Her Hero Was A Bear: A Paranormal Werebear Romance (Bears With Money Book 5)

by Amy Star

  “Vampires were human,” Genos snapped. “They hardly count. And the rest of you are raised among humans, educated with and by humans, and trained to get along with them like a monkey dancing on a street corner. I don’t expect you to understand what I have in mind; it’s beyond you.”

  “If you don’t like inhuman creatures either, then why are you trying to burn everything down for them?” Jasper asked, and he sounded more than a little exasperated as he asked it. “It sounds like you’re only doing any of this because you have a bug up your ass about it. You’re unhappy, so everyone else gets to be unhappy too.”

  “I wouldn’t expect you to understand,” Genos repeated, that time with a mockery of patience. “When humans aren’t around anymore, one county at a time, then the inhuman creatures that

  remain can begin to get over the brainwashing they’ve been raised with,” he insisted. “If they aren’t constantly having it reinforced that living with their oppressors like zoo animals is the best thing for them to do, they’ll start to recover. No one understands now, but eventually everyone who’s left will.”

  Considering he didn’t seem to have any idea of what he was talking about, Melissa found it oddly fitting that he was even talking about zoos like they were horrible, despite all of the good that they did. But, in his own words, she didn’t expect him to understand.

  He didn’t want to understand. Even a toddler would have been able to see that trying to argue or trying to make him come around was a lost cause. It would be about as useful as trying to break a hole in a brick wall solely by bashing her head into it repeatedly.

  Even knowing that, Melissa wanted to argue. She wanted him to understand how ridiculous he sounded. She wanted him to acknowledge that he was just doing what he wanted because he was selfish, not because he was trying to help anyone. But she knew she wouldn’t accomplish anything, and she knew it wouldn’t change his mind. It wouldn’t stop him from doing anything rash. All that would stop him would be if they physically stopped him.

  Talking wouldn’t do anything.

  Apparently, Genos agreed and had decided that there had been enough talking. Maybe even too much talking.

  When Genos transformed, there was no warning. One moment, he was shaped like a man, and the next moment, Mitch was being flung backwards as Genos’s wings burst from his back. Between one breath and the next, the transformation was finished, and he was towering above them all once again, his teeth bared. It almost looked as if he was grinning, as if he was expecting whatever happened next to be fun.

  Jasper stepped forward, planting himself between Melissa and Genos, and Mitch transformed in a hurry, flanking the larger dragon as he did. To the other side, Sabine growled, low and rumbling, and she spread her wings out to her sides in some sort of threat display. There were only three of them (four, counting Melissa, though she wasn’t exactly imposing) so it couldn’t really be said that they had him cornered, but they at least made it clear that they weren’t just going to let him swan on by.

  Genos turned slowly towards Mitch, appraising him for a moment before evidently deciding he would be the easiest to get rid of other than Melissa herself, who didn’t seem to have even registered as a threat.

  (It rankled at her ego, but she could understand why. Even so, she felt like she needed to be there, and she couldn’t think of any reasons that were good enough that would justify staying away when she had worked just as hard as everyone else to get to where they were at that point.)

  Mitch lunged aside as Genos swept his tail at him, and he snapped after the whip-like appendage, his teeth only just missing it as it sailed through the air past his face.

  Genos ignored Melissa, despite his loudly and emphatically stated hatred of humans. He acted as if she wasn’t even there, despite the fact that if he really wanted to, he could likely swallow her in two bites. And really, him ignoring her didn’t bode well. Either he planned on tossing her into the fire once he set it, or he wanted her to watch him attempt to kill the others before finally trying to eat her, but either way, nothing good was going to come out of it.

  She wracked her brains for a way she could help that actually mattered—a way she could help that would actually help—only to need to throw herself out of the way as Jasper charged at Genos and got smacked out of the way with one foot. He tumbled right over where Melissa had been standing a moment ago before toppling to a halt, staring dazedly at the sky for a moment until Melissa offered him a hand back to his feet.

  There was no more talking after that. All that was left to do was to bring Genos to a halt, and that was probably going to involve killing him. Assuming they could manage that. True enough, they had numbers on their side and Sabine could fly just as well as he could, but he still dwarfed all of them, including Sabine.

  Whatever else happened that evening, none of them were ever going to forget about it, assuming they lived through it to remember. But they had already decided they were willing to accept that risk, hadn’t they? They would stop Genos, or they would die trying.

  Maybe it was strange, but Melissa felt intensely fond of Mitch, Sabine, and Jasper in that

  moment. But she could appreciate that feeling later on. Just then, they all had more important matters they needed to worry about and there was no time for fuzzy feelings.

  Sabine lunged next, snapping at Genos’s face just to get his attention and then dancing out of his reach like an enormous, reptilian ballerina. She turned and twirled out of his way, swatting him across the face with her tail as she did, though she squawked at him in offended discomfort as his teeth closed on the very end of her tail for an instant.

  He bounded after her and slammed into her, and they scuffled across the ground, clawing and

  biting until Genos had Sabine pinned on her back, her wings beating against the dirt and grass and her legs kicking at his underbelly. While it was true that Genos had the benefit of an extra pair of limbs, Sabine’s legs were stronger than his rear legs, and with a heaving motion, she threw him up and aside. She launched herself back to her feet with her wings and lunged before he could right himself, landing on his chest and snapping at his face like she was trying to rip it off.

  (Granted, she probably was trying to rip it off.)

  Genos ducked his head away, so all Sabine’s teeth could close around were his horns, and then he surged upwards, head-butting her square in the mouth and knocking her aside. She tumbled to the ground and landed in a heap of legs and wings, and by the time she righted herself again, Genos was on his feet and looking contemplatively at the trees once again.

  Jasper collided with one of his legs before he could really get any ideas, pummeling at him with lightning quick strikes, though Genos seemed more inconvenienced than actually pained as he reared back onto two legs and hopped out of the way, and as he landed on all four legs again,

  Jasper had to lunge out of the way.

  He rolled aside to avoid one set of claws, and lashed out, wrapping both hands around one of Genos’s feet before he could retract it again, and there was another ground-rattling thump as

  Jasper tripped the larger dragon up and yanked him off of his feet.

  Genos yanked his leg free quickly, though, and righted himself in an instant, wings beating in Jasper’s direction to force him onto the defensive long enough for Genos to back up a few paces. Mitch snapped at his tail as it swayed into range, only for his teeth to close on thin air as Genos yanked his tail out of the way at the last instant.

  It worked as a decent distraction, though, so Genos didn’t move out of the way in time when

  Jasper abruptly used Sabine like a jungle gym to launch himself at Genos’s head, arms wrapped around his snout to hold his mouth closed and legs hooked over his horns to stay in place, like some sort of deranged trapeze artist. There was a series of muffled shrieking noises as Genos tossed his head back and forth. Mitch caught hold of his tail and dug his feet in to keep Genos from going anywhere easily, and Sabine crashed into his side
to throw him off balance, until all of them looked like their own freak show act.

  It seemed like ages passed before Genos finally managed to throw Jasper off, and he sprawled in the grass, wheezing but laughing afterwards. Just an instant later, Genos rounded on Mitch, forcing him to let go of the dragon’s tail and flee to a safer distance.

  Sabine didn’t afford him the luxury of recovering any of his composure, though. She bounded into the air with a single flap of her wings, so she was only a few yards off of the ground. A few yards was all she needed.

  If they wanted Genos to stop eyeing the trees while they all tried to decide what to do to keep him from setting them on fire like a cheap action movie, it seemed like getting him off the ground and away from the trees would be the most expedient way to do that, and she was just the dragon for that job.

  Sabine landed on Genos’s back for hardly a split second before launching herself away again, snapping at one of his wings as she did, before letting it go and spiraling higher into the air. With an irritated snort, Genos twisted around and jumped into the air, wings beating rapidly and

  forcing him higher as he chased her.

  There was no fire, which seemed a touch odd at first. But it made sense after a moment of thought. Dragons were fireproof. Why would they waste time trying to uselessly cook each other when it would have no effect?

  So, they resorted to trying to beat and claw each other to death like a pair of angry alley cats or a set of cavemen.

  (Melissa had never been particularly violent, and in general, she liked to believe there were

  always better ways to solve a problem. She had never been big on hunting, even if she could

  understand why other people did it. But just then, she very strongly wished that she had some sort of a gun. It would have solved all of their problems in an instant.)

  It was a sight to behold, watching the two of them twist through the air. By and large, Sabine stayed out of his reach by just a few feet, but every so often, she eased back just enough to kick at his face, to snap at his wings or his face or his tail or his legs, to swat at him with her tail.

  Until finally Genos got fed up and snatched her out of the air by her leg.

  They twisted together for a moment, squirming and thrashing like a pair of angry sharks, until finally Sabine twisted herself nearly upside down to snap at Genos’s chin. With a high-pitched squawk, he let her go, and she spun away from him, spiraling towards the ground until her wings flared out, and she arced into the sky once again. Mouth gaping open and teeth bared, Genos followed her.

  In a strange sort of way, it was almost pretty to watch them as they twisted and turned and snapped at each other. It was also very far from any sort of subtle.

  “There is no way no one is not going to see this,” Jasper remarked quietly, shading his eyes with one hand as he watched them.

  “It’ll make for quite a news story,” Melissa returned dryly. And it was a decent point. She supposed it was possible that they were far enough out of town that people would just think a pair of eagles or other large birds were in the air, but eagles and vultures and other birds of prey weren’t really prone to all-out war with each other. Regardless of what people assumed was going on, there was probably going to be a writeup in the paper by morning.

  It was Sabine who landed first, both feet hitting the grass, and she immediately sprang to the side as Genos tried to land on top of her. His neck arched as he prepared to make a grab at her, only to snort and shake his head when Jasper threw another rock at his face. The rock bounced off with an audible ‘thwop!’ and then tumbled to the grass. Genos turned slowly, eyes narrowing, and

  Jasper waved pleasantly before he took off at a sprint. Genos made it a few bounds after him

  before Mitch bolted in front of him, and Genos tripped over him and went sprawling, as if he had too many legs and even he wasn’t always sure what to do with them all the time.

  It was only a second before he scrambled back to his feet, but Mitch had already loped out of range by then.

  Genos looked between Mitch and Jasper for a moment, before he rolled his eyes and turned away, evidently deciding that he was finished with their antics. Playtime had gone on long enough, and he had an actual purpose. Turning away, he broke into a run towards the tree line once again.

  Swearing under her breath, Melissa ran after him. She didn’t even know what she was going to do, but she knew there was nothing they could do once he actually set anything on fire. They could keep fighting afterwards, but the damage would be done and there was no way of knowing how much would still be standing by the time emergency crews showed up, and no way of knowing if they would luck out again as they did at the last fire, or if they would need to take more drastic measures to keep the fire from reaching town. As it was, it would be almost guaranteed to claim the houses on the mountain.

  She didn’t know what she was going to do. Logically, there probably wasn’t much of anything she could do. She was just a regular human. But she moved on instinct, and she had been the closest to the trees. She stumbled to a halt just a moment after Genos did, so she was standing under him, looking up at the underside of his head as he surveyed the trees in front of him.

  His shadow blocked out all of the moonlight, and with his tail lashing at the air like an irritated cat’s and his wings partially spread, he looked like he was bigger than the mountain itself, like he could just charge forward and send the mountain and its trees and Melissa’s house tumbling down to the ground like an avalanche.

  Melissa felt very small in that moment, but she had no time to dwell on that. She acted on

  instinct, simply moving without much thought as Genos readied himself to burn the mountain down.

  Genos lifted his head, sparks building in the back of his throat once again. And then Melissa shrugged Sabine’s messenger bag down from her shoulder so she could pull the fire extinguisher out of it. She aimed the nozzle upwards and pulled the trigger, white foam spraying out like a snowstorm in December. Genos gagged and stumbled backwards as he got a mouthful of fire

  retardant foam, and he shook his head rapidly, foam flying in every direction as he tried to spit it out, like a dog that had unexpectedly eaten a lemon slice.

  He staggered for a moment, and Melissa grabbed the bag and sprinted out of the way before he could step on her, making room for Jasper to dart into the space she had been standing. He wrapped both arms around one of Genos’s legs and pulled, yanking the leg out from under him. With a thump that shook the ground, Genos tumbled, landing in a graceless heap. He thrashed once, and Jasper bolted out of the way as Genos got his legs beneath himself again and surged back to his feet.

  His wings rose up behind him, flapping once and sending dirt, grass, twigs, and fallen leaves in every direction as he used his wings to clear some space around himself, just long enough to lift a leg and paw the rest of the foam out of his face.

  He shook his head one more time and looked back towards the trees. He opened his mouth…and nothing happened. Rather than spitting fire, he simply sneezed. Evidently, it took more than a few seconds to recover from getting a mouthful of fire retardant foam, and his ability to set whatever he set his sights on ablaze had not yet returned to him. It was sort of funny, in a morbid way. Or at least, it would have been from farther away.

  Slowly, he turned to look at Melissa, eyes slowly narrowing in outrage. Clearly, the humor in the situation was lost on him.

  He took only a single step towards her before Mitch barreled in between them both, his teeth bared in fury. Genos scoffed, though the noise was more like a hiss. His wings spread, and he beat them twice, only to stumble when Mitch lunged forward, teeth clamping tight around one wing. He dug all four feet in and wrenched himself backwards as Genos tried to wrestle his wing free.

  Quick as a flash, Jasper surged in to help, slamming into one of Genos’s legs with all the force he could muster. There was a sharp, almost bird-like squawk and Genos stumbled, his front
half dipping towards the ground on one side. Mitch used the moment to his advantage and heaved his weight backwards, and with a heavy, wet crunch and a soggy grinding noise, he wrenched one wing from its socket. Genos shrieked and scrambled away, stumbling back to all four legs and rapidly retreating backwards, one wing hanging limply at his side.

  For a moment, Genos looked nervous, though it didn’t last long. He shook his head quickly, grounding himself once again. As Mitch rushed him, he swept a leg out, tossing Mitch aside, and as Jasper charged him, he had to pull up short to avoid getting taken out at the waist by Genos’s tail.

  Sabine still had the benefit of leaving the ground, at least, and she launched herself upwards, only to land again almost immediately on Genos’s back. She dug her claws in as much as she could, though considering Genos’s scales were not exactly paper thin, she still didn’t have the best grip. Making the most of the matter, she started snapping at his neck as Genos tried to

  contort himself out of the way, until her teeth closed around one of his horns.

  Genos shrieked back at her and jumped, all four feet leaving the ground as he coiled in the air like a serpent. He landed on his side with a crash that shook the trees, flinging Sabine clear of his back. He scrambled back to his feet before she had even stopped tumbling across the ground.