“We need to go soon,” he said, after some long moments had passed.

“The smell of that coffee is calling me.”

They climbed from the bed and put their clothes back on. Brock had already packed both of the backpacks and had prepared a small breakfast and a pot of coffee for them before they took to the road.

“I think the best way to get down the mountain is if you ride on my back while I’m in bear form.”

“Ride your back while you’re in bear form?”

“It’s going to take two days to get down the mountain otherwise. Considering we were just held up at gunpoint and robbed, I don’t think we’ve got that kind of time. We need to stop James Salvo. He can’t be allowed to take your possessions and your land.”

“It’s just a little weird to think about riding you as a bear. Don’t you think it’s strange?”

“As a matter of fact, I’ve never had anyone except my brothers and my cousins ride my back when we were young and horse playing around the backyard.”

“It seems like a very intimate thing to do,” Ginger said, biting her lip.

Brock understood her misgivings. But he was determined to apprehend the man who had shot him. More importantly, he wanted to put a stop to the evil man’s plan to take what rightfully belonged to his mate.

No one deserve to be robbed the way James Salvo was determined to rob Ginger. The fact that he was doing it to a girl as sweet and innocent and kind as Ginger made Brock’s blood boil.

“If you don’t mind, I don’t mind,” Ginger said, putting her hands on her hips with a determined expression in her eyes.

They finished packing up the rest of their things and left her father’s house as clean as they’d found it. Out in the front yard, Brock peeled off his clothes and stuffed them into one of the backpacks. He stood in the autumn chill, completely naked.

The expression on Ginger’s face was priceless when she looked him up and down. It had to make him chuckle, but he didn’t have time to think about it right now. They needed to get down the mountain as fast as possible and find justice for himself and for the woman he hoped to make his bride.

Brock shifted abruptly, bouncing to a stand on his four wide feet. Ginger gasped and put her hands to her mouth in shock. He turned to her and faced her, his breath puffing in the cold air. She reached out a gloved hand and ran it up his soft muzzle. He closed his eyes and groaned at her touch on his animal form.

He nodded his head up and down once and then knelt down. Ginger would have to carry the backpacks on her front and back during the trek while she clung to his fur to keep from slipping.

She used his back leg to boost herself up on to his back with the heavy load of the backpacks on her. She scrambled up and found her seating.

“Okay,” she said. “Let’s go.”

Brock roared into the air and trotted down through the yard of the cabin and onto the trail. Feeling Ginger holding onto his back on top of him, he slowly increased his speed. His bear’s mind felt the thrill of his mate clinging to his body as his muscles worked between her thighs. The peace and comfort he felt from having her near filled his bear with euphoria.

Determined to find justice for them both, Brock charged faster down the hill. Even in bear form, at top speed, the trek would be long and arduous. After several miles down the hill at a dead run, he felt Ginger slipping from his back. One of the backpacks went tumbling down the hill.

He came to a quick stop, dislodging her even more. Ginger slid from his back, falling several feet to the rocky ground. She screamed and continued her slide down a muddy passage. Brock jumped forward, shifting in midair to his human form, where he caught her before she slid further into a ravine.

“Are you all right?” Brock said, panting. He checked her body for signs of injury.

Ginger shivered from cold mud covering her entire body. He held her tight, as she cried softly.

“I’m okay,” she said. “Cold.”

“We’ll leave the backpacks here. We need to get you down the hill before you get hypothermia.”

Brock shifted again, barely enough room on the muddy trail to accommodate his massive form. Ginger stepped forward and cried out the moment she put pressure on her ankle. Brock pressed his belly to the ground to make his back lower for her to climb on. The mud coated his fur.

She whimpered as she grabbed his fur and climbed on his back. Slowly he rose and waited.

“I’m okay,” she said again.

I’ve got you, Brock thought.

He dug his claws into the mud and slowly pawed his way down and onto less slick ground. Ginger held tight to him, her cheek pressed against his neck, her thighs tight over his back.

Brock increased his speed once he made it to the meadow where they had camped the first night. Ginger seemed fine on his back, so he charged forward.

The rest of the trail was less arduous. He made good time, and by the time the sun had tilted toward late afternoon, he had made it to the bottom of the hill where the truck was parked.

He knelt down and Ginger slid from his back with a relieved whimper. He shifted and helped her into the car, having a spare set of keys in a hidden compartment under the bumper.

He turned on the car and pulled on a pair of pants he had in the backseat for just such occasions, and wrapped Ginger in a blanket.

He’d have to get her home, clean, and warm as soon as possible. He backed out of the parking stop and onto the main highway toward his house.

Ginger shivered in the seat beside him. He sped toward his house, passing cars and buses along the way as the sun sank in the bay.

He pulled onto his family’s road and bumped over the gravel until they made it to his cabin. As soon as he got there, he pulled Ginger out of the car and carried her to the house.

It was already warm inside. He brought her to the bathroom and started to help her out of her muddy clothes while he ran a warm bath.

She looked up at him and ran her hand over his naked muddy chest. “Aren’t you cold?” she asked.

“Shifters don’t get cold as quickly as humans.”

The big bathtub filled up and she dipped her toe into it. With a sigh, she sank into the water, favoring her ankle less than she had before.

She dipped her head under water and came out with a sigh. “I already feel so much better,” she said, washing her face. “Want to get in? There’s room.”

He smiled and slipped out of his pants. He climbed in across from her in the circular tub. He handed her a bottle of shampoo and washed his own hair.

“This is a nice tub,” she said, rubbing the shampoo in her hair. She rinsed it out and reached for the conditioner.

“I installed it with my cousin last spring. Bears like baths.”

“Your whole house is nice, from what I saw of it,” she said.

“My cousin’s family has a construction business. We all build our own houses.”

“You built this place?”

“With some help from the Montgomery clan.”

“That’s awesome. It’s cool that you have so many people in your life who are all so close. I don’t really have anyone like that.”

“You have me,” he said, drawing closer. He put his arm around her and brought her closer to him. She sighed softly as he kissed her wet lips.

“How do you feel?” he asked, running his hand up her inner thigh.

“Good,” she whispered.

His hand moved further along the inside of her thigh, coming to brush over her mound. She tingled in the water, encouraging him to continue with her tongue darting quickly into his mouth. 

He pressed his fingers into her crevice, rubbing her swollen bud. His fingertip ducked into her channel, and she reached over to grasp his cock.

He ran his hand up and down her arm, her stroking palm exciting his desire and filling him with lust. He growled and pulled her closer, drawing her up on his lap.

She continued to stroke him while he pressed the pad of his thumb into her clit. He sucked her nipples, and her body began to twitch under his touch.

She moaned as he lifted her up to press against his cock. Brock growled and looked into her eyes. When she’d been hurt, it had killed him. All he’d thought about all the way down the mountain was her safety.

Now that she was back here at his home with him, already feeling well enough to come to him like this, he felt pride and desire swell hard in his chest.

He wanted her in every possible way. He gripped her hips and pulled her down on him. Her slick folds took him in, and her eyes blazed with excitement.

She bit her lips and gripped his shoulders. He leaned forward and took her nipple into his mouth, moving her up and down on his cock. Ginger let out soft panting moans, taking every thrust and pump from Brock as if he was filling her with bliss.

“Brock,” she moaned. “Oh, God.”

A light seemed to shine around her. She was gorgeously beautiful to him. Her wet red hair hung down her back and her freckled pale skin was washed clean and glistening in the bathroom light.

He cupped her cheek in his hand as she leaned her head back. He dipped his thumb into her mouth and she sucked it, grinding forward on his lap.

Her beautiful full breasts swayed in front of him, luscious and abundant. He ran a hand over her peaked nipple, and she moaned and sucked his thumb harder.

He moved her over his lap, drawing out his climax with each thrust of her hips. He hugged her to him, moving her on him, taking her body for his own.

She cried out, her body squeezing around his cock. He let himself lose it inside her, pumping himself hard into her soft body. He held her tight for several long moments, the contractions of his orgasm holding him in their grip.

Slowly, he let her go and slid from inside her, holding her close to him in the bathtub.

She leaned her head against his shoulder, running her fingertip over his chest.

“Let’s go get some rest, sweetheart,” he said, kissing her head.