ROMANCE: Highland Bear Love : A BBW Paranormal Historical Billionaire Romance (Fantasy Alpha Male Shape Shifter Short Stories) Read Online Free Page B

as he walked away. She couldn’t escape, even if she tried, not with three men sitting in the limo with her – three wolves.
                  Knowing his men wouldn’t touch her, not without death as the penalty, she allowed her eyes to close. She welcomed sleep. At least in her sleep, she was not living out her worst fears.
                  A dream filtered her away from reality. She was by the lake, rays of sunlight shining down on her peacefully. It was such a sweet serenity. She lost herself in it, opening her arms out wide as if evoking the sun, embracing its warmth. There was a familiar smell around her – earthy. Like Dermott’s dress shirt. Like Dermott himself.
                  He was nowhere to be seen, but she wasn’t alone. A little bear cub stood beside her, reaching down to splash her paws in the water. She caught a fish, and instantly turned into a little girl with dark brown pigtails in her hair and cheeks full of freckles. “Look, mamma, I’m strong,” she sang, waving the fish around.
                  Kendell looked around, but there was no one else there. “Are you talking to me?”
                  The girl giggled. “Of course I am. Look how strong I am, mamma. And look how strong you are too.”
                  Kendell suddenly woke, gasping for air. She hadn’t wanted to leave the dream, she’d wanted to scoop the little girl up in her arms and hold her tight, but a noise had woken her. It sounded like a gunshot coming from the club.
                  Reliving the dream, Kendell looked down as she clenched her fist, wondering how true the little girl’s words were. Her fear transformed to anger. Thinking of the way Freddie had slapped her, and the hopelessness she’d felt unable to defend herself, she drew her fist back and punched her hand through the window of the limo. The glass broke on impact. It was easy, like slipping her hand through water.
                  Before the wolves could stop her, she unlocked the door and ran, heading down a dark alleyway. Night had descended upon the city. The wolves chased her. When they caught up, one reached for her, grabbing her arm, but she pushed him away, sending him flying against the graffiti on the wall. The others were stunned. They pointed their guns at her, but they hesitated, not knowing if they should shoot Freddie’s prize. She stopped as well. Her strength was powerful, but it was no match against a bullet. It was a standoff, their weapons against her strength. Eventually, Freddie broke through the line of wolves, seething, his own gun pointed at her.
                  “You think you can escape me!” he shouted. “I am all you have, little bird. The sooner you realize that, the better off you’ll be.”
                  The smart thing to do would be to keep her mouth shut. But she couldn’t. Freddie may have control over her fate, but he did not own her mind. “You disgust me,” she snapped. “I prefer death over another moment with you.”
                  “As you wish,” he fumed, and he shot her.
     
    ***

 
    Chapter Four
     
    Dermott
     
                  As he drove back to the city in his SUV, Dermott tried to focus on the meeting he had the next morning, but he could not get thoughts of Kendell off his mind. Finding his bedroom empty had not made him angrier, it had left him in despair.
                  So this is what it’s like losing a mate , he thought. Only, I didn’t lose her. She left me, probably to go back to him.
                  He didn’t care that she was connected to the wolves. Her fear of them had been real. That, he could not deny. He cared that she hadn’t trust him enough to tell him the truth. That she didn’t trust he would protect her. She was in trouble, but there was nothing he could do about it. She had left. She had made her choice,