Firefighter Bear (Silvertip Shifters Book 6)

by J. K Harper

  “Fucking fuckfaces,” she murmured just under her breath, low enough it would be hard to hear. But she knew perfectly well every single one of the shifters could hear her just fine.

  Two of them flinched, the eyes of the thieving woman who'd briefly glanced at her going wide as she finally stopped talking, then narrowing in disdain. One of the guys tightened his jaw, the brightness of his animal storming into his eyes. Yet still not one of them actually looked at her.

  Everly threw her hands into the air and glared down at their charming little picnic spread out on a blanket on the ground between them all. Then she deliberately smashed out her foot, knocking a pitcher of lemonade right over. It poured out, spraying the sweet yellow drink onto several of them.

  That did it. The woman who'd looked at her, the necklace thief who clearly did not remember her at all, screeched in outrage. "What the hell, you little bitch? Who do you think you are?"

  The one guy's eyes kept getting brighter as his animal moved more under them, which to be very honest actually made Everly shake since he was, after all, a very big, powerful grizzly shifter. He looked her dead in the eyes, his face a mask of rage and something that actually made her flinch.

  Hatred. Actual hatred. He doesn't even know me, she thought to herself, the shock of it stealing her breath away. But that clearly didn't matter to him. He hated her because of what she was. He didn't give one single damn about who she was.

  "This is a private gathering, you filthy little fox shifter." The pure contempt that dripped from his voice momentarily froze Everly to the spot.

  Everyone else at the little picnic got silent. Although she still couldn't see all her friends and Slade, ranged a ways back behind her, she had a very strong suspicion that right now Slade's brothers were probably holding him back while everyone watched carefully to see what would happen next.

  It's all you now, little fox, she thought to herself, reaching deep into herself despite the sudden cold fear that had gripped her as the downright terrifying grizzly shifter glared at her with such venom, his animal so close below the surface, she knew she was about to really push it. This is for Jacob, she thought to herself desperately, as strongly she could. And Mom and Dad, and Tobias, Nita and her family, and me. Every shunned shifter type in the world. Don't let these assholes scare you, little fox.

  Well, truthfully, she was still scared out of her wits. But her fox chittered and raged inside her. She knew her voice would work, if she took a deep breath first to compose herself. She did that. Then, just as deliberately as she'd kicked over the pitcher of lemonade, she slowly, clearly, said right to the enraged male grizzly shifter in front of her, “You are all nothing but fucking fuckfaces. Did you hear me this time?"

  His eyes about popped out of his head in shock before he narrowed them again, his glare darkening even more. The other Tarben shifters all stared at her, gape-mouthed, clearly shocked at her boldness. Her audacity at speaking back to them. Ha. Got their danged attention now, that was for sure. She heard a whoop from somewhere behind her. It sounded suspiciously like Nita, but she didn't dare turn her head to look.

  She huffed out scornful laughter, gaining her confidence. "You didn't think I had it in me, did you? Didn't think I would dare speak back to you high and mighty assholes who actually believe some shifter types are beneath them, did you?"

  The male's lips compressed into a line so thin they almost disappeared, his eyes flaring ever brighter. His gaze slid slightly away from her, glancing behind her. He must see her group over there, watching them. He must have recognized them as being the local Silvertip clan. He gave her another short glance, lips curling into an ugly sneer.

  Although his hand clenched and unclenched, he didn't look at Everly again. Instead, he called out to them, "Hey! Did you hear what she said to us? How do you even allow her kind here?" The way he said “her kind” almost made her recoil from its ugliness. "How did she even get in here? She must have snuck in. Just like her kind. Sneaking, thieving little weasel."

  "I'm a red fox," Everly snapped, the fox fire within her flaming strong again. She knew her eyes must be glowing just as brightly as the male grizzly's. Her fox was fighting to get out of her, to shift. To fight. The knowledge fueled the rage she needed to keep confronting him. "I'm not a thief, I don't sneak, and I'm a fox, not a weasel. Although," she added, balling her fists on her hips so she didn't jab a finger at him, which might trigger his bear enough to shift and lunge at her, "I actually know some weasel shifters. They're honorable and decent. A lot more honorable than an asshole like you."

  The male Tarben sniggered, still refusing to look at her again. He instead said to his other clan members, “Did you all hear something? Because I sure didn't. I heard nothing, because there is nothing here worth even existing. Little loser bitch,” he couldn't seem to help slipping in, the snarling rage on his face belying his earlier words.

  There was an enormous, earthshaking roar behind her. Slade. His bear had been loosed. No one was able to hold him back anymore. The Tarben guy in front of Everly sprang to his feet, his own change starting to drop over him.

  Oh, shit. Everly stumbled backward, right into someone's arms. She tried to jerk away, but a female voice snarled into her ear, "I don't think so, you little cunt. The shifters who own this lodge are coming over here to get rid of you. Just like you deserve." The woman spat on the ground in disgust, barely missing Everly. Gross.

  Everly's fox screamed inside her, the noise rushing out of Everly's mouth as a high-pitched yelp. She startled the woman enough that she could jerk away. Whirling around, she snapped out in a voice that was getting even more high-pitched as her fox desperately tried to take over, "You wanna bet? That bear right there is my mate, you ignorant fool. I'm pretty sure he's coming over here to whip your asses."

  The woman snapped her head around to look at Slade's approach. Then she breathed, "Holy shit."

  Everly looked too. Her jaw dropped. Absolute chaos rolled and tumbled toward them. The Silvertip shifter clan, each one turned into their powerful animals, was racing across the meadow toward them, fury evident in their snarls and howls and every pounding step.

  That wasn't the most amazing part, though. No, the truly stunning part was the shifters behind them, all different sorts, none of whom Everly recognized. They also raced toward them, each one shifted into animal form. Guests from the lodge. Everly almost cheered, then suddenly paused in brief worry. Did they side with the Silvertips, or with the bigoted Tarbens?

  In another split second, the question was answered as a cheetah, who just like grizzly bears were considered among the apex predators of all shifters on the planet and therefore never shunned, bounded in, snarling ferociously at the woman who’d yanked Everly back. The woman returned the growl as she instantly shifted into her bear.

  Time to rumble, little fox. Everly let her small but mighty animal spring forth to join this most unexpected battle. Fur flew everywhere, blood spattered the ground, voices howled, screamed, snarled and growled and roared. It was absolute bedlam. Normally, Everly would be terrified, surrounded as she was by so many huge shifters. Normally, she would run off to the woods, terrified, needing to hide her small self from these larger predators.

  Not today. She, Everly Vos, was a fox shifter, and she was damn proud of it.

  She whirled around, looking for someone to fight. Damn it, no one was even looking at her. No one would battle her. Slade, of course, was aware of her. He was desperately trying to get to her, but he was locked in a roaring battle with the male grizzly shifter who had been so rude to her.

  As she whipped around on her fast little feet, diving out of the way when two huge bears—Riley and one of the Tarbens—brawled near enough to crush her, Everly realized she was right. No one seemed to see her. Ignored. Unnoticed, even in battle. This was how she was used to being treated her entire life, at least by the jerks in the world. Overlooked, unnoticed, unacknowledged.

  Well, hell no. No more. She damn well existed, and h
er place in this world was just as important as everyone else's.

  Gathering the rage of a lifetime, rage toward the bastards who'd locked up her brother, depriving him of his right to live freely for over two years, rage at the bullies from her childhood, anger even at all the more powerful shifters who were her friends but had never taken enough action to actually call out the world's worst bullies on their wrongs, Everly did the one thing she could do as a fox shifter that would demand attention.

  She screamed.

  It was a fox scream, huge and powerful, shrieking through the air. It sliced across all the other sounds, the noise of it shocking everyone to momentary stillness. Dozens of heads turned toward her, staring as she screamed again, then again.

  Hey, this felt pretty darned good.

  On the other edge of the clearing, another fox suddenly screamed. The sound was deeper than hers, but just as loud. Tobias, adding his call.

  Then on the other edge, yet another fox scream, then another. Startled, Everly looked toward them. More fox shifters. They must be guests at the lodge. Her heart swelled suddenly at this small but mighty show of support.

  Then another sound ripped out. Nita's chuffing badger cry, voicing her own frustration and rage as loudly as a badger could across the battle of monster-huge shifters. Here and there all across the shocked predator shifters, even all those that were Everly's and Nita's friends, others of the so-called lesser shifter species added their voices.

  Everly stared, now so astonished she sat down, her fluffy tail lashing slightly behind her, her ears pricked up straight in wonder. So many others. She started to recognize some of them. Many were from Deep Hollow. How had they known about this confrontation? Instantly, she glanced over at Nita. Her friend must have spread the word. She looked around at all the shifters she didn't recognize at all, the ones who must be guests at the lodge. They'd chosen to come and throw their support behind those who lived lives that were considered not as good as the others. Pride swelled in her chest at the sight and sound of them all. Small but mighty, and valid in their existence. Just like her.

  A wild cacophony of grunts, hoarse cries, bellows, and smaller shrieks pierced the air. Everyone had stopped fighting to watch and listen, even Slade and the other bear, though they were still sharply poised in wariness. She felt a huge grin slipping onto her face. A foxy grin, she might even say. Her community. All of them. Flinging her head back, she screamed again, then again, the huge barking cry of it smashing out into the meadow, into the sprawling forest and mountains that surrounded them, raising her voice to everyone.

  I am here. I exist, and I count. I am one of you too.

  As her scream died away, almost immediately a huge grizzly roar echoed it. She whipped her head around. Slade, bellowing, but not to his opponent or anyone else. He bellowed to the sky, roaring in support of her. Then he strode right over to her, his huge paws slapping the ground as he walked, shaking it slightly from the force. He walked right up to her, one darned big bear going to his little fox. Gently, he nuzzled her, smoothing his face against hers again and again and yet again. Showing everyone here that she was his. Under his protection, and not to be messed with.

  Then Everly's heart exploded into a shocked joy as he did something she never would have expected.

  Slade Walker, huge, kickass grizzly bear, giant man she loved with all her heart, got down on the ground, bending his front legs until he was on his knees, then bending down his back legs until he was stretched out on the ground in front of her, still stroking her little legs with the side of his enormous head. Worshipping her. There was a rustle of noise among all the watching shifters, animal equivalents of a few gasps, but by far from most throats came approving sounds.

  Slade was showing everyone here that while he might be a king of the forest, little fox shifter Everly Vos was unequivocally his queen.

  She basked in that for a long, proud moment. Then her mate got back up on his feet, whuffling a breath over her. He glanced over at his brothers and their mates in some sort of unspoken communication. In a flash, he shifted back to human. Seconds later, so did the other Silvertips, except Quentin. He kept his bear form, directing a menacing glare and warning snarls at the Tarben group. Almost all of the other shifters here, guests as well as those from Deep Hollow, kept their animal forms, watching the Tarbens with fierce expressions.

  “Shift back to human,” Slade ordered the vastly outnumbered Tarben shifters.

  The jerks of course didn't comply. Everly let her mouth loll open in a crafty little fox smile. This had been part of the plan, since they knew the Tarbens would be likely to shift into their animals. They'd expected the refusal to shift back to the weaker human shapes, and had a counter volley.

  “Shift back,” Cortez echoed, stepping up beside Slade.

  “Shift back,” Riley said, flanking Slade's other side.

  “Shift back,” said Haley, Shane, Jessie, Beckett, and a dozen other Deep Hollow shifters who'd been in on this part of the plan, if it came to it.

  The Tarbens were faced with an unrelenting wave of dominance from too many powerful predator shifters, on those shifters' home turf. There was no way they could keep their animal forms. With snarls and groans, the small party of fucking fuckfaces all dropped back to human, crying out from the pain of the forced shifts. They still glared, but Everly could clearly see the nervousness on their faces too. They knew full well they were extremely outnumbered.

  The jerk male who'd been the one facing off with Slade, the one who had made Everly genuinely frightened earlier, began to snarl a protest, but Slade snapped, "Shut your filthy mouth," with such hard force the guy snapped his mouth closed, clearly startled. Slade glared at him, his hugely dominant presence clearly making the other grizzly so uncomfortable the man couldn't look at him. Instead, he settled his gaze on Everly, his eyes glaring pure daggers at her.

  Screw him. He didn't scare her anymore.

  Slade stepped forward. "You're all members of the Tarben clan, from Idaho. Correct?"

  There was a pause. One of the women finally gave a short nod of her head. The male shifter quickly looked over and glared at her, making her edge slightly away. Without looking directly at him, she glared back, jabbing him with a fist. Such charming folks.

  Slade went on in a firm voice, bolstered not just by the members of his clan and his community standing around him, but by a sense of surety Everly had never seen in him before. She let her grin get bigger. "We have it on record, with indisputable evidence," Slade raised his voice so everyone in the fairly crowded meadow could hear him, whether with human or animal ears, "that you all have been dealing in an underground trade that is considered reprehensible to the general shifter community. Illegal, even."

  The Tarbens suddenly looked worried.

  Slade waited for a dramatic moment. Everly's grin grew even bigger. Her mate was really enjoying this. "We have evidence that you've been running weapons in our community. Guns, to be exact.”

  Howls of shock and rage rose from the watching shifters. To most shifters, guns were a coward's way of defense. Fighting in animal form was the accepted way of doing things. Guns were a gutless choice. The Tarbens seemed to shrink in on themselves more as the ire of the crowd turned even more against them.

  “Also,” Slade went on, raising his voice more, “you have been dealing weapons to outcast shifters.”

  More howls of fury. Everly noticed Riley's and Marisa's faces turn stone cold. They definitely had reason to sincerely dislike that bit of information.

  “Worse yet,” Slade’s voice darkened to pure rage, “you've been making deals with guards and wardens at shifter prisons. Deals that involved shifters who were totally innocent of something but were still being thrown into prison, when it really should have been you all in there. Isn't that right?"

  The Tarbens couldn't even reply, because an absolute uproar once again ripped through the watching shifters. The mood instantly turned very dangerous.

  Everly had to adm
it that for once in her life, she didn't give a damn that she was surrounded by really pissed off predator shifters. They were her community too. And their anger was justified.

  Riley's voice suddenly cut through the noise. "Everything you have done is despicable, but helping to sell weapons of any sort to anyone who has any connection with shifters is something for which I personally will make sure you rot for the rest of your lives in prison, regardless of everything else."

  Marisa, who stood beside her mate, still in her mountain lion form, added a long, low, menacing hiss, baring her impressively sharp teeth as her gleaming eyes glared at the Tarbens.

  Quentin had dropped back into human finally. He stepped forward, taking advantage of the silence that had fallen after Riley's words. "I'm in charge of the Silvertip Lodge. The lodge,” he continued slowly, “where we have allowed you to stay as our guests."

  His voice was deceptively mild. Everly felt a shiver skitter down her back. The Tarben grizzlies all looked very wary now as Quentin kept speaking.

  "Not only have you shunned a member of our community and her family when she was young," he gestured toward Everly, who managed to stay calm as every single eye in the place briefly swiveled toward her, including those of the clearly confused Tarbens, "which is absolutely disgusting behavior in and of itself, but you have also been doing things that are illegal in any shifter community that abides by all the rules and expectations of shifters. Worst perhaps to some members of our community is the knowledge that you deliberately sent innocent shifters to prison to serve out sentences that rightfully should have been yours, heavily bribing guards and wardens to make sure they would never get out."

  The angry murmuring of the crowd began again, several of them clearly barely restraining themselves from lunging at the outsider grizzlies. The Tarbens now looked openly fearful, clustered close together, very vulnerable in their naked human forms.