Outfoxed

By Chrysta Mane

Tamara Dubray loved her job, did it better than anyone else, with many a criminal behind bars thanks to her computer savvy skills to prove it. Apparently, one she'd helped put in prison took exceptiion to her skills and hired someone with a high-powered rifle to end her life as payback. Maybe now might be a good time to consider a career change, she mulled over while shifting into her snow fox to try and outrun the maniac shooting at her. Almost at the top of the ridge, she dropped down from the treetops, shifted into human form, and kept running. The escape probed shortlived as moments later she slammed into a huge polar bear standing atop the ridge. Bears were common to the region. Big black bears, not a humongous polar bear. There were a lot of things common to the region that didn't exist almost anywhere else. But a huge ball of white fur that turned into a handsome, sexy, naked guy with the dreamiest pair of baby blues? Not all that likely. Tamara began to wonder if it was a dream, one she wouldn't wake up from. Myabe the stalker had already killed her and this was some weird afterlife experience. But, damn, if those baby blues didn''t seem real and swoonworthy and ignite tingles in places she'd rather weren't touched.

 

Putting thousands of miles between him and what little family was alive seemed a good idea to shortcircuit the escalating threats from the cyber-hacker that latched onto Micah Emerson and his few worldly goods. He didn't care about the threats to his life, but when they started to include his grandfather, his alpha tendencies took over. Clearly, he'd underestimated the hacker's abilities. Logic said wherever he went, the hacker would follow. Packing the few things that meant the most, Micah left Alaska with no definite destination in mind other than to get far away and quick, hoping the cyberhacker's attention stayed on him and not his grtandfather. Upon reaching the forests of Western Maryland, he decided it was as good a place as any to stop. Standing atop the ridge, admiring the scenery, he was stunned speechless when a sexy, naked woman ran smack into him. If only she hadn't affected his inner polar bear, now roaring "mate" over and over in his head.

 

At any other time, he might welcome a mate. With a cyberhacker after him, determined to take every dollar he earned and threatening his grandfathers' life if he didn't pay up, this wasn't exactly a prime time to discover his forevermate. Getting his polar bear onboard with that idea? Not likely given the sounds it was making. When the woman explained she was fleeing someone trying to shoot her, every alpha protective urge within Micah surged to the surface. No one would harm a hair on her head while he was around. Now he had to find a way to convince her to let him help. though from the way she talked and acted, it was going to be a tall order. But Micah believed in Fate. All that had happened did so for a reason, right?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Chrysta Mane
• Release date: Dec 17, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393516729

Book preview

Chapter 1

Somewhere in Western Maryland

Perched on the outcrop of the ridge, Micah Emerson peered at the twinkling lights in the distance. Damn, civilization. Years of purposely avoiding what history called civilized society, now he’d been forced to join what he regarded as nothing more than a ploy to make people conform. People like Micah were not the conforming type and for good reason.

If not for some disembodied and unidentified voice on the other end of the phone issuing a stream of threats, he’d still be in the remote cabin, blissfully unaware there were people in the world who made it their mission to purposely hurt others merely to satisfy their own greed.

No matter what others said there definitely something to be said to living a life of anonymity. Advancements in technology sure made it easy and lucrative, especially if one knew how to successfully work it.

How, in the hell, had the creep gotten his cellphone number in the first place? When setting up his in-home system many years ago, he’d taken great pains to ensure its safety. He used a sophisticated and highly encrypted VPN routed through a series of space satellites, the signal bouncing from through many receivers until finally reaching the small dish atop his roof.  When it hit his modem, a sophisticated program written by him then scrambled and masked and encrypted the signal even more. Despite all of these impenetrable precautions, someone still managed to gain entry, steal his cellphone number and hack into his bank account.

To his dismay, the only alert anything had happened was when the threatening calls started. A quick check of his bank account confirmed his initial suspicion. The six-figure number deposited over the last year had been depleted to a mere few thousand, though his expenses were minimal. He’d been hacked and robbed.

What a great software engineer he turned out to be.

Before he knew it, the calls were coming almost daily. Somehow this unknown person knew he expected a large payment on his current work contract and they demanded he wire transfer it to an offshore bank account. He flatly refused, but that failed to take away the sting of knowing there was a major flaw in his precautions.

Some great computer genius I turned out to be. Some cocky schmuck somewhere in cyberspace managed to outsmart all I’d put in place.

The realization his precautions had been easily circumvented served as a severe blow to his ego, but he took it in stride and worked to identify the holes and fix them. However, the cyber scum had other plans in mind. Seems it wasn’t enough to threaten and steal from Micah, he also threatened Micah’s grandfather with ruin if he didn’t pressure Micah into cooperating.

It was one thing to threaten him with financial ruin, but do so to an old man who never hurt a single soul in his whole life? Nothing made an alpha polar bear shifter angrier. No one issued threats to his beloved grandfather and tribal elder. They could bleed him dry for the rest of his life for all he cared, but they were going to steer clear of the one person willing to sacrifice their life and freedom to raise a rebellious and angry grandson.

However, gaining significant information on the cyber scum running the scam proved harder to come by than anticipated. In order to minimize the threat to his grandfather, he came to the realization he needed to put lots of distance between him and the old man. With luck the hacker’s attention would stay on him and his movement, thereby stopping the threats his grandfather received. He wasted no time shutting down his system, packing up his few things, and literally did a vanishing act from the remote cabin.

Dammit, some smart guy I turned out to be, he grumbled low, his harsh voice wafting through the still air atop the ridge. Leaving myself wide open for some wily cyber thief to waltz in and practically empty my bank account. The scum must be a world-class hacker. How else could he find out I was expecting another big payment to hit my account? He can bleed me dry forever but hurt my grandfather in any way and he’ll rue the day he ever stole the contact information. That old man has never done anything to anyone. Hell, he put up with me and my deep-seated upset over my parents’ death and never once said a bad word or kicked me out, which he’d have had every right to do. If he doesn’t back off and leave Grandpa alone, I’ll find out where he’s hidden and let my bear loose to mete out some suitable retribution. I miss home, miss the cold, the ice, the solitude, but most of all I miss Grandpa and his wisdom.

His inner bear roared loudly inside his head in total agreement, though Micah didn’t doubt the creature probably missed hunting and chowing down on seals more. The only seals here were to be found in zoo exhibits, and he was pretty sure folk wouldn’t take kindly to his foraging there for game.

His bear roared again, and it sounded low and mournful.

I know how you feel, buddy, but no seals until I find out who is behind the calls and where they’re hiding and then take care of them in my own unique way. Can’t let Yutu and the others keep getting threatened with calls intimating they’ll be arrested if they don’t do as they’re told. I know it’s nothing more than a scam, but Grandfather doesn’t understand. This kind of thing is way out of his frame of reference. No seal hunting for you until I can put a stop to all threats and put better protections in place. I never want something such as this to ever happen again.

The bear roared again and then plopped down flat on its broad white belly, rear legs splayed out behind, front paws near its smashed down snout. A truly pitiful sight if there ever was one. Micah felt a stab of sympathy. He didn’t like it either. Nothing was like home.  But they were stuck here until the harassment and threats could be permanently stopped.

Polar bears were solitary by nature and Micah truly preferred it that way. Ever since a little cub, he shied away from groups, even relatively small ones. His grandfather assured him it was merely instinct rearing its head, but to him it was a major failing. No one exhibited the same desire to live alone in the harsh Alaskan tundra as he did, though it ensured he got labelled the tribal misfit and was constantly teased. Not finding a mate while everyone else got mated and bonded only added to the ribbing.

I want a mate. I really do, but the timing isn’t right. With all these threats and breakdown in my system, mate hunting doesn’t fit in. Besides, I need someone who loves being as alone as I do. Somehow I suspect there aren’t too many females who’d give up lots of stuff to live in a desolate cabin in the coldest part of Alaska.

He pushed aside the painful subject and focused on the reason he’d come here. It certainly wasn’t because Keyser Ridge was a hotspot in the tourist trade. Far from it, he’d never heard of the place until a college friend talked it up. Apparently, they’d grown up here, thought it a terrific place for shifters to live.

Micah wasn’t quite as sure, his innate mistrust of people fully intact. But a person did need to live and work somewhere, and with his moving far away to protect those he cared about, this place seemed as good as any while he figured a way to locate the cyber scum. He wasn’t quite as certain how humans and shifters managed to live amicably side-by-side, but he’d give it a try. The idea of his having trekked thousands of miles from the Alaskan tundra to temporarily live in the season changing mountains of Western Maryland continued to boggle his mind.

Dealing with people would be tough enough, but how could he have forgotten the cacophony of noise made by humans and their many vehicles? Talk about a massive assault on one’s ears. He couldn’t help wondering how long before he gave up and went back home even if the problem wasn’t resolved. Living this close to humans came with a great risk. If it didn’t trigger a panic attack, he felt certain he’d live under a perpetual moody, surly cloud. Polar bears, even shifter ones, preferred their solitude. He didn’t have anything against people. He just preferred dealing with them in small groups and in short doses.

Besides, taking up residence in Keyser Ridge didn’t come with a full complement of assurances. Full humans weren’t exactly in short supply, which made the big shifter more than a little wary. He’d also discovered some of the disturbing details of the region’s past, not a very comforting thought for a shifter who already disliked living around others. What if some of those humans still weren’t amenable to a shifter being their neighbor?

From what he’d learned, the situation got so tense trouble erupted and some local shifters wound up dead. Others moved away, vowing never to return. Yes, that was a long time ago, but memory wasn’t always short. A few might remember the past and still not be comfortable with people who turned into other creatures residing among them. The possibility of trouble, real or imagined, made him tense up. A tingling sensation erupted inside as a tightness formed in his throat. Shortness of breath was surely next, meaning he needed to head it off and quick. Focusing on a single spot, he concentrated on his breathing while trying to envision a calm place, such as a lake, a gentle ripple of creek water, an unending ice floe, anything relaxing to take his mind off what was triggering the panic.

Shit! A grown man shouldn’t have to resort to this kind of crap. It was undignified, and he flatly refused to take pills. Putting too many chemicals into one’s body caused all kinds of things to go wrong and possibly worsened things rather than make them better.

What did the local have to fear from him? Okay, he turned into a big ass polar bear sometimes, but it didn’t mean he went all native and animalistic. Did they really think he’d maul and eat them? YUCK! His bear liked to chow down on seals, but it would be satisfied with beluga whale or fish, even some garbage in a pinch. But eat a human? Hell, no.

Wow, how do they come up with this stuff? Must be from watching too many horror movies or poorly made documentaries. Only a rogue bear or one that’s out of its mind and near starvation would think to eat a human. Way too bony, he mumbled under his breath.

Everything here was so different from home. It had seasons, four of them to be precise, though from what he’d been able to learn, two of the seasons were fast becoming nonexistent. Seems spring was reduced to about two weeks before the heat and humidity of summer set in. The same was true for autumn into winter. Humans were not proving to be stalwart stewards of the planet, their greed and energy consumption responsible for a ripple effect in climate which might prove disastrous sooner rather than later.

Micah loved winter. After finding a way to reverse the mess inadvertently allowed to engulf him, he harbored a tiny hope of finding a mate and starting a family. Anything was possible, even for a man who preferred to live almost like a hermit, right? At least that’s what his grandfather always said. Though he doubted Grandfather meant that extended to a winter loving polar bear getting used to the heat and humidity of summer in this lower climate zone.

Yet, here he was and preparing to settle down where the vagaries of Mother Nature were so volatile. Could he survive without the freezing cold without going stark raving mad? More importantly, could his bear?

Shit, Dad, if you’d been alive to hear what I allowed to happen, it would have made you majorly disappointed in your only child. I’m pretty sure it won’t take fur-face long to get snarly living this far south, especially with a total lack of cold, ice, snow and seals to munch on. Bloody heat and humidity for three months or more ought to wreck any chance of solace. But it’s my own fault. I thought my stuff was invincible. What a way to prove I’d become too arrogant about my own abilities.

He shook his head and crouched down, wary of being seen. After coming this far undetected, the idea of suddenly being caught didn’t set well.

What happened to Fate? Wasn’t he good enough to have what others did? It sure proved a meddlesome nonentity in lots of other lives, why not his? If he was being honest, he had to own up to the fact when the day’s lesson was the topic of Fate, he’d zoned out. He never believed in the ethereal entity and no amount of talk by his favorite grandfather changed his mind on the subject.

Growing into adulthood, he hadn’t changed his mind so much as wanting a face-to-face with the globe-trotting thing. He had more than a few words he wanted to get off his chest. First of all, every one of his friends found a mate and had started families. Why not him? He wasn’t such a bad sort of fellow. Okay, so he was a bit shy around others, but he wasn’t the only one to be afflicted with that malady, at least not that he knew of. He wasn’t bad looking. As shifters go, he was kind of average...six foot three in height and tipping the scales at a light two hundred and seventy. Heck, he knew a few polar bear shifters well over three hundred pounds and six and half feet tall and single females practically swooned over them.

But get one of those silly females to look his way? Nope. He could be gasping his last breath and they’d walk right around him. Pale platinum blonde hair, dull blue eyes, and brains failed to compete against big and brawny.

Maybe it was the fact he didn’t want a conventional mating. He preferred to eschew the human ritual of living together while raising cubs to the more solitary existence of his bear side. Mate with a female during spring then go back to his almost hermit life. Of course, all of this is predicated on his mate also being a polar bear shifter, though he saw no reason to think otherwise. 

With the move from the frozen north to drop off the radar, the chances of meeting a female polar bear shifter dropped astronomically. A setup for another disaster except this time he’d done it on purpose.

Upon arriving in the Keyser Ridge region, he found a room for rent far enough away from town to not be dragged into engaging with the locals on a daily basis. His funds weren’t limitless, but if he economized, he’d be okay for a while. Still, he needed to find a steady paying job. A regular income was a stress reliever and staved off having to resort to the uncommon at some point in time.

After perusing a local newspaper and a more technical online jobsite, he’d found a few openings which seemed suited to his skillset and lined up interviews. He also did a quick rework of his resume and had it printed from a flash drive at a local office supply store which offered print services as well. An interview was scheduled for first thing tomorrow morning.

With a disgusted grunt, he climbed down from the ridge’s main vantage point and meandered back to his rented room. Nothing fancy, just a room with a full-size bed, a six-drawer dresser, nightstand, single window, and not far from the bathroom at the end of the hall. He didn’t need much more, having traveled light. A backpack large enough to hold several pairs of jeans, some serviceable shirts, changes of underwear and socks, a jacket useable in all seasons, a laptop, several flash drives, a collapsible antenna, and six of his favorite movies on DVD. He had a new burner cell phone, having left the now traceable one back in his remote cabin. All the necessary information to start searching for the electronic culprit was imprinted on a flash drive.

Aside from the number of bedrooms and variety of people staying in the boardinghouse, there was a common living room to watch television, read, or chat with others, and a dining room with a large table and over a dozen chairs, though so far only a handful were ever occupied at the same time.

The mountains of western Maryland bordered relatively flat farmland, but it was mainly American black bear country. A large, stocky white bear with a long neck, relatively small head, round ears, short tail, and overwhelming carnivorous appetite tended to stand out. Also missing were long, wide ice floes, no consistent frigid temperature, no abundance of bearded or ringed seals resting on said ice which made them easy prey for a large polar bear equally agile in the freezing water as on the frozen land.

There were also no squawking ptarmigan, puffin, Arctic terns. No Arctic or snowshoe hares zig-zagging across the frozen ground. No sniffing out a seal’s breathing hole. No enjoying the occasional kill of a beluga whale.

Absolutely nothing about this green and brown region reminded of home. The idea of maybe being stuck here for any length of time squeezed his heart.

When life throws you lemons, make something tasty out of it, Micah muttered disparagingly. Isn’t that what Granny said at the oddest moments? But lemon anything isn’t to my liking. I’m here in this godforsaken place and don’t know a living soul. Need a job with a steady paycheck to replenish what I take out of my savings. Guess I could always go camping, but it seems a safe bet the Park Service would take a dim view of my staying a long time. Squatting at a campground closed for the season can’t be legal. Don’t think the locals would take kindly to my furry white ass roaming around their woods, even if it does blend in when it snows, if it snows. From all the signs I passed outside, the forest here is under the watchful eye of armed forest rangers.

Sheesh, the list of things one can’t do was fast outpacing the list of stuff it was okay to do. How was a guy supposed to live under so many constraints? Tourist guide, seal hunter, or whale watcher were out of the question, though he was rather good at all three back home.

Pushing aside the worn curtain, he stared out the window. What was it about this place? He recalled his college friend practically raving about it. It didn’t look or smell any different from any number of towns he’d trekked through since leaving Alaska. Yet, those who grew up here had an undeniable love for the place. It was a mystery to him.

Chapter 2

Tamara Dubray shook her head. Why was her pulse so erratic? It was simply a tall, good-looking guy coming towards her. This was not like her at all. She was the cool, calm, in control one. Since most of her cases involved men, she had to be at the top of her game. Most men should know better. In fact, most of them did about practically everything else. Then they somehow got taken and lo and behold they weren’t as immortal as they thought and portrayed themselves to others.

Lord, save me from arrogant, macho men, she murmured low, unable to stop peeking through lowered lashes at the broad-chested, handsome guy being led straight to her desk.

Oh, no, no, no, not another one? She’d had her fill of this type. Please let that ditzy receptionist detour to someone else’s desk. There was still a mountain of paperwork to fill out and then file from her last closed case. She didn’t have time to talk to a new potential client.

The seemingly endless stream of forms and reports was the least glamorous part of the job, though she’d be the first one to concede a paper trail was a necessary evil. It certainly made her job a heck of a lot easier when the one she sought proved a sloppy bookkeeper.

Uh, Miss Dubray, I hate to disturb you, the young receptionist said, after hastily clearing her throat.

Then don’t do it, Tamara muttered under her breath, mildly unnerved by the sudden urge of sarcasm. Getting snippy with those at work wasn’t her forte, but given how her pulse went from normal into hyper-drive in almost nothing flat, suddenly feeling off-kilter seemed more than reasonable.

Damn, girl, stay calm, in control. You know she’s new and a bit of a scared rabbit.

Hastily saving the spreadsheet filling her computer monitor, Tamara looked up, intent on being polite but firm about no new clients. A pair of pleading pale baby blues stared back as she shifted her gaze from the receptionist to the huge one beside her. Her throat closed up in a flash, making it near to impossible to swallow never mind breathe.

Dammit, this was so not the time for any kind of weird reaction. For the past few months, it had been one nasty case after another. Now all she wanted was to finish the last of the paperwork and head for parts unknown. She’d asked for and been granted time off midway through the investigation and was really looking forward to a well-deserved break. No long hours trying to unravel another stupid mess by some macho yet dumb male. Why was a good-looking guy such an easy mark for a pretty face with a honey of a scam in mind? Why did his brain always give way to what his dick wanted? Wasn’t there one guy left in the world with smarts and actually used them? What was with the sex, sex, and more sex, and only sex?

Not a bother, Chelsea, what can I do for you? she finally said, though not looking directly at the receptionist. Drag her eyes away from those impossible baby blues? Not possible. They held her brown eyes fast.

All of a sudden there was nonstop clamor in her head. Foxy was leaping about and doing a steady stream of yow-wow-wow to the tune of Mate, Mate, Mate. Thanks to the incessant clatter, her head began to hurt. All she wanted was for it to shut up, but there was no way without looking and sounding like she’d come unglued in front of the flighty new receptionist. Oh, this was not good at all.

Uh, Miss Dubray, this gentleman needs some help, the obviously frightened girl spit out before she spun around and fled swiftly back to the reception area.

I, uh, don’t need help, ma’am. I need some direction, the man with the baby blues piped up, sounding a tad uncomfortable.

She didn’t blame him. Besides being new, Chelsea had somehow managed to evade the thorough training one was supposed to get to work reception. Tamara suspected she had an in somewhere in the hiring process which got her excused from doing what was expected of every other new hire.

Okay, Tamara replied.  If you tell me what you need, I’ll see if I can be of service.

Be of service? Oh yeah, considering what was rapidly coming to mind, she’d like nothing better than to service him. Holy cow, where did that come from? She never initiated in a relationship, at least not until they knew each other very well and both were on the same page. She’d just met the guy. Thinking of having sex was ludicrous as well as high risk. She’d been burned once too often by acting impulsively with a new guy. After the last time, she promised herself to do a thorough check on the guy before even vaguely entertaining the idea of climbing into bed with him.

The way her fox was reacting and how her senses were firing, she was sorely tempted to toss aside caution to be spontaneous once in her life. All well and good for her and maybe the guy, but she didn’t see her boss understanding about a bout of raunchy sex in the office. Not that he was old and stuffy because he wasn’t that much older than her. He rose quickly through the ranks, thanks to being liked by the bigwigs at corporate headquarters. On some things he was as old-fashioned, uptight, and stuffy as them. Something told her he might be induced into a threesome. The only problem with that scenario was she did not share well with others when it came to sex partners. She was a greedy Arctic fox, and the one in her