The hatred in Yoren’s face as he stalked toward Veronica made her flinch. He meant to hurt her as badly as she’d hurt him, she could see it in his eyes. The wounds Sam left on his head had barely stopped bleeding, though they would heal quickly enough, if she gave them the chance to.
He’d moved away from Jess, though. That was the important thing. But that lug Franklin was standing guard over her love, arms crossed just inches from him.
She couldn’t get caught inside the cabin because the two of them would instantly shift and overpower her. She’d have a better chance out in the open, so she darted out the doorway and into the clearing.
But she wouldn’t hide from him. An asshole like him didn’t deserve that much satisfaction. Instead, she planted her feet and thrust her fists on her hips.
You look like Wonder Woman, whispered a voice inside her head. Not Keith’s, her own. Now let him have it!
“You are the poorest excuse for a werebear I’ve ever seen, Yoren Brand! It makes me sick that I was even considering binding myself to you.”
Yoren’s caustic laugh made her skin crawl. “You’d be lucky to get me, human-lover, not that you ever will get the chance now that you’ve openly defied me.”
The menace in his gaze told her that he wasn’t just out to dump her or injure her. He was going to kill her — and Jess — if he could. Fear for her sons and what would become of them gripped her gut. Would he go after them, too?
Veronica’s inner bear surged forward, pushing to be released. Not yet, sweetie, but stay close. I’m going to need you very soon. She could feel her bear’s toothy snarl of anticipation. If Yoren thought he’d seen Momma Bear’s wrath back at her house, he was in for a very unpleasant surprise.
At his words, two big bears she’d seen around town — one of them was the guy who followed her and attacked poor Fred yesterday — stepped out from behind Yoren’s monster Cadillac. All three were looking at her like a piece of meat they couldn’t wait to sink their fangs into.
“What’s the matter, Yoren? Scared to face a lowly female all by your lonesome?”
His quick flush told her she was right. She must have hurt him more than he was letting on. He cut a glance to his buddies and jerked his head to the side, signaling them to stand down. But of course they’d be there if she started getting the better of him.
“You’re a stupid bitch, you know that? You had a chance to be my mate. Do you know how much power you would have had? The weres on this piece of shit island love me! They fucking worship me! My mate will be the most powerful female around. And you threw that all away for some loser human?”
He shook his head in mock disappointment. He wasn’t really disappointed. This just fueled his hatred, and he loved it.
“Normally, the Brotherhood would just bring you up on charges of being a traitor to the clan, but here we have extenuating circumstances, wouldn’t you say, boys?”
Dumb and Dumber, who were leaning back against the cabin’s front porch railing looking smug, nodded their agreement.
“I don’t think the council will blame us for meting out a little justice on the fly. In fact, I know they won’t because we’ve done it before.”
Yoren edged closer to her, but Veronica stood her ground. She wouldn’t engage with him physically until he did, but she wasn’t going to cower in front of him either.
“Remember that tourist fisherman last year? Remember how the local human idiots found him torn apart and ruled it a rogue bear attack? Ha! Dumbshit snapped a photo of Franklin shifting so he had to go.”
Veronica’s blood ran cold. It was no secret the Brotherhood were a bunch of dangerous bastards, but she had no idea they were stone-cold murderers.
“Sounds like Franklin was the dumbshit for getting caught,” she said with a disdain she wasn’t really feeling. What she was feeling was horror.
“Well, I agree with you there,” Yoren replied with a snort.
“So what now? You kill me, kill Jess, kill the world if they don’t agree with you?”
“Sure, why not? It’s worked for me so far.”
Bile rose in her throat at his toothy grin.
“I’d kill every human in this town, if we didn’t need them to be worker bees. As it is, I’ll have to settle for just killing anyone who thinks they can dilute our bloodlines.”
A bellow of fury sounded from behind Veronica, and Max came bounding out of the underbrush. A startled Yoren took a few steps back, glancing at his cohorts, who immediately shifted into bear form and closed ranks in front of him.
“You sonofabitch, where’s Bethany?!” Max was wild, and Veronica could see the struggle he was having keeping his bear in check. They’d talked about their plan on the ride over here, but Yoren’s threat must have been too much for him to bear.
“Kill him,” Yoren muttered to his bodyguards.
The bears snarled at the command, moving apart to flank Max and Veronica, who stood back to back to keep an eye on their attackers.
Then Yoren signed his own death warrant. “But leave the bitch alive. I want her to watch as I kill her human and her cubs.”
With a scream of outrage reserved for mothers whose babies were being threatened, Veronica set her bear free, shifting faster than she’d ever shifted and lunging at the nearest bear, the one she thought of as Dumb. It happened to be the one she’d sent running yesterday — and who undoubtedly was the one who led Yoren here.
The satisfaction she felt at tearing out a chunk of flesh and fur was dampened when the second bear, Dumber, ripped her off Dumb’s back, slashing gouges in her flank. Undeterred, she scrambled up in time to see Max take down Dumber by the throat.
As Dumb circled around Veronica, his gaze kept flicking back to Max chomping down on his buddy’s throat. The next time he glanced down, she attacked, aiming low and knocking his legs out from under him. He landed with an ‘oomph’ and Veronica spun around to latch onto his throat.
The image of his buddy flailing under Max must have scared him, because he managed to shake her off — barely — and regain his feet. Bloodied and worried, he backed away from her toward Yoren, probably hoping for a little help.
But Yoren had edged around the side of the porch, watching the bear fight in his human form. He knew it was all-but-forbidden for a were in bear form to attack another were who hadn’t shifted, and he was hedging his bets that Veronica and Max followed the rules better than he did.
From the corner of her eye, she could see Dumber lying loose in Max’s grip. She suspected that if she looked hard, she’d see his chest rising and falling, but she certainly wouldn’t blame Max if he’d killed the brute. Dumber was out of commission and Yoren knew it.
One look at his vile face fueled Veronica’s anger and fear, giving her more strength than she’d ever known. Dumb wasn’t the strongest werebear in the first place, but he was even weaker since he’d been spanked by her yesterday and was rapidly losing blood from the wounds she’d just inflicted. He knew the fight was hers, and if he didn’t save his own hide by running, that was on him.
But no. Dumb earned his nickname by leaping at her, teeth bared. Veronica easily sidestepped his clumsy attack and let fly a roar that shook the tiny windows of the cabin.
She pounced on the idiot, knocking him flat. They rolled around the clearing, biting and clawing, but it took just one well-placed chomp for her to get him under control.
As he lay quivering under her, she tried to rein in her bear a little. Her sharp teeth were this close to piercing Dumb’s jugular, she could smell it. She wanted to scare the kid, not kill him, but her raging Momma Bear had other plans. It was harder to pull her back than to take down a fully grown werebear, but she did it.
The moment she released him, he shifted into a sobbing, bloody human, crawling off to the edge of the clearing. If he’d had a tail, it would have been tucked between his legs. The moment he paused, his hands and knees gave out and he passed out where he lay.
She shot a triumphant look at Yoren
, but he’d disappeared. But she and Max weren’t alone. Franklin must have seen his comrades go down, and now he was looming about ten feet tall on his hind legs, teeth bared.
Come to Momma, big boy, thought Veronica. Her bear smiled.
Max bore to one side, while Veronica flanked Franklin from the other. Dropping to all fours, he sidled toward the side of the cabin as they approached, not wanting to get caught with his back against the porch.
Adrenaline pulsed through her veins, giving her the boost she needed to fight yet another full-grown male were. Recalling the hungry look Franklin had given Jess in the cabin, she rushed him. She must have either overestimated her remaining strength or underestimated his, because his casual backhand sent her sprawling into the dirt.
Max saw his opening and took it, ramming into Franklin before he’d finished batting Veronica to the ground. The huge bear stumbled, allowing time for her to get back on her feet and rush to Max’s aid before Franklin could get the upper hand.
For what seemed like hours but was probably only a few minutes, the three bears locked in battle. Great tufts of fur drifted on zephyrs as claws slashed through air and flesh. Blood poured from gaping wounds and screams of fury and pain filled the air.
But through teamwork, Veronica and Max were able to finally overpower the monster Franklin had become. In one combined attack, they rammed the giant into the side of the cabin, knocking him out in the process.
That just left Yoren to deal with. Where had he gone?
Max sniffed around his SUV while Veronica scoured around the cabin for his scent. By the time she picked it up, she was back at the front porch, looking into the eyes of her lover. Yoren had him in a chokehold and was leading him into the clearing. Veronica’s heart leaped to her throat.
She and Max gave them room, not wanting to spook Yoren into hurting Jess. In an effort to ease the tension, they both shifted back to human form. Veronica held her hands up, palms out.
“Yoren, please—“
“Please what, bitch? Please let the human live? Please let you live? Please let your cubs live? Which? Doesn’t matter because the answer to all three is ‘fuck no’!”
Max eased away from her, forcing Yoren to split his attention. “Where’s Bethany?”
“Fuck you! Stop moving or I’ll shift so fast that you’ll blink and his ass will be dead.”
Max paused. He flicked a glance at Veronica, but she wasn’t sure what it meant.
“Listen, do what you want with this human, just tell me where my mate is.”
“Max!” Here she thought he’d picked her up to help save Jess while all he really wanted was to find Bethany. It was hard to blame him but he didn’t have to sacrifice her love to find his own!
He shot her a dark look.
Yoren laughed. “You thought he was on your side, didn’t you, whore? Naw, he’s just like every other man — just wants what’s his, fuck everyone else. Isn’t that right, pretty boy?”
Max tilted his head in a nod, continuing to ease closer to Yoren and Jess. “Whatever you say, boss.”
“Yeah, that’s right. I’m the boss. I fucking run this town, I own it. Nothing happens without my okay. Hey, stop moving!”
Max paused again, but Veronica edged closer.
“You, too, bitch! Don’t come any closer!”
While Yoren’s attention was on her, Max threw her a quick wink. She suddenly understood his plan and continued moving until she and Max were facing each other, Yoren and Jess in between them.
No way could Yoren keep an eye on them both, and desperation was growing in his eyes. He was going to shift at any moment and that would be the end of Jess. Max needed to make his move now.
Without thinking, she blurted out, “You know, I bet you’re terrible in bed and you have a really tiny dick!”
All three men gaped at her, but Max was first to recover. Yoren was still stammering at his skill and immense girth when Max tackled him. Jess was knocked free and Veronica yelled for him to get into the cabin. He hesitated, then ran for the door.
The two men were clutched together, punching as hard as they could in such tight quarters. They looked like boxers locked in a battle to the death, and Veronica had no doubt this fight would end badly for someone.
Before she could jump into the fray, Yoren cracked Max a good one in the jaw, knocking him sideways to the ground.
Seeing his chance, Yoren stepped back and his whole body started shimmering and shifting, growing and bulging. He was going to defy clan law and attack Max while he was still in human form.
“No!” Veronica screamed.
Two loud booms thundered in her ears and the world stopped. When Veronica opened her eyes, Yoren was falling to the ground, blood pouring from a gaping wound in his chest.
He’d been shot.
All of Max’s attention had been focused on Yoren’s shifting frame when the shots rang out. He’d been a breath away from shifting himself, but instinct told him he wouldn’t be quick enough to make it in time to fight off his opponent’s bear.
Then Yoren’s chest exploded. The glare he had been leveling at Max turned questioning, like he couldn’t quite figure out what Max had done to him. His gaze drifted down to his bleeding chest at the same moment his knees buckled under him and he crumpled to the ground.
Max’s ears were ringing but he could hear Veronica’s muffled screams. He whipped his head around to find the source of the gunshot and saw Jess standing on the porch, clutching a rifle to his chest.
“Dammit, Jess!” he roared at the human.
Yoren was his best chance to find Bethany. If he died, there was no telling what the Brotherhood would do to her in retribution.
And as much as he disliked Yoren, he didn’t deserve to die like this. Max had no illusion that Yoren would have done everything in his power to kill him, and Max would have done the same, but that would have been an honorable death. This…this would be considered murder by many in the werebear community.
Max scurried over to where Yoren lay in an expanding pool of blood. He’d been mid-shift when the bullet pierced his chest, and his features were half-human/half-bear — elongated nose and mouth, growing ears, a fine layer of dark brown hair covering his skin. Max had never seen a bear die mid-shift — didn’t know if such a thing had ever been witnessed — so he didn’t know what to expect.
But that was of little importance to him now. Right now he needed to find out what Yoren knew about Bethany, before it was too late.
“Yoren!” He crouched into the dying were’s face and shouted again. Yoren’s eyes fluttered open and a bubbling wheeze escaped his lips. “Tell me where my mate is. Where’s Bethany?”
Yoren searched Max’s face in desperation. “Help…me…”
Despair gripped Max. He knew from personal experience that a gunshot wound like this one couldn’t be treated in time to save Yoren’s life. The healer was too far away and Yoren was fading fast. As quickly as weres healed, this was too much, too big of a wound.
“I’m sorry, Yoren. No one can help you now. I’m sorry this happened to you, brother.”
“I’m…dying…?”
Max nodded somberly, gripping Yoren’s hand for comfort. His breath caught in his throat at the flashback he was having to his parents’ murder. He’d crouched next to his father just like he was doing now. A tear slipped down his cheek.
“Deserved…it…” croaked Yoren. Tears were streaming down his temples, mixing with the blood on the ground.
“Don’t say that,” Veronica interrupted.
She knelt down beside the stricken were that had caused her so much trouble. She gently brushed a lock of Yoren’s brown hair from his forehead. Max was touched by the simple act of kindness.
With tremendous effort, Yoren switched his gaze over to her.
“Sorry…for…asshole…” A trickle of red ran from his snout/mouth as he spoke. The end was near.
“Shh, Yoren. All is forgiven, brother. We’ll be here to help you pa
ss into the Great Meadow.”
Max didn’t have much time to find out where Bethany was, but he also had a duty as a werebear to ease Yoren’s passing as best he could. He was pretty sure he could do both.
“Yoren, I know you must regret some things in your life—“ Yoren blinked in agreement “—but right now you have a chance to make up for it. Tell me where Bethany is. Tell me where I can find my mate.”
Yoren’s brow furrowed slightly. With an utter honesty Max couldn’t doubt, Yoren whispered, “Who?”
A deep shudder shook Yoren’s enormous frame. It was time. Max and Veronica held onto his hands, reaching across to grasp each other’s hands and form a circle, while his body convulsed. One last gasp of pain and Yoren was still, the light fading from his eyes.
In unison, the pair tilted their heads and belted out a grieving roar. Birds stopped chittering, the bushes shook and the glass windows of Jess’ cabin rattled.
It was custom for werebears to send off their brothers and sisters with such a cry, and though he was not their friend, he was a member of their extended family. He wouldn’t be missed by many, and some might argue that their world would be a better place with him gone, but while he was alive, there was always the chance he would change.
But no longer. Yoren was dead. He was dead and Max was no closer to finding Bethany.
He sent up another cry for his missing mate.
~ * ~ * ~
Chills ran up Veronica’s spine at Max’s second heartbreaking howl. It wasn’t for Yoren, that was much was clear. A deep ache permeated this cry, not like the dutiful one they gave for Yoren. Tears blurred her vision as she stood to leave him to his pain.
Jess was still standing on the porch, holding his rifle by the stock, barrel pointing down. Is he going to shoot me, too?
He must have noticed the pause in her step or the direction of her gaze because he laid down the gun and stepped off the porch. As he moved closer, his eyes never left hers.
Anyone else in her clan would only feel anger and hate for Jess for killing Yoren, regardless of whether he was a murderous bastard. They took care of their own, and outsiders always paid for interfering. It was that solidarity that kept them tight as a clan, but it was also what allowed such vicious groups like the Brotherhood to flourish.
Laid Bear 2: The Kodiak Clan Page 15
