Page 11 of Corbin
Hysterical now, Judith beat on his chest. “Run, dammit! Run. Let me go.”
Corbin had her locked against his chest.
When he could hear the hot breath blowing out ahead of the bear’s next roar, Corbin froze in place. Judith sobbed and begged for help.
The crazed black bear locked mad eyes on Corbin, bearing down hard to smash him.
Waiting for the last second, Corbin twisted to the side.
Ares howled in fury.
A deadly claw the size of a frying pan ripped a new gash in Corbin’s arm, knocking him off his feet. He hit the ground, rolling to protect Judith.
Momentum carried the bear past him where he fell out of sight into the pit built as a trap that Ares had evaded earlier.
That bear sounded like a rock tower crashing to the ground. He screamed and thrashed, death throes continuing as it fought to survive. Impossible with thick, sharpened stakes jabbed into his body.
Corbin lay on the ground, not believing he and Judith were alive. She cried into his shoulder. “You, you ...” Hiccup. “Saved me, again.”
Ares said,Good move.
Corbin blinked. Hearing that two-word compliment from Ares was like his wolf yelling that Corbin was the greatest partner in the world and a brilliant warrior.Thank you.
Sounds of something new running his way reached Corbin. He couldn’t win a fight with anyone right now. That didn’t stop him from setting Judith aside and wobbling his way up to stand. “Stay there,” he told her.
She looked up at him as if she’d stand on her head and sing his favorite song if he asked her. He didn’t want to see hero worship in her eyes. A traumatized woman would be glad for anyone to save her from those monsters.
He was no hero.
“Corbin!”
Relief swept through Corbin at the sound of Adrian’s voice. Stepping around the hole, he yelled, “Watch out for the pit.”
“Roger that.” Adrian and Ladrón came running around the perimeter of the twenty-foot-square hole where the bear shifter made horrible sounds and gurgling noises.
Ladrón slowed to peek into the pit. “What have you done, amigo?”
“Survived a bear attack in human form.” Then Corbin addressed Adrian, who now walked up to him while also checking the pit. “My wolf and I found the shack. We thought there was only one bear shifter at first.”
I never said I thought that, Ares argued.
Corbin kept explaining. “When the bear shifter dragged the kidnapped woman out with a rope and tied her to a tree, he started shucking clothes to ... make her pay for her father not delivering the money.”
Ladrón cursed in Spanish.
“Exactly. I grabbed the tranq gun and shot him in the ass. I loaded the second dart and hit him in the neck. He tried to shift, then fell over unconscious. I had already shifted into my wolf once to find the shack faster.”
“Amigo, we followed your scent. How did you avoid this trap?”
I am the one who found the pit,Ares pointed out, wanting the kudos he was due.
Corbin added, “My wolf located this pit, or we wouldn’t have been so fortunate. We didn’t find another booby trap in this direction. When we got to the shack, I shifted to this body so I could extract the woman. But when the second guy came out and shifted into a grizzly, I had to give my wolf the body again.”
Adrian’s eyebrows lifted. “Your wolf handled a grizzly?”
Of course I did. Tell him, Ares prompted.
“Yes. It was no easy battle, and Ares got clawed up a bit, but he ripped the side of the bear’s throat and tore up his ankle. That bear bled out. I had to change again to free the woman.The minute I cut her loose, the first unconscious bear came back to life.” He told Adrian, “By the way, that tranq only slowed the first bear for a short time even though I turned him into a pin cushion.”
