Montana Wild Bears: Books 1-4 Bundle (BBW Paranormal Werebear Shape Shifter Romance Boxed Set) by Anya Nowlan Read Free Book Online

taken over the morning coffee duty and even cooked breakfast most of the time, learning that Jackson’s appetite was about three times that of a normal man. They spent most of their days on the reserve, putting up cameras and checking or setting up Jackson’s traps (there was a coyote infestation on a few of the mountains and Jackson had vowed to get rid of it), and most nights in the lodge, going over the videos and chatting until it was far too late.
     
    She had learned a lot about him, even though it was hard to focus on his words when her whole body quaked with need for him. He had told her that he had built the lodge with his own two hands and Tess had a sneaking suspicion that there were a few others in the area with the Arder name on it, but he wouldn’t confirm or deny her guesses. As little as he talked about his brothers, she was sure they were still a big part of his life. When they had come across a large herd of Bighorn sheep on one of their outings, he had told her that he had always felt that the reserve deserved to be treated with the utmost care. The animals needed protection from the greed of men, and he had made it his life’s calling to keep the wild lands safe from harm as much as he could. Of course, there were limits to what a ranger could do, but that just meant he had to get more inventive.
     
    Tess hadn’t dared to ask what he considered as inventive ways to serve and protect, but by the way he carried himself, she had no doubt that he could remain a lot more levelheaded in the face of danger than she could. Unless that danger was Ryder, of course. Nevertheless, she felt warm and fuzzy in the presence of his protective streak.
     
    It had taken her days of well-timed begging and pleading to get Jackson to agree to go on a longer hike into the lands. She was dying to see Yellowhead and she was certain that the area could yield interesting results come spring. The bears congregated there after waking from hibernation to fish and settle their forgotten land disputes, and she wanted to catch it all on tape. Her plan was to take a few cameras and set them up for a few months until she could return to retrieve them. While her first priority was getting the foundation some solid data about why there seemed to be a boom of new grizzlies in the areas, she was also interested in long-term information and a peek into the bears’ lives. Tess hadn’t foreseen that getting Jackson to budge to her request would be quite as difficult, but after a few days she got the sneaking suspicion that the man was taunting her as much as he was actually opposed to leaving the lodge and grounds unattended for so long.
     
    Tess had caught him a few times having heated conversations with men and women clearly from the areas, just as tall and broad and impressive as he was. They came to him in the evenings and Jackson always made sure to be out of hearing range, but by their animated body language and the deep frowns most of them wore, she had to assume it was something more worrisome than a fallen tree or problematic electricity. Still, she figured it best not to pry, and he seemed to appreciate the gesture. When he had finally agreed to go, under the strict understanding that she was going to have to haul ass and they were going to have to pack light, she had almost jumped for joy.
     
    Tess had turned into a flurry of packing and preparing and by the first light of dawn the next morning, they had set off towards their goal of reaching the coveted river source. They began from one of the crooked bends of the river and trekked upward, driving as deep as they could before abandoning the car. Jackson knew just about every inch of the area like the back of his hand and he picked the course as if he himself were a compass, pointing in the right direction. Tess couldn’t help but be in awe of the man. She kept nagging on herself for being a giant sap, but he was, for lack of a better word, dreamy – everything a rugged