Rescued By Her Bear by Felicity Heaton

Chapter 12

Lowe was in heaven as he woke with Cameo tucked against his side. He looked down at the top of her head and sifted the fingers of his left hand through her hair, stroking from the dark roots to the blonde tips as he absorbed the feel of her sleeping with her head on his chest, curled close to him. The moment she had settled against him last night, he had wished he had removed his long sleeve white T-shirt so he could feel her skin against his. He wanted to be under the blue covers with her, nude and pressed against her, but when she had gotten sleepy last night, laying with her on top of the covers while she was beneath them seemed like the most sensible thing to do.

He didn’t want to rush things.

Which was a change.

With Cameo, he wanted to take his time and savour everything, and he certainly felt as if he had done that yesterday.

A day that had looked as if it was going to turn out bad, had ended up being one of the best days of his life.

Spending the afternoon alone with Cameo in his cabin had been blissful. They had spent most of it making out on his couch, had lazed together and watched some TV shows on his tablet, and then she had fallen asleep in his arms.

Lowe feathered his fingers over her shoulder and angled his head away from her so he could watch her sleeping. She looked so peaceful, as if in his arms was the place she wanted to be most in the world. It was the place he certainly wanted her to be.

Gods, if all he could do was kiss her and hold her like this forever, it would be enough for him.

Someone knocked on the door.

Lowe growled low in his throat, careful not to wake Cameo, the calm he had felt evaporating as he sensed not one but three people on his deck. None of which were Knox. He could feel Saint though.

His alpha had come to talk with Cameo just as he had threatened.

He growled again as he slipped his arm out from beneath her and waited, making sure she was still sound asleep, and then eased from the bed. Saint would just have to wait until she’d had enough rest. She needed her sleep right now. He felt sure her leg was getting better, but she was human and it took time for them to heal. Sleeping would give her the time and rest her body needed to get stronger again.

Lowe padded across the loft floor to the staircase and paused there, looked back at her as she burrowed into the pillows and curled up. An ache throbbed deep in his chest, a need to go to her and shuck his jeans and T-shirt and slide into bed behind her. He wanted to draw her to him and hold her while she slept, her back pressed to his front.

He forced himself to head downstairs instead, rubbing sleep from his eyes as he went.

When he opened the door of his cabin, he wasn’t surprised to see Holly tucked close to Saint, her black weatherproof clothing blending with his and her fall of onyx hair spilling from beneath a violet woollen hat.

He was surprised to see the other female who stood just behind the couple—an olive-skinned beauty with rich brown eyes flecked with gold and glossy raven waves tumbling around the shoulders of her oat-coloured jacket.

The doctor from Cougar Creek.

“Saint came to me this morning and mentioned someone was injured.” Her voice dropped to a whisper, her dark gaze cautious as she glanced past him into the cabin. “A human. Can I see her?”

Lowe nodded and stepped back, more than happy to let her into his home. “I wanted to come and ask you for help, but I wasn’t sure how well it would go down.”

He still wasn’t sure. One glance at the clearing had him wondering if this was a good idea. Yasmin and Holly weren’t the only ones who had come from Cougar Creek to Black Ridge this morning. Flint stood near the firepit with Knox, huddled down into a navy jacket and matching scarf, with his dark woollen hat pulled low on his forehead. The cougar male didn’t look happy about being at the Ridge, was scowling in Lowe’s direction, and Lowe had the feeling the only thing stopping him from closing the distance between him and his mate was Knox.

“Ignore him. He’s grouchy because I insisted on coming. He hasn’t got the message yet.” Yasmin looked ready to roll her eyes as she glanced at her mate.

“Message?” Lowe frowned at her.

Yasmin looked at Saint and Holly. “We’re family now.”

He looked at his alpha and could see in his dark eyes as he gazed down at Holly that something had happened between them.

“Congrats?” he said, pleased for Saint and for Holly too.

“Thanks.” Saint grinned at him and then down at Holly, tightened his arm around her shoulders and drew her to him for a brief kiss.

It was good to see Saint happy and he was glad things with Holly had worked out.

Some immortals went their entire lifetime without finding their fated one.

He looked up at the ceiling, to Cameo where she slept soundly in his bed, that feeling flowing through him again, one he wanted to draw into focus. Right now, it came and went, and he wasn’t sure whether she was his mate or not. If he took the next step with her, he would know without a doubt, but she was in no condition to be intimate with him.

Even when she had given him looks yesterday that had said she wanted to be.

“Follow me. She’s resting upstairs.” Lowe led the way up to the loft bedroom, Yasmin hot on his heels. He got the feeling she didn’t want to linger and upset her mate any more than he already was. Lowe couldn’t blame Flint for feeling protective of her. Cougar Creek and Black Ridge had never gotten along, but hopefully the mating of Saint and Holly would go some way towards repairing the rift between the two prides and would be the start of a new day for them, one where they would be friends rather than foes. When he turned a corner in the staircase and noticed the heavy black bag Yasmin was carrying, he held his hand out for it. She waved him away and he shrugged and looked down at Saint, where he stood in the kitchen. “Don’t suppose you’d put some coffee on?”

“No problem. I could use some myself. Didn’t get much sleep last night.” Saint smiled up at him, the smirk of a very happy bear.

Holly slapped his chest and he growled and kissed her again.

Lowe left them to it and carried on up the stairs, crossed the loft to the bed and gently stroked Cameo’s hair from her face. “Wake up, Cameo.”

She murmured and her nose wrinkled.

“Come on, Cameo. Time to wake up.” He tried again.

This time, she frowned and her eyes fluttered open, and she twisted onto her back, a sleepy smile curling her lips.

“I thought you’d wake me with a kiss,” she husked, her voice low and laced with sleep.

Gods, he wanted to kiss her. He really did. He stepped aside and her sky-blue eyes widened as she saw Yasmin. She was quick to sit up, a panicked look flitting across her beautiful face.

Lowe glanced at Yasmin and grimaced as he found Saint standing on the step just behind her, a questioning look in his dark eyes. He stared at the male, sure that Saint would say something about what Cameo had said.

Saint just shrugged. “Where do you keep your coffee?”

“Bottom left cupboard.” Relief blasted through Lowe as Saint turned away and trudged back down the stairs.

Clearly, staying up all night with his new mate had put his alpha in a very good mood, one where he would even let the fact Lowe had been kissing a human slide.

“I’m sorry I startled you.” Yasmin’s voice softened, taking on a tone that made her sound every bit the doctor she was. “I’m a doctor from the neighbouring property. I’ve come to take a look at your… leg… was it?”

Cameo nodded and smiled, her eyes brightening with it as she drew back the blue covers, revealing her bare left leg. Damn, Lowe was thankful that Saint had gone back downstairs because if the male had been up here, he might have erupted in his direction. Just the thought of Saint seeing Cameo like this, so much naked skin on show, was enough to have him wanting to head downstairs to force the male to leave.

“Lowe mentioned there was a doctor nearby.” Cameo’s gentle voice calmed him, soothing his raging bear side.

In fact, she tamed that part of him so quickly he could only stare at her in shock. His bear side was notoriously grouchy, didn’t usually back down when the mood to fight struck him, but something about Cameo had it calm in an instant. Because she was his fated one?

He stared at her, needing to know the answer to that question. He suspected she was, but he could be mistaken. He glanced down at the floorboards as Cameo spoke to Yasmin while she inspected her leg, tuned into Saint and Holly as they murmured things to each other.

Tender things.

Lowe scrubbed a hand over his mouth and looked back at Cameo. He wanted that kind of relationship for himself, wanted Cameo to be the other half of his soul, the one female in this world he could mate with and spend the rest of his life with by binding them together.

Cameo’s blue eyes slid to him as Yasmin checked her leg, her look softening as her gaze met his, a warmth emerging in it that drew him to her, filled the darkest corners of his heart with light and worsened the ache in his chest.

She had to be his mate.

He had never felt like this around a female before, both sides of him reacting fiercely to her. Both the bear and the man in him wanted to be close to her, calmed whenever she was near him and raged if she was in danger.

She had to be his fated one.

She smiled slightly, kissable lips curling, tempting him to capture them with his own and spend another day worshipping them.

That smile faltered when Yasmin spoke.

“It’s definitely a fracture. Hairline at most… maybe. It’s hard to tell without an x-ray.” Yasmin offered Cameo a consolatory smile. “It doesn’t seem bad though. I would say it should be healed in…” She glanced at Lowe and Lowe gave her a look he hoped conveyed that he knew what she was and what he wanted her to do. She nodded, the barest dip of her chin as she looked back at Cameo. “I’d say no more than two weeks.”

Cameo’s face brightened. “Really? That soon? That’s… wow. That’s great. I thought it would be a month or more.”

Damn, it was good to see her cheery again. He hated the thought of her being down, let alone actually seeing it and feeling it in her. He wanted her to always smile, even when he knew that wasn’t possible. Another mate thing? He would move heaven and earth to make her happy.

“I’ll just take another look.” Yasmin glanced at him again and then lowered her dark gaze to Cameo’s leg as she ran her hands over her shin.

He was going to owe her for this. He knew it and he didn’t care. Whatever she demanded of him, he would pay it in order to have Cameo on the mend. There was a reason Yasmin had become a doctor and a reason he had wanted her to take a look at Cameo.

Yasmin had a natural talent for healing others with her touch.

Lowe watched Cameo as Yasmin worked, knew the moment she had given Cameo’s healing a boost because Cameo suddenly looked even brighter, the fatigue that had been in the depths of her eyes and the dark shadows beneath them disappearing.

Yasmin leaned over and fumbled around in her bag, pulled out a black brace and held it against Cameo’s leg, measuring it. “It should fit.”

She opened the straps and set it on the bed, took out a cream support bandage that looked a little like a long fabric tube to Lowe, and eased it on over Cameo’s leg.

“Does that hurt?” Yasmin glanced at her as she carefully drew the tube of material up over her shin.

Cameo stared at her leg and shook her head.

“That’s good.” Yasmin finished with the bandage and set Cameo’s leg into the brace. It covered her leg from foot to knee, resembling a plastic padded boot. The last time Lowe had seen a cast, it had been made of white plaster. This new version was ingenious, would mean Cameo could remove it if she needed to. Yasmin tightened the straps and checked it over, making sure it was snug. “How does that feel?”

“It feels great.” Cameo’s blue eyes shone, dazzling him and making him want to smile.

She glanced at him and a hint of colour touched her cheeks, a spark in her gaze that spoke to him on a deep, primal level. She was thinking wicked things. He swallowed and ran a hand over his mouth again, tried to ignore the way that spark ignited his blood and had him itching to make Yasmin and the others leave so he could be alone with Cameo.

Yasmin rifled through her bag again and held something out to Cameo. “Take them if the pain is too much. Go easy on them though. They’re strong.”

Cameo took the plastic bottle and stared at it as she nodded.

“You’ll still need to be careful with the leg. Don’t put too much weight on it and rest it as much as possible.” Yasmin’s voice took on a harder edge, one that had Cameo nodding and looking at her. The raven-haired female stood and grabbed her bag. “I think I’m done here. I’ll come by in a week to check on you. If you need anything, just send Lowe to the Creek.”

Cameo kept nodding.

Yasmin looked at him as she turned and walked towards him, and he dipped his head, silently thanking her for helping Cameo.

He waited for her to head downstairs before he went to Cameo, leaned over her and tunnelled his fingers in her hair. He tipped her head back and captured her lips, kept the kiss tender and slow, an outpouring of his feelings for her.

When he eased back, she smiled hazily at him.

“There’s your good morning kiss.” He smoothed his palm across her cheek.

She sighed. “It was worth waiting for.”

His thoughts exactly.

“Lowe. Coffee.” The hard edge to Saint’s deep voice had Lowe tensing and releasing Cameo.

His alpha wanted to talk and he wanted to talk now.

“I’ll grab you a cup.” Lowe dropped a kiss on her lips and then pivoted away from her, hurried down the stairs to find Saint alone in his kitchen.

The big brunet bear jerked his chin towards the deck as he thrust a white mug of black coffee at him. Lowe took it and followed him outside, closing the door behind him. Holly and Yasmin were walking back across the clearing, heading for Saint’s cabin, and Saint stared after his mate, a heated look in his dark eyes.

“Knox told me a little about your guest and now I’d like to know the rest.” Saint didn’t take his eyes off Holly.

Lowe sipped his coffee, got his thoughts lined up and told Saint everything, filling him in on all that had happened from the moment he had heard the first gunshot to when Saint had met Cameo.

Saint grunted. “Humans.”

He was preaching to the choir. Immortals had their issues with each other, but shifters didn’t tend to start wars within their own species and it was rare for them to hunt another in the way the drug dealers were hunting Cameo.

Saint scratched his beard and huffed, his gaze still locked on his mate. “If trouble rolls into Black Ridge, we’ll deal with it. Knox managed to get in touch with Maverick and Rune. They left Vancouver straight away and should be here before the day is out.”

That was a relief.

He stared at Saint’s profile, grateful for the help he was offering to Cameo, something Lowe was deeply aware he didn’t need to do. Saint would have had every right to make Lowe take Cameo away from the pride in order to protect them. The big bear had a big heart buried beneath his growly, take-no-shit exterior though.

Lowe had the feeling Holly had stolen it.

That feeling only grew as Saint absently held his empty coffee mug out to Lowe and took a step towards the edge of the deck as Holly strayed further from him. Lowe barely managed to catch the mug as Saint released it, clearly not aware of what he was doing.

Too swept up in his mate to notice that Lowe hadn’t taken the damned thing from him.

“Take care of Cameo.” Saint slid him a look, a sly edge to his smile, and then he dropped off the deck and hurried towards his mate across the compacted snow.

Lowe looked over his shoulder, up at the loft, hunger to do just that riding him hard. He turned and went back inside, set Saint’s empty mug down on the counter and grabbed a fresh one for Cameo. He filled it to the brim and carried it upstairs with him, stopped at the top of them to drink her in as she looked across at him, her blue eyes still bright. She looked so at home in his bed beneath the pitched wooden ceiling of the cabin, as if she belonged there.

Gods, he felt as if she did.

She belonged with him.

“You’re looking better already.” He held the mug out to her rather than setting it on the wooden nightstand and a shiver tripped through him as she took it, her fingers brushing his.

“I’m feeling better already.” That heat was in her eyes again, making him burn for her.

He caught a flicker of worry in them too though.

He pushed aside thoughts of kissing her and sat beside her instead, watching her as she sipped her coffee and that worry began to build.

“If those men come here, we can handle it.” He settled his hand on the covers over her knees. “Saint says that Rune and Maverick are on their way back.”

“And that’s a good thing?” She looked as if she needed to hear that it was.

He nodded and tried to think of the best way to sum up the duo. “They’re capable. Strong. They used to be cage fighters.”

She brightened a little again at that and part of him wanted to growl at the fact she was thinking that Rune and Maverick would be better at protecting her. He wanted her to only need him, even when he knew he was being ridiculous and possessive, and that it was better if she had all five of them protecting her.

“No one is going to hurt you, Cameo. I won’t let them.”

Her blue gaze strayed to the window behind him, a distant and troubled edge to it. “When he grabbed me, that man said that Karl was coming. He should be here by now. I don’t know whether the other man went back to the road. What if he contacted Karl and gave him this location? He might have seen me here.”

“Try not to stress about it. We can handle it.” He rubbed her right knee through the blue covers, careful not to disturb her left leg.

A flicker of panic lit her eyes. “You keep saying that, but what if you can’t handle it? What if he brings all of his men? What if they’re all armed to the teeth? Do you even have guns here? I haven’t seen any.”

Her voice rose with each word, the tension he could sense in her increasing with every question she threw at him, and he wanted to pick her up on the fact she had searched the cabin for a weapon but let it slide, because calming her took priority.

“Cameo, I’m sure—”

Her eyes were wild as she snapped, “You don’t know Karl!”

Lowe frowned at her. “And you do?”

She fell silent, her gaze dropping to her coffee as she clutched it before her, her knuckles turning white from the fierceness of her grip. He scented fear on her and her heartbeat was off the scale. He palmed her knee, trying to get her to look at him, needing her to answer his question because those primal instincts she triggered in him were starting to go as wild as her eyes had been.

If she didn’t answer him soon, he was going to head out and hunt the bastard down to get the answer from him instead.

She sighed, set her mug down on the bedside table, and closed her eyes. “Karl is my ex. He wasn’t a criminal when we were together, but… there was always something about him. Something dark. It didn’t take me long to realise he was a violent man. A driven man.”

She opened her eyes and lifted her head to stare deep into his.

“Karl wants his money… money I don’t have… and I fear he’ll do whatever it takes to get it… even hurt those I care about.”

The way she looked at him as she said that, the way her eyes softened to reveal nerves and a hint of affection, had the hunger to hunt Karl down and kill him falling away.

He fell into those eyes instead, warmed to his bones by her veiled confession.

He wasn’t the only one falling in love.

He reached his hand out and seized her nape.

Dragged her to him and kissed her.