"Why are they chasing us?" Seraphina panicked. "And that is Jonas? He's a bear?!" Her voice cracked as limbs hit the side of the vehicle. Lonato and the Wolves accompanying him flanked the car; howls were ripping through the air; the vehicle jumped over potholes and small limbs on the road.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck," I gritted my teeth. Seraphina was on Dax' lap now, sitting in the middle, away from the windows. Bears were nipping and biting, leaving trails of saliva on the side.
Seraphina was wrestling with Dax while he tried to hold her still. "Seraphina, what are you doing?" Dax grunted as she pulled out her Glock.
"Going to shoot shit up! Roll down the window!"
"Don't you dare!” Dax roared at me, but the damn bear cracked the rear passenger side window before I could roll it down myself. The grizzly hung onto the window while Seraphina cocked her gun and shot it right between the eyes.
"Badass," Dax purred. Rolling my eyes, I continued to push the gas to the limit. "Won't keep them down for long, babe, not unless you have some silver bullets." Seraphina huffed while she fired off another shot, grazing the ear of a brown bear.
"Then I'll shoot, so it hurts," she gritted her teeth.
"Speed up! If they get in the front of the car, we're screwed!" Dax yelled, holding Seraphina's head down.
Trying to run a bear over at 60 mph on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere was terrible news. It wouldn't kill the Bear, but the car would be totaled, and there was a possibility of our mate to get hurt. Especially since Seraphina wanted to hang from the window and fire off shots.
Flooring it, we hit 80, the bears slowed down. I was impressed they kept up for this long… more Wolves flanked the car, all from the Red Wolves pack.
A howling signal, letting me know we were close to the territory broke the sweat from my forehead. Never in my life had my body reacted so fiercely to the adrenaline. I couldn't fight; relying on a human car to get my mate away was downright depressing, but we made it. Our own mate kept the bears at bay while we focused on the escape.
Not slowing down, we came up to the clearing, and several warriors stood naked on the territory line. They continued to wave us forward, knowing of the danger behind us. We crossed the border, and lines of Wolves shifted mid-jump into the mess. Bears were trying to cross.
Wolves outnumbered the bears two to one; the bears would be defeated easily if these warriors were trained correctly. Seraphina stared outside the back window; not a sound or whisper dripped from her mouth while she slumped back in the seat.
"That was a bit much," Seraphina panted. Her hand was firmly gripped on Dax' arm, almost pulling his hair out. Seraphina stayed silent until the vehicle came to a stop in the middle of the territory. The Red Wolves pack stayed a good ten miles from the town, in the middle of nowhere, and it seems that they don't use their dirt road very much to keep things well hidden.
Throwing the car in park, I go around to help Seraphina out, who continues to stare out the front window. Dax tugs on her arm, to which she pulls back and takes a heavy breath.
"I need a minute, please," she begged without taking her eyes off the house. Dax and I stayed right outside the door, ensuring she didn't bolt out the other side door and run away from us.
"You guys sure know how to stir up trouble; your dad was right," Big Claw slapped me on the back as his heavily pregnant wife rubbed her belly. "We haven't had trouble with the bears in well over ten years, and you guys haven't been here a week, and you already got them prodding at the beehive."
"Your mother already contacted us again, asking if we had heard from you two." I chuckled as I stuck my hand with his in an enormous handshake. I rolled my eyes; mom could be like that. She could be so overbearing it was insufferable.
"Thanks for dealing with her, Big Claw," Dax spoke up. "We'll contact her tonight."
"Is this her?" Big Paw stepped closer to the vehicle, but Dax growled. We were going to have territorial issues with Seraphina until we mated. It wasn't like we could go mark a human so fast.
Big Claw backed up and laughed. "Right, right, if you are anything like your dad, I better warn the others. Your room is on the 4th floor; I hope you don't mind." Big claw waved his hand as we went to the group of Wolves eyeing the situation.
"Seraphina, babe, are you ready to come out?" Dax sat back in the back seat with her and petted her hand. At least she wasn't pulling away, yelling, screaming, or shooting us.
"In less than twenty-four hours, I have found out that there are Werewolves and now Werebears. What else could there possibly be? Vampires? Are there vampires? Wait…" she sighed. “You told me that last night too, right?” Pursing my lips while I nodded and closed my eyes, she let out a breath. "More...things? Like I hear about in fairy tales?"
"Yes," we sheepishly said. Tutting, she let Dax intertwine their fingers as she glanced down at it.
"It is weird. I find you both comforting, even though my mind is screaming at me to run. Same when you were both Wolves, I felt a bit connected," she hummed for a minute and shoved her Glock back at her side. "Is that part of the mate thing, to feel safe? Even though I really should NOT feel safe with Bears running to eat me?"
"Yes, it is part of the bond, but the only animal that will be eating you will be us," I gave her a half-smile while Dax gave me a thumbs up.
For the first time since pulling into the graveled drive of the packhouse, her eyes glanced into ours. "One step at a time, boys," she chuckled.
Chapter Sixteen
Seraphina
Icouldn'treallyhearwhat the boys were saying. It all came in mumbled jargon that came in one ear and out the other. My palms were still sweaty, sweat was beading on my forehead, and my hair was in my face. I didn't look attractive right now, and I was standing in front of two hunky Werewolves that didn't look like they went through a car chase full of angry bears.