Loaded for Bear (Bear Country Grizzlies Book 2) Read online

  Loaded for Bear

  Layla Nash

  Callista Ball

  Contents

  1. Ethan

  2. Kira

  3. Ethan

  4. Kira

  5. Ethan

  6. Kira

  7. Ethan

  8. Kira

  9. Ethan

  10. Kira

  11. Ethan

  12. Kira

  13. Ethan

  14. Kira

  15. Ethan

  16. Kira

  17. Ethan

  18. Kira

  19. Ethan

  20. Kira

  21. Ethan

  22. Kira

  Epilogue

  23. Sneak Preview…

  Connect with Layla

  Also by Layla Nash

  Also By Callista Ball

  Copyright © 2016 by Layla Nash

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover design by Resplendent Media.

  Ethan

  Ethan couldn't take another second of his boss and his boss's girlfriend canoodling in the back office as he worked on the schedule of upcoming tours. Ethan tried to tolerate Simon's happiness, but it only reminded Ethan that he didn't share the same — and in the wilds of Oregon, he didn't have many options to change the situation.

  Ethan grabbed the axe off the pile of firewood and started splitting logs, relying on the physical labor to distract him from his bear's frustration. He hadn't been on a date in what felt like ages, though it wasn't for lack of a suitable population. The nearest town, a tiny speck on the map called Bear Creek, had a few single shifter ladies, but none of them seem inclined to hang out on the very edge of civilization at the Lodge where Ethan worked. And Ethan couldn't stomach the idea of living in town. At least, his bear half couldn't.

  He gritted his teeth and swung the axe again, relishing the solid thwack as the blade bit deeply into the log. After too many years in the French Foreign Legion, serving alongside Simon and a couple of the other bears who lived at the Lodge, Ethan found he craved the solitude of the deep forest that covered the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. Even the Lodge itself, where Simon's company hosted high-priced hunting, fishing, and boutique camping trips, grew too crowded in the high season.

  Late summer brought a final round of hiking and camping groups, just before hunting season, and they'd actually scheduled a hippie bachelorette party for a trip into the backcountry. Ethan scowled and kicked a log off the axe, glancing back as the screen door banged shut against the frame and Simon strode out.

  The dark-haired owner of Bear Country Tours folded his arms over his chest and gave Ethan a no-bullshit look. "Dude. We've got enough firewood."

  "You never have enough firewood," Ethan said under his breath, and put another log on the stump to split. "Just needed some air, brother."

  "Are you going to tell me what's really wrong, or are you going to pout?"

  "Just needed some air." Ethan concentrated on swinging the axe, making a face as the blade slipped and failed to split the log evenly. "And you seemed distracted by Zoe, so I figured the conversation wasn't going anywhere."

  Simon tugged on his neat beard, though it didn't hide his frown. "Look, man. I know it's been... different, since Zoe came to stay, but —"

  "Don't even sweat it," Ethan said. He held his breath and swung the axe again, hoping the conversation ended before he had to chop more wood. His back was killing him. "I'm happy for you, man. I just don't need to be there while you guys are sucking face."

  "We weren't sucking face," Simon muttered, a hint of a growl in his voice. Ever since his mate had shown up a few weeks earlier, the grizzly bear was always a little closer to the surface. The alpha bear's expression darkened into a scowl. "As soon as our cabin is built, we'll be out of the Lodge and you won't have to worry about it."

  Ethan lodged the axe in the stump, and carried the split logs over to stack on the pile of firewood against the house. "Like I said, I just needed some air."

  "I have a special job for you, anyway," Simon said, after the silence stretched and Ethan concentrated on arranging the logs.

  He eyed the other man sideways. "A special job? That's never a good thing."

  "Well..." A hint of a smile escaped from behind the beard, and Ethan's heart sank. Definitely not a good sign.

  He dropped another log on the stump and pulled the axe free, pointing a gloved hand at his boss. "Unless it has something to do with that bachelorette party, I'm not interested."

  Simon laughed, leaning back against the wood pile and folding his arms. "Nah, I'll make Cooper and Finn handle that one. I need my best guy on this other job; plus it'll be good for you to work with the Park Service."

  Ethan scowled. "You've got to be shitting me."

  "A grad student is coming in today. There's been some trouble with the wildlife cameras in the park, and it's easier to access them from this side. So I need you to hike in with her, fix the cameras, and trek back out. She's got all the equipment and shit for the cameras; she just needs your expertise to get out there." Simon's teeth flashed white in his beard, and Ethan wanted to throw something at him. "It'll be a week or two, tops. It'll give you a chance to work on the tracking and counting the rangers asked you to look into."

  Normally Ethan would have enjoyed nothing more than a leisurely hike through the woods, on the hunt for some of the scarcer wildlife in the national park that bordered Simon's land, but he didn't want to babysit a grad student. Probably a know-it-all, over-educated city kid with no idea what to do in the woods. He couldn't deal with weeks of someone bitching about having to pee in the forest and pack out all their trash, or sleeping on the ground, or whining about inclement weather — which would no doubt kick up at the worst possible time.

  Ethan braced his foot on the stump and took a deep breath, leveling a skeptical look at his boss. "Why me?"

  "I think you need some time away," Simon said, tilting his head to indicate the two SUVs of tourists who pulled up, driven by Finn and Cooper. "And it's going to be packed for the next two weeks. You already look on-edge, man. I don't want to see you dealing with crying kids and complaining tourists and these yuppies trying to catch the biggest fish in history with the wrong bait."

  Ethan couldn't stop himself from making a face, and held the axe in one hand as he considered the whole log in front of him. "What makes you think two weeks with a complaining grad student will be any better? One of us might not make it out of the backcountry."

  "Don't be ridiculous," Simon said. "I think you'll like her."

  "You know this kid?"

  "Sort of." Simon smiled and waved as the tourists — two families with multiple kids and designer everything — milled about and ooh'ed and aah'ed over the Lodge. "Friend of a friend, you could say. She's all business, and she knows her way around a campsite."

  Ethan pinched the bridge of his nose. Simon wasn't telling him something, and from the sounds of it, he wasn't going to give it up until Ethan agreed to take the grad student on her hiking trip. Ethan took a deep breath and held his hands up in surrender. "Fine. I'll go. But I'm not taking two weeks to do a one-week job. We'll be in and out, no messing around. I only need to check two nesting areas for the rangers, and that's it."

  "Sounds like a plan." Simon clapped him on the shoulder and started for the open driveway and staging area in front of the massive log cabin-sty
le lodge. "Her name is Kira. She'll be here this afternoon."

  "How do you know her, man? Really." Ethan looked around for better gloves, resigned to chopping a hell of a lot more wood as the kids started squealing and shouting, and all calm in the forest fled. He couldn't even hear the birds anymore. "What aren't you telling me?"

  "We'll talk later," Simon said, then started shaking hands with the tourists and introducing himself.

  Ethan took a deep breath and shook his head, trying not to listen to the blissfully happy back-and-forth between Simon and his mate, Zoe, as they welcomed the new guests. He just kept splitting logs. Whatever Simon thought, there was never enough firewood. And Ethan would rather be chopping in summer weather than snowy weather. He'd barely gotten through half the pile of wood before Simon reappeared and a beat-up piece of shit car struggled into the gravel lot. Ethan's eyebrows climbed nearly to his hairline as he studied the car and the lone occupant, and Simon didn't bother to suppress his grin. "Here's your grad student."

  He gripped the axe and prayed for patience, both for Simon and the girl. "Right. You'd better tell me what you've got up your sleeve, friend, before we leave for the backcountry, or we'll all regret it."

  But Simon said nothing, and only watched the car chug to a stop and slowly die as the girl frowned at the steering wheel. Ethan tried to center himself, tried to tell the bear to have patience and they'd be out in the quiet of the forest before long. One girl couldn't cause that much noise or trouble. Even Zoe, Simon's quirky mate, didn't make that much noise. He could live with it for a couple of weeks. Tolerating the girl for that long would be perfectly acceptable, if he could enjoy the trees and streams and bird songs in spite of her.

  He frowned as Simon chuckled, as if the other man heard his thoughts, and Ethan wished he didn't have to work so hard to convince himself he'd be able to tolerate the trip.

  Kira

  Kira got lost three times before finally hitting the treacherous switchbacks up the mountain toward what her reference called 'the Lodge.' Getting disoriented shouldn't have been that easy, considering there were only four or five roads to choose from out of the city. But something about the terrain, the lack of signage, the fact there were few towns or rest-stops or gas stations... It got her all turned around. She was almost an hour behind schedule in reaching the hoity-toity tourism company up the mountain. She never found the so-called town, Bear Creek, despite her contact's directions.

  The borrowed car chugged and struggled up the increasingly steep road, and she regretted not taking the Bear Country Tours owner's offer to meet her at the mysterious town, so he could drive out to the Lodge. She knew four-wheel drive would have been much better suited to the trek up the mountain, but she dreaded the need to make conversation with strangers. Especially with the kind of guys who'd start up a company offering boutique hunting and fishing trips to over-paid yuppies from big cities. She wrinkled her nose and prayed the battered sedan, the most she could afford with what remained of her security deposit from the crappy apartment she'd rented an hour outside Seattle, made it up another switchback.

  Kira squinted through the windshield at the trees, hoping each switchback was the last as the sedan's engine revved lower and slower with each passing minute. She debated just parking on the almost-nonexistent shoulder and hiking the rest of the way up the mountain, but that was inviting disaster if anyone decided to drive down the road. Plus, her equipment was kind of heavy for an uphill hike.

  She blew out a relieved breath as the car wobbled onto a flat patch of dirt road, and a wide gravel lot spread out in front of her. An enormous log-cabin style mansion loomed over the gravel lot, at least a couple of stories high, with multiple chimneys venting smoke, an enormous wrap-around porch with swings and rocking chairs, and all kinds of hunting and fishing gear spread out in the sun. Kira guided the sedan to the far side of the gravel lot, where her car looked totally out of place next to a pair of shiny new four-wheel drive SUVs, and sighed as the engine finally died.

  She chewed the inside of her cheek as she checked the gauges, hoping there was at least enough life in the old beast for a trip down the mountain, and tried not to stare at the pair of lumberjacks standing next to the Lodge. It was the kind of wilderness-chic construction that would appeal to people who liked the idea of camping, but didn't like actually camping. Kira snorted and shook her head, checking the contents of the glove box before kicking open the dented door. She ignored the lumberjacks, engaged in what looked like a heated debate, and leaned down to retrieve the small gear bag that contained the important stuff. She muttered under her breath, "Just a grad student. I'm just a grad student. Just your average, normal, run-of-the-mill, ramen-noodle-eating, one hundred percent human grad student. Just looking for wildlife cameras, gotta reset them. That's it."

  That was the story she always used. That was the story they'd told the owner of Bear Country Tours, and that was what Kira had used to get into the wildlife research program she attended. If word got out that she was actually a shifter, the university would boot her out and no one would hire her anywhere. No one trusted wildlife research conducted by actual wildlife, or they assumed her presence alone would disrupt everything. She needed to get her game face on. She couldn't afford any slips, or her degree, her research, her job... It would all disappear faster than the smoke drifting out of the Lodge's chimneys.

  She straightened out of the car and blinked as the door to the Lodge opened to eject a bunch of tourists in expensive hiking gear, then she kicked the door shut. Showtime.

  The tourists milled around, maps in hand, and tried to orient themselves to the paths leading away from the gravel lot and the massive log building. The lumberjacks watched her, though, and Kira pasted a smile on her face as she kept a tight grip on the gear bag she slung over her shoulder.

  The dark-haired lumberjack, a muscle-strapped giant with a short beard and easy smile, strode up and offered a hand to shake. "You must be Kira."

  "That's what they say," she said, and gulped a little as his massive paw swallowed her hand and most of her wrist. Holy hell.

  "I'm Simon Crawford; we spoke on the phone." He tilted his head at the second lumberjack, who looked much less pleased to see her. He also still carried his axe, which was unsettling. "This is Ethan Roberts, our resident nature expert. He'll be helping you on the trek out to the backcountry."

  "Great," Kira said, and shook his hand. Ethan's sandy blonde hair was longer on top and shaved close at the sides, about the same length as the three-day beard on his jaw. Kira managed to meet his steel-blue gaze for a brief moment, then looked away quickly. That guy was dangerous. "Nice to meet you."

  The blonde lumberjack only nodded, looking a little like he'd bitten into something awful. She glanced between them, then adjusted her grip on the camera gear. "Thank you again for your help. Dr. Reston was pretty upset when the cameras stopped working. Hopefully we can get them sorted out." And she'd lose her grant funding if she couldn't.

  Ethan snorted, rubbing his stubbly jaw, and his sharp gaze measured her from head-to-toe. Kira's mouth dried out. He looked like he didn't believe her. Or found her lacking. Maybe they spotted something in her eyes that gave away the jaguar part of her. Maybe they thought she was some helpless city girl who wouldn't be able to hack it in the woods. Or maybe they resented doing a favor for the researchers by putting her up for free. Kira cleared her throat, trying to smile.

  Simon nodded, and gave the other lumberjack a sideways look before glancing back at Kira. "Do you have any luggage? We can get you set up with a room for the night. Dinner's not for an hour, but —"

  "Can't we leave now?" Kira swallowed a hint of panic. She didn't have much time. The sooner she got in and out, the less time they'd have to discover her secrets.

  "It's too late," Ethan said, and his voice was deeper than she'd expected. He studied the axe, checking the blade for nicks or burrs, and didn't look at her. "We wouldn't make it to a campsite before sundown. We'll leave tomorrow morn
ing."

  "Oh," she said, glancing back down the mountain. "Guess that's my fault. I took a couple of wrong turns on the way here."

  Ethan eyed her, a hint of disbelief dragging his eyebrows up. "There's only two roads."

  "Well, the map wasn't very clear." Heat flushed her cheeks, and Kira wanted to curse. Awesome. Now he thought she was completely helpless. Kira adjusted the gear bag and started to retreat. "Okay. No problem. I'll just pitch my tent out here; I didn't expect —"

  "We have plenty of room," Simon said, and gave his buddy a dark look as he took the axe. He nodded at the Lodge, offering Kira a broad smile. "I couldn't sleep if I knew you spent your last night before heading into the backcountry in a tent. That's just not right. Ethan will help get you settled."

  It looked like Ethan would argue for the briefest of moments, then he exhaled in a rush and stormed over to Kira's car as she struggled with the trunk.

  She managed to say, "Thanks, that's kind of you, but —" as she smacked the top of the trunk, hoping it would open, and jiggled the key. Nothing. Her cheeks burned as she yanked at the damn thing, knowing the capable woodsman standing next to her was probably judging her for getting lost and not being able to operate a simple mechanism. She gritted her teeth as a yowl bubbled up in her chest, and she wanted to rip the damn thing to pieces with her claws. That would open the trunk.

  Instead, Ethan said, "Hold on," and eased closer. She edged over a little to give him room. He took up too much space, even in the open air in the middle of the woods. Ethan gave her a sideways look as he studied the trunk, and she flushed more.

  He smelled like wild flowers and clean cotton, and for a crazy second, she almost wanted to press her nose against his shirt to inhale him. But he grumbled something under his breath, flexed, and the muscles standing out in his arms made her eyebrows rise.