Free BBW Shifter Bundle (BBW Paranormal Shifter Romance) by Becca Fanning Page A

plucked his pack from the trunk and locked in the straps that went across his waist and chest. He hesitated, then said, “I’m sorry if that came out rude. But we’re out here with no way to call for help. Let’s just be careful.” He leaned back into the trunk to rummage around.

    I nodded, turning away to hide my embarrassment. I pulled the wide waist belt around and snapped it closed. It had two large pockets and I squeezed them to make sure nothing had fallen out. I unzipped one pocket and pulled out my headlamp, slipping it over my head and turning it on.

    “What…” Jimmy said, the light from my headlamp shining into the trunk. He was looking down into the trunk.

    Mr. Duggar slammed the trunk down. “Time to get moving. We lost a lot of time already,” he said. “We walk down this service trail until we come to the river.” He hoisted his pack onto his shoulders and began walking down the trail, not waiting for us.

    We scrambled after him, Dale giving Jimmy a questioning look.

    Jimmy shook his head, indicating it was nothing. He was ahead of me, picking up the pace to catch up to Mr. Duggar.

    Dale was behind me, kind enough to not make me feel like I was the slowest in the group, even though that was the reality.  

    But, I reminded myself, I was the only one who could get us where we needed to go. Once we got to the river, we’d need my map skills to reach our destination.

    Behind me, Dale began humming. Ahead of me, Jimmy joined in. Some endearing brotherly quality bonded them, and these cute little affectations were evidence of that. I didn’t know the song, but it had a cadence, and that helped my walking speed.  

    As we got seriously into the hike, the warmth from our bodies kept the cold at bay. It was oddly comfortable, and I had one of those eureka moments when I realized that we’d evolved to do this. Our ancestors had walked thousands of miles across ice flows to populate the planet. And they didn’t have Gortex or Icebreaker to do it in!

    Up ahead, Mr. Duggar stopped on the trail. He raised a hand and froze. He was searching for something in the treeline, or something further down the trail. He must’ve heard something.

    “I heard something big up ahead. It crashed through some branches,” he whispered back at us. He didn’t have to say what he thought it was.

    Black bears can be found all up and down the Smoky Mountain National Park. They’re the largest predator east of the Mississippi, and they’re unpredictable. Normally, they behave like huge raccoons. They get into garbage, steal food, and climb trees when they’re threatened.

    But then there’s always the dreaded situation when you inadvertently get between a mother bear and my cubs. At that point, all bets are off. She might call to her cubs and have them go up a tree, or she might charge you. Oh, and everything you heard about to do when you run into a grizzly bear, you do the opposite with a black bear.  

    “It’s a deer,” Dale said from behind me.

    “Or it could be a bear,” Mr. Duggar said. He spoke curtly, indicating his agitation.

    “It’s just a deer,” Jimmy said.

    “How do you know that?” I said.

    Mr. Duggar and I both looked at Jimmy.

    Jimmy sighed, eventually giving us a shrug.

    “Whatever it is,” Dale said from behind us, “It knows we’re hear and it’s leaving. If we stop to analyze every sound, this is going to take a month.”

    “Right, right,” Mr. Duggar said. He took a drink from his water bottle, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and turned back towards the trail. He pulled his shoulder straps tighter and continued down the trail.

    As we followed, a branch caught a strand of my hair and I turned my head to free it. I saw the white tail of a deer go bouncing further into the dark woods.

    “It was a deer!” I exclaimed.

    “Oh yeah?” Dale said. I could hear his grin, ear to ear. Thankfully Jimmy didn’t rub it in also.

    After a while we heard the sound