20
Gage
George, Frank, and Amon were all in bear form when I entered the cave. I expected as much. They had Luka standing against a back wall, and all three of them were standing in front of her.
I roared in anger. My entire body shook with rage, and I was about to rip out Amon’s throat when I heard her sweet voice.
“No worries, my love,” Luka said. “Everything is fine. I’m not hurt, and I got to go on a brand new adventure. I also had the opportunity to engage in witty conversation with your brother and his friends.”
“He’s no brother of mine,” I growled. “No brother of mine would ever act with such dishonor.”
“Dishonor, dear brother? Where were you for several years when our dearly departed father could have used your assistance? You were off fighting other people’s wars, leaving him to take care of everything himself.”
I ignored him and addressed his two friends. “If you know what is good for you, you will walk out of this cave right now. You will not win this battle, I promise you. You bet on the wrong side.”
My voice was low, and the two bears knew that I meant every word I said. Yet, through some kind of misplaced loyalty, Frank and George stood their ground.
Luka piped up from the back. “Frank is going to need some medical care. His face is covered in blisters from third-degree burns, courtesy of yours truly and what was supposed to be our dinner.”
Frank growled. She was trying to make Frank even angrier. He had always been known as a hot-head, so it wasn’t that hard to do. He always thought he was some type of James Dean character, a handsome bad boy that all the women would love.
I walked closer to Amon. “Tell them to step aside and let Luka go. This is between you and me.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that. You see, I’m going to have a lot of fun with her after I’ve destroyed you. She’s going to know what a real man feels like between those luscious thighs of hers.”
Luka called out from the back. “Don’t let him get to you. He’s trying to get you angry so you won’t be thinking right. And Amon, you won’t ever touch luscious thighs unless they were in the grocery store in the chicken section.”
“Shut her up,” Amon yelled.
“Don’t touch me,” Luka warned. “Look what happened to Blister Face when he grabbed my arm. I’ve got other tricks up my sleeve, and you won’t like them.”
Amon sighed. “You would have to pick a mouthy wench, wouldn’t you?”
“I’m telling you one last time. Let her go.”
My entire focus was on Amon because I knew the other two wouldn’t make a move without him. That was why I hadn’t noticed Luka slowly sliding out on the other side of Amon, away from her guards. The other two were focused on Amon and me, and paid no attention to Luka, thinking they had her trapped.
I saw her out of the corner of my eye when she came up on Amon’s left flank. She nodded at me.
I yelled, “Now,” and she ran as fast as she could out of the cave.
“Go get her, you idiots,” Amon hollered at his friends.
They started to go, but then six of the clan’s warriors blocked the cave entrance with Jacob leading them. Luka was out, and these idiots weren’t going anywhere, at least not until I was done with them. They had taken my woman, disrespected her, disrespected me, and marred the clan. I wasn’t going to stand for any of it.
“You were going somewhere?” Jacob asked in a calm, polite voice. “We heard there was a party here. Our feelings were hurt because you didn’t invite us. We thought we were your friends.”
Orsola, who stood behind Jacob, said, “You know I love to party, Amon. Since you didn’t invite us, we had to crash the party.” She nudged Liam with her nose. “Does that make us the party poopers?”
“This is not your business,” Amon growled. “This is between my brother and me.”
“Oh, but it is our business,” Jacob said. “You want to be the leader of our clan. We don’t agree that you should be. Therefore, we are backing up the true leader.”
“What should we do with them?” I asked.
Luka pushed her way through the crowd of bears.
“Don’t hurt them.” She took my face in her hands and kissed my nose. “Although you have disowned him as your brother, he still is, and you would never forgive yourself if you had his blood on your hands. Banish or exile them, but don’t hurt them.”