Redeem the Bear (Bear Valley Shifters #5)(22)

Two rows of Bear Valley shifters lined this side. Some looked pale and shaken, but most looked ready. Riker had made his speech this morning and even Corin had accepted her fate. The fear had gone as she walked behind her alpha. She would fight here today for the good of her people. She’d go to battle beside an alpha who deserved her fealty.

Chase, Juan, Cameron and Brody flanked Riker, and Anya and Joanna stood stoically beside her in the second line. She was proud of her people and she would be honored to fight and fall beside them.

Movement across the meadow drew her gaze, and she lifted her chin as the Long Claws approached the edge of the tall grass.

She didn’t have to count to know Bear Valley was outnumbered. Brooks had called in the smaller Long Claw clans and now three rows of savage fighters faced off from the other side. Her heart broke as she looked at the faces of the people she cared about beside her as they accepted their fates.

The sound of a truck revved through the clearing, and a trio of SUV’s pulled up edge of the tree line. Shifters piled out and began to take up the thin right side of Bear Valley’s fighters. A barrel-chested man approached and shook Riker’s hand. Her alpha’s eyes were wide and questioning.

“My name is Darren Lang. I’ve gathered as many displaced shifters who survived the Long Claws’ attacks as I could. Heard you were fighting those gnarly bastards today and thought you could use a hand.” He nodded his head toward the new shifters. “That right there is all that’s left of Blood Den and Ridgeback. Even have a few Kodiaks in there. We’ll follow your lead.”

Riker was still shaking his hand slowly. “I appreciate it more than you’ll ever know.”

“Aw, don’t get sentimental on me,” the old timer said. “If Bear Valley folds, what chance do the rest of us have?”

None. No bear shifter was safe from the Long Claws’ reach if Bear Valley lost today.

Stretching her neck, Corin tried to identify any of the new shifters as Kodiaks she knew, but didn’t recognize any of them. Perhaps they were from before her time.

Another horn blasted and a giant, long legged bear with a shortened snout stepped through the Long Claw line. Brooks.

All around her, bears ripped from her friends and she cast Riker a final glance before she changed into a small black bear with cream colored fur. Anya was an Andean bear with long scars that stretched from her black furred neck to her milky colored face. The last gift Nathan had given her before he died. Joanna was a large black bear, with lips curled back and a low rumble vibrating in her throat. In front of her, Riker, Chase and Brody looked fearsome as some of the largest grizzly shifters in the world, scarred from their many battles together.

Fight beside Anya and Joanna. Protect them and they’ll protect you, she chanted to steady her pounding heart. She wasn’t alone.

Brooks’ great body shook with every powerful step he took and his lips curled back in a snarl. He stood to his full height with eyes only for Riker, and his challenging roar echoed through the valley.

Snarling, Riker stepped forward and reared up to his twelve foot height. His answering bellow was so loud, Corin flattened her ears.

Anya ghosted her a glance and took off beside her. The ground shook beneath their feet as they rushed into battle. Joanna led them behind the first line of defense toward the edges, and Corin pushed her paws faster, digging her claws into the soft earth as she tried to stay with her comrades.

Brooks clashed with one of the Bear Valley grizzlies, but in the vicious fight, she couldn’t tell who at just a glance.

She didn’t slow as she spied a black bear running at her with murder in her empty eyes. The smack of their bodies as they crashed into each other was as loud as thunder, and she clawed viciously at her enemy’s neck. There wasn’t time for fear or hesitation here, not when every move meant life or death. Protecting her vitals like Chase had trained her to, she ripped and slapped and bit until the she-bear was beneath her. Everything was red as Corin thought about all the Long Claws had cost her. Her family, her friends…Daniel.

A roar of pain sounded beside her and Anya was pinned. With one last jerk of her head, Corin ripped the bear’s jugular, then tackled the small grizzly tearing into Anya. She couldn’t see Joanna anymore in the fray. Raking a claw down the brown bear’s back, she sank her teeth into his shoulder and was backhanded to the ground. Anya had recovered her footing and fought like some wild thing as a sun bear charged Corin.

Without time to recover from the dizzying slap she’d taken to the face, Corin ducked and flipped him over her back. Before he righted himself, she lunged and raked her six inch claws through his tender stomach, which he had failed to protect.

Pain seared through her as a claw grazed her back, and when she turned, a giant grizzly was already on her. Shit. He had five hundred pounds on her and the advantage of surprise. Ducking the next blow, she ran under him and barely missed a claw to her back end. His teeth sank into her back leg, and enraged, she turned and lashed her claws across his eye.

With a roar of pain, he lurched backward and she latched onto his throat. Time stretched on as he struggled, abrading her thick flesh with desperate claws. The second she let go though, she’d be done for.

Her jaws hurt so badly and she was losing her grip. This was it. She couldn’t hold on any longer. Not with him thrashing like this.

A blur of black fur rushed the edge of her vision, and the grizzly flew sideways just as she released him. Joanna, snarling and bloodied, was tumbling end over end with the enemy bear.