“Wait!” Matt called out. “I’m on my way up — don’t hurt her!”
Tawny peeked out to see Matt hurrying up along the hill. She could see Thomas reaching behind his back, his pale fingers wrapping around the Colt’s grip like sinister little worms.
“No!” Tawny screamed in horror. “Damn it, Matt, he’ll kill you! Just let him cut me up, please!”
But Matt continued clawing his way up the hillside. She knew he’d soon be well within range.
Thomas was losing interest in her, and held the knife back a few inches from her head. She twisted in a desperate attempt to reach the gun, her numbing hands grasping blindly for the pistol, but it remained out of reach.
Her blood turned icy cold. Instead of the gun, her fingers had found the two grenades Thomas had on his belt. She went quiet, and the noise and confusion around her suddenly seemed muffled and distant. The world was no longer there — even she wasn’t fully there anymore — and she resigned herself to the inevitable.
Tawny calmly felt up the grenades, her fingers slipping in through the pins. With a quick tug they came free easily, and she tossed them down the slope. They made a faint clinking sound as they struck the rocks below.
Everything was in slow motion, like a bad dream. Thomas looked down the hill to see the pins land several feet down the hillside. His eyes went wide in panic and he dropped the knife to grab frantically at the grenades.
Terror filled Matt’s eyes as he saw Thomas grabbing at the grenades. Tawny could see in his face that he understood what she had done.
These were her final few moments, the last of her existence, and Tawny felt a gloomy smile touch her lips. Time seemed to drag on forever. For a brief instant everything was alright, and her heart calmed serenely. She drank in the last seconds of sunshine on her face, of gentle, cooling breeze. This was her last act, and she was oddly content with it.
But then she saw Matt lunging forward, falling to all fours and shifting fully to a bear before his paws struck the ground. Pieces of his tattered clothes flew in different directions as they tore from his bulging body.
Thomas pulled the Colt from his belt and fired at the hulking bear as it bounded toward him at a furious pace. With the other hand he fumbled clumsily for the grenades.
Tawny saw a bullet strike Matt’s shoulder; a red ooze sprayed out, but he continued to run toward them, his large eyes hot with rage.
Several more shots rang through the mountain air, but Matt was undeterred.
Thomas just managed to pull the grenades from his belt as Matt reached the crest of the hill, shoving Thomas over the edge of the cliff with terrifying power, his ferocious roar echoing from the distant hills.
In midair and with blind desperation, Thomas flung both grenades with a long sweep of his arm before he tumbled down the hill, toppling roughly over the rocky ledge below.
He landed with a sickening thud and reached up to clutch his injured head. Tawny watched as Thomas opened his eyes to find that one of the grenades had rolled down the hill after him and landed only inches from his face.
Matt reared onto his hind legs and wrapped his huge bear body against the tree, covering Tawny from the blast. She couldn’t see the grenades as they detonated, but the almost simultaneous explosions left a low ringing in her ears. Matt yelped as he was hit with a piece of shrapnel, his body shaking the entire tree. Tawny hurt for him, but secretly enjoyed the unmatched power of his shivering animal body.
Chapter 26
Tawny was anxious as she waited, staring blankly at the ashes in the fire pit. She eyed the cabin, her stomach twisting. It had been an hour or more since the last time she’d heard any sound, and that was Matt’s low pained roar. At last Bradly emerged, his face grim but stern, and he came over to sit beside her.
“He’s going to be fine,” Bradly sighed. “We pulled out the shrapnel and the silver bullet. The grenade wounds will be healed by tomorrow, but the bullet wound will take weeks to heal. It’s lucky that the crazy soldier only hit him once, and just in the shoulder. It could have been much worse.”
Tawny smiled. “Weeks to heal is okay,” she said, relief washing over her.
Bradly clasped his hands together in his lap and looked up to admire the sky. “I’ve spoken with the other council members,” he said.
“About what?” Tawny fidgeted on the rough log.
“About you.”
“Are you still going to kill me?” Tawny pressed.
Bradly chuckled. “You know, we’ve never actually put anyone to death here. To be honest, I’m not certain we could even if we had to. So no, we’re not going to put you to death.”
Tawny shrugged and looked around the little village, studying the tents and small cabins. “But I’m not allowed to leave here, right?”
Bradly took a deep breath. “That’s what we had to discuss. It seems there were some council members who felt as though your willingness to sacrifice your life to protect Matt demonstrated strong loyalty on your part. If you would die to protect him, you’d probably keep your mouth shut about us for the same reason — I suppose.”
Tawny gave him a curious glance and waited.
“And,” he went on, “considering that Matt was willing to die for you as well, that seemed to indicate you’re sort of... well, one of us now.”
Tawny couldn’t contain her smile. “How many of the council members felt that way?”
“All of them,” Bradly muttered staring down at the ground. “We all agreed, Tawny — you’re welcome to come and go as you please. You’re considered a member of the clan, if you like.”
“What about your code?” she pressed, mentally kicking herself for bringing it up.
Bradly made a pained face, then shrugged. “Nothing’s really written down, it’s all just kind of general ideas and guidelines. Besides, somebody just made up the code to begin with anyhow. We can make up our own minds, code or no code.”
“So… ” Tawny couldn’t contain her excitement, “I’m in?”
He laughed, then nodded. “You’re in.”
Chapter 27
The sweet scent of blossoms drifted in through the open cabin door. An early morning breeze left behind a calming chill that hardened Tawny’s bare nipples. She leaned to stoke the fire in the hearth, carefully roasting a pan of seeds over the flames.
Matt lumbered up the porch stairs and Tawny spun to see him come in, his masculine form dressed in buckskins.
“Winters here aren’t so bad, are they?” Matt asked. “They’re certainly worth this springtime weather.”
“I could have used a hot tub,” Tawny grinned. “But I think it went okay.”
She pulled the pan from the fire and tossed him a length of coiled rope. She was standing in nothing but her buckskin skirt, her head low and her eyes turned submissively up to him.
“Again?” he grinned.
She looked down and nodded obediently.
Tawny whimpered as Matt grabbed her roughly and tied her wrists to each other, then stretched her hands high over her head to tie them to the cabin rafters. Her clitoris was already crying out for release as her body stretched seductively out for him.
He stripped while she watched. She tried to act afraid, as though the anticipation was killing her, but the sight of his bulging chest and long, scrumptious manhood only excited her even more.
He stepped up to her, pressing his nude body against hers, and she swooned as his large, strong hands tenderly explored her body. He pulled her skirt off and pushed her legs apart, his fingers roaming relentlessly among her tender folds of skin. Tawny whimpered and softly pleaded for mercy until his touch teased her clitoris into another enthralling climax and the little cabin filled with her ecstatic screams.
THE END
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I f***ing hate him!
He's arrogant, he's cocky, he's the star of a college soccer
team... and he's everything that a girl like me should despise.
He didn't even know my name before this year.
So why can't I keep him off my mind?
Maybe it's because his dad is about to marry my mom.
Maybe it's because I've had the worst crush on him through all of high school.
Maybe it's because he's at my house now taking a shower after soccer practice, and my mom just told me to go hang a fresh towel by his bed.
The water stopped and I know he's getting out, so why am I still at the foot of his bed with the towel in my hands...
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Heather West
More works from Heather West
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Her Wild Bear Page 15
