Zena Wynn - Mary and the Bear

He packed a hell of a punch. Charles's last clear memory was of standing over Mary Elizabeth informing her of their wedding. Which reminded him, he still had a bride to collect. He'd play along for now. Leave as they instructed, but double back. Nothing and no one was going to keep him from the woman he loved.

Later at the front desk, when the sheriff handed him his keys, he gave a friendly warning. “We found your van and parked it in the side parking lot. If I were you, I'd take it to a mechanic and get it checked out. It seemed to pull a little to the right while I was driving it. Oh, and be careful of the wildlife, especially on the roads at night. They tend to come out of nowhere with all of the woods around here. With the curves in the road, sometimes you're on one before you realize it. Drive carefully. We wouldn't want you to have to return for any reason. Stay within the posted speed limits and you should be okay. Deputy Harris here will make sure you make it to the county line in one piece.” Deputy Harris tipped his hat to Charles, and then went out to his cruiser to wait.

Charles gave the sheriff a look of scorn as he took his belongings. Checking to make sure everything was there, he noticed his gun was missing. “Where is my gun?"

"Deputy Harris has it. He'll return it to you once you reach the county line."

Knowing there was nothing he could do about it at the moment, Charles took his things and left. They hadn't heard the last from him. As soon as he had Mary Elizabeth safely home, he'd slap a lawsuit on this town so large he'd own it. Smiling at the thought, he walked out and got in the van.

As instructed, he checked it out carefully. Everything appeared to be just as he left it. Starting the van, he strapped on his seatbelt. He wouldn't put it past them to give him a ticket for not wearing one. He turned onto the main road leading out of town. As promised, Deputy Harris was right behind him.

Once he cleared the main part of town, he picked up speed as the posted speed limit increased. The mountainous road was dark and curvy, downhill all the way. Several times he tapped his breaks to slow his speed, as the grade of the road caused his vehicle to roll faster and faster.

Steering became harder and harder as the power steering seemed to fail. He was using more and more muscle to steer into and out of the sharp curves. His brakes felt funny, too. They'd been fine at first, but the longer he drove, the mushier the pedal felt and it was taking the van longer and longer to slow in response to his foot on the brake pedal.

The suspicion that someone tampered with his brakes had just crossed his mind when something large and furry darted out into the road in front of him. Thinking it was a deer, he instinctively jerked hard on the wheel to avoid hitting it. The last thought to cross his mind right before the world went topsy-turvy was, ‘that was the biggest damn wolf I've ever seen.'

Because he'd been heading into a sharp curve at the time, his action caused the van to overbalance and flip. His seatbelt popped lose as the van flipped several times before slamming into the trunk of a huge oak tree. The impact of the crash caused the van to crumple like an accordion.

Deputy Harris, who was several feet behind him when the accident occurred, slowed the police cruiser before coming to a stop beside the wolf sitting on his haunches in the middle of the road. As he opened the door and got out, the wolf shape-shifted to reveal Deputy Wilson standing there in all his naked glory. He casually walked over to the cruiser to collect his clothes from the passenger side of the car while Deputy Harris went to check on the accident victim.

After looking things over carefully, he radioed back to headquarters. “Boss, you'd better send the coroner. Mr. Remington done had himself an accident. Seems he was driving too fast down the mountain and swerved to avoid the local wildlife. Saw the whole thing with my own eyes."

"Some people just don't listen. I warned him to be careful, drive slow and watch out for the wildlife. Oh well, I'll wait until morning to inform the next of kin. No sense waking up any more people than we have to at this hour of the night.” Rome signed off the radio with a smile of satisfaction on his face. Yes, siree, some folks just don't listen .

Hugh told Mary Elizabeth about Charles's death late the next morning, when she finally awakened. She thought it highly suspicious but inside was deeply relieved that the threat of Charles was effectively removed from her life. It was poetic justice, Charles dying in a manner similar to the method he used to take Babs’ life. She decided to wait before calling her parents to give them the bad news. She was cowardly hoping that someone else would tell them first.

Somewhere in between all the loving, she and Hugh had talked, working out all the kinks in their relationship and making plans for their future together. They'd held nothing back, each of them secure in the strength of their bond and growing love for one another.

It was going to take some time before she adjusted to being loved by Hugh. Hugh said he was okay with that. To him it just meant that she'd never take his love for her for granted. He also said he'd be thanking the Creator every day of his life for blessing him by giving him Mary Elizabeth for a mate. And, she thought to herself, she really couldn't ask for more than that. Life, after all this time, was finally good.

Nikolai Taranosky stood at the edge of the ridge overlooking the river, his dark hair blowing in the wind, the light of a half-moon shining down around him. In a few more days, the moon would be full, and then it would be time to claim his mate. He'd been unable to get close to her since the night of their initial blood exchange. Soon, he wouldn't have to sneak into her dwelling at night. She would come to him. He had a few more days to prepare. Then nothing, and no one would stand in his way.