by Cara Wylde
I’d been running in the same direction for a while. Something didn’t feel right. I stopped in my tracks, sniffed around, and decided she’d gone north. I went after her, but after a few minutes, I had to stop again. What the hell? Her scent had been there a second ago, and now it was gone. My heart started beating faster. No, this wasn’t possible. I had actually lost Rosalie!
But that wasn’t all. If that had been all, I would’ve just pushed forward and searched the woods for her until I found her. Along with her unique scent, another wafted through the air, making me flare my nostrils and then gag at how awful it smelled. The scent of a man. A human man.
And suddenly, this wasn’t about how I’d lost Rosalie in the woods, but about how a stranger had snatched her right from under my nose. I had to go back and alert Brooks and Lincoln.
Fourteen
Rosalie
“Fucking asshole,” I thought and cried. “I am done. I never want to see another bear in my life!”
I kept running, just wanting to get as far away from Colt and that bitch he brought home. How could he? Why? Why, when things seemed to be settling between us all, and even Brooks had made room in his life for me?
But things weren’t good, not even close.
That just went to show how I would always be in the wrong about the men in my life. No one loved me. No one truly wanted me. I was a fool to think I could live among them. Brooks only needed me to raise Milo, and he’d even told me as much. Lincoln had his fetishes. Colt… fuck Colt.
I braced myself against a tree, out of breath. It occurred to me that I had no idea where I was. I turned my head to try and get my bearings, when I heard some twigs break behind me, then strong hands were pawing at my upper body, trying to get a hold of me. I struggled, screaming, hitting and kicking. One of my kicks landed a lucky blow, and I felt my assailant’s kneecap shift.
“Fucking bitch,” he shouted and let me go. Unfortunately for me, his release coincided with a pull forward I did on instinct, and instead of gaining momentum and feeling, I fell at the man’s feet. I looked over my shoulder, shocked to see the very devil standing before me.
Jack. He looked doubly menacing now, with like… black and green war paint on his face, his graying hair dyed black, and an entire armory on his body. This did not bode well for me, I just knew it. I had to get away, to get back to Colt. I only managed to gain a few steps when he tackled me and pressed a cloth against my face. I tried not to inhale the pungent smell, but I needed to breathe.
When I regained consciousness, I was no longer in the forest, but in a cheap motel room, reeking of alcohol, cigarettes and sex.
“Hi, love,” Jack said from somewhere behind me.
I tensed and tried to move my head, but it hurt. Everything hurt. He must’ve bruised me pretty badly when he’d tackled me back in the forest, sandwiching my soft body between the hard ground, with raised tree roots and sharp stones, and his unyielding soldier body.
“Missed me?” he asked.
I knew that tone. He always used it when I did something bad or did nothing at all. I desperately wanted him to move in front of me. Having no clear sight of him, knowing he could be doing whatever behind me, even preparing to strike me again, was making me anxious. Whatever was coming, I wanted to at least see it coming.
“I missed you,” he said and licked my face.
I was so disgusted. I would’ve spat at him if he hadn’t had the common sense to gag me. I would’ve spat, and yelled, and screamed bloody murder until someone called the police, and this time, I would be pressing charges.
“You left me,” he continued his monologue, “and I don’t understand why. I’ve been a good husband to you. I tried to make a good wife out of you. I’m sorry I hit you, baby, but you just learn better like that. I… listen,” he said and crouched in front of me, “I promise to never do it again. Okay?”
He reached out a hand to cup my cheek, but I turned my face away. He could go fuck himself. All those beatings, all those threats, all the tears and pain… those were not lessons. All he’d taught me was to fear and to cry, and to make myself small so he’d stop hitting me.
“Fine, be that way,” he spat. “You think I don’t know? I was trying to give you a second chance here, you fucking bitch!”
He was getting worked up now. He kicked between my legs, his military book landing on the soft plywood of the chair, sending it tumbling back. I bumped my head against the dirty motel carpet, and he came to tower over me.
“Damn whore, you fucked those freaks. That spawn you had with you is yours. Don’t you dare lie to me!”
He pulled me back up by my hair. I surprised myself with how calm I was. Though the calm could best be called numbness. I was going to die. I just knew it. It wouldn’t be Brooks the one to kill me, but Jack. I was going to die alone in a cheap motel room, and no one would know, no one would be coming to save me or to mourn me. At least everything would be over.
“So, you know what? No one gets away with disrespecting me. Those freaks? I’m going to hunt down each and every one of them, kill every woman and child I see, and put a bullet through every male’s head. Who knows who else you fucked? You could be carrying another monster inside you!”
I shook my head.
“No, no, love. You don’t get to beg,” he said and caressed my face with false gentleness. “You don’t get to beg for them. You will, however, beg for yourself. I am never going to let you go. I will take you back with me, drag you, if I must, and we will honor those fucking wedding vows. And you will give me a son too, or so help me God, I’ll make you regret the day you were born.”
The numbness from before was completely gone. I could handle my own death. I could handle being forced to live with him again, even. But the bears? The poor bears? Nancy, her cubs, Milo… someone had to stop Jack.
I begged and pleaded through the gag, but all that came out were muffled sounds. I watched him check his weapons and drape himself in more guns than a private army would need. He was going to massacre the trailer park community, and there was nothing I could do.
“See you in a few hours, love. Sit tight,” he mocked and closed the door, locking me inside.
I struggled against my bounds, determined to break free or die trying.
Fifteen
Lincoln
I couldn’t believe that I’d been gone to work for one day – one freaking day! – and that had given Brooks and Colt plenty of time to mess up. Brooks had taken Rosalie into his own trailer without consulting us. Which was fine. Whatever. Milo was his cub, and he needed her to feed him and take care of him. But Colt? What the fuck had he been thinking? When I got home, there was a strange female bear getting out of his trailer, cursing and raging at everyone, demanding to know where Colt was because he’d brought her there and he needed to take her back home. Fiona was her name. And then Colt showed up, shifted from his bear form, and told Brooks and I that someone had kidnapped Rosalie.
Here we were now, deep in the woods, trailing Rosalie and her kidnapper. Colt didn’t know who he could be. It didn’t matter. If he’d touched a hair on her head, the bastard was going to die. I could smell her scent as we neared the far edge of the forest. She was scared, I could tell. No, she was terrified. The thought that she was being hurt right now, tortured even, was driving me crazy. No one had the right to touch Rosalie! She was ours. Brooks, Colt, and I had shared her in so many ways. And that was fine because we were friends. We were like brothers. Now that she was gone, now that she was in danger and needed us to save her, I couldn’t focus on anything else but her.
Rosalie Olsen. She’d come to us in the strangest circumstances. Brooks had found her guilty of Krista’s death, and Colt and I had chosen to stand by his side. It hadn’t been too long ago, but it felt like forever. It felt like she’d been with us for months now, even though there had only been days since the accident. She belonged with us. How hadn’t I seen it before? She was the only woman who could complete me, who could see i
nto my soul and not judge me. She was the only female who could accept me just the way I was.
I couldn’t lose her. We couldn’t lose her.
I could tell that Brooks had fallen for her. And not just because she was so good with his cub. She was good with him, too. From what I could tell, she’d practically moved into his trailer and started cooking and cleaning for him. I wanted that, too. I wanted her attention, her care. And I was sure that Colt wanted the exact same things, even if he’d behaved like a fucking moron today.
This was all Colt’s fault. He’d driven her away. By bringing that woman here and trying to fuck her in front of Rosalie, he’d broken her heart. And while breaking her body was fine because she loved it, she loved the orgasms we gave her and how our cocks made her feel, breaking her heart was an entirely different story. No, we had to take care of her heart. Colt had been an idiot. I could only hope that we wouldn’t be too late and that he’d have the chance to apologize to her.
Brooks was leading the party. I’d fallen behind, lost in my own thoughts. When I saw Colt in front of me, his massive body making the ground shake as he ran like a maniac, I picked up the pace. With a loud growl, I slammed into his side as I made my way to the front. He grunted in surprise and tried to scratch me with his claws. Brooks heard us and threw us a death glare over his massive shoulder.
We were all in our bear forms. We were stronger and faster this way. We reached the edge of the forest, and Brooks and I stopped in our tracks. Colt almost bumped into us. I lifted myself on my hind legs and sniffed the air. In the distance, across the highway, there was a motel. It was different than the one we’d found Rosalie in the first time. Brooks and I exchanged a look, and like that, we decided it was time to save our female.
But something wasn’t right. We weren’t alone in the woods. Not anymore. We felt the foreign scents and heard the soft sounds of twigs being crushed under boots too late. One second, everything was fine, and we only had to step out of the forest and cross the highway, and the next, gunshots came from all around us.
Colt cried out in pain as a bullet sunk into his side.
It was madness. We split up, our senses on high alert. I spotted one of the shooters behind some trees, and I lunged at him. As I ran toward him at full speed, another one shot at me from the bushes, and I felt two bullets penetrate my shoulder. It didn’t hurt as much as I’d expected, so I pushed forward. The man with the gun saw me coming and panicked. He turned on his heels and started running, but it was too late. I was faster. I jumped onto his back and sank my fangs into his throat. Hot blood poured onto my tongue, and a kind of rage that I hadn’t felt in years took over me. I tore him to pieces. I scratched at his back until he was nothing but a pile of bleeding flesh and muscle.
One down, three more to go. I could smell them now. Four men couldn’t possibly take us down, but they had guns. That was their only advantage, and it happened to be a damn good one. I heard Colt howl in pain a few feet away. The idiot had been the first to get shot. Brooks was fighting a tall, bulky man with black hair, dressed in military attire. He was doing fine, so I went to help Colt.
Somehow, Colt had managed to take down another of our attackers. He was badly hurt, though. Together, we chased down the last guy that was still standing. At some point, I thought that maybe we should’ve let him go. What was he going to do? He didn’t know what we truly were, did he? To these men, we were just bears – the biggest bears they’d ever seen. But then… I couldn’t just ignore the fact that Rosalie was probably tied up in that motel and these men had had something to do with her kidnapping. Maybe they did know about us and about the trailer park. No, we couldn’t allow any of these killers to survive. They were highly trained – that was easy to see. Colt and I surrounded him, and in seconds, it was done. The man was no more. Only the guns and pieces of his uniform remained.
Brooks was still fighting the last man standing. This one was bigger and stronger, apparently. He held his ground for as long as he could. Finally, Brooks overpowered him. Colt and I witnessed the man’s demise, and deep down, we knew he was the one who’d taken Rosalie from us. He deserved his fate.
I was more hurt than I thought. I collapsed, and Brooks and Colt had to nudge me back onto my feet. We finally crossed the highway, Brooks and Colt supporting me on both sides. We were close. I could only hope that crazy bastard hadn’t hurt Rosalie already.
Sixteen
Colt
We reached the motel and figured out where Rosalie was. Luckily, she was on the ground floor. I didn’t think I could’ve gone up any stairs even if I wanted to. I’d gotten shot countless times, and most of the bullets were still in. If they hadn’t been, I would’ve started to heal by now. I could see Lincoln wasn’t in a great state, either. He could barely walk. Brooks seemed to be fine, but then again… even when he was badly hurt, he rarely showed it.
We burst into the motel room and found Rosalie tied up to a chair, gagged, and scared out of her mind. It was painful to shift, but I had to do it. First, I needed to untie her. And secondly, I needed to get the bullets out, and it was easier in my human form. I ran to her side and ungagged her.
“Oh my God, you came!” Tears were running down her face. “You came for me…”
As I collapsed onto my knees, I took her face between my dirty, sweaty palms. “Of course we came for you. You belong with us.”
She leaned into my touch. Brooks stepped behind her and proceeded to rip off the tape around her wrists and ankles. Once she was free, she sank to the floor. She took my hands into hers, and I almost couldn’t believe it. I’d betrayed her trust. I’d hurt her so deeply, and yet… here she was, looking at my wounds, worrying for me.
“You’re injured… I’m so sorry.” Brooks went to Lincoln’s side, and she followed him with her gaze. “My husband. He grabbed me, brought me here… He threatened me and the bear community. He said that he was going to kill you all and then bring me back home with him and make my life a living hell. As if he hadn’t done that already. Where is he?” She suddenly freaked out. “He’s armed!”
“We took care of him,” Brooks growled. “He is no more. He will never hurt you or us again.”
“Oh, thank God.”
“Rosalie, look at me.” I had to unburden my soul. All this was happening because of me. I was the idiot who’d triggered this disaster. If I hadn’t chased her away, her ex would’ve never gotten the chance to snatch her. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for what I’ve done to you. I should’ve never brought that woman with me… She means nothing to me, I promise.”
She bit her lower lip. “It’s okay. You can be with whomever you want to be. As long as… you don’t make me watch you.”
“No! No, no, no. I don’t want to be with anyone but you.” I touched her face, trying to wipe her tears. “I want you. I was stupid. I… This is what I do. I run away. Every time there’s something good in my life, someone good… I freak out and ruin it. I’ve never had a long-term relationship. I’ve never had what you might call a serious, solid relationship where I knew where I stood, and I knew that I wanted to be with that person forever. This is the first time I feel I could have that. With you. And I… I got scared.”
“I’m not that scary,” she chuckled.
“No, of course you’re not.” I took a deep breath in and released it slowly. This was the moment. If I didn’t say it now, I would regret it for the rest of my life. “I love you, Rosalie. I don’t know when it happened or how. But I fell for you. Hard. I’m in love with you.”
Her blue eyes widened in surprise. Her lips curved into a bright smile, and hope flickered in her irises.
“I… I love you, too,” she said. “And you’re still an idiot. But you’re my idiot.”
I pressed my lips to hers. It was a soft, chaste kiss. No tongue. It was exactly what I needed to soothe my soul. She pulled away and looked at the three of us. Her brows furrowed and her attitude changed in the blink of an eye.
“We need to get th
e bullets out.”
Seventeen
Rosalie
I had first feared the shooting would never stop. It had sounded like a war zone out there, and I feared for my bears’ lives. I somehow knew they had come for me. No one else cared that I was gone. It made me both happy and sad. They were now in danger because of me. For me. They really cared. A little, in their own way.
Barehanded, Jack and his minions wouldn’t have stood a chance, but armed to the teeth as they were? Bullets were raining down upon the shifters, and I struggled more and more against my bindings, like a mad, desperate woman, hurting myself and causing blood to soak the tape. I would’ve thought the lubrication might help, but it didn’t. And then the shooting stopped, as well as the growling.
I would have rather died. I would’ve rather had my ex-husband kill me than to live with the knowledge that I had caused Brooks, Colt and Lincoln to die, leaving behind a truly orphaned Milo. It wasn’t fair. Why should the true monster live, and the bears die just for being different? It was all my fault, and I would pay for my sins.
Sobs wrecked my body, and when the door fell to the ground, in a stomach-twisting repeat of events from not too long ago, I screamed around the gag in my mouth. Everything happened fast. Colt untied me, and in minutes, he was confessing his love to me. I almost couldn’t believe it. I wanted to soak it all up. I wanted to fall into his arms and let him hold me for hours, but I couldn’t. He was hurt, and Lincoln seemed to be in an even worse state. Brooks was trying to tend to his wounds. It was my turn to help them.