Read Bear Run: A Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (Pine Ridge Bear Shifters Book 1) for Free Online Page B

and she felt a little foolish. Of course he could see very well at night.
She knew that.
    He moved to a window and looked
out, into the wild rain and darkness.
    “Are they still out there?” she
said, coming to stand beside him. She could still feel his heat.
    “Who?” he said. “My people or
yours?”
    “Either.”
    “I don’t see anyone, and I haven’t
smelled them for a time. They’ll both seek shelter in the rain, and I doubt
your family could track us in the dark.”
    “Pa’s a heck of a tracker,” Alice
said, strangely wanting to defend her father. “And they’ve got this gadget they
bought off a lady who says she’s a witch. I don’t know if she is or not, but I
thought it was funny how Pa and Bradley never had any use for shifters or magic
until they needed it to fight shifters and magic.” She shook her head. “But you’re right, they wouldn’t do
much on a night like this.” She brightened. “You think the rain will erase our
tracks? I think that gadget’s range is limited, so if they can’t find our
tracks they can’t find us .”
    He turned to her, laying a hand on
her shoulder, and once more she relished the feel of his huge strong hand.
    “I think so,” he said, and she
could hear the ease in his voice, the confidence. He thought they were safe. “I
think we’ve made it. In the morning we’ll go as soon as it’s light, raining or
not, and put some distance between us and this area. If we’re lucky we can make
it to a main road before either side starts after us again.”
    “I like the sound of that.”
    “Me, too.”
    He removed his hand and turned back
to survey the cabin. Instantly she missed his touch. As she swiveled to follow
his line of sight, her flashlight beam caught a glare of white on a leaning
table that looked like it might have been the end table for the living room’s
couch at one point. The couch was long gone, but the table was still there, and
there seemed to be something ... a wax-treated envelope held down by four
stones, one at each corner ...
    Alice and Taggart must have seen it
at the same time, as they both sucked in breaths simultaneously.
    “What in the world?” Alice said.
    “I don’t know.”
    They glanced at each other, and she
could see the depth of emotion in his eyes. He had hoped to find some trace of
his brother Mike here. At first it had seemed that he’d failed, but now here
was a second chance.
    “Do you think ...?” Alice started,
then began again. “You think it could be a letter from Mike?”
    Taggart blinked, and she thought he
might be trying to hold back his emotions. He didn’t want her to see him as
weak. If only you knew , she thought.
She would love to see some sign of
vulnerability in him, this magnificent forest god bear-man who demolished other
bear shifters in single combat. And here it was, the inner Taggart, the
sensitive Taggart, only he didn’t want her to see. Come on, let it out , she thought.
    He reached out for the letter, and
his fingers trembled. Part of her rejoiced to see that vulnerability, but part
of her cried for him. She knew that whatever that letter contained might well
hold his fate. This could be a life-changing moment. And here she was to share
it with him. Whether willingly or not, he had let her into his inner circle
(circle of two, anyway), the most private of his private self. This one letter
could contain ... well, everything.
    She prayed it held good news.
    His hand paused when it reached the
envelope, then quickly snatched it up and tore it open. If anything he ripped
it open even faster than he had the snack bar. And with an appetite even more
acute than that which had finished off the oat bar, an appetite he’d built up
over many years, he stared at the letter that had been inside.
    “Well?” she said, anxious. She
could feel her own heart smash against her ribs in expectation.
    “I ...” He swallowed. “Maybe it’s
because I’m tired. I ... I’m having trouble making out the