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

animal—a bear. Slowly making its way to a standing position was the most massive creature she’d ever seen. It wobbled as though trying to find the ground beneath its feet. Zora wasn’t crazy enough to stick around to help or be its midnight snack.

With a squeak, she raced to the driver’s side door, grateful she forgot to close it and that she’d left the engine running.

From the way the bear had gained its balance, Zora figured it would be fine, but there was no guarantee she would be if she waited a second longer. Slipping back into her vehicle and yanking the door closed, she shifted the gear to drive. She slammed on the gas with every intention of maneuvering the car around the bear. In her panicked state, she didn’t take into account the slickness of the road.

Her car hydroplaned, turning a three-sixty.

“Aaaaaahhh!” She screamed until her throat was raw.

Desperately trying to gain control of the vehicle, she clutched the steering wheel for dear life and pumped the brakes frantically. This only served to send her spinning off the road and down a steep incline. Brief moments of her life flashed through her mind like moving pictures, and Zora was certain she was going to die tonight.

She jerked the wheel to the side in one last desperate attempt to stop the car’s progress. Nothing. The car crashed into a tree. But this time, she wasn’t wearing a seat belt.

“Still not awake yet? How much longer do you think she’ll be out?” Heath leaned against the doorway, his arms folded and eyes narrowed in concentrated scrutiny on the prone woman in bed.

Gavin dabbed a damp washcloth over his patient’s forehead. “Don’t know. She banged her skull pretty good, but she’s responding to the medicine better than I expected.”

“You sure giving her our medicine is the right thing to do?

Her system may reject it. She may be our onida, but she’s not a shifter like us.”

“True, but remember, because our forefather’s genetic code was bred into her ancestors, her immune system should be able to handle more than the average human’s, enabling her to sustain the potency of our medicine.”

Heath walked farther into the room, his frown deepening.

“Even still, isn’t that risky?”

Gavin nodded but buried his own anxiety. While he was almost certain she’d be fine, there were still some variables that tinged his thoughts with a little doubt. “Yes. I took a chance, I know, but she’s recovering beautifully, just as I suspected she would. She’s a fighter, this one. The swelling’s gone down and the gash over her eye is healing nicely. Her bones may take another day or so to mend. I won’t know for sure until she wakes up, but if need be, I’ll mix another batch of the potion and utilize my healing abilities. The combination of the two should do the trick.”

A soft moan escaped her full lips as she moved her head from side to side beneath Gavin’s careful ministrations. Other than that, she remained asleep. She’d been out for the past four days since he’d found her. Since she’d hit him with her car, subsequently crashing it.

In most circumstances, Gavin would have put her in his pickup and taken her on the half-hour drive to the hospital, but from the moment he laid eyes on her—inhaled her scent— he was hard pressed to let her go. He knew right away she was

an onida—wife, a descendant of those who were specifically bred to mate with his kind. Her scent gave her away. From what he knew of the legends, an unmated onida secreted pheromones that drove Kelowna males wild with lust, and filled them with an instant need to claim her. It’s how Gavin felt times one thousand.

A surge of protectiveness like nothing he’d ever experienced had hit him harder than a ton of bricks, making him realize right away what she was. His pulse raced, his body vibrated with emotion and his cock stiffened. The sight of her, the smell of her, the feel of her skin told