of it. Missy had barely made it into the shade of the trees when she was suddenly grabbed by strong arms from behind, clutching her purse and trying to tear it from her shoulder. She had resisted instinctively and a fraction of a second later, she had found herself standing perfectly still, the sharp edge of a hunting knife pressed to her throat.
“Give me the purse, bitch,” a ragged voice spat at her, Missy dropping it quickly. It wasn’t worth losing her life over.
The next thing she knew, she spotted the unmistakable form of her visitor from the bar up the road, running towards her and her assailant at breakneck speeds. For a long time, she thought that she must have been hysterical from the attack, because she could have sworn that the man had turned into a big grizzly bear right in front of her eyes, just feet before reaching them. The monstrous beast, larger than any bear she had ever heard of, roared angrily and slashed at Missy’s tormentor, the man dropping his knife and running off into the woods with a desperate cry on his lips. The falling knife left a small cut on her neck, a scar still marking the spot.
Missy brought her hand to her neck, feeling the tell-tale bump under her fingertips and sweat dripping down her skin as she continued her hike. The memory of that night still haunted her. She had taken her bag and ran for dear life after that, staying with a friend for a few days. The news hadn’t reported a bear attack and everyone she talked to about it said she must have been seeing things. Grizzlies never ventured that near to human habitats in those areas and one certainly wouldn’t have come to her rescue when she was pestered by a petty criminal. Missy had almost managed to convince herself of that, until she went back to work and found a postcard waiting for her.
“I’m sorry if I scared you. I hope you are alright. Caleb” it read, the picture of the mountain she was currently making her way towards printed on the other side of it. Missy had kept that little postcard in her pocket for the next few months, looking at it several times a day and trying to sort out her feelings about the whole thing. She had grown more and more sure that the man had turned into a bear when protecting her from the thief and thought had first scared her half to death, it had since then filled her with a surprising warmth. Little was known about shifters and they were rarely discussed, but she was certain that the man had to be one. Missy had felt a connection with him the first time she had seen him and a sensation of deep longing had taken root in her heart.
Day after day, she had hoped for the man to walk into the bar again so she could thank him and finally muster the courage to ask him out. But he hadn’t come and the tinge of pain in her soul had become more painful by the minute, until she could take it no longer. She handed in a request for a long vacation, claned her things on the spur of a moment and taken her beaten up pick-up truck to Colorado. Missy had to find that man. Caleb had touched something within her with his kindness and the unspoken bond between them seemed to grow ever stronger. She didn’t know why, but for some reason she was certain she could find him and that he had to be in the Colorado mountainside, waiting for her.
Lord, that sounds ridiculous, she told herself for the umpteenth time when reviewing her recent decisions. And what am I going to tell him if I do find him? ‘Thanks for saving me, I trekked into the mountains for six days in hopes of finding you and asking you out for a coffee’? Get a grip, Missy! Despite her displeasure with herself, her feet kept walking on, determined to see this out to the bitter end. Missy had just scrambled over a few fallen logs, the sun starting to dip lower in the sky and threatening to put an end to her walking for the day, when she was rooted in place by a sight before her.
She was standing on a high hill,