by Sky Winters
“He had her tied up here. He wanted to...he wanted to do terrible things to her, but he kept it inside for the time. He's going to take her to his dungeon, I know it. We have to get there. Now!”
Gail roared ferociously as James shifted into his bear form. They both began to growl and roar, as loudly as they could, alerting the rest of the clan to their plight. Their angry growls shook the forest and rippled throughout it, causing birds to fly away and deer to flee. Now that they knew for sure where Sadie was, everybody had to be on high alert and should head toward the castle. Lord Lachlan had Sadie, and it was time to show him what they were made of. Every man, woman, and child was invited to storm the castle and guarantee the survival of their clan.
Chapter 8
Sadie could see the silhouette of the castle coming up in the distance. The sun was beginning to set, and the sky was lit with bright colors. Suddenly, the horses began to whinny nervously. Lachlan and his men looked around in confusion, trying to figure out why their steeds were making such a commotion, but suddenly a very distinct sound reached their ears.
Sadie, who had been feeling pessimistic as the castle began to draw nearer, suddenly felt hopeful. She knew that sound anywhere. It was James. And he was furious. They could hear his roars throughout the entire forest, and as Lachlan's men finally emerged from the trees and headed out toward the clearing where Lord Lachlan's castle was, the sound became even more ferocious and intimidating. Sadie couldn't blame the poor horses for being afraid, especially not when they remembered what had happened the last time they encountered one of the mighty bear shifters.
“Get the horses into the stables quickly," Lachlan said, jumping off his own horse and gripping Sadie by the waist. He pulled her down with him and they stood squarely on the ground. “Make sure they are locked out. We lost too many in the last encounter. I will not let that happen again. We need to get the girl into the dungeon before any of the bear shifters show up. We need to be ready for them. Tell the guards at the castle to man their positions and begin preparing flaming arrows. This is going to be a massacre, and I'm going to enjoy every second of it.”
Sadie glowered at him as he forced her to run alongside him toward the castle. The horses were too spoked to move, and so it was up to their own willpower to get inside. And Sadie didn't particularly want to get inside. She did her best to take her time until Lord Lachlan pulled the sword from his sheath and pushed it against her firmly.
“You are going to keep up, or you are going to die right here and right now," Lord Lachlan said to her in a seething voice. His pockmarked face was dark and angry, and Sadie swallowed. She didn't want to die now, not when she could hear James so close to her. He was so near to rescuing her from this tyrant.
And she realized gradually that she wasn't just hearing James either. Sadie and the soldiers could hear other bear shifters on the horizon, growling and roaring as loudly as they could. It sounded like the entire clan had come to rescue her, and she knew that she had to do her duty and stay alive until they were able to pull off their rescue mission. She had to live to see James again. And so, she moved alongside Lord Lachlan, who was so out of shape that it didn't take too much effort to keep up with him. In fact, it was a rather easy and slow pace. But as long as she seemed to be doing her best, she would stay alive.
“It's too late," Lord Lachlan said, as if he could hear her hopeful thoughts. “You are going into my dungeon, and my men are going to take care of the rest of the meddling bear shifters. We have poison arrows and fire arrows and everything else that could be a bear's worst nightmare. And the funniest part about it is that they're so angry that they won't even think about walking right into a trap. We have the whole area full of traps, and they're all going to die. It's going to be your fault, and I'm going to really love watching you suffer.”
“They're not going to die, but I think you are," Sadie said, turning her fiery green eyes onto Lord Lachlan. He growled in anger at her belligerence and pushed her hard ahead of him. She stumbled but righted herself, straightening as proudly as she possibly could as they continued along toward his castle.
***
“Wait,” James said. “Everybody be quiet. I hear something. I need you all to listen carefully with me."
Everybody paused and listened carefully into the distance. Suddenly, a tiny voice came to them, and James nearly fainted. He knew it was the voice of his unborn child, speaking psychically to him through his mother. The shifters could speak without words, and now, his child was doing the same, both to him and to the other bear shifters who were heading toward the castle.
There had been many legends about the bear shifters communicating with their unborn children, learning all the secrets of the world before birth. But James had thought that they were stories and had dismissed them most of the time, thinking of it as ways to get everybody to behave. But his tiny son was warning him now, telling him that danger was ahead and that they needed to look where they were stepping or else their rescue mission would be a failure and he would die along with his mother.
The rest of the clan was quiet and hushed with awe as they listened to the tiny voices of the infants Wait, infants? There were two voices. A boy and a girl, both speaking softly but urgently, warning of arrows laced with fire and poison, and traps at their feet much like the one that had gotten James stuck in the dungeon in the first place. The bear clan was afraid to make another move until James acknowledged that he heard the child. They might all have thought they were going crazy.
James gave a sudden powerful roar and turned his thoughts back to his men. They all had heard what they had to do and were ready and willing to get out there and do it. It might very well have been the most important thing they had ever done in their lives, and the future of their entire clan depended on it.
“We are going to have to go around to the back of the castle and enter in toward the dungeon entrance, back where I escaped from originally. All of the guards are going to expect us to emerge from the forest, but nothing about what we do should be what they expect. My wife and children are on the line, so we have to do this right. Without them, our clan will be wiped off the face of the earth forever. No bear shifters will exist after our generation has gone on to the next realm. We need to do this right, so everybody follow my lead.”
He turned to Gail. “I need you to stay here, Gail, so that they think that we are going to come from this side. I want you to roar and continue approaching, but be careful. I want someone to volunteer to stay with you so that you can stay safe. Keep your eyes on the ground for barbs and tricks; these traps can take us down in an instant. Step over them and stay quiet, except for Gail and Dodd.”
Everybody agreed on the instructions, and began to approach. James led them quietly around to the back of the castle, helping them to avoid stepping into traps and triggering them so that they did not get into trouble. He could smell Sadie and knew that she was both fearful and relieved. He tried to will his voice to reach her, but because she was not part bear, he knew that it would not work. So instead, he willed his voice to his unborn children, telling them that he was on his way and would do everything he could to bring them safely into this world.
Chapter 9
“I want to have your wedding dress on for this," Lord Lachlan said with a seedy smile as he pushed Sadie into the entrance of the castle. He summoned the servant, the same one she had seen the first time she opened her eyes in this new world of the past, and told her to fetch the wedding dress. The woman gave Sadie a fretful look, but disappeared up the spiraling staircase to retrieve the dress.
“Nobody humiliates me like you and lives to tell about it," Lord Lachlan said, running his finger along the polished wooden table. "Then again, few people are as beautiful as you are, so it's almost funny to me to be shamed in this way. I almost like it. Almost."
Sadie said nothing, just glared at him as they waited for the servant to bring down the wedding gown. When she finally arrived, she gave the wedding dress
to Lord Lachlan and retreated. However, she cast her eyes upon Sadie, fixing on her a worried but caring look, and disappeared up the stairs again, peeking over the railing to watch what became of the wisp of the Highlands.
“Put it on,” Lord Lachlan ordered.
Sadie stared at the dress, her nose crinkled in disgust. Although the gown was beautiful, she did not want to humor this sick man in that way. She refused, and Lord Lachlan instantly grew furious. He was used to everybody doing exactly what he said the first time he said it. That was what he thought obedience should be.
“I said put on the dress!” he shouted. He pressed the tip of his sword against her throat.
Sadie's hands shook as she picked up the dress. She was about to pull her clothes off when a huge banging noise startled them both. They turned to find the cause of the commotion and were met with a loud, malicious roar. It was James, and he had come to rescue her just in time.
“James!” she exclaimed, running toward him. He gave her a gentle nuzzle and pushed her behind him with a large paw. James wasn't alone. Lord Lachlan was left staring at a huge circle of warriors, who had surrounded him within his own home. Most of them recognized him and had stories of vast personal loss associated with him, and so tearing this man apart limb from limb was actually some kind of closure for them. She stared at them with wide eyes, and Lachlan held his sword in his quaking hand as if he could somehow prevent the inevitable from happening.
Soon, the bears advanced upon him, and Sadie could hear the sound of his screams shrieking from in between the giant bear forms devouring him. Finally, one last gargle escaped his lips, and a snap cracked through the air crisply. With that, the vicious tyrant Lord Lachlan was gone.
Chapter 10
James motioned for Sadie to get onto his back. She climbed up on him gently, worried that he might have been wounded in the battle. However, he seemed to be fine, although he moved slowly across the yard. The guards had wisely avoided attacking the massive group of bears, knowing that they were vastly outnumbered and would have been slaughtered if they had tried anything stupid. James carried Sadie to the point where he had left Gail and Dodd, and Sadie ran to Gail, who was covered only in a scrap of tartan cloth, and embraced her. Dodd remained in his bear form, ever alert to the danger.
“Are you all right, lass?" Gail exclaimed, looking Sadie up and down. “I can't believe we almost lost you and your precious ones."
“My what?” Sadie asked, looking at Gail and confusion.
Gail clasped her hands over her mouth and exclaimed, “Oh, I'm so sorry. You didn't know yet, did you?”
“What's she talking about, James?" Sadie asked, turning to James. He was no longer in his bear form, instead in his striking, muscular human form, naked in all his glory and glimmering silver in the moonlight.
“I even heard them, it was unbelievable," James exclaimed, looking up to the sky in reverence. "You're pregnant, lass, you're having my twins. I didn't know that it would happen so soon, but it has. That was how we were able to avoid danger. They warned us of the traps. They heard Lachlan talking to you and did their best to give us a warning.”
Sadie gazed at James in disbelief; he had to be joking with her. But Gail was looking at her with a bright smile and nodding enthusiastically. She couldn't help but believe what they were saying.
“I know, it seems crazy. And about the babes speaking in the womb, using their bear voices...I just thought that it was old ridiculous rumors, but they truly could talk to us when it mattered the most. It must have taken a tremendous amount of energy, so I doubt they would try it again, but they were able to this once. It was amazing." James picked up Sadie and twirled her around in the dark, both of them laughing in disbelief. She was going to have his babies. And they had saved their lives.
Chapter 11
James and the rest of the clan were very tired after their battle with Lord Lachlan and his men. It had taken a lot out of them to arrive in such a short amount of time, and so as they approached their camp, they decided to take a long rest by the river. Sadie and James camped a little ways apart from the rest of the group, knowing that having each other back finally would be a cause for celebration. They had a lot to talk about and wanted some privacy. Gail understood and did her best to keep everybody from protesting their camping separately.
“You know young love,” she said, although she wasn't very old herself. The rest of the clan begrudgingly agreed and allowed them to have their privacy.
James lay on the ground naked, his muscles rippling handsomely in the moonlight. Sadie ran her hand down his chest as they spoke, letting her palm roam the firm, warm curves of his body. He smiled at her, his eyes twinkling in the moonlight, and pulled her on top of him. She nestled there, instantly aroused by the feeling of his bare groin pressing against her middle. She buckled against him and he grinned at her, knowing what was on her mind, squeezing her ass in both his hands.
He thrust against her, his rod growing hard as it pressed between her legs, and she sighed softly, feeling the bulge of the tip of his penis as it massaged her clit, sending tendrils of pleasure winding throughout her entire body. He sighed as she squirmed out of her clothes, pressing her naked body on top of him. Her hot breasts trailed along his cool body, the hard mounds of her nipples arousing him uncontrollably, making him groan as he grew hard to the point of bursting. She nestled on top of him, her hot loins enveloping him inside of them, and he slid fully inside of her, eliciting a groan from both of them.
Her groan turned to a cry of pleasure as he thrust hard inside of her, going as deep as he could go, burying himself in her and pumping again and again. She moaned with pleasure as he made love to her, their bodies entwined on the ground. James brought her nipples to his mouth, his strong, skilled hands roaming her body expertly and lovingly, resting gently on the mound of his unborn children for a moment before finally he bent her over and began pounding her in earnest, until she gripped the grass in her hands and cried out, pushing her mouth into the crook of her arm to muffle the sounds of her intense orgasm.
Her body quaked around James, contracting and pulling on him until he uttered a low moan, flooding her inside with his hot explosion. They collapsed into each other, breathing heavily, gripping one another with pure love as they instantly fell asleep.
Epilogue
When they finally returned back to the camp, Ivar was waiting expectantly with a smile on his face. James had confessed what he knew of Sadie's past on the journey, but she had taken it surprisingly well, gripping his muscular arm and leaning her head into it. She asked him never to lie to her again, and he promised he wouldn't.
“What is it, Ivar?” James asked with a grin, slapping the old man on the back.
“We figured out how to send Sadie back to her own world,” he said. “We weren't totally sure we could, it was risky, but we know it will work now. Once she delivers the twins, we will open the portal and she can return.”
“Wait, what are you talking about?” Sadie asked, her heart thudding. “I'm not leaving my twins.”
James and Ivar looked at each other nervously.
“You don't have to leave them,” James said softly. “Not if you stay here with me. And even if you just want to go home, that's all right, too. You can take them. I don't know how you'll teach them the bear ways, but we can manage. Maybe I can go with you. I think Gail would make a great Alpha.”
He winked at Gail and she laughed.
“What would you like to do, Sadie?” Ivar asked, furrowing his brow. He had been so relieved just moments before, but now he was back to his old brooding self.
“I'd like to stay here with you,” Sadie said. “I want to be a Highlander.”
The clan was silent for a moment, until finally eruptions of glee and excitement followed. Everybody was cheering; they couldn't imagine life without Sadie now that she was there.
James picked her up and swung her around and they laughed, kissing passionately. They would raise their family toget
her, free to be bears.
THE END
Clan of the Werebears
Lady Arabella Armstrong looked out of her window. The day was bright for travelling and her heart fluttered with excitement. Today she would be travelling from her home in Stirling to the baronial castle of her betrothed, Lord Andrew Grenville Stewart, the wealthy Laird of Inverness. The marriage had been arranged many years ago by her father, Lord William when she was just a girl. He had no son and heir and the match would be a good one. As well as uniting the two clans, she would live out her life in luxury; nothing would be too good for the new Lady Arabella Stewart. Although her father was a rich man, it was nothing in comparison to the wealth of the Stewart Clan, and she would have her own suite of rooms within the castle and maids to look after her every whim.
For months she had been measured and fitted for her trousseau, a beautiful peach silk gown inset with ivory lace. In fact several sets of new clothing had been made especially for her new life in the Highlands, expertly sewn to be both practical against the winter chills and attractive. Most of the items had been packed away, but she had kept out a deep blue woollen tunic for travelling in. It matched the colour of her eyes and she wanted to look her best for her soon to be husband.