Pacific Northwest Werebears(106)

“We’re just like you, Tony. Just a little different. I’m sorry your brother didn’t give us a chance to explain. We’d never hurt anyone, we just want to live in peace,” Dax said quietly. Still kneeling he was at a serious disadvantage from this angle to even shift and get the jump on the loony tunes in front of him.

“No, no, I’m not going to jail. I’ll tell everyone what you are! They’ll hunt you down, and I’ll help,” Tony screeched at Dax.

Tony heard something and whipped his head around to see Cage’s bear at the edge of the camp. Without looking back, Tony fired the gun and let it drop to the ground as he jumped on his bike and sped off.

Conner took a second to see Dax slump to the ground, but his instincts were to take off after Tony. Shifting in a painful shower of sparks, his body ripping through his clothes, his bear was off running in the blink of an eye. Tony’s bike slowed as he had to maneuver around some logs and Conner was able to latch onto his leg. His bear’s long canine teeth digging through the calf muscle. The taste of blood had Conner’s bear roaring. This was the man that had almost killed his brothers’ mates. He wanted to expose who they were. He’d shot Cage and now Dax, he was too dangerous.

Conner lost his hold as Tony gunned the engine and swerved. He shot through the forest and Conner gave chase. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Wyatt running along the side trying to anticipate Tony’s direction.

Tony did a sharp turn away from Wyatt and made the mistake of heading back in the direction of his camp.

Wyatt could smell the blood and knew Conner had at least wounded him. They chased him back to the camp and as Tony turned at the tent he came up against an eight foot tall Kodiak bear standing up in front of him. Tony swerved, laying his bike into the dirt. Cage grabbed the front wheel of the bike in his massive jaws and flicked it behind him with just a swing of his head. Tony rolled to his back scrambling in the dirt.

Wyatt and Conner caught up to the scene and Wyatt grabbed an ankle sinking his teeth in to keep Tony from crawling away. Tony flailed on the ground and reached for a knife that was strapped to his leg. Conner got there first, clamping down on his wrist. The bears pinned him to the ground as Cage’s bear approached.

Wyatt let out a long growl, his vote on the subject was clear. His mate was still suffering from what Tony had done to her. As Alpha, this was Cage’s call.

He approached slowly, growling towards the man cowering on the ground. He was whimpering, but still managing to call them every name in the book.

Cage made his decision, he rumbled low to his brothers and then wrapped his massive jaws around the cowering man’s neck. In an instant, it was over, each brother extracting their pound of flesh.

Conner dropped the hand that was in his mouth and went over to check on Dax. His cougar was lying in the dirt, blood smearing his side.

Cage walked up behind him having shifted back to human. “He managed to shift before shock set in. It was a through and through, should heal quickly.”

The cougar had witnessed the death of Tony and was quietly assessing the group. The big cat huffed, acknowledging what the brothers had done not only for their own family, but for his. Taking a life was never an easy thing, even if it was justified.

The brothers had to wait until Dax was able to get up and make his way down the mountain. They had all shredded their clothes so it was fur only to get back home.

Conner bought plane tickets for Dax and himself the minute he got home.





Chapter 16




Mackenzie was sitting in the grass between the tall runs of grapes. She’d walked far enough in, that when she sat, she couldn’t even hear the noise of their workers in the adjoining fields or the tour busses racing down the road looking for their next tasting room fix.

She was leaning against a post, soaking up the sun. The scent of ripening grapes surrounding her, lulling her into a semi-sleep state. She hadn’t been getting much sleep lately. She’d dream of hazel colored eyes. Green and brown like the forests around him. Him, Conner, the reason she couldn’t sleep, the reason she couldn’t eat. The reason she was so angry at the universe that she couldn’t even stand to be around people.

The fates had royally screwed her over. Maybe in a past life she’d done something really atrocious, she thought. This was some kind of karmic bitch slap.

She was starting to doze off, when her cat perked up. Turning her head to look up and down the row, she didn’t see anything. But the hairs on the back of her arms were standing up. She knew the Tony situation had been handled. Dax had called and let the family know they were all safe. He managed to slip in at the end that he’d been shot. Which, of course, had his mother feigning the vapors.