Page 2 of Bear with Me

“Brock isn’t bad, Jemma. Neither of you have taken the time to get to know each other.”

Jemma laughed, but it wasn’t from amusement.

“Like you took the time to know Fletch before you took him as your mate?” she asked and watched Helen’s face flush. “We both know that’s not how it normally works for shifters. We accept the bond the moment we feel it. By the time I realized who Brock is to me, he’d already rejected our bond. I’m only following his lead.”

“Jemma.”

She hated the pity she heard in Helen’s voice.

“I’m fine. Really. I am, but I can’t stay here. No one should ask that of me.”

Stay and watch her mate grow further and further away from her? Watch as he fell in love with another? Mated and had children? Even she didn’t deserve that. Which left her with one option. Leaving the Holloway den and Wyoming.

“He’ll come around,” Helen whispered as she reached for Jemma’s hand. At some point, she’d started directing them toward the cabin she shared with her mate.

“He won’t,” Jemma countered, and she wasn’t sure if she wanted him to. “He’ll never forget I tried to persuade Laramie to take me as his mate when I first arrived here.”

“He will if you talk to him.”

Jemma shook her head. “I’ll stay long enough to witness the punishment of Lawrence Walker, then I’m going.”

Lawrence Walker. Jemma was definitely staying until she saw Lawrence Walker shredded and bled out. He’d been one of the Holloway’s elders and the man responsible for so much pain and heartbreak for the entire den. He’d been the one plotting with their mortal enemies. The one who’d planned the death of Matthew Holloway, the father of the seven Holloway brothers and the former alpha. Lawrence had continued his reign of terror by setting in place a series of strategic attacks that had targeted all the females, leaving the den almost crippled. Anyone who knew bear shifters, knew the females were the lifeblood of the species. Only a female bear shifter could carry bear shifter offspring. Without them, bear shifters would disappear.

Declan Holloway and his mate, Xandra, along with two of Laramie Holloway’s enforcers, Chance and Wood, had gone after Lawrence Walker when he’d run from Wyoming. They’d caught up with him, and they should have been back already. Apparently, they’d been delayed for some reason Jemma wasn’t privy to. All she knew was, they should be rolling in any day. Lawrence would be put to justice, and she could leave.

“Jemma…” Helen began when a scream shattered the air.

“Who was that?” Jemma asked, already moving at a jog toward where it had come from.

“I don’t know,” Helen yelled just as another terrified cry split the air.

Then the world fell from beneath Jemma’s feet as she pressed through the thick foliage and took in the picture before her. Hunters spilled through the trees like ants searching for tasty morsels, or in this case, shifter blood to spill. She paused only long enough to shove Helen back through the trees.

“Run!” she yelled. “Warn the others. Hurry!”

Jemma was already shifting as she turned back toward the small clearing, charging for those closest in range. She didn’t see whoever had screamed and could only hope the woman was okay and not lying on the ground somewhere, already beyond help.

Jemma couldn’t think about that, though. She focused on swiping her claws and shredding skin and muscle to the bone. She used her powerful jaws to clamp down and tear. The taste of blood coated her tongue just as the flow of it soaked into her fur.

She fought with all she had, but there were too many hunters. For every attacker she caught beneath her claws, a dozen more slipped by. She reared up then slammed back down, taking down two men beneath her. Their weapons fell uselessly at their sides as she sliced them open from chest to groin. She was gearing up to go again when a roar split the air followed by several more. The den was aware of the attack.

Something hard slammed against her head, jerking her focus back to those around her. She was shaking her head when she took another hit to her back leg then another until it crumpled beneath her.

She hit the ground hard but refused to stay down. There was no way she’d give up. Then someone struck, their blade landing hard and deep in her side. She roared, rearing up and swiping at everyone around her, determined to take as many of them with her as she could. She shook off the hand on her side, but the blade remained deep. Fire lanced through her, and she knew they’d coated it with something. She struggled to get her legs under her. She was fading fast, too fast. She didn’t want to go out like this, her death just another notch in the belt of a cult whose sole focus was eradicating the shifter species from the earth.

“Leave her,” someone ordered. “Eyes on the prize. Get the female Kodiak. No one else matters.”

Em. They were going after Em. She had to get up. Had to protect Em. But Jemma couldn’t move, couldn’t even feel her limbs. She wasn’t going anywhere. The roar she wanted to loose was trapped in her throat. The knife had definitely been dipped in something to make her unable to move. Feet trampled her as they passed her, but she didn’t feel any of the blows that landed.

Someone squatted by her, pulling a syringe from a bag at his waist and injecting it into her neck.

“Let’s see who we have here,” he murmured as the drug hit her system, forcing her to shift from bear to woman. “Well, you’re a pretty little thing, aren’t you? Shame you’re dirty shifter scum.” His finger brushed her nipple. “Bet those bears think you’re a good fuck. Wild. Untamed. But for me, it’d be liking fucking a dog. A bitch in heat.”

He chuckled and tossed the empty needle beside her.

“Let’s see how well you heal with that animal shut down, bitch.”

Jemma’s eyes blinked as she fought to stay awake, to see what he’d do. She wanted to see the death blow, but darkness crowded her vision. Her eyes were so heavy. She stopped fighting to keep them open.

---