Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
Colton
“Oh, okay. Sure.” She looks at me. “Instead of me filling them in over the phone, they’d like me to come by and talk to them there. The hospital, I mean. I’m sorry, it’s the police. My brother is at the hospital.”
“Which one?”
She asks, listens, and then says, “Mercy General.” I nod. That’s a good hospital. She was there for smoke inhalation just a short while ago. “Okay,” she says, “I’ll be there in ten or fifteen minutes. Okay. Officer Grant. Thank you.”
She hangs up and looks at me. “I’m not sure when I’ll be back.”
“Come on,” I say, “I’m going to drive you.”
About three or four minutes later, just enough time for her to put on some more clothes, we leave her house. “You don’t mind?” she asks. It’s the tenth or eleventh time she asks.
“Not at all,” I reply. We walk out of her front door, and I can tell immediately something is wrong. “Stand behind me.”
“What?”
“Right now, Gianna. Behind me.” She hasn’t heard me use this tone of voice before. I see surprise on her face and I see concern but no anger or resistance. That’s good. She makes her way behind me and it takes another two steps before the danger reveals itself.
Four men step out from the side of the house. “You need to go right back in the house, Big Man,” one of them says. “This ain’t about you.”
I can hear Kyle. I assume it’s Kyle. He’s screaming through a gag or someone’s hand in a vehicle close to here. “This isn’t about Gianna,” I say, “and you’re not welcome here.”
They draw weapons. As they do, I say, “Gianna, I want you to lie down on the ground.”
“But.”
I use that commanding tone again. “It’s not a request, Gianna. Get down now.”
One of the men, a blonde who probably thinks having his hair short and spiked makes him look like a badass, says, “She’s coming with us. Once we get what we want, we’ll let her go. Nobody needs to get hurt here.”
“Four men in front of me need to get hurt,” I say, “and the idiot you have in the car with Kyle. He might get hurt, too.”
The blonde looks surprised for a moment but then his eyes narrow. “You could have done this the easy way but now you’re dead.”
From behind me, Gianna screams, “Colton, don’t…
” But her voice disappears when I shift.
Unfortunately for Blondie and the other three goons, I haven’t shifted in a while, and I’m feeling particularly wild.
The terror on their faces only spurs the animal in me.
I lumber forward right past them and then rear up so I’m on my hind legs.
What I’ve just done is prevent their escape to their car.
The blonde doesn’t know what to do, so he lifts his gun and fires.
The problem is he’s firing a handgun at a bear that’s almost two and a half times the size of the largest black bear ever recorded.
I barely register the sting of the bullets.
Even with a more powerful gun, an instantaneous shift back to human and then to bear again would heal me.
This man has no chance and I’m already pissed off.
I swipe my paw and feel it rending the skin, flesh, and blood vessels of his throat.
It doesn’t quite decapitate him but it most certainly shows the other three they have no chance.
I could let them go.
They’ll never bother Gianna again with me just warning them at this point.
They’d never bother her brother if I told them not to.
I’m too angry. Once they came for Gianna, they decided their fate.
There is too much animal in me to show mercy in a situation like this.
Two stand their ground while the third runs.
I barrel past the two and rush after the third.
Bears are faster than humans for short distances, and I have the advantage of a giant stride.
I have him in just three steps. I swipe his legs out from under him. The swipe breaks one of the legs and shreds a lot of the skin and muscle of the other. He looks up at me, whimpering. I just stepped on his face and felt it crush under my paw. Then, I turn back to the other two behind me.
Look, let me tell you I’m not proud or maliciously excited.
There’s no sadistic joy here. My animal is loose and raging.
You’ve heard a she-bear protecting her cubs.
This is a similar thing. They threatened Gianna.
They must die. The instinct is stronger than anything I could do.
The other two are terrified but they don’t run.
Too bad. The human within me might win the battle if they run.
I charge them and they fire shots wildly, but there’s no time for them to run. I’m on them before they can do a damned thing. I leap in between them, and bone is crushed, flesh is ripped, blood is spilled, and life is over. They lay dead on the lawn and I quickly shift back to human.
But I don’t forget the man at the car.
He’s easy to spot. He’s the one trying to make the front door of the SUV work. He’s in a panic but he finally gets his hands and the car to cooperate. Too late. Just as he gets it open, I reach him, grab him by the neck, and slam him against the vehicle. His keys fall to the street.
He starts stammering. “Don’t think I’m any less dangerous in this form,” I say. He tries to stammer, and I slam his head against the car another time. He whimpers a little but shuts up.
I keep hold of him and reach with my other hand for the handle of the back door. I open it. I get just a glance at a scared skinny dude all tied up. “Gianna!”
She runs over to me. I can tell she’s still trying to process what is happening, but we don’t have the time to talk it over.
“Get Kyle out and to the house.” She’s wide-eyed and shocked about things, but she doesn’t hesitate to do what I say.
She nods and bends inside the car. A moment later, she backs out and helps her brother to stand. He’s looking at me with wild eyes.
I search Gianna’s face to see if she’s feeling the same terror.
I see some uncertainty there, but I also see determination.
This girl is strong as hell. As inappropriate as it is, I give her a small smile.
She gives an uncertain little grin in return, though I can tell she’s got some crying to do later in the day.
The guy squirms and I slam him again.
“Get your brother inside, Gianna.” I look at Kyle and say, “You’re not leaving Gianna’s house until I return. You understand?” He nods in terror. I look at her. “Get him inside, Gianna. I’ve got this.”
She starts leading him away while working his gag off. “Oh, and get me some clothes please.”
She pauses in the middle of working her brother’s bonds loose just to look back at me and, I guess, notice that I’m naked. She knows there is more to it. She doesn’t say anything before she returns with clothes. “Why?”
I give the guy’s neck a little squeeze and he yips. I stare him down, warning him without a word that he needs to be quiet. I take the clothes and think about how the two of us are essentially together. That’s why I have all the clothes I might need here and she has all she might need at my place.
“Because this man is going to take me to the assholes after your brother and I’ll be back when I’m satisfied they can do you no harm.
I could do that naked but what if I get pulled over for running a red light?
Some of those policewomen can get demanding and I’ll have to do things to get out of the ticket. ”
She smiles, a kind of irritated smile because she wants to be worked up and serious but I’ve dispelled that a little. “Jerk.”
“The worst. Look, call Company 417. Ask for Garrett and tell him I say you need a cleanup. He’ll show up and take care of this.”
“Maybe I should bring you another outfit, too. Just in case so you don’t have to drive home naked.”
“That’s… yes, please,” I say. As she walks away, I tell the man cowering at my feet, “You see that. See, that woman right there was born to be with a shifter.”