Caging Her Bear Lovers [Werebears of Shatland, Texas 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read online

  “Yeah.” Lizzy’s tone was harsh, unforgiving. “How’d you say it? Leave now while the getting’s good? Take your own advice and get moving.”

  The corner of his lip twisted upward. “You still don’t get it, do you? I’m the one who’s calling the shots.”

  The bear that was Connor stepped forward, then halted when Bobby put her in his sights. “Keep coming, you mangy beast, and I’ll put a bullet between her eyes.”

  Connor growled, saliva dripping from his mouth. But he didn’t move either forward or backward. Finn shook his body, grumbles rolling out as he bared his fangs.

  “You hurt my sister and I’ll track you down for as long it takes.”

  “Lizzy, stay back. Let us handle this.”

  But her sister wouldn’t listen. She stalked toward Bobby like he was unarmed and under her command. “I’m not going to let you ruin my sister’s life. You’re going to go back home and pack your things. I want you out of my home before I get back.”

  Bobby laughed, but his laughter soon dissolved into a sneer. “Don’t go telling me what to do, you cunt. You don’t get it, do you? If I shoot your fucking sister, I’ll have to put you down, too. Can’t have any witnesses, can I?”

  “Mr. White, you never said anything about shooting people.” Doc’s body shook harder, and he barely hung on to his gun.

  “Grow a pair, Doc. You shot the damn bear.”

  “Yes, but…” Confusion crumpled his face.

  “What? They aren’t people?” Bobby lowered his rifle a few inches. “You’re right. They’re not. Tell you what. You shoot the bears and I’ll shoot the women. How’s that work for you?”

  “No more, Bobby. I don’t care about me, but you’re not going to shoot anyone.” Lizzy took off running toward Bobby.

  “Stop, Lizzy.” Brynn rushed after her sister, but she was too late to stop her. Lizzy reached Bobby seconds before she did.

  “Fuck off, bitch!” He struck out, using his rifle as a club. Lizzy cried out as he hit the side of her head. She fell to the road, face down.

  “You bastard!” Brynn was on him, the need to hurt him overriding the danger. But she was no match for the brawny man as he struck out again. The back of his hand crashed against her face, and for several moments, the world around her blurred. She sank to the ground, landing next to her sister. Bending over Lizzy, she shook her and prayed she’d respond.

  “I’m okay, sis.” Lizzy rolled onto her back. A long red cut streaked across her cheek. “I’m okay.”

  Brynn wasn’t sure what happened next. It seemed as though the world around her exploded in growls and visions of large dark shapes rushing past her. She glanced up, blinking to coax her vision back, and saw Bobby’s horrified expression. A gunshot went off, jarring her already jangled nerves, and she instinctively threw her body on top of her sister.

  “I’m okay, Brynn. Get off me. Go. They’re after him.” Lizzy pushed at her until she finally slid off and got onto her knees.

  Three bears ran after Bobby and Doc. She stumbled as she got to her feet, then righted herself and kept moving. The bears would catch the men soon and she wanted to be there when they did.

  They caught up to them faster than she would’ve imagined.

  Her men had stopped, still in their bear forms. But why weren’t they grabbing Bobby and Doc? Had they gotten away? She couldn’t see past the massive bodies of her bears as they stood in a row. Shifting back and forth, their muscles rippled along their backs and in their legs. Their growls escalated until it blocked out all other sounds.

  “Did you stop them?” Gasping for air, she approached the bears from behind, then eased between Liam and Finn until she could see in front of them.

  “Oh, whoa.”

  Five other bears, three grizzlies and two brown bears, formed a barrier that had brought Bobby and Doc to a halt. The animals’ eyes glowed with amber and their lips were pulled back to expose their long, sharp fangs. The two frightened men were trapped between two lines of bears with their truck just beyond that impassable wall of fur. Another pickup sat well beyond Bobby’s truck, blocking the road.

  “Brynn, tell them to back off.”

  The fear on Bobby’s face was enough to give her a spark of unbridled joy. “Why should I?” He’d lost his gun somewhere in his mad dash to escape.

  “They’re animals. You’re human. Plus, you’re my future sister-in-law.” He shoved Doc away when the terrified man clutched at him.

  Doc crumpled to the road, his sobs racking his body. “Please don’t hurt me. He made me do it. Please.”

  “Your sister-in-law?” Lizzy stalked around the bears to join Brynn. A trail of blood ran down her cheek and dripped, forming a red blotch on her shirt. “Do you really think I’d marry you after what you said? Hell, after what you did? Go fuck yourself, asshole.”

  Fury filled his face. “You owe me, bitch. I took care of you since the first day we met.”

  “You took care of me?” Lizzy’s laughter bordered on the edge of hysterical. “I was the one who paid the rent. I was the one who paid off all your credit cards even after I figured out that you were buying things for other women.”

  “Lizzy.” She’d never told Brynn any of that.

  “I know, sis, I should’ve told you. But after I’d already started doing it, I was too embarrassed to say anything. Then I guess that’s when I started turning a blind eye to everything he did. Including hitting on you. I’m so sorry I didn’t believe you. About him and about the bears.” She struggled to hold back the tears. “But no more. We’re through. I’m through. I don’t want to see you—Oh, hell.”

  Brynn followed Lizzy’s wide-eye stare to find one of the grizzlies in the other line shifting. Within a minute, a tall, handsome man stood, naked and unashamed, in front of the remaining four bears. His blond hair glistened under the hot sun and his blue eyes were bright, speckled with flecks of amber.

  “Liam, what do you want to do with these two?”

  She felt more than saw Liam shift behind her. The air moved around her and the painful noise of bones breaking and reforming swept over her. Liam moved past her.

  Bobby lifted his hands into the air, a pitiful defensive move. “Look. No one wants to hurt anyone. Just let me go and that’ll be the end of it.”

  “That’s the biggest load of crap I’ve ever heard.” Although Liam was in his human body again, his growl was still much like his bear’s. “I’d just as soon bury them in a ditch, Jadon, and let the buzzards peck at their cold, decaying flesh.”

  “Sounds good to me.” His friend chuckled. “The clan might not like it, but they’d get over it. The boys and I can turn our backs until you get it done. No witnesses? No problems, right?”

  “That’s what I was thinking,” added Liam.

  He wasn’t serious. He couldn’t be. As much as Bobby deserved to pay the ultimate price, she couldn’t believe he’d do such an awful thing. “Liam, you can’t,” she whispered.

  Another growl, lower and softer, reverberated outward. “No. I’d like to, but I won’t.” He spoke louder to his friend. “We can’t kill them. If we did, we wouldn’t be any better than him. And I’m not stooping that low.”

  Doc let out a tortured cry, then scrambled to his feet and ran. He tried to go around the bears, but screamed as the bear on the end stood up on his hind legs and roared, sweeping his massive paw within inches of Doc’s face. Sobbing even harder, the poor man half crawled, half ran back to Bobby’s side.

  “Please let me go. I swear I’ll never do this again.” Doc pointed at Bobby. “It’s all his fault. He’s the one who got me into this. Please, I’m begging you. Let me go and I’ll never say a word.”

  Bobby remained quiet, rubbing his palms against his legs. He’d lost all his previous bravado.

  “Let them go, Liam.” She couldn’t stand the thought of Liam or any of the others killing someone. Even Bobby. “They won’t tell anyone. No one believed me and no one will believe them.”

 
“You don’t know that.”

  “No, she’s right.” Bobby jumped at the chance she’d given him. “Let me go and I swear I won’t breathe a word of what I know.” He risked stepping closer to Jadon. “I’ll drive off right now. It’ll all be over and you’ll never see me again.”

  “I won’t say anything. I swear on my mother’s grave,” added Doc.

  Jadon lifted his hands and dangled a set of keys in them. “Nope. No one’s going anywhere in that truck. No matter what goes down here.”

  “Please, Liam. For me.”

  He tossed her an exasperated look. “We don’t like humans, outsiders, knowing about us. Now he knows about my brothers and me, and my friends. I’m not too keen about trusting his word.”

  “And you shouldn’t.” But still, there had to be another way.

  “Then we won’t.” Liam closed the distance between Bobby and him. His hand closed around the frightened man’s throat.

  Bobby jerked back, clutching Liam’s massive arms to try and yank him off, but he couldn’t squirm free.

  “If you tell anyone, and I mean anyone”—Liam put his snarling face an inch from his—“I promise you, I will find you. And when I do, you’re going to wish we’d killed you today.”

  Bobby squeaked like a rat caught in a trap as Liam lifted him off the ground and shook him. Bobby’s color turned pink, then red, as he gasped for air.

  “Do you understand?” Liam cocked his head to the side, pretending to listen closer. “I didn’t hear you. Do you understand?”

  The gurgling noises Bobby made weren’t words, but they were clear enough. Liam tossed him to the ground, then stood over the sobbing Doc. “The same thing goes for you. Do you understand?” His voice was one of infinite patience, his tone the way he’d speak to a disobedient child.

  “Yes, yes, yes. Please, yes.”

  “Good. Then, if that’s okay with Jadon and the others, you can go.”

  Bobby, with Doc on his heels, started to run for the truck. Jadon moved quickly, getting in front of him, and slammed his hand against his chest. Bobby let out a cry and would’ve been knocked off his feet if Jadon hadn’t grabbed him by the collar.

  “I don’t like it and the clan won’t like it any better than I do, but we’ll trust Liam on this.” He growled and glowered at the men. “Just know this. You screw up and talk, and it won’t just be the McGarrett men who come after you. I’ll get every werebear I know to track you down and bring you back.” He smiled, wicked and foreboding. “Then we’ll have some real fun. Now get walking. The truck’s mine.”

  Doc took off running like a deer with a wolf on the attack, skirting as far around the line of bears as he could go. Bobby glanced back at Lizzy, then Brynn and her men, before hurrying past the bears. His attempt at showing how brave he was died as one of the bears whipped out a paw and slapped him on the leg. Crying out, he stumbled, let out another panicked cry, and ran after the fleeing Doc.

  Finn and Connor shifted back into their human forms. Finn slid his hand along Brynn’s shoulder, then met Jadon halfway.

  “I sure hope you boys won’t regret that.” Jadon lifted his hand to the other bears and waved them away. They lumbered back to the pickup blocking the road, changing into men as they walked. “Or us, either.”

  His gaze settled on Brynn. “You must be Brynn, their mate. I’m Jadon Barberson and those hairy brutes were my brothers, Josh and Curt, along with a couple of our friends.”

  “I’m sorry to have caused so much trouble.” She liked Jadon and would’ve liked to have met his brothers. But, if she had her way, she’d have plenty of time for that later. “Liam knows what he’s doing.”

  Jadon laughed. “Are you sure of that? He was the one they trapped in the cage.”

  “Hey, I wasn’t the only one that got locked inside that thing. Finn and Connor did their time, too. I was just the lucky one who got caught by that shithead.”

  Brynn slid her arm around Liam’s waist. His stiff body relaxed against hers. “It’s my fault. If I hadn’t started this whole mess by wanting to catch a shifter, none of this would’ve happened.”

  “You wanted to catch a shifter, huh? What the hell for?”

  She couldn’t blame Jadon for staring at her like she was crazy. “I needed my sister to believe that I’d seen one. That I’d hit one with my car.”

  Jadon’s laugh was even bigger this time. “You hit one? Let me guess. One of these guys?” Finn lifted his hand, identifying himself as the one that had gotten hit. “That’s a fuckin’ riot. But it figures it was Finn. Now that’s a story I’ve got to hear.”

  She checked Finn and saw the look of embarrassment. “If you don’t mind, I’d really like to get home and get cleaned up. My sister, Lizzy, has a mean cut on her face.”

  “Sure. No problem. Liam, let’s get together once she gets settled in. I’m assuming your sister will keep her mouth shut about us, too, right?”

  Lizzy nodded, holding her palm to the cut on her face. “You can count on it.”

  Liam tugged Brynn closer. “Sounds like a plan. And tell the others thanks.”

  “We’ve got to stick together. After all, we’re a clan. In the meantime, I’ll drive the truck over to Forever. I think I know who owns that cage, but we’ll let the wolves figure out what to do with it.”

  “Wolves?” Was he kidding? Yet, she was sure he wasn’t. “There are werewolves in Forever?”

  “Do you really want to know?” asked Liam.

  “I do, but not right now. All I want is to go home with you to your ranch.”

  Connor cornered her from behind. “It’s your ranch, too, you know. If you’re planning on staying. Even if you aren’t, as far as we’re concerned, it’ll always be your home. And yeah, it’s time you saw where you’re going to live from now on.”

  Emotion trapped her speech, making it hard to talk, hard to even pull in a full breath of air. “Oh, I’m staying, all right. How could I ever leave you? But can you forgive me?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Liam faked an innocent look.

  She found the forgiveness she needed in their eyes. “Right. Everything’s forgiven. It’s all in the past now. My mistakes and your mistakes are gone. The future”—she paused as it sunk in—“our future, is what matters. Take me home.”

  * * * *

  “Are you sure you won’t stay a while longer?” Four days had passed since the day she’d come to live on their ranch and made it her home. Their ranch-style home was a sprawling four-thousand-foot home with a huge porch in the front and comfortable furnishings throughout. A barn filled with horses was only yards away and she planned on learning how to ride as soon as possible.

  Lizzy tipped her head toward Liam, Connor, and Finn. They were grooming three horses, brushing and washing their coats until they shone. “They’ve been great and they’ve treated me like one of the family, but I know when I’m overstaying my welcome.”

  “No, you’re not. I bet, if you wanted, you could stay here forever.”

  The bandage over her cheek wrinkled with her laughter. “Oh, sure. That’s what all men want. To have their sister-in-law living with them. Or is it mate-in-law?”

  “Beats me. I have a lot to learn about werebears.” She looped her arm around her sister’s waist.

  “So have you made a decision yet? Are you getting a new fur coat?”

  She loved Lizzy’s sense of humor, and although Finn was funny, she’d miss her sister’s way with words. “I’ve given it a lot of thought. First, I have to get all my belongings moved up here. Then, I need to learn how to help out on the ranch.”

  “You know that’s not what I’m talking about.”

  “I know. As for letting them change me?” She’d worried about how her sister would take it. Would she understand? Or would it seem like a betrayal to her own kind? “I’ve decided that, after a couple of months, I’m going to do it.” She tensed, waiting for Lizzy’s reaction.

  “Wow.”

 
“What’s that mean?”

  “Nothing. Just wow.”

  “So are you against the idea?”

  “Not at all. Except from what Connor told me last night, I’m going to have a tough time babysitting my nieces and nephews.”

  “No, you won’t. Just toss them a fish and you’ll have them sitting up and begging.” She slapped a hand over her mouth. “Don’t you dare tell them I said that.”

  “I won’t. But it’s true, right? Your babies might be able to grow fur and bite. How weird is that?”

  “Weird as hell.” She hadn’t wanted to bring up the sensitive subject, but now that Lizzy was leaving, her time had run out. “What about Bobby?”

  Her sister’s silence was heavy with sadness. “He’s gone. I called a friend of mine who has a key and she checked. He’s gotten all of his things out of my apartment. He did, however, leave me a message by cleaning out our joint bank account.”

  “That jerk. Oh, Lizzy, I’m so sorry. Do you need money? I can help and I’m sure the men will help out, too. Plus, you can keep the money from the sale of my car. After all, you’re the one handling that so you might as well keep what little extra it’ll bring.”

  Yet the theft didn’t seem to bother Lizzy. “Thanks, but it’s okay. I think it’s money well spent to get rid of him. The thing is, it wasn’t all my money. I guess somewhere inside me, even with all the denial I was in, I knew he was the wrong one. So I opened a separate account at a different bank. That’s where I have most of my money.”

  “Good for you.” She squeezed her hard, never wanting to let her go.

  “It’s time, sis.” Lizzy hugged her back, then tugged her arms away. “I’d better get moving.”

  They went down the front steps and over to her car. Liam saw and motioned for Finn and Connor to follow him.

  “You know you’re always welcome back here. In fact, you don’t have to leave.”

  “Liam’s right. This is your home, too. Stay as long as you like. You’re family now,” added Finn.