Heart of the Bear (Hells Canyon Shifters Book 5) Read Online Free Page A

you’re not going to kill me,” she demanded.
    “I risked my neck to save you from that lioness and from my alpha. If I wanted you dead, I could’ve saved myself the pain and let them have you.”
    Angry tears filled her eyes as she thought about going back to that awful camp. “Swear to me, you won’t let them hurt me.”
    Jesse’s sigh tapered into a growl. “I swear.”

Chapter Three
    The walk back was the longest, hardest thing she’d ever done. It took all her strength not to fall apart, but Jesse had really pissed her off when he implied she was weak, and she was not going to cry in front of him. She wasn’t weak. She just hadn’t expected people to turn into giant, raging, wild animals.
    She still wanted to find a way to convince herself she’d imagined it, but every time she did, she just had to look back at Jesse with the obvious claw mark across his shoulder, and she couldn’t deny what she’d seen.
    “Does that hurt?”
    “My shoulder? Yeah, it hurts like hell.”
    “Are you immortal?”
    “Like a vampire?” Jesse chuckled from behind her where he apparently preferred to walk like she was some sort of prisoner. “Definitely not immortal. We die just like everyone else, but we heal easier and don’t get sick. Not like humans. This mark will be nothing but a scar in a few days.”
    “Are all of those people in the camp like you?”
    “Yeah. There aren’t many of us left. We’re just trying to survive out here. We aren’t hurting anyone, just trying to live, like everyone else.”
    Having Jesse at her back bothered her. It was as if some inane human instinct long-buried by city life was kicking up her urge to run or, at least, walk beside him so she could keep a wary eye on whether he was going to turn into a bear again and eat her. What he’d said rang true, though. If he had wanted her dead, he could’ve just stepped out of the way and let the lion or that huge bear have her. He hadn’t. Instead, he’d saved her.
    She’d have to thank him when he wasn’t kidnapping her.
    Her legs locked up when she crested a ridge and saw the camp again. “I can’t do this.”
    “You can and will,” a man said as he emerged from the forest shadows. He was tall with intense, blue eyes and a grim set to his mouth. “You brought a lion shifter onto my land and now pose a threat to the people who live here.”
    Jesse twitched his head to the man and said, “This is Ethan, alpha of the Seven Devils Clan.”
    The man’s eyes narrowed, and he swung his attention to Jesse. “Since you took it upon yourself to lead her into my camp, without my consent or knowledge, she’s your responsibility.” He pulled a pair of handcuffs from his back pocket and tightened one side around Rae Lynn’s wrist.
    “I like where this is going,” Jesse joked.
    Ethan gritted his teeth and yanked Jesse’s arm, then closed the other side of the handcuffs to his wrist. “I’ll give you the keys when I can trust she won’t run away again.” Turning on his heel, the alpha strode off toward a blond-haired woman who was holding Samuel.
    “Wait,” Jesse called out as he frowned at their joined wrists. “Are you serious? I’m still on the job. How am I supposed to work with her attached to me?”
    “You picked her. You figure it out.”
    “No, no, no. I didn’t pick her. I just—Ethan!”
    The alpha disappeared into a log cabin at the end of a row of homes. The sign over the door read Ranger Station Office , and the woman holding Samuel followed him inside.
    Rae Lynn tried to slide her hand out of the manacle, but Ethan had secured it too tightly for escape. Devastated, she dragged her eyes up Jesse’s chest to the injury across his shoulder. It looked like it wasn’t bleeding anymore, but it was still raw-looking and open.
    Her attention dropped between his thighs again, and she jerked her gaze away, embarrassed. “Can you put some clothes on before you drag me to whatever job you have to do?”
    “Huh?”