Bearly Hanging On: Soulmate Shifters in Mystery, Alaska Book 3

by Krystal Shannan

  The warmth continued, growing hotter and hotter, until Owen was clenching his teeth to keep back a cry of pain.

  He closed his eyes and focused on breathing. He envisioned Tara’s face as tears squeezed between the lids of his eyes trekked down his cheeks.

  He would never see her smile again. Never know if she survived. Never hear her laugh. He wouldn’t be able to keep his promise to her mother. He had failed his tribe. Failed his mate. Failed his mate’s family. He deserved no mercy. No grace. This was his fate. But, he had loved Tara like he’d never loved another and he would remember every stolen moment together until his very last breath.

  His arms trembled at his sides. His bear screamed and pushed and demanded to be freed. Demanded to fight. They were alpha. They didn’t deserve to be executed. Tara needed them. Every muscle in his body ached. The pain was unlike anything he’d ever experienced. He could smell his flesh burning, melting beneath the touch of the dragon. Everything inside him wanted to fight. Every instinct. Every cell.

  But he didn’t. He stayed still. He stayed silent. He bore the pain without complaint.

  It was his punishment and his penance to the man he’d nearly let die. But Tara would be safe now. She would be protected by Col. That was all that mattered.

  The pain was blocking out everything now. The icy wind. The cold bite of the snow beneath his knees. Nothing existed except the white-hot burn and pressure of the dragon’s hand on his neck.

  “You’re aonkan no longer, Owen Di’Brahth.”

  The pressure lifted away. The burn was still there. Like a thousand knives all cutting at once.

  Wait. What had he said?

  Owen breathed deeply again and opened his eyes. The darkness of the night had swallowed the mountainside completely, but he could plainly see Col’s outline. Plainly see the flame burning bright in the Reylean dragon’s eyes. Plainly see that he had not been executed.

  “Vraka, I do not understand—”

  A short grunt from Col cut him off. The dragon nodded at someone behind Owen. “We’ll talk about what you understand another time.”

  Owen leapt to his feet and turned around, ignoring the flaring pain along the side of his neck. His gaze immediately fell on the den entrance. The tiger male was crawling from the opening with a bundle in his arms. Owen recognized Tara’s blue sweater.

  His heart dropped out of his chest. His lungs seized. She was so still. So pale.

  “Tara.” The half roar half cry burst through the silence of the night as he shifted from man to beast to man again.

  “She’s alive,” Tor said, handing her off without any resistance. “She’s freezing though, man.”

  Owen pulled his mate tight to his chest and buried her face into the crook of his neck. Her skin was like ice. Her heartbeat slow. Her breathing almost non-existent.

  Growls in the distance became more distinguished. Closer. Owen had nearly forgotten the fight wasn’t over. There was just so much snow and wind they couldn’t see it all.

  A dark form leapt out of the shadows and the tiger male shifted and blocked the wolf’s body before it hit Owen and Tara. His tiger sliced the canine to pieces, adding to the swath of red at their feet in the snow.

  The bugling cry of an angry dragon vibrated the air around them. Col had shifted. Flame and fang tore through any wolf stupid enough to not to run. But there always seemed to be more.

  Snarls and growls echoed from across the mountainside. Col moved swiftly for such a massive creature. His feet sank through the snow and the ground shook as the burrows beneath the ground collapsed under his weight. The earth literally shook around the dragon.

  Owen clutched tighter at Tara. She was so cold. So still. She needed warmth, but Col was right. This needed to be finished. Raish would never stop coming after her.

  More snarling to his left caught Owen’s attention.

  Four wolves stalked closer, fanning out around them. The tiger wouldn’t be able to take them all. Staying in his human form would get them both killed, but Owen carrying her as his bear was risky. His beast raged just beneath his skin, his claws lengthened from the tips of his fingers without permission. He straightened his hands on Tara’s body to keep her tender skin safe.

  It was a risk he was probably going to have to take, but not just yet.

  He roared into the dying wind. Visibility was better now. Not worse. The storm was waning. His cry carried up the side of the mountain, mixing with Col’s trumpeting screams of fury.

  More wolves joined the advancing circle. The tiger held back, staying close to Owen’s side instead of out in front of him. They moved into a back to back position as the circle closed around them tighter.

  Tighter.

  Snarling snapping teeth.

  Heartless gold eyes.

  Tighter.

  Angry rumbles of long-kindled hatred filled the air.

  Death was coming on the fangs of these creatures.

  Tighter.

  The white wolf directly in front of Owen stepped out of the tightening circle, closer, and shifted into a man—Raish. The canine shifter met his gaze with a sneer.

  “You’re ready to die with her. It is fitting. You murdered my mate. Now I will kill yours and then kill you. You should count yourself lucky that you won’t survive to feel the same pain I felt. You won’t wallow in the loss of—”

  His words were cut off by a snarl Owen recognized very well. A moment later his sister appeared from between the shadows of the trees. As a bear, she was massive, not as large as him, but still nothing any smart Reylean would ever choose to tangle with on purpose. But there were too many wolves. She could take on a couple, but there were at least eight now in a circle around them.

  Owen’s body shook as Ava’s mouth closed around Raish’s neck. The crunch echoed across the snow and the man fell to the ground never to threaten anyone ever again. Other wolves charged. Some at Owen. Some at Ava. Some at the tiger. It would’ve been a fair fight had he not been holding Tara. He put her over his shoulder, freeing one arm to swipe at the oncoming angry wads of fur and fang.

  He knocked one away, slicing through its chest in the process, spraying the already stained snow with more blood. His sister was holding off the few that’d come at her, but more came charging across the clearing, straight at her. A lion was close at their heels, but they’d reach Ava before the lion got to any of them.

  Owen roared and pushed through the snow. Pain shot through his shoulder. He wrenched around and clawed at the wolf who’d sunk his fangs deep. The wolf jumped away and then came at him again, biting hard on his flank. His bear took more control, shifting the rest of his body. Owen wrestled in his mind. He couldn’t let go, not completely, he was holding the most important thing to both of them.

  Focus. He shouted inside his mind. Tara. Ava.

  The wolf latched on again and his fangs ripped through muscle. Owen stumbled and swiped at the canine with his free front paw, catching himself before he stumbled in the snow and all fifteen hundred pounds of him landed on top of Tara.

  An angry growl tore from his throat. He gently laid Tara in the snow beneath his belly, heedful of his enormous paws, then dropped to all fours and covered her from sight. The wounds in his side and flanks burned. The snow around him was red with his blood and his fur was wet and matted. The wolf just kept dancing in and out. Another wolf joined him. And another.

  Out of the corner of his eye he saw his sister, and the tiger, and one lion fighting. The dragon was still occupied on the far side of the clearing along with the second lion. There was no one else to help. The dragon had spared his life and he wasn’t about to waste his second chance.

  Nothing would take him from Tara. Certainly not some damned lunatic canine with an ax to grind.

  The glow of the moon and the colored lights in the sky made everything a kaleidoscope of shadows. The wind had died down. The only sounds in the forest were the snarls and howls of the warring Reyleans.

  He saw his sister go down
about thirty yards to his right. Every muscle in his body tensed to lunge toward her but helping her meant leaving Tara unprotected. He snarled, furious at the impossible choice. He swiped at the wolves tormenting him, desperately biting at his feet, trying to get access to Tara’s body where it lay protected beneath him. His claws connected with flesh and he gained immense satisfaction as his three-inch razor-sharp claws shredded the side of the wolf’s body. The cry of pain fueled his rage, but still he held his ground.

  His sister clambered back to her feet. She wasn’t watching. A huge black wolf was running straight for her from behind. Owen roared. She didn’t look. She was focused on the two wolves snapping at her front legs.

  The black wolf leaped, but instead of landing on Ava’s back, he landed in front of her and snarled at his own kind. His own tribe. The two canines that had been attacking Ava took a few steps back. Growled at him. He advanced, driving them back again.

  Another ear-piercing bugle call cut through the night, sucking all the sound from the mountainside. No one roared. No one growled. For a few seconds...everything froze.

  Col’s massive dragon form smashed through the trees.

  The dragon was back, but why had he left? At the moment it didn’t matter.

  The massive dragon snapped at a couple of wolves, shredding them with his enormous mouth of razor-sharp teeth like they were made of paper. The rest of the weakened pack scattered into the trees, leaving Owen and the others licking their wounds. The second lion male came bounding out of the woods behind Col a few seconds later.

  Owen shifted and shouted at Col. “Here!” He scooped Tara into his arms. She still had a heartbeat. She was still breathing, but just barely. “Col,” he bellowed across the blood-stained snow.

  The dragon lumbered forward, shifting as he walked, closing the gap in moments.

  The muscles in Owen’s arms relaxed. He handed Tara to Col and watched the large Reylean dragon shifter cradle his mate close. Col covered Tara’s face with his hand and breathed into her mouth, almost like a kiss, but Owen knew he was warming the very air Tara was breathing. She needed it. She needed the help and Owen just needed to settle himself and let his alpha help. His vraka. He would serve the dragon his whole life for saving Tara. And he wouldn’t waver a second. He owed the alpha that and more for what he’d done. For giving him a second chance.

  Owen touched the raw bit of his neck where the brand used to be. The skin had healed over where Col had burned, leaving what had to be an ugly scar, but it wasn’t the aonkan brand any longer. He had been forgiven. He had saved Col’s life and earned back his in return.

  But it would mean nothing without Tara.

  The others closed into a circle around Owen and Col. No one spoke.

  Just waited.

  And waited.

  And waited.

  Tara’s heart still beat. He could hear it inside her chest, fighting through the cold. Fighting through whatever she’d been put through. He didn’t know what the wolves had said or done, but he wouldn’t rest until he hunted down every last one of them.

  “Not to break the eerie silence happening right now, but where’s the other bear? Ava, right?”

  Owen turned his focus from his mate and stared at the male—one of the lions by his scent. Ava? He pivoted to the right and then to the left. She wasn’t there with them. He hadn’t even noticed. How could he not notice his sister was missing?

  She’d been fighting wolves. The black wolf had been fighting with her, but he couldn’t remember what happened to Ava after that. He hadn’t seen. A growl rumbled in his chest. The need to find her welled up in him like a volcano about to erupt. Then his eyes fell back to Tara’s still figure. The limp way she lay in Col’s arms. The slow thum…thum of her heart. The shallow sound of air moving in and out of her nearly frozen lungs. The air was so cold, it hurt to breathe, and he wasn’t even injured.

  Col looked up from Tara for a moment, taking charge of the moment, releasing Owen from his tortured choice. “Tor. Saul. You go look for Ava. Owen stay here. Tara will need to see you when she wakes.”

  The two felines nodded and turned from the small group headed across the clearing toward the trees where Owen remembered seeing her last. Both of them shifted as they reached the tree line, disappearing from view in a flash of tawny and orange fur.

  Wake up, my love. Please. Owen watched Col breathe into Tara’s mouth.

  Over. And over. And over.

  20

  It was still dark, but something near her was warm. She wanted to be closer to the warmth. She wanted it to be Owen, but it didn’t smell like Owen…and Owen was gone.

  The warmth smelled like smoke and ash. Like a fire. But it didn’t burn. It was comforting.

  She was moving again, too. Like she was being carried, but this time cradled instead of thrown around like a sack of potatoes. Her mind was probably playing tricks on her again. She’d kept imagining Owen finding her. Saving her again like he had before. But every time she’d gotten up enough strength to open her eyes, it’d been dark. There’d been nothing. No one.

  She hurt so much.

  Her lungs. The air hurt to breathe. Except right now. Right now, even the air was smoky and warm.

  It was a dream.

  No one would ever find her in that hole she’d been buried in. She’d never see Owen again. Never feel him near her. Never kiss him again.

  Raish killed Owen. Her brain was foggy, but she remembered that moment so clearly. The moment her heart had stopped beating. The moment her lungs had refused to draw in another breath of the stormy frozen mountain air.

  Then he’d bitten her. And beaten her. And buried her.

  Sadness overwhelmed her mind again like an avalanche crashing down the mountainside, covering and crushing everything in its path. Tara let the darkness pull her back and wrap around her heart like a shroud. She let the pain in her body overwhelm the outside sounds she was starting to hear around her.

  It didn’t matter. She was dying.

  And Owen was gone.

  Owen stood in the doorway to a comfortable bedroom in a beautiful cabin. The bed was ornately carved wood with four posts at each corner going up at least to shoulder height. Tara looked so tiny being tucked into the blankets and furs that covered the enormous mattress.

  A fire crackled in the wood-stove tucked into the corner of the room, radiating heat and comfort into the cozy room. The walls and floors and ceiling were all-natural beam. A creamy white rug covered about half the floor and two large chairs sat to the right of the bed next to a wall of three windows, looking out into the darkness of the now still night. The storm had passed.

  “She’s warm and breathing better. Penny helped me bathe her as best we could, but she took a beating out there,” Naomi said, turning toward him. She pulled another blanket over his mate and tucked it gently against Tara’s side. “She’s got a really bad looking bite on her shoulder. And we should call her family and let them know she’s safe.”

  Owen’s body tensed, anger surged through every muscle fiber. Had the wolves bitten her? Had Raish? He took a deep breath and waited. It wouldn’t do any good to explode right now.

  “I called them as soon as we made it back to the cabin,” Owen answered, his voice low and respectful. Col stood in the opposite corner of the room, watching him, but mostly watching over his pregnant mate like any good Reylean male would.

  Naomi nodded and absentmindedly rubbed the small bump of her belly. “Henrietta was okay with her staying here?”

  Owen nodded. “I told her she was pretty shaken up and we were going to stay with you tonight instead of coming back to town in the dark without a vehicle.”

  “Good answer. Poor woman has enough on her hands with her husband on his last breath. It was bad enough she had to know Tara was kidnapped.” She walked around the bed and took Col’s hand. “Let’s get some rest, my love. Owen can watch Tara for the night.” The dragon shifter nodded to Owen and followed his mate from the bedroom, sh
utting the door behind them, and leaving Owen alone with the sound of Tara’s gentle breathing and steady heartbeat.

  He pulled one of the chairs up to the side of the bed, sat down, and leaned forward, resting his elbows on the mattress. She was safe. She was alive.

  He was alive and with her. He couldn’t believe it. And he wouldn’t take it for granted. The dragon had given him a chance.

  His mate was right in front of him and no one would ever take her again. Never hurt her again.

  But his sister was missing. He’d been worried until Tor and Saul had reported in that her tracks led into town, but from there they couldn’t find her or the wolf traveling alongside. Why would the wolf have helped her? Owen kept playing the scene over and over in his head. The big black wolf had jumped forward to defend Ava in the fight. Protected her. It didn’t make sense and Ava had never mentioned knowing one of the wolves.

  They had checked Owen and Ava’s place. Nothing. She hadn’t returned home. But she had made it to town—back to Mystery. His sister was up to something and she was hiding—on purpose. She’d come out when she was good and ready. If she was hurt, the cats would’ve found traces of a struggle. But they’d found nothing but tracks. For now, he was content to wait. Ava knew where to find him if she wanted and that’s what he’d told the others.

  Salt scented the air. Owen turned to face Tara. Tears were streaming from the corners of both her eyes. His heart jumped into his throat and he swallowed down a cry of joy, it was like choking and then taking a breath after almost drowning in the same moment.

  “Shuarra,” he said, his voice breaking. He reached to stroke a strand of her flame red hair away from her brow. He pulled one of her hands from beneath the blanket and pressed it to his scruffy bearded cheek. She was so soft, and her scent calmed the beast within. She was safe. Alive. Awake. The world would be right again.

  “I’m dreaming,” she murmured.