“And the attack last year?” Kyle pressed. “They told me there were three young women and five young men torn apart in their camp by bears. They were slaughtered by your kind.”
Matt eyed him soberly. “I hadn’t heard about that attack,” he admitted. “I didn’t know that had happened.”
Several minutes later, Kyle slid quietly from the house and hurried down the little street. Tawny and Matt found some clothes, dressed, and headed in the other direction. As the town fell out of view, Matt stopped and started unbuttoning his shirt.
“What are you doing?” Tawny gasped.
“We need to get there fast,” Matt explained. “I'll shift into a bear so we can travel quicker; it will make all the difference in the world. You can ride on my back.”
He slid his shirt down and dropped it to the ground.
Tawny took in his bulky, hairy chest, watching the muscles ripple as he moved. She tried hard not to stare, but couldn’t bring herself to look away.
“Because you’re a berserker, right?” She blurted out.
Matt groaned. “Yes, but we prefer to be called ‘shifters,’ if it’s all the same to you.”
“You’re a shifter,” Tawny echoed.
“I’m sorry, I know this is a lot to come to grips with,” Matt huffed as he dropped his pants, letting his penis swing free, “but we need to get there fast. You don’t have any reason to be afraid of me, okay?” He turned briefly to push his clothes into the bushes, and Tawny fought her arousal as she watched his taut buttocks. He turned back and stepped closer to her, reaching a hand out lovingly.
The sound of the stinging slap reverberated among the trees. Matt stumbled back a couple of steps, his eyes wide in shock. Tawny felt the pain in her palm.
“What the hell?” Matt coughed.
“You were the fucking bear!” Tawny snarled. “That whole time you had me terrified that there was a killer bear roaming the woods, and it was you!”
Matt’s face fell in remorse. He nodded.
Tawny threw herself at him, beating on his large chest with both fists. He stood stiff and let her.
“We were lovers, remember? You kept this from me the entire time!” she screamed. “How can I ever trust you?!”
She shoved herself back, glaring furiously at him as he stood in sheepish silence. Her jaw clenched, and she felt the rage burrow deeper, the scorching heat inside of her rising.
“Were you just using me?” she growled. “Did I mean anything at all to you? How the hell can I trust you?”
Matt looked up, shooting an angry glare at her. “You can’t!” he snapped. “Damn it, Tawny, when it comes to you I can’t even trust myself! I know I’ve made a mess of things with us. I can admit that.”
“You knew exactly where my camp was the entire time, didn’t you?” Tawny said. “You knew because it was you that attacked it.”
“I could have taken you back to your camp when I first found you,” Matt admitted. “In fact, your camp was closer than my cabin was. And that would have been the last time I ever saw you. I know what I did was wrong, and I know I played with your emotions to get what I wanted. But if I had it to do over again I swear to God I’d do the same damned thing. And I didn’t attack your stupid camp!”
“You tore through the place like a wild animal!” Tawny retorted. “What the hell else were you doing there?”
“I was — ” he stopped, his ferocious anger bubbling up from deep inside, overtaking him. “I was watching you having sex with Kyle!”
Tawny took a step back, realizing what he had witnessed. Her face grew hot.
“Then that ditzy blonde girl saw me and I panicked and stumbled through your little camp. And, for the record, I am a wild animal.”
“You were spying on me?” Tawny’s voice was low and mean. “You were invading my privacy?”
“What privacy?” Matt sputtered. “You were out in the open, remember? And from the things you were saying, it seemed like you wanted an audience.”
Tawny covered her face with both hands, holding back a scream of rage. Then she glared at him: his stern, resolved stare, his wide shoulders and bulging arms, his hairy chest and hulking penis all out for her to see.
The primal scream did finally emerge from her chest and she leapt onto him, clutching his hair with both hands. He grabbed at her, his large hands grasping her ribs and forcing her to the grassy soil as he fell on top of her. She lunged up at him with everything she had, bewildered by the dark emotions pulsating through her. She slammed her fists into his shoulders as he hovered over her, then bit down into his bare skin.
Matt shoved her down, tearing her shirt as he pushed himself free of her teeth. She stared down at her damaged clothes, the anger escalating. Weird urges swelled deep in her gut and strange instincts overwhelmed her. She pushed her pelvis hard against him, rubbing herself vigorously as the irresistible urges took over her every movement.
She watched him as he stared at her hips, puzzled but aroused. She reached down and untied the tether on her pants.
“Just fuck me,” she demanded. “Just fuck me hard!”
He yanked her pants off over her feet while she wriggled free of her shirt. She clenched his body between her knees and in her arms, groaning in rabid delight as he shoved himself deep inside her, his enormity releasing waves of unspeakable relief. His hands anxiously roamed over her curves; his mouth bore down on her neck, shoulders and breasts. He thrust into her over and over, her breasts bouncing wildly as he gorged himself on her naked body. She sobbed bitterly, the disturbing thrill of his crazed sex driving her into tingling ecstasy. She felt violated, but she relished every darkly delicious moment.
She listened to him groaning, losing all control as he tasted her skin. He greedily used her to gratify his lust, and it drove her crazy. He began to grow thick hair over his skin and Tawny dug her fingers deep into its softness. She saw the monster in his eyes, the beast that was driven to devour her. His ruthless thrusts and primal need sent rippling delight swimming through every inch of her, and she began to pant as her body filled with pounding climaxes, seemingly absorbing his primitive, beastly power. She squirted hard, the spray titillating her and heightening her orgasms. Her back arched stiffly in pure, unadulterated pleasure and the world spun around them as Tawny drowned in ecstasy.
Matt roared, tossing his head back as he shuddered and came inside of her. He thrust several more times, each time eliciting an involuntary whimper of pleasure from her. Then, moaning, he fell to the ground beside her. She watched him, reaching out to playfully toy with his sensitive, dark glans, running her fingers around the slippery meatus, intrigued as he completed his change into a bear.
“Normally,” he sighed as he lay on his back, looking a bit comical, “I would have simply said that I’m sorry. But this was better.”
Tawny stroked his shoulder, then carefully examined his massive claws.
“I’m not dangerous,” Matt assured her.
“You are,” Tawny disagreed. “Just not with me.”
He watched her, his large black eyes curious.
“We need to go,” he said.
She nodded, sat up and slid her pants back on. She stood weakly and tried to cover herself with the tattered shirt, but it didn’t cover much.
“I just can’t seem to keep my tits covered these days,” she complained.
Matt rolled onto his stomach and she climbed on his back. It felt both strange and exciting as he stood, lifting her high into the air, and bounded quickly through the forest. His large body moved easily among the trees and up the hills, and she had to grip him tightly to keep from falling off. But the feel of his enormous body and firm muscles wedged between her legs sent erotic chills rumbling through her.
It was getting late in the afternoon when Matt finally trotted to a stop. Tawny was lying face-down on his back, resting her eyes as he ran across flat, even meadows. She looked up to see swirls of smoke rising faintly from the chimneys of several small cabins.
“Yes, this is my home,” Matt replied gruffly. He shifted into human and took her hand. “You can still turn back, Tawny. I have to do this, but you don’t.”
She squeezed his hand tightly. “I’m with you until the end,” she assured him, “even if that’s today.”
Chapter 23
“You did what?!” Bradly roared ferociously.
The three of them stood near the main fire pit, huddled between the cabins and elk-hide tents.
“I had no choice,” Matt insisted. “They were going to torture and kill her if I didn’t give up this location.”
“And now we’re going to kill her anyway,” Bradly said mockingly. “You and her, both!”
Tawny grimaced, but saw that Matt’s expression was reserved and stern.
“You’ll need me for the ensuing battle,” Matt pointed out.
“Fine — we’ll kill you afterwards, assuming you survive,” Bradly muttered. “Assuming any of us survive. You do realize, Matt, you’ve almost certainly just destroyed the entire clan?”
“I understand the ramifications of what I’ve done,” Matt said.
“Ramifications, my ass,” Bradly snapped. “You mean you fucked up, right?”
Matt’s jaw clenched and he sat on a log, staring into the fire ashes for a long time. “I don’t think so,” he finally said. “If I were given the same choice, I’d have done it all exactly the same way.”
Tawny stood next to him, rubbing her hand soothingly along his back.
“You’ve just led our enemies straight to us,” Bradly whined. “How can that not be screwing up?”
“They would have found us eventually. They’re determined and resourceful, Bradly. Sooner or later we would have had to deal with them. We both know that. Maybe it’s best we just deal with this now.”
“Not that we have a choice anymore,” Bradly grimaced. “But for now, we’re going to secure Tawny until after the war is done.”
“Secure?” Tawny asked.
“They want to tie you up,” Matt explained. He gave Bradly a piercing glare. “You are not to touch her.”
“And you don’t give orders around here,” Bradly said. “We have a code to follow, and it will be followed.”
“If anyone touches her,” Matt growled, “The Path will find half of you dead before they even get here. And you’ll be the first.”
“Damn it, Matt,” Bradly snarled. “What has happened to your loyalties?”
“I’ve seen my share of death and bloodshed,” Matt said. “I’m sick of it, Bradly. It needs to stop, and I propose it stops here. If we hurt and kill when we don’t need to, are we really any better than our enemies?”
“But we can’t just let her leave and go back to her own people now,” Bradly objected. “It’s against the code, and she can’t be trusted not to divulge our whereabouts.”
Tawny’s eyes grew wide. She looked up at Matt in surprise. “You forgot to mention that part!”
“Maybe she’d like to stay here,” Matt suggested, “as one of us.”
Tawny looked nervously around the camp, wondering if she could ever get used to living there. “Please tell me this wasn’t your plan from the beginning, Matt.”
“Planning never was my thing,” Matt said with a shrug.
“Well, maybe I could help with the planning for the battle,” Tawny suggested.
Bradly glared at her, his face furious. “Because of you, this clan is going to be slaughtered. That’s about the only plan we’ve got!”
Tawny’s stomach churned as she watched Bradly’s anger growing. “But... you’re all bears,” she exclaimed. “They have some dangerous weapons, I know, but you must have some advantages over them. Can’t you just become bears and rip them apart?”
Bradly let out a frustrated yell, grabbed a large log from next to the fire pit, and chucked it violently out into the woods. His shoulders slumped, and he stared into the distance in despair.
Tawny looked helplessly at Matt. He offered a glum half-smile.
“The entire clan has been low on food for months now,” he explained. “Maybe we could fight if we could shift, but it’s just not going to be possible. We need more food than we can possibly get right now.”
Tawny grumbled weakly and sat down next to Matt. “So, what can we do?”
He grunted and stared at the ground. “I don’t know. I don’t know if there is anything we can do.”
“With a little planning, maybe we could still beat them without much bloodshed,” Tawny said. “Right now they’re already wanted for kidnapping and torture. If we can fend them off until they retreat, they can all do some serious jail time. I doubt they’ll ever pose a threat again.”
“And how do you propose we do that?” Bradly asked, sitting on the log on the other side of Matt.
“I don’t know yet,” Tawny admitted. “Maybe if we set some traps. We know they’re on their way here, and we know the trails they’ll be using. And, better yet, they don’t realize that we know. It seems we could use that to our advantage.”
Bradly rubbed at his dark beard, his mind whirring. “How long do we have?”
“They’ll be arriving sometime tomorrow,” Matt said. “Probably around noon. I doubt they can reach here any sooner than that. We have some time to prepare. Maybe we could hide, or something.”
“That’s very little time, I’m afraid,” Bradly sighed. “But we’re not hiding; we’re going to stand our ground. No one is running us out of our home this time. We don’t deserve this.”
Matt fidgeted. “I don’t know about that,” he muttered.
“What do you mean?” Bradly asked, his voice sharp.
“They said that a camp of their children was attacked by a bear just last year. Is it possible that we have another rogue human-killer in the clan?” Matt asked.
Bradly took a long, beleaguered breath. “Several young men and a couple of young women, right?” he asked.
Matt nodded, his brow furrowing quizzically. “You know about this already?”
Bradly gave a solemn nod. “It wasn’t a bear,” he muttered. “It was The Path. Your father was near the camp when it happened, and he was appalled by the brutality. He saw them beat the kids to death, then use gardening tools to tear them up and make it look like a bear attack.”
A dark chill swept over them.
“Why didn’t he say something?” Matt asked solemnly.
“He did — to me,” Bradly countered. “But it was an act against their own kind. We don’t get involved if we don’t have to.”
“But why the hell would they kill their own children?” Matt asked.
“Recruiting,” Tawny said bitterly. “They blamed your clan for the murders, and now they have an army of willing soldiers eager to kill anything that moves. It’s a military tactic. See, they’re strategizing. We need to do the same.”
“We’re going to be slaughtered, aren’t we?” Bradly moaned.
“Are there any bridges along the trail?” Tawny asked, her mind frantically spinning through the possibilities. “Maybe if we destroyed a bridge they couldn’t get here.”
Bradly shook his head, and Matt just stared down at the dirt, lost in his own thoughts.
“There’s one bridge,” Bradly admitted, “but the ravine it spans isn’t difficult for a person to get across without a bridge.”
“How about horses?” Tawny persisted. “Could a horse get across the ravine? They’re bringing their supplies on horses, and if they couldn’t — ”
“How many horses?” Matt interrupted.
“I don’t know,” Tawny said, shrugging. “But if most of their supplies are on the horses, and they might not be able to attack without them. I’m just trying to come up with any idea that might help, that’s all.”
“You may have done just that,” Matt mused.
“Why?” Bradly asked, perplexed. “I’m guessing they could probably get a horse past that rav
ine, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
Matt gazed around the camp, lost in thought. “They need to camp tonight,” he muttered, mostly to himself. “It’s going to be a moonless night, and our night vision is far better than theirs. I think I’ve got a plan… of sorts.”
Bradly fidgeted as he waited for Matt to go on. “Are you going to share it with the rest of us?” he finally asked.
Matt turned to Bradly and Tawny, a hopeful excitement in his eyes. “We’ll need Tawny to slip into camp and lead the horses out. They can smell a shifter, and if one of us gets too close they’ll spook and give us away. I’ve eaten recently, so I’m okay to shift, and I’ll carry her down on my back.”
Her Wild Bear Page 13