The Clawed Squad: Stetson (The Bear Shifters of Clawed Ranch Book 1)

by Kim Fox

  Kylee knew this was the end. She had seen it over and over again for weeks and she knew what was coming next: the teeth, the pain, and then the darkness.

  She knew it was over but she felt no fear. The feeling of betrayal was too overwhelming. She had loved Stetson, truly loved him, and this was how it was ending. At least it will be over quick.

  The bear crashed down on her with his mouth wide open, the sharp white daggers in his mouth aimed at her shoulder. The heat of his breath washed over her sweaty skin and then the pain. His fangs cut into her soft skin as her heart shattered.

  Why? I love you.

  Didn’t he know that? Didn’t he feel the same way?

  The bear turned to her as she grimaced in agony, his crushing weight suffocating her as her shoulder flared in pain. His beautiful green eyes were filled with sadness that broke her heart even more. Even though he was trying to kill her it still broke her heart to see Stetson sad.

  His eyes flashed white and he chomped down even harder. His jaws were so powerful. The pain was so great. She was almost thankful of the blackness as it finally came.

  Kylee closed her eyes and let the darkness take her.

  thirteen

  “No!” Stetson screamed from deep within his bear. “You’re killing her!”

  His pleading wasn’t doing anything. His bear wasn’t listening. He was gone and Andrew was there instead, pulling the strings like a cruel puppeteer while Stetson was forced to watch, helpless as his bear took his own mate’s life.

  The bitter taste of iron filled his bear’s mouth and Stetson winced as the blood slid down his animal’s throat. “Come on!” he screamed. “Fight through it! For your mate!”

  Stetson could feel his bear’s teeth slicing through her soft shoulder, the beautiful shoulder that he showered with sweet kisses. He lunged forward, trying to take back control of his body but the skin shifter’s mind was too strong. Andrew just shook him off like he was a toddler trying to fight a grown man.

  Andrew forced his bear to bite down harder and Kylee screamed out, her face turning a ghostly white. The bright light in her gorgeous brown eyes were fading. It couldn’t end this way. He couldn’t kill his mate.

  How would he go on after?

  He couldn’t. He couldn’t live without her in the world.

  Kylee’s limp head dropped back and her mouth fell open as Andrew released her shoulder from his bear’s jaw. “She’s dead,” he whispered staring at her in disbelief. She dropped to the floor of the forest like a corpse.

  She wasn’t moving.

  Andrew forced Stetson’s bear to step towards her limp body. He watched in horror as his bear opened its deadly jaws and lunged forward at her exposed neck to deliver the final death blow.

  “NO!” Stetson screamed, thrusting forward and driving through the thick barrier that Andrew had created. It was like hitting a brick wall but he pushed forward grabbing and clawing his way back to his bear. Andrew was strong but there was nothing like the strength of a bear shifter protecting his mate.

  Stetson ripped through the skin shifter’s defenses, shattering them to pieces, and reeled in his bear. Andrew tried one last time to wrestle back control but Stetson pushed him aside and burst through the polar bear’s skin, phasing back to his human form.

  The bear’s body shrank and convulsed as his long white fur retreated into his human skin and Stetson burst free, naked and furious.

  “Kylee,” he whispered, sliding the back of his hand down her cold cheek. Her Sheriff’s uniform was drenched with thick red blood and the terrible wound in her shoulder was pouring out more like a broken dam. She was so still. So cold.

  He placed his finger under her nose but there was no warm breath. There was nothing. She wasn’t breathing any longer.

  She looked dead.

  Stetson let out a growl that shook the trees and woke every animal in the forest.

  “Get back!” Andrew warned, pointing the gun at him with a shaky hand. Stetson rose up with clenched fists and murder in his eyes. He was going to tear this skin shifter to pieces.

  He charged at him, snarling like a mad man. Shots rang out and the bullets slammed into Stetson’s charging body, ripping through him in searing streaks of pain.

  He didn’t care. It didn’t slow him down.

  No pain could match the pain of seeing his mate as a dead bloody mess. He clenched his jaw and pushed forward as more bullets struck his jacked naked body.

  “Crap!” Andrew said when the gun clicked dead. He was about of bullets.

  And out of time.

  Stetson charged at him cocking his mighty fist back as he ran. He launched forward, planting his feet on the ground as he landed, and swung with all of his hundreds of pounds of weight behind his fist, aiming for the skin shifter’s chest.

  His iron knuckles collided into Andrew’s chest, right over his heart, with a thunderous crack. The devastating punch reverberated through the skin shifter’s hard skin, his thick muscle and settled into his cruel beating heart, shutting it down for good.

  Andrew fell to his knees, clutching his chest as his mouth opened and closed like a dying fish out of water.

  “You broke my heart,” Stetson said, enjoying the sight of Andrew dying. “Now I broke yours.”

  The skin shifter fell face forward into the dirt with a thud. He was dead.

  And Stetson was fucking glad that he was.

  He rushed back to Kylee’s body which was still lying in the forest. She hadn’t moved.

  Stetson’s world was spinning as he knelt down beside her. Her eyes were closed, her face pale. He was so focused on her still face that he didn’t even notice the pain of the multiple bullet wounds in his body that had begun the process of healing.

  “I’m sorry, Kylee,” he said as his eyes welled up with tears. “I should have known that I wasn’t mate material. I should have stayed away from you.”

  He grabbed his shirt and wiped away the wet blood from her shoulder. “Look what I’ve done.”

  He forced himself to see it. He wasn’t getting off that easily. He had fatally hurt his own mate with his weakness and he was going to look at what he’d done. It would stay with him forever but he forced himself to look.

  “Kylee,” he gasped when he saw her shoulder. The wound was healing. It was healing!

  Stetson’s bear had bit into her, almost enough to kill her but not quite. His mate was a strong one. But he had done something else.

  He had put a bear in her.

  Kylee’s eyes sprang open. A tortured growl burst from her throat. She arched her back and bit down on her lip as a thousand knives sliced her insides at once. Blood leaked down her chin from the bite.

  She could taste the blood. Smell it even.

  It smelled good.

  It was bright in the cabin. Too bright. The light burned her eyes.

  She thrashed around on the wet mattress and tried to get up.

  Strong hands pressed her back down and she snarled at them, wanting to murder everything.

  “Easy baby,” a familiar voice whispered. It felt like a million drums in her ears.

  Everything hurt. Everything ached.

  “It’s going to be okay, Kylee,” another voice. Strong. Dominant. She could sense the power. The whole room smelled like sweat and fur. “You’re doing great. Just hang in there. It won’t be much longer.”

  She kicked off the sheets. It was so hot.

  The teeth. Her shoulder. She grabbed it but the skin was so smooth. There were no marks.

  “What’s happening?” she gasped. She tried to sit up but the hands were back pinning her to the mattress.

  “Rest,” the soft voice said. She couldn’t see. It was too blurry. She knew that voice.

  Her stomach turned. She sat straight up in bed and vomited. A bucket appeared out of nowhere. Soothing hands stroked her hair. Sang softly to her.

  She puked her guts out and fell back on the pillow. Exhausted. She could smell the stink of her own sweat. Her
blood. Her vomit.

  Everything was so loud. Men talking outside. An owl was hooting right beside her ear. She swatted out at it with a roar but hit nothing.

  Intense soul crushing pain. Roaring. Snarling. Anger.

  There was a presence inside her. A dark furious presence.

  “It’s okay, baby.” The voice was back. Cradling her hand. Calming. Reassuring. “I love you.”

  More pain. And then, thankfully, more darkness.

  “She’s through the worst of it now,” Thorn said with a hand on Stetson’s shoulder. He was still shaking.

  Stetson had some horrible times, abandoned by his parents at such a young age, living on the mean streets of Detroit, tortured for two years, and fighting in the world’s worst war zones but this was by far the worst night of his life.

  He had almost killed Kylee. His mate. His love. And now what he had put her through was worse than death. It was a pain that no human or shifter should have to bear.

  But she was fighting through it like a trooper.

  He pressed a cold wet facecloth to her sweaty forehead as she thrashed around on the mattress. Thankfully she was still unconscious.

  She had been waking up on and off for the past hour, never knowing where she was or what was going on. Hopefully, she wouldn’t remember any of this in the morning. It would be better that way.

  Stetson had been a wreck until Thorn came home and helped him out. His alpha always knew what to do. Thorn had seen humans go through the turning process before and he had helped guide him and her through it.

  “It’s almost over,” Thorn said, splashing some water on his face in the bathroom. The poor guy. That was the last thing anyone wanted to come home to after a long night of drinking. “She’ll fall into a deep sleep now and when she wakes up in the morning she’ll be okay.”

  “She won’t be okay,” Stetson said, holding onto her hand like it was his only lifeline. “She’ll have a bear inside of her. An aggressive one from what we’ve seen.”

  “She will,” Thorn said, running his wet hands through his wavy brown hair as he walked out of the bathroom. Thorn always told it straight. He never lied to make things seem better than they were. Stetson loved that about him. “She has a rough couple of days ahead of her while she gets used to the bear inside. It’s not an easy thing for a human to have to all of a sudden share their body with a confused bear. It’s going to be tough. But she’ll have you to help her along. Are you going to man up and be there for her?”

  Stetson puffed his chest out and nodded. He would be there for her always.

  “She’s lucky to have you,” Thorn said. “You’re a terrific mate, Stetson. And that’s the truth no matter what you think. I’ve seen how good you are to her.”

  “How good I am to her?” he asked with a sigh. “Look what I’ve done.”

  “That wasn’t you,” Thorn answered. “And you know it. That was the work of the skin shifter and she would have been dead if you hadn’t fought through his hold.”

  Stetson exhaled long and hard. Maybe it was unfair to blame himself for this. This wasn’t his intention.

  “I’ve never heard of a shifter fighting through the hold of a skin shifter,” Thorn said, leaning on the windowsill. “Ask Tyler. It doesn’t happen. Ever. You did that for your mate. You fought for your mate and you saved her.”

  Stetson nodded as he looked at Kylee’s sleeping face. She looked so peaceful now as she slept.

  “She’s lucky to have you. You’re a good man,” Thorn said as he stood up. “I wouldn’t have you on my squad if you weren’t.”

  “What about Slate?” Stetson asked with a smirk. “He’s an asshole and you have him on.”

  Thorn laughed. “Yeah but nobody can grill a steak like Slate. It’s worth the constant wisecracks.”

  Stetson chuckled. “Thanks, Thorn,” he said. “I’m lucky to have you as an alpha.”

  Thorn slapped Stetson’s back as he headed for the door. “Call me if you need me,” he said. “Good work tonight.”

  Stetson nodded as his alpha closed the door leaving him alone with his sleeping mate. He stroked her cheek and kissed her forehead. Maybe Thorn was right. Maybe he was mate material.

  There was only one person who could answer that.

  He squeezed her hand and watched her sleep. And hopefully, she wouldn’t kill him before he could find out.

  fourteen

  Kylee woke up with a splitting headache. It felt like world war three was happening inside of her frontal lobe.

  Stetson was kneeling by the side of her bed with wide eyes. “You’re okay?”

  “Okay?” she groaned. “I feel like I drank a barrel of whiskey last night.”

  “I’ll be right back,” Stetson said, sprinting out of the cabin. The door crashed closed behind him and she winced in pain. Everything was so loud. It was if she turned her iPod on and it was at full blast. Only there was no off button.

  It wasn’t just the sound, although she could hear every bird outside, the fire crackling, and every word the boys said. She could see every little detail in the ceiling down to the tiny cracks of paint over the drywall that she would have needed a magnifying glass to have seen yesterday. And she could smell everything. The intense piney smell of the forest, the bacon frying, the blood on the sheets, the-

  Blood on the sheets?!?

  She sat up straight in bed, ignoring the crushing pain in her head. The sheets and mattress looked like a horror movie. They were covered in dried blood.

  Kylee tapped every inch of her body but she wasn’t injured. She was fine. The blood wasn’t hers.

  Or was it?

  She could only remember last night in bursts and flashes. The vision. It had come true. So how am I still alive?

  Stetson charged through the door holding a coffee mug that was filled to the rim. “Don’t let the-”

  The door slammed shut and a lightning bolt ripped through her head. “Door close,” she said, too little, too late.

  “Sorry,” Stetson said, rushing to her side. “Drink this. It’s supposed to make your headache disappear faster.”

  Kylee took the mug and raised it to her lips expecting to taste something vile but it was only coffee. “Ahh,” she moaned after she took a big gulp that didn’t even burn her mouth. She took a deep breath and downed the rest of the mug in one long sip. Her headache was already pretty much gone.

  She squeezed her hands into fists, feeling power flow through her flexed forearms like she’d never felt before. “Why?” she said, opening and closing her hands. “Why do I feel like a fucking superhero?”

  Stetson laughed, looking relieved. He wrapped his arm around her, yanked her towards him, and kissed her temple.

  She felt like Superman. She felt like she could lift the cabin over her head or run as fast as a speeding bullet. “Can I fly?”

  “No,” Stetson said with a chuckle. “You can’t fly.”

  She swallowed hard, feeling a warm presence inside of her for the first time. It was strange. Yet seemed right. Who are you?

  The presence rumbled in response and she could feel her whole body vibrate from the sound emanating from her chest.

  Stetson was smiling nervously. “That’s your new friend.”

  “A bear?” she asked, looking at her humming chest. She had no way of knowing but somehow she just knew. There was a black bear inside of her.

  “I’m sorry,” Stetson said, his lip trembling. He looked so devastated. He looked like he was going to break down and cry, which looked so cute on such a large, powerful man.

  “For what?” she asked. The events of last night were starting to come together in her head. Andrew taking over Stetson’s polar bear. The bite. The pain. The transformation. It was all clear now.

  “I did this to you,” he said. “I turned you into a shifter.”

  “First of all,” she said, placing a hand on his devastated chest. “It was Andrew who made you bite me. That wasn’t your fault. And second of all, this do
esn’t feel so bad.”

  Kylee grabbed the wooden plank of the bed frame beside the mattress and squeezed her hand closed around it. The wood shattered into pieces. She looked at Stetson in shock and then they both burst out laughing.

  “You’re going to have to get used to your new strength,” he said. “Among other things.”

  She leaned forward and nuzzled her nose on his neck. “And you’re going to have to get used to having me around,” she said. “My loving mate.”

  Stetson’s lips curled up into a smile and he leaned in for a kiss. Kylee touched two fingertips to his lips and stopped him. “Not until I brush my teeth.”

  He laughed as she climbed out of bed, feeling like she could run through the wall. “Is this how you always feel?” she asked, flexing her arms. “This is incredible.”

  Stetson watched her in wonder. “You get used to it.”

  “I’ll never get used to this,” she said, rushing to the bathroom in a blur. I’m like the flash!

  “Yes you will,” he called out from the bedroom. “It’s just going to take a few days.”

  Kylee took the cap off the toothpaste and held the tip over her toothbrush. She squeezed it so hard that the whole contents of the tube squirted out into the sink. “It’s going to take a few days,” she repeated, “and a few tubes of toothpaste.”

  “I’d like to introduce,” Thorn said, holding Kylee’s hand over her head, “the newest addition to the Clawed Squad!”

  The boys all cheered and hollered before rushing in to give her hugs. She smiled as her cheeks reddened, surrounded by muscles.

  “Nice!” Royal said, giving Kylee a high five. “We have a sexy Sheriff in our group!”

  “Who you calling sexy?” Stetson asked, glaring at him with bared teeth.

  “Yeah,” Slate said, stepping forward. “I’m the sexy one of the group!”

  It had been a few days of rough work but Kylee was finally in control of her inner black bear. She loved her! It was amazing walking through the forest in her animal form, exploring the trees and shrubs through a bear’s eyes. The smells, the sights, the sounds. It was incredible.