Bearly Enough (9 page)

Cheers erupted and Zane and Gabby walked down the aisle
toward the tent, as Lucy trailed behind. Even Andrea was dabbing at her eyes
and everyone posed for pictures as someone started the music.

The party began, and the mood turned even more celebratory
as everyone began to congratulate the new couple. Lucy hung back, watching,
wondering how things would be different.

Quentin was suddenly by her side, holding two glasses of
champagne.

“Cheers?” he said.

“Cheers,” she confirmed, taking the glass and clinking it
against his.

“They seem happy, don’t they?” he asked.

“Yes,” she admitted, “they do.”

They stood in silence for another minute or so, watching
Zane and Gabby talk to some of Zane’s family. Then Gabby turned around and
waved Lucy over.

“Excuse me,” Lucy said, heading over to Gabby.

She set down her empty champagne glass and picked up another
on her way over.

She let Gabby introduce her to Zane’s family, and felt the
alcohol slowly begin to mellow her.

She began to smile more, and happily chatted with Zane’s
family. It was a beautiful wedding, and she going to enjoy celebrating with her
newly married sister.

Stone focused on the steady rhythm of his sneakers hitting
the ground.

Thud, thud, thud, thud.

He knew he could run in his bear form, but something about
running in his human form was satisfying. The way his breath moved in and out
of his lungs, the strain in his legs, the feel of his sneakers hitting the
dirt.

It was calming.

His thoughts drifted back to Lucy, and he envisioned the
wedding that was taking place today. The Virtus tribe was probably in fucking
heaven. Their bear princess was becoming one of them. Stone knew it wouldn’t be
long before she bore the tribe a cub.

He had made the mistake of mentioning the wedding to Jeremy
today, and Jeremy had looked disgusted. Stone knew Jeremy was thinking of all
the cubs that they had been “robbed” of since Gabby had married into the other
tribe.

Stone knew he needed to get things moving with Lucy.

Which is how the wedding had come up in the first place. He
was defending how he had invited Lucy on a date this weekend, but she already
had other plans.

As Stone ran, he wondered if he had made the right decision
in mentioning this to Jeremy. Jeremy was certainly a more peaceful leader, but
when it came to increasing the tribe’s numbers, he still wasn’t sure what
Jeremy was capable of.

Stone headed towards the border of the clan lands, making
sure to mind it carefully. That’s what had gotten the tribe into problems
before—crossing clan boundaries. Stone couldn’t take that risk.

A snap of branches caught his attention, and he froze,
wondering what could have made the sound; it sounded too large for an animal.

He saw a flash of black, and he quietly headed in the same
direction. He peered into the dense brush and cursed to himself.

Evan.

What the fuck was he doing?

“Damn it,” he muttered to himself. It wasn’t his
responsibility to babysit Evan, but nothing good could come of Evan crossing
the border, especially on the day that Gabby was getting married.

And Evan was headed in the direction of the Virtus’ lands.

“Fucking douche.”

If he turned around now to alert Jeremy or anyone else, who
knew what Evan would do in the meantime?

The only choice he had was to follow Evan himself.

Cursing, he quietly slipped into the brush.

If either of them were found, they could both be killed.

Honestly, he wouldn’t care if Evan was taken out, but
he
certainly didn’t want to die. And he had a sick knot in his stomach when he thought
of how Evan wanted Stone to take quicker and crueler measures with Lucy.

Lucy, who was nearby, attending Gabby’s wedding.

Stone quickened his pace, wondering if Evan would shift.

Evan moved stealthily, so absorbed in his own plan that he
didn’t notice Stone following him.

Stone began to pick up the scent of other bears and a few
humans, including the familiar scent of Lucy—he felt both aroused and
protective.

As they moved closer, he could hear music playing and people
laughing.  It would only be a matter of seconds before their scents were
picked up by the other werebears.

Stone’s bear was ready to fight, and he tried to stop the
animal urges from within.

He could wait no longer, and he moved quickly to catch up
with Evan.

“Evan!” he called out angrily, yet quietly. “What the fuck
are you doing?”

Evan whirled around, his face twisted in hatred and disgust.

“Why are you following me?” he spat.

“I’ll ask again,” Stone said, his words harsh. “What the
fuck are you doing?”

“I heard there was a wedding,” Evan sneered. “I thought I’d
crash it.”

Stone felt a ripple through his body as his bear came to the
surface. “The hell you are,” he growled. “Leave them in peace.”

“Go to hell! You and Jeremy are pussies. I’m going to handle
this the right way.”

“I’m warning you, Evan,” Stone growled. “Back the fuck
down.”

“Make me.”

Evan gave him a nasty grin and then let out a deep growl as
he shifted, his clothes shredding and falling to the earth.

Stone reacted instantly, not bothering to undress, shifting
as his own clothes ripped at the seams. He felt his muscles elongate and
thicken as the bear within took over.

Hair sprouted, his eyes widened, and his senses grew sharper
as his limbs morphed into those of his bear. He could feel his power and his
strength as he tore after Evan, who was now just feet from the festivities.

Evan roared loudly, and Stone heard the surprised shouts
from the guests before he could see them.

He burst through the trees and went to take out Evan, but he
noticed two of the Virtus already starting to shift. Evan was making a beeline
for Lucy, and Stone did the only thing he could think of; save Lucy.

He threw himself into Evan, shoving him out of the way, and
he ran straight to Lucy, who screamed in terror before he managed to throw her
over his shoulder. It was hard to keep her on his back, but he somehow managed,
and he whirled around, taking off into the forest.

He could hear Evan fighting the others, and he felt a Virtus
following him. Lucy cried out for help, but she was twisted around his body in
such a way that she seemed afraid to let go, for fear of falling to the ground.

Stone ran as fast as he could, knowing he could seek safety
over his border. His chest burned with exertion and he pushed himself to run
harder and faster than he ever had before.

His paws pounded the ground, and he could smell Lucy’s fear
stronger than anything he had ever smelled in his entire life. He would have
time to feel guilty and awful later.

Right now the most important thing was saving Lucy’s life
before Evan got his paws on her.

He could see the tree line up ahead and could smell familiar
scents; Jeremy was there along with Torin. Stone let out an animalistic grunt
as he crossed over the border, racing to Torin and Jeremy, as he practically
tossed Lucy to the ground.

He heard her shriek and then the soft thud of her body
hitting the earth, but he knew she would be all right. He didn’t have another
second to think about her because he heard Evan directly behind him, and Stone
spun around, standing on his hind legs and growling protectively.

Evan skidded to a stop, his massive paws digging into the
dirt.

Stone heard Jeremy and Torin shouting behind him, and he
could also make out Lucy whimpering. He could smell unfamiliar scents as well;
the Virtus tribe would be after them.

The hair on the back of Evan’s neck stood up and he snapped
his jaws angrily at Stone. Stone stood between Evan and the hysterical Lucy,
roaring so loudly that the trees shook.

Evan did not back down.

“Enough!” Jeremy ordered, his tone so commanding and severe
that Stone had no choice to obey. Was Jeremy’s alpha coming out?

Stone lowered his body back to the ground and Evan took a
step back.

“Shift!” Jeremy commanded, the timbre of his voice deep.

Stone tried to resist, but he was unable to do so. He had
heard of powerful alpha orders, but he had never experienced them first hand.
He was forced to obey Jeremy.

He shifted back into human form, as did Evan. Stone felt
some satisfaction in seeing a few rather large gashes across Evan’s body.

He slowly turned toward Jeremy, Torin and Lucy.

The first thing he noticed was that Lucy was practically
huddled in Torin’s arms, her face buried in his chest. Torin seemed to be
supporting her. Stone wondered if she was even conscious.

“What the hell is going on?” Jeremy admonished. “The other
tribe is coming!” He turned quickly to Torin. “Get her out of here. Now!”

Torin obeyed, scooping Lucy up as if she were light as a
feather, and he began racing down the street. Stone watched him, filling with
jealousy, wanting to race after them.

Lucy didn’t even put up a fight as she was carried away, and
Stone imagined that she was probably so upset and disoriented that she didn’t
know what was happening.

Just then two bears came into view, their fur brown and
reddish, their snouts pressed to the ground.

“Leave!” Jeremy ordered, and Stone could see his body
trembling slightly; he was fighting the urge to shift.

The two bears roared at Jeremy in protest.

“If one paw crosses onto our land, I will not hesitate to
kill you both,” Jeremy whispered. Stone could tell that Jeremy really didn’t
want to kill the others, but he wasn’t sure if the Virtus members could tell.
They protested again, though they began to back up.

“Retreat at once, or you and the girl will not live another
day.”

Stone glanced wildly at Jeremy, wondering what the hell he
was thinking. But he could see in the bears’ eyes that they didn’t want to die,
nor did they want to risk Lucy’s life.

Letting out a sound of frustration and vengeance, they left,
heading back in the direction of their own lands.

Jeremy began striding down the street; Stone and Evan
hurried after him.

“I don’t know where she is,” Evan began, “but she belongs to
me.”

Jeremy whirled around, his eyes flashing. “You pull another
stunt like that and you won’t have a tongue to complain with!”

Evan paused, momentarily stunned.

“Now get the fuck
home
!”

Jeremy waited, arms folded, his gaze icy.

Stone waited, afraid to move.

“You’ll fucking regret this!” Evan hissed, his face inches
from Jeremy’s. Then he turned on his heel and headed toward his house.

Once he had disappeared, Jeremy turned on Stone.

“What the hell happened?”

Stone went to speak, but Jeremy began walking.

Stone strode after him. “I was running and saw Evan sneaking
off. I followed him and he went directly to the Virtus lands, where Lucy
happened to be because of the wedding. Stupid fucker! I tried to stop him, but
he charged the wedding. I hurried in and took Lucy before he harmed her.”

Jeremy seemed to be debating this, then cursed under his
breath. “Evan is more of a problem than I had expected.” His eyes clouded over
and he rubbed at the stubble on his chin. “Either way, she’s here now and we
need to deal with this.”

“I was going to bring her here,” Stone insisted angrily, as
they moved in the direction of Torin’s house.

“Yes, well, it seems our plans have changed.”

They came to Torin’s house and entered. Stone could smell
the fear rolling off Lucy, and he felt immense guilt. He had barely had time to
build her trust, and now everything was about to be destroyed.

They walked into Torin’s living room, and Lucy was curled up
on his couch, a glass of water untouched on the table. She was wrapped in a
thin brown blanket, one that Stone had remembered from his childhood. It used
to sit on the chair in their living room; Joy loved to wrap herself in it.

He couldn’t think of Joy now.

“Lucy?” he asked quietly.

She looked up at him, her face pale and frightened. When she
saw that he was naked, she quickly looked away; Stone had forgotten that he had
been destroyed during his shift. Torin rolled his eyes and disappeared into the
other room, returning a moment later and tossing him a pair of worn sweat
pants.

Stone pulled them on quickly and went to Lucy.

He tried to put his arm around her, but she scooted away.
“Don’t touch me,” she said in a shaky voice. “Will someone please tell me what
the hell is going on?”

“It’s a lot to explain,” Stone said softly.

“Better start somewhere,” she insisted, pushing herself up.

She looked completely disoriented.