Laid Bear 2: The Kodiak Clan (19 page)

Instead of edging out, though, Fred shimmied farther back until he was jammed in the corner and shivering like a frightened mouse. His eyes were glued to the door and every hair on the poor pup’s body was standing on end.

In response, every hair on Jess’ body did the same. He glanced back at the closed but unbarricaded door. And his rifle propped up next to it.

“Shit.”

He made it as far as the center of the cabin when the door slammed open, a burly beast of a man filling the doorway. His piercing blue eyes burned with hatred and his upper lip quivered in a terrifying snarl. But the most terrifying thing about him was the blood matted in his hair and a flap of scalp that didn’t appear to be completely attached anymore.

Jess glanced at his gun, knowing it was too far from him and too close to the intruder to do him any good. The man followed Jess’ gaze and a triumphant smirk filled his weirdly handsome face.
 

Before he could think, Jess spun toward the back door. He fumbled with the barricade but didn’t dare spare the split second it would take to look behind him. Whipping open the door, he was stopped in his tracks when he ran face first into the barrel chest of another massive man. It was the same guy he saw shifting down by the river — the leader.

“Going somewhere, sweetheart?”

The humor in this man’s voice made Jess painfully aware that he was but a toy to these guys. He had no protection and no defense against them. He was trapped. But even if they were all outside, they could easily run him down if they switched over to bears.

In other words, he was fucked.

“Listen, guys,” he said, hating the quiver in his voice. He’d never felt like such a wimp in his life. If he could just get to his gun…

“Listen, I’m leaving. I told you yesterday that Veronica and I split up. Nothing’s changed. See?” He pointed to his half-packed duffle. “You made your point — very well, in fact.”

“Too late, you human scum.” The big man at the front door edged into the room, slowly closing the distance between them.
 

“Why? Why too late?”

“Because yesterday you were dabbling with some
were
slut, but today it turns out that slut is going to be my mate,” said the big man, who was obviously higher up the food chain than River Guy.
 

“Veronica? She’s your…mate?” Had Veronica cheated on
this
guy with Jess? What had she gotten him into?!

“Not yet, but she will be. And it sickens me to think she’s touched human flesh for reasons other than ripping it apart.”
 

A low growl ran under his words, like it was completely separate from his voice even though it was coming from him. And he seemed to be growing taller…and
much
bigger.

“Well, if she’s tainted, why do you still want her as your mate?” Jess was stalling for time, trying to engage this maniac in conversation and hopefully talk him and his buddy out of tearing his arms off and eating his legs for dinner.

“I could give a shit about her, but a
were
of my standing is expected to have a respectable mate. I’ve burned through all the rest of the skanks on this fucked-up, backward island, and she’s all that’s left.”

Jess backed away from him toward the bed, avoiding River Guy as he went. “So you’d rather be single?”

“Does a bear shit in the woods?” Big Guy snorted. River Guy, who’d fallen in beside his buddy, chuckled like the suck-up he was.
 

Glancing behind him, Jess saw he was almost out of room. The two men nearly filled the breadth of the cabin, and he was quickly approaching the wall.
 

“So why settle down? Why let tradition and society dictate how you should behave? You’re a young buck who should be sowing his wild oats, or whatever.”

The wall thudded into his back, but Big Guy and River guy crept in closer. They wanted to draw out his fear as long as possible.

Big Guy narrowed his eyes at him. “You know, you may be on to something. Why
should
I obey our society’s rules?”

Hope kindled inside Jess. Was this really happening? Were they going to let him walk out of here with all his body parts intact? He feigned excitement. “Yeah! Fuck the rules!”
 

Big Guy turned to River Guy. “Hey, Franklin—“

Franklin? River Guy’s name is Franklin?!

“Yeah, Yoren?” Franklin never took his beady black eyes off Jess.

“What are the rules our ‘society’ has about killing humans?” The air quotes and fake sincerity were the least of what chilled Jess to the bone.

“That we’re not s’posed ta do it,” Franklin said without the slightest change to his hateful expression.

Yoren nodded thoughtfully. “Thought so.”

The pair stopped a step away from Jess, forcing him to tilt his head back to see their faces. They hadn’t been this tall when they stepped in the cabin, had they? And they seemed…hairier. Were those fangs?
 

“You give good advice, human. I think I’ll take it…and I’ll enjoy every minute of it.”

Yoren coiled his muscles to spring and Jess braced for impact. This was going to hurt.

“YOREN BRAND! GET YOUR FILTHY PAWS OFF HIM!”

Yoren and Franklin spun around at the sound of Veronica’s command. Yoren looked more furious than ever.
 

“Don’t tell me what to do, you filthy slut. I’ll deal with you later.”

He started to turn back but her voice stopped him. “No,
I
will deal with
you
now!”

Ignoring the puny human he had backed into a corner, Yoren turned a smirk on Veronica. “Oh, you wanna play, little girl? C’mon, then. Let’s go!”

~ * ~ * ~

The hatred in Yoren’s face as he stalked toward Veronica made her flinch. He meant to hurt her as badly as she’d hurt him, she could see it in his eyes. The wounds Sam left on his head had barely stopped bleeding, though they would heal quickly enough, if she gave them the chance to.

He’d moved away from Jess, though. That was the important thing. But that lug Franklin was standing guard over her love, arms crossed just inches from him.
 

She couldn’t get caught inside the cabin because the two of them would instantly shift and overpower her. She’d have a better chance out in the open, so she darted out the doorway and into the clearing.
 

But she wouldn’t hide from him. An asshole like him didn’t deserve that much satisfaction. Instead, she planted her feet and thrust her fists on her hips.
 

You look like Wonder Woman
, whispered a voice inside her head. Not Keith’s, her own.
Now let him have it!

“You are the poorest excuse for a werebear I’ve ever seen, Yoren Brand! It makes me sick that I was even
considering
binding myself to you.”
 

Yoren’s caustic laugh made her skin crawl. “You’d be lucky to get me, human-lover, not that you ever will get the chance now that you’ve openly defied me.”

The menace in his gaze told her that he wasn’t just out to dump her or injure her. He was going to kill her — and Jess — if he could. Fear for her sons and what would become of them gripped her gut. Would he go after them, too?
 

Veronica’s inner bear surged forward, pushing to be released.
Not yet, sweetie, but stay close. I’m going to need you very soon.
She could feel her bear’s toothy snarl of anticipation. If Yoren thought he’d seen Momma Bear’s wrath back at her house, he was in for a very unpleasant surprise.
 

At his words, two big bears she’d seen around town — one of them was the guy who followed her and attacked poor Fred yesterday — stepped out from behind Yoren’s monster Cadillac. All three were looking at her like a piece of meat they couldn’t wait to sink their fangs into.

“What’s the matter, Yoren? Scared to face a lowly female all by your lonesome?”

His quick flush told her she was right. She must have hurt him more than he was letting on. He cut a glance to his buddies and jerked his head to the side, signaling them to stand down. But of course they’d be there if she started getting the better of him.

“You’re a stupid bitch, you know that? You had a chance to be my mate. Do you know how much power you would have had? The
weres
on this piece of shit island
love
me! They fucking
worship
me! My mate will be the most powerful female around. And you threw that all away for some loser human?”

He shook his head in mock disappointment. He wasn’t really disappointed. This just fueled his hatred, and he loved it.

“Normally, the Brotherhood would just bring you up on charges of being a traitor to the clan, but here we have extenuating circumstances, wouldn’t you say, boys?”

Dumb and Dumber, who were leaning back against the cabin’s front porch railing looking smug, nodded their agreement.

“I don’t think the council will blame us for meting out a little justice on the fly. In fact, I know they won’t because we’ve done it before.”

Yoren edged closer to her, but Veronica stood her ground. She wouldn’t engage with him physically until he did, but she wasn’t going to cower in front of him either.
 

“Remember that tourist fisherman last year? Remember how the local human idiots found him torn apart and ruled it a rogue bear attack? Ha! Dumbshit snapped a photo of Franklin shifting so he had to go.”

Veronica’s blood ran cold. It was no secret the Brotherhood were a bunch of dangerous bastards, but she had no idea they were stone-cold murderers.

“Sounds like Franklin was the dumbshit for getting caught,” she said with a disdain she wasn’t really feeling. What she was feeling was horror.

“Well, I agree with you there,” Yoren replied with a snort.

“So what now? You kill me, kill Jess, kill the world if they don’t agree with you?”

“Sure, why not? It’s worked for me so far.”
 

Bile rose in her throat at his toothy grin.
 

“I’d kill every human in this town, if we didn’t need them to be worker bees. As it is, I’ll have to settle for just killing anyone who thinks they can dilute our bloodlines.”

A bellow of fury sounded from behind Veronica, and Max came bounding out of the underbrush. A startled Yoren took a few steps back, glancing at his cohorts, who immediately shifted into bear form and closed ranks in front of him.
 

“You sonofabitch, where’s Bethany?!” Max was wild, and Veronica could see the struggle he was having keeping his bear in check. They’d talked about their plan on the ride over here, but Yoren’s threat must have been too much for him to bear.

“Kill him,” Yoren muttered to his bodyguards.
 

The bears snarled at the command, moving apart to flank Max and Veronica, who stood back to back to keep an eye on their attackers.
 

Then Yoren signed his own death warrant. “But leave the bitch alive. I want her to watch as I kill her human
and
her cubs.”

With a scream of outrage reserved for mothers whose babies were being threatened, Veronica set her bear free, shifting faster than she’d ever shifted and lunging at the nearest bear, the one she thought of as Dumb. It happened to be the one she’d sent running yesterday — and who undoubtedly was the one who led Yoren here.
 

The satisfaction she felt at tearing out a chunk of flesh and fur was dampened when the second bear, Dumber, ripped her off Dumb’s back, slashing gouges in her flank. Undeterred, she scrambled up in time to see Max take down Dumber by the throat.
 

As Dumb circled around Veronica, his gaze kept flicking back to Max chomping down on his buddy’s throat. The next time he glanced down, she attacked, aiming low and knocking his legs out from under him. He landed with an ‘oomph’ and Veronica spun around to latch onto his throat.

The image of his buddy flailing under Max must have scared him, because he managed to shake her off — barely — and regain his feet. Bloodied and worried, he backed away from her toward Yoren, probably hoping for a little help.
 

But Yoren had edged around the side of the porch, watching the bear fight in his human form. He knew it was all-but-forbidden for a
were
in bear form to attack another
were
who hadn’t shifted, and he was hedging his bets that Veronica and Max followed the rules better than he did.

From the corner of her eye, she could see Dumber lying loose in Max’s grip. She suspected that if she looked hard, she’d see his chest rising and falling, but she certainly wouldn’t blame Max if he’d killed the brute. Dumber was out of commission and Yoren knew it.

One look at his vile face fueled Veronica’s anger and fear, giving her more strength than she’d ever known. Dumb wasn’t the strongest werebear in the first place, but he was even weaker since he’d been spanked by her yesterday and was rapidly losing blood from the wounds she’d just inflicted. He knew the fight was hers, and if he didn’t save his own hide by running, that was on him.

But no. Dumb earned his nickname by leaping at her, teeth bared. Veronica easily sidestepped his clumsy attack and let fly a roar that shook the tiny windows of the cabin.

She pounced on the idiot, knocking him flat. They rolled around the clearing, biting and clawing, but it took just one well-placed chomp for her to get him under control.
 

As he lay quivering under her, she tried to rein in her bear a little. Her sharp teeth were
this
close to piercing Dumb’s jugular, she could smell it. She wanted to scare the kid, not kill him, but her raging Momma Bear had other plans. It was harder to pull her back than to take down a fully grown werebear, but she did it.

The moment she released him, he shifted into a sobbing, bloody human, crawling off to the edge of the clearing. If he’d had a tail, it would have been tucked between his legs. The moment he paused, his hands and knees gave out and he passed out where he lay.

She shot a triumphant look at Yoren, but he’d disappeared. But she and Max weren’t alone. Franklin must have seen his comrades go down, and now he was looming about ten feet tall on his hind legs, teeth bared.