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  Annabella slowed her walk. She was much less confident that she was doing the right thing now in the light of day. What about all the trades and other people who had committed to her project and turned down other work because they had contracts signed? She stopped walking completely, the gears in her head grinding to a sudden halt. How could she sacrifice herself and everyone who had committed to this project in favor of…animals? She was no tree hugger, by any stretch. She didn’t want to harm anyone, but if she went forward with the changes to the plan, then the bankers would likely pull her funding. And everything she feared would happen.

  She turned around and began to walk the same path, back to the cave. She had to face him and let him know that she needed to go forward with the retreat center as planned. Maybe she could negotiate some kind of relocation or displacement plan for the bears. She found Chris in the shadows of the cave, the light of day not reaching very far into its belly. He looked up from his contemplative posture, taking his head out of his hands as he realized she was coming toward him.

  Her face was grave. The hair on the back of his neck stood at attention, aware that the emotions she was displaying were not joy or desire, but dread. He opened his arms, inviting her into the circle of his embrace.

  She stood back instead, not advancing toward him.

  “Chris, I…” she began, not sure how to tell him.

  “You are not going to cancel the retreat center, are you?” He asked, more of a declaration, his voice dripping with accusation.

  “I can’t. I have responsibility. I am liable if I don’t perform to the contracts,” She said.

  “You are talking liability, yet I am talking lives. If your profit is what you care about, then get out of here. I have better things to do than to entertain such base motives. I have the health, welfare, and lives of everyone on this mountain to defend,” he announced, shaking his head in disgust.

  Annabella ran to him, flinging her arms around his nude form.

  “Chris! Listen to me. I don’t have any choice. I…” she pleaded, sobbing in his arms.

  He didn’t want to hold her, but it was his instinct. The bear part of him couldn’t resist comforting her. His head and heart were at war. He knew he needed to keep the pressure on her, to make her listen to his side of things. Yet, every cell in his body wanted to stroke her head, kiss her forehead, and pull her close. He gave into the urge, rationalizing that keeping her close would be best, from the old adage, ‘keep your friends close and your enemies closer.’

  He guided her over to the moss bed, laying her down beside him, cradled in his warmth, up against his chest. He kissed the top of her head, murmuring soothing sounds as she slowed her sobbing.

  “I am not usually like this. I am very strong. I am not one of those women,” she explained, sniffing softly, “I just don’t know what to do. This is Solomon’s choice.”

  His look of confusion, slightly tilting his head, let her know he didn’t know the Biblical story.

  “Solomon was a wise man, actually a king. He was presented with two women who both claimed to be the mother of this one baby. He pondered the problem, eventually telling both of them that they would have what they desired because he would cut the baby in half. One mother cried and pleaded, giving up her claim to the child because she did not want to see the child harmed,” she explained.

  His face showed recognition that he understood the story and its implications.

  “I don’t see how this pertains to…” he began.

  “I have an idea! What legal claim do you have to Bear Lake?” Annabella asked excitedly.

  “Well, my family have lived here for hundreds, if not thousands of years,” he replied, wondering what point that had to the discussion of her plans.

  “Adverse possession! That’s it!” She said, giving him a quick peck on his nose and running out of the cave. Her footfalls kept going quickly as they faded from his hearing. He lay still, trying to understand what she had just said.

  He emerged from his cave, ambling along, his claws digging into the ground, aerating it as he went. He sniffed a subalpine fir cone, the crimson thumbnail-sized leaves curved around the cone that hugged it tightly to preserve its seeds. Soon these fertile cones would become brown and then dried, falling apart spreading their seeds for the next generation. He chomped down on the tender sprigs of balsam beside the cones, the bitter taste thick on his tongue.

  Outside of the almost-complete cabin, Annabella was raising the log roof with a couple of carpenters. She had made some calls on her satellite phone and was waiting for the answers to come back from her attorneys. The men were here to help her put the final touches on the cabin so that she could help convince the bankers that the land was not hers because Chris Woods had been its owner by adverse possession. He had as the law provides, for more than ten years, been a resident on the property. He had not tried to hide his residence. He had an interest in the land which could not be legally denied.

  Once she got the confirmation back from her attorneys about his claim, she would have leverage with the bankers to compromise the original plan, modifying it to protect the indigenous species on the mountain. She included the secret of the were-bears in the species to be protected, but the bankers would only need to know that there were threatened species in order to sway them to allow a modification of the retreat center to a preserve.

  “Just a little bit more up and over,” said Todd, the greasy- haired carpenter with a battered hat over his eyes, to his tall, skinny friend and to Annabella. They were trying to get the roof on to finish the structure. Having one complete cabin would partially protect her from default since she was on schedule with one building of the original plan.

  Roar!

  A large bellow, angry in nature, burst out of the bushes charging toward them in a flash. The medium-sized bear startled them, making each of them swivel their head toward the danger.

  Before he could react, Todd was ripped off the ladder by the bear. The angry bear mauled him so quickly that there was no time for a response from Annabella and the other man. The shiny blue of the underside of the bear’s neck shone clearly in the afternoon brightness as the beast bit Todd’a arms and shoulders, pulling him to the ground as he protected his neck with his hands and arms. Pieces of mangled skin hung from his arm by the time Annabella reacted.

  She whipped the hammer in her hand around, jumping to the ground, and went after the bear screeching in anger. She managed to scare the animal away from Todd as his friend got him up and loaded into the Jeep to relative safety. His faded baseball cap was askew, with blood running down his face, dotting his greasy, green shirt. Annabella jumped behind the wheel as the other carpenter held pressure against his friend’s wounds.

  They rushed to the nearest hospital, which was about twenty miles away. Her heart was pumping pure adrenaline as they pulled into the emergency room at Mercy General Hospital.

  “Help, get a gurney!” Annabella yelled to a paramedic who was lounging against his ambulance near the entrance to the emergency department.

  Todd was rushed inside as the paramedic was joined by a nurse who heard the call for help. Annabella held Todd’s hand as he was taken into the hybrid room, then she was pressed backward, out of the way as the team began assessing his wounds.

  Annabella then went out to the registration, taking the paperwork from the nurse. She didn’t really know much about Todd, except his first name, but she tried to be as helpful as she could. When the doctor came in a couple hours later, she judged his expression to mean that Todd was going to live.

  “Hey, I hear you are one brave young lady!” The doctor said, laughing in a good-natured way, “Are you the Bear fighter?”

  “I guess. I just did what I could,” Annabella replied in relief, shaking her head.

  “Well, your friend has arm and shoulder punctures and tears, a five-inch gash on the side of his head, and a chipped bone in his forearm. All in all, he was damn lucky yo
u were there to stop anything more serious from happening,” the doctor explained.

  “Can I see him?” Annabella asked.

  “Sure, you can, just for a bit because he has to get some rest,” the doctor said, leading her into a recovery room where Todd was bandaged up. His bloodied shirt had been cut off from him and he was under the covers with just his bandages and his bare chest.

  Annabella approached the side of the hospital bed, prompting Todd to turn his head toward her slightly.

  “I can’t…thank you enough,” Todd said, his words slurred from the pain medications.

  “It’s nothing, but this doesn’t get you out of making my roof pitch correctly,” Annabella joked, putting her hand on his bare arm, stroking the skin slightly in a comforting way.

  Meantime, Chris learned about the accident and now came down to the hospital, looking around the door into the room while Annabella and Todd were talking. Her hand was stroking his shoulder as they talked quietly. Chris couldn’t hear their words but saw her nurturing the carpenter, which made him instantly livid and very jealous. He was unable to rationalize her caring for this other man. In fact, he suspected her of having feelings for the man. He turned and left without going into the room.

  ***

  Chris’ mind raced, flipping from anger, jealousy, and full-blown betrayal. His bear side operated more on instinct and reaction to her pheromones. The signs from his environment prompted him to solve problems primarily through aggression. He struggled to give credence to his human side of using his strategy, intelligence and cunning to win her back, because every cell in his body wanted to fight. He entered the wooded area at the back of the hospital, stripped off his clothes quickly and roughly, let his bear take him over, and started tearing through the woods. He ran so hard, so fast, that he frothed white foam from his jowls. His irrational anger took over as he swiped at trees, pushing down smaller saplings, and biting at anything he could get his great jaws around.

  Nebi thundered up to Chris, swiping at him in the same manner that they had play-fought all their lives. By that time, he had calmed down to some semblance of sanity, but his blood still ran like molten lava through his veins. She was able to help him work out his aggression while staying out of the way of his gigantic paws by being nimble and fast. Eventually, Chris calmed completely, panting on the forest floor beside Nebi. They shifted to their human forms once the emotions settled down.

  “Okay, so tell me what that was all about. I haven’t seen you so crazy since, well, I don’t know when,” Nebi probed.

  “I just feel all mixed up. Angry. Petty jealousy. I have this fuck-it-or-fight it feeling that I can’t shake. I have never felt this way about a woman or a situation before,” Chris explained, laying on his belly, idly picking at the brown and green leaves under him.

  “What’s happening? No one can get a word out of you these days. It’s all grunts and growls,” Nebi complained, looking over at her friend, “From my perspective, you have to be willing to be vulnerable to losing what you thought you most wanted, your freedom or autonomy, to gain what you now want, a life with Annabella.”

  “This has all happened so fast. And I have been in my own world, consumed by these feelings. I should have told you that Annabella wanted to change her plans before you were able to take a swipe out of that carpenter guy,” he said, regretfully.

  “Yeah, I am just glad I didn’t hurt him too badly. I just wanted to send the message to her that tourists are not safe out here. I guess I did that,” she replied, “Now I have to go make amends with Annabella and see if there is anything I can do for the guy while he is in the hospital.”

  Nebi rose to a standing position, her face resigned to the duty she was not looking forward to. She made her way toward the back of the hospital where she hid her clothes. This was not going to go well, she could just feel it in her bones.

  Nebi showed up at the hospital room to visit Todd, who was still talking to Annabella. They were laughing together and teasing one another. Nebi was instantly aware of the sexual allure surrounding Todd, her cleft clutching in arousal at being near him.

  “Hey there! I am Nebi, Chris’ friend, how are you doing after your ordeal?” She asked, looking down at the bandaged man, then up at Annabella.

  “Oh, I will be alright, only a few scratches and a couple love bites,” Todd said good-naturedly, winking at Nebi.

  “Well, I am glad you survived that savage attack. I am always wary of tourists going up around Bear Lake and afraid what might happen,” Nebi said, reinforcing the situation to the both of them, part compassion and part warning.

  Annabella looked from one of them to the other, noting their moon-eyes when they looked at each other. She took her leave, not even sure that they would notice her departure. She felt lost, alone, and not sure what the next steps would be to make all of this right again. So, she returned to her cabin to gather her things.

  When her car came to a full stop, she swung out of it, her emotions in a jumble. She walked through the cabin door to see Chris, sitting there on her bed, looking about like she felt. She went to his side, taking his face in her hands, making him look up at her.

  “We’re in this together,” she said, stroking his dark, straight hair away from his face.

  “I didn’t think you would talk to me ever again after my friend mauled your friend,” he disclosed, “Which was my fault because I didn’t get a chance to tell her that you had changed your plan to protect the mountain and Bear Lake.”

  “Well, about that,” Annabella began.

  His face fell, preparing for bad news.

  “I have to apologize to you about all of this. I never had any right to Bear Lake. You and your family had the legal claim to this mountain by adverse possession before my grandpa was a gleam in his father’s eyes,” she said.

  “What does that mean?” Chris asked, not understanding the concept.

  “It means because you possessed this land, freely and openly, for more than ten years, that I have no legal right to it anymore. It is called adverse possession. And because you have this legal right, which was discovered after my deal with the lawyers and bankers…I can get out of my contracts without being sued into bankruptcy,” she explained.

  “I am the owner of Bear Lake and the mountain?” He asked, his voice disbelieving.

  “Yes, and I want to enroll you in my dream of turning this into the Bear Lake Wildlife Preserve to educate humans on the impact of environmental encroachment, pesticide effects on bear populations (due to accumulation in smaller animals which bears eat), water pollution in the lake, etc,” she elaborated.

  “Yes, I mean, of course, anything to spread awareness and stop this travesty…” Chris agreed, his sentence interrupted by her kiss as her hand delved around his shoulders, where she began raking her nails across his back in the most erotic way possible.

  It was a very long time until they left the cabin, hand in hand, the two of them naked and happy as they made their way toward his cave, secure in each other’s love.

  Epilogue

  Where the first cabin was built, Annabella and Chris held a gathering for the grand opening of the Bear Lake Wildlife Preserve. It was a celebration by the wildlife of the mountain and were-shifters (most of whom had tried to terrorize Annabella into abandoning Bear Lake). There were a lot of apologies exchanged that day, a great step toward beginning the healing of the rift between the species. They forged ahead with a greater knowledge of their interconnectedness in the web of life.

  THE END

  Dangerous Proposal

  Chapter 1

  BROOKE

  Honk!

  Beep!

  Honnnnk!

  The lovely sound of traffic filled my ears. I had been stuck in it for the past hour, crawling forward a few inches before I was forced into a standstill, my bumper nearly grazing the car in front of me.

  “Ugh.” I tinkered with the AC controls, hoping for some kind of
miracle, but no such luck came my way. I had been meaning to recharge the unit, but I simply didn’t have the time or energy to go down to the local car part store and bat my eyelashes until some guy was smitten enough to help me.

  The window was open, but all I got was a stale breeze that rolled in every once in a while. Oh, and the lovely smell of exhaust gas. I grabbed my ice coffee and took a sip, but it was watered down. I had paid four bucks for this thing…

  I readjusted my grip on the wheel, trying to keep my cool. I took a few deep breaths through my nose. Eventually, I glanced down at the time.

  6:46 P.M.

  I was supposed to be at the piano bar at 8:00 and I still needed to get dressed…