Free The Bear In Me: A BBW Bear Shifter Romance by Amy Star Page A

up against the metal and holding his side. When he saw the giant bear his old eyes widened in panic, but quickly died down again when he seemed to recognize the tawny face staring back at him. Sam shrunk out of Form quickly.
                 
    “Figured you’d find us first.” Al winked.
                 
    It was something Sam had taken for granted. Al had always known about him and Lily, about the others. He was a vault of secrets, things he’d take to his grave.
                 
    “Al, Christ, what happened?” Sam said, bending down, his naked haunch brushing a piece of sharp metal.
                 
    “Rotor caught,” he murmured painfully, “don’t worry, it’s just a bruised rib, I’ll be fine. You need to go and find Emily, quick as can be.”
                 
    “Where is she??” he asked.
                 
    “When we landed, she hit her head… you didn’t tell me she was a Bear, too. She turned, transformed.”
     
    Sam cursed. It wasn’t uncommon, when thrown into danger, for the Bear to react unconsciously. Especially if she had been wounded at all, the natural inclination of the body was to revert into a Bear in order to protect itself. Emily had much practice in the last month with her own transformation, but she was still unaccustomed to it – especially under duress. In all likelihood, she transformed by accident, and can’t transform back , he thought.
     
    “I think it scared her,” Al continued, “… but not nearly as much as the two hunters in the back. When they woke up and saw the bear, they figured the worst… that the bear had come and killed Emily and made off with her. The yuppy bastards… took after her, like they were going to avenge Emily.”
                 
    “By killing her in Bear form,” Sam winced.
                 
    “Go,” Al said, with a wheeze, “I saw the ‘copter.”
                 
    “There’s a storm coming.”
                 
    “Figured that too. My knee is swelling. Don’t worry, you idiot, I’ve got rations and blankets and the inside of the cockpit. I’m fine for days. Get out of here and find her!”
                 
    Sam gulped and stood up, his naked torso flexing with adrenaline and gave the old man a short nod as he pivoted and willed himself back into Form. The smell of the hunters was strong from the northeast. He started off at a low gallop.
                 
    His worry for Emily had increased, and blended into the regret he now felt. I should have said no when she asked to help , he thought. It was all his fault that she had gotten into this mess. He could understand the panic of the hunters, as well. Most of the hunters he took into the wild were green city-types that had never spent a night alone in the bush. Put them face to face with a full-grown bear and anything could happen. He dug in his claws deeper and increased his speed. A growing sentiment started to form in his brain. He would do whatever it took to save Emily, no matter the cost.
                 
    It was a hard choice, one he’d had to make in the Army numerous times. It was the reason he couldn’t stay there. It was too hard to compromise your moral compass, even if it was the ‘right’ thing to do. And now, here he was, right back in the same sort of situation. He was full of self-loathing and didn’t even notice as branches and snags tore at his thick hide. He bent his head low and fixated again on the only thing that mattered. Emily.
                 
    As he neared a large clearing in the hillside caused by a mudslide he lifted his nose and got another whiff of human, this time much closer. They couldn’t be far off. He hurried down a steep slope toward another small creek that was burbling between the rocks. Above him he could feel the tension in the atmosphere, and a slow darkening as the storm came ever