Bear Mated: A BBW Bear Shifter Paranomal Romance (Pine Ridge BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance Series Book 2) by Belinda Meyers Page B

eyes grim.
    “A search party,” Barbara said, and
slapped her forehead. “Of course.” They would be volunteers mostly, she knew,
with maybe a few off-duty firemen or police officers spearheading the effort.
“They’re looking for me just like I thought. Damn it!” She wanted to scold
herself for being an idiot, as well as truly being the worst cop ever. With a
sigh, she said, “I guess I’d better go out to them.”
    She started to rise, but Rick
clamped his hand over her wrist. Gently, he tugged her back to a crouching
position.
    “Think about this,” he said.
    “Think about what? Those good
people are wasting their time, and maybe some taxpayer money. I need to put an
end to this.”
    He frowned, his eyebrows drawing
together. “Maybe not,” he said.
    “How do you mean?”
    With a small smile, he indicated
her all-but-nakedness. “You’re in the buff,” he said. “ I’m in the buff. You’ve lost a car and the bad guy. If you go back
now …”
    Slowly, she nodded. “I’ll get my
ass fired.”
    His eyebrows wagged. “It’s too nice
of an ass to get fired.”
    She slapped his arm. “So what then?
We just go around them and be on our way?”
    “We’ll find them when we need them. After we have what we need to save
your job. Deal?”
    She thought about it a minute. “Deal,”
she said.
    Staying hunched over, the two
circled the clearing, moving around the line of searchers, and pushed on
through the forest.

 
    ****

 
    The woods were quiet. Tall, brooding trees stretched toward
the heavens like immortal sentinels clad in gently stirring green. The search
party seemed very far away indeed, and Rick and Barbara were well and truly on
their own. They had come closer and closer to the part of the woods where the
eagle shifters were, and now, when the two were almost there, Barbara felt
anxiety start to draw over her. Ice flooded her veins, and worry gnawed a hole
in her belly. This is it , she
thought. We’re really doing this.
    It was exciting, though. Busting bad guy heads , she thought. It
was what she’d always wanted to do. On the other hand, the eagles might kill
them this time. She was starting to wonder if maybe she should have simply
given herself up to the search party, after all. She might get fired, but at
least she could direct the other police officers to the eagles’ aeries and have
them arrested. Or whatever. But if she died, the police might never know the
eagles were even here.
    Suddenly, she heard an eagle cry
out. She flinched and stood stock-still, and Rick paused beside her. Another
eagle called out, then another. Nothing attacked Barb or Rick, and after a few
moments the two moved cautiously forward again. Barbara craned her head, and
presently she could see the blobs of the eagle nests high above. She frowned,
watching them. Several eagles were in the sky, circling and screeching at each
other.
    “What are they doing?” she
whispered to Rick.
    He shrugged his broad shoulders. He
was still naked and now fully healed from his trials yesterday. Like some
awesome forest god, he stared intently up at the eagles, his handsome face
alert but not frightened. Barbara took strength from his poise. Instantly she
checked herself. I’m the cop , she
thought, and made her back as straight as she could get it hunched over like
she was. I should be the example, not
him. Still, it was clear Rick was in his element, and she was anything but.
    She scanned the ground below the
nests for the clip of bullets she’d dropped. There! Something metallic gleamed,
half covered by dirt. That had to be it.
    She unslung the item from over her shoulder, the item she’d grabbed back at the camp site,
and passed one end to Rick.
    “Let’s set it up,” she said.
    He nodded, and quickly and quietly
they went about staging the trap. When that was done, they inched closer to the
aeries.
    “It’s time,” she said.
    “You sure about this?” Now worry
did touch his eyes, but Barbara knew it wasn’t