If it wasn’t Amon and his crew, it had to be her ex-boyfriend, that jerk that didn’t know how to take no for an answer. There were not many humans that were a physical match for a grizzly bear. If it had been, say, Dwayne Johnson, I might have had a fight ahead of me. One that I would win, but not without taking a bruising. That weasley little man who Luka had been with in the past, though, would not be much of a fight at all.
The bad thing about humans was that they rarely traveled alone when they were out doing dirty deeds. The other bad thing was that when humans were out doing these dirty deeds, they were often loaded to the gills with guns. A few things could take out a bear. A gun was one of them.
I looked into the SUV, and the scene there made my heart thump so loud I thought it was going to let my prey know I was coming. The entire vehicle was littered with beer cans. The stench of stale beer was so strong, it almost made me gag. Another obnoxious scent indicated that they most likely had also been smoking weed. That was not a good sign. There were also several boxes of ammunition scattered around.
That meant they had a lot of liquid courage and a lot of firepower. That never turned out well, especially when the people were absolute morons with no respect for others.
I heard the man, whose voice I recognized immediately, tell Luka that she had better get her butt in gear. She was going with them. Fear seized me when she told him that he would have to shoot her first. I always knew that she was a strong woman and that she was very brave. Thinking about her bravery and the absolute disregard for what an amazing woman she was stole my fear from me and replaced it with white-hot rage.
My body began to shake. My anger took over. No one was going to hurt my wife, my woman. No one. I would destroy anyone who tried.
I knew I was my strongest in bear form. Without taking my clothes off, I began to transform. The rending sound of my clothing echoed in the trees as my body grew from a two-hundred-and-fifty pound man to a six-hundred-pound bear.
It didn’t take me long to assess the situation. Luka had been trying to edge her way to the cabin. Jason had been a rifle pointed right at her throat. There were two men standing several feet behind him, also holding rifles. They must have been afraid of Luka if they thought they would need three men with guns to kidnap her.
Every muscle in my body tightened when I saw the sorry excuse for human existence touching my wife, threatening her life with a gun. Every hair on my body stood straight up, which made my already massive frame look even larger, more intimidating.
Luka caught the movement first, and her eyes left Jason’s for a moment. When she spotted me as a large bear standing behind the men, I saw relief flood her face. Instinctually, she knew the bear was not there to cause her harm. She knew the bear was there to protect her from the evil men who stood in front of her.
Jason saw her expression change. I chose that moment to roar as loudly as I could, and I bounded into the group.
All of the men turned to stare at me. The man closest to me began to vibrate so hard, I was positive that I could feel the ground shifting beneath me. He opened his mouth as if he were going to say something, and then he apparently changed his mind. The man stood, frozen solid, his feet glued to the ground. I got right in his face and roared. He dropped his rifle and ran toward the vehicle as fast as his drunk legs could carry him. Smart man.
The other man stood his ground for a moment longer. I walked slowly toward him, keeping my eyes on his face the entire time. My hackles were raised, and I had a continuous low growl in the back of my throat. We were almost nose to nose. I showed my teeth to him. I could see the veins in his neck start throbbing with fear. He raised his rifle as though he was thinking about taking aim at me. I bumped into him with my shoulder, shoving him to the ground. That gesture apparently convinced him that aiming his gun at me was not a good idea. He jumped up, and he ran, clutching his weapon for dear life. Also, a smart man. It took him a little longer, but at least he was smart enough to figure out when to surrender the fight.
Now, I had to deal with the last idiot standing in front of me. Jason had stood still while I addressed his friends. He didn’t make a move to try to help either one of them. He was one of the biggest cowards I had ever seen in my life. Not only did he have to have backup and guns to scare and kidnap a woman, but he stayed in the back while his friends faced a bear.
Slowly, I walked toward him, watching him. I didn’t trust him not to try to shoot Luka or make some other stupid decision. He had already proven several times that his elevator didn’t go all the way to the top floor.
He let go of Luka, who ran back toward the porch of her cabin but didn’t go in. She needed to know the outcome of the fight. Maybe she wanted to see Jason cower like the milksop he was and always had been.
Jason’s face drained of all color. The rifle in his hand shook violently. I was afraid with all of the alcohol and drugs that he had taken, he wasn’t going to be able to control his rifle. At least Luka was behind him, so he couldn’t accidentally shoot her.
Jason raised his rifle to his shoulder and took aim at me. As he did, I roared loudly again, telling him not to be stupid. He might not be able to speak bear, but, surely, he understood the message. However, he didn’t take my advice. Jason closed his eyes, pointed the rifle in my direction, and pulled the trigger. When he opened his eyes, he looked shocked, as though he wasn’t sure how it happened.
I growled as the bullet entered my left shoulder. I didn’t know what he was aiming for, but at the short distance between us, he was bound to have hit something. It didn’t take a great marksman to hit a target my size only five yards away.
My shoulder felt as though a raging fire was burning its way through me. I quickly assessed the damage. It didn’t seem to have hit anything vital because I was still able to move well.
At that moment, I knew I intended to completely destroy him. I crouched down and pounced on Jason, knocking him to the ground. As I did so, he pulled the trigger a second time. The bullet seared through my side. The fiery pain was intense, and a loud thunder exploded out of my throat.
With one swipe of my paw, I knocked the rifle out of his hand. It went flying across the yard. I heard a loud snap and thought that I might have broken his hand. With another swipe, I slashed him across his face, leaving four thick, bleeding gashes across his cheek and jaw.
He fell backward. I pinned him to the ground, but my energy was quickly ebbing because of my injuries. I wouldn’t be able to stay in bear form much longer.
Putting my front leg across his throat to make sure he didn’t move during my transition, I transformed back into my human form. Jason’s eyes just about exploded out of his head. He absolutely couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
He put his hand up to his face and discovered that the four gashes on his face were real, and they were bleeding profusely. I had cut him to the bone. He was going to have to get them taken care of, or his day was going to be a lot worse. There was also the issue of infection.
Jason was lucky that was all I did. Although I was completely overcome with rage, I was not in the habit of killing anyone unless I absolutely had to. I saw too much killing while serving in the military. I also didn’t want to kill anyone or even hurt anyone more than I had to in front of Luka. It was a sight that was hard to get over.
I took advantage of Jason’s shock. It gave me a minute to catch my breath as I stared at him, my face full of disdain and unshielded malice. I willed my arms and legs to hold me even though I could feel myself growing weaker by the second.
Naked and bleeding, I hissed at him, “I told you to stay away from Luka. She is my woman. She is my wife. If you come near her again, you will get a lot more than gashes on your face that a couple of stitches will take care of. I will rip out your throat and spread your body parts throughout the forest for the scavengers to enjoy. Do you understand me?”
He nodded.
“I can’t hear you.”