Claimed by the Grizzly (4 page)

“I know,” Laramie stated. “I followed the one from the other side, the one the humans took to get up here. Found some interesting things along the way. You?”

“House was bombed. Exploded on impact and appears the fire spread pretty quickly.”

“Nicholas?” Laramie questioned.

“Body inside. Looks like he was heading out when the house was hit. He didn’t make it.”

“First Emmett; now Nicholas,” Laramie said. “It appears our enemy knows there are females still among us, and exactly where they are.”

“We’ll have to pull the others in,” Koby replied.

“I’ve already called in the others. I’ve requested the four former enforcers return, and I gave them each an elder to check on their way back. Declan and Slade have gone after the other two we know of. Jensen is pulling records to make sure there are no other elders we might be overlooking.”

“What about the dart he was checking on?” Koby demanded.

“It looks like Sidia was hit with a drug similar to what Jaeda was subjected to. Sidia’s had a stronger dose of relaxant in it. She was still sleeping off its effects when I left. Walk me through what happened when you and Jensen arrived,” Laramie commanded.

“We could see the smoke of the fire as we drove. We parked on the old logging road and went in on foot while we surveyed the area. I could sense my mate.” He paused and cleared his throat. “Sidia was in danger. I stripped, shifted and went on the hunt for the cause. Jensen went to find her. There were two men chasing her. They’d managed to dart her. I took them out and sent Jensen back to the lodge with her.”

He thought of Sidia, and the way her eyes had widened, the way she’d blinked “no” when he’d asked her to trust him.

Laramie gave a long sigh. “Do you think I can’t feel your pain, brother? I know something is eating you alive. Tell me what happened with your mate.”

“I scared her,” he admitted. “The one person who should never fear me.”

“But you believe she’s your mate?”

“Yes,” Koby said.

“Then explain to me why you’re here while she’s back at the lodge. And don’t give me some bullshit answer about you needing to stay here. Any one of us could have made the trip back to check things out.”

Koby snorted. “I needed to find out what happened to her, to understand what she’d been through. She doesn’t need me at her side right now. I’d only end up scaring her more. I’m afraid if I get near her, the need to touch her, to stake a claim will be too hard to ignore.”

“So stake a claim,” Laramie shouted.

“I plan to,” Koby shouted back. “But not until she’s awake. She didn’t trust me before she passed out in my arms. You think I’m going to do anything while she’s basically comatose to make her trust me even less?”

Laramie grunted. “I think this female already has you tied in knots, and you’ve yet to even taste her. Christ! How will you keep it together once she lets you between her thighs?”

“Watch it, brother,” Koby warned with a growl.

“Fuck,” Laramie said. “What am I going to do if all of you end up mated? I’ll have a house full of whipped bears.”

Koby gave a snort of laughter. “I’d worry more about what you’re going to do if you find yourself mated.” He laughed again. “I can’t wait to see the woman who leads you on a merry chase.”

“Alphas don’t chase,” Laramie stated. “If I find the woman meant to be mine, she’ll find herself immediately tumbled into my bed and thoroughly mated.”

“Once she realizes how lucky she is to have mated the alpha, she’ll be eager to obey your every command,” Koby added with sarcasm.

“Of course,” Laramie agreed, either not picking up on Koby’s tone or choosing to ignore it.

Koby laughed again. Yeah, he couldn’t wait to see the woman who brought Laramie to his knees. At least, he hoped so. His brother needed a strong mate, not one he could easily control.

Laramie pushed to his feet. “I moved the bodies of the two men you killed to the cave you went through. Made it look as if they’d been camping inside when they were attacked. Just in case anyone heads this way and stumbles across them. Now, show me what you found to suggest a bomb.” Laramie began walking toward the house, and Koby pushed up and joined him.

His body was on autopilot while his mind focused on what they needed to do next. They had to get the rest of the females to safety and do their best to protect the misguided elders who should have immediately turned to their alpha and his family for help. Then they had to find out who the hell had betrayed them and make sure that person never had the opportunity to do it again.

Chapter Four

Sidia woke with a groan, her body complaining with every move she made. God, she hurt. She groaned again with every stretch, her muscles slowly screaming back to life. Pain throbbed from her ass cheek where she’d taken the dart. She’d bet anything she had a massive bruise there.

She blinked open her eyes and took stock of where she was. She was in a nicely decorated bedroom, but it didn’t appear as if anyone really lived in it. Where was she? Better yet, where was Koby Holloway?

She sat up and noticed there was a small figure curled up in a chair across the room, an achingly familiar form.

“Jaeda?”

Her voice was barely a whisper, but still, her sister’s head came up, and a squeal greeted her ears. Jaeda practically jumped out of the chair and leaped onto the bed, bouncing them both.

“Sidia! You’re awake! How do you feel? Are you okay? Oh my God, I’ve missed you so much! I’m so sorry I told them where you were. What happened? You were darted? Jensen said there were hunters and smoke. I’ve been so worried. Are you hungry? Thirsty? You cut all your hair off!”

“Jaeda, take a breath, and let your sister wake up.”

Sidia’s gaze jerked to the man who suddenly filled the doorway, his gaze attentive as he watched her. He had black, wavy hair, bright-blue eyes, and smelled remarkably similar to her sister. Sidia reached out a shaking hand and touched Jaeda’s shoulder.

“It’s really you?”

“Yes,” Jaeda said and pulled her into a hard hug. “I’ve missed you so much.”

Sidia clung to her sister, and five years of the raw emotions she’d held tightly bottled inside her poured out. She sobbed out her fear and grief and worry and uncertainty and so much more. She wasn’t sure how long they held each other, but at some point, Jaeda started crying too. The dark-haired man entered long enough to drop a box of tissues on the bed with them. He ran a hand over her sister’s hair and dropped a kiss onto Jaeda’s lips when she looked up at him. Then he took his leave, pulling the door shut behind him and giving them privacy.

“Your mate?” Sidia asked, already sensing the bound the two shared.

“My Holt,” Jaeda said, making Sidia smile. They’d always declared that, if they were ever to mate and submit all they were to a male, they would address him as theirs. My mate. My man. My bear. My Koby.

She glanced around again as if by thinking of him she might conjure him up.

“How are you feeling? Jensen said the dart was a pretty straight shot of muscle relaxer and their anti-shifting serum. He also said you might have a headache and be really sore when you woke up.”

She growled. Jensen. She had things to say to him.

“Sidia?” Jaeda questioned. “Are you all right? Should I get someone?”

“No, I’m good.” She glanced at her sister and almost cried again. “Better than good, now that I have you again. I just heard about Emmett. What happened? How did you get here?”

“God, Sid. I was terrified. We didn’t stand a chance against them. He sent me to hide but refused to go with me. He said they’d never stop searching if he wasn’t there. I think he thought he could handle them. They…they tortured him. I ran when I could, headed straight for here. My Holt, a friend of his named Murphy and Koby Holloway found me. If they hadn’t been there, I’m not sure I’d be alive.”

“Were you followed?”

“They chased me into the national park. Took out the tires on my Jeep. Then they tagged me with a dart to prevent me from shifting once I was on foot. I was almost to Holloway land when they hit me again, that time with a tranq dart. I probably wouldn’t have made it if Koby hadn’t shot them and taken them out.”

“He took out the men following me, too.”

Her mate had killed them, protecting her. She should really thank him for that, and she would when she saw him. By the time she was finished, he’d have no doubt just how appreciative she was.

“There were men after you? What happened?”

“We heard them coming. Nicholas sent me to a secret cavern in the mountain behind his house. I was waiting for him when the house blew. I stayed hidden for two days before I ventured out. There were hunters waiting for me.”

“And you walked right out into them?” Jaeda lifted a brow in disbelief. “That doesn’t sound like you.”

“The smell of smoke overrode everything else. I didn’t even know they were there,” Sidia admitted. “What happened when you got here? You mated Holt?”

Jaeda sighed, and her lips tilted up in a smile. “He’s the one I ran to. I knew the moment I saw him that he was the one.”

Sidia understood that feeling. She’d known it the moment she’d smelled Koby’s scent. Seeing him walk toward her in all his naked glory, fresh from battle, had just been icing on the cake, icing she’d like to lick up, slowly and thoroughly.

“What is he?” Sidia asked. “I didn’t scent anything but you on him.”

“He’s human,” Jaeda told her.

“What? How…”

“Did the alpha allow it?” Jaeda finished her question for her, and Sidia nodded. “Holt is a friend of the Holloways. He was here to help out when I showed up and claimed him. The Holloways weren’t too happy about it at first, either. They were furious—or at least, Koby was. He challenged our mating.”

“He did? Koby wants you?” Sidia heard the growl in her voice but would be damned if she’d try to stop it. Her mate wanted her sister? What the fuck?

Jaeda’s eyes widened then she smiled slyly. “I see my Holt was right.”

“About what?”

“Tell me, Sid. Is Koby your mate?” Jaeda questioned.

“Yes,” Sidia declared. “He’s mine, whether he knows it or not.”

“Holt thought that might be why Koby felt a connection with me. It wasn’t really with me, but with you.”

“Because we’re twins?” Sidia asked, and Jaeda nodded. “I guess that makes sense. Did you kiss him? Touch him?” Sidia couldn’t see how her sister wouldn’t. Koby was gorgeous. What woman wouldn’t want him?

“Koby? No! I avoided him as much as I could. He scared me.”

“Koby’s not scary,” Sidia argued.

“It’s good you think so, since you’ve chosen him as your mate.”

“Where is he?” Sidia asked.

“He stayed there and sent Jensen back here with you. Laramie went to get Koby and help find out what happened with Nicholas.”

“There’s no way he survived that explosion and didn’t join me,” Sidia said with a shake of her head. “We were on our way here. Nicholas said from the start we should have all been brought to the Holloways. He felt it was the only way we’d be truly safe.”

“Emmett worried the Holloways would force us to mate with them. He said the grizzly line would be the only one to survive.”

“You’re mated to a human. Your children will be black bear, like we are.”

Jaeda nodded. “Yours will be grizzly.”

“Or black bear. It’s possible my DNA will be stronger in one of my children.”

“I told the Holloways which of the elders showed up and where to search for the surviving females.”

Sidia heard the shame in her sister’s voice. “I was planning to do the same, starting with you and Xandra. I hope she’s okay.”

“Me, too,” Jaeda agreed. “You were really going to tell them? Even knowing they might force the others to mate with them?”

“Hearing you makes me wonder what Emmett told you and why he did. Laramie Holloway is our alpha. It’s his job to care for the needs of the pack. Sure, he might limit the pool of potential mates. He would want to see the strongest amongst us mated into the next generation. It’s survival. That doesn’t mean we don’t get a choice.”

“What if a woman’s mate isn’t amongst those chosen for her?” Jaeda countered. “My mate is human. He wouldn’t have been given to me as a choice.”

“Then you’re lucky you arrived when you did,” Sidia said. “You seem happy.”

“I am. Holt is my…everything. Though he has some crazy ideas when it comes to some things.”

“Such as?” Sidia asked.

“He refused to mate with me at first, even when Laramie practically ordered him to. He had no idea how we marked our mates. He thought I was going to bite him,” Jaeda admitted with a giggle. “I did offer.”

“Bite?”

“He lived with a pride of feline shifters before he came here. It’s how they mate. Being human though, Holt thought we should get to know each other first. He refused to give in, no matter what I did.”

“I’m guessing that’s over, as I smell your scent all over him,” Sidia said.

“Yes, he’s my mate in every sense of the word now,” Jaeda agree.

“I won’t have to worry about that with Koby. He’ll know what to expect.”

“Laramie seemed to have the impression Koby thinks you’re scared of him. At least, that’s what Holt said. You don’t seem scared to me.”

“Jensen,” Sidia growled. “Where is he?”

“He’s around somewhere,” Jaeda answered. “Do you need him? You’re not starting to feel sick, are you?”

She shook her head. “No, I’m fine. Promise.” She hugged her sister again. “On one hand, I can’t believe you’re here! On the other, it’s like we were never apart.”

“I know,” Jaeda agreed. “Why don’t we head down to the kitchen and grab something to eat. You must be starving.”

“I think I’d really like a long, hot shower first,” she said. “I could use some fresh clothes. Do you know if Jensen brought my backpack?”

“I’ll grab you some of my clothes. Holt took me out earlier, and I grabbed stuff for both of us. I was hoping you’d be here soon. I’ll bring some over and put them on the bed for you. I think we’re still the same size.”