Page 59 of Bear Strength

“Took you long enough,” Rock coughs with a vicious smile on his face, his hand on Dominick’s shoulder.

The boy looks even more frightened than his mother. They look like two little rabbits who fell down a hole, and they just keep falling in deeper and deeper.

“Dominick!” Danica screams.

“Mom!” Dominick mirrors her scream, as he tries to wiggle free from Rock’s grasp, but he remains unsuccessful. “Dad, what are you doing?”

“Your mom is a bitch who’s been trying to keep you away from me, can’t you see?” Russell shakes his gun at Danica, and every time he does that, I see her flinch. “So, I had to find you. Your mine as much as you are hers.”

“You lost your rights to him the moment you decided to raise your hand to him, you fucking bastard!” Danica shouts, convulsing in that chair like she’s been possessed by a demon.

“You shut up! I’m not talking to you now!” Russell tells her menacingly.

Rock walks over to him, still keeping a firm grasp on Dominick. He glances over at Mason, shrugging his shoulders, in a what-can-you-do stance.

I see anger seething on Mason’s face. I know he can’t control the urge much longer. All three of us know that we could take both of them out easily. We just need to make Russell point his gun somewhere else. Just for a moment. That would be enough for us to act, and maybe sort this whole mess out.

An owl hoots somewhere outside, and we all tense. But, Russell doesn’t lose control. He is holding that gun as if his life depends on it, and for all he knows, it really does. Without it, he would be a dead man by now.

“Now, I’m just trying to figure out what to do, kill all of you and just disappear somewhere with my boy, or just keep my unfaithful wife alive and give her another chance?” Russell pretends to think. A smile lingers on his face, like a haunting death mask.

“Dad, no, you can’t! You can’t hurt mom!” Dominick shouts so loudly that it breaks your heart.

A child defending his mother. The purest love there is. A love that can move mountains, separate rivers, and destroy anything in its path that threatens to jeopardize that bond.

Suddenly, I know I can’t control myself any longer. I drop down to my knees, feeling the oncoming of that familiar cough. My inner organs are readjusting and it always expels all the air out of my lungs.

“What the fuck’s going on!?” Russel screeches, his eyes bulging out of his sockets.

Mason realizes it immediately. So do Wagner and Rock. Mason drops down, and grabs a big rock that we all noticed to his side. It fills up his entire hand, as he lifts it up and aims straight for the gun in Russell’s hand. We all know he’ll hit it. Mason never misses. The rock hits bull’s eye. Russell loses control of his hand, and drops the gun to the ground.

In that instant, my body explodes, tearing my clothes, my flesh, my skin, my jaw protruding, elongating, my teeth rising out of my gums in the most painful of ways. But, nothing would be nearly as painful as losing Danica and Dominick. It all happens in an instant, and then my mind is overcome by rage.

CHAPTER 27

I can barely believe my eyes. It all looks like something that happens in dark, mystical fairy tales of Brothers Grimm, but not the Disney version. The version where the little German kid actually gets his thumb cut off or where stepmothers kill their pretty step daughters because they fear they will grow up to be more beautiful.

There is blood everywhere, but it’s not from someone dying. I’ve witnessed something extraordinary, and that is the transformation of a bear shifter. I thought it was something that happens seamlessly, almost by magic. That there isn’t anything painful or gruesome about it. But, in fact, it looks agonizing. For a moment there, I thought Adrian was dying. He was coughing out blood, and I could actually see how the bones in his body changed, twisted and broke to accommodate the new form. I wanted to look away, but I couldn’t, I kept my eyes open throughout the whole thing, as I watched Mason throw that rock and hit Russell right on the hand, making him drop it.

The rest of the scene happens in a single long instant. Adrian jumps on Russell, growling. His nails have turned into claws, and he is using them to tear pieces of Russell’s flesh off of his body. Mason and Wagner have kept their human form, but that doesn’t save Rock from their wrath. Fists fly through the air, blood spurts all around me.

My only worry is Dominick, but he seems more composed than me. He is already at my side, untangling the knots on my hands and my feet. Once he manages to do that, we huddle together in the corner, waiting for the storm to pass.

I place my hand protectively over his eyes, and he hides in my chest. I wrap my arms around him, keeping him safe. Vowing to myself that this would be the last time I failed him. Never again.

I still can’t look away. Russell is down on the ground, his arms flailing in the air madly, but it’s all in vain. He can’t even defend himself. I see Rock lying unconscious. I wonder if he’s dead. With Mason and the old way of doing things, you never know. But, I don’t care. He willingly took part in a scheme that almost ended up hurting my son. He could die for all I care, son of a bitch.

Mason takes his time walking over to the manic Adrian, whose teeth are now digging deeply into Russell’s lower arm.

“Ade,” Mason says softly, and that seems to awake him.

Adrian lets go of Russell’s arm, lifting himself on his hind legs. Wagner joins them, still huffing a little. His arms rest on his hips, as he looks at the body on the ground with obvious disgust.

“You’re lucky Dominick is here,” Wagner spits venomously. “Otherwise you wouldn’t leave this house alive.”

Mason looks over my way. He is beckoning for me to come. I let go of Dominick. He raises his head. There are a few tears still in his eyes. I smile at him, kissing his forehead.

“It’s gonna be alright, sweetie, I promise,” I tell him.

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