Ursus Borealis: Book One

by D. L. Lewellyn

  The three SUVs had pulled up to face us in an arc about thirty yards away and men began exiting the vehicles. A huge roar from Andras vibrated the very ground beneath the Mercedes, rocking the car in an aftershock. I tried to keep from whimpering.

  Instinct was driving me to hide, to sink to the floor and cover my ears but instead, I took a deep calming breath, opened my door, and stayed low behind the car thinking that staying out of sight might give Andras an advantage. I unlocked the safety but kept the gun aimed down out of sight as well.

  The upright bear plunged to all fours, shaking its massive body, snarling to show deadly fangs as long as my hand. Then the big, beautiful head turned my way and looked at me with chestnut eyes, Andras’s eyes. I took a calming breath and nodded at him.

  There were two men from each vehicle who were moving slowly and agilely to the front of their SUVs. They were dark and exotic looking, all with straight long black hair with the top strands pulled back into intricate plates.

  When I made a sound of shock at what I was seeing, which I quickly stifled, the bear looked at me again, then quickly turned his attention back to them. Zigan was one of these, one of Andras’s enemies?

  One stepped ahead of the others. His face was calm, cold. He stood proudly, arrogantly, with a regal bearing, watching Andras with eerie green eyes, calculating eyes. What did he want with him?

  All their faces bore fierce expressions, purposeful. What was the purpose of this ambush? To kill, to intimidate, to take one or both of us alive? Deciding I had no answers, I needed to stop asking questions, follow Andras’s lead, and be alert to what was happening.

  The leader brought his arms out to his sides and raised his hands, forming a shimmering net between them. He thrust his arms forward, and the net flew towards Andras amazingly fast. But the bear lunged to the side and the net just missed him. When the leader made the motion to form another one, I aimed and fired at him.

  He had turned towards me when I stepped forward with my gun, and reacted quickly, moving to dodge the bullet, but it caught him in the shoulder. He gave no reaction to being shot, but his eyes met mine, and held my gaze as we assessed each other. Then, his hands moved again, this time encompassing his men and himself.

  The six of them began to shimmer and were soon massive tigers. I thought of Zigan once again. They were beautiful. Especially the leader with those unusual glowing green eyes. He clearly was much more than the rest.

  Though time seemed to slow when my focus was on the leader, it had only been seconds, and I moved foreward, quickly firing my remaining five rounds, aiming for vital areas, knocking them back. Blood was flowing, but they kept coming, splitting into two groups to circle around us, as I moved back to the cover of the car.

  Three came towards me, including the leader. I quickly ejected my clip and reloaded with one I had staged on the roof. I followed their progress. It appeared I was now included in the leader’s purposes. He watched me, edging closer with slow powerful moves.

  The leader’s focus on me detracted Andras's attention from the three that had been stalking him. They leapt, latching on to him viciously.

  Raising my gun to rest my aim over the roof of the Mercedes, I fired two shots to the head of the tiger that was gripping the giant bear's back with lethal claws, and biting deeply into the thick neck. I fired next on the tiger who was sinking its claws into his side.

  The bear flung the third tiger away from him and bloodied from the brutal attack, roared, and charged the lead tiger, the giant body a mass of quivering muscles, towering over the tiger, who was by no means a small animal.

  The other tigers moved to protect their leader, but I fired my last two shots, knocking the green-eyed tiger back, which elicited another deep roar from him, alerting me to the fact that he was getting angry. I ejected the clip and slammed in a new one.

  The shots had only slowed them down. Andras roared when a tiger tried to sink his teeth into his neck again, but it could not get a good purchase through the thick fur. Andras gave a mighty shake, launching the tiger away.

  He rose to his hind legs and swiped another tiger into a tree behind me, hard enough to break its back or neck…something for sure looked horribly broken. I gulped when I saw the head of another tiger, detached from its body, sail past me.

  The leader and two tigers focused on the bear with deadly intent. Another had recovered and latched on to Andras’s arm, tearing into flesh. I gasped. How many wounds could he take before he weakened?

  Taking a determined stance as the three leapt towards him, I fired all six rounds aiming for the heads right between the eyes, knocking them away from him.

  Finally, most of the tigers were incapacitated to some degree or other, and we had a window of opportunity to get back into the car. Andras was once again a naked man throwing on his pants and yelling for me to get in.

  But before I could, I was grabbed around the middle and pulled away from the car. I bucked and fought to get free, but the arms holding me were like steel.

  A strangely accented voice purred in my ear, making odd clicking sounds, “It is no use struggling, little human. You are mine now.” And he buried his face in my neck and inhaled me. Grey mist began swirling around the two of us, but then many things happened at once.

  Andras roared in fury just as I slammed my head back into the face of my captor, loosening his hold slightly, and I ducked and twisted from his grasp. A tiger coming from the edge of the trees knocked my captor away from me, and I heard much snarling from that direction, indicating my captor had changed back to his tiger to fight.

  Andras leapt from the roof of his car landing next to me, throwing brutal punches at the three who had also turned back to men and were reaching for me. One took hold of my arm, but with one blow to the neck, Andras removed his head, making me gasp at the brutality and scream as the headless body fell away. Andras the man was as lethal as his bear.

  Then he grabbed me up and shoved me through the driver's door of his car, following me in. He slammed the Mercedes into gear flooring it, and we whipped towards the highway, tires squealing. I heard sirens off in the distance and flashing lights flickered in the trees from the direction of Tahoe.

  Craning my neck around to look at the scene we were quickly leaving, I saw that all bodies and parts were human again, the live ones loading the dead or incapacitated into the vehicles. The seventh tiger was nowhere to be seen.

  The green-eyed leader stared coldly after us, blood running unchecked down his face from my blow.

  Andras jammed on the gears, and we hit top speed flying down the highway towards Truckee. After we sped along for a bit, I ran my eyes over him to check the extent of his injuries. There was a lot of blood. “How bad are your wounds?”

  He looked down, “Healing. There’s a box of wipes under your seat. Can you hand me a few?” I found the wipes and ripped several out, and with a trembling hand wiped gently at his chest, the back of his neck and the spot on his arm. Andras managed to keep up our speed while I tended to him.

  I knew his flesh had been torn and I saw teeth marks now, but whatever deep wounds there had been had already healed. Even as I looked at the places where I swiped the meager cloth, the teeth marks faded as well. “You heal fast.”

  “Yes,” he answered simply. The heat from his body calmed me and my breathing evened out.

  Then the feel of his chiseled, hard planes registered under my ministering hands, and warmth spread through me, as I marveled at what his beautiful body had just done when it changed to a bear and the back again, and the brutal strength he had displayed first as a bear, then as a man.

  “Is it hard, to change like that I mean?” He gave me another brief reply as if keeping his answers short would help me deal with the truth of things.

  “It’s difficult and painful, but you get used to it to the point of not noticing.” His jaw was clenched, and he asked me in a low voice, “Are you hurt?”

  “No, Andras.” His posture relaxed slightly.
>
  I said, “You were nearly captured in that net. What would they have done with you?”

  “I am a threat to their plans, I believe. They likely would have killed me as soon as they confirmed that.”

  My eyes were drawn to the ink down his side. The stunning tattoo took on a new meaning for me, the mythology of the design becoming more real. He hitched his breath as my hand trailed down the inked bear. The power it evoked was captivating, but the man...I looked at him and I knew my eyes blazed with desire.

  He pulled his gaze from the road to answer me with his own fire, and those odd green and gold flecks shimmered in the depts of his chestnut eyes. A low growl sounded low in his chest as he returned his attention to the wheel, and I shivered at the primal connection we had just shared.

  Andras took two more wipes from the box and cleaned his hands and the wheel. I wiped my own hands clean, tossed the box back to the floor and rummaged for a bag to stuff the bloody wipes in. First aid, such as it was, was taken care of, and I sank back into the leather seat.

  A tingling on my wrist had me surreptitiously peering at it. The head of a tiger disappeared from my skin while I watched. Zigan. That explained the mysterious tiger.

  I rested the gun in my lap, safety engaged and my hand covering it, then took a deep breath, leaned back, and closed my eyes while the Mercedes ate up the highway.

  Chapter 24

  Andras

  I glanced in awe at Selena. She had been fucking amazing once again, no hysterics. She simply did what she had to do, including being a remarkable shot with the PPK, and she followed my lead without question.

  Then, she calmed us both down when she quietly cleaned the blood from my body. But fuck! She had almost been taken. And what would have happened to her if I had been taken?

  Running a shaky hand through my hair I considered the idea that the green-eyed leader might have been one of the fucking Anurashin princes. I heard him tell her she was his. He had taken her scent, an act of possession. I fought hard to control my breathing and keep my concerns from Selena.

  This was worse even than what I had feared might happen when involving her in my life, and I had barely even explained things before she was thrown into the chaos. Had he known about her already? I was sure his focus had been on me at first, but his attention had quickly turned to Selena.

  Looking over at her, I saw that her eyes were closed, and she was breathing in and out slowly. I reached for her hand. Her eyes flew open, but she gripped my hand firmly and looked at me.

  I had to ask her again, “Are you really okay, Selena?”

  “I’m fine,” she said as she brought my hand to her chest, hugging it to her, “I didn’t even damage my dress.” And she looked down at herself in astonishment.

  I brought her hand to my mouth and smiled into her fingers, grazing them with kisses.

  Then parts of me clenched at the vision of her standing there in that sexy red dress firing my PPK like a natural. She had shot the leader three times on my behalf, as well as the others. Then she fucking bloodied his nose.

  I had to breathe deeply again before I could say calmly, “This is definitely not how I wanted to show you what I am. I was hoping for a more peaceful way to do that. It could have gone badly for us but for you. You blew my mind, again. Tell me where you trained in self-defense so I can write to your instructor and thank him.”

  Her breath caught, and there was a look of sorrow. Then she recovered quickly and smiled at me.

  “Thomas was definitely a believer in being prepared for anything. I didn’t appreciate that as much as I do now. In fact, there were a few times when I felt he went way over the top, and I scoffed at his paranoia. He would have loved that you wanted to thank him, Andras. But…he died. Cancer took him.”

  I kissed her fingers again, “He meant a great deal to you, then?”

  “My brother has been away for over a decade and Thomas sort of took his place, filling a void I hadn’t realized was there. He made it his mission to train me to be strong and take care of myself.

  “I showed up one day at Miller’s Krav Maga studio on a whim, just curious about it really. I learned about the fighting style from a novel. Thomas Miller took one look at me and decided I could use his help.

  “He quickly became more than my trainer. He became my dearest friend, my family. His studio was like my second home.” She looked at me and I saw her unshed tears. Remaining silent, I gave her time to work through her memories.

  Still clasping her hand, I said, “You once again astonished me with your quick thinking and decisive action. But you were nearly taken from me or worse. I’m struggling with my anger at myself over this fact. The very thing I wished to avoid happening right on the heels of revealing myself to you.

  “Even with both of us battling side by side, you were at risk from something we may not have been able to prevent but for a surprise intervention. I must ask you. Do you have any idea where that other tiger came from? Any clue about it?”

  She looked over at me, gripping my hand with both of hers then said, “I don’t blame you for this attack. Please know that I would choose to be with you no matter what dangers are involved. It was not just the tiger that got us free. You were magnificent.”

  Then she added, “The tiger seemed to have come out of nowhere as far as I could tell, but I am glad it did though. What do you think it means?”

  “It is a mystery that will drive me crazy until I solve it, Selena. And since we are handing out credit, you bloodying the leader’s nose and breaking his hold on you, means you played no less of a role in your freedom.

  “The ones who attacked tonight are rare Malayan tigers, and that includes your savior, which means they are all part of an ancient race of beings called the Anurashin. I think it is related to the mark on your shoulder. There’s an ancient prophecy that has been tugging on my mind since I saw it.

  A thoughtful look crossed her face. Right then I knew she did in fact know something about that tiger. She was such an open book, she knew it and I knew it, and I noticed she had dodged my question, asking me one instead. I would not push her about it now. But we needed to return to this soon.

  I said, “The leader, the one who grabbed you. What did he say to you?” Though I already knew what had been said, I needed to know if she would tell me.

  She looked quickly at me, then straightened her shoulders, and said, “He basically told me I could not escape and that I was his.” She set her jaw, “He was wrong on both counts, wasn’t he?”

  “He was.” I paused, then said softly, “It makes me happy to know you would choose me.”

  Her expressive face was sorting things out, and I said, “You think about what all of this might mean to you, and please talk to me about it when you’re ready.”

  She squeezed my hand. “I will.”

  I did not want to upset her more tonight and changed the subject to ask her something else that would help calm my mind.

  “We are nearly home. No one is following us. Will you be willing to stay at my place for a few days, Selena? We need to work on answers to all this, and I need to reach a neighboring alpha for help who appears to have disappeared. We have much to do and I need to know you’ll be safe.”

  “If it will help you, then I will stay with you. These tigers that attacked us, tell me more about the Anurashin.” She struggled only a little with the pronunciation and quirked an eyebrow at me, waiting.

  Letting my amazement at her resilience register on my face, I said, “You are a remarkable woman, Selena. And I suspect I don’t even know the half of it.

  “The Anurashin are thought to live in some strip of mysterious islands in the seas around Asia, that no one has ever located, and little is known about them. Some say that they sprang from the same source and period as the ancient Sumerians who showed up in Mesopotamia mysteriously around forty-five hundred BC, or even earlier. It’s believed they are led by three brothers, princes. I am concerned that we may have met one of them
tonight.”

  She said, “That would explain the bearing of the leader. He definitely stood out from the others.”

  “Yes, they are thought to be powerful. There is a theory that they’re not even originally from earth, but no one has ever learned more about that. They show up at different points in history, wreak havoc and acquire some resource they have targeted, then disappear again.

  “I think that whatever they’re planning is ramping up, and who knows how many of them will be coming our way. It will get dicey. But tonight, you have become immersed more deeply than I would have liked. So, the best thing for that is to have you by my side.”

  Gripping her hand, my voice heavy in its intensity I said, “I want you by my side, Selena. I want you on my council. I think you will be of tremendous help. What do you think about that?”

  She was silent, so I turned to see her looking thoughtful, then she sent a jolt straight to my heart when she said, “Next to you is the only place I want to be.” I brought her hand to my lips again, then laid our joined hands in her lap.

  I had been on my own for decades fighting alongside my council, yes, but never knowing what it meant to have a soul mate at my side. Risks or no, the prospect of getting to know this woman better on every level was making me feel more alive than I had ever thought possible.

  Selena gave in to exhaustion and slept for the remainder of our ride to Quincy. I put a call into Colin.

  Chapter 25

  Selena

  Coming awake as we pulled into the garage, my first reaction was to gasp as I was jolted from a dream of a tiger with strange green eyes. From the clock on the dash, I saw it was four in the morning. We apparently reached Quincy without further incident.

  My heart settled back into my chest as Andras came around and pulled me from this gorgeous Mercedes that I now had an extra special attachment to, having shared a crisis with her.

  He had thrown his shirt back on, leaving it loose over his slacks, still managing to look suave without his buttoned-up suit. He only needed to run his hands through his hair and the GQ look would be complete. I swallowed hard. The hollow of his throat at his open collar was calling to me, his pulse teasing me.