Fealty of the Bear

by T. S. Joyce

  FEALTY OF THE BEAR

  (HELLS CANYON SHIFTERS, BOOK 2)

  By T. S. JOYCE

  Other Books in this Series

  Hells Canyon Shifters

  Call of the Bear (Book 1)

  Avenge the Bear – Coming November 2014

  Fealty of the Bear

  Copyright © 2014 by T. S. Joyce

  All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, redistributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in any database or retrieval system, without prior written permission from the author.

  The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Prologue

  Samantha Young still couldn’t believe there was a bear sleeping within her. The last two days seemed as if she’d dreamt them, or perhaps that time belonged to someone else’s life. Not a voiceover specialist from Portland who hadn’t even known bear shifters existed until a few days ago.

  Now, she was one of them.

  She fidgeted in the chair that sat in the corner of her mate’s bedroom, and watched as Bron tied the laces of his boots. Right now, he was straight-backed, focused Bron with the worried arch to his dark brows. His eyes had been an inhuman silvery color all day, and he hadn’t let her feel his heartbeat in hours. Probably because it was racing, just like hers.

  Tonight would decide whether she was allowed in his clan or not.

  She couldn’t go back to her job in the city like this. She’d made the decision to turn shifter out of love for the man who had held her heart since they were nine, but she hadn’t thought through the details she would have to snuff out of her old life.

  Barbara, her boss, had been pissed on the phone earlier when Samantha requested she work from Joseph, the small town of her childhood. She said she would talk to the board at the television station she worked for to see if she could record her lines from here and come up for work meetings monthly, but Barbara wasn’t making any promises.

  What was she going to do for work if she lost this job? This was something that definitely hadn’t entered her mind when she’d asked Bron’s ex-wife, Muriel, to put a snarling Andean bear inside of her. Her mind had been on Bron, and of the danger that had been chasing her away from him forever. She hadn’t been able to let that happen, but now she had to deal with the consequences of forgoing her humanity.

  Bron had changed into an eleven foot grizzly eight times in the last few days with all of the stress. She could feel that same lack of control within herself. She couldn’t trust her animal side not to rip out of her while she was in the city.

  And quite frankly, she wasn’t a fan of the idea of being tranquilized or worse on the bustling streets of Portland.

  What if Bron’s clan didn’t accept her? The question had been running through her mind all day. Bron was second to the alpha, but if they didn’t allow her to be a part of them, what could he do? The idea of separation slashed red and jagged through her chest, and a small gasp left her lips just thinking about losing her mate.

  “What’s wrong?” Bron said, frozen on the edge of his bed and staring at her with the intensity of a predator.

  “I’m nervous about tonight,” she admitted. Nervous to the point that she might actually pass out in front of Bron’s entire clan at the gathering in a few minutes. That would be a fantastic first impression. Wait, no her first impression was when she dressed like a spy and belly crawled through the woods outside, then got busted. The clan had that collective pissed off I-might-murder-you-and-like-it look on their faces that night.

  Dear goodness, let tonight go better.

  “I won’t let anything happen to you,” he promised. His tousled hair hung across his eyes and he unfolded to his full height. The tight T-shirt that stretched across broad shoulders and dark wash jeans that hung just right on him had her swallowing hard. And his smell…pine forest, aftershave and his animal, much more prevalent now that her senses were heightened. With long, confident strides, he approached and hooked a finger under her chin, then lifted her face gently until her gaze met his.

  “I want Muriel to come,” she whispered.

  Confusion pooled in his bright eyes and his chest heaved with a sigh. “She didn’t pledge to a clan after our divorce. She isn’t of Hells Canyon, Sam. Her presence won’t be welcomed here. Not after we split up.”

  “I’m not welcome here either.” Yet. “I don’t know many shifters. You and Dillon, Reese and Muriel are the only people here I trust.”

  “You trust Muriel?”

  “She saved me and then turned me, didn’t she? She said she would, and I never doubted her intentions. She did it so I could have you.”

  “She did it so she could be allowed to move on and find a mate,” he said in a soft rumble.

  “So? I heard her crying that night when the change was going wrong and my bear almost killed me. She didn’t want anything bad to happen to me. I know things are awkward between you, but she is the reason I’m here with you, fighting to join your clan. I want her here.”

  “Okay. You make the call. She won’t consider coming if I ask her,” he said, turning and disappearing into the bathroom.

  She hesitated, hovering her finger over Muriel’s programmed number. Was it the right decision to ask her to come be a part of a clan meeting she had no stake in anymore? Muriel hadn’t decided if she would go back to her father’s clan at the base of He Devil mountain yet, or if she would stay in Joseph and pledge to Hells Canyon. Perhaps it was selfish, but a piece of Samantha hoped that she would stay. They’d connected the night she turned. She was comfortable around the woman, and her bear settled around only a handful of people right now.

  And Muriel had given her Bron.

  Poking the speed dial, she waited as the phone rang twice. Even with the volume on whisper, it was still too loud for her newly oversensitive ears and she pulled the phone back by inches.

  “Samantha? Are you okay?” Muriel answered.

  “Yes, yes, I’m fine. I just wanted to see if you were coming to the meeting tonight.”

  “I hadn’t planned on it,” the woman said in a careful tone.

  “I guess I was just calling to ask you if you would come. I’m nervous and I want you and Reese there when we explain why I’m not…you know…human anymore.”

  Silence stretched on and Samantha frowned at the glowing screen of her cell to make sure Muriel hadn’t hung up. “Does Bron know you’re inviting me?”

  “Yes. I talked to him about it first. I’m not trying to make things weird between you two. And I know you have a complicated history and I don’t understand it all yet, but it meant a lot to me that you took the risk to turn me. And I’d like you here whenever the clan makes its decision about me.”

  “Okay. I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

  Samantha grinned as the weight of her nerves lifted. “I’ll see you soon. And Muriel?”

  “Yes?”

  “Thank you.”

  Static huffed across the line as Muriel sighed. “Anytime.”

  And that right there sealed it. Muriel was good people, as Momma used to say. She just hadn’t been good for Bron, the same as he hadn’t been created for her.

  Minutes ticked by and at last, the sound of cars filing up the long gravel drive to Bron’s cabin sounded. Tires crunched across the uneven road as they slowly approached, and she checked herself in the mirror one last time.

  Pale, clammy skin, check. Terrified eyes, double check. Quivering lip? Good God, she was borderline pathetic right now.

  Cursing the reflective glass, she spun and gripped the edge of the dresser behind h
er. She could do this. She was a fucking bear. If someone didn’t like her, she could just destroy their yards, or pee in their bushes or eat them, for crying out loud.

  “You ready?” Bron asked low. He slipped his hand into hers and squeezed.

  Her instincts kicked up and the clang of warning bells was rattling her brain, but she smiled as best she could and nodded. And damn her lip as it trembled on.

  He rubbed his thumb against the smooth plane of her mouth and it steadied. “Don’t be scared.”

  “Tell my bear that. She’s writhing around like a little snake in there, telling me to flee. I thought becoming a bear would make me stronger.”

  “Well you picked an Andean, love. And she’s on the small side and submissive naturally. She’s not going to help you until you learn to control your fear. The more you think about everything that could go wrong, the more your bear will encourage you to leave. She’s not like my bear.”

  “Yeah, your bear just wants to kill all the things.”

  A deep chuckle reverberated through his chest and she canted her head, watching the smile play on his lips. She’d missed that grin in the years they’d been forced apart.

  “I was born a grizzly, and my beast has had time to mature without me pushing him to control himself. There’s no changing him now.”

  Pressing her hand against his chest to feel the steady thrum of his heartbeat, not rushed as she’d imagined, she sighed. “I don’t want to change anything about you.”

  A soft smile tugged his sensual lips as he dipped them to hers. A gentle rolling kiss with just a brush of his tongue was exactly what she needed to calm down. The animal inside of her responded instantly to her mate’s touch, and the hum of power settled.

  Her mate. It was still so strange to think of him like that, but no ring or piece of paper could bond them tighter than what they were now.

  Brushing his lips across her forehead, Bron tugged her hand and led her through the front door. Evening shadows had transformed into full night, and the moon sat just above the tree line. The tall, wild grass of Bron’s yard swayed in the chilly breeze and on the wind, Samantha could smell the first hint of snow. Perhaps that stiff Oregon wind carried the scent from the mountains, or perhaps winter would hit in earnest soon.

  The bear shifters had gathered in front of the porch and Dodger, Hells Canyon’s alpha, stood with his back to them. He was leaned up against the railing, cracking his knuckles as the moonlight shone off his heavy silver rings. His boots clunked as he stood straighter and his leather motorcycle jacket squeaked as he began to turn around.

  “I have an announcement to make,” Bron said, addressing the milling crowd below.

  “What’s she doing here?” one of the shifters from the mob called out. “Dodger said she had a week. Week’s come and gone!”

  Bron held up his hand as if he thought that would calm the slow simmering rage that was taking the clan. Panic bubbled in Samantha’s throat as the noise of their anger filled her head. She was still too new at this to handle stress. Frantically, she looked at where her hand slipped from Bron’s as he stepped up to the front edge of the porch. Without his touch, she was freefalling into overwhelming confusion.

  The mob surged forward and Bron was yelling, but she couldn’t make out the words he was saying anymore.

  And then she saw it—how badly Bron had miscalculated the threat Dodger posed to her. Bron was busy keeping the others at bay, and Dodger jerked her shoulder until she spun. Her back to his chest and facing the crowd, she gasped as she saw the gleaming blade of a bowie knife in his fist.

  Her struggles were useless under Dodger’s powerful, inhuman grip and she gasped Bron’s name as the alpha sank the knife deep into her belly.

  “No!” Bron roared as she sank to her knees.

  The knife clattered to the ground beside her, and Dodger’s eyes blazed bright silver.

  When she pulled her hands away from her stomach, they were covered in crimson. She couldn’t take her eyes away from the color of red maple leaves, dripping onto the wooden boards of Bron’s porch.

  A smattering of pops and cracks sounded from behind and in front of her, and when she dragged her gaze away from her hands, an enormous grizzly exploded from her mate.

  Dodger changed into a monster brown bear and stood to his full height behind her, bellowing a challenge.

  “No,” she whispered weakly as a tear tracked down her cheek. It had all happened so fast, and now she was out of time.

  She wasn’t ready.

  Now she and Bron would both die.

  Chapter One

  Muriel leaned forward over the steering wheel and frowned at the surging mob of bear shifters on Bron’s lawn.

  “What the hell?” she muttered, downshifting her jeep to park.

  Two bears launched off the porch, locked in a vicious battle, and one of the bears was almost as familiar as her own. Her ex-husband, Bron, was battling Hells Canyon’s alpha, Dodger.

  “Oh, shit,” she muttered, lurching from the car.

  Something had gone terribly, horribly wrong. Sprinting across the yard, she elbowed her way through the crowd to see what they were gathered around. The scent of blood was thick as the cool mountain breeze electrified the downy hairs on the back of her neck. She recognized that smell.

  “Samantha,” Muriel called as she pushed her way to the porch. Dread had her heartbeat filling her throat, making it hard to draw breath.

  When she reached the top stair, she skidded to a stop and a horrified sound wrenched from her chest.

  Samantha knelt on her knees, her dripping red hands clenched to her stomach. Such a look of sad acceptance transformed her face.

  Dillon was facing off with the crowd, pushing them off the porch, but the animal smell that wafted from his skin said he wasn’t far from changing.

  Reese screamed as she made her way to the porch and Muriel grabbed her arm.

  “Go to my jeep and bring me the black bag under the passenger’s seat. Do it now.” She shoved Reese toward the railing and dropped down beside Samantha. “Sam, let me see it.”

  Bron’s mate fell backward and a tear streamed down her face as her hands fell to the side, exposing the horrific knife wound.

  “Who?” Muriel asked as she tried to stifle the rage. She already knew—she just wanted Sam to say it.

  “Dodger,” Sam whispered.

  Muriel made a disgusted click of her tongue and ripped Samantha’s shirt to expose her stomach. She hoped Bron gutted him. He deserved nothing less.

  Rocking Samantha, Muriel ran a finger down her back where the long blade had gone straight through. Bear healing was the best part of being a shifter, but this was bad.

  “Muriel, tell him I love him. Tell Bron.”

  “Stop it. You aren’t going anywhere. I won’t let you. You’ve worked too hard to get here. You’re a fucking bear now, Sam. Let her out and you’ll heal faster.”

  “Ch-change?”

  “Do you have the energy? Do it just like you did the night you turned. Show these assholes what you are now. Dillon can’t hold them back for much longer and they’ll finish us off if you don’t prove to them you belong.”

  Sam closed her eyes and her shoulders hunched as if she were trying.

  Nothing happened.

  Reese slid on her knees beside Muriel and opened up the black bag she kept in her jeep as a precaution.

  “This will make it easier, but Sam?”

  “Yes?” she whispered. God, she looked so scared.

  “Don’t hurt us,” Muriel said. Ripping into a sterile bag, she bit the cap off a needle of adrenaline and rammed it into her chest.

  Sam’s scream turned into a roar as an Andean bear ripped its way out of her.

  Dillon was already half-changed and there was no stopping him now. He turned, watching Sam’s transformation with inhuman looking eyes. Three short bellows came from his throat, like he was calling a friend home.

  Sam’s face was twisted with agony a
nd fury, and her black lips curled back over long, razor-sharp teeth. She stared at Muriel for a few moments, then plowed through the railing and took off toward the woods.

  “Dillon,” Muriel barked out. “Stay with her. I’ll find you.”

  The giant grizzly bolted after Samantha, and Muriel faced the stunned crowd. “She’s not human anymore than you or I are. Your alpha stabbed a member of his own kind and for no reason other than he wanted Bron to choose a different mate.”

  “How is this possible?” a shocked voice asked from the crowd.

  “I turned her with the old ways so that she and Bron could finally be happy. She came to this meeting to show you she is one of us. She came here to ask for a place among you. Your hatred for her clouded your judgment and made you into a mob. And for what? Because Dodger told you she wasn’t good for Bron? I wasn’t good for Bron. Our pairing ripped us both up for years, and you were perfectly okay with it. And where did that get us? I have no cub by him, and our pairing annihilated our chances at happiness. He’s found his in Samantha, and now that she is a bear shifter too, there should be no reason for your prejudice against the mate he has chosen.”

  “You’re a witch,” a woman yelled from the mass of milling shifters.

  “Careful with that word,” Reese growled out. “She’s a medicine woman. The same blood and magic has passed down through the generations in her clan. Her line is just as important as the Cress alphas.”

  A long roar echoed through the clearing, and it held such raw power, the shifters hunched under the triumphant sound. Bron stood over Dodger’s still form. The alpha’s body was matted with red, and his chest took one last slow rise but didn’t move again.

  Dodger was dead and Samantha was avenged.

  And Bron…Bron was alpha now.

  Muriel took off for the woods, following the scent of Samantha’s blood as Reese trailed behind her. Hang what happened with the bear shifter meeting, or the aftermath of Bron forcing his alpha-ship early. None of that was her concern, because she wasn’t a part of this clan. She wasn’t a part of any clan.