Page 11 of Grizzly's Bear

She had a lot to tell him.

Chapter Five

Slade led the way into the woods around the Holloway property. He’d take them to the heart of Holloway land and keep his distance from the peripheral. The last time Rissa had been on the edge of his home, she’d been taken from him. He wasn’t ready to tempt fate again. He had a lot to make up to her. He’d promised her she’d be safe, that hunters would never dare step foot on his family’s land. The bastards had proved him a liar.

“You came for me.”

Her words snapped him out of his thoughts and had him glancing toward her.

“Of course, I did.” He dropped her hand then turned, tugging at his hair before facing her again. “I tried to follow the truck they took you away in. I couldn’t get to you fast enough. I nearly lost my mind searching for you, hoping wherever they took you I’d reach you in time.”

He swallowed hard, easily recalling how she’d appeared when he had found her. The blood and bruising and broken bones. The utter stillness of her lying there, tied down and splayed wide.

“Slade.” Her hand brushed his chest as the rumble of his bear coasted up his throat. He’d almost lost her. He wasn’t taking that chance with her again.

“Mate me,” he demanded, knowing how he sounded and damned if he cared.

“Slade.”

“Give me the words, Rissa. Stop denying what’s between us.”

“There are things you don’t know,” she began, but all he heard were excuses.

“It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters except we belong to each other. Mates. Do you know how much easier it would have been to find you if we’d been bonded mates? If Ariel hadn’t been taken with you, if you’d been the only one taken, I might not have found you. Not in time. It was Daniel who led us to you by following his link to his mate. A link we don’t have. Yet.”

“I understand—”

“You don’t. You can’t.” He paced away, growling as every emotion he’d endured rocked through him again. “Knowing you were gone. That I’d failed to protect you. That they’d dared to come onto Holloway land and take you. Christ, it was as if they ripped out my soul. One minute, you were laughing and giving me that sultry look full of promise. The next… you were gone. Ripped from your home, from what I want to be our home. I couldn’t reach you in time. I couldn’t find you, and I couldn’t breathe knowing you were gone and at the mercy of ruthless savages.”

“Slade.”

She moved toward him again, but he shook his head, backing away. His beast was too close to the surface, pressing so hard that Slade used every bit of his control to stay in his human skin.

“I killed them.” He had no remorse for the lives he’d taken. Not for the men who’d taken Rissa and done their best to kill her. “I shredded and mauled them, leaving nothing but a trail of corpses in my wake, and still, I didn’t reach you in time.”

“You did. I’m here because you saved me.”

“I managed to carry you out of the hell you were in, but it was your bear who saved you. Not me. I failed.”

“Stop,” Rissa commanded. “You didn’t fail me. It wasn’t your fault they took me.”

“I promised you’d be safe as long as you stayed on Holloway land. You trusted me, and I failed you.”

“For God’s sake, Slade. Hunters dared step onto your land, and you hunted them down and killed them. I’m sure that only reinforces the message to stay off Holloway land. And my bear wouldn’t have been able to help me heal if you hadn’t got me out of there. None of this is your fault. Hell, I’m not even sure it’s my fault. From what I’ve heard, they were coming here no matter what, with the clear intent of taking two women back with them. One of whom was my alpha. Do you think I wish they’d taken Em instead of me? Never! I’d gladly step in for her every time. Every. Single. Time.”

“I won’t let anything happen to you again!” Slade yelled, leaning down toward her.

Rissa met him, rising on her toes until they were nose to nose. “I’m not yours to protect!”

“The hell you aren’t.”

His hands were around her before the words had fully left his lips. He had her up against his chest, his mouth devouring hers as the need to show her she was his rocked through him. Her fingers clawed at his shoulders before sliding into his hair and trying to snatch him bald.

It was fear and anger. He felt it, both hers and his, and met her in a violent explosion that had them ripping clothes as they removed them. Skin pressed against skin. She shoved hard against his chest, forcing his back against the rough bark of a tree as she climbed him, wrapping her legs around his waist before sinking onto his cock with a hard, downward thrust.

“Fuck,” he growled, both hands gripping her ass as he helped her begin a fast rhythm.

“Yes!”

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