by Kyrii Rayne
He panted, his warm weight pressing her into the mattress, and trembled a little when she traced her fingers over his sweaty back.
“I love you,” he gasped between long, shivery breaths.
She held him, warm and satisfied but also dizzy and conflicted. She breathed deep and sighed into his hair as she felt him relax into sleep. I do love him. But I'm still scared I won't live long enough to enjoy it.
She slept softly in his arms for a few hours, knowing only what time it was by his watch as he lay limply asleep and spent beside her. Her stomach growled. Oh man, not again.
She had left her forage bag in the other room. She had refilled it again on the path, and now craved something to fill her hollow stomach. Getting up, she found her clothes in the dark and pulled them on, then finger-combed her hair.
Maybe it was silly to think about appearance at a time like this, but her hair had been known to tangle thoroughly enough to need cutting if she left it too long.
She made her way back to the observation room, and went for her bag, rummaging through it. No more berries. Some pine cones, some roots. She grabbed some of each, turned—and jumped a little as she saw Mark sitting silently in a chair not three feet away.
He looked at her mutely in the thin starlight, and she hesitated, then sat down nearby to crack open one of the cones. He watched her work for a minute, face set in a thoughtful scowl, then rasped softly, “I sent Little Bear off to bed. Kid's superhuman and still has no damn stamina.” He folded his arms. “But before he went I got a lot of information out of him. About those bear shifters.”
“Yeah? Like what?” She tried to keep her voice calm as she nervously cracked out some pine nuts.
“According to Darrin, Jake sees you as his mate. He says that they imprint on people. On humans. It's kind of mutual, but the bear feels it more. Like a baby duck imprinting on the first thing it sees coming out of the egg. Except with sex.” He stared at her coldly as she struggled to process this.
“I-imprint?”
He nodded slowly.
“He talked about it in almost mystical terms. Like there's one human out there that they're meant to be with, and they'll all somehow magically meet them some day.” He waved his hands dramatically, broad sarcasm in his voice. “That it's meant to be, and creates some kind of emotional link between them. And that the reason Jake's mother being murdered drove Anthony crazy was because he felt it.”
“That's horrible.”
Anna's hands shook so hard she almost dropped the pine cone.
“Yeah, it is, but I don't think you're getting it. That guy you just tried to be all quiet and discreet with? Only reason he's with you is because of this mating thing. It's all instinct. He never even had a choice. And because of that you'll never know if he's into you for you, or because something in his back brain knows he can make little bear babies with you.”
She blinked at him in the dark, feeling a mix of mortified and worried. No, it can't be like that. No. It's more than that to him. He's with me for me. Not because of some weird... instinct.
Mark leaned forward, hands clasped in front of him.
“How can you trust him? He's not human, his father's crazy and so is every other one of those people we've seen so far except for Darrin, and he's not even with you because he wants to be.”
She drew a deep breath and shook her head.
“You're wrong on that last one. He fought with his father over this, he's ready to kill him to protect me, and he came all the way out—”
“Instinct,” Mark said, shaking his head. “That's all it is.”
“Why do you even care, damn it?”
She had been just starting to feel better again and now this.
“Because I don't want to see you used, not by a bunch of nonhumans whose family tried to fucking kill us both! And are still trying!” He kept his voice low but it shook with emotion. “You're a smart girl! Don't fall for it! The guy isn't even human. For all you know his instincts will only last long enough for him to get a kid out of you, and then that's it.”
She stared at him, and her vision blurred, and she had to wipe her cheeks.
“So you figure all these bear shifter guys are all the same after all, huh?”
“Look, I'm making nice because we need their help. If this guy is guarding you because he's got some mating instinct that kicked in, we may as well take advantage. But don't you forget how we found out about these werebears. We have seen them hunt and eat humans. And what kind of things do werewolves and things like that always do in the old legends? Same thing. Same goddamned thing.”
She nibbled pine nuts, her heart pounding, and tried her best to keep her head clear.
“Old legends also say that Pagans have a pact with the devil and Jews drink blood. It's all bullshit most of the time, and a lot of it is meant to demonize people.”
“Do you really think that those... things... that tried to kill us, that Graypaw whatever it was, any of those guys, do you think they needed any help looking like the bad guys?”
He pointed down the mountain illustratively, and she sighed.
“No, they didn't. But I also wonder if judging all bear shifters by Anthony Matson's example wouldn't be a little like judging the entire race by Dr. Mengele's. He's crazy, Mark, and hateful, and most of the people working with him seem pretty broken and messed up too. I think we shouldn't be so quick to judge them all as monsters.”
“That's because you're sleeping with one of them.”
He stared her in the eyes until she blushed and looked away. But the more she thought about it, the more his attitude bothered her.
“Mark, I'm... I'm pretty surprised at you right now.”
He blinked.
“What? Why?”
“I'm sure you've got plenty of reasons to be suspicious. Some of them, I share. But when in the history of ever has any one race been uniformly good or bad? Ever?”
He blinked and looked thoughtful. But then his face closed and tightened into a scowl.
“They're going to have to go a damn long way with me before I'll trust any of them. I've seen too much of this kind of thing. Sometimes you have to take a hard stand even if there are some people on the other side of the wire who might not quite deserve it. Otherwise you end up dying of principles.”
She sighed and shook her head.
“Look. I'm not ignoring what you are saying, but Jake hasn't failed me once.”
“Except by getting you into this.”
“I'm putting that on that monster Anthony.” She scowled and looked out the window at the gathering dawn... and then blinked. “Oh crap.”
Mark unfolded from his chair and went up to the window.
“Headlights, coming up the fire road. We've got company. How many bullets you have left?”
“Maybe five?”
He scowled, but then nodded. “It will have to do. I scavenged some flare guns as well.” He reached into his own bag and pulled one out, handing it over to her. “I figure that if they heal back hits from regular bullets except for head shots, they might not heal a hit from a flare so fast. Guess we'll see.”
“Still hoping we won't have to, but thank you.”
She stuck the flare gun through her belt and went back to the bunk room to grab her rifle and wake up Jake.
Chapter 12 - Assault
“Okay, folks, so. We have two rifles, four flare guns, a dozen flares, and two dudes who turn into bears.”
Mark struggled to keep calm as they rushed through what passed for a briefing. The headlights were another few miles off but there was nowhere else on this road for them to go but straight to the base of the tower. They had to prepare.
I can't stand all this tension.
“Well, I turn into a bear. He turns into a teddy bear.”
Jake jerked his thumb at Darrin, who smirked.
“Fuck you, dude. It's my nose that got you back with your girlfriend.”
Jake slipped an arm around Anna, who kep
t looking worriedly out the window.
“Fair enough.” he looked at Mark. “How do we keep them out?”
“Block off the stairway, force them to take time breaking through.” He looked at all the metal and plastic chairs and benches littering the observation room. “Toss these down, for starters.”
Anna looked at Jake, questioningly.
“Don't they just have to wait us out? We have no guarantee that this Helga lady will get that message Darrin left any time soon.”
“She'll have gotten it. She has two assistants, they keep on top of her stuff. We just have to hold off until she and the others get here.”
Darrin's mouth worked. His eyes were worried, but Jake understood that he had faith in Helga.
“Okay, so... how long then?”
“Probably as soon as they can get here. Helga lives in Jackson most of the time unless she's seeing her healer over in Colorado.” He exchanged glances with Jake. “Even then she'd have someone forwarding messages.”
Jake nodded, then looked down at Anna, who was trembling.
“Hey. You ok?”
“No, I'm um... actually wondering if I should call my Mom. You know, in case I never get the chance again.”
She wiped her eyes and smiled up at him very thinly.
Oh God. He pulled her against his chest and wrapped his arms around her, vaguely aware of Mark silently watching them both.
“You'll get the chance. I swear. Whatever happens, you're getting out of this alive.”
“We're getting out,” she corrected, staring up at him fiercely. But he couldn't smile, he couldn't speak to agree. Because one of those sets of headlights had turned out to be the truck with Graypaw's cage towed behind it.
They threw the furniture down the stairwell, though most of it didn't make it all the way down the stairs, leaving them with a clogged section for the top three stories. They gathered in the observation room, watching the vehicles pull up and the hunters get out, one by one. His father was among them, and Jake clenched his fists as he looked down at him.
Monster. You've come so close to costing me everything.
Conversation at the base of the tower. The men argued. He moved over to Darrin, who was listening as best he could through an open section of window.
“Well, that's that,” Darrin smiled tightly. “They caught our scents. They know we're with the last two survivors up here.”
“I figured they would. If they had any brains at all it would make them hesitate.” Jake's voice had a growl behind it that he couldn't suppress. The bear in him was very close to the surface, insistent and enraged.
“Jacob,” called his father's voice from below. He looked out the window, and saw his father standing there calmly with a megaphone. “Jacob. I'm somewhat surprised to find you here after my explanation. Come down now, and no harm will come to you. We'll find you a mate in the forest, and you, your brother and I can go home.”
Jake's eyes flashed and he leaned out. “How about I stay with my mate, and my friend, and the guy who protected her when I couldn't, and we kick the ass of anyone stupid enough to come up? How about that instead?” His voice was a deep, rumbling bellow, the bear even closer to the surface now. A mate in the forest? His mate was right here, and he was going to defend her. Mark blinked, staring at Jake in surprise, but Jake just went on. “You can't be crazy enough to think you'll get away with this. People don't just go missing anymore. You've endangered the entire Lodge with what you’re doing and you're going to pay for it. You come up here, you'll pay sooner rather than later.”
“Is that your final answer, my son?”
There was almost something pleading in Anthony's tone. Almost. Jake lowered his head, then looked over at Darrin, who nodded.
“We're staying with the humans!” he called. “And we will protect them. If you want to continue your little race war, you're going to have to get through me.”
The other hunters milled uneasily at his words. Anthony, though, simply stood there, staring up at him in the strengthening light. His face was creased with grief.
But then... it changed. It was like some last thread of sanity inside of him suddenly snapped. His face became suddenly expressionless. Blank. Almost like a mask. He nodded, and lowered the megaphone, setting it on the hood of the Range Rover that had followed the truck up the hill. He waved his arm to whoever was behind the wheel of the truck, and it roared to life.
“What are they doing?” Anna whispered worriedly at his side. He watched the truck carefully drive forward, turn... and back the cage with Graypaw up. They kept backing it up, the others helping guide the driver, until the back of the cage was almost flush with the entrance to the tower stairs.
“...Oh shit,” Darrin said weakly.
One of the hunters, the one with the bloody sleeve, reached through and unlocked the cage, then yanked the door open. Graypaw lunged forward into the stairwell, and the hunter jumped free and motioned for the truck to back the cage tight against the entrance, blocking it. Graypaw roared, and they heard the bang and clatter of him starting to dig his way through the barrier of furniture that they had laid down. He was now trapped in there with them, and the only way of dealing with him was a fight to death.
Jake and Mark exchanged looks.
“If I run up on that son of a bitch, will you cover me without shooting me?” Jake asked bluntly.
Mark nodded. “You really willing to put your ass on the line for the rest of us?”
Jake looked back at Anna, who stared at him in horror and worry but had enough faith in him not to speak out against the plan. “I gotta.”
“I think you wouldn't have made a bad soldier,” Mark said after a second.
“Yeah well, I don't think you would have made a bad fucking werebear.” Jake and he exchanged smirks, and he went back to kiss Anna and talk to her.
“Once Graypaw gets through that barrier we are going to have to hit him hard and fast before he can scatter us and start picking us off. If I can I'll knock him back down the stairs and try to get Mark a chance at a head shot. But it's going to be a nasty fight. Look. You need to know that I am tougher than I look, and that even if it gets really bad, he can't kill me unless he takes my head off or does a few other things he doesn't have the tools to do. So don't worry. Just let me go kick ass and you can nurse me back to health after.” He kissed her and hugged her tight, nuzzling the top of her head.
“What about me and Darrin?” she asked softly.
“Darrin's got to back Mark and me up at the stair entrance.” He glanced at Darrin. “Problem is, he's not a close combat guy.”
“But he probably knows how to use a rifle better than I do.” She unslung her weapon instantly and went to Darrin, handing the rifle over. “Look, uh, there's only five shots left, so they should probably go to someone who can shoot straight.” She smiled awkwardly.
Darrin looked the rifle over, and nodded.
“Thanks. Look, uh, if that thing gets past us, hide. We'll heal eventually and catch up to the damn thing.”
She swallowed and looked down, touching the flare gun stuck through her belt. “Okay.”
Jake gave her a last kiss and then turned to follow Mark out into the stairwell. Graypaw was halfway up to them, having dug and clawed and yanked his way through half the makeshift barricade. He took a deep breath and prepared himself, while Mark and Darrin took position behind him with the rifles.
He could all but sense Anna standing near the door, close enough to at least watch what was going on. He almost wished she would go and hide, but he knew better than to expect her to go that far away from him right now.
“What are our chances that the cavalry's on its way?”
“Well, we know the morning helicopter picks up from Jackson just before dawn, so... either they're on this one, or we're not going to see them in time.” Darrin sounded grim, but Mark just nodded.
“Yeah, I figured. Damn it. Well, fingers crossed. Otherwise we're gonna run out of bullets befor
e we run out of bad guys.”
“At least we won't run out of bear,” Jake rumbled softly as he felt his bear-self push toward the fore again. He let it take him, shifting form, then sniffing the air and growling a challenge.
The tearing sounds from below stopped. And he heard a low, groaning roar in response. You...
Yeah. Me. If you want to survive this, get out of here.
Father says... you are to die... he says to kill humans... he says that they are meat... why do you fight for meat? The creature's mental voice ground over his nerve endings, leaving him with a hollow throbbing in his head.
People are not meat. Not us. Not them. Father told you wrong! Now stay away from us! I will kill you if I have to!
The creature hesitated, snuffling. But then it tossed its head and let out another roar, and started tearing aside the barricade again.
Crap.
Well, you tried, Darrin said in his head as he shrugged. Mark, meanwhile, was all focus, rifle at the ready, just waiting for Graypaw's head to pop into view once he got through the barrier.
Jake crouched at the mouth of the stairwell. Any pointers on fighting a larger opponent? I figure you would know.
We're probably about to die and you're still busting my chops. Asshole. But Darrin just smirked. Get his legs out from under him and he won't be bigger than you anymore.
Good point. He looked down the stairwell, watching a whole table get yanked in half and then tossed away down the stairs. Graypaw was almost through.
“See if I can't soften him up for you, Big Bear.” Mark sighed and resettled his finger on the trigger. Jake looked back at him and wished he had half the man's cool.
Then Graypaw yanked aside a stack of chairs and started trying to force himself through the gap, shoving his head and shoulders through and then snarling in frustration when he couldn't quite get in at them. Mark took aim and fired, striking the bear across one ear and in the upper chest. But he couldn't get the braincase with the way the creature thrashed his head. He kept trying, yelling curses, and Jake kept his head down and waited for his cue to dive in. The hail of bullets ended for the moment and he lunged forward to snap and tear at the larger bear as Graypaw broke through the barrier and stumbled up the stairs toward them. He had to dodge a pile driver swipe from the thing's paw, and felt more than heard its near-subsonic growl. Darrin fired past his ear and hit Graypaw in the jaw, almost catching him through the brain.