by T. S. Joyce
“You thought you were home free, didn’t you, Joanna.” Blake walked out of the woods behind them, glaring at her with such hatred in his eyes.
They’d almost made it.
Pulling the picture of her family from her pocket and tugging her father’s knife from her back, she handed them to Hannah, closing her fingers over her treasures. “Give these to Brody if he makes it.”
“What are you going to do?” Hannah asked, eyes wide and frightened.
“I’m going to protect you.” She pulled her shirt over her head and shimmied out of her jeans. “Get in and lock the doors, Hannah. No matter what you see, don’t get out of that truck. Okay?”
She nodded slowly, her eyes brimming with moisture. Hannah was worth saving just for that caring gesture. Joanna wouldn’t die unloved after all.
“No matter what,” Hannah said, her voice dipping to a ragged whisper as she cupped her hands over the old picture and blood covered blade.
Hannah scrambled into the cab of the truck, and pressed the lock button. The click made the abandoned road feel so lonely.
Blake changed into a massive black bear, the same as her animal, but bigger. Joanna closed her eyes and let her beast out, bellowing with the pain of the change and the anger of having come so close to freedom, only to have Blake snuff it out. She’d go, but she wouldn’t do it graciously and she’d fight tooth and nail to bring Blake into the afterlife right along with her. She stood on her hind legs and curled her lips away from her teeth, promising his death.
Blake charged.
Chapter Seven
Engaging in a violent smattering of bites and slaps, Joanna jerked back and circled Blake. Her hackles rose in a strip down her spine, making her skin tingle. Lunging, he raked his claws down her chest, drawing blood, and red rage burst through her veins. With a short bellow, she tackled him, clawing and scrabbling as they tumbled end over end down the hillside beside the road. He would come for Hannah the second she was incapacitated, so she had to injure him enough that he wouldn’t be able to get into the truck. Hannah should leave, let Riker and Brody and their soldiers defend her, then meet up with the survivors later. She couldn’t tell her that though.
Relentlessly, she stayed on Blake, even as he slashed her with his six inch claws. Even as he sank his long, penetrating teeth into her shoulder. She ripped and shredded and bit, shaking her head until his flesh tore free. The anger in his eyes faded to defiance, and she knew she had him. She just had to hang on long enough.
Her body was shredded, a dozen gashes through her skin seeped into her matted fur, and the puncture wounds at her shoulders ensured she didn’t use her arm properly, but it was almost done if only she could endure his scratching claws against her stomach. Sinking her teeth into his throat, she held on as he furiously bucked. His roar of death rattled her eardrums, but still she clung to the fading pulse at his neck.
“Joanna. Jo,” Brody said from above her. “He’s gone. Let him go.”
How long had she lay like this? Blake’s heart had stilled and she’d remained attached, afraid if she let go, he’d come back for her and Hannah. Maybe she’d stayed on him for minutes. Perhaps an hour. He was growing cold and stiff beneath her.
Brody’s clothes likely still lay in strips near the pond, and his skin was streaked with dirt and blood. His shoulders heaved, and with every breath, his abdominal muscles flexed. Her gaze teetered between the intensity of his gold flecked eyes and his taut stomach and chest.
“Jo,” he said again. “Change back.”
Her name, shortened and delicious sounding on his lips, brought her back little by little. She gasped and released Blake’s neck. Her jaw was sore and she scrambled backward, away from the limp body. Closing her eyes, she tucked her bear back inside of herself. The storm clouds had opened up and rain came down harder. It washed red streams down her skin.
“Jesus,” Brody whispered. “How far out is Daria?” he asked Riker, who leaned inside the truck where Hannah was.
She hadn’t even noticed him or the other shifters who were standing in on the roadside, somberly pulling their clothes on. Surprised, she counted them. If the numbers didn’t match the force of bears she’s seen in the woods, it was close. Their losses had been few.
“Half an hour from the hotel,” Riker said over his shoulder.
Her skin was on fire and aching soreness surrounded her stomach, legs and shoulder. Brody stood there, hands outstretched like he wanted to touch her as badly as she wanted him to. Why didn’t he? His expression was hard, and a deep rumble emanated from his chest. The two shifters closest to her moved away, but another man approached.
“We need to get you back to our healer, Daria.” He spoke to her but his earnest blue eyes were on Brody. “My name is Cameron. I’m second in this clan. I swear, we won’t hurt you. We need to leave now though.” He cleared his throat. “You bear our mark.”
Confused, she frowned and tried to stand. The sound from Brody’s throat intensified and he scooped her up, folding her into his arms like she weighed nothing. “My mark,” he corrected Cameron in a gravelly, inhuman voice.
His hands were firm and warm against her skin, and he pulled her close, tucking her against the impossibly hard planes of his chest. Rain pattered against her relentlessly, collecting in the bowl of her arms against her shredded stomach. Everything hurt.
Brody carried her to the big black truck, probably Riker’s, and pressed her against it, effectively shielding her from the other shifters’ curious glances. He dropped his forehead to her cheek and his body began to tremble. “Where are your clothes?”
“Here,” Hannah said, flapping grass and sprinkles of mud from her damp jeans. “Put her in the back with me and I’ll help her dress.”
Brody snarled and Hannah shoved him hard in the shoulder. “Cut that shit out, Brody. I’m no threat to her. She saved my life.” She opened the back door and jabbed her finger at the seat, winged her eyebrows into irritated arches and waited.
“Sorry,” Brody muttered. He sounded surprised. Setting her gingerly onto the back seat, he held out a hand to help Hannah in, then closed the door when she was settled.
From the driver’s seat, Benson watched Brody saunter around the front of the truck with an expression that said he thought he had lost his damned mind.
Brody cast a dark gaze back at Joanna and slammed the passenger side door. And still, Riker stared.
“We’re alive,” she said lamely. She didn’t mean to say the words out loud, but she really didn’t think they were going to make it out of there. She hadn’t been off of Long Claw land in two years, and even though she was only about twenty yards outside of Nathan’s territory, it still counted.
“About that,” Benson said, pulling onto the paved road. “You couldn’t warn me you were about to claim a mate in the middle of Hannah’s rescue?” He was yelling and the cab filled with the lightening smell she’d scented near the pond.
“It was a last minute decision,” Brody muttered, staring out the window. He looked relaxed, but his hand was clenched against his thigh.
Hannah was trying her best to pull Joanna’s jean shorts over the cuts Blake had made in her legs without touching her burning skin. Bless that woman.
Joanna frowned and fingered the long cuts Brody had made against her torso. “What did you do?”
Brody slid a narrow gaze back at her and then faced forward again.
She dropped her voice lower and asked Hannah, “What did he do? What do the cuts mean?”
“Lean back.” Hannah zipped her jeans like she was incapable of using her fingers and snapped the button. “He’s claimed you.” She lifted her fists near her head and waved them around with a bright smile stretched across her ruined face. “Happy mating daaay.”
“Hannah,” Benson warned.
“Which is bullcaka, by the way,” Hannah continued, “because that was the least romantic mating party ever. We could’ve celebrated with everyone back in Bear Valley. Did you eve
n know he was going to cut you?”
Joanna shook her head. She definitely had not been mentally prepared for him to shank her in the middle of Long Claw territory, no.
“Nice,” Hannah muttered, gathering her shirt to pull over Joanna’s head. “Nicely done, Brody.”
“But what do the marks mean?” She’d asked for sex. That was claiming and she was pretty sure no sex had happened at the pond.
It was Benson who answered. “It means your bound, Joanna. You and Brody are together, mated now. He’s claimed you and by cutting him back, you accepted. And are you in heat?” His voice was growing louder again, filling the cab of the truck until she wanted to put her hands over her ears.
She crossed her legs self-consciously. “Yes.”
Her voice came out a squeak and Benson’s angry eyes jutted to the rearview mirror. He turned to Brody and gripped the wheel until the poor thing look strangled. “Are you fucking kidding me, Bannister? You scooped a ready female out from under the main alpha of the Long Claw Clan? In front of him? You were the one saying no war until we were ready. Just an hour before, you were telling me about the need to wait, to fight them on our own terms. And instead, you single-handedly caused an unplanned battle with the Long Claws. The freaking Long Claws, Brody.”
Hannah snorted. “Okay, I changed my mind. That was totally romantic. He cut you in front of an alpha polar bear. That’s sexy.”
“Hannah!” Riker yelled.
“Riker,” she screamed back. “You weren’t there. You didn’t see what she did, what she risked for me. She faced down an alpha to save a stranger. The blood she’s spilling now was supposed to be mine. If Brody wants her, let him have her.”
“I don’t want her,” Brody said so quietly, Joanna almost missed it. The only sound in the truck was the shifting of the automatic transmission.
“What?” she asked, her heart constricting until she felt like it would implode in her chest.
“That was our deal, remember? You brought us Hannah, and I claimed you. My debt is paid.”
“Except I didn’t know your customs.” Anger heated her cheeks until they burned and she ignored the pain in her stomach. She leaned forward and clutched the back of Benson’s seat. “I thought I’d asked you for sex, Brody. To make me undesirable to Nathan. That’s what claiming means to the Long Claws. I didn’t know by cutting you back I was tying myself to you forever. You didn’t explain anything.” Panic seized her throat, making it hard to speak and her voice sounded strangled. “You were supposed to release me after this was done, but you’ve marked me, tethered me, and now you don’t want me? Then you shouldn’t have cut me! I left that place to find someone to love me. Not someone to tolerate me for the rest of my life.”
“So, you started a battle with the Long Claws over a woman you don’t want?” Riker’s voice was low and dangerous.
Hannah sucked her lips into her mouth and pressed a towel against Joanna’s middle. Shocked by the pain, she yelped and jerked away as her tattered skin seared. Faster than she thought possible, Brody grabbed Hannah’s wrist and relieved the pressure. Riker snarled and yanked the truck off the road, skidding through the mud until they lurched to a stop.
Brody’s eyes were wide, unblinking. “Don’t hurt her anymore,” he choked out.
“She’ll bleed out,” Hannah said, yanking her hand from his grasp.
“Get out,” Riker snarled as he threw open his door.
Brody did.
Joanna checked the road, but the only other drivers were the shifters of Bear Valley and they had pulled over behind them. Besides Hannah, there were no humans to see Brody and his alpha take a furious naked walk to the edge of the woods. Riker changed first, then Brody, and their bears locked in violence before they even made it past the first row of lodge pole pines.
Hannah crawled into the passenger seat and popped open the glove box. Shuffling papers sounded as Joanna pressed her face to the window glass and watched the raging fight. “They’ll kill each other.”
“I could’ve sworn Riker left a first aid kit in here. Gum?” She twisted in the seat and offered her a piece of spearmint smelling chewing gum.
Shaking her head, she pointed out the window. “Did you hear me? I said they’re going to kill each other.”
Hannah snorted. “Let ’em. Ridiculous alpha bears need to fight and bleed to let off steam. Better than them changing in the truck.”
Well, true but…she scanned the woods out the window but couldn’t see them anymore. The lightheadedness she’s attributed to shock swirled out of control, spinning the earth on his axis. Cold sweat dampened her forehead and neck and her head fell forward. She was going to be sick. “Hannah?”
The mate of the alpha was smacking gum and rifling through the glove box still. “Yeah?”
“I don’t feel well.”
The edges of her vision collapsed until there was nothing but darkness and a single pinpoint of light. Her body seized and she fell backward against the seat, and even the tiny ray of misty gray light disappeared.
Chapter Eight
Riker clapped him on the back and Brody winced. “She’ll be good for you. You’ll see.”
He shook his head but didn’t say anything. What was the point? Arguing would risk pissing off his alpha again and he wasn’t up for another row. As it was, he could sleep for a week. He’d stayed up all night worrying about Joanna, then went straight to battle and begged a second helping from Riker by opening his big mouth. Of course Riker would think Joanna would be good for him. He had Hannah and they’d been paired well. But his friend had a short memory if he didn’t remember exactly why he had vowed not to take a mate.
He was about to ruin this woman’s life.
The door to the truck flew open and Hannah looked so scared. “Help.”
With a quick glance at Riker, he bolted for the back door and flung it open. Joanna lay across the back seat, her shirt soaked in blood. He’d been so stupid to cause trouble, to stall when she needed Daria. He had convinced himself she wasn’t hurt as bad as she looked, because the snarling animal inside of him couldn’t handle it. Couldn’t accept it.
“You want me back there?” Hannah asked. Her voice cracked on the last word and she smelled of fear.
“No.” This was on him, his mess. He’d be the one to fix it or fail. He slid in under Joanna, cradling her head. “I need a towel, anything.” The soaked shirt she wore was useless now so he ripped it clean through and tossed it to the floor. It made a wet sound as it plopped on the plastic floor mat.
Bear shifters healed much faster than humans, but the gashes on her stomach and the teeth marks on her shoulder were deep enough that they would scar. He didn’t have clothes and neither did Riker, but Hannah peeled off her shirt without a word and handed it to him. He put pressure on the worst of her open injuries as Riker peeled out of the mud hole he’d parked the truck in.
The cab smelled of animal and iron and Joanna twitched her head to the side.
“Is she going to change?” Hannah asked, facing the back seat. She slid her hand around Joanna’s and held on.
He shook his head and swallowed hard. “I don’t know.” If she did, it wouldn’t be on purpose and she wouldn’t be in her right mind. She’d shred them all in this tiny space. His heart pounded against his sternum as he lifted her head against the warmth of his stomach. She was so cold, her skin felt clammy. God, he’d been so stupid, bickering with Riker when she needed help—his first failure as her mate.
Her dark lashes were so long, they brushed her cheeks and her full lips were slightly parted. He’d wanted to take her near the pond when she’d let him kiss her. Wanted to rip her clothes away and thrust into her until she screamed his name, but she deserved better.
Why had he cut her? Hell if he knew. He saw her spin around to defend Hannah, the blade in her hand. He saw the way Nathan was looking at her, like she was his. His mate, his to kill, and something deep inside of Brody had shattered. And like the sick fuck he was,
he’d wanted Nathan to watch him mark Joanna. Wanted him to see his plaything snatched from him. That’s all she was to Nathan. A pretty cane he used to prop his leadership on. If he could prove he could break a strong spirited woman like Joanna, his clan of barbarian shifters would respect him more. The cost of that game would be Joanna though.
He might not be the solution for whatever she was looking for. But he’d at least be a better option than Nathan. And right now, that’s all she could ask from him. It was all he had to give.
The movement of the truck bounced Joanna’s full breasts, and he couldn’t drag his gaze away from her perfect pink nipples. He wanted to taste them. His erection pressed against her back and her skin felt good and right against his. This was the moment when he was supposed to cover her modestly with the edge of Hannah’s slowly soaking shirt, but moments ticked by and still, he couldn’t stop staring.
She was slender, but not soft and her skin was the color of ivory. It looked even paler smattered in red. A stray strand of dark hair had fallen over her face and he forced himself to look anywhere but her deliciously bobbing breasts. With a light touch, he pushed her hair back so he could see her eyebrows, furrowed in pain or with a bad dream or perhaps both. Her cheek was swollen and red, as if someone had hit her, and pride surged through him that she hadn’t given up. She had worked for her escape. He drew his fingertip down her sloping collar bone then pressed his palm against the rag once again.
When he looked up, Hannah was staring at him like she’d never seen him before. Right. He’d forgotten about her. She still clung to Joanna’s hand. “Don’t worry, Brody. She’ll be okay.”
Her attempt to console him made him angry and he slid his gaze to the window. She’d just seen more of him than he allowed anyone to see, and not on purpose. She’d taken it from him when he wasn’t paying attention. A moment that never would’ve happened if Joanna was still awake. Shame boiled in his gut, spreading through him until his skin warmed with it. He couldn’t afford to grow feelings for Joanna, and he definitely couldn’t risk Hannah telling her about some imagined moment they’d shared when she was unconscious.