Jade Crew: Fallen Bear (A BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance) (Ridgeback Bears Book 7) (8 page)

“You did,” he said angrily, “when you made me your Alpha, your leader.
That
gives me the right to make this decision. In addition to the fact that this is the
right
decision means that it was a no-brainer.”

She snarled and walked to the other side of the room. How dare he volunteer them like that? Alpha or not, he didn’t have the
right
to put their lives on the line like that. This was no ordinary fight where she might get torn up and injured. Those fights were okay, because wounds like that, or broken bones, were things she could heal from.

But going up against a dragon?

“You know, I never expected things to be…easy,” she said, not sure if that was entirely the word she was looking for. “But this?”

She rubbed her eyes, brushing several loose strands of hair out of her face at the same time. The stress of the past two days was piling up.

First there was the way she had just been thrown in jail upon her arrival in Genesis Valley. That made more sense now in light of the fact that this Luthor character, a powerful dragon shifter, had been waylaying all new arrivals and subverting them into his growing army. All of that made it rather conspicuous when she showed up out of nowhere, claiming to have just waltzed into town, the first shifter they had seen in months. Victoria was prepared to forgive Garrett and Gabriel for that, even if her pride was still a little sore.

Then there was the sudden revelation that she had quite literally walked into the middle of a fucking
warzone!
That part was hard to swallow, even if Evan had spent the better part of the last hour explaining to her everything he had just learned, and what he had experienced before winding up in jail. She understood that the odds were stacked horrifically against them, to the point where it almost felt like suicide.

“This is a suicide stand,” she said, vocalizing just that thought.

“Not necessarily. The Kedyns are working on getting us some help to even the odds.”

“Right,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “The Kedyns, a pair of gryphons, the type of shifter that is most notorious for not sticking themselves in harm’s way.”

“They were trying to play along, to see if they could perhaps become trusted enough to be privy to inside information. Information that might have helped us fight. Unfortunately it didn’t work, but Valen has intervened twice now.”

She nodded, accepting the polite reprimand and acknowledging that perhaps Marcus and Valen were in fact willing to fight alongside them.

Them?

Oh no. No no no. She was absolutely, positively,
not
going along with the harebrained scheme that had been hatched. Wasn’t she?

Shit.

“I can’t do this right now,” she said, putting her hoodie on and heading for the door. She knew that the two of them had much to talk about as well, but she needed to sort out this sudden revelation first.

Then she could get down to the third and final point of her stress.

Evan himself.

Evan

“Fuck,” he said, swearing aloud as she walked out of the room.

He turned back to the rest of them. “We got played,” he said, and launched into a quick version of everything that had happened since he was gone, including the most startling revelation, that Luthor was the First dragon. He had been playing them all from the beginning, listening in on so many important conversations that had happened in the Tongue & Flame, a bar they had thought secure.

“Evan,” Matthew said, holding up his hand to stall his Alpha.

“What?” he asked.

“Go.”

Evan looked at him blankly, not understanding.

“Go get her,” Matthew urged, pointing at the door. “We get the gist of it. You can explain the rest of it to us later. With Victoria.”

His eyes darted toward the door. He desperately wanted to go after her. He had wanted to run after her the moment she left, but he couldn’t. The rest of the crew needed to know what was going on, to be aware of everything. That was a duty he couldn’t shy away from, no matter how badly his soul called out for him to chase after Victoria.

“Call me if something comes up,” he said, darting toward the door.

He ran out in the hallway, calling to his bear, bringing it to the surface so that he could make use of its sense of smell. Approving of the idea of going after her and claiming her for his own, his bear readily helped. Her scent fresh in his mind, he tested the air before immediately taking off for the stairs.

His first thought was that she had gone to her room, but as he entered the stairway he realized she had gone down.

“Fuck,” he said softly, jumping as swiftly from landing to landing as he could, ignoring the stairs.

In moments he was at the bottom, the door almost blowing out under his shoulder as he slammed through it, stumbling into the parking lot. Once again he needed a moment to find her trail, then set off after her.

He realized a few minutes later she was headed toward the eastern edge of town. It was the same way she would have entered the Valley. The apartment complex they were in was already close by. A ten-minute run had him at the edge of the town’s limits as he followed her scent, hoping to catch up with her.

“Damn, she can run,” he muttered, stopping for a moment to catch his breath. Despite the greater endurance of a shifter, he had run almost flat out in an effort to catch her.

Then, all of a sudden, he saw her. It was dark out, but the moonlight showed him the outline of her figure up ahead. She was stopped, looking at something as the road curved to the left, dipping down into a small valley at the same time. In front of her was forest.

“Victoria,” he said softly, not wanting to startle her, though his approach must have been plenty loud enough.

She didn’t respond.

“Victoria,” he repeated, drawing closer.

Her shoulders were shaking. As he came around her, he saw tears glistening in the pale white light as they created streaks down her face.

“Is it this tough for everyone?” she asked, shaking her head, blinking furiously in an effort to chase the tears away.

“Is what this tough?” he asked.

“Life,” she replied with a shaky laugh.

He smiled, stepping close to her, but not touching her just yet. “Yes. Although I’m kind of surprised to hear you ask that. From what you’ve told me, your life hasn’t exactly been a walk in the park up until now.”

“Perhaps it hasn’t,” she agreed. “But then again, I haven’t been around people like you and the others before,” she said, her voice almost a whisper. “People willing to accept me. It makes it so much harder to say no to things like going up against a dragon with them, despite the inherent stupidity of such an idea.”

He chuckled. “I know, it sounds insane. But think about it. There’s no one else to stop him, and if he succeeds, we’re going to die anyway. Isn’t it better to die trying?” He tried to keep his voice light, but failed.

“I’m scared too,” he admitted, putting his arm around her at last.

She snorted. “No you aren’t. This is your home, and it’s being invaded. That’s a worthy cause to fight for. But I just arrived here,” she said, not moving away under his touch, but not leaning in closely either.

“Just because it’s a worthy cause doesn’t mean I’m not scared to do it,” he said.

“What are you scared about?” she asked.

“Besides dying?”

She nodded.

“Well, for starters, not figuring out what’s meant to be between us.”

She went rigid under his arm.

“What? Did I say something wrong?” he asked when she didn’t reply. He hadn’t expected her to suddenly proclaim her love for him, but he didn’t think that talking aloud about their connection, their bond, would freak her out.

“Look,” she said, pointing into the forest.

“What?” he asked, now thoroughly confused.

“Over there!” she hissed, her finger pointing into the trees.

He glanced over in the direction she was indicating. There was a line of trees.

“It’s the forest,” he began to say, until he realized what she saw. “What the hell?”

The two of them ran forward, their initial conversation pushed to the side, though certainly not forgotten.

The stretch of forest straight ahead wasn’t actually very thick at all. The road appeared to dip down and to the left, and then turned back to the right and went up an incline, almost lining up exactly with where they were, except for the small line of trees. If the trees weren’t there, someone standing where the two of them were would be looking directly at the road as it rose. The trees blocked most of their vision, and if it were daytime, he doubted they would have noticed it.

But at night, the constant stream of lights coming down the road was almost impossible to miss once spotted.

The two of them ran forward to the edge of the trees, relying on their excellent vision to identify the source of the lights.

“Holy shit,” she cursed from next to him.

“They’re already here,” he said.

The lights belonged to vehicles. A lot of vehicles, all of which were piled high with large, grim-looking men that screamed shifter to their senses.

“We need to go,” he said, taking her hand and pulling her back. “Now!”

She lingered for just a moment longer, then turned and followed him. They were on foot, without the benefit of a truck. Although the invasion force wasn’t moving fast, they still moved faster than the pair on foot. Evan knew it was about a fifteen-minute drive from where they had seen their enemies cresting the hill in the distance.

It had taken him ten minutes to get there.

“This is going to be close,” he muttered, pouring on more speed, hoping that Victoria could keep up.

***

The thick wooden door leading into the common room simply came apart as he used his strength to barrel right through it without slowing down.

His crew were still sitting around in a circle sipping on their beers. As the door disintegrated they came to their feet, automatically spreading out to deal with the unknown intruder. When they saw it was Evan, they relaxed, though his body language told them something bad was up.

“They’re here already,” he said, gasping for breath. “We have two minutes, get your shit and let’s go.”

Without waiting for more of an explanation, the others disappeared from the room, heading up the stairs to grab essential things like cell phones, wallets, and keys for the trucks. He had already sent Victoria up to grab those things from her room. He had his on him, never liking to be far from them.

He gulped down a huge lungful of air and lumbered back down the stairs, listening for the sounds of his crew above him. The elevators had been disabled while the building was unoccupied, and they had yet to get them turned back on. He was at the bottom of the stairs when the door several floors above opened and his crew began to stream down the stairs, catching up with him swiftly.

“Where are we going?” Matthew asked as the two trucks they had roared to life.

“Ridgeback Lodge!” he shouted. “They’re coming from east of town. Start making phone calls as you go! Warn anyone in town, any shifter, miner or not!”

The others shouted their acknowledgment and doors slammed. Victoria heavily closed the door on her side as Jared piled into the back seat. Jared, William, and Matthew occupied the other truck.

Tires screeched and Matthew’s truck shot from the parking lot with Evan right on his tail. He was the last one out, making sure his entire crew were accounted for first.

In the back seat Jared was busy calling anyone he could, warning them to get the hell out of town. Evan didn’t think that the shifters would hurt the human population unless provoked. That would call attention to the area, attention that Luthor did not want. That left the shifter population of Origin. While most of them were employed in one capacity or another by the Mining Consortium, there were a number who were not. Evan doubted many of them would have the chance to escape. Still, they had to try.

He took a corner sharply, pushing the gas down as the truck straightened out.

“Shit!” he swore, slamming on the brakes. “Hold on!” he yelled, his right arm flying out to hold Victoria back in a sentimental but ultimately useless effort.

Thankfully there was no need as she was also prepared and braced herself for the abrupt stop.

“Alternate route,” he said as a two pairs of headlights gunned it in their direction.

“Good idea,” Victoria said quickly, keeping an eye on the oncoming attackers as Evan looked over his shoulder, backing the truck around the corner. “They’re coming faster now. They must have recognized that we’re shifters.”

“I’m going,” he told her, his voice strained as he gunned the truck forward, having oriented it to the new direction.

“Go faster,” she urged.

The lights were getting brighter in the rearview mirror, and he could almost make out some of the figures behind the bright glare.

“Yep, I agree,” he said hastily, pushing the pedal to the floor.

The big V8 engine roared throatily and after a second the truck lurched forward, picking up speed rapidly.

He jerked as Victoria’s hand crept across the center console and took his hand off the wheel. Giving it a tight squeeze he risked a glance over at her, putting a reassuring smile on his face.

“We’ll be okay.” He said it almost as much for his benefit as hers.

He felt her fingers tighten ever so slightly around his, which brought a happy feeling within.

They raced through town, heading for the other side and the road up to Ridgeback Lodge. No more lights appeared behind them, but the two trucks following them did not relent. He thought they were going to be content to follow him all the way to his destination without trying to stop them.

Just as he began to assume this was the case and relaxed slightly, they left the confines of town and buildings gave way to trees on either side. As if waiting for that cue, the two trucks gunned their engines and began to pull up alongside him.

“This isn’t good,” he muttered.

“They’re going to try and pincer us, or spin us out,” Jared said, his thoughts mirroring Evan’s.

“Are Matthew and the others through already?” He knew Jared had been texting some of the others, keeping tabs on each other.

“Yeah, they’re up into the mountains already,” he confirmed. “They didn’t run into any trouble.”

“Lucky for them,” Evan muttered, though he didn’t mean anything with the sarcasm. He was just more focused on his driving. The road was about to get really winding, preventing him from going too fast. Not that he was positive he could outrun them to begin with.

“I’m going to try something, but if it doesn’t work, we’re likely going to be stuck and forced to fight,” he said angrily, upset with himself for getting them into the situation they were in.

Without warning, one of the attacking trucks slammed into the side of theirs, toward the rear on the left.

“Too late,” he cried, slamming on the brakes as the other truck angled in toward them.

He managed to avoid getting crunched between them both, but now they were in front of him, between where he was and where he needed to go. Even as he watched, shifters piled out and charged toward them.

“We gotta fight!” he yelled, tumbling out of the truck and preparing to change.

There were three of them against six attackers. Bad odds, but not the worst possible. Having the driver stay in each vehicle certainly helped, cutting their numbers by a quarter.

“Use the same tactic that got you here in the first place!” he yelled at Victoria, hoping she would understand what he wanted.

When she had first come in to the Valley, whoever was watching and intercepting the newcomers had decided she wasn’t a shifter because she was female. Evan was hoping that if she didn’t shift right away now, her sudden appearance might catch the attackers by surprise.

He couldn’t wait to see, however, as huge, snarling, angry-looking grizzly bears began to burst forth from within them, surging forward on all fours. Evan sneered, knowing he could take several of them. They weren’t that big. He summoned his bear, landing on all fours with smooth ease. Jared had done the same thing on the other side of the truck.

The biggest problem now was the momentum behind their charge. That needed to be stopped. Evan drew himself up on all fours and let loose with a deafening roar, challenging them all to single combat as he poured all the anger and rage that he felt at what they were doing into it.

Not all of the attackers stopped, but over half of them faltered in their charge as they realized they were up against a powerful Alpha bear. It wasn’t much of an opening, however, but it was an opening. The pair of them charged forward. Their enemies had split their numbers to come after each of them equally. Evan used the sudden uncertainty to his advantage and instead of trying to pick one target, he simply used his body like a bowling ball and slammed into the group, going right through them. The two outside turned to try and hit him, but they were too slow. The middle shifter was the smallest of the three, and he didn’t try to finesse his attack. He got low underneath the other bear and simply charged forward and up at the same time.

The smaller enemy flipped and Evan’s jaw darted in, latching onto the soft, exposed flesh under the attacker’s head. Teeth dug deep and the metallic tang of iron flooded his mouth as he viciously ripped as much flesh as he could in passing. In a blink he was past, and one of the bears was down, clawing at its throat as blood poured from his wounds. Evan knew it wasn’t necessarily a mortal blow, but it would keep the shifter out of the rest of this fight at a minimum.

That still left two bears turning to face him, their movements much more planned, their gazes wary. He took advantage of their hesitation to glance over at Jared. The other bear was surrounded by three enemies. One of them was limping on three legs and the others were covered in wounds, but they were all still up. Victoria appeared ready to change that though, and she glanced over at Evan from where she was currently cowering near the truck, pretending to be helpless. He nodded, telling her the timing was good.

In front of him the shifters came at him again however, and he was forced to divert his focus back to them, ignoring the other fight for the time being. Ambling forward slowly, he tried to lull them into a false sense of security by assuming he wasn’t as fast as he was. In theory he knew it shouldn’t work, but the mind is a funny thing.

The trio circled for a moment, trying to draw the other side into making a mistake. As it turned out, Evan was the one that made the first mistake. He strayed a little too close to the shifter on his left while focusing on the one to his right. The shifter almost in his blind spot darted forward, intent on attacking his side while Evan’s attention was elsewhere.

Which is when Evan sprung his own trap. Instead of turning back to try and fight the attacker, he turned away from him. The quick move left his enemy aimed at his rear leg instead of his front. It was a simple effort for Evan to send his huge rear paw flying at the incoming shifter’s head. The powerful kick hit his opponent full on in the head, rocking his skull to the side and sending the bear falling senseless to the ground.

In a blink, before the unoccupied third enemy could recover, Evan darted straight at him. Getting in close for the straight-up brawl, he used his overwhelming size and power to quickly overpower his enemy. Huge fists battered his enemy’s head as he rained down blow after blow. Skin parted and blood flowed beneath his onslaught.

From the far side of the truck he heard Victoria roar, a mixture of pain and anger.

Evan renewed his attacks with fresh vigor, his rage rising within. He harnessed that energy, batting aside the pathetic attempt at defense from his final foe. Finally the bear keeled over and Evan dropped both of his front paws onto its head, crunching it hard against the pavement with bone-shattering finality.

A quick move to his rear and he locked his jaw onto the throat of his second foe, who was just now beginning to recover from the blow to the head. His powerful teeth sunk deep, and this time as he shook his head, there was no doubt that it was a mortal blow. There was a quick look of shock in the shifter’s eyes before he collapsed limply to the ground.

Evan turned, spitting out the remaining flesh and blood from his mouth as he charged to the far side of the truck. One bear was down, but the other two were retreating toward the trucks, where the drivers had gotten out and shifted.

He wondered why at first, until he heard a screeching behind him.

His hopes sinking, he turned, seeing yet another truck come to a halt. Four more shifters piled out. The odds were now back to more than double their numbers, and while he was in relatively good shape, Victoria was limping heavily and Jared was bleeding profusely from a number of deep wounds.

Hoping to forestall the inevitable, he shifted back to his human form.

“It doesn’t have to be like this,” he shouted. “You can still choose not to serve him.”

Laughter came almost immediately from both in front of him and behind him.

“Yes, yes it does,” one of them replied.

“If you insist,” a voice said.

Evan spun, looking up the mountain in the direction he needed to go. The voice hadn’t come from any of the attackers, but from beyond it. The deep bass rumble carried down the road, catching them all by surprise.

“What the?” One of the attackers followed Evan’s gaze just in time to be practically tossed aside as a magnificent sight appeared before them.

Out of the dark came a full wedge of very large, and very powerful-looking bears. They swept down between the two trucks belonging to the invaders. Individual bears peeled off to dispatch their opponents.

It wasn’t a fight so much as it was a wave of slaughter. The fresh bears combined their energy with surprise, and in seconds there was nobody left alive besides Jared and most importantly to Evan, Victoria.

“Garrett,” he said, recognizing the Jade Crew Alpha.

“Sorry we’re late,” the other replied, shifting back as his name was spoken.

“We’re all still alive,” Evan said with a wry smile, moving over to where Victoria was leaning heavily against his truck.

For now.