Dare to Bear (Book 1 Trail Guardians Series) (17 page)

What creatures could make such a blood-curdling noise?

Then she saw them.

A pack of six wolves hovered on the hill in the distance, howling from their perch.
Oh, my God
.

They weren’t of this world. She saw it in their fiery eyes, blood-red sparks within black, hellish depths.

A deeper level of panic shot through her.
Where the hell is Mason?

The answer came seconds later.

The pack of wolves bared down on her location. They frothed at the mouth. Holy crap, not okay!

Somehow, Mason had known who—or what—they were up against. He’d told her to climb to get away from this threat.

Only one thing stood between the wolves and her.

*

Mason stood his ground, prepared for anything.

None of them would attack or injure Steph. No way would he let them near her. Not when he could prevent that and protect her.

As he faced the danger, he saw it in a new light. He’d do anything for his mate. He hoped she knew that. He’d prove it to her—with his dying breath, if necessary.

While he knew she was safe at the moment, he still feared for her. He’d go at these Satan spawn with everything he had. He just hoped Steph had called his brother, as he’d instructed. And kept herself high above what was about to unfold.

Howls thundered through the woods in ominous echoes, the stuff of nightmares.

If they thought he’d let them pass, to get to Steph or his brother or Haventown, they thought wrong. No matter what, he’d save the people he loved. That’s the way he was raised. And he would go out the way he came in—from a long line of protectors.

*

Rough bark from the pine tree scuffed the sensitive undersides of Stephanie’s arms as she dragged herself one branch higher for a better view. She’d caught the devil-red glow in the wolves’ eyes from a distance. Now they crept even closer.

No doubt, they’d go after Mason without a second thought.

She called out to him. “Maso—”

The last syllable caught in her throat. Because she couldn’t locate him through the boughs of the branches.

Instead, in his place stood a proud, defensive, titanic creature.

A bear
.

Suddenly dizzy, she gasped for air. She clung to the branch for dear life.

You won’t believe what you’re about to see
. His words circled in her mind. He couldn’t have meant…

Disbelief shut down that possibility.
No. No Way. Not possible.

But she’d had her lens prescription updated last month to prepare for her trek. Fresh contacts made her vision crisp and clear—she just couldn’t believe what she saw.

No Mason. Just a bear. An intimidating, terrifying bear.

“Mason,” she cried.

The bear turned its head, looked up at her. Their eyes met for a startling moment. It responded with a sloughing call filled with emotion, with warning.

“Mason?” she choked.

The beast sniffed the air, the gesture resembling a nod, before facing the wolf pack again.

That couldn’t be possible…no way in hell…seriously, that was crazy…

Yet something deep in her mind, like a disembodied voice, said,
Yes, that’s Mason. He’s protecting you. Keep still and don’t make a sound.

Glancing around, she didn’t understand where that strange voice had come from. Whatever her disbeliefs, the bear below charged the wolves like a mama protecting her cubs.

Or Mason, protecting her?

It defied logic and reason, or any form of reality she’d ever based her existence on. Regardless, somehow she knew
in her bones that the bear was Mason.

Remembrances flashed through her mind. His ability to subdue the bear in her path when she’d restarted the trail outside of his store. His overly-protective nature. Of course, the cave where they’d spent their first night—bears hunkered down in caves to hibernate, didn’t they? Then he’d steered her toward the river, the same place where she’d seen a bear high above her on the cliffs overlooking the bathing pool. What about the fish lunch he’d caught without a pole or hook or net? Followed by the way he’d saved her from the cliff side drop, his hand severely wounded, until later that night when his wounds had miraculously healed before he’d made love to her. Plus the scary growl she’d sworn she heard come from his chest, in the lean-to, before he’d disappeared to check on an unfounded threat. At the time, she’d watched his features
change
before her eyes.

Superior hunting abilities. Super-human strength. And how about the fact that his family held three—no, four—sets of twins? Didn’t bears birth cubs in sets?

God, it couldn’t be possible.

Vampires? Werewolves? Sure, she could deal with those urban legends.

But a were…
bear
?

It was too much.

Unreality swept through her with the same dizzying sensation the joy juice had given her, minus the tainted water. Swaying with the movement of the tree, so high up, she worried she might pass out.

And become wolf food.

That notion snapped her back to the present.

Holding tight to the branch, she wondered. Had she blatantly missed the signs? Could there actually be a whole other side to nature she’d never considered?

The proof had been there all along, she realized, awareness gathered by her sharp mind’s analytical side and the empirical evidence staring her in the face, along with everything she’d witnessed over the past three days.

Heaven help her.

She swallowed hard.

Mason…what are you?

11

Below, the bear—Mason—whatever it/he was—reared up on its hind legs. It released the most fearsome roar, the sound rattling every brittle nerve in her body.

Fear locked her in its saw-tooth grip like a bear trap. An awful analogy, she thought, wishing she could laugh hysterically amid a terrible situation she didn’t know how to deal with. She’d always faced trouble with dry humor. Not happening today.

The wolves fanned out around Mason—the bear. Foam dripped in soapy drools from their mouths. They were huge. Larger than any wolves she’d ever seen, even on television or in movies.

Yet Mason towered over them, at least fifteen feet from his bottom paws to the tip of his raised nose.

The wolves snarled, crouched, and inched forward in a tighter circle around him, white canines bared, looking as sharp as needles. Their frothy jaws chomped and snapped, lips curled back in dreadful menace.

No way could one bear take on six feral wolves, intent on destruction.

“Mason,” she cried out to him, disregarding any form of reality she thought she knew, determined to save him. “Run. Just run. Get help. Don’t do this alone. I’m safe in the tree, I’ll be okay.”

The bear shook its head, heavy scruff swirling around its neck with the motion. He landed all four paws on the ground. And he charged.

Dear God.
She grabbed the branch with all her might.

Terror sheeted through her like lightning.

He trampled the first wolf with shocking ease. It lay broken on the ground, paws scratching the air, until it became stiff and motionless.

With mighty swipes of his left then right paws, he mangled two more. But the remaining creatures still circled him, intent on meting out destruction from evil jaws.

The scenario beneath her played out like a Shakespearian death parade. No creature was exempt from dismemberment or worse. Every act guaranteed a bloody end.

From her perch, she watched on in horror. She distanced herself, emotionally and physically, from the man she’d trusted with her life.

Swiftly, Mason turned into a crazed, animalistic stranger. Someone, something, unknowable. Untouchable. Untamed. Her gut told her to run, far and fast, but all she could do was hang there, high above the mayhem.

The wolves’ eyes gleamed with hatred and a thirst for vengeance she didn’t understand.

The remaining wolves lunged at Mason at the same time. She flinched, wanted to look away but couldn’t.

One launched from behind, latching onto his neck. The other dove at him close to the groin.

The one on his neck Mason dislodged with a mighty back-slam against a nearby tree. A grotesque crack made her stomach lurch. He’d snapped it’s spine in half. It didn’t rise again.

But the one wolf left refused to give up on its target. Its teeth clamped tight on Mason’s inner thigh. Flesh ripped from bone. A powerful roar of pain and fury split the air. The wolf on the ground dug in its paws, firmly latched, yanking its head with enough force to topple the might predator.

Three-inch bear claws flexed high overhead, before thumping down on the final wolf, tearing jagged wounds up its back. The wolf shrieked, howled, and released its toothy grasp. It stumbled into nearby brush and collapsed, the rhythm of its exposed lungs slowing to stillness.

She choked down bile so she could talk to whoever answered the satellite phone in her shaking grasp. She’d hit a button without thinking. Only a crackling noise came through.

“Help,” she wheezed. “Mason needs help. We’re near Haventown. Someone, please help us.”

The annoying crackle persisted.

Crap
.

She pressed another button, and this time the call went through.

“Sheriff Alterra.”

“P-please. Help us,” she forced out. “It’s Mason. He’s injured. Badly. You
have
to help him. Come quickly. Please!”

Shuffling noises were followed by a muted bark of orders. Then the sheriff asked, “Where are you?”

God, where are we?
“An hour or two from your town, I think?”

“You think?” came the man’s sharp response. “Which direction?”

“Um.” Her chin wobbled. “We took the AT from Mason’s survivalist store toward your village.”

“Got it. Keep the phone close so you can guide us in.” He paused. “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” she managed without barfing all over the phone.

A curt exhale. “How bad are his injuries?”

Tears spilled down her cheeks. “Bad, I think.”

“
You think
?”

The infuriated man on the line made her feel useless, stupid. “I don’t know, okay?” she yelled at him. “I’m not a doctor. He was attacked by a pack of wolves. They looked feral.”

“Shit. We’re on our way.”

Click.

The phone went silent.

A different sort of silence clung to the woods, unnatural and despondent. As if nature herself were mourning.

No birds chirped. No critters scampered. Nothing seemed to breathe or move except the wind, gently raising the lowering the boughs of branches like a sigh of relief the harrowing nightmare had ended.

Mason
.

Through the pine needles, she caught a glimpse of the forest floor. The area resembled a war zone, marked by broken branches, deep claw grooves in the mud, and pools of blood soaking into the ground.

She wilted. “Oh, Mason.”

Right now it didn’t matter who or what he was. He’d helped her, protected her, defended her. And he might have paid for that unselfishness with his life.

Numbness followed by terror choked her in waves of agonizing uncertainty.

Despite her convulsively quaking limbs, she managed to climb down the tree. He was in human form now, and he looked far worse than he had fur-covered.

The gash in his shoulder oozed dark red blood, exposing white bone amid the torn flesh. Ragged teeth marks and claw scratches ravaged his skin head to toe.

He endured this to protect me
.

The extent of his sacrifice hit like a punch to her gut.

As she ran to Mason’s bleeding body, she collapsed over him, covering his naked back. Her sobs drenched his prostrate form.

She brushed blood-matted hair from his forehead and wept softly. Then loudly. Her heart cried out for him.

Then she got mad. Steaming, raging, mad.

“I hate you,” she seethed at the wolf carcasses strewn around them. “How dare you do this to him?”

Filled with impotent rage, she threw a rock at the nearest wolf. She couldn’t imagine the pain Mason had experienced, was still experiencing.

“How dare you? He saved my life. He rescued me.” Tears flowed like hot springs down her cheeks. “He loves me. And I love him. Do you know how precious that is? How rare?” She slapped the ground with her palms. “You had no right. No right!”

Did animals feel anything like the pain people felt when their family fell sick or became injured…or lost their lives? After this trip, she believed so.

But these filthy, savaging beasts hadn’t understood that. She impaled each one with a wrathful glare. They hadn’t been starving creatures attempting to find food in a desperate situation. No, they’d been out for blood. Killing for the sake of killing. Mangling with the intent of murder. She despised them to the depths of their cruel, rotting corpses.