Running Free (Woodland Creek)(39)

“I gave myself a nasty gash,” Jase says and waves at his own face, “and blamed it on crazy meth head gang members. The cops believed my story. Tried to protect me by putting me in yet another f*cking abusive foster home.”

Gun’s face falls and his voice cracks. “Jase, I wanted to help you so f*cking much.”

Tears roll down my cheeks. Gunnar is crushed at realizing how he’s involved in this big fiasco too. It’s clear he feels sorry for Jase.

“It was too late. Just like now, Gun. Too f*cking late. Now, you all have to die. You and Frances both took your turns ruining my f*cking life. I want to ruin yours too. Paybacks are a bitch.”

Gun’s eyes flit to the window behind me and I don’t have to see them to sense them crawling through the window. My brothers. I’m wondering how I’ll get out of Jase’s grip when Gun shouts out the answer as he simultaneously raises the shotgun again.

“Frankie, shift!”

Gun’s command is the last thought I have before I let the blackness envelop me. The flaring heat explodes over my skin and my body does it’s contortion into the animal I am within. It’s enough of a change to free me from Jase. A snarl behind me alerts me and I jerk my head to see that Luca has taken a bite into my old foster brother’s leg. The other brothers are climbing in as quickly as they can through the window to aide him.

He roars in pain and within seconds, he’s shifted into a bear that could level this whole cabin. When my eyes finally find Gunnar’s, he’s staring at me in awe.

Fucking awe.

Not horror.

Not hate.

Not fear.

Awe.

His eyes flicker with recognition and love. “Hádanka, come here!”

I bolt away from the chaos and into his outstretched arms. He lets me lick him all over his face. The roughness of his facial hair on my tongue is an exotic feeling. I’ll be trying this later when I’m back to my normal human self, if we ever get the hell out of here.

“I’ll get Suzie out of the cage. You lead her to the Tahoe and this time you wait for me,” he says in a firm tone. “I’m going to finish this.”

One glance over my shoulder tells me that Jase is quickly losing the battle to my brothers — a flurry of wolves, tigers, and bears ripping and crunching at his flesh. He might be the biggest damn Bear shifter I’ve ever seen, but he’s no match for the Grey Lotharios.

They might be the Brainless Horny Idiots when I’m pissed at them, but when they’re saving my ass, they’re the best brothers a girl could ask for. Certainly better than the brother who let hate and revenge turn him into the very monster he feared.





Gunnar

As soon as my girls scamper out of the house, I raise my shotgun. My eyes are still having trouble comprehending what just happened but it makes sense. Every single piece is locked into place and I finally understand the puzzle.

I f*cking hate it that Jase let himself get this way. If only he’d have come to me rather than stooping to murder to get mine and Frankie’s attention and ultimately revenge, we could have worked things out. I’d have helped him get the help he needed and supported him every step of the way. And knowing Frankie, she would have too.

But now?

Now, it’s too late. Not only are the animals going crazy on him, I can see it in his glare. He’s sick. There was no way of changing his mind once he made it up in his head that this was the way it needed to be.

It’s hard seeing a big-ass bear fall to its knees, the life quickly drying up, knowing it was a kid you fought so hard to protect once upon a time. I need to put him out of his misery and get everyone out of here before some innocent men lose their lives in the crossfire.

“Luca. Stand down,” I shout over the chaos. “I need to end this.”

The huge wolf with the bloodstained fur and authoritative grey eyes grunts in response. He barks out what sounds like nonsense to me but whatever he said has them all releasing the Bear shifter and backing away. One by one, they climb out the window and disappear into the night.

The Bear shifter, my old friend, has fallen to his side and is gurgling. Blood pours from a wound in his neck. He’ll be gone soon — there’s no way he could be saved anyway. I won’t make him wait any longer. Kneeling beside him, I stroke the fur on his head and look him straight in his dulling green eyes.

“I love you, buddy. You can rest now.”

He groans in relief and closes his eyes. One nod of his massive head is all I need. A heavy ache forms in my throat as I put the barrel of the shotgun to his temple.

“Goodbye, Jase.”




I spent the last few hours up at the station, sorting out the details of the case. When Fitz and the guys arrived on the scene, I explained what went down. How I’d come to question the occupant, only to find a bear inside. And then, how some wolves jumped through the window attacking the bear before I could pull off a shot. Eventually, I was able to shoot the bear and as a result scared off the wolves. It wasn’t the whole truth but the other officers had no reason not to believe me.

I’d expected Jase to shift back to human and wasn’t really looking forward to explaining that one to TJ or Fitz, but Frankie later explained to me that that isn’t how it works. When you die, you die in whatever form you were in last. She said many times in the pound, they’d euthanize shifter-dogs and never realize that they were killing humans. In a way, it’s better this way. Jase doesn’t deserve to turn into a serial killer media sensation. Despite his wrong decisions, he was a very sick young man. I’d hate to see him turned into a villain, when he was really a victim who had lost control of his mind.