A Bear's Protection (Shifter Country Bears Book 1)

by Dakota West

  Julius’s hands broke out in a sweat, and he gritted his teeth together, determined to keep himself in check.

  Then the girl’s bored gaze slid over to look at him, and for just a moment, they locked eyes.

  He drew even with her on the steps, eyes still locked.

  For the first time in years, Julius thought his bear might get the better of him.

  Then there was a loud, world-shattering bang.

  Julius whirled around. For a split second, he thought that something huge and metal had crashed to the ground. Everyone looked half confused and half panicked.

  Then there was another one, and another, each sounding louder and sharper than the first.

  Then, Julius realized they were gunshots. He leapt for the girl, tackling her full-on, the sign smacking him in the face as he covered her body with his.

  There was one more gunshot, this one amid a mess of growling and yowling. The unmistakable roar of a grizzly, the growl of a wolf, and a mountain lion’s bloodcurdling shriek.

  People ran everywhere, slipping on the stone steps, some falling, their protest signs flailing everywhere.

  Julius’s bear was half out, his hands clenched into tight fists and his face in a snarl as he covered the girl with his body.

  I’ll fucking kill anyone who tries to so much as touch her, he thought. He could smell panic, blood, and a little bit of pee.

  Where’s Hudson?

  Underneath him, her chest rose and fell and her face was flushed. The shots had stopped, and for a split second, he watched her chest heave, his bear savoring the delicious swell.

  Where’s Hudson?

  Julius tried his best not to panic. The girl, whoever she was, seemed okay, and that was important but where was Hudson?

  Fifty feet away, at the bottom of the stone stairs, a human was sprawled on the ground, surrounded by a lion, a wolf and a grizzly, a gun a few feet away on the pavement. The lion had one paw on his back, wicked claws fully extended, and was quietly growling in the man’s ear.

  Julius felt an involuntary chill snake down his spine. Lions gave him the creeps.

  Ash Spencer, his cousin-in-law, ran up, his own gun in one hand, and pointed it at the human. He started shouting, too, but now Julius could tell that everything was under control.

  “Are you okay?” he asked the girl.

  Her brown eyes were the size of saucers and she was still breathing hard, but she nodded. He gave her one more long, searching look, and then stood. She rolled over, grabbed her sign, and scampered off.

  I have to find Hudson and then I have to find out who that was, Julius thought. His best suit, the custom-fit one he’d spent half a month’s salary on, was filthy and probably ruined, but that didn’t matter right now.

  Stay calm and you’ll find him, he thought. He stood up straight and searched the pandemonium for his mate — even though the six-foot-six blond behemoth stood out in most crowds, he blended in pretty well with a bunch of grizzly shifters. Julius let his eye skip from person to person, but there was no sign of the other man yet.

  It felt like there was a hand around his heart, and it was starting to squeeze.

  Julius started walking down the steps and into the crowd, doing his best to act calm, but his mate wasn’t there. He imagined Hudson bleeding on the ground while he had been protecting some girl he didn’t even know. He imagined someone else holding Hudson’s hand as the blood stain spread across the flagstones.

  The hand around Julius’s heart gripped tighter, and he could feel sweat trickle down the back of his neck.

  He can take care of himself, Julius thought. He was in the Lost Souls for ten years before you even met him. He knows how to handle gunfire.

  Julius took a deep breath, his eyes frantically flicking from person to person, none of them his mate.

  How could I possibly live without him?

  “Hudson!” Julius shouted, finally losing control. “HUDSON!”

  Then, the crowd parted for a moment and there he was, kneeling on the ground, his back to Julius, but Julius would have known his mate anywhere. He ran to him, pushing aside humans and shifters alike, until he finally reached his mate, collapsing to his knees beside him.

  He was covered in blood.

  “It’s hers,” Hudson said, seeing the alarm on his mate’s face.

  Julius realized that they were in front of a woman, her face nearly gray, lying on her back. Hudson had her jacket balled up and pressed against her shoulder.

  “Shooter winged her,” Hudson said, his low, gravelly voice calm and collected. “She’s lost a lot of blood but she’ll be okay.”

  The woman opened her eyes slightly, looked at Hudson, and closed them again.

  As if on cue, Julius heard the wail of sirens, pulling around the corner.

  “They got the shooter,” Julius said, trying to reassure the woman. “He’s not going anywhere.”

  She nodded, faintly. He didn’t recognize her, but she was some sort of shifter — wolf or coyote, it smelled like. Sometimes he had a hard time telling the canines apart, especially in this much pandemonium.

  Then two EMTs were there, Hudson was calmly telling them what had happened and what he’d done, and they were nodding and telling him they’d take it from there.

  Hudson nodded once and let go. The woman moaned softly, and then the EMTs got to work.

  The moment that Hudson’s hands were free of her, Julius wrapped his arms around the other man, holding him close.

  “I’m covered in blood,” Hudson murmured in his ear.

  “I don’t care,” Julius murmured back.

  He felt Hudson’s arms wrap around him too, holding him tight, and he inhaled deeply, smelling his mate’s scent: leather and musk and a the faint but ever-present smell of engine grease.

  “I don’t know what I’d do without you,” Hudson said.

  Then he pulled back just enough for Julius to kiss him, hard.

  Julius could still feel the adrenaline jolting through his veins as he pressed his lips against Hudson’s, snaking his hand around the other man’s jaw, holding him tight as Hudson parted his lips to let Julius’s tongue in, wrestling with his own.

  Then they broke apart, both still breathing hard. Julius closed his eyes and rested his forehead against his mate’s, letting himself be thankful for just a moment that they were both okay.

  From behind him, he heard a woman’s acid voice.

  “At least there’s only two of them,” she said. She sounded as if she was watching a dog take a dump on her favorite shoes. “They can’t reproduce.”

  “Don’t look,” Hudson murmured, too late. Julius had already turned and searched out the speaker.

  She couldn’t have been more than fifty, but the frown lines etched into her face made her look at least fifteen years older. Her hair was piled on top of her head, and she wore a plain long-sleeved shirt, a long denim skirt, and tennis shoes.

  Julius recognized her immediately: Barbie Taylor, one of the most outspoken anti-shifter activists in America.

  Standing next to her was the girl he’d protected. The curvy, gorgeous brunette.

  Julius growled, despite himself.

  “Come on,” said Hudson, his gruff voice right in Julius’s ear. “Don’t do this.”

  Julius could feel his mate tense up. Hudson hated the Taylors just as much as he did.

  He forced himself to stop growling, and Hudson kissed his neck, just under his ear.

  Then Hudson froze. Instinctually, Julius knew he’d seen the girl. He could feel in his mate the same sudden freeze and overwhelming need he’d felt only a few minutes ago. He ran his hand over Hudson’s thick side, feeling every muscle underneath his black t-shirt, his eyes still locked with Barbie’s.

  Hudson bit his earlobe, hard, and Julius gasped.

  “They ought to take them all to the woods and fence them in,” Barbie said, the corners of her ugly, pink-painted mouth turned down. “Come on, Quinn.”

  Quinn dipped her
head, cast one final, inscrutable look at Julius and Hudson, and then followed Barbie away.

  They watched her go, both barely breathing. When she finally disappeared into the crowd, Julius turned to face Hudson again, looking deep into his mate’s eyes.

  For a long moment, they were both speechless.

  At last, Julius spoke up.

  “It’s a bad time,” he said. “This can’t happen now.”

  Hudson put his thick hand gently on the side of Julius’s face and ran one thumb along his partner’s cheek.

  “I’m not sure we get to decide that,” he said, quietly. “But let’s take one thing at a time.”

  Julius nodded. There was still chaos all around them, people shouting, children screaming. They were both still kneeling on the stone steps, where Hudson had been when Julius found him.

  “Come on, Attorney Bloom,” said Hudson, a slight smile on his lips. “Don’t let them ruin your show.”

  Julius gave Hudson another quick kiss and then stood, ready to face anything.

  Read the rest of A Bear’s Nemesis now!

  About the Author

  Dakota West is the paranormal romance writing alter-ego of contemporary romance author Roxie Noir.

  Roxie lives in California with one husband, two cats, and several bookshelves crammed completely full of stories.