Betray the Bear (Bear Valley Shifters #4)(33)

Chase disengaged from Nathan and stood on his hind legs as the powerful white bear recovered and mirrored him. Joanna stalked forward. “Leave now,” she growled. “I’ll only ask you once before the next shot blows a hole in you so wide, we’ll be able to see f*cking moonlight through you.”

Chase circled like he would attack again. “Don’t,” Joanna warned. “You’ll be banished if you kill him.” She swung her gaze back to Nathan and pulled the hammer back. It didn’t seem like she had the same qualms for her own future.

Nathan’s blue, wintry eyes were filled with such hatred. How must it feel to face down two women he’d tried to kill because they had rejected him? He lunged and Joanna pulled the trigger.

Anya tensed as Nathan’s brain matter blasted across the ferns. Heavy as a sack of stones, the heartless alpha of the Long Claws fell.

The edges of her vision blurred and she struggled to hold onto the sight of Chase pacing the woods around Nathan’s body, drawn to the scent of the blood that filled her senses. So much of it. Coating the woods of Bear Valley—tainting it. Hers and Nathan’s scent mingled—two people destined to die here.

“Chase,” Joanna said through a shoulder-wracking sob. “You need to change back. I can’t carry Anya. She needs help. Chase! She needs you.”

The giant red grizzly paced closer to Anya’s crumpled body, like he didn’t know where he was. His eyes were all raging animal, but slowly, they softened. There he was, her beautiful bear. He’d hate her now. She’d broken his trust and was no better than the woman who had scarred him before her. But for now, she could go looking at him, knowing she was free of Nathan’s mark.

The woods grew dimmer and all of the warmth was seeping from her, and just as she closed her eyes, Chase raised his head to the moon and bellowed a roar of agony.

****

The hum of a gnat buzzing around her face was irritating as Anya clung to sleep. The drone of an air conditioning unit grated on her last nerve. Her rumbling stomach and parched throat were also annoying. Everything made her grumpy, even the clinging sheets that were trying to ensnare her legs.

“She’s waking up,” someone murmured from far off. A woman’s voice, familiar and comforting. Joanna.

Confusion swirled through her. Why was Joanna at Chase’s house? And why was she so damned hungry? She scrunched her face in an effort to shrug off the last tendrils of sleep and screamed with the unexpected pain. Flailing and panicked, she tried to escape the burn that snaked across her neck and face like gunpowder flames.

“Shhh, Anya. It’s okay. Hold her.”

Hands latched onto her wrists and she opened her eyes and bucked up against the wall. Brody held her in an iron grip, his face grim as he seemed to be interested only in staring at the corner of the twin bed under her. Joanna sat in a hotel chair, filling a needle from a bottle of clear liquid.

“Here, stay still and this will take the edge off,” she said, quiet as a breath. The needle pricked her skin but the pain was nothing compared to that in her neck.

“W-where am I?” Anya stuttered.

Joanna shot Brody a significant look and sighed. “We’re in a hotel up in Bozeman. Riker sent us away.

It was then that she saw Chase, sitting quietly in a chair in the corner of the room. The light from the window didn’t touch him and in the shadow, his eyes glowed an eerie color. He was staring at her so intently, his elbows on his knees and hands clenched in front of his mouth. He looked like he hadn’t shaved in a long time and she frowned.

“How long have I been asleep?”

“Five days. It was pretty touch and go for a while—”

A rumbling growl sounded from the corner of the room and Jo stopped talking. With a look of determination, she continued. “You were hurt really badly, Anya.”

Chase stood abruptly and threw open the door, then slammed it behind him so hard, the room shuddered.

“Jo, was everyone sent out of Bear Valley, or just me?” She couldn’t let them all suffer outside of the clan for her mistakes.

“Riker said he thought it would be better if we laid low for a while. You and I were asked to leave. Brody and Chase followed.”

“Oh, God,” she breathed. She had betrayed him, and now she’d taken his home away.

“The Long Claws have declared war,” Brody said low. “They aim to avenge their fallen alpha.”

She was going to be sick. A mixture of horror and whatever havoc the medicine was wreaking on her system was a nauseating combination. “When?”

Brody shrugged and ghosted a glance at her face, then looked away. “I don’t know. Soon.”

Slow numbness travelled through her, making her body feel detached and she struggled to put her thoughts together. “But you and Chase are his fight trainers. You’re some of his best defense against the Long Claws. You have to go back.”

“I’m not leaving Jo, and Chase…shit. Anya, we’re stuck until you’re well enough to talk to Riker and the rest of the council. You and Joanna both.”

“Now. I’m better now.”

“You’re not, Anya,” Jo said as a tear slipped to her cheek. “You aren’t okay.”

“Show me,” she said in a trembling voice. “Show me why Brody won’t look at me.”