Page 17 of Grizzly's Bear

“Should I send Diane over?” Tah offered.

“She’s a Holloway. I’ll take care of her,” Jensen countered, voice hard and firm. “No one knows bears better than I do.”

“You remind me of Jess’ Cody,” Tah offered with a smile. “He’d assure you no one knows wolf shifter biology as well as him.”

Slade knew he was speaking of the woman married to four alpha wolves. He couldn’t recall names at the moment but was guessing Cody was one of the alphas. Slade remembered hearing one of them was a doctor.

“Slade,” Rissa whimpered his name.

“We need to go.” Slade moved around Jensen as he headed to the front door, ignoring the conversation going on behind him. His complete focus was on his mate. She was hurting.

“Is she okay?” Ariel asked as she pushed open the door for him then followed him out. He hadn’t realized the other woman had waited around, but she had. Then again from what she and Rissa had discussed before Rissa had hit the ground, the two women had decided to be best friends. He opened his mouth to comment, but Rissa spoke first.

“Headache,” Rissa replied without moving her head from his neck.

“It was a long trip,” Slade offered.

“And she hasn’t been awake that long,” Jensen added from behind them. “I’m sure a good night’s sleep will work wonders.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow then.” Ariel reached out and squeezed Rissa’s hand. His mate nodded against his chest, prompting Slade to speak.

“Why don’t we plan to meet for breakfast?” he offered.

“Perfect,” Ariel agreed. “We can—”

“Meet here,” Tah interrupted. “Give us a call when you’re up and around and ready to head this way. Take your time. No rush. We’ve been looking forward to getting to know you better. All of you. Adam, if you have a minute, I’d like to go over some security protocols we have in place. You can fill in Slade and Jensen once they’ve seen to Rissa.”

“I’ll meet you there,” Adam called to Slade as he turned back to Tah and waited.

Slade slipped inside the vehicle when Jensen opened the back door of the SUV for him. He did his best not to jar his mate, not wanting to cause her any more pain than she already felt. The fact she was experiencing a headache so severe she’d leached of color and didn’t want to move shoved his worry off the charts. Rissa groaned as they took off, jolting across the plains as they followed Tony’s Jeep.

“What do you need?” Slade asked her. “I’m sure Jensen has something with him that can help.”

She shook her head.

“He won’t give you anything to hurt you,” Slade swore. “Let him help you. I don’t like seeing you in pain.” And she was. He could sense it through the link growing between them.

“No,” she growled at his throat. “You. I just need you. Nothing else.”

“You’ve got me,” he vowed, and they didn’t say anything else until Jensen was pulling to a stop in front of a cabin that wouldn’t have been out of place on Holloway land. It was very similar to what they had. Tony was already climbing out of his Jeep to join them.

“Looks new,” Jensen said, voicing Slade’s exact thought. “We’ll have you inside momentarily, Rissa. Hang tight.” Then Jensen was sliding out, closing the door softly behind him before skirting the hood toward the back door where Slade sat. Tony beat him to it.

“How we doing?” Tony asked as he held the door wide for Slade to slide out.

Slade grunted, moving to follow his brother’s lead as Jensen stepped onto the porch and pushed open the cabin door.

“This is one of the newer ones,” Tony said as they all stepped inside. “Locks are top of the line and on all windows and doors. Keys are on the bar in the kitchen-dining area. This is a one bedroom. It’s back this way.” He led them down a short hallway and into a huge room that was dominated by a large bed. Slade took quick note of the lay of the room, mentally storing where every window was as well as the doors to the closet, bathroom and the one they’d just entered through. Once he had Rissa settled, he’d look over the rest of the cabin and double check all the locks. Tah hadn’t yet mentioned attempts to rescue Talbot, but Slade was taking no chances.

“Slade.” Rissa’s voice was low, raspy, and urgent.

“Almost there. Jensen,” he snapped, but his brother was already pushing back the covers.

“Put her on the bed and let me take a look at her,” Jensen ordered then turned toward Tony. “You mind waiting in the kitchen?”

“I’ve got some calls to make. Why don’t I leave you guys to get settled? Call me when you head back to the main house, and I’ll meet you there,” Tony offered.

Jensen nodded, and Tony was gone. Slade heard the snick as the front door opened and closed behind him.

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