Black Bear Rising: A BWWM Paranormal Romance (Black Bear Saga Book 1)

by Wilson, Tia

  Lewis raised his right hand in a fist, he was not going to go down without a fight. Nobody was going to tell his story and call him a pussy. “Come on. Finish what you started,” he shouted his roar matching the bears in ferocity. The bear fell down onto all fours. This is it Lewis thought.

  Yellow hazard lights switched on high up in the ceiling and began to spin. A low wailing alarm sounded from speakers high above. The bear hesitated for a second and then charged him.Lewis threw a handful of sand into the bears face and he rolled away from it at the last second. The bears head slammed into the concrete wall with a sickening crunch and it fell over onto its side. Lewis ran over and kicked the bear as hard as possible into its exposed flank. Three swifts kicks connected with the bear as it roared in pain.

  The bears back paw swept out and knocked Lewis off his feet and sprawling back into the sand. Lewis was fast as he pushed back and away from the bear, the bear was faster as it rolled onto its feet and covered the short distance between them. The full weight of the bear slammed down on him as it pinned him to the ground with it paw, its sharp claws digging into the already shredded flesh of his damaged arm. Spots danced in his vision as pain ripped up his arm and through his shoulder.

  The bear looked at him for a second, he stared into those dark eyes and Lewis could see no recognition, no emotion as he felt the deathly chill all prey feels before the jaws of death tear the life out from them. The bear bit into his side and Lewis felt a heavy warm pressure against his lungs. He tried to raise his hand up to punch and it fell back powerless. I’m going to be eaten alive he thought to himself. He didn’t feel fear as the bear reared back and bit into him again, this is how it ends he thought and wasn’t surprised with how easy it felt to let it all go. Soon it will be all over he thought, his wretched life torn out of him the same way he had done to so many around him.

  The wailing alarm seemed to fade into the distance as he heard a sound like the tearing of a thick phonebook. Warmth drenched his side and he raised his arm up once again. He wanted to touch the bears fur before it ended him for good. That is all I want in this last second his mind screamed to him as he bled out on the sand.

  “Ariana,” a voice shouted from behind. The bear released a hold of Lewis and looked up. Lewis turned his head weakly, it felt like a bowling ball connected to his light weight shell of a body. Slattery stood in the doorway waving towards the bear.

  “Come Ariana we must go now. Leave him,” Slattery said.

  The bear looked down at Lewis once more and he felt no fear or anger towards this creature. It’s only doing what comes natural to it he thought as everything around him began to fade. The bear padded off down the corridor and the door was shut behind by Slattery.

  The last thing Lewis heard as everything faded away and as the spreading pool of blood soaked and darkened the sand around him was the sharp bark of distant gunfire.

  CHAPTER TEN

  The Elder

  Tom surveyed the ranch through the binoculars. Everything looked quiet and if their intel was to be believed the place ran on a minimum of staff. Tom and the eight other clan members chosen for the rescue mission were parked on a raised hill that looked down at the valley below where the ranch was situated. One road lead into the place and as soon as they broke from the tree line they would be on clear and open ground until they reached the main building. Once they got there they would split into three teams. Tom and his men would check the large concrete structure that dominated the ranch, while the other two teams would check the house and the few workshops at far end and close to the helicopter pad.

  He passed the binoculars to Trent and pointed him in the direction of the heli pad. “Looks like we have guests,” Tom said. Trent nodded as he scanned across each building. A member of the clan had scouted the ranch for over a week and had found that at most there would be three guards on duty in the holding cells. These guards usually rotated out every few days. The guards were armed and apart from them one or two general workers seemed to be onsite on any give day.

  Tom was going to take four men to the main structure while the other two men teams checked the rest of the property. “We are going to be exposed as soon as we hop the fence,” Trent said.

  “I can’t see any watch towers. There’s little to no security, Tom said. Tom had known it was a dangerous mission and he was working with men who only a few days ago who were lumberjacks, truck drivers, or carpenters. Nobody in his clan was trained for this kind of thing and yet now they were on a rescue mission for a clan elder, ill prepared and with no other choice. Tom respected them all for risking their lives in pursuit of cohesion of the clan. “We move low and fast across the field,” Tom said.

  Trent shook his head as he trained the binoculars across the wide open space they needed to cross before they reached the cover of the building. “What about going in at night?” he asked.

  Tom looked at him and said, “You know thats not an option. Elder Silas has been in that cell for weeks now, he might not have another night in him. You know what savages these bears are. We need to get him out now while we have the chance and we know the guard numbers are low.”

  Trent nodded and said, “Ready men. Check your weapons,” and he checked his rifle. The other men checked theirs, an assortment of handguns, shotguns and one older guy had a cross bow. Tom checked the action of his gun and then stuck it in his belt, the handle wrapped in heavy duty tape sticking out over his waistband.

  Tom addressed the men, “You all know why you are here. We all know how important elder Silas is to the clan. We get in and get out before these savage beasts know what hit them. Lets go.”

  The group of eight climbed down the hill towards the valley floor and at the bottom at the tree line they waited for Toms order. He looked at each of them and nodded and then gave the signal to go. The eight spread out sprinting across the open field towards the wooden railings surrounding the ranch. They all cleared the ditch and were up and over the chest high barrier within a few seconds.

  They hunkered in the dirt and leaned against the railing surveying the buildings ahead. Nothing moved. A minute sprint across open land and they would be at the main building which housed the cells. How many they did not know and judging by the size of the building it could hold many hundreds of prisoners. Judging by the supply drops the scout had observed they could expect minimum prisoners and possibly only their elder.

  The team ran across the open field glancing back and forth between the buildings for any activity. Nothing stirred. They reached it and lay against it all breathing deeply. Tom nodded and the two teams headed in the direction of the house and outbuildings.

  Tom and his team inched along the building and at the corner Tom peeped around. A set of metal stairs ran up two flights to a door. “Wait here and I’ll check if it’s unlocked,” he said. He went up the metal stairs, every clang of metal sounding too loud to him. He was half way up the stairs when the door swung open and a guard walked out in the process of lighting a cigarette hanging from his mouth.

  The guard stared ahead from the metal platform in the direction of the mountains. Tom froze to the spot as he slowly reached for his gun. If the smoking guard turned to his left slightly he would see Tom on the steps. If Tom fired his gun the mission could be over before it even begun. His hand touched the taped handle of the gun and he gripped it and slowly started to pull it out. The guard blew on his lit match and turned in Toms direction to flick it away. The guard froze and the match fell from his fingers. Tom pulled the gun out aimed it at the other mans chest. The guard reached for the sub machine gun slung on his shoulder and Tom fired. The slug hit the guard in the shoulder spinning him around, he careened into the low metal barrier and fell over, hitting the ground with a sickening crunch.

  Tom cleared the remaining steps to the top and pushed the door open from the bottom. He ducked back behind the corner, nothing happened. He poked his head around and a raised metal platform lead to a guard station that was currently empty. />
  Tom signalled his men and they joined him at the top of the stairs. “We split up once we get inside. If you find elder Silas get him back to the truck and shoot the flare.” His men nodded and they entered the building. The noise of gunfire exploded somewhere across the other side of the compound and they glanced back. “Lets go,” Tom said as they crossed the metal walkway.

  Tom pushed the door open a crack and peered in, the room was empty. On one wall was a bank of monitors filming the cells. Two cells were occupied, number 13 and number 7. In cell thirteen was Elder Silas. He looked gaunt and malnourished as he huddled in the corner of his straw covered cell. In cell seven was a young man in his twenties with long black hair to his waist. He wore shorts and nothing else and Tom could see every inch of his body was covered in tattoos except for his face. He was pacing back and forth in his cell with an intense look on his face. Beneath the monitors was a batch of controls for electronic cell door control, heating, and lights. Tom flipped all the switches on the lighting console and opened all the cell doors.

  The overhead lights in the facility flickered on and illuminated twenty pits of varying sizes in the middle of the main room. Metal walkways were elevated about the pits to give spectators a proper view at what was below. On the far side of the building were two other doors.

  “You two, check out what’s behind those doors across the way,” he said pointing at a walkway outside the guard booth, ”there is an access ladder attached there.” The two men nodded and headed out the opposite door of the booth.

  “Split up and cover the area above those pits. They could be keeping prisoners in them. I don't think that’s where the cameras were filming,” he said.

  The four men left the booth and split up across different walkways. Tom looked up and a system of tracks were attached to the metal ceiling above. Hooks hanging from remote controlled motors sat lifeless above the pits. Tom reached the first pit and looked down, and saw nothing but a raked sand floor. He moved along the walkway checking the others. They were all the same and each was linked with a series of passageways that ran between each concrete pit. What the hell is this place Tom thought, are they keeping animals here he wondered. One of the men called him from the opposite side and he joined him. The man pointed down into the pit. Amidst a spreading pool of blood lay a large man, his body shredded by bear bites and claw marks.

  “They are eating humans,” Tom said in disgust. There was no bigger taboo in his clan than attacking a human. Eating one was the ultimate transgression. The man in the pits arm twitched and flopped down into the blood drenched sand. “Get down there, he’s still alive! He goes with us,” Tom ordered the man beside him.

  More gunfire blasted from outside of the building and then Tom could her the whirr of helicopter blades starting up. An automatic gun loosed off a burst and then Tom heard the helicopter bank over the building he was in and fade off into the distance.

  There was a door on the other end of the walkway and Tom crossed it and cracked it open. It lead to another platform and set of steps similar to the one he had used to enter the building on the opposite side. He could see the four members of the other teams heading in his direction. One of the men was injured and he was being held by two others. Tom waved in their direction and one of the men shouted, “They deserted the place. Three of them left in the helicopter. The other buildings are clear.”

  “Get back to the truck we will be close behind. We better get out of here quick, they may come back with reinforcements,” Tom shouted down to the men. They nodded and headed back across the fields.

  Tom went back inside and climbed down a ladder to the buildings main floor. He checked the first door and it lead to a food preparations area. The door next to it was a small one room clinic. His men came through a door on the far side of the building and they were propping up a thin man wrapped in a heavy blanket. Tom sprinted over to them. “You are safe now that you are with us,” he told elder Silas.

  The old man raised his head and his unfocused eyes stared past Tom. His face was gaunt and the wrinkles on his face were streaked with dirt. “I don’t think they were feeding him,” said Trent, “he was babbling when we found him. He’s chewed the end of one of his fingers off.”

  “Those absolute savages,” Tom spat, “they have crossed a line this time. The clan is not going to let them get away with this. Lets get back to the truck.”

  The men cleared the building and up ahead the other half of Toms team were weighed down with the weight of the huge man they were trying to carry between them. Tom sprinted and caught up with them.

  “He’s barely alive,” Said one of the men struggling to keep him up right. The man they carried raised his head weakly and looked at Tom through bloodshot eyes.

  “He’ll survive if we get him to the van,” Tom said.

  The three teams crossed the open field and then climbed up the hill to where their truck was parked close to an old dirt road.

  The men carried Lewis’s broken body to the back of the truck and put him in there. He was still losing a lot of blood and Tom knew if he didn’t do something soon the man would die. “I’m going to have to heal him,” Tom said to Trent as he pulled him aside from the other men.

  Trent looked at him and said, “You know what the clan thinks about healing humans. They could banish you for doing it.”

  “Those savage bears back at the farm where eating this poor man. Somehow he got mixed up with the wrong people and now, what?” he threw up his hands, “They are keeping people like livestock so that can devour them anytime they want. You know that kind of behaviour is an aberration, it goes against everything we as a clan believe in. This man doesn’t deserve to die because some evil bear got a taste for human flesh. I am healing him, the clan leaders can deal with me later. Keep the men back while I do it,” Tom ordered Trent.

  Tom climbed into the back of the truck and looked down at the shredded chest of the injured man. His chest was barely rising and falling and his breath came out in a thin wheeze. He knelt beside him and Tom felt his heart begin to beat faster. He had never healed someone before and knew from the stories and old tales that elder Silas used to tell them as boys that the procedure was dangerous for both of them. Tom closed his eyes and he could feel the familiar primal pull in his core, blood seemed to surge in his ears like the crashing of waves and he was suddenly aware of scents that moments ago he couldn’t smell. He could feel the narrowing of all his senses to a pinprick as he became aware of his body and nothing else. He could feel his bones begin to shift as they started the process of breaking and reconfiguring themselves into his new form as a bear. He needed to hover right on the cusp of humanity like he was tiptoeing across a great abyss. He needed to make it over to the other side without tipping in. The pressure built inside him as his body waited for the transformation that was about to come.

  Tom bit into his wrist and broke through the skin, blood began to bubble to the surface. Tom pressed his wrist to the dying mans lips and let the blood drain in. The tug became even more incessant as his body tensed in anticipation of the change about to become. Tom imagined the power building inside him as a ball of light and he pictured it travelling down his arm and out with his flowing blood. His head jerked back and his back spasmed as if his body subconsciously knew that he was going to use the tremendous use of power for something other than a transformation. He could feel his body rebel against himself and he knew if he gave in he would set off the chain reaction until he transformed into a bear and then this man by his side would die.

  He redoubled his efforts and felt the warmth of his power flow down his arm. He could feel the transference of power from his blood to the injured man.The mans eyes shot open and he grabbed Toms arms in his huge hands and held it tight against his mouth sucking hungrily at the flowing blood. Toms body was wracked with pleasure and he knew that this was the allure of his power. It was if it knew it had the chance to spread to another body and change him to a bear. Tom nearly gave into the
pull of the blood flow and with all his strength pulled his arm away from the man. As if he had pulled a battery out of a toy, the mans arms flopped by his side and his eyes shut. He would now stay in a deep recovering state for up to several days as his body knit itself together at an accelerated rate.

  Tom looked at the bite marks on his wrist and he could see the crescent marks begin to pull closed until all that was left was a red and raw mark on his wrist. He felt light headed and would probably feel off for a couple of days similar to having a dose of the flu. If he gave too much of his blood he knew there would be consequences for both himself and the injured man. Tom didn’t want to think of the possible side effects as he told himself he had done a good thing saving him. He would have to deal with the clan later if they decided he needed to be punished for his transgression.