Chapter Thirty-Five
Mitchel
“Get down as soon as you can,” the man beside me hissed under his breath as my mother and Steve continued to bicker about whether there were coyotes in the trees.
I nodded.
There was a crashing noise from beyond the kitchen and another scrawny man with bad skin and a gun wavering in his shaky grip came running, nearly sliding into Steve in his rush.
“Bear! There’s a bear!” he cried, his eyes flitting around the room wildly.
“Now!” The man wasn’t bothering to whisper anymore. And, actually, within a couple of seconds, he wasn’t even a man, anymore.
His arms and shoulders bulged, snapping the zip ties locking him to the chair with no more effort than a child snapping a twig. He surged to his feet, breaking the ties on his ankles. A fearsome snarl emanated from the uneven, fang-filled jaw that was still stretching as he slashed at the zip ties holding me hostage, rending them instantly.
I dropped to the floor and rolled under the table as Steve aimed his revolver at the massive man-wolf, he hesitated too long and another swipe of the claw-tipped hand sent the gun clattering to the faded linoleum floor and left blood dripping from the shredded flesh of Steve’s right arm, his scream resounding through the room.
The creature caught up the chair he’d been tied to and tossed it aside, carelessly shattering the window I’d been staring out ten minutes earlier.
Or possibly it wasn’t so careless, I amended in my head as two large wolves bounded through the opening before the glass had even hit the ground. The first was a darkish-colored blur that had no sooner landed than the sound of breaking bones and tearing flesh began competing with Steve’s screams. The sounds were still hanging in the air when the creature came to a stop beside the first soldier and, holy fuck balls, there weretwoof the wolf beasts.
Large white paws padded methodically past me, a strangely calm pace with the two monsters batting Steve and his crony around like cats with toy mice. I peered out from under the table and saw my mother was creeping across the floor toward the gun Steve had dropped, her eyes glued to the fight. If she’d been paying more attention to the rest of the room, she would have noticed she was slowly making her way directly to where the large white wolf waited patiently with its tongue lolling out of an amused smile.
When she swooped down to snatch the gun up, her eyes still trained on the fight, the snapping of jaws was followed by a scream of pain. The wolf released his grip, sitting his fluffy butt directly on the revolver. My mother was glaring at the animal with rage-filled eyes, her flopping left wrist held gingerly to her chest with her right arm. Her lips were moving, but there was so much growling, snarling, crying, and screaming that I couldn’t make out her words.
The wolf, on the other hand, must have picked it up with its superior hearing because it snorted in the manner of an amused human before pulling back its lips and flashing a very impressive set of fangs.
Then another roar echoed through the kitchen, coming from outside just before the kitchen door was ripped from the hinges and leaving a very large, very familiar bear standing in the doorway with part of the frame dangling down by his head. My mother gasped and collapsed on the floor.
Clark was rescuing me for the second time in only a few short years. Admittedly, he wasn’t the bear I would have hoped to see, but hostages can’t be choosers or however the saying goes. Except, as it turned out, I didn’t have to make a choice.
Confident that the danger had passed, I crawled out from under the table and leaned against the wall by the door, rubbing my wrists to try and shake the annoying pins and needles feeling left by them being bound for so long. That was when another bear, one not as large or threatening as Clark’s grizzly but every bit as brave and a hundred times more dear to me wedged his way through the hall leading from the front of the house and stopped short, staring at me.
I swallowed the wave of tears that hit me and raised a challenging brow. “Well, it took you fucking long enough.”
Bear’s brow wrinkled and his ears flickered, then he cocked his head slightly like he was confused and I mentally chastised myself for being a dick. Sure,Danewould have known I was being sarcastic, but Bear was sweet and innocent. And I was a double dick.
I ran across the short distance to hug him, whispering words of love and appreciation in his furry ear until his chest began to rumble with the deep purr I loved so much. Even then, he never took his eyes off the situation unfolding in the kitchen. The wolf-men had already disarmed both Steve and the other kidnapper. The white wolf had my mother pinned with his eyes, all but daring her to move from the floor. And with a bear blocking each exit, there was no real option for escape.
Still, Bear wasn’t taking any chances and after a few minutes of snuggling me, he gently but firmly nudged me behind him.
The wolf-man holding Steve shoved him, sending him stumbling to the other who easily caught him by the throat, leaving him with one kidnapper in each hand. Then he stretched his jaw in a grotesque yawn and the cracking tearing sounds of the shift once again filled the air. When the sounds faded away, the man from the broken-down car was standing before me, nude except for the tatters of fabric left from when his clothes had shredded during his shift.
“Mitchel, right?” he greeted jovially, holding his hand out when I nodded. “Clint.” He nodded at the other beast. “That’s my brother, Colt.”
“Whatareyou?” I clapped a hand over my mouth too late to stop the words. “I’m so sorry. That was very rude. Thank you for rescuing me.”
Clint laughed, shrugging my apology off. “It’s okay. We’re werewolves.” He gestured to the white wolf who had started toying with my mother by creeping closer to her, inch by inch. “That’s Colby. He’s a traditional wolf shifter. And I think you know the bears, yeah?”
“I do.” I nodded, relieved that I hadn’t offended him. “What do we do now?”
Clint’s eyes took on a hard glint. “First, I’m going to tie them up, give them a taste of their own medicine. Then, I have a few questions to ask. What happens next is going to depend entirely on the answers that they give us. Are you going to be okay watching that or do you want someone to take you home?”
I thought back over the hours spent lying cramped up on the cold, damp basement floor before being tased by someone who was supposed to love me no matter what and felt my jaw tighten.
“I’d very much like to stay.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
