He ran his hand through her silky hair, leaned down, and kissed the top of her head. “If he wasn’t someone who could potentially be really dangerous to other women, I would consider staying with you a while longer.”
“Yeah, same here.”
Then he unzipped the sleeping bag and began getting dressed. He yanked on his boxer briefs and cargo pants.
“I don’t hear any rain.” She pulled on her panties and tried to fasten her bra in the back.
“Yeah, it sounds like it has stopped.” He joined her and fastened her bra for her.
“Thanks.”
He slid his T-shirt over his head, featuring a grizzly bear snarling. “You’re welcome.”
“I like your T-shirt. It reminds me of me when I haven’t had enough sleep or food.”
He took her into his arms and held her close, looking down into her face as their gazes met, a small smile on her lips. “Then I’ll have to make sure you get plenty of sleep and food to eat.”
“Then I will be like this.” She kissed his mouth, then pulled away and lifted a T-shirt out of her bag that featured a grizzly floating on its back in a lake, looking like it was having the time of its life.
He took it from her and pulled it over her head. “Now that’s better. Maybe we can do that at some time.”
“I would love that.”
They finished dressing and made a quick breakfast of oatmeal topped with walnuts, almonds, and pecans, mixed dried fruit, brown sugar, maple syrup, and cinnamon, along with cups of coffee.
After they finished breakfast, they put out the fire and cleaned up. Then they grabbed their jackets and backpacks and headed out, the stars filling the dark sky. It was beautiful while a whisper of a cool breeze flowed through the trees, stirring the fir branches as they started hiking back to where they had entered the forest. The other campers were still asleep, with no campfire, no conversations, and no coffee or breakfast food scenting the air.
Not that Grayson was surprised. It was really early. They wanted to catch Younger unaware when it was still dark out, and they could see, but he couldn’t without the aid of a flashlight or lantern.
Grayson and Kendra were quiet as they continued through the woods in the same direction they had gone before, finally reaching the torn-up campsite. Younger’s smell was here, stronger than before, so they knew he had been here sometime after they had destroyed his tent and the wild bear had eaten his food.
Grayson wished he could have seen Younger’s expression when he discovered a bear had destroyed his camp. He shouldn’t have been camping in the forest. He should have been at a campsite. Though a grizzly still could have torn up a tent at a campsite.
Would Younger try to live off the land, or would he leave and get more supplies and start all over again? Or maybe just leave.
They took hold of each other’s hands and continued to hike through the forest. Birds tweeted all over the place. A white-headed woodpecker pecked away at a tree, looking for bugs to eat. A raptor flew overhead, screeching, looking for its next meal. A brightly colored orange tanager was sitting on a branch with an insect in its beak.
They smelled the male grizzly too. He wasn’t close by, they didn’t think, but he could return.
“Do you want to shift?” she asked.
“Yeah, let’s do it.”
They moved about a half mile from Younger’s camp, and then they made sure that they didn’t get caught shifting. Once they were certain Younger wasn’t anywhere near where they were, and that the wild male bear wasn’t either, they began stripping their clothes off, tucking them into their backpacks, and hiding them in the brush.
Then they shifted and rubbed muzzles together. They licked each other’s faces, then swung their heads back and forth, smelling the air, deciding where to go next. They headed back to the camp, and then they left again, following where Younger had gone.
As grizzlies, they continued to search for Younger, but damned if they didn’t run into the same male bear they were trying to avoid.
They paused. If they confronted him, staring him in the eyes, that was aggression. But Grayson was ready to fight the bear. He didn’t want to appear subservient, even though he knew that if he fought the bear to protect Kendra from him, she might get involved in the fight and could be hurt. And truly, he didn’t want to injure the male bear either.
Kendra nudged at Grayson, encouraging him to take a step back, but the bear wanted her and charged Grayson.
He knew it would. If he had backed off like Kendra wanted him to, telling the other bear he wasn’t going to fight him, he was certain the grizzly would have gone after him anyway. Grayson was too close to Kendra, and the bear would be sure Grayson wanted her for his own.
The bear charged at Grayson and bit him in the right shoulder. Grayson bit the bear back in the face, their teeth clashing. Grayson fought back, slapping him with his powerful paws. The bear backed off, but he wasn’t done. With his teeth bared, he came at Grayson, grabbing the back of his head. Grayson was trying to shake him loose, but bent down under the bear's weight and aggression.
The bear was not an easy opponent, and Grayson knew the bear wasn’t new at this. Grayson came at the bear’s head, forcing him down this time, when suddenly Kendra attacked the bear from behind. The wild bear swung around to bite her. But she was smaller and couldn’t fight a bear that big or aggressive.
