Bear Run: A Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (Pine Ridge Bear Shifters Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

she heard a noise and
turned to see Deke become human again. Naked and ravaged, he was a pitiful
sight. She didn’t feel sorry for him, though. I’ll make her mine , he’d said. Fuck that. She just didn’t want
Taggart to be a cold-blooded murderer.
    When she faced Taggart again, he
was Shifting, becoming human again, and then he was. Even more bloody and
ragged than before, he stood there staring at her, his deep chest working like
a bellows, and she couldn’t help but admire the way his eight-pack quivered
with his exertions. He doubled over, bracing his hands on his muscular thighs,
and took deep breaths.
    “You shoulda let me kill him,” he
said. “He’ll just tell Kane where I am. They’ll come after me.” After a pause,
he added, “Us.”
    She felt a thrill at the word, but
she couldn’t have said why. “Let them,” she said, with more bravery than she
felt. “We’ll take them all on if we have to.”
    “Bitch,” sputtered Deke behind her,
and she spun to see him spitting out a gob of bloody saliva. “You won’t take on
shit. The wrath of Black Valley is upon the two of ya. And after I’ve ripped
out your guts, Tag, what I’ll do to your mate will—”
    He didn’t finish the sentence
because Taggart had loped over to him and smashed him across the face with a
giant fist. With a snarl, Deke slumped to the grass, unconscious.
    Alice breathed out a sigh of
relief. “He’s really an asshole, isn’t he?” When Taggart just stood there
staring down at his enemy, she approached him, gently, and, hardly daring to
believe her own gall, reached out and squeezed his arm. It was so thick and
firm she couldn’t believe it. “Are they all that bad?” she asked.
    He nodded his head, just once.
“That’s why I’m leaving,” he said. Slowly, he craned his head to look at her,
and she saw deep emotions pool in his eyes. Longing, not for her, but for
something more elusive, maybe. Freedom, she thought, but she could be wrong.
But something. That feeling hit her like a fist in the gut, but somehow it was
a welcome feeling, a warm one. It drew her to him.
    “I’ve lived my life in shadow,” he
said. “For once I want to feel the sun.”
    She knew he didn’t mean that
literally. He only meant he wanted out of a life of ignorance and hate. At
least, she thought that’s what he meant.
    She took his hand in hers. His was
huge and warm and calloused, and it dwarfed hers, but she let him lift it to
her lips and kiss it, then squeeze it firmly, but gently.
    “Me, too,” she said. As she said
it, she felt tears sting her eyes and a lump form in her throat. “Me, too.”

Chapter 4

 
 
    He stared at her, unbelieving. And for the first time, he
saw it, he truly saw it. They were both running away from their old lives,
lives lived in darkness and shame. Lives put on them by others. They had been
pressed to believe and accept things that went against their grains, but inside
they had known it was wrong, they had yearned for a way to break their bonds
and attain something more, something higher, something better. And finally they
had reached their breaking points and burst free.
    But their old lives were greedy,
and wouldn’t let them go that easily.
    “So that’s why you don’t have any
clothes,” she said. “You were running away from Black Valley when Pa shot you.”
    Gently, he released her hand. “Not
running away,” he said. “Breaking free.”
    She nodded, accepting that. “I
guess ‘running away’ isn’t very manly.”
    He shook his head. “It’s not right,
either. I’m not running away . I’m
running toward .” Unable to help
himself, he reached out and cupped her cheek. It was dirty what with all their
knocking about through the woods, but he relished her smooth skin and the way
her eyes widened, just slightly.
    “Toward what?” she said, sounding
breathless.
    His hand started to drop away. “I ...
don’t know. I only know that I want what the outside world has.”
    She