Page 23 of Riding With the Grizzly

"Goddamn right it is," he grunts, gripping my chin in his greasy hand. My father yanks my head to one side and then the other, his eyes landing on my mark from Jude. "What the hell kind of kinky fucking bullshit is this?" he yells. I try turning away from him, but he has a tight hold on my chin. "Answer me," he barks out. "What the fuck is that mark on your neck?"

“It means she’smine,” Jude roars as he steps into the room. He looks at me, fury and sorrow warring in his eyes. He hates seeing me like this. I hate it, too, for the record.

"The fuck she is," my dad says as he reaches for his gun.

“Jude!” I cry out.

“Close your eyes, princess,” Jude says, his voice firm and commanding.

“But he has a–”

I don't get a chance to finish my sentence before Jude shifts into his grizzly bear form. My dad and brother are silent for once in their lives, looking at Jude's bear and then at each other as if verifying that they're both seeing the same thing.

Jude takes advantage of their shocked state, lunging at my father and tackling him to the ground. My brother stands there, slack-jawed, watching our father being torn apart. More growls and snarls fill the room, and I see a wolf and a panther enter, both setting their sights on my brother.

That's all I can take. I shut my eyes while justice is being carried out on the men who deserve it.

“I’ve got you,” Jude whispers from right next to me. I startle, still keeping my eyes closed. He undoes the ties around my wrists and ankles, then lifts me out of the chair and cradles me inhis arms. “It will be over soon,” Jude promises. “Just keep your eyes closed.” I bury my face against his neck, breathing in his scent and letting it soothe my heartache.

“You saved me,” I say once we’re outside.

“I’ll always come for you. My mistake seems to be in letting you go.”

I smile at his grumpy frown. “From now on, I don’t want to go anywhere without you.”

“Good, because that’s what the plan is from here on out.”

I don’t know how serious he is, but something tells me Jude will always be this protective of me.

CHAPTER TEN

JUDE

Once we’re home, I start a hot shower for Nara in my en suite bathroom, then head to one of the other bathrooms to take a shower myself. I’m still covered in her father’s blood for Christ’s sake. I hope my girl can forgive me for what I had to do to her family and the club.

Never again. They’ll never touch her again,I repeat in my mind as I scrub myself from head to toe. Jesus, I’ve never known fear or anger like when I opened that door and saw my precious mate tied up, her father’s grubby hands on her.

My first priority will always be to keep Nara safe. Once I knew there were only two other people in the room, I lost it. I could have taken them both out, but thankfully Jorge and Caden followed after me to finish off Nara’s brother.

God, it was a brutal battle. We were tipped off about the Midnight Rebels being out on a rampage, but the rest of the club and I thought it was more of the usual - stupid fights between drunken, angry men. Not this time.

I rinse the shampoo out of my hair and then wash it again, not feeling clean enough yet. A whole slew of Midnight Rebels showed up at our clubhouse looking to start shit. We were so distracted by putting them in their goddamn place that it tookme a few minutes to realize the Midnight Rebels’ president was missing, along with his son.

I grunt in disappointment at myself while doing a final rinse. It was a distraction. They really wanted Nara, and I played right into their hands.

Stepping out of the shower, I quickly dry off and wrap a towel around my waist before going to find Nara. I’m not sure how she’s going to feel about her family and what had to be done.

I see my girl sitting on the bed in the master bedroom, a towel loosely wrapped around her body as she stares off into space. My heart aches for her.

She turns her head when I step into the room, tears instantly filling her eyes. “I’m so sorry,” she says, making me stop in my tracks.

“Sorry? You have nothing to be sorry for, princess.” I sit next to her on the bed, both of us nearly naked aside from the towels that are slipping off more and more by the second. She huddles against me and I comb my fingers through her wet hair so it doesn’t get tangled.

“I brought all of this drama and war right to your doorstep,” she says through sniffles. “If you never met me, you wouldn’t be dealing with all of this.”

I lean back, peeling Nara off of my chest. “Look at me,” I tell her softly. “First of all, hear me when I say meeting you was the best thing that ever happened to me. I will never regret claiming you as my mate. Do you understand?” I nod my head, giving him a small smile. “And secondly, we’ve been dealing with the Midnight Rebels for years now. It was always going to come to this, with or without you. I just hope…” I trail off, rubbing a hand over the back of my neck. “I just hope you don’t hate me for what we had to do to your family.”

“I could never hate you,” she insists. “My family was awful. My mom died when I was little, and she took all the light and joyfrom our family with her. By the time my dad met and married my stepmom, he was well on his way to being president of the club. My brother idolized him and wanted to do everything my father did. Even running drugs, trafficking people, and stealing large sums of money. There was nothing good left in either of them.”

---