Page 32 of The Tech Guru's Heart

Shawn’s sinister smile did nothing to reassure Ezra.“Oh, don’t worry.”He continued to prowl closer.“Your lover boy is being...delayed.”

Before Ezra could ask what Shawn meant, a loud roar echoed between the trees.That was followed by a bellow Ezra recognized as Link’s musk ox.A second later, Ezra heard a loud crashing noise even as the ground beneath him shook.

Ezra would have taken advantage of the way Shawn was staggering, trying to remain on his feet, except, whatever caused that force knocked Ezra on his ass.He sprawled a couple of feet from his bedroll, losing his grip on his spoon.

“What the hell was that?”The words were out of Ezra’s mouth before he could censor himself.

Shawn laughed, obviously finding Ezra’s outburst funny.“That, my simple human, is my lover.She’s delaying Link while I take care of you.”His fingers began to change, drawing Ezra’s attention.A spike of fear surged through him when he saw the long, lethal-looking claws.“The moron should’ve known to stay out of my business.”His tone turned cruel.“Of course, Link should also have known better than to leave his mate all alone.”

Ezra scrambled to his feet, grabbing his pot of hot soup as he moved.At that point, in his mind, anything was better than nothing.

“But he’s not alone.”

Snapping his attention to the right, Ezra gaped as he watched a naked woman stride through the trees.The fact that she was nude wasn’t what shocked him.Instead, it was the three huge musk oxen that accompanied her.

God, I’ve seen more naked people in the last few days than I have in years.I must be getting desensitized to them.

None of them held a candle to Link, though.

Another ground tremor shook the area.One of the oxen glanced at the others before galloping amidst the trees.

“No!”Shawn roared...and itwasturning into a roar.As he continued to yell, his body morphed into that of a very...large...grizzly bear.

“Oh, fuck,” Ezra whispered, backing away swiftly as he peered up at the massive animal.

The grizzly lunged at Ezra, swiping out one long forearm.

Pain erupted through Ezra’s left upper arm even as he dove to the right.At the same time, he swung the hot pot of food.The split pea soup soared from the container, splashing all over the bear’s face.

The grizzly roared again, rising to his back legs.He shook his head, obviously trying to shake it off.The two musk oxen surged past Ezra and slammed their massive horned heads into the distracted bear.The grizzly tumbled ass-over-teakettle.

“Come on, Ezra.”The woman was at his side, gripping his upper arm and opposite shoulder.“Can you stand?Let’s get you out of the way.”

“I-I think so,” Ezra replied, rolling to his knees.When he tried to get to his feet, he registered the pain in his arm, and his head swam.“Shit.”

“Okay, Ez.I gotcha,” she assured, sliding her arm around his waist.“Come on.”

If the nudity hadn’t given it away, the woman’s strength as she practically lifted him off the ground would have.This woman was definitely a shifter.

Ezra did his best to ignore the pair of musk oxen facing off with Shawn’s grizzly.Instead, he focused on banishing his pain while putting one foot in front of the other.His burning arm nearly had him forgetting about Link facing off against Shawn’s girlfriend—nearly.

“What about Link?”Ezra asked, concerned by the memory of his bellow and the shuddering of the ground.“He needs help.”

“Don’t you worry about Link,” the woman told him.“He probably could have taken that bear hussy alone, but Bruin will back him up.”She waved a hand in the direction that the other musk ox had run.“Link’ll be fine.”Frowning at Ezra’s arm, she muttered, “You,on the other hand, need some first aid.Do you have supplies in your backpack?”

Ezra nodded.“Yeah.”After a quick glance at his arm again, he grimaced and turned his gaze away.Blood streamed down his bicep and forearm, and he wasn’t so good with blood that was his own.“Shit.”Then the name that the woman dropped registered.“Bruin.Link’s brother.”Ezra focused on the woman and asked, “You a sister or somethin’?”

“Yep.I’m Naomi,” she replied with a quick smile before refocusing on digging out his first aid kit.“The ones taking out Shawn are Warren and Luke.Warren’s the bigger one.”

Then Naomi began offering platitudes and encouragement as she began cleaning his wound.After a moment, she scoffed and rolled her eyes.“Luke should really be the one doing this,” she muttered, sounding cross.“He’s the nurse, after all.But noooo, I’m a girl.I can’t possibly fight.”Naomi’s tone turned derogatory as she deepened her voice mockingly.“Can’t possibly let my sister fight a grizzly.She might get hurt.Then Mom and Dad will be mad.”

Listening to Naomi caused a soft bark of laughter to escape Ezra.She was definitely great at distracting him.In just a few minutes, she’d managed to clean and wrap his arm in a roll of bandages.

“Thanks, Naomi,” Ezra murmured, taking the single-serve package of pain meds from her.“I appreciate it.”

“’Course, new little bro.”Naomi smiled at him.“Wish we’d met under better circumstances, but we’re family.”She held out his canteen and helped him take a drink.“We’re pretty tightknit, and we watch each other’s backs.”With a gentle squeeze to his shoulder, Naomi stated, “You’ll learn that soon enough.”

Ezra nodded.“Okay.”

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