“Dammit, snap out of it, Ryland!” Rock said, shouting and waving his arms in the hopes of distracting their rampaging younger brother.
It was as if they didn’t exist as Ryland grabbed a man with his long claws and tossed him into the lake like a rock.
“He’s lost it. Fuck,” Riker swore. His brother was wholly taken over by his animal, and while Riker didn’t object to him beating up the assholes who had provoked him, Ana was here, too.
And Riker didn’t think his brother’s angry bear was sane enough to know friend from foe.
The only safe way out of this would be to subdue his brother. By force.
And Riker had no idea if his experience and skill would be able to stand up to Ryland’s unfettered rage.
But his mate was in danger, and he would do anything for her.
He felt the shift starting.
“Riker, you can’t,” Rock yelled.
“You get Ana,” Riker commanded, letting his bear take over, fur and claws exploding out of him as he hit the ground on all fours, thundering over the ground toward Ryland’s terrifying monster.
Behind him, Rock hesitated but then rushed toward Ana and the man holding her. With brutal grace, he punched the man in the jaw, sending him reeling while he took Ana’s hand and motioned for her to follow him.
Riker turned his attention back to the bear ahead of him, which was stomping and charging after two men as they fled.
He felt the exact moment the evil animal sensed his presence, whirling around with a truly terrifying expression.
Riker roared loudly, hoping against hope to back his brother down. But the bear before him was undeterred, not seeing an older brother, but just another challenger for dominance.
Ana’s voice rose over the commotion, distraught. “No, I need to make sure Riker is okay!”
Rock said something back, but the words were drowned out by Ryland’s snarls.
Riker looked back just as Rock hoisted her onto his shoulders and then made for the direction of the cabin at top speed, Ana watching behind them as he did.
Riker would have preferred a tad more care than that. But knowing Ana was safe was all that mattered.
And just before they disappeared into the trees, Riker saw Ana’s green eyes, worry clear on her face. And then they were gone.
“Ryland, please. I know you’re in there somewhere. Wake up. We don’t have to do this,” Riker begged, turning back to his brother and blocking his path to Ana and Rock behind him.
Ryland just roared once more, fangs bright in the last slivers of light coming over the horizon.
Then he charged.
This was going to hurt.
“Let me go,” Ana shouted, pounding Rock’s back. He’d rescued her from the guy holding her, but now she was worried for Riker, who was heading for the monster bear. “We have to help him.”
“And what could you do?” Rock said, setting her down on the edge of the tree line and looking back in the direction of his brothers. “You’re a human.”
“You could help him,” she said. “You’re a bear.”
“I have to protect you,” he retorted. “Or Riker would just kill me. If he survives that is.”
“Why wouldn’t he?” she asked. “They’re both bears.”
“Yeah, but Ryland is something else. Usually, we just let him rampage, but with you around…”
Guilt waved through her, though she knew it wasn’t really her fault. “Ugh, why do you let these douchebags into the mountains?” she yelled, running for the medical tent.
“What are you doing?” Rock asked.
“I have an idea,” she said. “I’m not sure if it will work, but—” An agonized roar rent the air, and they both shuddered. “I have to try.”
“Okay,” he said. “Show me.”
“I need to see your stock of anesthetic.”
Rock rummaged through supplies until he found what she wanted, and she filled the largest syringe she could find.
“I have no idea if this will even affect him, but it’s worth a try, given that you think he could kill Riker.”
“I mean, I’d like to hope that somehow, deep inside that bear, Ryland would stop it, but he’s so repressed. Like he shut off a part of him when we were kids, and now he isn’t in control when he lets it out.”
“You all have a fucked-up way of dealing with things,” she muttered. “But I can’t say I’d be any different if I were you.” She looked up at him. “Ryland told me about the night you got your scar.”
Rock was quiet, and she couldn’t tell how he felt about the news.
“Anyway, what are we doing with this?” he asked, pointing at the syringe and changing the subject at the same time.
Right. Time to save Riker. “We just need to get this into Ryland.”
“That’s your plan? Stick a puny needle in a rampaging, evil bear?”
“You got any better ideas?” she asked. “Or a tranquilizer gun?”
“No,” he said, pouting. “All right. Give me that.” He took the syringe and handled it carefully. “You think I can hold this in my paw?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe you could just distract him and I could get it in.”
“And then if he fell back and crushed your or something? Riker would never forgive me, and he’d be right.”
“Okay, then maybe I distract them in human form and you sneak up behind him in human form.”
“Fine,” Rock said. “At least then Riker and I could tackle him between the two of us if he went after you. Because I could shift.”
“Okay,” she said. “Let’s go.”
More roars filled the air, and she fought back despair at the sounds of two brothers hurting each other as she and Rock ran back to the scene, pushing their way through the shifters who were running the opposite direction, fleeing the apex predators dueling in the distance.
They skidded to a stop at the edge of the clearing where Riker and Ryland were fighting. Ryland’s bear was slightly darker than Riker’s, and his slashes were brutal, nothing held back as he attacked his brother. Riker was trying to dodge, trying to pull punches and throw the other bear off balance, retracting his claws to not hurt his brother.
He’d sustained many deep cuts and his fur was wet with shiny blood, though it was hard to tell the extent of the damage with the fur covering him.
She wished she’d brought the med kit for when it was over. Saying a little prayer things would work out, she split from Rock, who ran toward Ryland’s back, and charged off in the brush until she was on the other side of the fighters, facing Ryland, at Riker’s back.
“Hey, you!” she said, waving. “Yeah, you dumb bear, I’m over here.”
She saw Riker’s bear rear up in rage and step in front of Ryland, clinching him and taking a powerful swipe to the face as he did. Still, he didn’t let Ryland pass, no matter how he roared and wanted to, and she was relieved to see Rock creeping up right behind him.
Rock jumped, higher than possible for a human, and landed on Ryland’s back. Riker staggered back, shocked, and she gaped. That hadn’t exactly been part of the plan, but as Ryland’s bear swung around wildly, she saw Rock grab the cap of the syringe off with his teeth and jam the needle into his brother’s neck.
Ryland’s eyes bulged and he let out a roar and knocked his brother off his back and into a tree. Before he could follow up on the hit, Riker was there, caging him off again, taking another blow to the stomach as he tried to push the other bear back.
This time, Ryland staggered, his bear looking slightly vacant, and her heart leapt.
It was working.
Riker didn’t seem to get what was happening as Ryland stumbled dizzily, looking around him with an expression of betrayal and anger.
Riker looked her way, bleeding, and her heart caught in her throat at the sight of his bear. At how familiar he was, even in this form.
“Ana,” he growled, falling forward on the ground as Ryland tripped and fell in the othe
r direction.
The two men changed back into their human forms, Ryland unharmed and unconscious, Riker lying in a pool of his own blood, covered in so many red streaks she didn’t know where he was hurt.
Rock had recovered, thankfully, and was rushing to Riker the same time as Ana.
“We’ve gotta get him to the medical tent,” she said, her voice urgent.
“Right,” Rock said, hefting his brother over his back. “Let’s go.”
Her man was hurt. He’d fought for them all without a second thought. That’s just how he was, how he’d been since he found her. Willing to fight for everyone’s happiness but his own.
She was glad she’d been here to help fight for him.
“Damn, girl,” Rock said as they rushed to the tent. “Thinking of something like that while your boyfriend’s engaged in a bear fight, you might be perfect for this family after all.”
She laughed somewhat hysterically at the thought but couldn’t deny it. Maybe if someone could help these crazy but worthy brothers heal, it was her.
As long as Riker lived that was. That was her top focus for now, and even if it was the last time she got to use her nursing skills, it was worth it.
14
Riker woke in his bed, covered in bandages, feeling like he got hit by a semi-truck.
Well, a fight with his brother wasn’t much different. He hadn’t seen Ryland’s rogue bear in a long time due to their combined efforts to keep him away from people who would provoke violence.
He sat up, surveying his injuries, and then a flash of Ana’s troubled face came to his mind, and he whipped around to search the room.
A dark figure stirred on the chair in the corner, wrapped in a blanket.
Ana.
He let out a sigh of relief. He and Rock had been in time.
And as soon as he got all these bandages off, he’d hunt down the men who had provoked his brother and tried to take his mate and kick them off his damn mountain.
“How are you feeling?” Ana asked in a soft voice.
He didn’t deserve that kind of care, not after how he’d acted toward her. And now, being alone in his room in the dark, he was aware of just how much he’d been trying to restrain himself in regards to her. Even covered in gauze and tape, and probably stitches, he wanted to go to her. Put his arms around her, reassure himself she was okay.
She looked okay.
She walked over and stopped at the foot of the bed, looking down. She was wearing flannel pajamas in a teal color that complimented her red hair.
He reached over and flicked on the lamp by his bedside, flinching.
“Easy,” she said. “Can I sit?”
He tapped the bed next to him. What point was there in denying it anymore? Before he’d come to rescue her from his brother, he’d been trying to figure out a way to grovel and apologize anyway. For fighting what was happening between them. For being so stubborn.
She pulled down the blankets and looked at the bandages. “You aren’t bleeding anymore. You had us worried, until the stitches.”
“Yeah, sorry,” he said. “Ryland can be a beast sometimes.”
She replaced the blanket, tucking it under his massive shoulders. “You know, it’s so like you to go barreling in to sacrifice yourself for everyone else. You didn’t even think about it.”
“Of course,” he said. “Everyone on the mountain is my responsibility. It’s my job to protect them.”
“Is that what it is?” she asked, giving him a knowing grin.
“Maybe it’s a bit more than that.”
She checked a large bandage that went all the way from his neck to his shoulder, looking under it and then wincing. “Well, it’s looking better, but still not great.”
“I’m a shifter; it’ll heal soon.”
“That’s good,” she said.
Silence fell over the room. Outside, an owl hooted. “What time is it?” he asked.
She pulled out her phone and checked it. “Nearly midnight.”
“I didn’t sleep very long.”
“No, you didn’t,” she said. “In fact, you should probably sleep the rest of the night, rather than be up and talking right now.” She made as if to stand, and he put a hand over hers, stopping her.
“Wait,” he said. “I want to talk to you.”
She sat back down and eyed him with hesitant green eyes. “We don’t have to do this now.”
But he wanted to. He’d already wasted at least one of their precious days together. He didn’t want another to go by without her knowing what she meant to him.
After he’d seen his bear’s reaction to her being in trouble in the woods, he’d known more than ever. She was his mate.
And even if things couldn’t work out, he had to explain that to her so she could understand why he was acting the way he was.
She was patient, and he could tell the evening’s trauma had an effect on her, too. She was being more open with him, more patient. Though, she’d forgiven her ex fairly quickly as well, so maybe she just didn’t hold grudges.
One corner of her full, pink lips was tilted up as she waited for him to continue.
He bit his lip.
“I really can leave and we can talk in the morning. I just wanted to make sure you were all right, and if you woke up in pain, I was here to watch out for you.”
And wasn’t that what mates were all about? Someone to watch out for you and whom you would watch out for? Wasn’t that what he wanted, if it wasn’t for this stupid mountain?
“Could you ever see a life here?” he asked. He felt his chest squeeze as he asked the question he hadn’t wanted to ask for any reason. If she said no… It had always been easier to just make the decision for her and decide she shouldn’t stay. But if he wasn’t a coward, he needed to at least know.
“I don’t know,” she said. “But I understand better now why you don’t want to leave it.”
He pushed himself up farther, wincing slightly at the pain that lashed through the hundred little cuts on his body. “What do you mean?”
“I talked to Ryland. You know, before those jerks got to him.”
“About what?” A cold feeling breezed through him at the look in her eyes. Pity. The last thing he wanted.
Yet, if it meant she would stay with him, maybe pity wasn’t so bad after all.
“The abuse,” she said. “Your father. The night Rock was hurt.”
He settled back slightly. It was all out now, the nightmares he tried to suppress on a daily basis, tried to convince himself hadn’t happened.
Now she was looking at him, knowing, and everything had changed.
But what hadn’t changed was how much he loved her. How much he’d loved her right from the start. Looking over her heart-shaped face, pointed nose, full lips, freckles, curly red hair, he knew Rock was right.
He’d been doomed from the start with this human.
“What are you thinking?” she asked, exasperated. “I swear I would do anything to just peek in that big, silent head of yours.”
“I’m thinking I pushed you away too much. I’m thinking I’ve been too confusing. I’m thinking I don’t deserve for you to even be sitting there. I’m thinking if I were good to you, I’d send you away. I’m thinking I’m terrified to hear your answer about staying here. I’m thinking if you leave me, I don’t know what I’ll do.”
She took his hand in hers, being careful of the bandages. “I don’t know what to tell you, Riker. I really like you. More than I’ve liked anyone in a long time. More than I ever liked Corey, I think. He was convenient and fun to date, but there was never this passion with him.” She shook her head. “Or this much drama. Until the end, you know. But with you, it’s like everything is so difficult for both of us when we’re together.”
“I think it’s more difficult apart,” he said, realizing that talking openly like this, even if it presented the fact that she could abandon him, felt free and refreshing rather than scary. He wasn’t a little kid anymore
, waiting for his mom to walk out. He was an adult man who handled his business. He could let this woman know what she meant to him and live through whatever she decided afterward.
And take whatever she would offer him in the meantime.
“That may be so,” she said. “But I already gave my life up for a guy, and that didn’t work. I gave up my hobbies, my loves, even my friends over time as I slowly just grew to be a part of him rather than my own self. And when he walked away, that was devastating. But even if he hadn’t walked away, it was devastating to lose myself. I’ve been getting that back, remembering who I am.” She sighed. “I know you can’t leave, but I’m still not sure I can be who I want to be in these mountains.”
“I understand,” he said. “It’s good to get that all out in the open.”
“Really?” she asked, looking surprised and wary. “I thought you’d be really upset.” She fidgeted with her hands. “I guess I should ask you. Do you think there’s any chance you’d ever consider leaving the mountain?”
He exhaled slowly, looking deep into her eyes. “You make it feel more possible than ever before. But I don’t know who would run the mountain. And as Ryland said, it’s complicated.”
“But not in a way where we can’t be together anymore, right? You want me. I want you. We can see where it goes, right? We have a few more days.”
The thought was both terrifying and delightful. A few more days. His eyes scanned her body. “Yes. No reason we can’t be together. I won’t be a coward anymore.”
“Not a coward, just stupidly always sacrificing your own happiness to protect others,” she said, straddling his lap. She looked down. “You were lucky most of your cuts are on your chest and shoulders.” She put a hand on his hip. “Some very important parts are still… intact.”
He rolled his eyes. “We bears are assholes when we fight, but we aren’t lame enough to take crotch shots.”
She worried her lower lip with her teeth, which were tiny and pearly and perfect. “I guess we should wait until you’re better.” She started to climb off, but he put a hand on her waist to stop her.
Sheltered by the Bear (Trapped in Bear Canyon Book 1) Page 12