Redeem the Bear (Bear Valley Shifters #5)(24)

Closing her eyes against the pain, she melted into her human form, and Brooks scooped her up and set her on a table Hannah had righted.

Whatever Hannah had given her was making Corin uncomfortable and too alert. The pain burned through her cells like she’d swallowed magma, and it was destroying her from the inside out.

“You shouldn’t be here,” she said through chattering teeth.

“I stopped it,” Brooks said, voice hoarse like he hadn’t used it in a long time. “I saw you running, so focused, and they were going to kill you. Everyone was going to die so I stopped it. Changed and begged Riker to help me stop the war.” He threaded a needle deftly and didn’t give her so much as a warning before the shiny curved instrument pierced her neck.

Hannah sat on the other side, eyes focused, doing the same. No introductions had been made, but that didn’t seem to matter to them. They were unified over a common goal—to save her.

“Hannah? Thanks for saving me from Merit.”

A tiny smile curved the human’s mouth and disappeared as she pulled another stitch. “We saved each other.”

“We proved the oracle wrong, huh?” Corin’s voice shook more and more as she fought the uncomfortable effects of the medicine.

“Shhh, you silly bear,” Hannah cooed. “Enough talking now and let us work.”

Corin’s vision grew dimmer and something cold pressed into the palm of her hand. Brooks closed her fingers over the necklace she’d given him and leaned over her.

And right as darkness crept across his face, he whispered, “I remember.”

****

The meadow looked otherworldly under the midday sun. Brooks stood stunned, looking out over what he had almost done. Bears had died here today, but the toll was in the tens, not the hundreds. Mace stood silently beside him, along with eight other high ranking members of the Long Claws. They’d been verbally shredding him for his efforts at ending the battle early.

It was hard for him to care about their disappointment when his hands and arms were covered in Corin’s blood.

She had looked so pale when her people hauled her away in one of Bear Valley’s jeeps. Every instinct inside of him screamed to go with her, but he couldn’t. Not with the shit storm he had to deal with here.

Riker approached, his hands clasped behind his back, his face somber.

“Leave us,” Brooks said.

Grumbling, his men walked away toward the Long Claw camp.

“How many did you lose?” he asked Bear Valley’s alpha.

“Twelve and our healer. You?”

“Ten.”

“It could have been more.”

“Many more,” Brooks agreed. “One of your bears changed my mind on the necessity of snuffing your people out.”

“Are you going to see her again?”

He looked away so Riker wouldn’t see the weak longing in his eyes. “Probably best I don’t. I’m not the best match for her.”

“No, you’re not.” Riker’s icy blue gaze found his, daring him to look away first. “But you could be.”





Chapter Eleven



One month had passed. Three weeks and five days to be exact since the battle at the haunted meadow. Corin had healed, on the outside at least, and the scars she bore didn’t even bother her that much. Everyone had them now, and at least she’d made it away from that day with her life. That was more than she could say for some of the Bear Valley shifters they had buried in the old graveyard in the base of the Bighorn Mountains.

She wiped down a table top in the diner where she worked until it gleamed and moved to the next. Today was slow, and probably the dark storm clouds that swirled over the sleepy town of Sheridan were to blame for that. Water drummed against the roof and a wave of rain pattered against the large picture window. The reflection there made her pause, wet rag still against the red Formica tabletop.

The diner looked cheery with its sixties themed crimsons and chromes. But in the middle was her, and she looked like a ghost of her former self. Make-up hid the faint injuries Merit had given her, but it was her inner scars that seemed so much more obvious. Dark circles outlined her eyes, and the hazel color there looked hollow now.

She had found him, then lost him again.

Inhaling deeply, she focused on an old Chevy pickup truck that cruised Main Street out front. It was one of those classic ones with a light green paint job. The driver passed the parking lot of the diner and continued up toward the police station.

“Honey?” Marta asked. She was the sturdy, motherly type who spent much of her time in the diner kitchen making those pies this place was famous for.

Corin straightened her posture. “Yes?”

“I think that table is clean. You’ve been scrubbing the same spot for ten minutes.”

Ten minutes. Where had her mind gone for so long?

Marta pushed her horn rimmed glasses up and into her hair and gave her a kind, if sympathetic, smile. “You’ve been through a lot, what with the bear attack and all. Are you sure you’re ready to come back to work?”

“Oh, I am. I need the money and besides, it helps to keep busy.”

“Are you hurting? I have some Advil in the back that might take the edge off a little.”

It wasn’t the injuries to her face that were the problem. Corin’s back was crisscrossed in claw marks. She tried to walk without stiffness to appear strong, but apparently she hadn’t been doing a good enough job in front of Marta. Another couple of weeks of shifter healing and she wouldn’t even feel them anymore. She hoped.