She tried to plead with him. She tried to scream, but her voice was restricted behind the cloth. They came into the light of the campground. Rosa saw a campfire and a dilapidated mobile home.
The other men sitting around the campfire stood and looked at her and her assailant quizzically.
“Where did you find that?” one of the men asked. He was holding a pistol and had a thin black mustache.
“Found her in the woods coming this direction.”
“We should move,” one of the men said.
“We have a buyer coming right now.”
“We leave at first light,” the one with the mustache said.
Rosa was beginning to believe that the one with the mustache was the leader. She didn’t have very much time to think about it because the man holding her was dragging her towards the mobile home.
A second man, one lower on the totem pole, unlocked the mobile home door and waited for Rosa’s assailant to shove her inside. She tripped over the raised entrance and fell on her knees on a piece of exposed particleboard on the floor.
There was nothing but a dim light from an electric camping lamp in the middle of the floor. The girls were all huddled together on a handful of blankets and sleeping bags. As she pushed herself up to her knees, she saw her sister Maria huddled in the corner. Her face was down between her knees and she slowly looked up to make eye contact with the newcomer.
Maria and Rosa looked at each other and both jumped to their feet, closing the distance between them in a split second. They were in each other’s arms crying and hugging each other instantly.
“Are you all right?” Rosa asked Maria, cupping her chin in her hands.
“I’m okay. Are you okay?” Marie asked with a shaky voice. “How did you get here?”
“I’ve been following you the whole time. The police in Los Angeles wouldn’t listen to me. But I knew that you hadn’t run away. I followed the trail of the kidnappers up the coast and then I followed my gut feelings to Fate Mountain. I was working with the Fate Mountain Police. I even mated with a shifter cop. He was the first person to believe me.”
“You mated with a shifter?” Maria asked, astonished.
“Yes but that’s not what matters now.”
Maria shook her head, confusion on her face. “Of course it matters. My sister tells me that she’s been following me all the way up the coast and then gets kidnapped herself, just to tell me that she is mated to a shifter. What’s going on here? Did you mate with that guy just to get help finding me? Because it doesn’t look like it’s worked very well,” Maria said
“Maria! How can you say that? I love him. I feel it in my soul. I wasn’t supposed to come out here to find you. I was supposed to stay back in the patrol car. But my walkie-talkie stopped working and I couldn’t just sit there. I had to come find you. I followed my gut and I did find you.”
“But now you’re in trouble,” Maria said.
“All that matters is that I found you. And I know that my mate will find me soon. We’re connected and he’ll know I’m gone. He will know.”
“I’m glad that you have that kind of confidence in a man you just met,” Maria said.
“I have to believe he’s coming. Otherwise I’ve failed you. I’ve failed us both.”
The door swung open and three men walked into the mobile home. All of the girls, almost a dozen in total, scurried back to the far wall where their blankets were. Everyone huddled together as the men walked toward them. Rosa’s heart jumped into her throat.
“Which one of them looks good to you?” The leader asked a man she hadn’t seen before.
“We just found this one,” her assailant said, pointing at Rosa.
“That one’s a little old for me,” the new guy said. “I do like the little one that she’s holding onto though.”
Rosa’s assailant grabbed for Maria.
“No!” Rosa screamed.
“I think that one’s her girlfriend,” the leader said with a laugh.
“That will make it so much more fun when I break her.”
“You can’t take her. She’s my sister.”
“Sister, girlfriend, I don’t care. I like the little one,” the buyer said.
The man who had captured Rosa grabbed Maria’s arm and dragged her screaming out of the mobile home. Rosa tried to beat at the men as they made their way out of the mobile home, but the leader of the gang slapped her in the face, sending her down to the floor in a heap of tears.
They shut the door behind them and Rosa sat with her hair tangled around her face, weeping uncontrollably. She sucked in gasps of breath, before standing up to pound on the door with her fists. She screamed and slammed her fists into the door until her hands throbbed. A moment later, a man came in and pushed her backwards.
“Shut the hell up or you’ll be handcuffed and gagged.”
The rest of the girls pulled her back towards the sleeping bags and blankets. They cooed and comforted her, advising her to be calm and quiet.
“It’s no use,” one of the girls said.
“There’s nothing you can do,” another girl said.
“Are the cops really coming?” asked a third.
“They’ve taken Maria again!” Rosa wailed.
“You have to stay calm,” said the first girl.
“I know my mate is coming,” Rosa whimpered. “He has to.”
Rosa sat with the other girls, huddled in the corner, crying intermittently. She stayed like that for quite some time until she heard roaring and screaming and gunshots outside. The windows were boarded up so the girls couldn’t see outside, but Rosa knew exactly what was happening.
Heath was here to save her. She could hear the roaring of the grizzly bear outside and the corresponding gunshots. Her heart was in her throat, panic taking over completely. She couldn’t get out. She couldn’t save him or help him. Fear radiated through each nerve endings as she imagined losing everyone she loved. The growling and gunfire stopped and the only sound was the girls around her crying and gasping in disbelief.
“What’s happening out there,” one of the girls whimpered.
“Maybe it’s the new girl’s boyfriend,” another girl said.
“Whatever it was, I bet somebody’s dead.”
“That was a lot of gun fire.”
“No one could survive that.”
9
Heath brought his walkie-talkie to his lips. “Heath to Rosa. How are you doing Rosa?” he asked.
All that came back was silence.
“Rosa? Come in Rosa.”
He looked over at Rollo in the darkness. Rollo shrugged as they marched through the thick underbrush.
“She isn’t answering,” he said.
“I checked her walkie-talkie before I left. It was working perfectly fine,” Rollo said.
“Something’s wrong,” he said.
“Do you want to go back and check on her?” Rollo asked.
“I'm going to have to,” he said. “I'm not going to leave her without any communication or protection.”
“Go fix her walkie-talkie and get back here.”
“Yes sir,” Heath said, turning on his heel to head back toward the road.
The crew had hiked at least four miles into the forest and still hadn't come upon any clues as to where the kidnappers were hiding. Both Damien and Corey Bright, the inventor of the software they were using, insisted that they only needed to keep going a little bit further.
Both had run the software program and agreed that this was the location where the kidnappers were most likely staked out. Their rationale was that there was easy access through another road that would get them into the secluded area. But Heath wasn't so sure. They hadn't seen or heard anything.
He hurried back through the darkness, picking up his pace with each foot fall on the forest floor. After a while, he was running, barreling through the woods like only a shifter could. He used all of the strength in his body to propel himself over the miles of rough terrain as q
uickly as he could.
When he finally came to the road, he stopped in his tracks and stared through the dark windows of the patrol car. There was nothing inside, no movement, no sign of life whatsoever. He hurried forward and grasped the handle on the passenger door where Rosa had been sitting. He swung it open, staring inside. She wasn't there.
Sharp fear cut through him and he smelled her scent. If he focused hard enough on the lingering smell of her body, he could follow it until he found her.
He slammed the door closed and tripped over her walkie-talkie. He bent down and picked it up. Shining his flashlight on the device, he realized the settings were all wrong. No wonder he couldn’t get her. She must have messed up the settings and had gotten on the wrong channel.
Heath took a deep breath, trying to strengthen his shifter senses so that he could follow her trail. Her scent wafted through the air and created a kind of sensory trajectory that he could follow. Using both his connection to his mate and his ability to smell her scent on the air, he hurried in the direction she had gone. He brought his walkie-talkie to his mouth.
“Cadet Bear to Commander Bear. Rosa is no longer in the car. Following her scent.”
“Commander Bear to Cadet Bear, continue location updates. Don't try to be a hero.”
“Don't try to be a hero?” he said into the walkie-talkie.
There was no further communication from Rollo.
For a shifter to not want to be a hero went against everything inside him. Shifters stood for love, life, and family, and there was nothing that could ever change it. He wanted to tear off his human skin and run through the forest in his bear form, but he knew that he needed to carry his walkie-talkie to send messages back to the rest of the crew.
He picked up his pace, quickening into a jog. Sweat streamed down his back and into the armpits of his uniform. He didn't stop as the cool air chilled his body and made a shiver go up his spine. He would find his mate. He would save her and her sister. The sick bastards who took young girls for whatever purposes they had in mind were not going to get away with it. Heath Reynolds was going to put an end to it here and now. These men would never take another girl again. They would regret the day they messed with his mate and her sister.
He continued running, each stride faster than the last. By the time he made it to the steep incline that would take him up a rocky hillside, his breath was raspy. He'd run at least ten miles at this point. But he wasn't going to rest. It wasn't time for rest now. Now was the time to pull out whatever strength he had inside him and use it for the greater good.
Finding his mate and bringing her home.
He charged up the hill, Rosa’s scent growing stronger at the top. Off in the distance, he saw the faint flicker of a campfire. From his viewpoint it appeared to be at least a mile or two away. He knew he had found them.
He brought the walkie-talkie to his lips and spoke softly into the mouthpiece. “Cadet Bear to Commander Bear,” he said. “I have the location of the kidnappers.”
He stated his coordinates over the walkie-talkie, and Rollo confirmed that he had received the information.
“We're on our way,” Rollo said. “Good job Cadet Bear.”
Heath felt a rush of pride swell in his heart at his Alpha’s words. Rollo was an excellent leader and a good man. Heath wanted to show him that he was a valuable member of the team. Being the new guy meant that the rest of the crew didn't know him as well as they knew each other. They had all been welcoming, but Heath sometimes still felt a little like the odd man out. Having Rollo commend him made him feel more a part of the team than ever.
Heath hurried down the hill, the smell of Rosa’s scent growing stronger. He was confronted by the sharp scent of her despair as he made it to the bottom of the hill. They must've found her.
Rage exploded up from his gut and he ripped out of his human form. His grizzly tore up from deep within him. By the time he came to his senses again he was standing on four massive paws, panting in the cool mountain air. His heightened shifter senses allowed him to see in the dark while in his animal form.
He grunted and tasted the air with his tongue. Rosa was close. He could smell the scent of the man who’d taken her. He would taste that man's blood on his tongue before Heath would let that man harm a hair on the head of his beautiful mate.
He trotted into the forest, moving through the thick trunks of evergreen trees on his way to the camp. The smell of campfire grew stronger. He could make out the scent of a dozen different females. He could smell their fear, their desperation and hopelessness.
Rosa’s scent was still strong and defiant. She was trying to break free but could not. His animal mind was a torrent of rage and barely rational. Heath tried to keep his beast under control but the grizzly was not listening. The animal picked up the pace, growling and grunting as he galloped through the forest.
Heath covered the distance between the hillside and the camp in a few short minutes. Soon he was at the edge of a clearing where he could see a dilapidated mobile home. Four men were patrolling the area and two more sat in front of the campfire. There were six men in total. The grizzly was about to charge through the camp and take them all out, but Heath's human mind tried to hold back the beast. If he went into the fray, he would very likely be shot. A shifter could withstand several bullets, but not many more.
All of Heath's rationalizations didn't seem to matter to the beast. The grizzly reared up on his hind legs and let out a terrifying roar. The girls inside the mobile home screamed at the sound. Heath’s grizzly charged through the clearing, rushing straight through the fire. He jumped onto the men sitting there. Sparks sprang up around him as he bit down on the man's shoulder.
The kidnapper screamed in pain and the bear tasted his blood on his tongue. The beast felt the sting of a bullet shoot into his hide. He spun to face the shooter. Heath reared up, bashing the second man holding the gun. The gun flew across the clearing as Heath came down on the man who'd shot him.
He bit into the man's leg, and the shooter screamed. The other four men ran into the clearing from their patrols and began to fire at Heath. The bullets stung one after another, slicing into his hide, his legs, and his shoulder. The pain throbbed but he was still standing. He whirled around, focusing on the four men who were pointing guns at him.
They screamed and yelled as if trying to scare away a wild animal, but Heath was no wild animal. He was an angry shifter trying to protect his mate. These guys didn't know what they were messing with.
It didn't even matter that he was bleeding from about six gunshot wounds. He was pissed as hell and he wasn’t putting up with this bullshit anymore. Heath charged at the other men, taking out a third as the other three shot at him again. Two shots missed but one more bullet sliced into his hide as he bit into the third kidnapper.
He was bleeding badly now, his strength waning. The girls inside the mobile home were screaming their heads off. He could hear Rosa. He knew the sound of her voice even in the den of chaos. He had to save her, but his mind was fading. He was losing blood and about to black out.
Out of the distance, he heard another round of gunshots. This time hitting the three men left standing. As Heath’s vision faded into blackness, he saw the silhouettes of his crew descending from the hills around him and into the clearing.
The Bear Patrol had arrived.
10
Rosa sat on the floor against the far wall in stunned silence, the adrenaline pumping through her veins, making her numb. Suddenly the door burst open and one of the Bears walked into the mobile home. Rosa didn’t remember his name but she did recognize him from before. She was too stunned to stand up at first. The other girls started to ask questions all at once.
“Who are you?” one of the girls demanded.
“What’s going on out there?” said another girl.
Rosa scrambled to her feet, making her way toward the door as the Bears tried to explain what was going on to the rest of the girls.
“You sho
uldn’t go out there,” one of the Bears said.
Rosa brushed past him, jumping out of the mobile home that had no stairs, and landing on the ground. In the dirt, laying near a dying campfire, she found her mate. He was in grizzly bear form, bleeding out into the dirt. She ran to him, crying and screaming.
She sank to her knees and wrapped her arms around her mate’s fuzzy neck. His black eyes blinked at her in the fading light of the Fire.
“Heath, what have you done?”
The grizzly growled softly, his strength abating. Rollo came up behind her and tried to pull her away from Heath’s bleeding body.
“I can’t leave him,” Rosa said.
“We need to get him to the hospital. I already have guys coming around the other direction with an ambulance.”
“They took Maria,” Rosa said, finally remembering why she’d come here in the first place.
The Bears were helping the girls out of the mobile home and wrapping them in blankets. Rosa watched as Heath slowly transformed from a massive grizzly bear into a naked, bleeding human man. She gasped and tried to go to him as the EMTs bent to lift him onto a gurney.
“You can ride with him in the ambulance,” Rollo said.
Rosa follow the EMTs through the clearing around the corner of the mobile home and found an ambulance waiting there along with a legion of patrol cars from the Fate Mountain Police Department and the Fate Mountain County Sheriff’s Department.
“Someone came and bought my sister Maria,” she said to whoever would listen to her.
She climbed into the back of the ambulance, not sure if she should focus her attention on her missing sister or her bleeding mate. Everything was in utter chaos. The EMT shut the back doors of the ambulance and Rosa sat next to Heath, holding his hand.
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