Gray Back Bad Bear(37)

You can feel her in you—your bear.

No, no, no.

She stumbled upward and patted her face. Her glasses were gone but she could see every leaf, every pine needle, every bird in the trees, every color variation in the bark.

He wouldn’t have. Matt cared about her. He wouldn’t do this.

But his bear was broken. He had told her it had been hard not to Turn her. Maybe he’d given into the temptation while she slept. She hadn’t felt good last night and had gone to bed with him right after dinner with the Gray Backs. She’d felt woozy and sick.

Crying, she ran her hand over the blood that coated her shoulder. Her palm came back crimson.

This wasn’t a dream.

“Matt?” she called to the unfamiliar woods. Another sob clogged her throat before she called his name louder. “Matt!” Her strangled voice dipped to nothing as she looked around. “Help me.”

With one more glance at the ruined mattress, she sniffed the air. The intense smell of pine burned her nose and overpowered everything. Where was she?

There was no sound of running water, so she couldn’t be near the river, and when she looked through the canopy above her, the mountains surrounding her didn’t look familiar. The sun was directly above, and no help on direction. She needed to find a road or running water…something.

What if she was in Boarlander territory?

Fear froze her in place, and she began panting again. Harrison or any of his bears would kill her for trespassing.

Why had Matt done this? Why had he Turned her and left her to die alone in the woods?

Forcing her muscles to move, she stumbled off into the brush.

It didn’t make any sense. Matt had made love to her last night. Been tender to make up for taking her hard at Bear Trap Falls. He’d been on the cusp of telling her he loved her. She’d felt it. And now this?

Creed had been right. The Gray Backs were broken and couldn’t handle anyone outside of their crew. She’d just been too blinded by her affection for Matt to realize it.

Another snarl left her lips as the gravity of her mate’s betrayal slipped over her shoulders.

Consequences be damned, she was going to kill him for what he’d done to her.





Chapter Thirteen




Matt hooked his hands on his hips and frowned at Willa’s Tacoma, still parked by his truck beside his trailer. Where the fuck was she?

The hairs rose on the back of his neck, and when he turned, Easton was leaned against his truck, arms crossed, staring at him. Weird. Usually Easton spent his days off in his shack in the woods.

“Where’s trouble?” Jason asked.

Willa had become a part of this place over the last week. It was really strange coming home to an empty house, and apparently he wasn’t the only one who thought so. “I don’t know. Maybe she went to the falls?”

“Why didn’t she take her truck?” Jason asked.

Matt wondered that himself. Willa was too smart to go wondering off in the woods alone, and the bombshells had left mid-week, so there was no way she hitched a ride with them.

The snap of a branch sounded from the woods, followed by a soft sob.

“Willa?” Matt called, instincts kicking up.

“Why’s she crying?” Jason asked, trotting behind him.

“I don’t know. Creed!” Matt called to his alpha over his shoulder.

Willa stumbled out from behind a tight grove of trees, and Matt skidded to a stop in horror.

She was naked and covered in caked, dried blood. Her dark hair was snarled, and she looked like she was having trouble walking, but that wasn’t what had stopped him in his tracks.

Her eyes were churning an inhuman green color.

“No.” His voice cracked on the word. “No!”

“Why?” she cried, stumbling toward him. “Why did you do this to me?” She was crying now, wailing as her shoulders shook with emotion.

“I didn’t. I wouldn’t.” What the fuck had happened? Boarlanders? Ashe Crew? He was going to kill the mother fucker who’d Turned her. “Where were you?”

“In the woods.” Her eyes narrowed to lethal slits. “In the woods where you dropped me on a mattress to bleed and shred it, just like your dream. You left me to wander these woods, lost and afraid for six fucking hours.”

“I wouldn’t. Willa, I swear I didn’t do this.”

“Liar!” she roared, the word tapering into a snarl.

“Whoa,” Creed said, stepping beside Matt. His hands were out in a soothing gesture meant to calm wary horses. It seemed to be pissing Willa off more, though. “You feel that?” he murmured.

“Yeah, she’s a fucking dominant,” Jason said.

“She can’t Change right now though, right?” Clinton asked from farther behind them where he’d stopped. He smelled like fear. “She’s already Changed. She won’t be able to do it again for weeks. Right?”