Laid Bear by Eve Vaughn (e books for reading .TXT) 📕

make it to civilization by nightfall. As she took several more steps, she heard the low rumbling sound of an animal, the same one, but closer. Zora never considered herself a skittish person, but maybe she should head back to the cabin. The thought of seeing the smug looks on Gavin and Heath’s faces convinced her to go on. Whatever made the sound was probably a harmless creature, more interested in its activities than her.

Squaring her shoulders, Zora started walking again, but this time she halted in her tracks when a voice growled in her head, “You’re not going anywhere.”

What the hell? Did she bump her head so hard when she crashed her car that she now heard voices? Zora didn’t have time to dwell on her next course of action before she heard a rustling in the bushes, quickly followed by the appearance of the largest animal she’d ever seen. A bear.

It stood on its hind legs and let out a loud roar.

Zora, paralyzed with fear, released a scream from the depths of her belly. The animal stilled, cocking its head to the side as if responding to her fear. “I won’t hurt you. But you’re not going anywhere. ”

Those words filtered in her mind as if the bear had spoken them. Zora clutched her head to shake away such a ridiculous thought. Of course the bear hadn’t communicated with her.

Perhaps she really was losing it. When the bear dropped down on all fours and slowly stalked toward her, she was galvanized into action. Her legs finally cooperated with her brain. She spun around and took off as fast as she could.

Zora didn’t get far before she crashed into the hard wall of a very muscular chest. Strong hands shot out to grip her forearms, holding her in place. “Going somewhere?” It was Heath, with the same cocky smirk he’d sported earlier.

Zora didn’t have time to analyze why he was so damn calm in the face of a possible animal attack. All she knew was she needed to put some distance between herself and the monstrosity of a bear. She pulled against him, trying to break free of his effortless hold on her.

“Let go!”

“Not a chance, honey.”

The nonchalance in his voice served to further irritate her.

“Don’t you see that big ass bear behind us?”

“You mean Logan?”

“No. A bear. Look!”

“All I see is Logan.”

Zora risked a glance over her shoulder to see a very naked Logan standing where the bear had been. The animal was nowhere to be seen. She locked gazes with Logan and the look in his eyes was eerily similar to the… no. Common sense told her it wasn’t possible. Things like this didn’t happen outside of books.

She moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue. “How…

What happened to the bear?”

Logan shot a narrow-eyed stare in Gavin and Heath’s direction. “You two haven’t told her yet?” he practically growled the words. It occurred to Zora that Logan’s voice was nearly identical to the one she’d heard in her head only moments earlier. Again she dismissed it, not willing to accept what the little voice in her head was trying to tell her.

Gavin cleared his throat. “Well, we were actually going to get to that, but Zora wanted to take a walk first.”

A dark blond brow shot up. “Looks to me like she was trying to leave,” Logan pointed out.

Zora realized Heath had relaxed his grip, enabling her to pull away from him. “Tell me what? And don’t you own any clothes? Or are you guys into some kind of freaky nudist ritual?” Logan began to advance and Zora held up her hands to ward him off. “Don’t come any closer.” She turned her head away to prevent her eyes from straying below the waist. She remembered what happened the last time she’d been caught staring.

Logan snorted. “Since my cousins haven’t told you, guess it’s up to me. I—”

Gavin shook his head. “Wait, Logan, not this way, we have to break it to her gently. This would be a lot for anyone to take in, let alone someone who’s already suffered through major trauma.”

“You’ve pussyfooted around this enough. The sooner she knows, the sooner we mate her,” the blond countered.

Heath rubbed his chin in contemplation before nodding. “I agree. Let’s just get it over with.”

Mate her? She couldn’t have heard