Page 5 of Shared By the Werebears
“I’ve got her scent—I’m sure it’s her!” Ronan growled, raking a hand through his shaggy, reddish-brown hair. Lifting his nose to the wind, he inhaled deeply and nodded in the direction of the small town I could see in the distance. I saw a gleam in the dark depths of his eyes. “She went that way—over there.”
“Hidden Hollow? You really think we should follow her?” I asked doubtfully. “Think we ought to risk crossing into their magic bubble?”
“How else are we going to get to her?” he demanded, glaring at me. “She violated our home! She has topay.”
I sighed.
“Ronan, really—she didn’t do any harm. She even made the beds when she, er, finished.”
“She invaded our home and rubbed herself all over our beds!” he growled, glaring at me. “There’s no fucking excuse for such blatant vandalism!”
“I’d hardly call scent-marking our covers ‘vandalism,’” I pointed out. In fact, Ilovedthe scent that the mysterious female guest had left on my own dark green comforter. It was warm and sweet and utterly feminine—my sensitive Were nose picked it up at once and I have toadmit, it gave me a raging hard-on. Whoever our mysterious visitor was, she’d been ripe for breeding at the time she’d visited our little cabin in the woods.
I only wished we could have caught her—but of course, we’d been stuck in our Were forms at the time. In fact, we’d only just managed to become human again a few hours ago. And though the scent was slightly faded, letting us know our visitor was long gone, it was still so tantalizing that we went out at once, to try and follow the trail she had left.
At first, it seemed like we weren’t going to be able to catch the scent, even with our Were senses on high alert. The sweet smell of our visitor was faded by the passage of time and the weather—nothing but a faint whisper of what we’d smelled in the cabin was left near the doorway.
Of course, I could have Shifted into my Bear to try and track it—my sense of smell is much sharper in that form. But Ronan and I had both just spent a whole month locked in our Fur Forms, uncertain if we would ever be able to get back to our Human Forms again. I didn’t dare risk it.
Even now the curse Ronan and I were both under felt like a heavy boulder, pressing down on the back of my neck. I could feel it weighing on me, urging me to give in and Shift again—to let my Bear out. But if I did, I might get stuck forever.
Just as Ronan and I were about to give up catching the elusive scent of our visitor, it suddenly got stronger and much more vivid. It was almost like it renewed itself somehow. It was so strong I could almost see it hanging in the air, like a bright pink trail leading us forward.
The two of us began tracking immediately…and that was what had led us to the little magical town of Hidden Hollow.
Ronan and I had never crossed the boundaries of the small town before—not even when Thorne was still with us. I sighed when I thought of my lost friend—he was more of a brother, just like Ronan was, even though there were no blood ties between us. The three of ushad met at a Bear Clan gathering when we were barely more than cubs and we’d been inseparable ever since.
Which was one reason it hurt so much to remember Thorne. He was the strongest of us, but it didn’t matter. The curse had taken him first and he was gone forever. With an effort, I put him out of my head and concentrated on Hidden Hollow.
“I just don’t know if we should go in there,” I said to Ronan as we came to the edge of the magical bubble that surrounded the town. “We don’t know if we’d be welcome.”
Back when Thorne was still with me and Ronan, the three of us used to avoid any other magical settlements. Not because we feared the inhabitants, but because Weres are solitary creatures—especially Werebears, which is what we are.
“I don’t fucking care if we’re ‘welcome’ or not. That woman—whoever she is—invaded our home and she’s going to pay for it,” Ronan growled. “Come on!”
He headed towards the lights of the small town and I followed him. Once Ronan gets something in his head, there’s no convincing him otherwise.
I just hoped we weren’t walking into a mess of trouble.
4
RONAN
Ifollowed the red-hot scent through the magical bubble that surrounded the small town. It shimmered in the gathering dusk like a giant soap bubble, visible only to those who either had magical abilities or were magic in some way themselves.
I don’t have any actual abilities—unless you count shifting into a big-ass grizzly bear—but the magic in my blood seemed to pass the town’s test and I walked through the bubble with nothing worse than a slight tingling that seemed to spread through my body the moment I passed all the way inside.
Behind me, I could hear Finn make a sound of surprise. He must feel the tingling too. In fact, it seemed to be spreading. I could feel it throughout my body and it seemed to be centered in my crotch.
“What the Fuck?” I muttered, looking down at my trousers where there was a definite tent appearing in my jeans. I hadn’t bothered to put on anything else but jeans and boots before leaving the house—the cold weather doesn’t bother me because the Bear inside me keeps me warm. But now I could see goosebumps breaking out all over my bare arms and chest.
“What the hell is going on, Ronan?” Finn demanded, as if I should fucking know. “Are you feeling this too? This weird tingling?”
“Yeah,” I admitted, frowning. “Don’t know what the fuck it is. Must be something to do with the barrier around the town.”
“Well, what are we supposed to do?” he demanded. “This spell is weird. I’m hard as a fucking spike!”
He had bothered to throw on a flannel shirt along with his jeans and boots, but it was hanging open, unbuttoned, and I could see that he was having the same problem I was in the crotch of his jeans.
