Gray Back Ghost Bear(36)

“Hurry,” Tessa’s whisper urged.

Jason slammed his foot on the gas and took the first switchback dangerously fast. His heart pounded hard against his sternum, faster and faster, as if it was urging him on, too.

This was silly. He blasted through the Grayland Mobile Park and onto the dirt road that led to the ranger station. He’d probably get there and she’d be making her rounds, looking at him like he’d lost his mind, and Tessa would get a good cackling laugh at her sick joke.

A shot rang out. It was faint, but the blast short, perking up his sensitive ears and making them tingle. Whoever had pulled that trigger had hit what they were aiming for.

“Oh God,” he murmured as he spotted the trashed ranger station ahead. The snow hadn’t quite covered the debris underneath it yet.

More gunfire echoed through the woods as he blasted past the tower. Something was wrong. Georgia wasn’t here, and the ATV was gone, too. God no. No, no, no.

“Hang on, baby. I’m coming,” he gritted out as he zoomed around a brush pile. Georgia’s ATV tracks were faint and half filled in with snow, but he could still read them.

A whooshing sound drowned out the gunfire and threw his truck to the side. He fishtailed, but regained control. Above him, a gigantic blue and cream-colored dragon was pushing himself through the air, his powerful wings beating down so hard, trees bent with the wind he created under him.

“Fuck!” Jason yelled. Tessa wasn’t playing a joke on him. The only thing that pulled Damon Daye from his human skin was if one of his people were in trouble.

Georgia, Georgia, Georgia, hang on.

A smaller dragon flew overhead. Damon’s daughter, Diem, was flying with the same urgency, and to his left, a giant grizzly charged through the woods. It was Tagan, alpha of the Ashe Crew, and his bears were running behind him, shaking the earth under his tires with their powerful strides.

The gunfire had died off, and Jason could see fire now. Tall flames licked the trees in rows as black smoke billowed into the sky.

He slammed on the brake and threw it in park. His feet hit the ground running. He could smell her now, his Georgia. Georgia, iron, and smoke. Animal and injured pine bark. The metallic smell of bullets and the faint scent of smoke that came from gun barrels when they fired.

Flames everywhere. “Georgia!” he yelled as he ran as fast as he could.

There.

She was lying beside Harrison in his bear form, clutching his paw as she struggled to breathe. Blood. Blood everywhere, and her chest rocked with her efforts to stay alive. Blood on snow. Red soaking white. Her face so pale, and those beautiful freckles stark against her colorless cheeks.

She was crying. Tears streamed down the corners of her eyes as he reached her.

“I thought you wouldn’t get here in time,” she whispered brokenly.

“Georgia,” Jason whispered, pulling her head onto his lap.

One look at her stomach, and he ripped his gaze away as his vision blurred with tears. This wasn’t fixable. “No. No! I just got you!”

Georgia’s face crumpled as more tears streamed down her face. “Jason. Jason, I’m sorry. I wanted to tell you that. I’m so sorry.”

“Baby,” he crooned, resting his forehead against hers. “I don’t want you to go.”

“Change her,” Tessa whispered. “Claim her.”

Jason looked up, and she stood there with the saddest eyes. A wall of flames was behind her, but through them, he could see bears battling, tearing and ripping at the bastards who had done this. Georgia would be avenged, but that didn’t make him feel better. Not now.

Tessa disappeared and then reappeared right in front of him. She flickered like an old television screen. “Do it fast before it’s too late. Save her. Save yourself.”

He looked down at his mate’s crumpled body as the life left her eyes. “I love you,” he told Georgia, ripping her open jacket to the side. “Forgive me.”

He pulled her sweater away to expose her shoulder, and then he clamped his teeth down until he touched bone.

She didn’t scream. She didn’t flinch either, and when he pulled back, his mouth wet with her blood, her eyes were closed.

“No!” he roared. He laid her down and pressed his palms hard against her chest, over and over. If he could keep her heart beating with CPR until she Changed… “You can’t leave me, Georgia. Not now. I need you. Do you hear me? I need you!”

“Jason,” Creed said as soft as the breeze.

He put a hand on Jason’s shoulder, but he shook his alpha off. “Get the fuck away from me.” He breathed into her mouth.

How long had he been doing this? Minutes? Hours?