AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Yep, don’t blame you for that either, pup. Such a nice morning, interrupted.
“Chr-Zane!” Daphne called, and the alarm in her voice made him wheel. She seemed to be jogging toward him, but he couldn’t see more than her shoulder and hip behind a tree. That’s when he heard a low huff behind him and turned around as the bulky figure stepped from the shadows.
Chris looked up, way up, and realized this was absolutely not the cameraman. Even then, his brain didn’t fully process what he was seeing. Brown hair. Huge shoulders, thick with fat and muscle as the figure moved with rolling steps, massive arms hanging down.
Massive paws with massive curved claws.
Chris lifted his gaze past six feet, past seven feet, at least eight feet in the air to look into the broad face of a…
“Grizzly,” he whispered.
CHAPTER NINE
DAPHNE
She’d reacted too slowly. When it came to wildlife that could kill you, any reaction was always too slow.
Now the grizzly stood right in front of Chris, close enough that he could reach out and touch it, and he was frozen there, staring up at a thousand-pound brown bear.
For its part, the grizzly just stood there. Stood and considered, nostrils twitching as it processed the data its nearsighted eyes didn’t provide.
Daphne kept her gaze fixed on the grizzly’s face. Chris was too close to turn and run—and was making no move to do that, thankfully, because unless you were Usain Bolt, you were not outrunning a grizzly.
What mattered now was the bear’s reaction. So far, it had none.
Daphne was watching but also listening. Alert for signs of agitation. A curled lip, a huff, a licking of the lips, a popping of the jaw.
The grizzly just stood there, towering over Chris.
I don’t have my bear spray.
Her mouth opened to say exactly that, but she shut it fast. Do not tell Chris what she didn’t have.
Everything. I damn well lack everything. It was a walk around the property.
Tika didn’t even have her bell on. Daphne had removed it so it wouldn’t clang in the background while filming, and she hadn’t bothered putting it back on this morning.
Daphne wasn’t sure that would have mattered. They’d been talking. The bear should have heard them. It must have been focused on its scratching post and maybe on the sound of the crew’s truck.
As for the crew, thankfully, they must not have heard Chris and headed for the house.
“Don’t do anything.” That was what she said, when she finally found her voice.
Chris gave a shaky laugh. “Not planning to.”
“You’re okay. It isn’t showing any signs of aggression.”
“And if it does?”
She swallowed. What did she say to that?
You’re three feet from a grizzly, Chris. Unarmed. Even if you had a gun, you’re too close.
“The eyes,” she said. “Go for the eyes.”
Which was bullshit, but she had to say something.
She cleared her throat. “I’m going to come closer.”
