She gazed down from her perch and saw more bears than she had ever seen before. Her mama bear tried to escape, and the wolf that was her father was pinned down against the rocky outcropping. Her mama bear roared, but instead of trying to make her escape, she made way to free her mate. She was stopped when she was struck by a mighty paw of a bear with a white spot on his right ear.
Elaina wanted to wail for her mama to stay away, but—
“Werebear with a white spot on his right ear,” she said. “He struck my mama bear down. S-She was trying to save her mate, my father, but—”
“It might be better to not remember,” Samson said.
“It would be better if she did,” Cullen insisted. “Go on, Elaina. It might help identify the ones responsible for her death.”
“I can’t remember much else other than the bear with the white spot knocked her down and took her life.” Tears coursed down Elaina’s cheeks. “When my father ran to her, he shifted to human form and that’s when the bear murdered him. Right before he died he shifted back into a wolf.”
Liam moved to hug Elaina, but she was already in Cullen’s arms. Elaina saw the disappointment in Liam’s eyes, but she came undone at this moment. She’d explain to him later that it didn’t mean that she cared more for Cullen than she did Liam, just that she was overcome with grief, recalling the violent deaths of her parents.
Samson moved forward and said, “I’m sorry that you had to remember, but hopefully that will help us. Do you think you can remember where you hid from the clan?”
Cullen let Elaina go, and she nodded. “I can try. I can’t seem to remember my brother, or his death. I’m not sure if the clan murdered him, or if he escaped. Are you sure you didn’t find any other bear cub besides me wandering the wilderness, Samson?”
“No. I wish I had, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t escape. There are more possible explanations.”
“Such as?”
“That the clan took him back with them, that he was allowed to live.”
“That makes no sense. Wouldn’t they fear he would tell everyone the truth?”
“It depends if he saw what you had, or if he didn’t. He might even have thought his parents had deserted him. Stranger things have happened.”
“No, I’m sure that’s not the case. The clan wouldn’t allow him to live. Not after the way they acted after my parents were killed. The one with the white spot roared an order to find and kill the cubs.”
“I’m sorry, Elaina, but if you can try to find the tree now…” Samson said.
Elaina wiped her tears with the back of her arm, and went back the way she came up the trail. She wished right now she had more time to adjust to remembering, but Samson was right; maybe finding the tree would help locate the cave, although certainly Elaina couldn’t remember any such cave.
Back at the mountain, Elaina scanned the nearby trees and found one that looked like the one all those years ago, but it was no longer the strong tree she had climbed. The branches hardly had any needles and didn’t look stable enough for anyone to climb.
“This is the tree. It sure doesn’t look like I remembered now, though.”
“You were but five when I found you, Elaina.”
They spent the next few hours going back and forth, shifting or lifting rocks and boulders, but all to no avail. No cave was found.
“This is exhausting,” Elaina finally said. “We’re never going to find the cave.”
“Not with that attitude,” Liam said. “What if the cave is at a higher elevation?”
Samson nodded. “Great idea. Who wants to climb a tree to see if they can find anything?”
Elaina was selected and she climbed a tree, staying in human form. She pointed out a spot twenty feet up, and they scaled the rock wall, and cleared the rocks that hid an opening to a cave.
When they entered the cave, a foul odor assaulted them. “Is that death I smell?” Elaina asked.
“It smells more like sulfur,” Samson said. “I can’t imagine you’d be able to smell decay from that long ago.”
“It’s much too vaporous in here,” Cullen added. “We need to do a quick search and get out of her before any of us pass out.”
The cave was searched and Elaina wandered in deeper and tripped over something. When she looked to see what it was, an animal skull was found, it’s cranium much larger than that of a human. Elaina called the others and Samson acknowledged that it was indeed that of a bear. Upon further inspection, another skull was found, this one much smaller. It was the skull of a wolf. “It looks like we found our evidence,” Samson said.
Damon went down to retrieve the bags, but Elaina said, “This won’t prove anything unless we find something else that might identify the remains.”
Cullen nodded and a search began. He came back with a piece of fabric with the bones. “This might be part of a banner that belongs to someone from the clan. The remains had to have been placed here while the clan was in human form, and something was dropped here.”
“Or placed,” Damon added. “Someone with a guilty conscience perhaps, or completely by accident. Elaina, if your mother was part of the clan, I can’t help but wonder why they would have hunted her down just because she fell in love with a werewolf. It just seems more personal.”
“Yes,” Cullen said. “Possibly a jilted or unrequited suitor. I imagine in those days, arranged marriages even happened. Especially after Anna had met a violent end.”
“I suppose, but if that’s the case, this suitor sure had a lust for blood.” Elaina paused in thought before continuing. “It makes me look at this in a whole new light. It was quite personal to whoever hunted them down.”
Liam began coughing and they left with their findings, concealed in burlap bags. Elaina carefully made way for the ground when she spotted a group of three bears not far away. She waved her arms and the others joined her. Elaina whispered to them so as not to alert the marauding bears, and they made their escape.
They traveled to the north in bear form, carrying their clothing in bags and took refuge in the forest where they shifted back to human form and hastily dressed. Samson was then pacing. “We can’t keep ahead of them now. They’re on to us.”
“We’ll have to keep pressing on,” Elaina suggested. “If we keep moving, we’ll be okay.”
Cullen nodded. “Elaina’s right, but if we have to wage a fight, I’m more than willing to stay behind to fend them off.”
“No!” Elaina shouted. “I won’t leave any of you to stay behind. We came here together and together we’ll see this through. I won’t see anyone unnecessarily endangering their life on my account.”
“You don’t have much of a choice, Elaina. I’m staying behind and you’re to go forward.” Turning to Liam, he continued, “Liam, don’t allow Elaina to put herself into any more danger than necessary. Stop her from following us.” With that, Cullen and Damon left, leaving a startled Elaina to look on in horror.
Chapter Fifteen
Elaina didn’t have time to protest further as Samson and Liam took ahold of her arms, leading her away. It was quiet in this part of the forest, but squirrels chattered in a nearby tree, and a deer leapt away at their approach.
By the time they took a moment to rest near a stream, Elaina was near tears. She pulled away from Liam when he tried to comfort her. “Don’t worry,” he said. “Cullen and Damon will be fine. They’re quite capable of taking care of themselves.”
“If something happens to either of them, I’ll never forgive myself.”
“Didn’t they both treat you badly when you were with them?”
“They treated me no different than any of the other females, but I now understand why Cullen treated me like he did that last day. He told me he drove me away to protect me from the clan.”
“If you feel so strongly about them, then why did you flee? I can’t help but wonder if you have more feelings for Cullen and Damon than you’re willing to admit. I saw the way you look at Cullen, and the way
he looks at you.”
“Sure, I have a bond with them, but I also know that their lifestyle does not suit me.” Elaina took Liam’s hand in hers. “Please understand. They took me willingly under their wing and I gave myself to them both. I would be very cold-hearted were I to wish them harm. It’s obvious that they’re both willing to protect me.”
Liam led Elaina near a large pine. Once they were standing beneath it, they embraced. “You have nothing to fear, Liam. I have a bond with you that can’t be broken. One that has existed since long before I ever became a woman. If you could only forget my time with the werebears…”
“I’m not jealous, if you think that. I just want you to admit how you truly feel. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring to either of us, and I don’t want to spend it arguing about the werebears.”
Samson cleared his throat as he walked by. “Reconnect if you must. I’ll keep a lookout for the marauding bears,” he said.
Neither Liam nor Elaina waited another moment as they fell into each others arms. They melted to the ground, meshing on the soft spongy soil beneath them. Liam’s lips closed over Elaina’s and they kissed long and slow, intertwining their tongues, tasting one another’s essence.
When their lips parted, Liam sighed. “If this is to be our last day on earth, I want it to be with you.”
Tears glistened in Elaina’s eyes at Liam’s tender words as she fumbled with Liam’s shirt, yanking it off as he worked hers off, too. Liam stared at Elaina’s breasts and she felt a tremor make way, ending to warmth between her rounded thighs.
He traced the roundness of one breast and squeezed her nipple with a gentle twisting of finger and thumb. Elaina leaned back, trying to press her nipple toward Liam’s mouth, meeting his hungry eyes with hers. His lips curved into a smile and as he took a nipple into his mouth; his eyes never left hers.
Elaina closed her eyes, palming his muscular chest, finding his nipples that she squeezed playfully. Liam chuckled low in his throat. He released her tip and went on his knees, but before he was able to unhook his jeans, Elaina rubbed her hand over his concealed hardness, followed by her mouth, pressing her lips against the fabric, she worked her mouth along the bulge in his pants and could almost taste his muskiness through the fabric, but when her lips became almost raw, she moved his zipper downward and smiled when his hardness sprung upward. She traced her tongue on the head, lapping up his salty essence. She gazed up at him, enjoying the ecstasy displayed on his handsome face.
He rocked his hips forward and the head of his manhood disappeared between her lips. He moved it in and out of her mouth, but not too far until she clenched both hands on his ass cheeks, which drove him deeper inside hot mouth. With wild abandon, he thrust into her mouth and she sucked him in enjoyment, enjoying how he took charge.
Liam pulled out and helped her out of the rest of her clothing, his tongue and fingers working magic from her head to her toes. Elaina writhed on the ground in desire, feeling more wanton than she thought she could. His fingers plunged into her moist cavern and she thrashed on the ground as an orgasm ripped through her and her love channel constricted around his pumping fingers.
“Please, Liam.”
He lay on the ground next to her and pulled her across his lap where she straddled him. As Elaina mounted Liam, it was all she could do not to cry out and scream that she loved him, but she held back since she wasn’t sure how he felt. She longed to sink her fangs into the flesh of his shoulder, claiming him forever, but instead rode him like a starving beast, lifting herself up and in for a fuller penetration. She had to bite down on her lip as she felt the wave crash over her, but she was desperate to continue, rather enjoying the control she had, something that was hard to do with another shifter. He was her alpha, and in this moment she knew he knew it, too.
A howl escaped her lips and Liam put a hand over her mouth as she bucked wildly against him. “Shhh, you’ll bring the clan down on our heads.”
He pushed her off him, positioning her onto her knees, his hardness ramming at her entrance. When he pushed forward further, he claimed her completely. His fangs then found the flesh of the back of her shoulder, and he penetrated it as he bit down.
Elaina responded by gyrating against Liam despite the momentary pain. She hoped that it meant what she had hoped it did, that he was claiming her as his mate for now and forever.
Liam gripped her large hips with two meaty hands and pounded Elaina until she clenched him tightly from within, and only then did he tense and spill his seed inside her.
They collapsed to the ground and Elaina tried to relax her breathing as her heart pounded inside her chest, nearly out of control. Her mind reeled and she let the words escape. “I love you, Liam. I have grown to care for you more than that of my friend. I want you as my—”
“Someone’s coming this way,” Samson’s voice carried over to them.
Liam and Elaina hastily dressed and when they met Samson, he was not alone. Two large men wearing leather battle gear stared down at them, and as they did, they sniffed the air. “I smell a werewolf,” one said and then spat on a grasshopper that hopped by.
“Yes, I’m a werewolf,” Samson admitted. “It’s me you must smell.”
“I don’t think so,” the other said. He stepped closer to Liam and sniffed the air once more. “It’s you.” He then stared at Elaina. “You, too.”
“I’m all werebear. But who are you?”
“We’re guards for the Clan of the Werebear’s fortress, and you’re trespassing on their territory.”
“Good, we have been trying to find the fortress for many days now,” Elaina said. “We we’re planning to ask for refuge. These two werewolves are my guides. I hail from the east—”
“It matters not where you’re from, but we’ll take you before the elders for punishment. No werebear would be caught dead using any filthy werewolves for a guide.”
Liam nodded. “The same has been said of werebears, but I’m willing to overlook it if you are.”
The men whispered to each other and ordered them forward. “We’re taking you along with us.” They did a quick search to assure that they had no weapons, and up the trail they went, allowing them to take their bags with them, luckily spotting only the clothing on the top, and not the bones that were hidden beneath them.
Elaina held her head high as they were directed to a trail leading north. She was not about to let these clansmen know how frightened she was. They climbed a hill and on the other side of a valley was a mountain, the granite walls looming high in the air. Certainly there was no fortress to find at all. As they neared the rock, there was a waterfall that dropped to a clear pool of water that they were ordered to enter. They waded in the waist-deep water and were instructed to climb a ledge on the right side of the waterfall. It was only two feet wide and led directly behind the raging waterfall. One of the men took a flashlight from his pouch and shone the way through the path that led through the mountain to the other side.
When they stepped out into daylight again, they were not in a village like Cullen and Damon lived, but what looked like a town of sorts with houses made of gray stone that had been cut in precision and obviously put into place. Along one wall were chains with restrained men that Elaina knew were werewolves. They growled in response, obviously smelling their own kind.
“Stay here,” they were ordered.
Samson and Liam flanked either side of Elaina. “I don’t like this,” Samson whispered. “I don’t have a good feeling about this at all.”
“Me either, but we need to stick to our plan. Perhaps we’ll be simply given shelter.”
“You, perhaps,” Samson said. “We’re werewolves and won’t fare as well.”
“We’re the enemy of the clan, don’t forget,” Liam said.
The men came back and they were led into the largest of the stone houses. Inside torches lit the room, and down the corridor that they walked down. It opened up into a large room where two men with white hair and beards were
waiting for them on iron chairs.
They were ordered to stop ten feet from the men, and one of them said, “Come forward, child.”
Elaina trembled inside, but she wouldn’t let them know it. She stepped forward and bowed her head, one knee to the ground, and she came up with the only reasonable excuse that she could for coming here. “I ask for shelter. I have been staying in a village to the east, but my werebear protectors have deserted me.”
“On your feet, dear,” one of the men said. “I’m Bedic and this is my brother, Walkar. We’re the elders of the clan. Tell us more of this village to the east?”
“Cullen and Damon are of Russian nobility.”
“I know of them,” Bedic said. “I can’t believe they would leave a dove like you to your own defenses. We have left that area to live in peace many years ago.”
Elaina felt her heart rapidly beat. “Haven’t you at least inspected their village to assure yourselves that the rules of the clan were upheld?”
“No. As I have said, we haven’t been back to that area in many years. We’re too busy keeping the rogue werewolves at bay here.”
“So you haven’t squashed their rebellion yet?”
“Werewolves are not so easily dominated. How have you tamed yours?”
Elaina popped a glance at Samson and Liam, both of their faces tense. “They are not mine to tame. They live as free shifters in the east.”
Walkar’s eyes narrowed. “While we don’t venture to the east to enforce our laws, we certainly do here, and you, girl, smell of werewolf.”
Bedic sniffed the air, rubbing his chin. “Ah, yes. We’ll need some time to decide what to do with the lot of you. It’s forbidden for a werebear and werewolf to mate. Take her to the tower room, and chain these werewolves to the wall!”
The guards moved forward, but Elaina pleaded with them, “We’re from the east and don’t abide by those laws.”
Clan of the Werebear, The Complete Series Page 22
