Kill him, my bear urges. I nod in agreement. That’s exactly what he deserves.
With a fierce grunt, I yank my hand back out, bringing Jace with me. The old wooden door explodes into pieces as I rip him through it.
He’s hurt and bleeding from his mouth as he looks up at me with fading eyes. His skin starts to turn blue, but it makes me squeeze even harder.
“Where is she?” I hiss as I lean down into his face.
He slowly raises a heavy arm and points into the shack.
“She’s mine,” I growl as I turn him around. I grab his thick body in my hands and snap his neck.
He falls to the ground, dead.
With my heart pounding and my eyes seeing nothing but red, I storm into the shack. Two of the lion shifters, Alex and Iker, are staring at me in shock.
I lift my nose and inhale deep. Her scent fills me up. She’s so close. It’s so intense that it makes my hands shake. My hands never shake.
“What did you do?” Iker asks in a trembling voice as he looks past me to the broken door and his dead friend.
I did what I had to do. I let these guys off the hook too many times. But stealing a young girl… Stealing my girl… They’re not walking away from that.
I move fast. They don’t put up much of a fight or maybe we’re just completely outmatched. It is only two of them against one of me.
Alex lands a hard roundhouse on my chin as I charge in on them, but I don’t even feel it. So much adrenaline is surging through my veins that I could shake off an eighteen-wheeler truck slamming into my chest.
I crack Iker in the jaw with a hard punch and then grab Alex. He tries to release his lion, but I snap his neck while he’s mid-phase. I drop his body to the floor and he looks like a monster with his face all distorted and fur covering his skin in patches. His hands are half-swollen into paws, but still looking grotesquely human.
“Did you touch her?” I growl as I lean over Iker. He’s on his knees, looking helpless and pathetic as he holds his broken jaw.
“Who?! The girl?” he grunts without moving his lips.
“Ellie,” I say and my whole body shivers. Every time her name is on my lips, my whole body reacts. “Where is she?”
He looks past me to a closed door and lifts his shaking finger. My heart starts racing. She’s right there. Behind that door.
I don’t know how to handle that. I’ve been waiting for my mate for fifty-two years and I’m minutes from laying my eyes on her. Minutes from touching her sweet soft skin. Minutes from claiming her ripe young pussy.
But first, I have to deal with the men who took her.
“Did. You. Touch. Her?” I say very slowly.
His eyes widen and his jaw starts to tremble as he looks up at me. “Nobody touched her. Not like that.”
My bear lets out a thunderous roar that I can feel vibrating through my chest. Iker’s eyes drop to it.
“We didn’t!” he yells. “Do you know her or something?”
“She’s my mate,” I hiss in a low voice.
Now his face really drops. “Shit,” he curses under his breath.
“Shit is right,” I say as I roll my shoulders back. “You don’t fuck with a polar bear shifter’s mate.”
“I didn’t mea—”
He doesn’t even get to finish his last words. I grab his neck and snap it.
I’m staring into his golden eyes and watching them fade, loving every second of it.
When he’s dead, I drop him to the floor and stand up. I turn and face the door, and my stomach quivers. Now I’m nervous. The bad guys are all dead, but now I’m feeling anxiety.
I’ve been waiting fifty-two years for this moment. Of course I’m nervous. I don’t want to fuck it up.
A lion’s roar hits my ears and the nerves sink away. My adrenaline spikes back up as I turn to the smashed front door.
The bad guys aren’t all dead. There’s one left. Knox.
I was so caught up with Ellie’s scent and knowing she’s here that I forgot to count the dead bodies.
And there’s one missing.
Blood pounds in my ears as I storm over to the entrance. I step over Jace’s dead body on the porch and walk outside. There’s a full-grown lion pacing on the grass. His long golden mane is waving in the wind and he’s got a long string of drool hanging from his snarling teeth.
My inner bear lunges to the surface. He’s begging to get out. He wants him. He wants to make him pay for touching our mate.
I got three. It’s only fair that I let him have one.
I quickly slip off my shoes and I’m trying to unbutton my shirt when he breaks through.