Chapter 6
Becca blinked away the lust in time to see unbelievable things flash across her retinas. They were dark shadows, indistinct to her confused mind. So she did what she always did in a crisis. She made a list.
First was the sudden chill of being half dressed in Michigan at midnight.
It didn’t matter that it was spring. It was still damned cold on her bare belly and heavy breasts.
Next was irritation that the man who’d been keeping her flushed and happy was suddenly gone.
Her body was pulsing, her mind overridden by desire.
She was not a woman to be distracted by such things.
Not usually. But occasionally a man pushed all her buttons and she lost sight of reason.
And her clothes. She wasn’t proud of the fact, but there it was.
She kept herself so locked down that when a man breeched her defenses, she went nuclear meltdown into passion. Clearly that’s what had happened.
Which is when her vision finally cleared.
Holy shit, he was a bear.
Item number two. Carl was a freaking huge bear.
Seeing Marty shift had been mind blowing enough, but now, in the moonlight, she saw what had to be Carl running full-bear grizzly at something.
She pulled her coat together, buttoning it quickly as she tried to make out form from shadow.
Carl stopped at a dark lump on the ground, nosing it gently.
A boy!
“Theo!” she screamed and ran forward.
Carl was straddling the child, but at her cry, he turned toward her and roared. Not just a quiet grumble, but a full-out bellow that knocked her back on her heels.
Oh shitshitshitshitshit. He was going to eat Theo!
“Get away from him!” she screamed.
She had no illusions that she could frighten a five-hundred-pound grizzly, but maybe she could get through to the man inside the bear. She didn’t think Carl would ever hurt a child, least of all Theo, but who knew what a bear would do?
“Get away!” she screamed again as she ran forward. Straight at a grizzly. What the hell was she doing? She didn’t even have a weapon, and her damned coat had popped open again. But she couldn’t stop. Theo needed her.
So she ran while Carl roared at her again.
“Get away!” Damn it, she needed a gun. Or a big rock. Something to…
She heard a pop. It was barely audible over the pounding in her ears, but something had happened.
She saw Carl turn his head toward a tree far in the distance.
Good. Look somewhere else. Maybe she could drag Theo to safety while Carl was distracted.
It was a vain hope. No way would an animal let her drag away his dinner while he was looking at a tree, but it was all she had.
Her heels thudded on the cold ground as she just now realized how far it was. The whole clearing was probably the length of two football fields with Theo lying in the center. Carl had cleared the distance in twenty seconds, but she was huffing at only halfway there.
Then she heard Carl roar again, but this time it was at the tree. He leaped forward on all fours as he cleared half the distance to the tree.
Good! Go away!
Another breath and he reached the edge of the clearing. She heard another pop, this one distinctive because she’d been listening for it. A gun? No, she’d heard guns. That wasn’t it. But it was something like that, which meant there was someone in the tree shooting at Carl.
“Don’t shoot!” she screamed. “He’s…” What? A nice bear?
But Carl reared up on his hind legs, roaring as he tore into the bare branches of the tree.
Shit, shit, shit!
There was nothing she could do for the stupid hunter. Thankfully, she’d reached Theo and skidded to his side on her knees. “Come on, honey. Get up. We got to move, honey.”
She was babbling even as she saw that it wasn’t her nephew. This was an older boy with a square jaw and freckles on his dirty face. Something about his nose reminded her of Marty, so she guessed she was looking at Justin. Didn’t matter. Either way, she had to get the child to safety.
She leaned down and tried to pick up the boy. Adrenaline helped, but not enough. She managed to flop him around a bit before her arms gave out. Fine. She’d drag him.
“Come on, kiddo.” She grabbed his wrists and started pulling. “We gotta go.”
It was forever away to get back to the weeping willow. The tree line was closer. Getting under cover was the better choice, even if it wasn’t nearly far enough away from Carl and the idiot with the gun.
She was just starting to get traction when she glanced down at the boy.
What the hell is that sticking out of his chest?
At first, she’d thought it was blood, but it was a different color of red and…
A dart? What the hell is a dart doing sticking out of him?
The answer hit her, and she started pulling for all she was worth. A tranquilizer dart. Someone had shot the boy…
Oh, shit. He was shooting Carl, too.
She looked back to the roaring grizzly shredding the tree.
Her mind raced through all the horrible reports she’d heard about psycho militants holed up in compounds throughout Michigan.
That’s the only people she could think of who’d be shooting tranq darts in the middle of the night.
Psychos with an ax to grind. Maybe against shifters.
Was Carl slowing down? How many times had he been shot? She hadn’t heard any more pops, but that didn’t mean anything. Given the noise Carl was making, she wouldn’t have been able to hear a heavy metal rock band.
She needed help. She needed her damned cell phone.
Pocket. Coat.
Hell, she was an idiot. She had her cell on her. But she couldn’t just stand there in the open. Not with someone shooting at them. But it was too far to the tree line. Which meant her best bet was to lay low while she called in reinforcements.
She dropped Justin’s arms and flattened herself down between the boy and where Carl now stalked through the trees. She didn’t think bears could stalk, but he seemed to be, and she could hear his low growl like the angry rumble of a pissed-off train.
At least he was conscious.
She dragged out her cell and dialed 911 with shaking fingers. Then she held it to her ear while she pulled the dart out of Justin’s chest. The drug would already be in his system, but no sense leaving it sitting there in case it hadn’t.
“911. How can I help?”
It was that same too-chipper voice that she’d heard earlier tonight. Before, she’d hated the woman for being in Carl’s pocket, but now she was grateful. “Help,” she rasped. “I’m at Carl’s checkpoint. Justin’s here. He’s unconscious. Carl’s gone bear at the trees and someone’s shooting.”
“Keep calm, Becca. Help is on its way.” She heard clicking sounds of a keyboard in the background. “Now tell me exactly what you see.”
Becca looked up, searching for Carl. She couldn’t see him and had no idea what that meant. He could have been knocked unconscious by who knew how many shots. Or he could be happily feasting on dead hunter.
“I don’t hear him,” she said into the phone. Though there was a mechanical noise. “I can’t see—”
Then she did see. Three guys with hoodies on motorcycles heading straight for her.
Their headlights flashed across her vision, temporarily blinding her, but she’d seen enough.
They came from different directions, though generally south of her position.
And they’d seemed to boil out of the trees fast enough that she choked on her fear.
They were a ways off, but at that speed, they’d be on her in under a minute.
“Becca!” the voice said. “What’s happening?”
“Three motorcycles,” she gasped as she leaped to her feet. She had to get Justin out of the way. If she dragged him far enough to the side, maybe the bastards would roar right past. She fumbled with the boy’s arm, dropping the phone in the process, and heaved with all her might.
A foot’s progress. Then another.
That was all she got when she saw one of the riders point at her. She had time to recognize moonlight on a gun and know that she was about to die. The very idea froze her up like a Popsicle, and she just stared. Nowhere to run with the bastards only a few dozen feet away from her and closing fast.
Then she heard that roar again. Carl in full grizzly tearing through the trees nearest her. Forty feet away at most, but the sound was loud enough that everyone flinched, including the guy with the gun.
Bang.
Not a tranquilizer this time. She prayed it missed. Couldn’t be easy to aim from a motorcycle on rough terrain, right? Since she wasn’t screaming in pain, she assumed she was okay. But now what? She couldn’t abandon Justin, and she couldn’t just stand here and die.
She crouched down, adrenaline pouring through her body.
If she could get that bastard’s gun, she could shoot at them.
Ridiculous thought to jump at a guy on a motorcycle as he sped past, but what else could she do?
Distantly, she heard the wail of sirens.
Thank God. She’d just have to hold out for a minute or two.
Then there was Carl, all bear as he tore into the dirt right in front of her.
The nearest motorcycle swerved when the bear swiped, skidding dirt as he flew past. She had a moment to register long, sharp claws, but then there was only grizzly as Carl backed up until he was practically on top of her and Justin.
He was protecting her, she realized. And thank God, because now she saw the net.
It was a dark blob stretched between the two remaining motorcycles.
Were they trying to catch Carl? They’d need a net the size of a Mack truck.
Except Carl wasn’t looking too steady. He tried to rear up onto his hind legs only to flop forward again.
Which is when she saw four little red blobs on his body. Tranquilizer darts. Shit.
Where the hell were the police?
The guys with the net swerved around, clearly regrouping. The third one was out there somewhere, too, and she spun around, looking for him.
There! With another gun, this one longer and thinner. The tranquilizer gun, and it was aimed at Carl.
“Oh, no you don’t!” she bellowed. Then she did the stupidest thing her terrified brain had ever imagined.
She leaped up to protect a grizzly bear.
After all, if they took down Carl, she was helpless.
So she leaped. And by some miracle of luck and adrenaline, she’d guessed right.
She felt the dart hit, the impact like a baseball against her ribs.
Pain bit—sharp—and she fell backward from the power of it.
She hit Carl’s butt, bouncing harmlessly off his fur. She felt him spin around, his claws flashing in the moonlight. Another roar and the sirens and the smear of starlight as her head bounced crazily on the ground.
And then…
Nothing.