Page 9 of Grumpy Special Ops Bear: Ep. 2
The women in my clan were strong but apparently not powerful enough. They’d all left me, arguing it was too emotionally draining not knowing if I’d return. But I knew the real reason they’d worried. If I decided to mate, claiming one, and I died, my mate would no longer be the alpha-female of the clan. She could be killed in the struggle to find a new alpha.
Shifter life wasn’t always easy, but it was far less brutal than it used to be centuries ago. According to the elders, there was a time when shifters had killed humans for fun and sport—the Hunt. Even though a majority of shifters did not take part in the barbaric Hunt tradition, most shifters believed humans were beneath them and were nothing but prey. But the Hunt tradition died out when the Protectors—a covert group of hybrids born with a distinctive mark, shifter-like fighting, tracking, and hunting skills but with no ability to transform into shifters—tracked and killed shifters who harmed or killed humans in a Hunt.
Protectors’ sole mission was to protect humans from shifters. So I wondered if the Protectors knew what Price has been doing all these years. I even wondered if Protectors were among the dead bodies found on Price’s property.
Maybe it was time to give Travis, the leader of the Protectors, a call and disrupt the wolves’ plans.
I was about to pull out my satellite phone when the wind blew angrily against my face. I caught the scent of blood again, and it was stronger this time.
Panic forced me to step forward, and before I knew what I was doing, I stripped, shifted, and was back on all fours, bones reshaping and snapping into place as the bear forced me forward.
It needed to find Trinity, needed to see her.
There was the scent of blood, but no cries of triumph from the wolves. They weren’t nearby at all.
So how is she hurt?
I loped forward, tearing up snow as I went. I had to know she was all right. I tried to fight my animal instincts to protect her, but they were too strong. All I could do was hang on for the ride as my bear ran on, searching for her.
As I approached the stream, I found her leaning over the bank. The stream was frozen over. But she’d broken through the thin layer of ice, and she was now drinking water.
Even from where I was, I could sense her fear, her intense pain. She shivered as the icy water ran down her chin. I fought the urge to go to her and keep her warm as I stuck to the shadows and observed.
Trinity’s hand froze halfway back to the water, and she whirled around. “Okay, you stalking motherfucker, I know you’re out there.”
I flinched.Is she talking about me or Price?
“Why are you watching me, huh? What do you want? You want to kill me, too?” she shrilled.
Me?
She was definitely talking about me.
Her voice had wavered, and she’d sounded confused.
Where is she hurt?
Did she hit her head?
I watched as she slowly stood and glanced around. She held her right leg a bit off the ground, but she didn’t seem to realize she was doing it. For a few long seconds, she simply stared, her gaze roving across the tree line near the stream. Her eyes had lost a bit of the fire from the first time I’d come face-to-face with her.
She was getting weaker.
Price and his pack would only grow more determined the longer she stayed away from them. Trinity was running out of time, which meant so was I.
I needed to save her life to stop a war.
Trinity’s intense gaze zeroed in on my position. I froze. My heart pounded. Something warmed me, running through my veins, as I stared right back at her. She didn’t even realize I was there.
Her presence alone was intoxicating, and I drifted forward. All I could see was her in my arms, her kissing me, her wearing nothing but a sheet pooled at her waist, with her pouty lips around my throbbing manhood.
My shaft thickened. I was within feet of the tree line when I forced myself to stop.
Shit. What the hell am I thinking?
There was no time for X-rated fantasies, and coming out of the trees like this would probably just scare the shit out of her.
Looking beaten down and tired, Trinity turned back to the stream, took one last drink, and then headed on her way. She was still going south, and mostly she was staying close to water. She probably knew where the stream led. There was a small security post ten miles from where she was. If she made it there, she’d be safe from the wolves—unless they were bold enough to take her out in the open. Then again, they’d brought the Hunt all the way up here.
