She nodded, her spine straightening, and bent in to him. They kissed again, longer than before, and finally Mike tore himself away.
“When you hear the fighting, go,” he said, then, with all the strength he could muster, turned away from Jess and the others and marched back through the Lodge to the front door. He peered out. All was darkness. But the pride was out there, he could feel them watching. Waiting. “Here goes nothin’,” he muttered to himself, and shoved the door open.
Wind howled in, bringing cold and snowflakes with it, but nothing moved in the darkness of the forest beyond the clearing or on the broad expanse of the upslope to the side.
“Well?” Mike roared. As he spoke, he began tugging off his clothes. “What are you waiting for, you cowards? I don’t have all night!”
With that, he retreated back inside, where it was dark and hopefully they couldn’t see him well, and Shifted. His bones snapped and lengthened, his flesh surged, and canines shot out from his jaw. His bear erupted from him, all teeth and claws and fur and rage, and it filled the Lodge with its musk. The familiar scent smoothed Mike, or the part of him that was still in charge. He was still Mike, really, but he was most certainly different now: he was a bear.
The lions didn’t disappoint.
They streamed in through the door like silent shadows of death, green eyes gleaming eerily. One leapt for his face, but he batted it away, sending it hurling toward the fireplace. The fire had gone out, but the embers still smoldered, and the big cat leapt up with a scream. Mike rejoiced to hear its pain even as another lion tore into his side. Mike spun, sinking his fangs into the beast’s shoulder. Two more seized on his distraction to leap onto his side and start slashing and biting.
Still gripping the second lion in his jaws, he lifted it off the floor and threw it end over end into the first lion, whose fur smoked as it exited the huge fireplace. Both went down yowling.
Mike pitched himself onto the floor and rolled, trying to grind the two that had latched onto him into paste. They proved too quick. They jumped off him, finding their feet easily, and wheeled to face him. The other two, raising, came closer. Blood gushed from wounds on both of them. Mike felt more blood leaking down his torn flank.
The four lions stalked forward.
Four, he thought dimly. He was a bear, yes, but he could still count to five if he concentrated.
One was missing.
Chapter 15
“I can do this,” Jess whispered to herself as Cort opened the rear door and freezing wind shivered through her hair. “I can do this.”
Suzy had heard her, and she turned to grip Jess’s hand briefly and awkwardly. Both held ski poles. “You can,” she said. “Just follow me.”
Jess nodded tightly. She wanted to ask Suzy not to get too far ahead, but of course that would be selfish. If Suzy could get ahead, then she should. She should get as far away as possible. And of course Suzy would be helping Cort down the mountain as she went—they had all agreed on that. Jess simply wasn’t proficient enough to be helping an injured skier. She could barely manage herself.
“I will,” Jess said. “I—”
She flinched as Mike, on the other side of the building, shouted into the night, and she felt the blood drain from her face. Mike’s in danger, and it’s all because of me. She wanted to go to him, to help him, but she knew the best thing she could do for him was to get far away, and fast, so that he could, too.
“Get ready,” Cort said, obviously having to force the words out from between his gritted teeth. He looked wan and deathly. Those lions had really worked him over. His wounds would have killed a human, Jess thought, and no way anyone but a bear shifter would be contemplating mountain sports after a mauling like that. As soon as the growling and thrashing started, Cort said, “Go!”
Suzy helped him outside, and together the two poled off and began vanishing down the slope. Suzy moved easily and effortlessly, even in the near darkness, but she made herself go slow in order to remain next to Cort. Jess felt a swell of admiration for her friend. She’s tougher than I ever knew.
Gathering her own strength, Jess stepped outside on her skis, planted her poles in the snow and propelled herself downslope. The ice grated under her skis, and her heart jackhammered inside her rib cage, but the mountain scrolled away on both sides and the sounds of the fighting began to diminish behind her. She was skiing! I can do this, she told herself again. I can kick this mountain’s ass.
Ahead of her, Suzy and Cort were somehow moving faster than she was, and she realized she’d once again made her skies into a wedge shape, making her go slow. I’m being chased by lion shifters and I’m acting like I’m on a bunny slope. Get a grip, Jess!
Using all her will, she forced her legs to obey her commands and pried her feet apart so that her skis angled in a more parallel fashion. The mountain scrolled by faster now. She wobbled but kept upright, fending off the ice with her poles. I’m doing it! I’m really doing it!
Suddenly she heard a noise at her back. Craning her head, she noticed a shape just behind her, darting fluidly down the slope. Her heart leapt into her throat. She recognized that shape. She would recognize it anywhere. A lion. Bryce. It had to be. Mike had drawn the others to him, but Bryce had been too clever and had staked out the backdoor.
“Damn you, just leave me alone!” Jess shouted over her shoulder.
The lion only snarled in response. She could practically feel its hot breath on the back of her thighs.
She shoved her poles into the ice, propelling herself faster, faster. Her mind spun and tumbled, picturing terrible fates. The growls of the lion grew louder behind her. She could hear its ragged breathing. It was a warm weather creature, she knew; it would hate these cold temperatures, and the pads of its feet weren’t meant for snow like a bear’s were. That would slow it down, would frustrate it. Too bad, jerk!
Still, she could hear its footfalls behind her, the crunch of the snow beneath its pads and claws. It was heavy, that was for sure.
Wildly, she lashed backward with one of her poles. Felt it connect. The big cat yowled in protest. Hope surged through her. She could fight back! She lashed behind her again. Again the pole connected, but this time she’d struck too wildly, too recklessly. The motion upset her balance and she listed too far to the right. Almost went over. At the last moment, she leaned to the left, correcting her mistake, and was able to balance herself again. Doing all this had slowed her down, though, just enough for the lion to pounce.
She felt four hundred pounds of big cat barrel into her. It was like being hit by a hurricane of flesh and blood and bone. All the breath was driven from her, and then she was tumbling to the slope, her skis whacking on the snow and nearly breaking her legs. At last she crumpled, legs akimbo, to the snow, with the great lion astride her. Its eyes burned like glowing jade, and a stream of saliva drooled from its gasping lips.
Panting, Jess stared up into its snarling face and knew a fear unlike any she’d ever known.
“Bryce,” she made herself say, hearing the quaver in her voice. “Is … that that you?”
The lion made a growling noise, but she wasn’t sure if that was a yes or a no.
“Well, fuck off,” she said. One of her arms was trapped between the lion’s legs, and it still gripped the ski pole. With all of her strength, she brought the pole up into the animal’s crotch. The lion stiffed and coughed.
With her other hand, Jess grabbed a fist-full of snow and smashed it into the lion’s eyes. Blinded and in pain, it bounded off of her, then shook itself to reorient itself. She scrambled to her feet and tried to get her skis under her and pointed in the right direction. It was more difficult than it should have been, and she was dismayed at how close the drop-off was. Just a few feet away, a cliff dropped some forty or fifty feet to snow-covered trees and rocks below.
As she worked to straighten herself, she scanned for Suzy and Cort. They were just tiny dots far down the mountainside, all but invisible in the night. Part of her
rejoiced in their successful getaway—they were safe!—but part of her wished she had their help. Bryce (she was sure it was him) was going to be pissed.
Before she could get her skies aligned or Bryce could pounce on her, another shape appeared, this one coming from up the slope. Jess heard the sound of skis on ice and swiveled her head, having to squint in the darkness. There was just enough light for her to make out Mike barreling down the slope, naked but for ski boots. Dark streaks that must be claw marks striped his chest and shoulders.
Bryce saw him, too, and rotated to face him—too late! Mike smashed into Bryce full-speed, sending Bryce toward the drop-off. When they came to a stop, Bryce was teetering on the drop-off. If he could gather himself and strike at Mike, naked and human once more, Mike would be completely defenseless.
Acting fast, Jess crouched down, scooped up another ball of ice and hurled it into Bryce’s face. Startled, the great cat recoiled … too far!
Bryce teetered on the brink, just about to go over. Eyes narrowing, he latched his claws into the snow, trying to recover …
“I don’t think so, asshat,” Mike said.
He made a fist and punched the lion, right on the jaw.
Bryce yowled and plunged backward into the abyss, slipping off the cliff and toward the trees far below.
Jess hurried to Mike’s side and flung herself against him. Together they peered over the precipice.
“Do you see him?” she said, having to gasp out her words.
Mike didn’t answer right away, then: “No. But he’s gone, anyway.” He turned to her, wearing the biggest smile she’d ever seen on him, and wrapped his huge arms about her. Feeling them enveloping her, she wanted to melt. She had never felt so protected. “When I saw him over you like that …” Agony contorted Mike’s face for a moment.
She nodded, feeling tearful. “Thank God you came,” she said. She clutched him tight. He must be freezing, she thought.
Or ... maybe not. Even as she started to wonder if she should take her jacket off and offer it to him, she could feel his cock begin to stiffen against her belly. He had said action got him going.
She smiled and shoved away. “Later,” she promised. “First let’s get to the Resort.”
“Party pooper.”
Sudden worry made her look up the slope. “Are the others still alive?”
He nodded, grimness returning to his handsome face. “And they’ll be coming. Let’s go.”
Chapter 16
Fire roared in the huge fireplace while Mike, Suzy and Cort told their story. Jess let them do most of the talking, only throwing in an occasional bit herself. Mainly she drank beer after beer. The alcohol helped settle her nerves, which she needed badly. It was some time before she stopped shaking. The other bear shifters of Mike’s crew were gathered around, listening intently. They were in the large den area that served as a lobby for the Resort, and all the guests of the inn were either in their rooms or out on the town. Every once in awhile one would enter, either coming or going, but these were few and far between and they ignored the shifters—or at least didn’t approach them.
“But how did you get away from the four that attacked you?” Connor asked Mike, when they had finished their story.
Mike grimaced. “Wasn’t easy. I had all four tearing into me, ripping and clawing.” Gingerly he touched his shoulder, where one of the bandages was. He was bare-chested and covered in white swaths of fabric that had become red with blood still soaking in them. Lion claws had really savaged him. Jess had nursed him herself, though, wrapping each wound. Even now the blood was drying, the gashes mending; some would leave scars, she knew, but that was it; bear shifters were really amazing.
Muscular and sweaty, covered in wounds earned in battle to protect her, the sight of Mike made heat pool in her middle, and it had nothing to do with the beer or the fire or the knowledge that she was protected by the group, although all of that too. Mainly it was the look in Mike’s eyes whenever they fell on her. Oh boy, she had really done it now.
“When I rolled, I could manage to shake ‘em off for a moment,” Mike said. “When I did that for the last time, I managed to get loose long enough to make it into one of the back rooms. I slammed a door on them. Lions are fierce, but they can’t bust through a door as easily as we can. They have to Shift to open doors. So I put a couple doors between us, Shifted, shoved on my boots and skis and hit the slope. I knew Bryce was still out there, and he’d be after Jess.”
Jess was sitting next to him, and he reached over and squeezed her knee. She swallowed. His hand was large and firm, and she didn’t miss the claiming nature of the gesture. He was putting his hands on her in front of his crew as if to say, She’s mine. She could see the gesture wasn’t lost on the others, either. Several nodded or smiled in approval, especially the two women present; one was the feisty-looking young woman who’d been snapping pictures of Connor earlier, and the other wore a policewoman’s jacket with the hat balanced on her knee—obviously off-duty; the beer in her hand was a giveaway, too.
“Thank God I got to you in time,” Mike said, and she could hear from the raggedness of his voice how much he meant it, and how much it would have crushed him if Bryce had taken off with her.
Her cheeks warmed, and that pool of heat in her middle grew hotter. “I’m glad, too,” she said, fighting the urge to suck on her lower lip. She looked away, searching for Suzy—there! Rescue! “It’s good Suzy was able to get Cort back here, too. I know I couldn’t have helped him.”
Suzy smiled. “You did well enough.”
Cort, who was even more bandaged that Mike, looking almost like a mummy, nodded and downed what appeared to be a whole beer in one swallow. “She did good. Both the women did.” Even now he refused to address either of the females directly.
“You did amazing,” Connor said, meeting the eyes of both Jess and Suzy.
Mike grinned. “You should’ve seen the look on Bryce’s cat-face when Jess pelted him with that snowball.”
Connor laughed. “I wish!”
That earned smiles and laughs from all around. Jess couldn’t help smiling back. It felt good to be appreciated, and good to be here with this rough-and-tumble lot of bear shifters. It was both surreal and comfortable at the same time, somehow. She felt home in a way she never actually had at her real home, not since she was a kid. What was more, she felt a renewed appreciation for the members of Mike’s crew. They may have been just regular lumberjack werebears before, but now they were the guardians of a sacred grove. And Jess knew of it. She knew their secret. Mike had let her into their world, and she was a part of it now. She hadn’t told Suzy yet, and she knew the shifters wouldn’t want her to.
My bear, she thought, feeling Mike’s warmth—even, occasionally, feeling his meaty leg brushing up against her. My bear, opening up worlds for me. It was becoming harder and harder to see any reasonable way to keep excluding him from her life when he had made her such a vital part of his.
“So what do we do now?” she made herself say after another healthy swallow of beer. The bottle was cool and wet beneath her fingers, the fire hot at her back. It even made her hair feel toasty. It all made her feel very tipsy and very comfortable. Maybe too comfortable.
Attention swiveled to Connor, who downed a swig of his own beer and mulled on the situation. Everyone quieted, awaiting the decision of the alpha. At last he set his beer down and rose to his feet. “Mike, Cort, Gahad, Rick, Taggart and Vale, you stay here. Look after the women and the inn. The rest, come with me. We’re going lion-hunting.”
They grinned hard grins at each other and stood. Mike wrapped a protective arm around Jess.
“You won’t kill them, though, right?” she piped up, hating the squeak in her voice. “I mean, if you catch them.”
They had already touched on this earlier, and Connor let out a sigh. “I would rather just end their threat for good and all. If we don’t, it will be sending a message to others of their stripe that we’re lenient on trouble
makers.”
Mike looked up, grimness on his face. “I promised Jess we would take them to the Great Council if we can. Obviously, if they won’t be taken alive, then that’s different.”
“You shouldn’t have done that,” Connor said. Firelight danced in his eyes. “That’s my call to make, not yours.”
“It’s my mate they threatened,” Mike said. With a grunt, he rose to his feet, and the two men stood there glaring at each other. “Not yours. I have more say in this than anyone.”
Connor’s eyes narrowed. “Would the Council agree?”
Mike’s hands clenched into fists. “Will I have to ask them?”
Connor’s chest swelled, and Jess could feel a crackling in the air. Was he about to Shift? She gasped and glanced at Suzy, who was rising and backing away.
“Now now, boys,” the policewoman with the beer was saying. “Let’s quit the pissing match, alright? You’re both tough, we get it. You both have a point. Now knock it off!”
The studly guy that had been sitting next to her with an arm around her shoulders nodded and stood. “Barb’s right,” he said. “Back it off, guys.”
The two men glared at each other for another moment, then seemed to subside. The crackling in the air faded.
Jess sucked in a deep breath. Thank you, Barb, whoever you are. “Just don’t kill them if you don’t have to,” she said. “They’re wrong, but in their own way they’re kind of brave.”
“How can you say that?” said one of the other bear shifters, she thought it was Jason with his sandy hair and brown eyes. “They’re brainwashed monsters.”
“Yeah, and they’re only doing what they think is right. To them that means going into enemy territory, risking their lives. Not just everyone would take that risk to do what they think is right. And they’re not hurting anyone—at least that’s not their goal,” she added hastily, casting both Mike and Cort apologetic glances.
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