Bruins Peak Bears Box Set (Volume III)

by Sarah J. Stone

  Eden retreated from that hateful glare. She bumped into Damian’s solid frame and groped for his hand. Damian didn’t move. His brother’s face told him all he needed to know.

  All his life, he thought Eli was an extension of himself. Now, he knew better. When hardship came calling, it was Eden who stood by him. She was his other half. This snarling creature withering them with his hideous countenance could never be an extension of him.

  Eli doctored the records to accuse Damian of murder. He left the apartment and probably killed Ryder. He broke into the computer system to tamper with the images to lay the blame on Damian. After everything he’d done, Eli lied in court that Damian left the apartment when he’d been asleep in bed the whole time.

  Cold, clear calm spread over Damian from head to foot. He would never give an inch to his brother again. Now, at long last, he understood. His brother was his enemy, and Damian would treat him accordingly.

  Damian leveled his clear eyes to confront Eli’s rabid hatred. “I’m not locked up because Elder Hood released me.”

  Eli swept his arm toward the building. “Well, you better get back in there. If the Police find out you’re walking around on the street, they’ll…”

  “The Police already know,” Damian interrupted. “They’re the ones who let me out. Do you think I’d be walking around on the street if I broke out by force?”

  Eli blinked. Then he shook himself. He marched up to Damian and made a grab for his arm. “Come on. I’m taking you back.”

  Damian knocked his hand away. “Don’t touch me. I don’t need a nursemaid.”

  Eli spun around and flew at Damian. Damian slammed both hands against his brother’s chest and sent him reeling backward. Arms and hands flew fast and thick until Damian turned to Eden. He extended his arm between her and Eli. “Move out of the way, Eden. I’ll handle this.”

  Eli exploded in a foaming rage. He attacked his brother in all his fury. He lunged for Damian’s throat. “Don’t you touch her! Get away from her, you murderer!”

  Damian rounded on him. “Murderer! You’re the murderer here, not me. You won’t come near her as long as I’m around. She’s my mate. I won’t let you lay a finger on her.”

  “Your mate!” Eli shrieked. “She’s mine! How dare you go anywhere near her? I’ll rip you to pieces.”

  Damian’s jaw dropped. “Yours! Are you out of your mind?”

  Eden stepped forward. “Look, Eli, this is all some kind of misunderstanding. Damian and I…”

  He cut her off with a feral shriek. “No! I won’t have it. Do you know what he is? Do you know what he’ll do to you?” Eden shook her head, but he only shouted louder. “No! I won’t stand by and watch this. You’re coming with me, and that’s all there is to it.”

  He made another dive to catch hold of Damian. He barreled into Eden and sent her staggering backward. Damian couldn’t stand by any longer. He couldn’t watch his blood enemy lay hands on his mate and claim her for his own. He would kill Eli before he let that happen.

  Damian lunged forward with an animal growl. He swatted his brother away from Eden and moved his own body between them. He faced his brother with his teeth bared. He didn’t have to turn around to feel Eden move back. Two NightShades facing off like this could mean only one thing. They both wanted her, and neither would back down until they settled this in a battle to the death.

  Even as he locked his eyes on his brother’s contorted face, Damian viewed the scene from high above. This was bound to happen sooner or later. Two brothers couldn’t want the same woman without paying the price in blood. Eli and Damian shared everything growing up. Now, they would never share anything again.

  Damian braced himself for the onslaught, but before he could formulate a plan, Eli launched himself across the sidewalk. He tackled Damian around the midsection. Damian stumbled back, but he managed to keep his footing. Eli slammed Damian’s spine against a tree and pounded his ribs with his fists.

  As much as he hated Eli at that moment, some part of Damian’s heart and soul couldn’t return this attack. He wanted to protect Eden, but he didn’t want to kill his brother on the streets of Arion. What would their parents say? What would the Elders say? He already carried the weight of one murder on his shoulders.

  No one would call this murder, though. Eli attacked him first. A NightShade had to stand his ground in situations like this. A man couldn’t let anybody assault his mate, not even his own flesh and blood.

  He gazed down at Eli’s head and shoulders where his arms strapped around Damian’s chest. Damian watched Eli’s fists flying. He sensed from far away the thunk of his brother’s knuckles pummeling his body, but he couldn’t react. Eli couldn’t touch him, no matter what he did.

  Damian’s eyes roved sideways to Eden watching the fight from a safe distance. Nothing Eli did or would ever do could come between the couple again. He could punch and kick and curse their bond until the cows came home. He could never harm it or even come near it. It stood rock solid for all to see, just like the council building right over there.

  Eli grunted and gasped from the effort until Damian lost patience. He couldn’t stand out here all day. He had to get inside. The sooner he heard the Elders’ decision, the sooner he could get back to Eden.

  He brought his knee up hard against Eli’s stomach. His brother slumped against him, but didn’t let go. Damian gritted his teeth and struck again. He grasped the back of Eli’s head and smashed his knee into his brother’s face.

  Eli staggered back with a screech. Blood pouring from his nose and mouth made him appear more grotesque than ever. He spat blood and saliva at Damian. “Come on and fight! Show me your claws.”

  Damian pushed himself off the tree. Nothing could ruffle his supreme calm. “Come on, man. Don’t do this. Can’t you see she’s my mate? She doesn’t want you. Leave her alone.”

  “She’ll never be your mate!” Eli shrieked. “Never! Do you think you can walk in and take what you want after everything I’ve done to win her?”

  Damian’s blood ran cold. His pulse pounded in his ears. Something monstrous thundered toward him. He couldn’t stop it. “What did you do? What did you do to win her?”

  “You idiot!” Eli crowed. “You think you’re so smart. You think the great computer programmer can do whatever he wants? Well, I showed you. You’ll never come near her. You’ll go down for Ryder’s murder, and you’ll never see her again.”

  “How did you do it, Eli?” Damian asked. “How did you encrypt the records to hide the murder? You never got the codes to break into the system.”

  Eli cackled with glee. “You fool! I didn’t have to get the codes when you had them sitting on your desk all along. You never thought twice to hide them from me.”

  “I never thought I had to.”

  “Do you think I didn’t see you?” Eli cried. “Do you think I didn’t see you moving in on her when she first showed up here—you and Ryder both? Well, I made sure you’re never going to get her. I made sure you live the rest of your miserable life a long, long way from her.”

  Damian drew himself up to his full height. “Are you seriously telling me you killed Ryder to stop either of us getting to Eden? Is that the whole reason you did it? Tell me you didn’t murder another NightShade in cold blood over a woman.”

  The disgusting smile melted off Eli’s face and left a mask of pure hate in its place. “I would do a lot more than that. You think you’re her mate? You don’t know what love is. You don’t know what it takes to win a woman’s heart. You never had the stomach for it.”

  Eden covered her face with her hands and groaned. “Oh, Eli!”

  He didn’t answer. He hurtled across the sidewalk at Damian, but he didn’t bother to extend his arms to punch and grab and tackle. The horrible snarl ripped his face in half. His skin peeled back from his bones, and a mouthful of slathering, glistening fangs protruded out of his face. In a split second, a raging black bear flew at Damian to tear him to pieces.

  72. C
hapter 16

  Eden gasped out loud, but she dared not step forward to intervene. After Eli’s confession, Damian had no choice but to fight him tooth and claw.

  Eli hit Damian full tilt before Damian had a chance to shift. Damian toppled over on his back. He barely got his hands up to wrestle his brother’s snapping teeth away from his face. He turned his head aside and clamped his fingers around Eli’s jaws to hold the bear’s mouth away where he couldn’t do any damage.

  Eli pressed his advantage. He sank all his weight on top of Damian’s chest to hold him down, but he couldn’t stop the natural reaction rushing through Damian’s body. In the blink of an eye, Damian shifted, too. His body first collapsed in on itself. His head retracted between his shoulders, and he shut his eyes tight against the onslaught.

  A sickening shudder quaked down his body. The next instant, he writhed around and came up to lash Eli with all his teeth. His glistening black eyes shone out of his flat face, and the shaggy black fur brushed to one side when he rolled off the ground.

  He tossed Eli away with no trouble, but he took a split second to roll off the ground. In that slight pause, Eli recovered. He danced in a circle on his curled paws and slashed Damian across the shoulder before he got his feet under him.

  That cut split his skin to the muscle. Blood welled out of the cut, but Damian only raged louder. He rushed his brother and drove him back. Eli skidded backward in a desperate attempt to keep his footing, but Damian overpowered him in sheer burly power.

  Damian gave one decisive push and knocked Eli onto his back. Damian kept charging and didn’t stop until he turned the tables and pinned his brother to the ground. The two bears snapped and darted at each other to nip and tear, but neither could make a dent in the other. Their own rage stopped them calculating the best way to disarm the opponent.

  Damian made one dive after another for Eli’s throat, but he couldn’t get past his brother’s teeth. The more he raged, the farther he appeared to move from his objective. He made a last desperate attack, but Eli met him with his mouth open. Their jaws clamped together and there they remained, at a standstill.

  Damian yanked his teeth free, but this stalemate couldn’t go on. He leapt clear and stalked in a circle while Eli struggled to his feet. Damian growled and bared his teeth, but he didn’t rush in for another assault. He surveyed the scene with his small, black eyes. What was he thinking about?

  Eden’s mind raced for any way to help her mate out of this terrible predicament. She could see a dozen maneuvers she would try if she was fighting Eli, but she wasn’t fighting him. Damian was, and Damian had to win this on his own.

  What if Eli won this fight? What if he killed Damian in front of her eyes? She would have to mate with Eli, but that made no sense. That didn’t happen. If anything happened to Damian, she would die, too. She couldn’t live without her mate. She wouldn’t. She didn’t want to.

  She pushed those thoughts out of her mind. Damian wouldn’t die. He couldn’t. She refused to let herself think about that. He would conquer. He’d already conquered a murder accusation. He found a way to prove his innocence, and he would overcome any obstacle standing in his way.

  Once Eli got to his feet, the two brothers circled each other in matched animosity. They snarled and rumbled deep in their chests, but neither made the first rush. They sized each other up and down. They migrated off the sidewalk onto the lawn in the great square.

  People appeared in the doorways and passed on their way to and from the train station. Where did they come from all of a sudden? Just a moment before, the whole city stood silent and empty. Now, everything and everybody sprang to life all around.

  Whispers flashed back and forth in the crowd. Every resident of Arion saw fights break out on the streets and in the parks. NightShade battled for mates and control of businesses and families. That didn’t surprise anybody.

  No one knew Eden’s life hung in the balance—or maybe they did. Maybe everyone knew how deadly serious a fight like this could be. A million bears couldn’t live in the same city without some hostilities breaking out.

  Still, Eden couldn’t escape the sensation that she was falling down a bottomless shaft into the center of the Earth. She would hit the ground in a minute, and then her life would end, along with whoever lost this fight.

  Before she could think long enough to figure it out, Eli charged. He and Damian rose on their hind feet at the same moment. They met in a lethal embrace that shivered Arion to its core. Eli drove for Damian’s throat, but Damian dodged out of the way at the last second. Damian made a countermove under his brother’s chin and closed his teeth on the fleshy muscle of Eli’s chest.

  Eli yelped in surprise, but Damian already wrenched his head sideways with a powerful twist of his neck. His teeth ripped out, and Damian came up with a mouthful of skin and muscle. Blood gushed from the wound.

  Eli gave a stomach-turning grunt, but Damian wouldn’t stop. He spat out his last mouthful and made another dive. Eli countered, but Damian knocked his head out of the way and closed his fangs on his brother’s throat.

  Damian yanked one more time to tear his brother’s throat out. Eli screamed in pain and terror, and that sound sent shockwaves through Eden’s guts. She couldn’t watch this, but that sound worked a charm on Damian, too. At the last second, he checked his rage. He slackened his pull before he ripped his brother’s neck in half.

  Without loosening his grip, he screwed his legs into the ground and pushed. He forced Eli back until he knocked his brother onto the ground. Every move Eli made, every feint he pulled to break Damian’s grip, only tightened the deadly hold on his neck.

  If Eli ever came close to freeing himself, Damian had only to twist his head one way or the other to make Eli submit. Eli lolled back under his brother’s weight until his eyes rolled back in his head and he lay still.

  Eden covered her face with her hands and sobbed as much from relief as from hopeless anguish. How could one man lose his life and another almost—all over her? How could two brothers come to this? What did she ever do? What was she, that such forces should battle over her? She was nothing. She was hopeless and directionless. She never wanted anybody fighting and killing over her.

  A low rumbled made her look up. In front of her eyes, Eli’s unconscious body collapsed in on itself until he took the form of a man again. His head rolled to one side, and his lips fell open to reveal his teeth. Those teeth wouldn’t harm anybody again.

  Damian didn’t shift, though. He took a step away from his brother and walked in a stiff-legged circuit around the fallen body. He shook his rough head at the crowd, craned back his neck, and bellowed to the skies. He bared his teeth at the crowd in an unmistakable challenge.

  No one moved. No one breathed. Eden bit back sobs of joy. That was her mate. That was the bear of her heart. She belonged to him for all time. Pride and love overflowed her heart. She would stand by him against any odds.

  A murmur ran through the crowd. People stood aside, and a wiry figure stepped forward. Jeremiah Hood crossed the lawn to face Damian over his brother’s body. He spoke so softly only Eden heard him. “It’s all right, son. I saw the whole thing.”

  Damian growled one more time. He looked around him, but he still didn’t shift. Eden couldn’t stand back anymore. She came to Damian’s side. He growled at her, too. Blood covered his face and his chest. It stained his eyebrows and forehead. It disfigured him into a demon from hell, but she couldn’t stop her hands from touching him.

  She stroked his muzzle and down to his shoulder. She whispered in his ear, “It’s all right now.”

  Damian turned his head away. He wouldn’t so easily give up the furious hatred that won him this fight in the first place, but no enemies assaulted him now. Peaceful people stood all around him. The gibbering, slashing bear didn’t belong here anymore.

  The seething hostility smoldering under Eden’s hand faded. An electric shiver rippled down Damian’s fur, and his whole body changed in a flash. His blood-m
atted coat receded into his smooth skin. His head pulled back, and his snout flattened into the angular face Eden knew so well.

  Even after he shifted, blood and gore covered him from the hairline across his forehead to his chest. A wicked gash cut across his shoulder. He cast a furtive glance around the crowd and wiped his wrist across his mouth. “I’m sorry, Sir.”

  Elder Hood only smiled. He held out his tablet to Damian. “Take a look. It’s all right there in the records.”

  Damian blinked at the device. “Sir?”

  “The computer system recorded the fight. It recorded Eli’s confession, and not only Eden, but a couple dozen other people can back you up. No one can doctor those records. Go on and take a look. You’ll see it’s all there.”

  Damian turned his face away. “I don’t want to look.”

  Elder Hood tucked the tablet under his arm. “I talked to the other Elders. You’re free to go home to your family.”

  Damian’s head whipped around. “Sir?”

  “You did good work today, son. Not only did you clear your own name, you found the killer and subdued him. All Arion owes you a debt of gratitude. Go home and clean yourself up. We’re all proud of you.”

  At that moment, a dozen Police officers came out of the building. They took hold of Eli’s arms and legs and carried him inside. Damian watched his brother out of sight. “What will you do with him?”

  Elder Hood shrugged. “That will be the subject of another council session. I’m sure deciding what to do with him will prove a much thornier issue than determining your guilt or innocence. I’ll be honest with you. That’s one decision I’m not looking forward to making. We’ve never sentenced anyone for murder before, and I hope I never have to do it again.”

  Damian sighed. “I don’t envy you. It’s enough to make a man quit politics altogether.”

  Elder Hood shoved his hands in his pockets. “Don’t do that. You’re good, and you were on your way to being one promising representative before this happened. It would be a terrible waste to lose you over this, especially since you’ve been exonerated under such exceptional circumstances.”