.
But he appeared as if out of nowhere, his brow creased in furrows, and he was barefoot. I waved with my uninjured hand and he tore up to me, mumbling, “Thank gods you’re okay. I would never have forgiven myself if something had happened to you.”
Right. A tour group leader who lost a client wasn’t a great advertisement for this business.
“I took a wrong turn. I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be. Chuck should have stayed with you.” He hugged me and being in his arms was almost worth getting lost. “You did good, and I would have found you no matter how many wrong turns you took. You’re very brave. Most people in your situation are terrified.”
“There were others?” Wow, he really had a knack for losing people.
“No, I’m talking about people in general who go hiking for days or weeks.”
He rubbed my arm, and that was when I fell apart. “A wild animal almost ate me.”
“What?” He swirled around and sniffed the air, which was a little strange. “A wolf?”
Part of my brain expected him to reassure me there were no wild animals in the vicinity and I must have been imagining it.
Ash’s lips were set in a hard line. “I’ll take care of it.”
Yikes. Was he going to find the culprit and give it a talking to?
“Let’s get you back to the hotel.” He offered his hand, and I took it but he studied my grazed palm. “You’re hurt.”
“It’s nothing.” I pretended it didn’t bother me, but when he wrapped his fingers around it, the pain vanished. Or perhaps it was just the warmth of his skin that numbed it. “Maybe you can put more of your grandmother’s ointment on it.”
He glanced up and our gazes locked. His eyes were darker again.
“I can do that.” He looked down at my feet, now filthy. The poor flip flops were just hanging on to life. “I can carry you.”
“No, I’m fine,” I protested. But my brain was saying “Yes. And take me to bed.” I paid no attention to our surroundings and relished being skin to skin with Ash as he scooped me up.
Outside the hotel entrance, he suggested I take it easy the following day. “We can do zip lining later in the week.”
“Oh, I’ll be fine. It’s just a scratch.”
I didn’t want to wait a day before I saw him again.
SIX
ASH
I was a mixture of fury and relief.
I’d envisioned the worst outcomes when I couldn’t find Theo and when I did, a brave smile on his face, injured hand in his pocket, my first thought was to wrap my arms around him. I worried that it was a little forward. In his mind, he was my client. But instinct told me to hug him and I held him close.
I was also furious that one of my shifter kin scared him. There were no wild wolves in this area. Humans had done their worst in the last hundred or so years and no actual wolves roamed these forests. There was the occasional wild bear but they tended to stay away from humans.
Our woods teemed with wildlife but there were few large mammals, so if a wolf was eying Theo, the beast had to be a shifter. If he’d accidentally stumbled on him,he should have withdrawn. Or he could have shifted if his clothes were nearby and returned Theo to the hotel.
Theo grabbed my arm. “What did you mean by ‘I’ll take care of it?’”
