Bred By the Beast (Breeding Season #11)

Chapter One

Poppy wasn’t a hiker.

Trekking for hours through the rugged terrain had her thighs burning and feet aching.

But she was determined to get a pic of the notorious giant grizzly.

There’d been supposed sightings the past month, and she wanted to be the one photographer to capture the image.

The hefty five-thousand-dollar prize offered to the person who brought in a clear picture was a definite incentive.

Poppy was not rich, and photography certainly didn’t pay the bills. Today could be a game-changer.

Not only would she win the cash prize, but her name would be out there for all to see. The jobs would come flooding in, and her financial worries would be over.

She stopped, set down her oversized backpack, and pulled out her water bottle.

God, the views were breathtaking. Poppy loved nature, especially the sunsets and wildflowers.

She’d been drawing and scrapbooking flowers for years.

She was proud to know the scientific names of countless plant species, not that such knowledge would ever prove useful.

After readjusting her ponytail, she slung the backpack on again and started heading in the same direction.

It shouldn’t be too much longer according to her calculations.

Then she’d settle in with her binoculars and watch the mountainside for movement.

No one said this trip was going to be easy, or everyone would be cashing in.

So, she wouldn’t complain. Not about the aches and pains, the dropping temperatures, or the deep-seated fear of the unknown playing with her imagination.

After another hour or so of trudging through the thick underbrush and fallen trees, she decided she couldn’t go any farther.

Poppy got to the edge of the mountainside and looked down the cliff face.

It was thick with tree coverage and seemed to go on forever.

She decided it was a good vantage point, so she dropped everything and started to settle in.

She sat down, leaning against a tree, and pulled out her notebook. She wrote down everything from to-do lists, to random thoughts. As she fanned through the old book, she exhaled. At thirty-two she was sitting here in the middle of nowhere like a loser hoping for the needle-in-a-haystack picture.

Poppy had no savings, no property, no boyfriend, and unstable employment. She had to lose at least fifty pounds, her cholesterol was too high, and her window to have a child was getting smaller each year.

She laughed to herself. It sounded worse than it really was. She wasn’t unhappy, just lonely. Survival wasn’t a big deal, as she was used to it. It was the quiet evenings, watching other couples holding hands, envisioning growing old alone. Those were the killers.

She chewed on a piece of beef jerky. It was extra good because she hadn’t eaten since breakfast. As she chewed on her food, her peripheral vision alerted her to movement.

Poppy gasped, scrambling to locate her binoculars and camera.

She crawled to the edge of the embankment and started focusing the settings, a piece of jerky still between her teeth.

As the image cleared, she stayed as still as possible. It wasn’t across the valley like she expected, but just down a bit on her side of the slope where there was a grassy clearing. There were three men.

Shit.

Others obviously had the same idea. She wondered if they’d already gotten a picture of the mysterious monster grizzly. The tabloids called it, “The Beast of the Mountain.” They looked so much better prepared than her with a lot of equipment.

She sat back down on her butt but kept watching. If they weren’t packing up, maybe they hadn’t gotten a picture yet. And with all those supplies, it would take them longer to get out of the forest. If she got her pic in first, she’d get the reward, no matter how many pics they brought in later.

Poppy examined the plants and weeds nearby from where she was sitting.

Nothing exciting was happening when she checked her binoculars.

She noted a few highly poisonous weeds and berries, and some edible plants she may clip and eat later if she had to.

Maybe her useless knowledge would come in handy after all.

She started drawing pictures in the dirt with a stick.

That’s when the gunshot made her squeal.

With her heart racing, she grabbed the binoculars and looked out in the direction of the three men.

Her breathing picked up, nausea swirling in her gut.

They’d killed a bear. She saw it lying there, clear as day, and they were celebrating.

She’d come to take a picture, not kill or take a trophy.

Bear hunting was strictly prohibited. Poachers were actually a recurring theme on the evening news.

Poachers sold bear parts on the black market for top dollar.

That’s when the realization hit her. They weren’t there to take pictures.

Those men were probably the illegal poachers the authorities were looking for.

Fear spiked through her veins. What could she do?

Poppy hated to see animals suffer. It was her weakness.

She couldn’t count how many injured birds and stray cats she’d brought back to health in her basement apartment.

This was different. Those men had guns, and they were known to be dangerous.

She was helpless to prevent them from hurting the animals.

And if they knew she was there, it would not be good for her.

She moved away from the edge to stay out of sight.

That’s when she came up with a plan. Any thoughts of a prized photo vanished from her mind completely.

Her mission now was to get some high-resolution photos of the poachers and bring them to the police.

She could single-handedly help the wildlife in these mountains from being exploited.

This felt so much more honorable, and she felt renewed purpose fill her with much-needed energy.

She started setting up her camera, screwing on her extended lenses.

Her stomach grumbled, but she ignored it.

She brushed away the debris from the edge with her foot, then settled down on her stomach with her camera.

Her nerves and adrenaline were on high as she focused on the horrible scene.

She began snapping pics. Pics of the scene. Pics of the men. Pics of their crime.

That’s when she felt someone grab her ankle.

Poppy screamed like she’d never screamed before.

Her nerves were already shot, and she was surprised her heart didn’t stop beating completely.

She whirled around to her back, ready to kick, her camera falling over the side of the cliff.

It was just enough time to see a racoon scurrying off.

She dropped her head down, staring up at the forest canopy as she tried to catch her breath.

Just a curious raccoon. It probably smelled her snacks.

The voices from across the way carried to her in the silence.

Poppy grabbed her binoculars and looked to the clearing. They’d heard her. The men were pointing at her. One looking directly at her with his own high-powered binoculars. One of them fired a shot in her direction. An actual gunshot. As in, they wanted to kill her.

Oh my God.

She was all alone and completely vulnerable. And her evidence was down the cliff. She leaned over the edge and looked down. She exhaled in relief when she saw her camera stuck on a protruding root. It had the evidence she needed. Without it, this was all for nothing.

Poppy wiggled to the edge, reaching with her arm as much as she could without falling over the side herself. She still couldn’t reach. The men were gone, and she knew they were probably trying to find her now. So, she didn’t have much time. Tears of fear and frustration filled her eyes.

“Please,” she chanted, as she kept reaching, an inch more at a time. It was a long fall if she went over the edge. No way would she survive it.

****

Wilder had been watching this group of poachers for days.

Humans had been trespassing on his territory for many months, but this was sacred land.

He wasn’t able to stop them in time from killing a sow with cubs.

It tore his heart apart to witness it. And all he felt was rage.

He hated humans. Hated tourists. Hated hunters.

But now the poachers’ interest shifted to another human in the forest. He’d tracked the scent to a lone female. Wilder never involved himself with humans. He’d help an injured fox, but a wounded hiker could die in the wilderness for all he cared.

But for some reason his bear wanted him to intervene, to help the girl who’d just fallen over the side of the cliff.

If the hunters were shooting at her, then maybe she wasn’t the enemy.

He looked over the cliff, those big blue eyes staring back up at him.

She started to scream when he reached out to help her.

“Relax. I’m not a hunter. I’m trying to save you from dying.”

Wilder reached down to where she was holding onto a root with a death-grip and easily pulled her up to solid ground. He was the most powerful animal in the forest, his grizzly unmatched in strength. Against human weapons, he was still at a loss.

“My camera,” she said. “Please, I need my camera.”

“I just saved your life, little human.”

She pointed down the embankment. “I have pictures of the hunters. That’s why they’re after me. I need that evidence for the police.”

And in that instant, all his carefully built walls of hatred for humans lowered just a bit—for her.

“I’ll get it.”

Wilder easily reached for the dangling camera and handed it back to the girl. She appeared soft and pale, her skin flawless. He took a deep breath in, her scent filling his lungs. He didn’t hate it.

“Thank you, but they’re coming here. They’ll find me. I don’t know what to do.” Her voice was shaking, panic slurring her words slightly.

“They want the pictures you took?”

“Yes, it’s evidence of their crimes. I saw them kill a bear and gloat over it,” she said.

“A sow with cubs.”

“You saw it too?”

He didn’t answer her. The hunters were going around the embankment and would be on top of them soon.

Wilder wanted to get the girl to safety.

His cabin was on the sacred shifter ground, but far from this location.

They may have to settle in a cave for the night.

The sun would go down within a few hours, and they’d never make it in time.

Humans were delicate creatures, susceptible to the cold, elements, and predators.

He’d try to protect her so she could survive long enough to bring the incriminating pictures to the human authorities.

Not that he trusted them to act. As far as he was concerned, all humans were corrupt, greedy, and destroyed everything they touched.

He handled trespassers his way. Unfortunately, he was too late to help that sow. Wilder wondered if they’d killed all the cubs, or if they were hiding nearby. He had to find out.

“They’re getting closer. We should leave this place,” he said. “You’ll have to move faster than you were earlier.”

He’d been tracking her for miles. Anyone on sacred land was a threat.

“You saw me earlier?”

“This is my land. I know everything that happens here.”

She grabbed her belongings and followed after him. Being so much smaller, she struggled to keep up. He had to stop too often to wait for her to reach him.

“What’s your name?” she asked as she stepped over forest debris.

“Wilder.”

“My name’s Poppy.”

He wasn’t planning to be best friends with her. Right now, she was just more convenient to him alive than dead. She had pictures that could help the bears from human hunters. And they had a common enemy.

His bear had been annoying him, more interested in the human than it should be. He blamed the fact it was mating season, because he was not attracted to human beings. His bear was just confused.

They’d been traveling for only fifteen minutes, but the distance between the men and them was closing quickly. She was not fast enough.

“You need to move faster,” he said.

“I can’t,” she said. “I just can’t move anymore.” She leaned a hand against a tree, barely able to catch her breath.

“Do you want me to carry you?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Carry me? That won’t make us faster. I’m not exactly a lightweight.”

“You’re a tiny little thing. Come here. I’ll carry you.”

“I don’t know...”

“Would you rather deal with the hunters and their guns?” he asked.

“Okay, fine. Whatever.”

He wasn’t sure if he should throw her over his shoulder or carry her in his arms. He’d never transported a human female through the forest before.

She reached for him and he picked her up. When she wrapped her legs around his waist, it took him by surprise. His cock twitched on instinct, but he refused to acknowledge it. He had to hoist her higher with a hand under her ass. She was thick in all the right places—just like a female bear.

He’d find one of his nearby caves and bunker down until morning. Once the hunters were gone, he’d help her back to the mainland parking lot where her little blue car was parked. Hopefully that would be the end of this unwanted adventure.

Wilder enjoyed his privacy and the silence of the forest. The only pleasures he allowed himself were honey and strong coffee. He didn’t need this little blonde in his life. And whether he believed it or not, neither did his bear.