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“What? No. Take Tika and get somewhere safe.”
If she could have laughed at that, she would have. Very noble, but yeah, that wasn’t happening.
“I want it to see you aren’t alone,” she said. “It’s considering the situation, and it doesn’t feel threatened so far, which is good. It’s the wrong season for it to be hungry—plenty of food around and too early to be preparing for hibernation. We just need to politely show it that you aren’t alone, in case it gets any ideas.”
Chris didn’t answer. He kept looking up at the grizzly, but his stance was firm and solid, and that helped.
“Think tough,” she said. “Think Zane.”
Still no response. He was busy focusing instead of talking. Good. She tapped her leg, telling Tika to follow, though the dog was already glued to her side. Tika was growling steadily, which was good. Growling was a calm warning, meaning she didn’t see immediate danger, either.
As they moved forward, the bear’s nostrils widened. Daphne tensed, but the bear didn’t huff or lick its lips. It smelled Daphne and Tika getting closer and assimilated the data. Its gaze shifted, just enough to take them in as Daphne drew within a few feet of Chris. She stopped. The bear swung its attention back to Chris, and she tensed again.
“Step back,” she murmured. “Ease in our direction and give it room to leave.”
He started to move, and the bear began twisting away. Good. It just needed a clear exit route—
“Oh my God!” a voice squeaked.
Everything in Daphne clenched. The film crew. They must have been coming through the forest, not realizing what was happening, and now they were going to spook the bear into attack.
Except the bear did no such thing. It thumped down onto all fours and began walking in the other direction. Not exactly running off in terror, but ambling purposefully, like Daphne spotting a threatening figure in a dark parking lot.
Fleeing? No, I’m just making my way in this direction, which is where I was headed anyway.
She exhaled in relief and turned to Chris, who stood frozen in shock. Then, seeing her, he put out his arms, and she didn’t think twice. She fell into them, exhaling as she whispered, “You did great.”
He gave another shaky laugh and patted her back. “No, that was all you.”
“Oh my God!” Sofia said again, closer now, and Daphne jumped out of Chris’s arms.
Sofia gaped at him. “Did you just stare down a grizzly bear?”
“What? No—”
Daphne shot him a quick look and mouthed Take it.
Chris still hesitated, but when she firmed that look, he gathered his Zane cloak around him and straightened.
“Are you all right?” he said to the crew. “That must have been quite a shock for you.”
Daphne bit the inside of her cheek, but Sofia only gazed up at him, doe-eyed.
“You saved our lives,” she said. “All of us. You stared down a grizzly.”
A hearty laugh with just enough false self-deprecation. “Oh, I wouldn’t say—”
“You did. We saw it. You were between Dana and the bear, and you scared it off by just staring at it.”
Chris hesitated, and Daphne realized how it must have looked from Sofia’s angle, coming up behind them. Daphne nodded for Chris to take the credit.
“We frightened the poor creature,” he said. “It was curious, and it only needed to be told—with a firm and unflinching look—that we were not easy targets, should it be a bit peckish. It is breakfast time after all.” He laughed at his own joke. “And on that note, what do we all say to breakfast? I, for one, am starving. Early-morning bear encounters will do that.”
“You feel like you could eat a bear?” the female camera operator said with a smile.
“Exactly. But I would settle for coffee and Dana’s fresh-baked muffins.”
CHRIS
