Byron
“Damn! This is too vague.” Wyatt laid his head down on the steering wheel. We’d driven this far based on a “gut feeling”, but now we were stuck... sitting in the parking lot of a vacant shopping plaza on the run-down end of town.
I ran my hands through my hair for the hundredth time, making my hair stand on end in a less than fashionable style. I had never felt anything as terrible and painful as not knowing whether Bella was safe, whether she was hurt. If she were dead, would we know it? The uncertainty was killing me.
Just then I felt her... well I think it was her, it was a sensation like I’d never felt before. I felt a burning pain in my wrists, as though they were wrapped in fire. I saw her face in my mind’s eye – pale and perfect - and thank god, very much alive. For a few moments, I felt connected, as though our hearts were beating in tandem, our breath was synchronized, and our thoughts flowed together.
Wyatt must have felt the same, because suddenly, he straightened, threw the vehicle into gear, and peeled out of the parking lot so fast he made the tires squeal. “I know where she is!” he growled, his foot pressing hard on the accelerator as he headed up the old highway.
About two miles down the road there was an old motel up on a hill. It was a scummy place, with peeling paint and cigarette butts littering the parking lot. We didn’t have to look for the correct room, because as soon as we pulled in, glass broke, and a familiar red-black wolf came leaping out of number four, with a fat black bear on her tail. The wolf cornered the building and headed toward the farm fields behind, and ultimately the forest. We wasted no time removing our clothes, but shifted quickly, right there in the parking lot where any one could have seen us. It didn’t matter though, all that mattered was Bella... that Bella was safe and secure and back in our arms. As soon as our paws hit the pavement, we were after them.
Wyatt
Black bears are the fastest of the bear species, and being a shifter may have given her extra speed, but she was no match for our wolves in terms of speed and stamina. By the time she reached the tree line, we were on her. When she realized she could not out run us, nor could she catch up to her prey, she turned on us, with her massive claws and her formidable jaws, and her dark, intelligent eyes. If she had been fighting us one-on-one, she could have easily taken us. But my brother and I hunted together as an expert team, knowing each other’s thoughts, anticipating each other’s moves, and confusing our kills with our identical forms. And in that moment we were both filled with primal rage over the kidnapping of our mate. The fact that her scent was on the bear only further fueled our anger as we circled her.
Byron feigned an attack at her right shoulder, distracting her, while I leapt on to her back and sank my teeth into her thick and fleshy flank. I ripped at her flesh in frustration, knowing that I had more hair than skin in my mouth. I jumped off and leapt away before her massive claw could swipe at me. If we were going to kill this bear, we would have to get at her throat.
While she was roaring and snarling at me, Byron sank his teeth into her back leg, and I again lunged for her, this time landing on her muscular shoulder. I drew blood, but she was so thick and round it was like trying to bite a boulder. As I backed away to re-group, Byron held on a second too long, and he got raked with that massive paw, slicing open his side. I felt his pain, and yelped with him. She reared up on her back legs, showing us her full bruin height. Byron recovered his feet and circled back to me. Blood was dripping from the torn skin over his ribs, but it wasn’t fatal.
She can’t kill both of us at the same time. Byron observed through the mind link. If we both go for her throat, she will only be able to fight off one of us.
We continued circling her, making her roar in frustration, adding to her confusion by lunging into her space to nip and bite at her and then dodging back out again. She was bleeding from multiple wounds, but none of them were serious. We were merely toying with her as we set up the kill, knowing that one of us would be seriously injured, and maybe die in the process. But the satisfaction of knowing the bear who had taken our mate would die with us was enough.
We squared off a little distance in front of her, preparing for the final attack. I had my eyes glued to her jugular, at least what I thought must be her jugular in her thick, fleshy neck. With a silent understanding between us, I began to coil for the attack. But just as I began to leap, the beautiful red-black body of our mate came between us. Her coat, like her human hair, resembling a burning ember.
Stop! Her scream was frantic through the mind link. I barely collected myself without plowing into her. And Byron rolled clumsily before leaping back to his feet. Even the bear, in her surprise, had dropped back on all fours.
The air thickened and shimmered as Bella shifted back into her human form, so beautiful, but so fragile. “Stop this!” She ordered, a hysterical edge to her voice. She was bleeding from cuts around her face and her shoulders, and her wrists were red and blistered from silver. She held one hand out against us, and the other against the bear.
She turned to the bear, “You’ve lost. If you continue, they will kill you. You can not win against three of us.”
The bear shifted back into a woman, a tall, lean, black haired woman, which seemed weirdly at odds with the round, hairy form of her bear. She seemed so strong compared to our frail, malnourished mate, but Bella stood her ground, feet planted, head held high. “Let it go, Kodi. You’ve lost. The money is not worth your life.”
The black haired woman looked from Bella, to the two of us, still in wolf form, still snarling where we had flanked our mate protectively, still ready to kill, but strangely held in check by Bella’s will.
I shifted back, straightening to my full height. “Bella, what are you doing? This woman wants to kill you.”
“I am showing her mercy,” Bella said steadily, her dark eyes never leaving the black-haired woman. “I’m giving her a second chance.”
Bella reached out, her small hand on my bicep like a calming balm to the rage in my soul. She continued to speak to the woman. “Go back to your mate.” she spoke quietly, firmly, “And live to fight another day.”
At the mention of her own mate, the woman’s eyes flashed. She shook her head in disbelief at the three of us, and then took off running into the woods. Everything in me wanted to chase her. I still wanted to rip her to shreds, but before I could take a step, Bella had launched herself into my arms. Chasing the enemy was forgotten as my sweet mate wrapped her warm arms around me and pressed her naked body against mine. Byron shifted back too, and also wrapped her up in a hug, burying his face in her sweet fragrant hair, desperately kissing her neck, her shoulders. He was still bleeding, but his pain and his wounds were forgotten in the joy of being reunited with the woman who had become our whole world. I realized in that moment that nothing else mattered... not our pack, not our business interests, not even our sister. If there was no Bella, there would be nothing left for us.