Page 43 of Sweeter Than Honey
She doesn’t smell like she’s been claimed. That makes this a free hunt. Winner takes all.
The remaining humanness in him faded away, leaving his primal, fierce brain in control. He’d fight this interloper to the death, and any other beast that challenged him. Or he’d die trying. There was no rationalization. No talking himself out of it. No huge helping of common sense.
That was all gone, replaced by the beast inside him that will do anything to protect his territory.
A booming roar shattered the air as the massive grizzly barreled at him. Jett held his ground and rose again on his hind legs just as his opponent reached him. Their bodies slammed together, Jett sliding back on his hind paws, leaving furrows in the ground. The intruder grabbed him in a hold and manically snapped huge jaws with razored teeth, trying to rip out Jett’s jugular.
Jett roared and got free, pulling his head and neck out of the way as they both repositioned to their hind legs. He lunged for the intruder’s neck and grabbed a mouthful of skin and fur between his teeth. His opponent dug his claws into Jett’s back, ripping through skin and muscle. Jett roared, focused, went for the neck again, and pierced his target with a mighty clamp of his teeth. Blood spurted into his mouth.
The other grizzly roared, twisted and pushed against Jett. Jett didn’t let go, but the intruder managed to push himself back, dragging his flesh through Jett’s teeth, freeing himself and dumping a gush of blood onto the ground.
Jett stood again, all ten feet of him, rigid and fierce. The other bear panted, groaned as he spun and made a run for it.
Jett snorted and chased him into the tree line, fully expecting other bears to rush from the interior. But the intruder disappeared and no one else came. Pulling up just inside the trees, Jett huffed and roared, making his stance known. The trail of blood left behind by the other bear was significant. His jugular had been damaged, and likely, it was just a matter of minutes before the grizzly was dead.
Panting, snorting, Jett’s primal fighting adrenaline began to slow, allowing his human side to creep back in. The human inside the bear was trembling.
Shift. Shift now. Don’t wait.
He couldn’t want too long. He had to shift back, now, or it might take too long. Too long. Remember? You’ve been shifting too much lately. Depleting yourself.
Cara!
Her name cut through his foggy mind. He needed to check on her. Jett turned and loped back to the house, his heart pounding in fear, his blood still primed with the adrenaline that kept him in the shift. He might need to fight again. What if another grizzly had broken in while he was distracted?
No, no, no.
He pulled to a stop at the porch and bounded up the stairs, his massive body taking up all the room between the steps and the door. The door was still closed. He sniffed.
There were no other scents but that didn’t mean more weren’t coming.
Jett hung his head and closed his eyes. His mind’s eye focused on his heart, saw it beating, boom, boom, boom. His blood rushing through his veins. His nerves blasting like fireworks.
Calm. Calm, now. It’s time to be human.
He chanted the words, focused on shifting forms. His body began to itch and burn, the bones and joints and muscles preparing to change. A wave rushed over him—a huge adrenaline surge that kept the pain of the shift from driving him mad—but it stopped midway.
The shift stalled.
Excruciating pain pummeled his body. He felt as if his body were ripping into jagged strips of flesh, his bones cracking from the strain of being held in stasis. Jett willed himself to shift.
Now, damn it! Now!
Every nerve fiber tensed, shriveled, petrifying him in place. He couldn’t move, couldn’t utter a sound though he was screaming through the pain pulverizing him on the inside.
Footsteps up the stairs. Something brushed past him. A new scent. Strong, overwhelming. Fury tried to bubble inside Jett as another scent trail filled his nose. Then another.
Cara!
No!
A laugh sounded by his ear. Darting his eyes to see, he caught a slight movement to his left before something slammed into his head and everything went dark.
Chapter Nineteen
Somethingwaswrong.
Cara wrapped her wet hair in a towel and tilted her head to listen. It was too quiet.
