by Noelle Marie
I had the sickening feeling Felix was about to kiss me.
Even if he wasn’t, he was bound to finish dragging me off to his car any second. Either way, I knew it was time to act. I needed to somehow get my hands on that glass bottle.
Unfortunately, the only way I could think of to get close enough to the ground to reach it… was if Felix shoved me, hit me, did something to purposefully knock me down. And that would only happen if I made him mad.
It was a risk, I knew, to invite his fury onto me, but I didn’t see what other choice I had. Felix’s mouth hovered over mine, his rancid breath warm against my lips.
It was now or never.
“I’m not yours,” I asserted boldly. “I never was, and I never will be.”
Felix, of course, only smirked. He had already admitted to getting his jollies off by my newfound insolence, after all. “That’s what you say now, but given time-”
“I’m Derek’s,” I proclaimed, interrupting him mid-sentence.
Felix raised his eyebrows, clearly unimpressed by the declaration. “Derek,” he repeated incredulously. “You won’t even remember his name by the time I’m done with you.”
I shook my head. “You wouldn’t say that if you knew,” I denied.
What I was about to do was dangerous; it had the potential to backfire in my face. After all, I had no idea how Felix would react to what I was about to tell him, but I did know, at the very least, that it would enrage him. (Which, unfortunately, was precisely what I needed.)
I just prayed he wouldn’t outright kill me.
Felix snorted, his expression doubtful. “If I knew what?” he demanded, clearly only asking to humor me.
I bit my lip. “You wouldn’t say that if you knew that his cub was growing inside my belly.”
Felix’s entire body stiffened, the grip he had on my bicep growing minutely laxer.
Satisfaction curled my stomach at his frozen expression. His face remained that way for a long minute before slowly contorting into something ugly. I couldn’t help but find pleasure in his disgusted sneer.
Unfortunately, his hold on my arm didn’t remain negligent for long, and, in fact, grew tighter the more vicious his sneer became. Soon, what felt like the sharp tips of claws were digging into my skin.
“You’re lying,” Felix hissed, shaking me, and I experienced the unpleasant sensation of my brain rattling around in my skull.
“What?” I asked when I managed to recover, flicking my hair back and purposefully taunting him. “Can’t you smell it?”
Felix’s nostrils flared, and it was my turn to tense when he suddenly jammed his nose into the crook of my neck. I fought to keep my nerve as he slowly dragged it down my body, brushing past my collar bone and the swell of my breasts before finally coming to a stop at my stomach.
Unfortunately, he kept a firm grip on my arm the whole time.
When Felix finally looked up at me, his eyes glowed yellow, and I saw a flash of sharp, white teeth. “You little slut,” he hissed, slowly standing, returning to his full height. “Can’t you even be trusted to keep your goddamn legs closed for a few fucking weeks?!” he demanded.
Then, suddenly (miraculously) he pushed me.
It was a brutal shove, and I didn’t even have to pretend to lose my balance and fall hard on my butt. He paced back and forth in front of me, muttering obscenities under his breath. It was the most out-of-control I had ever seen the man.
Taking advantage of his distraction, I scrambled to grab the neck of the broken bottle, quickly hiding it behind my back before he could see.
Not a second too soon, either, because Felix was hauling me back up by the collar of my shirt a moment later. His face was red, eyes still glinting yellow, but he was remarkably calm considering the state he’d been in only moments before.
“What?” he asked, taking in my shell-shocked expression. “Surely you didn’t think I would let you go just because you’re carrying his bastard, did you?” he demanded. (Not really.) Revulsion curled his lip as he glanced down at my stomach. “I have half a mind to slice you open and make you watch as I rip the half-formed thing apart.”
I froze at the suggestion.
Felix rolled his shoulders, cracking his neck in the process – the action almost entirely animal. “Luckily for you, I’m not going to do that. I’m a civilized man, after all. We’ll keep the babe.” He tilted his head to the side. “What better way to make sure you stay in line?”
I shouldn’t have been surprised by the twisted way his mind worked, but horror ballooned inside me regardless. I shook my head. “I’ll never let you use my child as leverage against me.”
Felix snorted, his usual dark amusement returning as he got over his shock. “And what, exactly, are you going to do about it, hmm?”
“This,” I muttered, and a split second later, I revealed the broken bottle, pulling it back behind my head, prepared to jab the pointy shards into the exposed skin of his neck.
I was inches away from connecting when, faster than my eyes could follow, Felix caught me by the wrist and squeezed. I dropped the bottle, and it landed harmlessly on the ground.
Felix grinned, the expression on his face purely malicious. “You’re a clever little thing, I’ll give you that, but. not. clever. enough.”
Felix twisted my captured wrist until I heard a distinct snap. I didn’t know if the sound actually occurred or it only happened inside my own head, but white-hot pain shot down my arm, and the strangled scream that escaped me was certainly real.
Felix flung me back to the ground, wasting no time kicking the half-bottle out of my reach before crawling on top of me. “You know,” he said, straddling my waist, “I think I’ve changed my mind.” A reluctant whimper escaped me when he pulled my hands over my head, making sure to give my fractured wrist a vicious yank in the process. “After all, if you’re never punished for your ghastly behavior, how will you ever learn? Let’s see, what was my original idea again?” Felix furrowed his brow, pretending to think about it. “Ah, that’s right. I said I ought to slice you open.”
Without further ado, he transferred my hands so that they were both contained by only one of his, and raising his free hand in the air, he extended his claws, preparing to strike.
I braced myself for pain, managing to wriggle one hand free and sling it over my belly in a futile effort to protect Derek’s… no, my unborn child.
But Felix’s vicious slash never landed. A sound echoing through the trees directly behind us stopped him mid-swing.
A deranged half-howl, half-roar.
Derek.
He’d finally arrived.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
I burst through the line of trees surrounding my cabin, Wisp’s agonized scream playing in an endless loop inside my head.
Fear and rage swirled together inside my chest, creating a turbulent mess of emotion seconds away from erupting in the form of violence. For once, the bear and I were on the same page, our craving for retribution – for blood – at the forefront of both of our minds.
Then I saw them.
Wisp and that… miscreant, and our bloodlust only intensified.
They were on the ground, Felix scrambling to his knees, pulling Wisp up with him in an effort to use her as a human shield.
He had one arm wrapped around her waist, pinning her back to his front, and his other arm was draped over her shoulders, the hand of that arm resting loosely around her throat, the tips of his elongated nails pressing into the delicate skin of her neck.
I paused at the sight of the claws, their sharp edges pricking into Wisp just enough that little droplets of blood welled up beneath them. “Mr. Crowe, or should I say Derek,” Felix greeted, sounding annoyed. “Hasn’t anyone ever told you that it’s rude to show up to a party uninvited?”
A rush of rage trickled down my spine at his nerve – to mock me, to touch her – and I stood on my hind legs, releasing a vicious snarl before taking a furious step towards them.
&
nbsp; I was stopped in my tracks, however, when Felix increased the pressure of the claws he had pressed into Wisp’s neck, little rivulets of crimson slowly dripping down and staining the collar of her shirt.
Felix sneered. “I would say it’s a pleasure to see you again, but I think we both know that would be a lie.” He nodded at me. “Now, be so kind as to shift back into your human form, and perhaps I can be convinced not to rip her throat out.”
It went against every instinct I had to transform into my human skin when I was staring down a dangerous rival – a dangerous rival who had his paws on my mate. But with his claws so close to imbedding themselves into Wisp’s precious veins, I didn’t see what choice I had, so I forced my body to transform against its will.
Bones cracked, muscles shifted.
“Let her go,” I demanded gruffly when I was fully human, my entire body shaking from the effort it took to hold him back. I curled my trembling hands into fists at my sides; they were desperate to feel the crunch of Felix’s cartilage beneath them.
“Hmm,” the man hummed. “I’m afraid that’s not possible.”
I grit my teeth. “Give her to me, and I’ll let you walk out of here alive,” I tried again.
It was a bold-faced lie, and judging by the disbelieving sound Felix made in response to the suggestion, Felix knew it, too.
“Even if that was true,” he said – and his tone made it clear he knew that it wasn’t – “I’m afraid I could never agree to those terms. You see, Sloane here is mine.”
I felt a muscle in my jaw twitch. “Her name is Wisp,” I forced out between clenched teeth.
Felix sneered. “Her name is whatever I want it to be,” he spat before rolling his shoulders, getting a handle on his temper. “Now, listen closely, bear. I’m in charge here, and you’re going to stay perfectly still as I stand and walk Sloane to the car parked in the gravel.”
I scoffed.
Felix’s glare hardened. “Then,” he continued, “we’re going to drive away, completely untouched. You’re not going to follow us.”
“I’m going to-” I started, a dozen different threats on the tip of my tongue – they were all the ways I was going to savagely rip him apart.
“If you take a single step in our direction,” Felix interrupted sharply, “or I even think you’re about to transform, I’ll sink my claws into her throat and tear out her larynx so fast that you’re not even going to have time to wonder what happened before she’s choking to death on her own blood.”
I froze.
“Do you understand?” he asked, voice deceptively soft.
I shook my head. “You don’t want to hurt her,” I protested, calling out his bluff.
Felix scoffed. “No, I don’t want to kill her. But believe me, if you force my hand, I will.”
It was a lose-lose situation.
If I transformed into a bear and pounced on Felix regardless of his threats, I was gambling with Wisp’s life.
But I couldn’t just let them leave, either.
The image of finding Wisp locked in that basement, draped in dirty pajamas and even smaller than I’d last seen her, flashed through my mind. I thought of the bruises pressed into every other inch of her skin like a fucking demented rainbow, the dried blood caked around her wrists.
But bruised and bloody was better than dead… wasn’t it?
I was frozen in indecision, and finally tore my gaze away from Felix long enough to take in Wisp.
It was something I’d been avoiding doing since bursting into the clearing, partially because I was still ashamed of how I’d acted before, but mostly because I was terrified of the condition I would find her in, and I swallowed hard at the sight of her obviously mangled right arm.
I jerked my eyes away from the injury to look into Wisp’s eyes, silently pleading with her to give me some sort of sign – tell me what I should do.
Because I had been avoiding looking directly at her, it was only then that I noticed what she was doing. Her left hand was searching the ground, stretched out as she reached for something glinting in the grass.
I blinked.
Felix and I were both so caught up in the threat we posed to each other, that we’d all but forgotten about Wisp and her (admittedly, much less dangerous) capabilities.
“Well?” Felix pressed, tone growing annoyed when I didn’t immediately answer.
Wisp offered me a nearly nonexistent nod, and I tore my eyes away from her, not wanting to draw attention to what she was doing.
I cleared my throat. “I… I’ll stay here. Just don’t hurt her.”
Felix leered. “That’s a good boy.”
I shifted agitatedly as Felix and Wisp slowly stood. Thankfully, he didn’t get more than two steps towards the car before she acted.
Taking him by surprise, Wisp stabbed what I could now see was a jagged piece of glass into the hand he held to her throat, jabbing the shard into the sinewy tendon between his thumb and forefinger.
Felix inhaled – a painful, choked sound – and released her neck on instinct. In response, I immediately sprang forward.
I was wrenching Wisp away from the man one second and transforming the next.
Felix, acting quickly despite the glass still sticking out of his hand, managed to shift before my massive jaws could snap around his neck.
Where the man once stood, a mountain lion crouched. We slowly circled one another, each of us sizing the other up.
I immediately noticed that Felix was limping on his front, right foot – Wisp had unknowingly given me an advantage by injuring his paw. Another edge I had over the lion was my strength. In terms of size, I was at least three times as large as him.
That didn’t mean that Felix wasn’t without his own leverage. I would have been a fool not to acknowledge that mountain lions were notoriously fast on their feet. They were deceptively powerful, and their teeth and claws were just as sharp as a bear’s.
Still, I liked my chances, and the instincts screaming at me to defendprotectannihilate ensured that I made the first move. I charged at Felix, snapping my jaws, hoping to catch him around the torso and feel the crunch of his ribs between my teeth.
He leapt out of the way, escaping death, but I made sure to turn with him, keeping my body aligned with his, knowing intrinsically that I needed to keep my eyes on him at all times.
We played this cat-and-mouse game for a while, where I would slash or snap at him and he would leap out of the way. But if Felix thought he was going to tire me out, he was wrong. Every time I failed to sink my teeth or claws into his flesh, he grew angrier, his blood boiling hotter until my vision was tinted red.
I had him cornered near the tree line, preparing to jump at him again when a sudden commotion near the cabin startled me. Concern for Wisp had me jerking my head around.
It was a fucking thoughtless error.
The moment of distraction cost me. As soon as I made the mistake of turning my back on Felix, he pounced, leaping onto my exposed backside, burying his claws into my fur and sinking his teeth into the meaty flesh of my shoulder – only inches from my jugular.
I roared, more angry than hurt.
Unfortunately for Felix, instead of merely bucking him off, I had the sense to teeter backwards, bashing him against the nearest tree, crushing him between the thick trunk of the evergreen and my massive body.
He released a wounded yowl, and I felt his claws retract. I flung him from my back, and he landed with a dull thud on the ground a few yards away. I turned, ready to finish him off… only to find that Felix was already exceptionally still.
He hadn’t moved from where he’d landed, and I couldn’t tell if his chest was rising and falling with breath. I stared at his still form, inherently suspicious, but even straining my ears, I couldn’t tell if his heart was beating.
I sniffed at the wind, but the coppery smell of blood that saturated the air could have been from the bite on my shoulder or even the little pricks Felix had inflicted on Wisp’s neck – no
t necessarily from any internal bleeding.
Knowing there was a possibility that this was some sort of trick, I slunk forward cautiously. After all, trick or not, I still had to check to see if he was dead.
I should have just charged him.
As soon as I got close enough, Felix pounced, slashing his claws viciously across my forehead, missing my right eye by a hair’s breath. I was blinded by the blood that immediately began pooling into my eyes, and Felix wasted no time taking advantage of my deficit.
He pounced on me, slashing with his claws, taking a chunk of fur – and flesh – out of my arm as I tried to swat him away. I blindly snapped my teeth, desperate to connect with some part of the mountain lion when-
Bang!
The sound of a gun going off echoed loudly in my ears, and instinct had me freezing.
Felix froze, too, before slowly growing limp against me and slumping to the ground.
I lumbered to my feet, wiping the crimson out of my eyes. This time I didn’t have to wonder if Felix was dead.
Blood gushed from a bullet wound on the side of his head, located just a few inches beneath his ear.
It was a masterful shot, and I whipped around to see where the gun fire had hailed from.
And even though I knew it had to have been her, I was still half-shocked to see Wisp standing on the edge of the porch, the butt of my rifle in the pocket of her shoulder, her cheek resting against the scope – just as I’d taught her.
A moment later, she dropped the gun, and it clattered down the steps before landing harmlessly on the ground.
Adrenaline from my battle with Felix was still pumping through my veins, and a million thoughts rushed through my mind. Mostly, I was just so proud – of Wisp’s fast-thinking, of her bravery in taking a shot (even if an errant thought about giving her another lecture on gun safety entered my mind).