Red And The Bear (Grimm Bears 1) (7 page)

Jack roared and reared up.
The wolves came at him together.

Snarling and growling, they
scratched and bit at him, attacking him from all angles. Jack
smashed his large paw into the face of a wolf and stabbed his claws
into the wolf's body when it hit the ground. The wolf howled in
agony as Jack disemboweled him.

Jack spun round and snapped
his jaws around a leg. He dragged the wolf in front of him and
decapitated the wolf with one powerful swipe of his claws.

Only Trenton was left. He
was more wily than the others, and he had more stamina.

He moved quickly out of
Jack's reach and crouched, watching for an opening.

He was going for the jugular.

Jack felt blood flowing down
his body to drip at his feet. There were deep gouges and ugly wounds
all over his body, but the fight was far from over.

He had to bring Trenton down.
And then he would deal with Lucien.

Jack crouched slowly, and
stilled. He waited for Trenton to make the first mistake.

Trenton's eyes flicked to
Lucien. It was just a fraction of a second, but the instant
Trenton's eyes left him, Jack pounced.

Never take your eyes off the
enemy.

Jack clamped his teeth around
the wolf's neck and locked his jaws. He bit down hard and gave a
sharp jerk. There was a sickening snapping sound as he broke the
wolf's neck.

Jack released the lifeless
body and whirled round at Nan's furious cry.

“Monster! You killed
my granddaughter! I will kill you!” Nan screamed.

CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN

Rose watched in horror as Nan
flicked out a small pocket knife from her apron and tried to stab
Lucien in the eye. Jack had just fought and killed the three wolves,
and he was bleeding profusely.

Nan was kicking and screaming
as Lucien held her around the throat. She flailed and jabbed the
small blade at Lucien, shrieking and sobbing hysterically, “You
hurt my lovely, beautiful granddaughter! You monster! You ruined
her. She was only a young girl. How could you do that! You scrum!
You piece of shit!” she screeched.

“Your
granddaughter...was a whore, a slut,” Lucien said, taunting Nan
with his words. His terrible, cruel words struck Nan straight in the
heart like knives. Lucien pulled Nan closer to twist those knives in
her heart. “She loved what I did to her. She was begging for
it,” he whispered.

“How dare you!”
Nan screamed. “I will kill you! I swear!” Tears and
snot dripped from her face.

Nan lurched forward with a
sudden, violent movement and slammed the blade into Lucien's
shoulder.

Lucien bellowed in rage and
pain and his eyes became fully wolf.

“Stupid old woman!”
he roared.

He raised his hand high, and
his claws glinted just before they descended towards Nan's throat.

Jack lunged towards Nan, but
Rose stood where she was.

She didn't move a step.

A clear shot rang out, and
Rose slowly lowered her smoking gun.

Her aim was true. She didn't
miss.

There was a bullet hole right
in the middle of Lucien's forehead.

Lucien's eyes swiveled to
Rose just before he crumpled to the ground.

Rose ran to Nan and gathered
her in her arms.

“I remembered to put
silver bullets in this time,” Rose whispered fiercely into
Nan's hair. “I remembered.”

“Oh Rose...” Nan
sobbed and hugged her tightly. “I didn't want you to have to
do it. After all, he...he's your...”

“He's not my father,”
Rose snarled vehemently. “He's a wolf who raped my mother.
And he was going to kill you. He's not my family! You are my
family, Nan. You!”

“Rose...”

Rose turned away from the
dead wolf and buried her face in Nan's neck. She didn't regret
shooting Lucien Westclaw. She would do it again, to save her brave,
beloved Nan.

Rose felt warm fur against
her back, and she looked up to see Jack standing guard over them.

Jack was magnificent as a
bear. His fur was a deep golden brown and his eyes were still the
same arresting, mesmerizing shade of green.

Rose reached up to touch
Jack's face and smiled through her tears.

“My family,” she
whispered. “My beautiful family.”

CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN

Jack turned away from his
computer to answer the phone. It was Penny, his marketing director.
Jack discussed the latest marketing plans with Penny for a few
minutes. His staff could always reach him and he was never too busy
to listen to their concerns and suggestions.

Jack put down the phone and
read his incoming emails. He replied to them promptly and turned his
attention to the other documents on his desk.

There was a knock on his
door. Jack looked up to see Rose walk in with a broad smile.

“Hey.”

“Hey, darling.”
Jack stood up immediately and went to kiss her. He put his hand on
her swollen belly and was rewarded with a swift kick against his
palm.

Jack lowered his face to
Rose's tummy. “Ah, you're a feisty little lass. Just like
your mom,” he murmured delightedly.

Rose laughed. “Are you
done with work?” she asked. “Your brothers are arriving
any minute now. We'll can start dinner once they're here. Nan
roasted two turkeys and there's soup, mashed potatoes, salad and
pie...”

“Only Hans and Derek
are coming. Not the entire company,” Jack chuckled.

“Your managers came
last Friday. Before that, your whole legal department came for
dinner. And three directors will be coming next week,” Rose
said, ticking off her fingers. “I think we've had your entire
company over for dinner already.”

“That's why they keep
insisting on coming out here for their meetings,” Jack said.
“You and Nan have been feeding them so well.”

Rose smiled. “Yep.
Nan loves having your family and staff over.”

Jack logged off his computer
and walked out of his office with her. He looked around the
sprawling living room and saw vases of fresh flowers on the table.
Rose had decorated the place beautifully. The long dining table
often served as a meeting table for his staff.

Jack had renovated Nan's
little cottage and added huge rooms and extensions to it. He had his
large office beside their bedroom, and Nan's bedroom was now almost
as big as her brand new modern kitchen.

Jack had sold his old
sprawling mansion and settled comfortably in Redcape Grove. He was
still the CEO of the Grimm Group, and he knew everything that went on
in the company. His staff still reported to him, and they came down
to Redcape Grove very frequently for meetings and dinner.

His brothers also came to
visit and discuss some aspects of the business with him. But mainly,
they came for the food.

Nan and Rose were now the
proud owners of The Cottage chain of restaurants. The Cottage In the
Woods in Redcape Grove was now the largest restaurant in the chain.
Many tourists and visitors came from other towns to dine at The
Cottage In the Woods and Redcape Grove was now quite a lively,
thriving little town. The Grimm Group had opened Cottage restaurants
in other towns and cities, and Nan and Rose had been traveling to
train the staff and chefs of the new restaurants. Nan and Rose owned
the majority of the shares in the chain, while the Grimm Group held
the other shares. Jack traveled frequently for business as well, but
he made it a point never to be away from home for more than three
nights in a month.

But with Rose's pregnancy,
they had cut back their expansions plans for a while. Rose and Jack
wanted to concentrate on their most precious project right now.
Their baby girl.

The doorbell rang and Jack
went to open the door. Hans and Derek stood grinning at the
doorstep.

“Is dinner ready?”
Derek asked eagerly.

Jack rolled his eyes.

“You're here solely for
the food, aren't you?”

“No! I came to see
you, Rose and Nan!” Derek answered in a wounded voice. “Hello
Rose.” Derek and Hans went to kiss Rose on the cheek and
bounded into the kitchen to greet Nan.

Nan came out, with Hans and
Derek each carrying a huge roast turkey. Jack and Rose went to help
get the rest of the food onto the dining table.

“Let's eat,” Nan
declared. “And no business talk at the dinner table tonight,”
she said sternly.

“Yes, Nan!” they
said in unison.

They passed the food around,
and everyone ate and talked and laughed. His brothers asked when
their niece was due to arrive and Derek let slip that Hans had
already bought a dozen dolls for the baby.

Hans and Derek talked freely
about their late nephew as well, and Jack joined in with funny,
heartwarming anecdotes and stories about Alex. Nan and Rose had
helped him sort out Alex's photographs and they put all the photos
into a lovely album for him. Their little daughter would soon have
her very own album too. And the album would just keep growing bigger
and thicker as more photographs were added every year.

Nan was right. Love never
dies. Never.

Love just kept growing and
became better, brighter and more beautiful every single day.

~
End
~

About the Author

Natalie Kristen is a writer
who enjoys mixing the sweet with the spicy, the light with the dark,
the possibilities with the unimaginable. She enjoys exploring
paranormal and dystopian worlds, deep desires and inspiring romances.
She is hopelessly addicted to coffee, chocolate, reading and
writing. She loves to hear from readers so please feel free to
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