Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 28245 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 141(@200wpm)___ 113(@250wpm)___ 94(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28245 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 141(@200wpm)___ 113(@250wpm)___ 94(@300wpm)
My eyes narrow and my pulse races when I see the black car moving up the winding road. It’s the same black car that chased us yesterday and I would bet the world that The Foxhounds are in it.
I exhale long and hard as my bear perks up inside. We’re finally on the same page. Instead of desperately trying to burst out of me, he’s awaiting my orders. Putting our mark on our mate was all it took to cure him.
Get ready, I tell him. This might get ugly.
“How did they find us?”
“They must have tracked us somehow.” I should have known. The AFA is capable of all sorts of things. They might have tracked Mindy’s cellphone or my car.
Why didn’t I think of that?
I was so distracted by my feral bear and the excitement of meeting my mate. Not to mention, the sex marathon that took up all of my attention. It’s a rookie mistake and one that I shouldn’t have made.
“Should we make a run for it?” Mindy asks as the car speeds up the mountain, kicking up a cloud of dust behind the tires.
“I’m not spending my life with you running,” I say as determination takes over. “I want all of my focus on you. I can’t be looking over my shoulder every two seconds, worried that someone is going to try and steal you away from me. I won’t live like that.”
“But there’s four of them,” she says. “How are you going to win against those odds?”
“The odds are in my favor,” I say as I yank off my torn shirt. “I’m fighting for my mate. Nothing beats that.”
She steps back and watches me in awe as I let my grizzly come. The sweet familiar pain of my muscles growing and my skin tightening takes over. I grit my teeth as the tightness and pain mount until it explodes with a loud tear and my grizzly bursts out of me.
I’m pulled down into the darkness, watching from inside as my bear looks at his mate for the first time. I can feel the intense love, possessiveness, and need to protect flowing through him.
He’ll kill for this girl. He won’t let anything come between us.
I finally trust him to act in our best interest again. There’s no hint that he was ever feral. No struggle to stay in control. He’s a bear on a mission and his mission is to protect his woman.
I watch from inside as the car comes speeding up the road and skids to a stop in front of the observatory.
The four Foxhounds step out.
There’s Jackson Kelly, their leader. A smart capable grizzly bear shifter.
Ryker Wood. Arms covered in tattoos. Kodiak bear. I was the one who hired him.
Grayson Brooks. Blond hair. Polar bear shifter. Missing a chunk of his ear from some old fight.
And Remy Beaufort. Wolf shifter. Executioner. General pain in the ass.
My bear greets them with a territorial growl.
“Are you okay?” Jackson asks Mindy. “Did he hurt you?”
She just glares at him.
“We’ve come to take you back to your grandfather,” Jackson says. My bear growls, hating that another man is talking to his mate.
“I’m not going anywhere,” she says defiantly. “I’m right where I belong.”
He spots my mark on her neck and sighs. “I see…”
“Dats enough chitty chatty,” Remy says as he pulls the sword out of the sheath strapped to his back. My bear growls as the sun glints along the sharp blade. “Time to earn our paychecks.”
“No!” Mindy shouts as she jumps between my bear and the wolf shifter.
My bear growls, hating having her so close to danger.
“He’s not feral anymore,” she says. “He’s changed. He’s reformed.”
“I’ll show you reformed,” Remy says as he swings his sword through the air. “I’ll reform his fucking face with my blade.”
He pushes Mindy aside and she falls to the ground with a scream.
My bear erupts like a volcano. He charges the wolf shifter and lunges on him. But he’s sloppy. Too eager and not careful enough.
Remy jumps to the side, his hand moving in a blur.
The tip of the blade sinks into the flesh under our front left leg as we come crashing down on him. The rest of the long sword slides in, burning hot. The pain is blinding. It’s searing.
Remy grunts as he forces the blade in to the hilt. My bear roars in pain and outrage. Blood pours onto the French Canadian’s chest. Mindy screams.
“Cain! No! What did you do to him?!”
It’s the scream of our mate that pushes my bear through the pain. He snaps his jaws, aiming right for Remy’s face. Remy yanks his arm up at the last second and our sharp teeth sink into his forearm.
“Câlisse!” he hollers as my bear shakes him around, tearing flesh and filling our mouth with his blood.
The three other bear shifters come exploding forward, tackling my wounded grizzly off, and pulling Remy out from under us. Remy yanks his sword out in the commotion. It’s coated in dark red blood.