Taming the Bear Collection (18 page)

      
As they walked away from the cabin he sighed deeply, looking back at it one more time. For nearly twenty years this place had been his sanctuary from the rest of the world. He’d tilled the fields and grown his own food. Not many people got to hunt their own fish and then return to eat their own homegrown salad. It was a pleasure Beorn had taken for granted and now it was going to be ripped from him in one glorious moment of self-defense.

      
Speaking of pleasures: he couldn’t get over how great Rain’s ass looked, especially with the gun sticking out of her waistband. His bear growled its approval, seeing past the deer piss she was covered in and demanding satisfaction right now. He had to soothe the amorous beast inside. Business, then pleasure.

      
He’d never been one to use guns, but nothing was hotter than his mate holding pure, hot lead in her hands. His eyes fixated on the gun handle then travelled down to the supple, round curves protruding from the material of her pants. The pants hugged her ass perfectly and called to him. Each step created a bounce in her cheeks that forced blood to his nether regions. He could feel the skin of his cock tightening behind his jeans, growing with each passing second.

      
Beorn shut his eyes and shook his head, trying to force the carnal thoughts out of his brain. They were in mortal danger and they were about to find themselves in a fight for survival. He had to have complete mental clarity; he couldn’t be focused on getting his dick wet right now. First he would sate his bear’s bloodlust, and then he would sate its sexual desires. All in due time.

      
“How far out do we need to go?” Rain asked as she glanced back at Beorn. She looked down at her ass and then back up at him, the hint of a seductive smile playing across her lips.

      
“I think we’re far enough out,” he said, stopping and turning back towards the cabin. The range on the detonator wasn’t impressive, but this seemed like a distance where it would go off and they wouldn’t be damaged by the concussion.

      
“How powerful are these bombs?” she asked.

      
“Powerful enough to blow up the cabin and anyone close to it,” he answered.

      
“Are you sure we’re going to be okay?”

      
“Yes. Besides, we’re not going to be standing here with our mouths hanging open like two fools. I want you to hide behind the tree over there. If any of them come close, you roll out and open fire. I’m going to hide in the undergrowth and pick them off with my rifle.”

      
“It feels like we’re in some kind of awesome action movie,” Rain said gleefully.

      
Unfortunately, this wasn’t a movie. It was real life, and it was going to become very dangerous. It did please him that she was coming around to the idea of fighting for survival and wasn’t so freaked out by what was about to go down.

      
It was probably her wolf’s inherent violent streak and need to defend itself that was taking over her thoughts and actions more than anything, he told himself. She still wasn’t able to completely mesh them, allowing one to become more dominant than the other at times. Hopefully things wouldn’t get crazy enough that her wolf forced a shift. He’d only seen a few forced shifts in his life, but they’d all happened at times when the beast’s will couldn’t be contained anymore.

      
“Beorn?” she asked from behind him, now lowering her voice.

      
“Yes, beautiful?” he asked, turning to smile at her.

      
Rain giggled and then continued, “Are we still going to go on our date if we get through this alive?”

      
“You don’t consider this a date?” He tried his best to look completely serious. “I’m having a blast and I’m turned on.”

      
Rain studied him for several seconds, her eyes looking him up and down, trying to figure out if he was telling the truth or not. Finally she laughed. “This is not my idea of a great date. I was looking forward to our…shifter date.”

      
“Ahh, the shifter date. Yes, I was looking forward to that too. Don’t worry, pretty lady. I’ll make sure you get all the fun of chasing my bear through the woods. I’ll even treat you to a nice trout dinner down at the river.”

      
“That sounds lovely,” she said, giggling. “No man has ever gone all out for me like that before.”

      
“I’m not any normal man.”

      
“What are we going to do after our date?”

      
“Well,” Beorn said, dropping to his knees so he could prepare his rifle. “I figure afterwards we’ll explore and have dinner. Then we’re going to shift back to human form and I’m going to fuck your ever-loving brains out. I don’t care if you want it or not, I’m going to impale you on my cock against a tree and fuck you so hard the damn thing uproots and we all tumble over.”

      
He looked back at Rain, fist-pumping in his brain as he got the desired reaction. Her mouth was hanging open and her eyes were wider than saucers. He could practically see the wetness running down her thighs as his crude description turned her on.

      
“That sounds like a plan,” she finally choked out.

      
“I’m glad you agree,” he said. “Do you hear that?’

      
Rain stopped and craned her neck, sniffing the air as she did so. She must have caught a whiff of something because she recoiled in disgust, her upper lip curling and her tongue almost falling out of her head.

      
“I smell other wolves,” she said.

      
“So do I,” he said. “They’re not being quiet, either. They’re howling and hollering as they come. They’re trying to intimidate us. They want us to know they’re coming.”

      
“They’re in for a rude awakening.”

      
“Hell, yes,” Beorn said, pulling out the detonator and laying in front of him. “I’m going to enjoy this almost as much as that monster blowjob you gave me yesterday.”

      
He heard Rain giggle again and then heard the shuffling of plants as she ducked behind the tree, ready to play her part in the bloody battle that was to come.

      
Could there be any woman more perfect than her?
he thought.
She’s fucking amazing.

      
He regretted that he had put her in harm’s way, but at the same time she was a Dawnguard member and the surrogate daughter of Rowan. Beorn knew the wolf could fight, probably better than anyone else in Bucklin save Aster. She wasn’t going to go down without a fight; she was a strong woman. Of course he’d rather have Rowan or Aster watching his back if he had a choice. They wouldn’t need the weapons and bombs if he had just one of them. Together they could annihilate an entire wolf pack.

      
He looked at the cabin through his scope, waiting for the first little bastard to appear on the scene. It didn’t take long to get his wish. A scraggly-looking gray wolf emerged from the bushes directly opposite Beorn’s position on the other side of the cabin. The mangy mongrel began sniffing the ground, picking up on Beorn’s and Rain’s scents. The hair on its back began to puff up as it began to growl, gnashing and barking at the cabin.

      
Two more ugly gray mutts emerged from the bushes, each picking up the scent as well. Together the three of them began to circle the cabin, each one getting into some sort of attack position. Right behind them came a larger brown wolf. Beorn immediately recognized him as the one who had run off earlier after Rain had bitten his tail. It was one of the bastards who had caused his injuries, which still stung him at the moment. He hoped the stupid dog would get back and avoid the blast altogether, allowing Beorn the satisfaction of putting a bullet in his head.

      
The brown one was quickly joined by a large silver wolf. Beorn pulled his face away from the scope and studied the creature. He’d never seen this wolf before. Who was he? His size was immense, much larger than any wolf he’d ever run into except for the aforementioned Dawnguard wolves. He had to be an alpha, but alpha of what?

      
Beorn did a quick checklist in his head. Forrest was dead, Aster was in town, Thorn was in town and on his side, Crow was dead and Hawk wasn’t colored like that. The only other alpha wolf that he knew of was Rowan, but he wouldn’t betray them either. Beorn cursed himself for the wolves and their domestication. He hadn’t seen many of them shifted in ten years, and he had no clue about their size or coloration these days.

      
“Who the fuck is that”?” he whispered.

      
He glanced back up at Rain, who was also studying the strange wolf. She looked down, their eyes locking. He mouthed the question he had just whispered to her and she shook her head in confusion. She had no clue who this guy was.

      
It didn’t matter now, though. He was going to die just like the rest of them. Beorn tried to give them a little bit more time, in hopes that more would make their presence known.

      
Come on, damn you,
he thought.
Show yourselves.

      
It took several minutes but eventually six more wolves emerged from the woods, bringing the total to eleven. Was this all they had? All of them except for the silver one were surrounding the cabin and sniffing. Finally the brown one shifted, revealing a very hairy and ragged-looking human. He was pretty big, closely resembling Forrest.

      
They started to have a conversation, one that was punctuated with wild points at the door and finally a backhand from the brown one to the gray one that sent him to his knees. The brown one turned to the silver wolf, who still hadn’t shifted, giving him a wary look. Beorn caught it; it was subtle but it was there. He was scared of the silver wolf, and he didn’t want to do anything to disappoint the beast.

      
Half of the wolves were now shifted and walking to the windows, preparing to break into the cabin. It was time, almost time. Beorn moved his hand to the detonator and prepared to send them all back to hell. At that exact moment he froze, fear gripping his entire body.

      
The silver wolf was looking right at him, his cold black eyes focused on Beorn’s direction. Without warning the others he turned and disappeared back into the brush, leaving his partners alone.

      
What the fuck?
Beorn thought.
Did he see me? He can’t see me, I’m hidden. He can’t smell me, either.

      
An unsettled feeling fell over Beorn, causing his hand to shake. He glanced back at Rain, whose eyes were focused on him, but she didn’t seem to notice the obvious fear that had overtaken his body. With a deep breath he closed his eyes and opened them again, calming his nerves. He made eye contact with his mate and nodded, letting her know the explosion was about to happen. In response she ducked and stuck her fingers in her ears, ready for the blast.

      
Beorn smiled as a few of the wolves broke through the windows, entering the cabin. He wanted to savor this moment, to enjoy the anticipation one last time as he prepared to deal a death blow to so many hated enemies. It wasn’t right to enjoy killing a living being this much, but these goddamn wolves had it coming.

      
With a deep breath and a broad smile Beorn pressed down on the detonator, waiting for the monstrous explosion to come. Nothing happened. He looked down at the detonator again, turning it over and looking for something disconnected. Everything seemed to be fine, but there was no explosion. He began slamming his hand down on the button, before standing up to put himself on a level with the bombs.

      
This wasn’t good, not good at all. He began walking towards the cabin, repeatedly slamming his fist into the button. Why weren’t the bombs going off? Had he built duds?

      
“Look there!” one of the wolves yelled. “They’re over there, in the forest.”

      
Shit, they’ve caught us.

      
The wolves were starting to exit the cabin, each of them with snapping and growling, ready to converge on the lone werebear. Beorn smashed his fist into the button one more time, hearing the controller break and crack under the force of his blow.

      
That wasn’t the only sound he heard. He looked up to see a brilliant flash as a fireball emanated from inside the cabin, blowing it outward. It was a beautiful site as the orange fire filled his vision and several wolves flew through the air, thrown by the awesome concussive forces of the blast.

      
Beorn threw himself backwards and landed on the soft forest floor as shrapnel flew in every direction. There was no time to waste; he had to roll back to his gun.

      
Rain waited and waited for the blast, but nothing came. She was afraid to look up, afraid that the detonator wasn’t working. Her fears were confirmed when she heard the other wolves shouting and yelling. They had seen Beorn and they were heading right for him.

      
She took a deep breath and picked the handgun up off the ground, preparing to defend herself with it. They would probably overwhelm her, but maybe she could shoot a few of them before they did so. It would help the people of Bucklin if there were fewer enemies to deal with. None of them would know the sacrifice the silly young girl and cantankerous bear had made.

      
Luckily the stories about werewolves only being killed by silver bullets were just that: stories. A regular bullet would pierce their skin and do damage like it would to any other living creature, except a vampire. There were no vampires here, though, just a battle for supremacy between two mismatched lovers and a pack of dangerous wolves.