Big Bear Mountain - The Complete Series Read online

  The Big Bear Mountain

  The Complete Series

  Bianca James

  Copyright

  Copyright © 2016 Bianca James

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, in part or in full, without express written consent from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

  Disclaimer

  All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. All characters depicted are aged 18+ and all sexual acts depicted are consensual and occur between non blood relatives.

  About the Author

  Hi! I’m Bianca James and I love to write fast paced, action packed paranormal romance stories filled with strong shifter men and sassy, curvy women who can handle them.

  Action and adventure stories, mysteries and thrillers are in my DNA and I love to share all that and more in my stories, but that doesn’t mean I don’t make room for some steamy romance and a good dose of HEA along the way.

  Sign up for her mailing list to be notified of special offers and new releases.

  Bear Rescue

  (Big Bear Mountain Book One)

  Chapter 1

  Elle was born and raised in the big city, so the yellow warning light with the cute little snowflake inside a triangle didn’t really seem that important, despite the ominous sound the warning chime made at regular intervals. Besides, it wasn’t actually snowing and her BMW coupé was almost brand new, so it was unlikely that it had any kind of serious problem. Hot air was blowing from the vents and the heated leather seats were doing their job, so there was little else to focus on, other than maneuvering the stylish European coupé through the countless sharp twists and turns on the narrow mountain road.

  Well, maybe there was one thing. Glancing at the discarded power bar wrapper on the passenger seat, her stomach grumbled. She’d been in a rush at her last fuel stop, anxious to fill her tank and get out of there that she didn’t want to waste precious time buying food. She was regretting that decision now. The emergency snack she carried in her handbag just hadn’t cut it.

  Elle needed to put as much distance between her and the city as fast as she could, so the snowflake and her hunger pains would just have to wait. With the cops and the cartel gangsters hard on her heels, the only way she could get through this was to get somewhere they’d never find her and disappear. Fast.

  A business graduate, she’d worked in finance long enough to know that a money trail was impossible to hide. Ironically, that’s what got her into this huge mess in the first place. She knew what she needed to do to survive. Go offline and live off the grid for a while until she could figure out a way to get out of this mess. That was her only chance. No internet. No cell phone. No credit cards. Her first thought was that a life without the three essentials might not actually be worth living. Then she reminded herself that it was only temporary. She needed time to work things out. Right now, though, she had to run. Nothing else mattered.

  She was still trying to convince herself that she’d have no problem living without her cell phone when the damn thing rang. The caller ID displayed ‘Mom’. Not that she needed to see the display. The Darth Vader Imperial March ringtone had already told her who was calling.

  “What’s up, Mom?”

  “I hope you’re not talking while you’re driving,” her mother admonished, without introduction.

  “Hello to you, too, Mom. Ever heard of Bluetooth.” Elle rolled her eyes.

  “Don’t you dare take that tone with me. I’ve had the police here … the police! Asking questions about you! I’ve never been so embarrassed. And all the neighbors saw them, too. I nearly died of shame!”

  “Of all the diseases you claim to have had over the years, I’m pretty sure that’s one thing you can’t die from, Mom. Oh, and I’m OK, by the way. Thanks for asking.” Her tone was thick with sarcasm. That’s how these conversations usually ended up. This one wasn’t wasting any time and was starting out that way.

  “You need to come back. I told them it was some kind of mistake. No daughter of mine would do such a thing. Embezzlement … that’s what they said. Do they even know who we are? How dare they! What are they going to think of me at the tennis club? My God! It’s a disgrace and you need to come home and set things right straight away, young lady. I won’t have people gossiping about me. Do you hear me?”

  Without so much as a second thought, or a goodbye, Elle hit the switch to roll down her window before hurling the phone onto the road, where it smashed into a thousand satisfying pieces.

  “Yeah, I can definitely live without that,” she said to herself as she rolled up the window, sealing herself from the chilly mountain air.

  And that’s when she hit the patch of black ice. As the car began to lose control, despite the valiant effort of the traction control system, her eyes locked on to the snowflake-in-triangle warning light, it’s cryptic meaning suddenly becoming apparent. Risk of black ice.

  Damn Germans and their stupid pictograms … was her last coherent thought before the front of her car ploughed into the barrier. German engineering competing with American construction.

  The Germans won.

  Chapter 2

  Jarrad’s fingers trembled as they strained to cling to unyielding cliff face long enough for him to steady his labored breathing. Even through the bulky Alpine climbing jacket his massive bicep bulged as he tried to pull himself into a more stable position. Despite the layers of high grade thermal wear, Jarrad’s fingers were numb and unresponsive thanks to the brutal wind chill factor, even though he was only at 10,000 feet. As a High Mountain Ranger, specializing in mountain search and rescue, this was just another day at the office for Jarrad.

  Heights didn’t really bother him, but his bear had never really got used to the whole climbing thing. There’s not much a 1,500 pound Kodiak bear likes more than the feel of solid ground beneath its massive 18 inch paws. Vertical rock faces are not really a part of any bear’s natural habitat. Growling in protest, his bear made his feelings very clear.

  “We’re going to be fine,” Jarrad said in a soothing voice. “I’ve got this.”

  Not so sure, his bear growled plaintively.

  “We’re nearly there.” He hoped that sounded encouraging, but he wasn’t convinced he’d pulled it off. “Just remember, there are two times you never look down. One of them is right now. The other is when Whoopi Goldberg is giving you a blow —”

  Crack!

  Suddenly, a piece of metamorphic rock that had been an integral part of the mountain for something in the region of a billion years decided to break free, just when it was actually needed for the first time in its history.

  “Oh, crap! That’s not good.” Jarrad was nothing if not the master of understatement.

  With his feet precariously balanced on a 2 inch ledge and one hand still clinging to small fissure in the rock, he quickly discarded the now useless chunk of mountain he held in his flailing hand as he frantically sought another hand hold.

  The bear wailed pitifully inside him. Although a full grown Kodiak was all but indestructible, even if he shifted as he fell, nothing could survive a fall from that height and it was unlikely that the strongest pitons and cams anchoring the belaying ropes could withstand the impact a falling Jarrad would subject them to.

  Even in his human form, Jarrad was one hell of a big unit.

  Chapter 3

  Something wasn’t right. Actually, there were a lot of things not quite right, Elle came to realize as she regained consciousness. The air bags had deployed, for one thing.

  That’s not good.

&
nbsp; She’d broken a nail on the steering wheel just two days after having them manicured.

  Damn it!

  One of her new shoes had broken a heel.

  Like this could get any worse!

  Then she noticed that the view through her windshield was no longer that of a narrow, winding mountain road. All she could see was a whole lot of sky, distant mountains and nothing in between but fresh, mountain air.

  No road.

  Her car felt like it was suspended in mid-air.

  Because it was.

  Oh-my-fucking-God!

  With trembling fingers, Elle reached into the console, where she kept her phone …

  Oh, crap!

  Chapter 4

  “Big Bear Mountain Rescue to Preacher, do you copy?”

  You can take the man out of the army, but you can’t take the army out of the man. He was going to be stuck with that call sign for the rest of his life if Rosie, the seasoned, veteran radio dispatcher had anything to do with it.

  Releasing his grip on the rock face with one hand, Jarrad keyed his mic.

  “Preacher to base. Now’s not a real good time,” he snapped in reply.

  “Yeah, well it’s not such a great time for the girl trapped in her car hanging half ways off the mountain, either and you’re the only one near enough to do her any kind of good,” Rosie replied with equal curtness.

  The ears of Jarrad’s bear pricked at the mention of a girl in trouble as its protective instincts kicked into gear.

  “Easy big fella. We got to get ourselves squared away before we can go rescue any damsel in distress,” he reminded his bear.

  With that, Jarrad stretched to reach another handhold, using it to pull himself further up the sheer rock face. The urgency of the situation gave Jarrad the surge of power he needed to haul his heavily muscled frame and his 30 pound equipment pack the remaining fifteen feet up the mountain to the plateau that had been his objective when he’d started the climb. Once there, he radioed his position to Rosie, knowing she probably already had a chopper in the air to airlift him to the rescue site.

  “The helo will pick you up at Kodiak Peak in five, Preacher. They’re gonna have to turn and burn if there’s any chance of helping that girl. Highway Patrol called it in and the trooper says it’s a miracle the car hasn’t gone over yet. Seems a piece of railing is all that’s keeping her on the mountain.”

  “Let me guess, another hipster townie who thinks black ice is just another AC/DC album, right?”

  “Hey, no more hipster bashing, Preacher. My grandson Cory used to be a hipster. Had himself a man bun and all, ya know.”

  “How is he, anyway? Haven’t seen him in a while,” Jarrad asked. The compassion in his voice was evident, even over the crackling radio transmission.

  “He’s good. Graduated top of his class at the academy. Not a day goes by his Momma don’t pray to Jesus for what you did for him when those sons of bitches at the HMO refused to pay for his treatment. You’re a good man Jarrad. A real fine man. That boy owes you his life and I know he’s never forgotten that.”

  “That’s a first, Rosie.”

  “Say again, Preacher?”

  “Nothing, you just called me by my name for the first time … well … ever. I’ll call in again when I get to Kodiak. Stay tuned Big Bear Mountain Rescue. Preacher out.”

  It would take Jarrad, in his human form, at least ten minutes to reach Kodiak Peak to be airlifted to the crash site. Time wasn’t on the crash victim’s side. Besides, he hadn’t let his bear loose for a good run in a couple of days. Now was as good a time as any. Making his way to the Kodiak Peak trail, Jarrad shifted to his bear form as he ran, transforming into a magnificent hulk of Grizzly Bear, its soft dark fur catching the rays of the late afternoon sun, rippling and undulating as the robust layers of muscle beneath pistoned inexhaustibly, carrying the heavy set bear along the trail at an unimaginable speed. The giant bear was a thing of beauty as it veered off the path and careered through the forest, taking a short cut Jarrad would never have been able to traverse as a human.

  Less than five minutes later, Jarrad reached the extraction point. There was no sign of the helicopter as he shifted back into his human.

  “Preacher to Big Bear Mountain Dispatch. I’m at the extraction point, waiting on the helo.”

  “Dispatch to Preacher. You made good time. Did you have some help?”

  “You could say that, Rosie. Hey, I can hear the helo. Time to light ‘em up.”

  “God bless Preacher. Be careful out there. Big Bear Mountain Rescue out.”

  Taking a bright colored tube from his pack, Jarrad struck the smoke flare, releasing a cloud of blue smoke to show the chopper pilot his exact location and wind direction. Within moments, a hunched Jarrad was running under the lethal, fast whirling blades of the helicopter before awkwardly maneuvering himself through the massive sliding door into the spacious rear cabin of the powerful Sikorsky search and rescue helicopter.

  As soon as he stood upright, though, the rear cabin didn’t seem so spacious. Jarrad’s frame filled it easily as he strode purposefully toward the front cabin.

  “Spider,” he shouted into the mic, acknowledging the pilot over the roar of the turbines as he fitted his flight helmet and headset which awaited him in the equipment rack.

  The pilot simply nodded in reply.

  Smalltalk and social skills were not among their strengths. These were High Mountain Rangers on a rescue mission. Socializing was what the bar in town was for. After the rescuing was done and dusted.

  As Jarrad buckled himself into the harness of the winchman seat in the rear compartment, the pilot, former Navy Lieutenant Jim “Spider” Webb opened the throttle and made way to the crash site at full speed.

  Chapter 5

  The blue and red strobe lights of the troopers Highway Patrol car lightened Elle’s mood a little and made her feel a tiny bit more secure as a not-so-gentle breeze began to buffet her sleek, shiny BWM that hung perilously over the edge of the cliff. Only a ragged piece of railing snagged on the front wheel arch prevented the car careening thousands of feet down the rocky slope. Elle was almost glad darkness had descended on the mountainside so she was no longer tortured by the view of the cruel fate that awaited her.

  Having balanced over the edge of the cliff for nearly an hour, during which Elle reassessed her wisdom in throwing her cell phone out the window with such bravado, the sight of the Highway Patrol car on the road behind her was a welcome relief as she knew it was only by pure chance that she’d been found.

  Only the rear half of her car was partially on the road. The front section, which included the driver’s door and window was well and truly overhanging the edge of the road as the car rocked like a giant see saw with the increasing wind.

  Consequently, Trooper Ryan wasn’t able to do much other than call it in and stress the urgency of the situation, after which he squatted as near as he dared to the edge of the road to assess the situation in the car itself.

  “Miss? I’m Trooper Ryan, you can call me Jeff, if you like. Mountain Rescue are on their way. They’re coming by chopper and should be here any minute now.” He spoke loud enough to be heard through the closed window of the car, hoping to give some comfort to the trapped occupant.

  Elle nodded thankfully, too much in a state of shock to reply. Tears began to fill her eyes. The distance the trooper was keeping from the car and the fact that he wasn’t even attempting to save her drove home the realization that her predicament was every bit as dire as she imagined. And she’d imagined the very worst.

  “Are you hurt, Miss?”

  She shook her head, her chin quivering as she tried gallantly not to bawl her eyes out. Somehow, she didn’t think the officer wanted to hear about her shoe with the snapped heel, her broken nail or her damaged pride. She had a perfectly clean driving record. Until now.

  “I’m cold,” she said, trembling. The temperature had plummeted as soon as the sun had descended. That’s how it was i
n these parts. The sun set real quick and real early behind the tall mountains. One minute it was bright and sunny, five minutes later, the temperature dropped like a stone and darkness enveloped everything this side of the mountain.

  “Have you got a jacket or blanket or something to keep you warm?” Ryan asked.

  Elle just shook her head and rubbed her bare arms with her hands in a vain attempt to stave off the bitter cold that penetrated the BMW’s cabin.

  “You ain’t from around here.” It wasn’t a question. Ryan, had 20 years’ experience with Highway Patrol and knew a townie when he saw one. He’d seen his share of ill equipped and unprepared young folks making their way up here for sightseeing and adventure. This one, though, she wasn’t here for either of those. That much he could tell.

  Taking his notepad and pen from his pocket, he began to record the vehicle description and license plate details. After all, who knew how much longer it would still be there for him to take note.

  “What’s your name, Miss? I need it to file the report.”

  Elle shook her head.

  “I need your full name for my paperwork.” Something wasn’t right. Ryan’s cop instincts were picking up a vibe. “If I run your tags, is that fine looking car of yours going to come back as ‘reported stolen’ or involved in some kind of incident?”

  Elle shook her head. Her shoulders slumped. She hadn’t thought about that possibility.

  Suddenly, the entire crash site was bathed in bright light and the car started to rock wildly as the wash of the rotor blades pummeled it.

  Elle white knuckled her seat belt and let out a scream as the car shuddered violently, sliding a few inches further over the edge. Suddenly, the rescue helicopter she’d been relying on to save her didn’t seem like such a great idea.