Betray the Bear (Bear Valley Shifters #4)(19)

The thought made him swallow hard, once. Twice. The vision of her laying on a blood soaked battlefield elicited a growl from his chest.

Fucking Nathan for claiming her.

Fucking Nathan for letting her go.

“Today we have someone new joining us,” he called out to the class, who were waiting for him to instruct the next lesson. “She is is a transfer from the Long Claws and holy shit…”

Joanna he recognized immediately, but the bear beside her had his mouth hanging open. Pitch black fur covered her body, but her face looked like it had been dipped in milk. Perfectly white fur covered her face and trailed down her neck. Her chest was the same creamy color and her eyes were a clear sky blue.

“Dude,” Wayne drawled from beside him. “What is she?”

“Andean. Get back in line,” Chase said without looking at him. When the shifter didn’t move, he shoved his head and Wayne stumbled back to stand beside the others.

His trainees were whispering amongst themselves, and he shot them a shut-the-hell-up glare. Their response of silence was immediate. Smart bears.

Anya paused and looked warily from side to side, and Joanna grunted in question beside her. She was uncomfortable, maybe because of all the people she didn’t know watching her, so he said, “Jake and Tessa take a break. The rest of you, ten laps around the arena. When you’re done, you’re free to go.”

Their strides made sloshing sounds against the drying mud and Anya seemed to settle, if only a little.

Trying to regain his composure, he cleared his throat. “You’re going to face off here. Up on hind legs, let’s go.”

Jo stood steadily, already well-practiced at this drill.

Anya stood and lost her balance, then stood again. Lurching forward, she landed on all fours and tried again.

“Jesus, you can’t even balance on your hind legs? You haven’t spent enough time as a bear then. Again. Keep trying until you’re steady.”

She looked frustrated but it had to be learned. And he had to teach it. Any balance issues had to be hammered out before she took a swing, or she’d just fall back and expose her vitals.

On the eleventh try, she curled her lips back from gleaming white teeth at him, but held her position.

“Good. Now, Jo, slap her.” A grunt came from Jo as she looked at him in confusion, but he crossed his arms and ordered, “Now.”

Drawing up, Jo swiped the pad of her giant paw pathetically across Anya’s shoulder. Anya fell over. He rubbed his face and hoped it would help keep his building headache at bay.

“I like a good lady bear fight as much as the next dude, but this has my dick limper than a wet noodle. Slap her hard, or I’m going to change and Anya will be learning to fight a grizzly.” His voice cracked across the clearing with the order. It had been a long day and his patience was as thin as rice paper right now. “Hurt. Her.”





Chapter Six


Hurt her? Chase was serious. Anya’s first lesson was getting her ass kicked by Joanna?

The clawed slap that Jo laid on her shoulder echoed and sent her sprawling.

“Good. Again,” Chase said.

What? Anya shook her head, trying to clear it and stood on her hind legs again. Her balance was off, so she bucked forward against Jo. Lurching backward, the scruff of her neck burned as Chase yanked her away from Jo. She wanted to bite him to punish his roughness, considered it even, but Jo hit her again and she flew back onto the muddy ground.

Asshole. Chase was a mega-*. If this was how he was teaching his bears, they were all doomed in a fight with the Long Claws anyway. Maybe she should tell him that—rub it in his sneering face.

Chase’s lips turned up in a humorless, hard smile. “That a girl, Anya. Get angry. You should be, because Joanna’s about to hit you again.”

And Joanna did, but it was too much to just sit there and take it anymore. Anya lunged and tackled Jo, who seemed surprised, because she fell backward and landed hard in the mud. Slapping and clawing, Anya was pushed off of Jo by the black bear’s hind legs, and she circled her slowly.

“Acceptable,” Chase barked out. “Now line up again.”

Blood and anger pounded through her veins and she didn’t want to do what Chase commanded. She wanted to defy him as his punishment for letting her get hit. Jo stood up and Anya followed, her legs more steady this time.

“Jo, hit her again.”

It was too much to ask her to be still for that kind of abuse and she charged, hitting Jo around her middle. This time, they didn’t separate. Everything was red fury and lightning against the backs of her eyes, and she wanted to kill everything. Jo was vicious with her claws but Anya wouldn’t let go. Maybe they were locked up like that for seconds, maybe hours, she didn’t know. All she knew was that no one was going to hurt her unchallenged again.

“Heyayayay!” A voice came through her clouded mind, stretching for her logic through the heavy tendrils of crimson fog.

A hand grabbed the scruff of her neck and she turned, lashing out. Chase’s eyes were hard, and she tried to pull her claws back but the momentum was already too great. He knew the slap was coming. She could see it in the grim set to his mouth, but before her six-inch weapons touched him, he exploded into a red-furred grizzly bear twice her size.

As her claws raked across his chest, he roared so loud the sound rattled her bones. The man was all teeth and claws and battle scars and for a split second, she saw her short life flash before her eyes. And sadly, most of it was kind of depressing.