Claim the Bear Read Online Free Page B

cautious step toward them, then paused. Something just above her instincts lifted the fur on the nape of her neck. Her skin tingled with the growing wrongness in these woods.
    Head lifted, she studied the direction Thomas would be coming from, but nothing there gave her the feeling of doom like the deer trail that led through the trees in front of her. She could hear it now, crashing brush and chugging breath. She hunched down and pulled a tight circle. The rocks behind her limited her escape options. Either she went back the way Thomas was chasing her from, or made a run for it right toward the terrifying sound of something big crashing through the now silent forest. She hissed out of a sense of self-preservation and ran along the cliff.
    When she saw the savage bear that was barreling down on her through the brush, she froze and crouched, eyes going wide with horror.
    Bear.
    She was definitely going to die by bear today.
    ****
    Dillon pushed his legs harder, digging his oversized claws into the mud with each lunge. His breath came in pants and grunts as he tried desperately to catch Ethan. Damn, the alpha was fast when he was focused on a hunt.
    He crashed through a hedge and skidded to a stop. Whatever he’d expected to see when he found the lion, it wasn’t this. A single lioness was cowered against a rock ledge as Ethan barreled down on her. There was no fight in her face, only terror.
    Dillon bellowed a plea, but Ethan didn’t even react as he closed the remaining space between himself and the cat. He was going to kill her.
    Shit, this was going to hurt. Dillon catapulted forward as the slap of Ethan’s paw echoed against the lioness’s shoulder. With a roar of determination, Dillon launched into Ethan’s side like a battering ram, and together, they tumbled end over end, fighting and clawing and bleeding each other until all Dillon could see was the inhuman rage in Ethan’s eyes. No, not Ethan. Ethan wasn’t here right now. This was all Bear, the uncontrollable, insatiable animal inside of Reese’s mate.
    Bawling, bellowing, slapping, biting, the fight dragged on an on as Dillon tried desperately to protect his neck from the four inch long canines Ethan was trying to sink into him. And just when all was lost and Dillon would die at the teeth of his friend, a mass of black fur rammed Ethan and dislodged him from his dominant position.
    Reese was fighting Ethan just like Bron had trained her. Relentlessly, she bit and clawed, staying too close for Ethan to get a good slap in. Dillon bunched his leg muscles and pushed against him to protect the small black bear who had entered the grizzly fight, but Ethan’s focus was back on the lion. Or on the place the lion used to be. Now, there was only the body of a woman.
    Reese’s roar turned to a scream as she shrank into her human form. She threw herself in front of the crumpled lion shifter, hands raised in surrender and eyes pleading. Ethan skidded to a stop as his mate stood naked, vulnerable and bleeding before him.
    “She’s hurt, Bear,” Reese said, heaving breath. “She isn’t fighting you back. If you hurt her like this, I’ll never forgive you.”
    Ethan’s back was to Dillon, so he couldn’t see if his eyes held any logic or not, but from the way Reese softened, she’d likely got through to him.
    Dillon grunted with the change back to his human form and ran for the woman. She lay on her stomach, and he couldn’t rip his gaze away from the weeping twin claw marks that ran the length of her back. “We have to get her to Muriel,” he breathed. Did he hate the lion shifters for the risk they posed to Abigail? Hell yes, he loathed them. But something wasn’t right here. Why on God’s green and blue planet would a single lioness risk crossing over into bear territory, and all while gravely injured?
    Gently, he rocked the woman until she rolled into his arms. He clutched her tightly against his chest, his warm skin clashing against her cold. She opened