The Snow Leopard's Christmas Surprise

by Emilia Hartley

  “I only want for you to leave us alone,” Nick replied, honestly. More growls. This time more insistent and anticipatory than before. Nick looked out into the dimness of the forest to where the other bears hid in wait. “I don’t want to fight,” he said, showing his intent by sitting back. It was a bold move, but Nick was determined to show them that he wasn’t a threat.

  Silence filled the small clearing as Nick locked eyes with Lucas, neither speaking.

  Slowly, Lucas’s lip curled back into a disgusting sneer. “That’s too bad.”

  Nick’s fur rippled, his body tensing as he felt the shift in the ambience around him. In only a split moment, he’d gone from visitor to prey, his senses sharpening as the first bear lunged.

  He turned in time to bat it away, but not before two more launched themselves at him. They both latched onto his back, and he let out a painful roar. Claws dug into his torso from all sides, but he managed to dig his claws under the bear on his right. Dan roared in pain before falling away.

  The first bear that had attacked him, Jake, found his footing again, springing at Nick’s chest in a vicious display. His fangs slid home, but Nick snagged one of his ears in his mighty jaws and tore hard. Jack backed away with a yelp, blood spurting from the ear that had been nearly torn from his head. Flood was still worrying at meat of Nick’s left shoulder, yanking and pulling backward with all his power.

  I’m going to die, Nick thought to himself, pain tearing at his body as he finally flipped Flood off of him. The three bears took a short moment to nurse their wounds before descending upon him again. Three bears attacking, with Lucas watching the entertainment from nearby. He’d defeated three bears before, but between their first cabin attack and his fight with Tom, his body was still feeling the fatigue. He was resilient, not invincible, and it showed in the way his body moved too slowly to dodge. To make things worse, Nick was pretty sure there were more bears still lying in wait in the obscurity of the forest.

  Summoning all his strength, Nick roared with a fury. He met Flood claw for claw, managing to hook a swing deep into the other bear’s torso. He swiped a paw down across Jake’s face as he approached, and blood sprayed as his snout split open.

  He didn’t notice Dan behind him until it was too late. He went for Nick’s legs with a snarl, and Nick collapsed on him, latching his jaws around whatever was closest. Dan snapped wildly at Nick’s throat, but Nick could just barely hold him off.

  “Ready to chat yet, alpha?” Lucas called from where he was watching the brawl.

  Nick spat a growl, baring his teeth. “Never.” He rolled his body, bucking Dan off of him and swiping at his ankles. Dan staggered backward, meeting Flood and Jake to regroup once more.

  Lucas looked quietly at Nick for one long moment, his breath frosting the air. His golden eyes flickered to the three bears in the brawl. “Kill him.”

  ***

  Jo followed anxiously behind Tom, barely able to see the obstacles of the rough forest in front of her. Branches and tossed up rocks were damaging the fresh new paint job Nick and Tom had just put on the car, and she was pretty sure a log she hadn’t seen until it was too late had done some serious damage to her undercarriage.

  Tom’s body suddenly rippled violently, and even through the rolled up window, Jo could hear the guttural snarl that tore from his throat. Was something wrong? The mighty bear’s paws pounded the forest floor faster than before, and Jo stepped heavily on the gas.

  In a flash of scenery, Jo’s car sailed into a clearing, and she slammed on the brakes hard. She slapped a hand to her mouth in surprise, her headlights brightly illuminating the grisly sight of the scene before her and nearly drawing a terrified scream from her throat.

  Four bears were almost literally tearing each other apart. They lunged and dipped and tore and raked claws. Blood sprayed and cries were roared to the sky as the battle raged on before her. With a furious bellow, Tom lunged into the fight as a large brown bear’s paw swung downward for a killing blow. Jo noticed with a start that Tom was helping the bear that’d nearly gotten his head taken off. Jo looked intently at the bloody and exhausted bear on the forest floor, and though covered in blood, she could still make out the telltale grey stripe of fur that accented his deep brown coat.

  “Oh my god, Nick!” Jo gasped, a frantic sob bubbling up in her throat. He rose from where he’d fallen, standing on hind paws and roaring powerfully. His teeth bared and snapped as another bear lunged at him. Nick batted the bear down, but not before getting a slash of claws in his side. Standing back, Jo noticed a huge bear in the background, overlooking the massacre that was happening. His eye glinted impishly in the headlights of her car, overseeing the brawl with a manic level interest.

  In the corner of her vision, she saw two more bears dart from the dark forest. They were smaller but fast and uninjured like the rest of the horde, tackling Tom to the ground easily. The two bears Tom had been fighting previously lunged Nick without a second thought. He saw them coming and turned to fend them off.

  The fight raged on, Both Nick and Tom fighting two bears each. Jo could only stare on in horror as they became increasingly bloodied and broken. She was surprised that they could still fight, watching in equal parts horror and awe as Tom fell forward, crushing the arm of an enemy bear under his full weight. Even Jo could hear the crack as it broke, the bear crying out in pain.

  Nick bellowed a triumphant roar of his own, but was slow to rise. As he turned to face off against the remaining bear, the larger bear from earlier came barreling out of the forest cover with a snarl. As Jo watched the bear rise up on two legs, lifting a heavy paw high above Nick’s throat, she knew that Nick wouldn’t be able to respond in time.

  “They’re going to kill him,” she breathed, blood draining from her face as terror sang through her veins.

  Jo moved before her mind processed it, her engine revving aggressively. In a rush, her car rocketed forward as her foot slammed down on the gas none too gently. Pressing her hand to the horn, she drove straight for Nick and the bear poised to kill behind him.

  ***

  With the loud blare of a car horn, Nick snapped to, seeing Jo’s car propelling toward him. In nearly the last moment, he used every last ounce of his energy to lunge away, tackling Flood with him, who’d been temporary shocked paralyzed by Jo’s rampaging vehicle. He pinned Flood by the throat to the cold forest floor as a terrifying crash exploded around him.

  Nick ground Flood’s snout into the dirt and dead leaves as he stood, springing around frantically towards the wreckage of Jo’s car. Smoke billowed from the hood of her car, further obscuring the already dark clearing. Panic in his throat, he stared intensely at the windows of her car, trying to make out her fate. From where he stood, he could see the stark white of the deployed air bag inside, hoping beyond hope that it was enough to keep her alive. The windshield had shattered to zero visibility and the hood of Jo’s car was crumpled to near disrepair, Dan’s heavy, motionless frame wedged between the car and the thick trunk of a nearby forest tree. His face was turned away from Nick’s, and between the night and the smoke, it was near impossible to see if he might be breathing from afar.

  With a gasp, Jo’s head emerged from the ample material of the air bag. She rose up in her seat, spluttering and catching her breath as a slow trickle of blood trailed its way down her face. His bear flinched at the sight of scarlet upon her, but Nick used his rationale to remind it that it was likely just a small cut caused by the impact. She’d be fine.

  Meanwhile, all signs of the fight had ceased at the moment of Jo’s crash, rendering the blood-scented night to silence. A feral snarl tore through the cool air, Lucas breaking the silence before anyone else dared.

  “One of our own, killed by the likes of a human!” Lucas roared, lurching forward in a stalk toward the wrecked car. Toward Jo. “I’ll take a special sort of pride in gutting you,” he growled, the rumble loud and deep as it spilled from his throat.

  “What?” Nick heard Tom exclai
m behind him, the whimpers and shocked noises of the Northern Wind whispering through the trees as they processed what Lucas had said. “What happened with Jo?”

  “She… she drove the car,” Nick said softly, eyes only for Lucas as he descended upon his mate. Jo’s gaze was still glazed over, her consciousness not quite finished rebooting after the violent impact of her car on the solid muscle of a bear. Nick doubted she even saw Lucas closing in on her, his teeth bared and dribbling stringy ribbons of saliva as he growled.

  Darting as quickly as his cut and bruised legs would let him, Nick closed the distance between himself and Lucas, cutting off the pack leader’s path. “She’s off-limits.”

  “She’s nothing,” Lucas snarled, snapping his jaws at Nick. “Move before I finish you off myself.”

  “You’ll have no choice but to,” Nick thundered, ignoring his injuries as he rose tall on two paws. “But you’re sorely mistaken if you think it’ll be easy.” He glared down at Lucas. “You’re no alpha, Lucas. You’ll do well to remember that.”

  He saw the faintest uncertainty flit through Lucas’s eyes and decided to coax it to flame. “Your men are injured, one possibly dead. You have no more reinforcements, and you’re one uninjured non-alpha against two injured alphas… Those are your odds.” He snorted. “Choose wisely.”

  Lucas looked from the quivering heaps of his bears to the prone figure of Dan’s body across Jo’s hood, then back to Nick. Then ever so slightly, he took a small step backwards. “This isn’t over.”

  Nick watched as Lucas beckoned his bears to retreat, but remained standing mightily with bipedal intimidation. He wouldn’t be able to relax until the Northern Wind’s scent was a distant memory on the chilly breeze.

  “You dare not take your fallen?” Tom called after Lucas. “He might not be—”

  “I have no use for bodies, alpha,” Lucas growled back, his stride unfaltering. “Whatever remains in that pile of rubbish is worthless. Leave him here to rot.” Without another word, Lucas darted into the thick of the woods, his subordinates limping sadly after him.

  Chapter Twenty

  Jo shoved open the side door on the driver’ side, toppling gracelessly out onto the ground in a fit of terror. She’d regained consciousness at the sight of a large bear’s face twisted in agony as it lay prone across her car. It was still there, large, bloodied, broken, and painfully, painfully still. She felt the beginnings of a scream bubbling up her throat and clapped both hands over her mouth. A frantic whimper managed to fight its way out as her body started to shiver in shock as well as cold.

  Nick and Tom weren’t too far away, and she could distantly hear them moving about passed the numbness that was trying to settle over her. As much as she wanted to lock eyes with Nick and have him reassurance her that everything would be okay, she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the bear she’d killed as it tricked blood down the side of her car.

  A few moments of distant rustling passed before a pair of warm arms wrapped around her from behind. Her body tensed for a beat before melting into Nick’s embrace.

  “Jo,” he whispered, feathering a few kisses on her temple and down her cheek. “Are you okay?”

  She swallowed hard once, running her hand across Nick’s strong arms over and over. She nodded once, still unable to pull her eyes away from the dead bear.

  Nick nuzzled the bed of her neck, pulling her close. Vaguely, she could feel that he’d started trembling as well. “You came back… you were gone… but you left… you came back… you’re here…” he chanted, his grip growing even tighter. “You could have been killed,” he finished after a moment of silence.

  “I know,” Jo whispered back, finally speaking. “But I saw you… then the bear… He was going to…” She trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.

  “I know, I know,” he crooned. He sighed softly. “You saved me, Jo. You came back… and saved my life.”

  His words finally gave her the strength she needed to turn away from the grisly wreck in front of her, embracing him the way she should have the moment she knew he was safe. He tried to tilt her chin up for a kiss, but instead, her gaze travelled downward, bringing a slow, tentative smile to her face. “You know you’re naked, right?”

  Nick chuckled. “And bloody, and bruised, and broken, but of course, that’s what you noticed first.” A hint of blush tinged her cheeks as he kissed her.

  “You’re hurt?” Jo asked as he pulled away.

  He nodded. “Nothing that won’t heal up fine with time. We bears have healing that a human like you wouldn’t believe.”

  “I’m hurt, too,” Tom quipped from afar, attempting to lighten the mood. “You know… just in case anyone cares.” He grinned as they both looked at him. “I’m also woefully naked, so, I’m just going to stay over here.”

  Jo cracked a smile. “I—”

  Jo’s car bucked and groaned as metal bent and twisted, and she bit back a surprised yelp. A deep growl reverberated loudly through the trees, morphing and changing until it became a scream while bones cracked and popped in the background.

  She watched as Tom moved cautiously forward, keeping himself expertly covered and decent for Jo’s eyes as he walked to the destroyed car. The bear that had once been on her hood was on the tail end of a change back, his human skin rippling and shivering in pain. With a final groan, he was fully human once more. His frame was smaller as a human, no longer wedged between car and tree, and with a pain-filled grunt, the man slid limply onto the dirt and damp leaves of the ground.

  Tom leaned down, raising a hand forward to check the man’s pulse. As if on instinct, the man’s arm shot out for Tom’s throat. Tom intercepted it easily, pinning the arm behind the man’s back. “Now, now Dan. That’s the thanks I get for trying to see if you’re still alive?” The man only growled in response, though it sounded more painful than angry.

  “Holy shit” Nick breathed, face shocked and filled with pity. “I can’t believe he survived that hit.”

  “No one’s more surprised than me,” Dan rumbled, hissing in agony as if it was literal torture to talk.

  Jo stared from Nick, to Tom, and then finally allowed her eyes to rest on Dan. “I…” she began. “I’m not a killer. I didn’t murder anyone with my car,” she breathed, her body sagging in relief.

  Nick grinned. “I’m glad.”

  Tom only snorted, still holding fast to Dan’s wayward arm. “Great. Just when life was shaping up to return to some form of normalcy,” he spat. He looked to his brother. “What do you want to do with him?”

  Nick shrugged. “Not sure. Leave him here, I guess?”

  Jo gasped. “You will not!”

  “Doing anything otherwise would be taking on an unneeded risk,” Nick replied, genuinely perplexed by her response. “His pack will eventually return and find him here. Then they can decide what to do with him.”

  “They think he’s dead, though,” Tom interjected, shrugging his nonchalance. “Not that I care. I just thought I’d point that out.”

  Jo looked from one brother to another in disbelief. “He’s hurt!” she protested. “I hit him with my car! You can’t be seriously considering just leaving him out in the cold!”

  “He’s a shifter, Jo,” Nick reassured. “We heal faster than you could ever imagine.”

  “Well he’s not healed now,” Jo rebutted, standing. “And that’s on me.”

  “Only because he was about to kill me,” Nick replied, standing after her.

  “That’s beside the point,” Jo retorted, and in a burst of courage, she made the short walk to where Dan lay pinned in the dirt. Leaning down, she asked, “How badly are you hurt?” Dan growled at her.

  “Hey,” Tom warned, twisting Dan’s arm uncomfortably. “Like it or not, she’s the closest thing you’ve got to a friend right now, bud. Play nice.”

  Jo was unfazed, knowing that he could do little harm in his broken state. She only felt a bit of pity. “Can you walk?”

  Dan glowered at her for a
few beats of silence before giving one tiny shake of his head.

  “Right,” Jo sighed, standing. “Tom, could you stay here with him while Nick and I go grab a car?

  Nick raised an eyebrow. “Jo, you know we’re miles from the shop, right? And your car is in bad shape?”

  Jo paused. “Crap, you’re right.” She pondered further. “I guess I’ll hang out here as well, but if we want to get everyone back to the shop easily, we’ll need a car.”

  Nick looked at her in mild amusement. “Well, if that’s the case, you can always ride me?”

  Jo couldn’t stop the blush that washed excitedly across her face. “Nick!” she chastised.

  Nick barked a laugh. “I mean on my bear! Like a horse.” He narrowed his eyes mischievously at her “What did you think I meant?”

  “Not really the time guys,” Tom grumbled. “Big boy here’s starting to shiver, and my leg is pretty messed up. I don’t think I’d be able to change and run back if I wanted.”

  Nick’s face fell, immediately serious again. “Are you okay?”

  Tom grimaced. “I will be,” he said, waving Nick away. “You just worry about getting a car. And bring us back some clothes too, will ya?”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Nick agreed, stalking off in into the night to change once more. “I’ll make some noise once I’m set up, Jo,” he called back before darkness swallowed him up.

  Jo looked to Dan’s prone form, staring for a beat of silence before dutifully removing her coat. Careful not to walk near his free—but very broken—arm, she gently draped the thick coat over his cold body.

  Dan frowned, his face etched with pain. “Why?”

  Jo could tell he was going through some tough emotions behind those dark and angry eyes. He was the enemy, after all. But try as she might to think as Nick and Tom did, seeing him as a proper threat while lying in a pool of his own blood just wasn’t in her programming.

  She shrugged. “Because you’re cold.” She stood and tuned to walk away.