“It sounds like a female,” Gunnar growled low in his throat, raising his nose to the air. When the male opened his eyes, they were glowing with the presence of his beast. “It’s a female bear, Rex.”
“Shit, it’s Anna Claire,” Rex barked and took off at a dead run.
The panthers shifted behind them and raced at their side as Gunnar led them deeper into the woods toward the sound of the female. Rex knew it had to be Ada’s friend, because there were supposedly no other clans in the area.
His mate had voiced her concern that Robert O’Kelly would harm his own daughter, and when they all came to a halt in a clearing, Rex had his answer. “Oh, my god.”
“Get her down!” Gunnar yelled, seeing the female chained between two trees. Some monster had tied her up like an offering, and had cut her across her abdomen and the tops of both legs, leaving her to struggle to heal from life threatening injuries.
“D…don’t touch me,” she begged. “Please, just kill me.”
“Are you Anna Claire?” Rex asked, moving slowly as he approached her. It was obvious she was scared to death. Her long, blonde hair was stained with blood, and her clothes were torn from the claws of a male bear.
“How…do you…know my name?” she stammered.
“Ada sent us to save you,” Rex told her, turning toward the panthers. “Search for who did this.”
The three panthers took off after a scent, snarling as they went. The Shaw pride were trackers, and they were damn good at their job. If they caught a scent, it’d take them straight to the male who’d done this to her.
“Ada,” the female gasped with a renewed sense of strength. “Is she alive?”
“Yes, she’s alive,” Rex called out, looking over at his younger brother. He was on edge, his body vibrating as he paced. “Gunnar?”
“Get her down, Rex,” he growled, baring his fangs. “You’ve got to touch her, because I can’t do it right now.”
Fuck!
Gunnar sensed something in Anna Claire, and Rex was certain he knew the female would be his brother’s mate from her scent.
“They…have…guns,” Anna choked out as Rex approached her. “They’ll come for you. Leave me.”
“Get her down, Rex!” Gunnar hollered.
“Anna Claire, my name is Rex Morgan,” he announced, ignoring her comment. He figured the O’Kelly clan would have firearms, and it wasn’t uncommon for a clan to carry human weapons. “I’m going to have to touch you to get you down. Do you have a mate?”
“No,” she said as she shook her head. “You’re not listening to me.” Her voice was powerful even though her shoulders slumped. “My father…he deals in weapons…lots of them. He just got a shipment.”
“Fuck,” Drake drawled from somewhere behind Rex.
Rex jumped into action when his baby brother’s body started to swell. There were chains around her wrists with padlocks to keep her in place. He wrapped his arm around Anna Claire’s waist and used his strength to pull at the chains, snapping the limb on her left. He repeated the action on her other side while Drake broke the locks at her ankles. The moment she fell, he scooped her up while Drake freed her wrists. The most disturbing of all was the collar around her throat. It was imbedded with spikes against her skin, ensuring if she shifted, she would be killed instantly.
He knelt on the ground, unleashing a claw to slice through the leather collar. Gunnar fell at his side and growled at the gash across her stomach. His brother’s eyes flickered to the collar before settling back on the female. “Anna Claire, my name is Gunnar Morgan. Please tell me what happened to you.”
“I tried to run away, but Dwayne caught me,” she cried, using her freed arm to cover her stomach. “Why does it hurt so bad?”
“He cut you deep, and your advanced healing is taking a while to repair the damage,” Rex explained, looking over his shoulder when the panthers returned.
“We need to get her to Harold,” Savage ordered as soon as he shifted, grabbing his discarded clothes. “The males are not on the land. They took off in a truck as soon as we reached the clan.”
“Delivery,” Anna Claire panted. “They have an entire shipment of guns, and they were going to deliver some this morning. They won’t be back for a while.”
Rex glanced at the males, seeing the need to fight and destroy the animals who’d done this to the young female. He agreed, but at that moment, Anna Claire needed to be seen by the healer. “We will return.”
“I’ll call the healer and have him meet us at your clan,” Kraven said, removing his phone from his pocket. He turned away and spoke softly, but Rex’s enhanced hearing picked up on the worry in his voice. “Okay, we need to move her so she can shift to heal.”
The males moved as a unit with everyone on alert. Just because the males had left the land didn’t mean they weren’t still in the area. Rex knew they’d come back for Anna Claire, and when they did, the punishment for running away was going to be worse than just stringing her up in the woods and attempting to gut her.
“Don’t worry, female,” Gunnar said, jumping into the front seat when Drake cranked the truck. Rex wrapped Anna Claire in a blanket and watched as his baby brother peered at her over the backseat. “I vow to bring justice to the male who did this.”
Chapter 12
Ada jumped from her seat at the kitchen table and ran toward the door as soon as she heard vehicles. She called out for Tessa when she noticed it was the sheriff and a vehicle she’d never seen before. “Who is it?”
“Oh no, Ada,” Tessa gasped, placing a calming hand on her arm. “I need you to stay calm.”
“Calm?” she panicked. Never tell a woman to stay calm without giving her a reason. “Calm?”
“The pride’s healer is here,” Tessa stated, clamping down on her arm when Ada began to sway. “This means someone needs his help.”
“No,” she cried, fearing the worst. “No!”
The local sheriff hurried up the steps to the porch, followed by an older male wearing a baseball cap. The moment they entered, tears burst from Ada’s eyes. “Where’s Rex?”
“Rex isn’t hurt,” the sheriff announced, but his face fell as he took a deep breath. “They were unable to locate Robert, but they did find your friend, Anna Claire.”
“Oh, no! Is she alive?” Ada yelled, seeing the pain on both males’ faces.
“She’s alive, but in bad shape,” the healer said, taking over the conversation. “Please sit down and let me tell you what I know.”
“What happened?” Ada demanded. She wanted to be strong and steady for Anna Claire when she arrived, but the news wiped out any fight she had in her body.
“They found her in the woods across the highway from your old clan. Someone chained her two trees and tried to gut her.”
“What?” Ada snarled, bursting from her seat. “I’ll kill him myself!”
“We don’t know where he is, but Anna Claire was able to inform us that Robert O’Kelly has been dealing in illegal firearms. He’d just gotten a shipment the night before and had left before first light to make a delivery.”
“Guns?” Ada asked in shock.
“You didn’t know this?” the sheriff pushed.
“I never knew,” she said in disbelief. “The elders kept me away from him as much as possible. Anna Claire was always so inquisitive. I’m not surprised she already knew what was going on.”
“They’re here,” Tessa announced as she stood by the window. The sound of the trucks arriving was just as hurried as when the sheriff and healer had arrived.
The males ran out the door, meeting the truck Rex was driving. The healer rushed to put on a pair of gloves, taking a bloodied body from the backseat of Drake’s truck. Ada’s heart sank in her chest when she saw Anna Claire curled up into the healer’s arms.
“Anna Claire,” she whispered, fearing the worst.
“I need to check her over before she shifts,” the healer grunted as he pushed past Ada in the doorway. She jumped back,
knowing she shouldn’t touch the healer, but his arm brushed across her exposed skin in his rush to get the female into the house.
“Shit,” she hissed and clamped down on the spot. The burning sensation was torture, but her concern for Anna Claire was much worse.
“I’ve got you,” Rex cooed as his hand covered the small spot. When she looked into her mate’s eyes, they were glowing with the presence of his beast.
“It was an accident,” she blurted.
“I know it was,” he replied solemnly.
Gunnar growled from his spot in the threshold of the door. His eyes were as bright as his brother’s, and Ada saw the rippling of his skin as he watched the healer work on Anna Claire. “Is?”
“I think so,” Rex answered her unspoken question. “We need to keep him calm.”
As the healer checked Anna Claire, Ada stood in the protection of her mate’s arms, glancing between the female and Rex’s brother. There was a harshness about his partially shifted face that set her on edge. If looks could kill, Gunnar would’ve scoured every inch of the planet to exact punishment on the male who had done this to her.
“I need to talk to her,” Ada whispered as the healer spoke softly to the young female. Gods, she was only twenty. Her birthday was only a month ago, and the knowledge that her father may have done this sent tears to Ada’s eyes. “I have to know who did this to her.”
“She mentioned a male named Dwayne,” Rex replied. He was keeping his voice low and calm, and Ada appreciated the males for not being in a rage. At the moment, they were the only reason she wasn’t falling apart.
“She needs to shift,” the healer announced as he looked up from the couch where he was working on Anna Claire. When his eyes fell on Ada, she nodded and moved forward. Rex released his hold on her, allowing her to move without him hovering at her side, and for that, she was thankful.
“I’ll take her,” Ada offered, finally making eye contact with her friend. “I’m so sorry, Anna Claire.”
“I…I’m just happy you are alive,” Anne Claire replied, reaching up with her bloody hand to clasp her fingers with Ada’s.
“Can you walk?” Ada asked, looking around at the other males. She didn’t even realize the sheriff and panthers were still there. The panthers were standing guard at the front door. All three of them had their legs spread shoulder width apart and their beefy arms were crossed as if making a barrier for anyone who decided to break inside at any moment.
“I think I can,” her friend replied. As soon as Anna Claire flinched, the healer used his gloved hand to assist her. When she was on her feet, Ada took over and slowly walked her toward the back door. Drake and Rex followed, but Drake stopped to speak softly to the youngest Morgan brother. She saw Gunnar shake his head, curse, and start to move toward them. Drake’s hand on his shoulder stopped any outburst that might’ve been coming.
Ada stripped off her clothes, tossing them on the back porch, not caring that the wooden deck was wet from the rain. She used her claws to tear at the female’s tattered clothes, then held Anna Claire up when she took over, stripping herself of the undergarments she wore. All of her clothes were either torn or bloodied.
“Rex, can you get her one of my outfits, please?” Ada asked as she took Anna Claire’s hand to move her to the grassy area off the porch. “She will need a shower after this.”
Ada didn’t have to wait for Anna Claire to shift. The female knelt and her bear appeared within seconds. Ada pulled at her beast and was on all fours not too long after.
They found a place at the edge of the wooded area behind Rex’s home for Anna Claire to start the healing process. Ada’s bear sat on her haunches as Anna Claire laid down on her side. Within fifteen minutes, she shifted to human, checking the wound on her abdomen. Ada chuckled when Anna Claire cursed, shifting again.
It would take a few shifts, staying in her beast form for several minutes to force the advanced healing. With the cut so deep into her belly, Ada was sure they’d be there for at least half an hour, maybe more.
“How long have you been here?” Anna Claire asked as she shifted to her human self, panting as she remained on her side.
“For two weeks,” Ada replied, pulling a bloody strand of hair away from the female’s face. “Are you okay? What happened?”
“I ran away, but I didn’t get far before I panicked,” she replied. “I hid in the woods across the highway, but Dwayne tracked me down.”
“Why did you run away?” Ada pressed, immediately regretting asking when the young female’s eyes filled with tears.
“They were touching me,” she sniffled. “Ada, it was bad…really bad.”
“I’m so sorry,” she cooed, touching Anna Claire’s cheek to get her attention. “You are safe here, and I promise you they will be dealt with.”
“I can’t go back,” she hissed when she touched the tender pink line leftover from her attack. “Dwayne knocked me out, and the next thing I knew, he was chaining me between two trees and he gutted me. I was being left there until they returned from delivering a shipment of guns. If your males hadn’t found me, I would’ve been killed when they returned.”
“But you weren’t,” Ada assured her, trying to hold back a shiver at the visual of what the male had done. Dwayne was a sick son of a bitch, and Ada knew it well. When Robert had forced the male to touch her the prior year, he wanted more than that, but Robert had stopped him.
“I need to shift again,” Anne Claire moaned as her beast took over. Ada leaned back when the female bear ambled to her feet, holding steady as she shook out her fur.
Anna Claire’s bear was as small as Ada’s, but even small, she was a large animal. The males usually weighted close to eight hundred pounds, but the females were two-thirds of that…sometimes half. They were protected for a reason, and knowing Anna Claire had no way of protecting herself when she was afraid sent anger through Ada’s veins.
The bear lowered her head and approached Ada. She ran her fingers through the soft fur on the top of her head and rested her forehead against the bear’s, closing her eyes. “I’m so sorry this happened to you, my friend.”
The bear growled low in its throat at the approach of the males. When Ada looked up, Gunnar was there with Rex. Both males looked concerned, but Ada just nodded to let them know Anna Claire would be okay.
She wasn’t sure what had transpired since she’d left during the winter months, but from the mental state Anna Claire was in, Ada was sure it was worse than her greatest fears.
“If you’d like to run with her, Rex and I will go with you for protection,” Gunnar offered, not taking his golden eyes off the young female.
Ada pulled at her beast when Anna Claire’s bear huffed and looked off into the woods. Ada nodded and let the beast take over, shifting as she was already undressed. The males followed and the four of them ambled down the trail leading off into the woods.
She didn’t know who was left at the house, or what was going to happen with the O’Kelly clan, but she knew something needed to be done soon. If they were selling illegal guns, the sheriff would have to step in. Right?
Ada’s human side mentally kicked herself for not knowing what was happening within her own clan. Maybe she had been sheltered by the elders during all those times they were teaching her the ways of a mate. Whatever the reason, she was glad it was almost over. There was no way she would go back to Robert O’Kelly, and even if she was forced, she’d slit her own throat to ensure she didn’t survive what was waiting for her.
Rex’s beast snarled as they both remembered the sight of Anna Claire chained up between two trees in that wooded area. She had been suspended and nearly quartered like an animal. The male who’d caught her had taken his bear’s claw to her abdomen, cutting her with the intention of spilling her insides. Thankfully, he didn’t succeed. No shifter would’ve been able to heal from that wound while strung up and unable to shift to heal the damage. With the collar, Anna Claire was as good as dead without the ability to sh
ift and heal.
He’d heard everything Anna Claire had said since she’d been found. Knowing those males had passed her around with the excuse of touching her for a mating made him murderous. From her fear, there was more to the story, and he’d get to the bottom of it.
His baby brother had showed signs of his interest in the young female since she’d been found. From what he’d witnessed from Gunnar, Rex was sure the male had been scenting her mating scent the moment she was found.
When Ada had moved Anna Claire outside, Drake and Rex had to hold their brother back from going outside. There were a few fists thrown when they’d stopped him from being close to the female. Drake had to get through to him, make him understand the female’s condition and how going off the rails was going to scare her even more. The panthers had even voiced their knowledge of dealing with a tortured female to help his brother understand he needed to calm the fuck down.
Rex knew from experience, touching a female he felt the mating instinct with wasn’t the same as it’d been years ago. With the change of times, females had their own free will, and Ada and Anna Claire were from a clan who didn’t respect that. They had to make the decision to allow the touch. It wasn’t up to the males anymore, and Rex agreed.
No one should be forced into something they didn’t want.
The females stuck close together. Anna Claire never moved more than a foot away from his mate. The young female’s bear put all of her trust into Ada, and Rex was relieved Ada was there and they’d found her friend before it was too late.
Their trek through the trails was calming. Even Gunnar relaxed slightly beside him when the females began to bump each other playfully. Birds flew overhead, and Rex lifted his snout to the wind, checking for any foreign scents. Unlike the last time they’d been there, he found none.
He knew as soon as they returned to the house, they’d need to regroup and plan their takedown on Robert O’Kelly and his clan. With the presence of illegal guns, Rex and the others were concerned about their safety.
Mating Instinct (Morgan Clan Bears, Book 2) Page 9