Page 24 of Fated to the Grizzly

I shoot a glance at her. She’s picked up her towel and she’s wrapping it around herself. That fucking prick got to see everything. He’ll pay for that, ten times over.

“It’s okay, baby,” I tell her. “I got it. Just go inside.”

“Nuh-uh.” She shakes her head. “I’m staying right here.”

My heart swells. She’s protective ofme. This tiny, fierce human woman. “Okay.” I take a deep breath. “If anything happens, go inside and lock the doors.”

Her eyes widen, but she gives a quick nod.

I turn back to the ugly, shambling beast. My first instinct—my only instinct—is to destroy it. But it’ll be a lot for Scout to deal with.

My animal huffs and snarls, but I hold it in with all my might. “You’re making a big mistake!” I roar down to the monstrosity. “But I’m giving you one chance to get the hell out of my forest.”

The goddamn beast gives no indication that it’s heard me. Instead, it keeps approaching, until it’s right in front of the boundary wall.

It stares up at me with those nasty yellow eyes, teeth bared in an insolent leer. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any uglier, its human head emerges, just enough for it to speak.

“She’s mine,” it grunts in a voice like breaking rocks. “I’m gonna rip your throat out, then fuck her right over your dead body.”

Rage pours through me like lava. “Like hell you are!” I bellow.

I don’t have time to explain anything to Scout. All I can do is holler, “Get inside and lock the door,” before my beast rips out of me.

I stand on the deck on all fours, foaming at the mouth and swollen with murderous rage.

A second later, I’m over the terrace rail. It’s a long way down to the ground, but I crash through the trees, my claws slicing through the branches.

I hit the ground with an almighty thump and spin to face the beast.

It’s as big as me—which is not something I see very often—and it stinks like hell. Like it’s been sleeping in a swamp or something. Its fur is gray and matted into dreadlocks. It’s the most repulsive thing I’ve ever seen, and it thinks it’s gonna get its filthy paws on my girl?

“That virgin pussy is mine—” it snarls.

But before it can finish the sentence, Ilaunch. With a primal roar, my beastly form smashes into the foul monstrosity, jaws snapping shut around its snout. A piercing screech fills the air as the beast thrashes, trying to shake me loose. But I’ve got it in a vise-grip, feeling its hot, reeking breath as it struggles. When it throws itself sideways, I roll with the momentum, and we crash down to the forest floor. We tumble and thrash, a whirlwind of claws and teeth.

My muscles burn with exertion, but I refuse to relent. I slash at its face with my claws, wanting to tear its ugly words right out of its mouth. My claws are the most powerful of my clan, but it meets me, stroke for stroke, each swipe matched by a vicious counterattack. Blood sprays and the forest echoes with our bellows of rage and pain. My senses are honed to seek out its weaknesses, but it’s strong. I’ve torn up its whole face, and it just keeps coming, shaking the blood out of its eyes.

As I lash out again and again, I think of Scout, of her beauty and toughness. Holding her image in my heart as I fight for her.

Every fiber of my being is focused on taking it out. It’s a brutal opponent. My toughest ever, and I’m fighting to the death. If I don’t kill it, it’ll take Scout for its own. And there’s no chance in hell that I can let that happen.

Suddenly, the beast pulls away from me. I go still, confused.

Then it clambers up a half-fallen tree trunk and I see what it’s got in mind.

“Rooooar!” It springboards off the trunk like a fifteen-hundred-pound missile, claws aimed right at my eyes.

Not. Happening.

I duck down low and as it comes in to land, I slash with my own claws. I keep them razor sharp, and it pays off. I open up the beast’s guts, using its own weight against it.

And I keep going, tearing all the way down to its balls.

The sound it makes is awful; I almost pity it.

It knocks me flat as it lands. I can take it though. I flip it over, my nostrils full of the stink of its blood and spilling guts.

Looming over it, I pull in my beast, let my human emerge.

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