“The same way we always have.” Emmerick looked at Sam, sinister intent whirling in his eyes. “Cull her. No witnesses. No exceptions. This policy has worked for over fifty years and kept us safe. And it's all the more important now that human inventions have surpassed anything we could ever hope to deal with...”
“But that isn't the way we've always handled it,” I said. “Elder Emmerick is older than anyone here. He should remember better than anyone how we lived among humans in the past, and sometimes how we even brought them here to live among us.”
Emmerick stiffened and leaned forward a little more. I had no doubt he shared my urge to hop the wooden barrier between us and claw into me.
“He has a point,” Franklin said. “Fifty years is enough time to evaluate whether all this has been worth it. Thank the spirits we've only had to deal with dangerous intruders on a few rare occasions. But things were very different before...”
“Yes, and they could afford to be.” Genevieve faced her fellow Elder. “Our numbers were growing quite fast then. Everyone knows the opposite is true now. Obviously, we're not here tonight to get into the population problem, but it's always in the background.”
“You're damned right, councilwoman. We're here to deal with Don and his uninvited friend, an immature little girl who's already put us in greater danger than any of the hunters who come to our borders. She's appeared here without leaving a trace back home. Other humans will come looking for her.”
I bristled. Emmerick's words were ridiculous. I stared at Sam, wondering how anyone on the council but him could look at her and see something terrible, something dangerous.
Franklin let out a long sigh. He turned his familiar eyes on me, as did the others.
“Well, Flood. You've told your end of the story. If we're to believe you – mistakes and all – then that means she isn't a danger.”
“That's right,” I said forcefully. “Sam won't hurt us. She won't send men after us, and she's certainly not some kind of spy. All she wants to do is go home. If we let her do that, then there's no reason for anyone else to come here either.”
“You act like it's so simple, Mister Flood.” Genevieve sniffed and straightened a bushy outgrowth in her faded hair. “We have nothing but your word. I'm afraid councilman Emmerick is right, though I don't endorse his solution. We'll need more time to decide. For now, she should be held alone, isolated from the community.”
The hairs behind my neck stood on end. Inside me, the grizzly stretched its claws, stood on its hind legs, and roared. I wanted to shift and charge the Elders' bench as hard as I could.
If Rufus and Alex took one step toward Sam to haul her away...
Fuck. I won't be able to hold it anymore. Don't take another step, you little idiots!
My lips curled in a silent snarl. Genevieve raised the wooden mallet, preparing to adjoin the council.
“Wait!” Sam shouted. “Don't I even get to say anything for myself?”
The chamber went quiet. I turned toward her, along with everyone else, hoping she'd see the pleading sparks in my eyes.
“You're an uninvited guest here, female. You have no rights.” Emmerick bared his teeth – probably hoping to frighten her.
“I'm not a thread, and I'm not deadweight either. I can help you,” Sam said.
Genevieve's eyebrows lifted. “Help us? And what, pray tell, do you think a human woman can offer?”
“Your tools are thirty years old. Maybe more, if what Don has in his cabin tells the full story. Your clan doesn't do anything but scout my world for threats and bartering.”
“And it's worked wonderfully for more than a century. What are you getting at?” Franklin studied her, roused from his sleepy state with the intense curiosity he had as a younger man.
“You scout. You spy. But you don't really understand us. Things have changed a lot, even in just the last twenty years. If you let me stay with Don, I promise I'll help you. Interrogate me, let me talk to your scientists, I don't care. I'll tell them everything and I won't run. I promise.”
“That's very fair, human. But we still have no reason to trust you,” Genevieve said. She clenched her fingers tight around the gavel, twirling it in her hands.
“Just try me out! You don't even know what threats or opportunities could be out there in the human world. I'm not an expert, but I'll do my very best to interpret anything you bring to me.”
“Councilwoman, this could be useful,” Franklin said in a low voice, leaning over several inches. “There's so much we don't understand about their medicine. And the digital stuff...imagine the possibilities. I won't even go into the intricacies of their politics...”
“Fine,” Genevieve said reluctantly. “We'll take a vote.”
Emmerick looked like he was going to bust through the walls. Thomas shifted in his seat and looked at Rufus.
“Take them outside. We'll let you know when we're finished here.” He nodded, gestured to Alex, and then they were at our sides.
I gritted my teeth and followed them. Sam pressed her hand into mine. At first, I resisted, but I couldn't keep from caressing her flesh for long.
Soft. Delicate. Like beautiful cream.
I wondered if the rest of her skin was just as perfect. As soon as we went through the heavy door, the cool darkness made it difficult to wonder about anything at all.
Our guards paced in the fallen leaves around the perimeter, crunching them loudly underfoot. I looked at Sam. She was already gazing back.
“That's a very bold thing you did in there. Maybe too bold. Too dangerous. I would've dealt with them if they tried to take you...”
“Don, I'm trying to prevent more bloodshed here. There's no need any human or shifter needs to suffer more. And I mean it about helping your kind – I'll do all I can.”
I nodded. She had a good plan, perhaps the only one that had a chance at saving our lives. But inside, my guardian instinct wilted.
I'd already failed her once. Now, I wasn't helping solve her problems. I was just keeping her here, at the Elder council's mercy, threatening to drag her deeper into danger.
I let Sam's hand drop from mine and put several feet between us. I felt her eyes on my back, warm and concerned, but I didn't dare face her again.
I stared off at the cold, distant outlines of the mountains, barely visible through the moonlight. The door's creak as it opened forced me to turn.
“It's done,” Franklin said. He stuck his head out the opening, pulling his cloak tight. “The human girl will stay in Don's cabin this winter. She'll be ready to advise us at our convenience, or rather, at Emmerick's.”
I held in a growl. Sam took a step closer to the Elder, her eyes widening.
“Emmerick? What do you mean, sir?”
“He holds all the clan's records, including the scouting reports. Flood, you know this.” He looked at me. His eyes narrowed in warning when he caught the resistance in my gaze. “This is the agreement. You'll bring the girl to Emmerick for her debriefings. You can be present, if you'd like, to act as an intermediary.”
Yeah. I wanted to start an intermediary made of fire between myself and the old town hall.
“Emmerick wants Sam dead, Elder. This is outrageous...”
“Look, I supported the idea and threw my vote behind it. So did two others. Emmerick was outnumbered, but he had to be placated, and you know we make compromises. He asked for this. Not us. Now, Flood, if this isn't to your liking I can go back inside, re-convene the council, and we'll vote on that other measure.”
“We'll handle it.” Saying the words was like trying to push a boulder from my throat.
“Good. Someone should send for you tomorrow.”
Thomas slammed the door behind him after motioning to Rufus and Alex. They nodded darkly at me as I walked past. I didn't wait for Sam.
She quickly caught on and ran to catch up. I was halfway across the bridge, putting serious distance between us and the town hall, when her tight fingers fell across my shoulder
.
“Hey! What's going on?”
“We need to turn off here,” I said, pointing to the narrow side path leading toward the woods. “Just trust me. I need this, or else I'm going to explode.”
I refused to look at her. I knew the lines of worry in her pale face would just make me feel guilty. Right now, I didn't need to feel anything except the red hot rage blistering in my chest.
I walked faster as we moved into the trees. Sam's soft footsteps clopped behind me.
When I found the spot, I stabbed my hands through the bushes, pushing them aside. I held it open for her.
In the clearing, there was an old fire pit. It hadn't been used for more than a generation. Isolated and dormant, it was the perfect place, the site where I always came when I needed to blow off steam.
“Stay there,” I told her. “I promise I won't hurt you. I just need to release some tension...”
She watched me the entire time, wide eyed and curious as I moved near the fire pit. The moon was shining down on us.
I felt the bear rising inside me. Big, brown, and enraged as all hell.
I couldn't hold it anymore.
My bones cracked, rearranging themselves and pulling at my flesh. Fresh fur sprouted from my skin. My muscles thickened. My hands and feet grew heavy with sharp protrusions.
I fell to the ground. The powerful transformation happened more slowly than usual, as if it needed time to surface because I'd held it in for so long.
Sam gasped. I looked up, but not as a man anymore.
I stood on my hind legs, looking over her, and turned to the bright crescent moon hanging in the sky. I opened my mouth, rage hissing through my system like black smoke. Then I let out the biggest roar of my life.
It echoed across the trees, all the way to the mountains, shaking the sky with an invisible earthquake. I roared long and hard. The bloodcurdling sound throbbed painfully in my ears.
Sam collapsed on the big log at the periphery. Her mouth was open, crying or screaming or both.
My lungs were still half full. I could've kept erupting, a warning and a curse in one, until nothing but ragged breaths pumped through my sharp mouth.
But seeing her terrified broke the angry spell. I collapsed, morphing back into Don, driving the bear into its cave. At least it had gotten some satisfaction.
For now, it was sated. My bare flesh glinted beneath the moonlight, muscles flexed and blood humming. A half-erection hung between my legs, thick and angry.
“Samantha, I'm sorry.” I walked close to her, reached out, hoped hearing her full name would soften the damage. “I didn't mean to frighten you.”
“Didn't mean to? Well, you just fucking did!” She turned away from me, hands closed tight around her sides.
I stopped. Despite the urge to grab her and pull her into me, I kept it under control. There was no need to dig myself any deeper.
“God! I just keep forgetting that you're not a handsome man who pumps iron all day. You're...something else. Something that terrifies me more than you can imagine.” She turned.
I saw tears in her eyes. My heart sank, and the rage returned. But this time, it was turned on me. Especially the feral animal inside me that seized control when it was ignored for too long.
“You don't understand. I had to do it. If I didn't, after all that bullshit this evening...I would've gone insane.”
“You're more animal than man after all.” Her lips quivered pathetically as she spoke. “You told me it was the other way around. But everything I've seen here – all of you. You're monsters.”
I didn't have an answer to that. I tried to be best specimen I could. Man, bear, and beast all in one.
But she had a point. I hadn't acted very civilized this evening, and neither had my people.
They'd only pushed her grim perception of us deeper into the shadows. We'd given this beautiful human female nothing but threats, demands, and empty promises.
“We're more than that. I promise you we are, and one day you'll understand. Please, let me show you.” I couldn't resist.
Sam looked so soft, so frail, so beautiful and scared. I reached out for her.
She squirmed once when my arms wrapped around her. But the revulsion quickly disappeared, and she buried her face against my chest, painting it with hot tears.
“We don't have to listen to anyone. Especially not that savage old coward.” Just thinking about Emmerick made me see the bear in my head looking out its cave, muscles and claws itching for action. “Do you want me to help you escape?”
“What?” She looked up, pressing her small hands on my hard breasts. “We both saw how that turned out. I'm not smart or brave, Don. That plan in there is the best I could come up with. The only thing I could come up with.”
“And you bought us some time. For that, I'd call you brilliant.”
She sobbed one more time, spilling her tears onto my skin. Her tears weren't ideal, but if that's all she would give me for now, then I'd accept. I'd cherish them like blessed raindrops from the spirits above.
“I'm not. I'm a stupid girl who got lost. I have a stupid past I can't get away from and these stupid, stupid feelings.”
I reached to her head. Slowly, my fingers twined with her hair, rippling along it in soft strokes.
I needed to make her feel better after all this. I had to.
“Don't say that. It's not true, and you know it.” Frustration sizzled. I watched her head shake in vigorous disagreement. “What feelings are you talking about?”
Sam lifted her head. Her eyes caught the moon, gleaming with diamond purity. I watched in wonder, transfixed by her beauty, never expecting what she did next.
She leaned into me, bending on the tips of her toes. Her lips were pursed, waiting for a kiss, though her body kept her from crossing the last empty space between us.
My arms instantly coiled around her tighter. I kissed her, starved for those sweet, ruby lips, a kiss much harder than her gentle offering.
I'd felt her touch hours ago that morning. I wasn't positive, but I knew she must have touched me while I slept, when she crawled in beneath my blanket as I lay on the floor.
Damn. I was so close to her then. Close enough to hear her heartbeat, feel her heat, feel that beautiful flesh pressed up against me...
The memory quickened my hunger. I pushed into her, devouring her lips, shoving my tongue between her parted petals for the forceful satisfaction I needed.
I wanted to claim this woman, push my lust into her, set us both on fire with incessant, satisfying friction.
Sam moaned with surprise as I slid into her mouth. Her tongue caught mine, curled into it. I took it as a signal and led the dance in her plush, warm mouth.
I kissed deeper, leading her tongue, making her copy the love notes I scrawled inside her mouth. The base of my tongue licked her lips, full and circling, making meditative laps like watching steam rise from a hot spring.
“I can't,” she whimpered, backing away from me after gushing her confused lust one last time on my lips.
“That's not true, and we both know it.” I grabbed her wrists and held her into me, pressing my eager lips to her ivory neck. “I know you've done incredible things here to survive. Probably things you never expected you'd do, even if you were immortal.”
She met my eyes. The look said I was right, and she loved me and hated me for it at the same time.
“I'll tell you what's going to happen here,” I breathed, letting the fire inside me speak. “We're going to go back to my cabin. We're both going to forget what happened out here and in the town hall. I'm going to throw you on my bed and make love to you the way I've wanted since I first saw you hiking in the forest. Everything else can wait.”
I pressed into her. She shivered, but it wasn't out of fear and reluctance. It was pure sweat, primal heat that matched mine, and she confirmed it a second later when her hips pushed into my bulge.
Fuck!
She was lucky to still be clothed. I couldn't do a
nything about hiding my erection. Good thing shifters weren't ashamed of their bodies the same way humans seemed to be.
And it's an absolute crime. To think that she doesn't want to show off this beautiful body all the time. Make the world see her as I do.
I grabbed the corner of my leather jacket and her oversized sweater. I tugged, pulling it to the side, revealing the creamy stretch of skin between her neck and collar bone.
I kissed her there. Soon, those kisses turned into licks. I pushed into her body a little more, until her legs just had to wrap around me, to ride up to my hips.
“Take me home,” Sam purred, no doubt drunk on the pressure of my bare bulge against her jeans.
So close, and yet so far. Oh, beautiful Sam, soon I'll be inside you. Tasting, ravishing, and marking your sex.
Mine. All mine.
Her voice turned softer, sexier than her usual tone. It was the tone of a creature that shared my aching need.
My hands found her hips and I yanked her into my arms.
It took another five minute stretch through the dark woods to make it to my cabin. They were as long as the last forty-eight hours had been, and even more desperate, stretched unbearably long with the horny tension seething in our veins.
I kept looking into Sam's eyes to make sure there was no hesitation. There was nothing but glowing embers, throwing their sparks into me, fueling the barbaric hunger pooling in my groin.
“I've always wanted a man to take control like this. You're not a failure, Don. Not even close.” She kissed me again, unable to contain the need to reach out and taste me when we reached my doorstep.
“Yeah? Then come inside. Feel how right you are.”
Okay, so I couldn't save her. Not yet. Not tonight. But at least I could savage her and leave her breathless like no human man ever could.
The bear inside me paced back and forth, its tongue flopped out, groaning as it shared my need to mate. Patience, I demanded.
I practically kicked the door in. As soon as we were inside, I pulled my coat off her shoulders, reached near her belt, and yanked up her sweater.
Every nerve I had screamed to free this beautiful female, if only for tonight.
Love to Bear: A Werebear Shifter Romance Page 5