Return To The Bear (Bear Valley Shifters #3)(2)

“Thank you, Hannah. I mean it. You’re really saving my skin here.”

Merit turned but not before Hannah caught her smirk. She didn’t believe a word she was saying and each syllable rang with such a false note. Maybe this was a bad idea. How would Merit ever learn unless she was punished for her actions? Was she just enabling her more by allowing her to stay? But then, Hannah was the alpha’s mate and should be setting a good example. Holding grudges and being petty just didn’t sit well with her.

Merit held out her hand gallantly and gestured for Hannah to go first. Something about having Merit at her back made her skin crawl but she dutifully marched through the woods toward Riker’s office. At least she’d get to see him again before tonight.

Hannah frowned at the late model black sedan that sat at the mouth of the trail. Who in their right mind would’ve driven all the way through the brush and parked it—

A prick stung her neck, like a wasp’s stinger, and she jerked, swatting at the bug as she moved to escape. Merit pulled a needle from her skin and a triumphant smile stretched her face.

“What the hell? What are you doing?” Panic laced Hannah’s words as the edges of her vision blurred. She pressed her hand over the tiny prick in her neck like that would slow the numbness washing through her.

Merit grabbed her hair and Hannah slapped her face, nails clawed.

Gasping, Merit shoved her to the ground and ran the palm of her hand over her bleeding cheek. “You stupid bitch,” she breathed.

Hannah struggled to sit up, but her body seemed detached and nothing worked right. Every second, her limbs grew heavier. “What did you give me?” she slurred.

“Horse tranquilizers. Seemed fitting.” Merit grabbed the base of her pony tail again and dragged her to the back seat of her car. The door screeched as she pulled it open and Hannah struggled to escape, but her arms and legs were useless. Her breath shook and her heart hammered her desire to flee. Merit was crazy. She hadn’t seen how far gone she was before now, but the woman was certifiable. “Riker!” she called, only the word came out a mumble and a quiet one at that.

Roughly, Merit shoved her onto the back seat and shut the door. Hannah scrabbled for the door handle, but she didn’t have the strength or coordination to pull it. The last thing she saw before Merit threw a heavy blanket over her was a suitcase shoved in the front seat and Merit’s feral smile.

The driver’s side door opened and the car rocked under Merit’s weight. The corner of the blanket lifted and the woman leaned over the back of her seat, her expensive perfume assaulting Hannah’s senses. “I’m taking you to the Long Claw Clan, Hannah. Just think about that on the way. If you aren’t terrified, you should be. They don’t mate for life there. It isn’t civilized like here. There aren’t rules or councils. There is one alpha and he’s a blood thirsty brute who f*cks every woman in the clan as he pleases. You’ll be no different and Riker will never find you. And if, by some miracle, your mate eventually tracks you down, you’ll already be ruined and he won’t be able to take you back without starting a war between Bear Valley and the Long Claws. Trust me when I say, you aren’t worth that kind of blood spillage.”

Hannah couldn’t move and her breath came shallow as she panted in fear. Her eyelids grew heavier, and everything blurred except for the smug expression on Merit’s face.

“Hannah.” Merit’s crimson smile stretched wider. “I. Win.”





Chapter One


Joanna Penn pushed her legs harder, trampling over brambles and brush. Her lungs burned with each intake of breath but she couldn’t slow down. She couldn’t ever slow down if she wished to escape the Long Claws and Nathan’s reach. She’d have to find the Raiders or perhaps try to track down any surviving members of Blood Den. They’d scattered into the wind, but even if she could find two or three of them, they might be enough to keep her safe. Or maybe she could even find Bear Valley if she could avoid capture by Nathan’s clan for as long as it would take to travel there. Surely, someone would offer her sanctuary.

She should have worn jeans, but she hadn’t figured on a chance at fleeing when she dressed this morning. Now, warmth trickled down her legs from the dozens of cuts she’d sustained running from the shifters who chased her.

She was changing. Every day she could feel herself turning into someone she wasn’t and if she ever wanted to see her old self again, to be happy, she had to leave now.

“This way,” a man shouted from behind her, and she cursed shifter noses.

The scent of her blood was drawing the bears that hunted her. Veering off the path, she cut through the trees and swallowed down a whimper. They were so close.

A giant grizzly leapt from behind a grove of tightly woven trees and Joanna’s scream of terror tapered into a roar as her beast ripped out of her. She stood on her hind legs, mirroring the grizzly who circled her. He charged first, teeth bared as he landed a resonating slap against her shoulder. She clawed and scrabbled, but fell backward and he followed. His giant paws landed on either side of her head and his black eyes swam with hatred as he pressed his pelvis against hers.

“Dunn,” Blake said languidly from his relaxed position against a tree. “She’s Nathan’s and you know it. Rein it in or he’ll have your head on a stake out front of his house.”