Page 7 of Mounted By Her Weretiger Mate

“I won’t let you—” he began, but before he could finish the car lurched, the undercarriage scraping against the scarred asphalt and the back end rising just slightly off of the rear wheels.

I screamed, renewed tears streaming down my blood-caked face. Now I was afraid that it wouldn’t just be me dying, but I’d be taking an innocent bystander with me, a good Samaritan cut down just for being a decent person. At least I won’t die alone, I thought.

“Okay,” the paramedic said, trying to calm himself as much as he was me. “We’re going to be okay. I’m going to get you out right now, but I’m afraid that this is going to hurt—a lot.”

More than the glass in my face or the broken leg? I wondered, turning my gaze toward him as though I could convey it to him telepathically.

“No, don’t look at me,” he said, almost like he was chastising me. “Look straight ahead, and no matter what you hear, I need you to keep looking out the window.”

Something in his voice gave me pause. But as he’d instructed, I looked straight out the window, blinking through the stream of blood and salty tears clouding my vision.

I could feel him shifting behind me, grunting as though he was straining with something heavy. Then the car shifted back onto its rear wheels like more weight was being pressed down on it. I wanted to look, but his words rang in my ears.

Suddenly his grunts turned into something much louder, a deep, ursine roar bellowing from where I had been forbidden to look only a minute before. Jesus Christ, I thought. What the hell is that?!

I felt something pull on my seatbelt, tightening it around my throat for a moment before the sound of ripping fabric filled the air. I felt the pressure on my throat lift and I heaved a deep breath before coughing up a gout of blood from between my lips.

I didn’t even have time to register that I had begun to slip out of my seat before I felt a big, furry hand gripping my upper arm like an iron vise. I screamed, suddenly aware of my plight as my head turned in panic toward my rescuer, only to find myself locking eyes with what I almost mistook for a massive bear.

Seemingly without effort, the creature pulled me back into the car, dragging me over the center console and into the back seat. My confusion replaced itself with fear as I did whatever it took to save myself from being done in like Goldilocks. But despite my kicks and screams, the monstrous thing held fast onto my arm as it dragged me out onto the wet surface of the road outside.

I looked around desperately, hoping to find the man who had tried to save me. Please, don’t him have been eaten. But no matter where I looked, there was no sign of the paramedic anywhere. I was alone. Alone, and about to be eaten by a bear.

The creature stood over me, its long arms hanging at its sides. Something seemed so strange about it, about the way it looked down at me with something I could swear was intelligence in its eyes. The strange look it gave me made my think that it was making a decision, but about what, I couldn’t be sure.

As I looked up at it my vision began to fade, the edges growing dim and creeping inwards until all I could see was the face of that bear as it came down on top of me, its jaws open wide.

So this is how I die, I thought as everything went black. Not with a car crash, but with a bear attack…

My nose was filled with the smell of cooking food and burning wood. I was warm, wrapped up in the softest blanket I had ever felt in my life and lying on a downy feather bed. My first thought as I came to my senses was that I actually had died and that I’d made it to Heaven.

But before I could wonder what idiot had put me on the God’s “nice list,” I was greeted by a voice that seemed all too familiar.

“How are you feeling?”

I opened my eyes, turning my head to look up at the paramedic who had stopped to save me. Something felt strange as I stared up at him, taking in his handsome features and that head of wavy brown hair.

“What happened to the bear?” I asked, trying to work through the haze that had fallen over my thoughts.

“It’s gone. I—I drove it off after it pulled you out of the car.”

“You sa

ved me from a bear?” I asked, smiling even though it pained me.

“Yeah,” he said, chuckling. “I guess I did.”

“My hero,” I murmured, my voice groggy from the deep sleep I’d only just awoken from. “I don’t even know you name.”

“My name is Cade,” he said, returning my smile as he sat down beside me. “And you’re Ashley.”

“How do you know what my name is?” I asked, brows furrowing. Was he some kind of stalker? Was that why he was so quick to arrive on the scene? Had he been following me?

As I asked myself a flurry of panicked questions, Cade plopped my purse down on the bed and quirked the side of his mouth up in a lopsided grin.

“I may have looked through your purse. I managed to grab it before I took you up to my cabin after I… drove the bear off.”

“Normally I’d be pissed at anyone who went through my bag, but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt,” I said, relaxing as I felt a little more confident that my rescuer didn’t intend to keep me shackled in his bedroom Misery-style. “Where are we, anyway?”

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