Mated to a Bear (Legends of Black Salmon Falls Book 3)

by Lauren Lively

  I cried out as he drove himself deeper inside of me than he'd ever been and felt myself falling over that edge. My body spasmed and I called his name as an explosion of sensation tore through my body. I shook and trembled, tears spilling down my face and I dug my nails into his back.

  His body felt like it locked up for a moment and his face froze with a look of pure ecstasy etched onto it. And then he shuddered and let out a groan that sounded more animal than anything. A moment later, I felt him pulsing inside of me and felt his seed filling me up.

  We stayed like that for a long moment, trying to catch our breath. And for me, trying to get my head to stop spinning. My body felt like I'd touched a live wire and I was still buzzing with the sensation. A moment later, he looked up and kissed me.

  “I love you,” he said between ragged breaths.

  “And I love you,” I said and kissed the tip of his nose.

  Eventually, he slid out of me and stood up. We kissed once more, but it was a softer, gentler kiss. Though the passion still burned in the both of us, we were spent. Byr carried me over to the bed and laid me down in it before climbing in beside me. Our bodies pressed together, we snuggled beneath the covers as the dark curtain of sleep descended over us.

  My body and mind still tingling and filled with love, I let myself be pulled under the dark waters of sleep.

  Chapter Nine

  Byr

  The sun was just beginning to crest the distant horizon. Hatare, Manyr, and I were crouched in thick, overgrown bushes at the edge of the forest. A large building and a road sat before us – a building that appeared to be empty to me.

  “Here, look,” Manyr said as she handed me a pair of glasses.

  I reached out and took them – though moving in the armor they'd provided us was difficult because I wasn't used to it. I felt like an idiot walking around before we left camp. Everybody else moved free and smooth in their armor and I felt like a child playing dress up. Of course, as awkward and clumsy as I looked, Hatare looked twice as awkward and clumsy.

  But I wouldn't make the mistake of pointing that out to her – again.

  The more I moved around though, the easier it got. I was getting used to wearing the stuff. Not that I thought the armor would do us a lot of good. If I got shot, I didn't have a whole lot of faith the armor would stop it from tearing through me.

  Slipping on the glasses, I was stunned – I could practically see right through the walls of the building. Inside, I saw that the building was hardly empty – there were a dozen armed soldiers inside. Taking the glasses off, I handed them to Hatare, who slipped them on and had the same reaction I had. Honestly, I had no idea that sort of technology even existed. I knew it wasn't common tech out on the fringes, meaning it very likely had to have come from either off-world, or from inside the capitol itself.

  Handing the glasses back to Manyr, I smirked at her. “So, it looks like you have somebody inside the Ministry who's given you some pretty nice little gifts.”

  She shrugged. “Let's just say that we have a lot of friends,” she said. “More than you might think. And some who are very generous.”

  “So, why are there twelve armed soldiers in that building?” Hatare asked. “Out in the middle of nowhere?”

  “There's a shipment coming through,” she said. “Our mission is to intercept it.”

  “A shipment of what?” I asked.

  “Arms, mostly,” she said. “An army can never have too many weapons, right?”

  There was something about the way she'd said it that told me she was holding something back. That there was more to the story she wasn't telling me. I had no clue what it could be, but there was most definitely something going on.

  She looked over at me and smiled. “I'm glad to have you with us,” she said. “Both of you. I can honestly tell you that the spirits of the fighters on this mission are higher than I've ever seen them.”

  I looked away and said nothing – as did Hatare. Neither of us had grown anymore comfortable with the idea that we were heroes or that we'd done anything worthy of admiration.

  “Here it comes,” Manyr said. “Keep your head down and keep yourselves safe. You don't need to join the fighting.”

  Hatare cocked her head and looked at her. “Then why are we here? I thought you wanted us to fight.”

  And then it dawned on me. “No, they want us here to inspire the troops,” I said. “They want us here because they think the troops will fight harder for them.”

  Manyr looked away – clearly, I'd hit the nail on the head. And it really made me angry.

  “Is that true?” Hatare asked. “Manyr? Is that really why we're here?”

  She sighed. “It's not my idea. And it's not the first time I've disagreed with Yurat on something,” she said. “I would rather have you two fighting alongside us. We can use all the help we can get. But Yurat is afraid that something will happen to you two. He's afraid that if one – or the both of you – were to die, it would destroy morale among the troops.”

  “Well, it's nice to know that he's more concerned about morale, than our actual lives,” Hatare said, her words dripping with sarcasm.

  “He's very committed to the cause,” Manyr replied.

  “Right, well, we're here to fight,” I said. “We're not here to hide in the bushes and be somebody's inspiration.”

  “Besides,” Hatare said. “I tend to think they'll be more inspired if they're fighting shoulder to shoulder with us. Though, I still think the whole thing is overblown and stupid.”

  Manyr looked from Hatare to me and then back again. I could see that she was conflicted. She'd been ordered to keep us safe and yet, her natural impulse was to let us fight with her. Finally, she nodded.

  “It's not like I can keep you two from doing your own thing once the fighting starts anyway,” she said. “But stay with me. If nothing else, just stay with me.”

  That much, we could agree to, at least. The sound of the transport grew louder and then I saw it coming down the road and moving quickly. There were two of them, and they finally slowed as they neared the building. Dust and debris swirled in the air as the two hovering vehicles lowered themselves to the ground with a thud. A moment later, the engines on the transports shut off, leaving a profound silence in their wake.

  “Hold until I give the order,” Manyr whispered into her comm set. “Do not break position until I give the order.”

  The fighters were spread out and hidden amongst the trees and bushes of the forest. We couldn't match them in terms of firepower, but we could outnumber and outflank them – which we were currently doing.

  The rear doors of the transport lowered and I felt my body tense. I'd never been part of a battle before and I was not ashamed to admit that I was more than a little nervous. I looked over at Hatare – her eyes were focused on the transports and it looked like a small grin tugged at the corners of her mouth.

  “Are you okay?” I asked quietly.

  She turned and looked at me, and her smile was more pronounced. She was apparently enjoying this. Was excited by the prospect of the fight – which surprised me. She'd had as many reservations and misgivings as I'd had, and yet, there she was spoiling for a fight.

  “I'm good,” she said. “I'm ready for this.”

  I nodded and despite my best efforts, felt some of her enthusiasm rubbing off on me. This was our first step on the journey to building a better world. And I then realized that what excited her was not the fight itself, but being part of a movement that was fighting for the right thing. That was fighting for the people.

  A moment later, a couple of government soldiers came down the ramp, their weapons at the ready, and looked around. A second pair of soldiers from the other ship joined the first two, and they stood there, as if waiting for something.

  “Hold tight,” Manyr said into her comm device.

  A door on the building opened and all twelve of the soldiers I'd seen through Manyr’s glasses came filing out. They exchanged handshakes
with the four who'd just arrived and then they all stood around talking. They looked relaxed, as if they didn't have a care in the world.

  “Now,” Manyr said into her comm device. “Everybody move now.”

  All around us, the world was lit up by laser fire. Our troops, carefully hidden among the landscape, opened fire and started cutting the soldiers down in a hurry. The others moved swiftly to get to cover and started to return fire. The sounds of men screaming and rifles firing filled the air with a horrible, terrifying noise.

  “Follow me,” Manyr said.

  We picked our way down the wooded hillside and came out on the road behind the transports. The three of us, careful to stay under cover, moved down a path through the tree line and found ourselves behind the remaining soldiers. The battle was still raging, but it was a battle of attrition at that point. The bloody bodies of the soldiers who'd fallen littered the ground.

  As we emerged from our hiding spot, we counted five soldiers remaining. Their attention was so focused on our men hiding in the forest in front of them that they never saw us coming. Not until it was too late.

  The three of us brought our weapons to bear at the moment one of the government soldiers was turning around and spotted us. Acting almost as one, the three of us opened fire and cut down the remaining soldiers in a matter of moments. I felt a sense of triumph as I watched their bodies slump over and fall to the ground. I felt a sense of satisfaction looking down into eyes that were forever open and unseeing, and just staring at the sky.

  “All clear,” Manyr called, holding her fist up in the air. “We did it.”

  Around us, the forest erupted in shouts of joy as the men came out of their hiding spots. As I watched the fighters filtering down toward the road, I counted four less than we'd started the day with. They all gathered on the road and congratulated each other.

  “I thought I would feel some sense of guilt or remorse,” Hatare said.

  I looked over and found her staring down at one of the dead soldiers. She simply stood there, looked into his eyes, and let a cruel smile flicker upon her lips.

  “I don't though,” she said. “I actually feel – good. Righteous. Like we did something profoundly good today.”

  I nodded. “I know what you mean. I was surprised that I felt so justified and righteous about taking lives.”

  “I don't feel a shred of remorse over what we did,” she said softly. “What does that say about me?”

  I stepped closer to her and took her by the hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. “What it says is that you're a revolutionary. That you're willing to fight – and die – to make this world a better place for everybody. And that's not a bad thing.”

  She looked up at me, a broad smile touching her lips. “It's not a bad thing at all.”

  Manyr stepped over to us and put a hand on each of our shoulders. “Fantastic job, the both of you.”

  It wasn't that we really did all that much. After all, what we did consisted of sneaking up behind a group of guys and gunning them down. But it did do one important thing for us – it gave us our first taste of combat. And we'd passed our first test – the ability to not freeze under pressure. I thought we'd passed it with flying colors, in fact.

  “Come, let's go see our prize,” Manyr said.

  We walked around to the rear of one of the transports and Manyr punched a button on the outside to lower the rear hatch. A moment later, the ramp touched down in the dirt with a thud, and we all stood there, a look of dumbfounded shock on all of our faces.

  “What is this?” Hatare finally asked, breaking the silence.

  Crates lined the middle of the transport – no doubt, filled with weapons – but it was what was lined up against the walls that had caught our attention. Or rather, whom. People lined the walls of the transport. In fact, it was all women. Young women – and all of them I noticed, were scraps. They'd been chained to the wall of the transport and looked at us with wide, scared eyes. I felt a dark and abiding rage begin to bubble up within me as I looked at the girls – girls who'd been torn from their families and who were no doubt, going to be sold into one form of bondage or another.

  Hatare rushed up the ramp and tried to comfort some of the women who were sobbing. “Can we get a key or something to start letting these girls loose? We need to get them out of here. Now.”

  A couple of the fighters who'd joined us at the foot of the ramp, sprinted into the compartment of the transport to help Hatare free the girls. All the while, Manyr stood there looking at them with an expression of concern upon her face. It obviously bothered her that these women were chained up and were being hauled somewhere like livestock. I could see that as plain as day.

  But one thing I noticed missing was an expression of surprise. She knew exactly what we were going to find when we opened up the back of those transports. And she knew exactly how deeply it was going to bother both Hatare and I.

  It seemed that her recruitment efforts never, ever stopped.

  Chapter Ten

  Hatare

  The next few weeks were a blur of activity. Yurat had us going on an increasing number of raids – raids that seemed to get more difficult with each passing day. With each successful raid, the Ministry responded by increasing the number of soldiers and weapons arrayed against us. We lost a lot of fighters, but we were gaining much in terms of weapons and supplies. Not to mention the fact that we'd most definitely gotten under the skin of the Ministry and were now being seen as a legitimate threat – one they could not afford to take seriously.

  Yurat wanted a war and it appeared that he was getting his wish.

  The other thing that was happening was that as our success grew, so too did the numbers of fighters joining our ranks. Yurat attributed it to our presence, but the reality was that with each successful operation, the legitimacy of the rebellion grew. People began to see – many for the first time – that a new world where equality and freedom of choice were absolutely possible. And given the number of people flocking to the rebellion, a new world was exactly what the people wanted.

  No doubt the Ministry was paying attention to that. And no doubt, they were terrified of it. The Ministry had always used fear and oppression to rule the people. To keep them compliant and subservient. And the Ministry relied on the “customs” and “traditions” of Unduth to perpetuate the system of inequality that hurt so many.

  And now, with momentum on our side, Yurat felt that it was finally time to take the fight to the Ministry itself.

  We rode in the back of the transport and my stomach was in knots. I was always nervous before a raid, but this was different. This time, we were staging an assault on the building that housed the Ministry itself. And I knew, probably better than anybody going into battle just how difficult that was going to be. The Ministry – the seat of power in Kinray and all of Unduth – was an armed fortress.

  Byr must have sensed my unease because he took my hand and gave it a squeeze and leaned down to plant a soft kiss on my cheek.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  I shrugged and gave him a small smile. “About as good as I can be,” I said. “I just have a bad feeling about this.”

  He nodded. “Yeah, I'm not convinced it's the smartest move either.”

  I looked over at Yurat who was huddled near the front of the transport with Manyr and a few of his top lieutenants. The conversation they were having was animated and there seemed to be some disagreement between them. And when Manyr looked over at me, I could see that she wasn't sold on the idea that attacking the Ministry the wisest course of action either.

  But Yurat was feeling optimistic after our string of successes. Our swelling ranks bolstered that confidence – recklessly, in my opinion.

  “We're ready for this,” Yurat said, the irritation in his voice plain. “Now is the perfect time to attack. They will never see it coming.”

  Yurat's lieutenants looked down, none of them willing to say a word. He was older than all of them, had more experienc
e fighting this war, and they apparently didn't think it was their place to contradict him.

  Yurat moved to the middle of the transport and looked at all of us riding with him. “I know you're scared,” he said. “I know you think I've lost my mind. But believe me, we are ready. We've never been more ready. This is our chance. Our moment. If we can seize control of the Ministry, put them all in chains and parade them out for the world to see, the back of this government will be broken. We will have won. And when we do that, we can go about the business of building the world we've talked about for so long now.

  We have the men, we have the firepower – we just need to find the will. So, dig deep everybody. No, this won't be an easy fight. I expect it to be bloody and brutal. I expect heavy casualties. But dig deep within yourselves because I also expect victory. We can win. We will win.”

  His rousing speech was motivational – even I felt some stirrings of optimism within me. And I could see it reflected on the faces of the soldiers around us. Yurat was a leader. He was able to inspire people to do things they wouldn't normally do. Things that maybe they thought they couldn't do.

  I was just hoping he wasn't leading us all to our doom.

  The transport slowed and settled down to the ground with a solid thud. The rear ramp lowered, letting in a cool breeze and the dying light of the afternoon. The transports – seven in all – had all settled down in a clearing in the middle of Kinray called the Park of Reflection. All around us were long pools of water that were normally so still, they could be used as mirrors. But with the amount of activity generated by the transports, ripples and small waves marred the surface of the pool, sending water splashing over the sides. Statues of great Unduthian “patriots” were scattered throughout the park, their faces always grim, seemingly cast in a perpetual disapproving frown.

  I recall having spent time there with my family – quite a lot, actually. Not because we were having a fun, relaxing family outing, but because it was required by my father. He'd wanted us to learn and immerse ourselves in the history of our culture. He'd wanted us to learn about what it took to be a great and valuable member of Unduthian society.