Page 46 of Sweeter Than Honey
Cara slammed into her, and they both tumbled to the ground. Her chest hit the hard forest floor and the wind rushed out of her.
Gasping for air, she had no ability to fight as she was turned onto her back and looked up into the muzzle of a fat grizzly. It drooled on her cheek. Cara pressed a hand to her chest and fought to catch her breath. It came back all at once, flooding her with the scent of animal and wet dirt.
There was nowhere to run. She was trapped.
Olive screamed. Struggling to sit, Cara searched the darkness for her friend, but hulking bear bodies blocked her view.
“Fuck you!” She screamed at them, cradling her belly with her hands. When they tossed her into the van, she knew with complete certainty there was no way out.
Not this time.
Chapter Twenty
“JesusChrist,Jett.Wakeup!”
His body moved side to side. A bone-aching chill assaulted him from head-to-toe. He was… wet?
“Jett. This is a shitty homecoming, you know that? Wake up.”
The high-pitched sound of keys being pressed on a cell phone?
“Yeah, get to Jett’s ASAP. We’ve got a problem. Oh…oh! Holy shit. Okay. Bye.”
He knew that voice, but it sounded so far away. Jett opened his eyes. Rain splattered his face and bounced between his eyelids. Squinting, he tried to sit but every bone in his torso protested. Rubbing his eyes to clear the water from them, he attempted to sit again. Someone grabbed his shoulder and supported him.
His brain unraveled from far, far away, reality speeding back at him through a tunnel, like a truck about to hit a wall full speed.
Cara.
“Get off me!” Swatting at the hands that held him, Jett burst to his feet and immediately fell onto his knees. Something fluttered from around his waist. A blanket?
“Whoa, brother. Easy.”
That voice.
Jett turned to it and his heart missed a beat. Squinting, he shook his head lightly, then reached out a hand. “Desi?”
His youngest brother nodded, holding back a smile that tried really hard to wrestle free. Close cut, dark blonde hair was plastered to his head, his brown eyes shining. Jett reached out with one arm and Desi knelt to receive the one-armed hug. He patted Jett on the back and handed him back the blanket.
“I have to go,” Jett panted. “They took her.”
Desi put both hands out as if to slow Jett down. “Look, you really struggled to get out of that shift. You were almost out of it when I showed up a few minutes ago, and you’re still fading into your human. Something isn’t right. How long ago did you shift?”
He didn’t know. Looking at the sky, Jett realized the sun was trying to peek from behind the gray clouds spattering them with rain. His insides clenched. So much time had passed. Pushing himself to his feet, he held the blanket around his waist with one hand and gripped the porch railing with the other.
“Last night. It had just gotten dark. I… killed a rogue shifter and they took her. I was frozen. Jesus, I froze in my shift.”
Desi’s forehead wrinkled. “That explains a lot, actually.”
He gestured to Jett’s legs. They were human in shape, but still covered in bear pelt.
“Who is the her that you keep talking about?”
“Cara. I saw them drag her out of the house. But I couldn’t help her.”
Desi’s face scrunched as he processed this information. Jett realized he wasn’t making a lot of sense, but his brain was still too scrambled to be concise.
“We need to gather the men and search. Dax. And Dad.”
