A shrill, blood-curdling scream tore through the woods and pierced right through Ryder’s heart.
His claws sliced out as he started to run. He had to get to that woman.
He only hoped he wasn’t too late.
CHAPTER TEN
Ford and Dillon had already shifted as they turned and ran towards the sound. Ryder’s bear burst out of him as he followed the woman’s scent. He could hear her voice now, and her harsh, ragged breathing.
Ford, Dillon and Ryder fanned out and slipped between the trees. They could see the woman now, and their eyes glowed from the shadows as they watched the unbelievable scene in front of them.
A tiny human female in a torn, gray dress was standing in the middle of a circle of wolves. There were ten wolves closing in on one small human.
The woman had evidently put up a good fight. Ryder saw blood on the snout of at least six wolves. She had hit them in the face. Smart.
The little human had managed to do some damage to the wolves.
But she was injured as well. Blood was running down her arms, and her face was badly bruised and scratched. She was in pain, but it was her anger, not her fear, that was palpable.
“Come on,” she screeched, brandishing a broken branch and a rock. “Fight me! You want me, Gordon?” she sneered at a red wolf. “Fight for what you want. Come on!”
The red wolf bared its teeth at her and stalked forward.
“Your minions have been doing all the work for you. Don’t just stand there. Do your own work. Don’t make others carry the responsibility and blame for you. Are you going to blame your underlings if things don’t go well? Are you going to run back to your Momma and tell her that your minions have fucked up the job?”
The red wolf snarled at her. From the wolf’s reaction, Ryder was guessing that the woman’s words had hit some sore spots.
The woman laughed, and it was the most harrowing, horrible, painful sound that Ryder had ever heard.
“You call yourself a wolf?” There was a maniacal light in the woman’s hazel eyes.
“You’re no wolf. You’re a wuss!” she yelled.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Penny could feel blood trickling down the side of her face, but she held on to her rage and pushed aside all her fear and pain. These wolves were toying with her. Instead of attacking together, they took turns to taunt her.
All this while, Gordon just stood and watched, his yellow eyes glowing with sadistic pleasure. His minions were doing the dirty work for him. He wanted her humiliated and broken for smashing a rock into his face.
She hurled another rock at Gordon. The rock slammed into Gordon’s side and Penny pumped her fist in the air.
“Bull’s eye!” she shouted.
Penny smirked. She knew that she had humiliated Gordon in front of his underlings. But she was done being made fun of. The wolves were inflicting pain on her for Gordon’s amusement. They were drawing blood slowly, gradually weakening her body and mind. They knew that she couldn’t escape, and it gave them some sick pleasure to watch her spin around in circles, fighting a fight she had no hope of winning.
It was exactly what her parents had done to her. They had put on a convincing act and made her run around in circles for them. They played the victim card like a pro. They had lied to her and told her that her father’s eyesight was deteriorating rapidly. Her father constantly pretended to feel his way around and stumble in front of her to make her believe that he was losing his sight. And her mother acted like a helpless, ignorant damsel when she was in fact extremely shrewd and cunning.
Penny realized with a sharp pang of anger, sorrow and shame that she had actually seen through their ruse very early on, but she had refused to believe her own intuition and gut. She didn’t want to believe that her parents were liars.
Penny forced down her pain and shame and stared at the red wolf.
“Let me tell you one more time, Gordon,” she said, keeping her voice flat and steady. “No.”
Gordon snarled and leaped at her. His eyes burned with murderous rage and his jaws widened to clamp around her neck. He was going to kill her.
This was it.
Penny gripped the jagged branch and prepared to stab the sharp end into the wolf’s body. She would cause as much damage as she could before she died.
But before the wolf reached her, a deafening roar shook the entire forest.
Penny stumbled back in shock as a huge grizzly bear appeared out of nowhere and landed in front of her. She screamed as the bear swiped its glinting claws across Gordon’s face.
Gordon backed away and let out a short cry. At his command, the other wolves converged on the bear, attacking the target as a pack.
There was another roar, and Penny saw two other bears emerge from the trees and rush to the aid of the grizzly bear. A ferocious black bear and a brown bear fought alongside the grizzly bear, and the forest transformed into a battlefield.
The bears tore into the wolves and fur and blood began to fly. Penny flattened herself against a tree to get out of the way.
The three bears were working their way swiftly through the pack of wolves. The bears flung the bodies of the dead wolves away as if they weighed nothing. Only three wolves now stood between the bears and Gordon.
Gordon howled and the wolves broke apart. They darted off in different directions, distracting the bears. The bears split up to chase the wolves, and that was when Gordon struck.
Penny saw Gordon lurching towards her. She tried to run but she wasn’t fast enough. The red wolf pounced on her and bit into her shoulder.
Penny yelped in pain and struggled to free herself. She could feel sharp teeth sinking into her flesh. The pain was so excruciating she almost passed out.
“Get off me!” she screamed.
One of the bears turned around and roared. The black bear charged at Gordon and knocked him away from Penny.
Penny’s vision turned red but she didn’t know if it was her own blood or the wolf’s blood that was drenching her vision.
She murmured incoherently just before the forest tilted sideways and collapsed into a deep, black hole, taking Penny down with it.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Ford Brennan roared when he saw the red wolf biting viciously into the woman’s shoulder. He saw the pain and terror in her large, hazel eyes and something exploded in him.
He threw the wolf off and the coward beat a hasty retreat when he saw Ford. The wolf didn’t even try to fight him. He savagely attacked a human woman, but he didn’t dare fight a larger opponent.
Ford turned to go after the wolf. He would rip the wolf’s head right off its body.
The woman’s scream had sliced right through his heart and soul, and he wouldn’t rest until he killed the bastard who had caused her such pain.
“No...”
Ford froze at the woman’s frail, fading voice. She managed to meet his eyes before her head fell back and her body went limp.
Ford rushed to her side. He shifted to human form and gently lifted the woman up.
Her dress was covered with blood, and her breathing was slow and shallow. Her unseeing eyes flew open and she began shivering uncontrollably.
With a gurgling cry, her eyes rolled back in her head as she coughed out a mouthful of blood.
“No, no, no...” Cold fear gripped him. “Hang on, please hang on...” Ford could hear the desperation in his own voice.
Ford clutched the wounded woman to his chest and began to run. He had to get her in the truck and rush her to a hospital in town.
The woman felt so small and fragile in his arms, and he felt fiercely possessive and protective of her. She was tiny, but her curves felt so right against his body. Her matted brown hair was clinging to her face and neck, and her long, dark lashes fluttered as she moaned softly.
Those wolves would pay for hurting this precious female. But why was she alone in the woods, facing down a pack of deadly wolves?
The woman made a small sound and Ford sto
pped when he realized that she was trying to speak.
“Hey,” he said softly. “Don’t worry. Those wolves are gone. You’re injured. I’ll take you to a hospital...”
“No...” she wheezed, digging her nails into his bicep. Ford was surprised at how much strength she still had in her.
“No hospital,” she repeated.
“But you’re injured...”
“No hospital,” she whispered as her eyes slid shut. “I...ran away...”
Ford turned around when he heard Ryder and Dillon coming up behind him.
They were back in human form, and their eyes were on the woman in his arms.
“We killed the three gray wolves,” Ryder said.
Ford scowled. “But the red wolf escaped.”
Dillon stared at the woman’s blood-stained dress and said, “We should get her to...”
“She said no. She doesn’t want to go to the hospital,” Ford snapped. “I think she doesn’t want to be found. She ran away.”
“But those wolves found her anyway,” Dillon said to Ford’s back. Ford was already striding towards the house.
Ryder ran ahead to unlock the front door for him.
Ford stepped into their warm cabin and laid the woman on the couch.
“Get some water,” Ford instructed. “We have to clean the blood and dirt off her so we can see how badly she’s injured.”
“She needs medical attention,” Dillon said, whipping out his phone. “If she refuses to go to the doctor, the doctor will have to come to her.”
Ryder came back with towels and a basin of water. As Ford and Ryder began to clean the blood off the unconscious woman, Dillon was pacing up and down, furiously stabbing at his phone.
Finally, Dillon shook his phone angrily and cursed. “No one’s picking up,” he snapped. “Why aren’t the doctors picking up their phones? These doctors make house calls, yet when we call, they don’t pick up their bloody phones! I tried calling three different doctors, but nobody’s picking up!”
“It’s bingo night,” Ryder deadpanned.
“Who did you call?” Ford asked.
“I tried calling Dr. Neeley, Dr. Singh and Dr. Mayer...”
“Try again,” Ford said impatiently.
Dillon threw up his hands. “What do you think I’ve been doing?” He stopped as a thought struck him. “Ah! I’ll call Dr. Lillian Eve!”
“Are you sure?” Ryder interjected. “Dr. Eve is retired and...”
But nobody was listening to him. Dillon had his phone to his ear and Ford had turned his attention back to the woman.
Even with multiple scratches and bruises on her face, the woman was achingly beautiful.
Her dark brown hair fanned out around her delicate, pale face, and her full lips were slightly parted. Her hazel eyes had been bright and feverish, but Ford saw the sheer grit and determination in them.
Ford touched her hand very softly and she responded by squeezing his fingers.
The little female was stronger than she looked. She wasn’t giving up.
“That’s right,” Ford whispered. “Hold on tight. Don’t let go, sweetheart. Don’t let go.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Penny could hear male voices and she felt a damp towel over her skin. She felt someone brush her hair away from her face and gently dab a soft, wet cloth over her forehead.
She was aware that her fingers were curled around a big, strong hand and she held on for dear life. Did this hand belong to the man who had carried her in his arms and told her that he was taking her to the hospital?
She remembered his face. He was ruggedly handsome with sharp, angular features. His black hair was cropped close to his head, and his intelligent gray eyes were full of understanding and compassion. He seemed to be able to sense all her hidden secrets and shame.
Penny heard his voice and she tried to concentrate on what he was saying. Her senses seemed to be clogged up. She could only hear muffled sounds and her eyes refused to open.
Penny tried again. She wanted to wake up and tell her rescuer that she was all right. She didn’t want to go to a hospital.
She just wanted to get up and get as far away as possible. She had to keep running…
With a gasp, Penny surfaced from the darkness. Her eyes snapped open and she blinked rapidly.
The voices stopped talking and three men turned to her.
“You’re awake.”
Penny recognized the black-haired man who had carried her. He was kneeling in front of her, staring at her in concern.
Penny looked down and saw that she was holding his hand in a bone-crushing grip. She released his hand and shrank back, confused and embarrassed.
The man gave a quick smile and stood up. “I’m Ford Brennan,” he said. “And this is Ryder Sloan and Dillon Hutchins. You’re safe with us.”
Penny looked up and saw two men standing behind Ford. Ryder was the one with shaggy blond hair, blue eyes and a dimpled, impish grin. Dillon had wavy brown hair and amber eyes, and he acknowledged her with a nod. Like Ford, they were very tall and broad, and Penny found her eyes trailing down their t-shirts and down their long, denim-clad legs.
For a moment, she wondered if she was in a dream. There were three gorgeous, wickedly sexy men standing in front of her, their attention fixed solely on her.
She shook herself and rubbed her eyes. The three hunks were still there. This wasn’t a dream.
Penny roused her brain and turned to Ford. “You saved me...from the wolves...” she rasped.
As she stared at them, she suddenly remembered the three ferocious bears who had come to her rescue.
“You...the bears...” she stammered, staring at each of the men in turn.
They smiled. “Yeah, that’s us,” Ryder answered, jerking a thumb at himself. “We’re bear shifters.”
Dillon shot him a look. “We’re lumberjacks,” he said. “This is our cabin.”
“Oh.” Penny looked around. “I...I can’t stay here,” she said, throwing the blanket off. “I can’t bring trouble into your home...”
Ford put a hand on her shoulder. “Calm down. You have nothing to worry about. Those wolves are dead.”
“Except the red one,” Ryder interjected.
“Gordon,” Penny said with a shudder.
Shaking her head, she went on, “Gordon is the son of the Emerald pack Alpha. He will come back with more wolves. I have to leave...”
“We can handle him,” Ford said. “Just rest here. The doctor is on her way.”
Penny tried to stand up. But her legs refused to cooperate and she collapsed into Ford’s arms.
“Lie down,” Ford ordered, helping her back to the couch. “You’re not going anywhere in this state.”
Penny knew that he was right. She felt woozy and weak, and there was an insistent, pounding pain in her shoulder. She could feel herself sinking back into an inviting, exhausted sleep.
But before she closed her eyes, she wanted to tell her rescuers about herself.
She forced her eyes open and looked up at Ford, Ryder and Dillon. “I...I’m Penny Dawson,” she said. “I...”
These kind, good men deserved to know who she was and what they were getting themselves into by helping her.
“I’m a runaway bride,” she said.
“What?” Dillon and Ryder spluttered in unison.
“I didn’t agree to the marriage,” she whispered, feeling her strength fading. “My parents sold me to the Emerald pack.”
She heard Ryder curse loudly. Dillon swore, “Those wolves will never lay their filthy paws on you ever again. The Emerald pack had better stay far away if they want to keep their hides on their mangy bodies!”
Penny heard a dangerous growl. It seemed to come from Ford but she couldn’t be sure.
“You said your parents sold you?” Ryder said, unable to keep the horror and disgust out of his voice.
Penny could no longer keep her eyes open but she needed to get the words out.
“Go
rdon handed the money over to my parents, and took possession of me.” She swallowed and bit out the words, “Gordon bought me, but I...don’t...belong...to...him.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Penny sighed softly as the vision of the three insanely hot, handsome men faded. That was the most delicious dream she had ever had. Three strong, sexy men were surrounding her, holding her and making her feel safe and desired. She had seen them change into bears and their bears were magnificent.
She knew their names. Ryder, Dillon and Ford. She saw their faces clearly, and she wanted to call out to them before they disappeared.
She made a strained sound in her throat, and a female voice answered her.
“Penny, can you hear me? Penny, wake up.”
She started and opened her eyes with a gasp. Two women were staring at her.
“Who are you?” she stuttered, raising her arms defensively.
“Hey, it’s okay,” the younger woman said. “We won’t hurt you. I’m Kira, and this is my grandmother, Lillian Eve. We’re taking a look at your injuries. Dillon called us,” she added when she saw Penny’s confusion. “He couldn’t get anyone else, so...”
“Dr. Kira, Dr. Eve...” Penny began.
At that, Kira giggled. “Actually, my grandma retired from medical practice two years ago. And I’m in training to be a doctor. So...we’re not really doctors.”
Penny managed a smile. Kira’s candor was refreshing and assuring.
She looked around and saw that she was lying in a big, wide bed. “Where…?” she began.
“You’re in Ford’s bedroom,” Kira said. “He carried you to his room when my grandma told him that we would have to unbutton your dress to look at your wounds. The guys are waiting outside.”
Penny looked up at the silver-haired woman who was sitting on the edge of the bed. This had to be Kira’s grandmother, Lillian Eve.
“I just finished examining the wound on your shoulder,” Lillian said gravely.
Her Three Werebears: Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance Page 3