Page 21 of Mated to Four Bears

I forced myself to stand up. I had my wand in my back pocket, I was probably going to need it, and I quietly made my way out of the room. I could hear the brothers making noise around the home, but one of the best things about being in a mansion was all the space. I was pretty sure I could get out without anyone seeing. This wasn’t me running away like before. This was me doing the right thing and taking a stand so I could make sure no one else got hurt.

I snuck as quietly as I could, stepping only on my tiptoes as I crept down the stairs. Thankfully, the other guys probably assumed I was still with Richard, so I managed to get away. It wouldn’t be for long, though, I knew the security system would alert them soon enough, but hopefully by that time I would be well on my way.

I cast magic behind me, clearing up my scent, and started to run. It was going to be dark soon, and I knew that the darkness out atGrayson’s Farmwas all the more intimidating. It wasn’t an area with street lamps or any major road signs to guide people to the property, which was probably by Antonio’s uncle design. But I was going to have to face my fears and confront him.

When we broke up, I really wanted that to be the last time that we saw one another. The last thing that I wanted was to end up in a situation like this, but here I was facing the worst.

I had to admit I felt a little lost without the protection of the Osbornes surrounding me. I had grown used to their presence, to the protective bear side of them.

But my wand and I were going to have to be our own protective bear tonight. One so strong and powerful that there was nothing Antonio could do. He would have to leave me alone forever.

14

HENRY

Icouldn’t believe what was happening. It was like a nightmare; this didn’t make any sense. Everything was supposed to be better now, so much calmer. I thought Samantha wanted to be here now. She came by choice, and didn’t have an apartment to go back to. When I kissed her, I really felt like there was something special between us. And that hadn’t just happened to me, I knew she’d had romantic connections with my brother as well, and even she thought, just as we guessed, that we might all be magically bonded to one another.

So why was her bed empty? Why couldn’t I find her with Richard? There might not have been any smashed windows this time around, but she was definitely gone. I couldn’t pick up her scent either, and I’d been around the house a few times as my bear.

That left only one possible, terrifying conclusion. That despite all of our attempts at security, someone had managed to magic their way in here and get her out.

Fuck. We were going to have to do something drastic this time around. I woke up William and Thomas and headed to thedining room where we had all of our security cameras set up. I didn’t know what we were going to see, if anything.

“This is bad,” Thomas kept murmuring. “This is really bad.”

I truly wished he wasn’t echoing my own fears. It was really stressing me out. I could almost feel William trembling with anger as well. This wasn’t good. Antonio was really going to have his ass handed to him for doing this to us. And all because of a God damn gambling addiction. He needed to get himself help, not attacking Richard and trying to bleed Samantha dry financially.

“She left herself,” William drawled as we watched her escape on the screen. “Look, she’s casting spells behind her. She doesn’t want to be found.”

“No.” I shook my head hard. That was something I just couldn’t accept. “She wouldn’t just walk out on us. Not now. Not after everything we have been through.” We were all falling for Samantha, and we thought she felt the same way too.

“I don’t think she’s gone to run away from here,” Thomas said quietly. “I think she’s gone to face Antonio. To see if she can put an end to this so none of us end up as hurt as Richard. It killed her to see him that way. I know she wouldn’t want that for any of us.”

That sounded a lot like something Samantha would do. I could see that she was scared of being a burden, but by going after Antonio herself, she had likely put herself in real danger.

“We have to go after her,” I whispered, desperately hoping one of my brothers would hear me. “We have to find her, now. I know she went to try to keep us safe, but I can’t stand the idea of something happening to her, I can’t…”

William rested his hand reassuringly on my back. “Oh, don’t you worry. We’re going to go after her. We need to find out from Richard where she might have gone. She was talking to him last, so it’s likely he said something to her.”

“Grayson’s Farm,” I interjected, because to me it was absolutely obvious. “She has to be there, right? She’s looking for Antonio, and that’s where he’s staying.”

William’s expression darkened. “There is some weird shit going on at that farm. I don’t know what exactly, but I could feel some residual magic that has me troubled. I don’t want Samantha anywhere near there.”

We all glanced towards the stairs, thinking the same thing. What were we going to do about Richard? He would want to come with us, he wouldn’t want to leave Samantha in danger either, but with what had happened to his leg, we didn’t want to put him in danger either. We didn’t want him to risk further injury.

“I will go check on him,” Thomas finally said. “I’m not convinced he’s up for another fight, but he’ll be furious if he finds out we left without him. You know how much he cares about Samantha.”

As Thomas took off, William and I glanced at one another. I could see the intense fear I was feeling matched in his expression. If William was worried, then I knew we had a lot to panic about. William was the most cool-headed of us all.

“If he takes her away from us,” he said carefully, almost as if it was hard for him to get out each word, “I will kill him, Henry.”

His face was actually turning red with rage. I really wished there was something I could do to take that pain from him. The only problem was I was suffering my own roller coaster of emotions.

“We’re going to make sure he doesn’t do anything to her.” I did my best to reassure him instead. “Don’t you worry about it. Us together, we’re an unstoppable force.”

William and I looked up to find Richard coming down the stairs with Thomas.

“Don’t worry,” Richard said with his hands held up in the air in a surrendering gesture. “I wouldn’t come if I wasn’t feeling much better. My leg is fine now. Thomas is a miracle worker, as you all know, and he’s cured me.”

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