Bad Bear: BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (BRIDES fur BEARS Book 1) (8 page)

Standing up, Bazl walked over
the pieces of wood strewn on the floor. There was an upturned table
at the corner, and one of the table legs had been snapped off,
leaving behind a sharp, pointed spike. Bazl bent to pick up the
broken table leg as he made his way to her.

He tapped the table leg
against his palm and smiled down at her. “Where would you like
me to start?”

Staci shook her head mutely.
What was he going to do?

Bazl crouched down and
clucked his tongue. “You can scream all you want. No one will
hear you. There's no one on this entire street. Just rows of old
houses that have been earmarked for demolition. I have been watching
Marcus Beck for some time, so I know every nook and cranny of this
town. He thinks I'm dead.” Bazl sniggered. “Revenge
truly is a dish best served cold.”

Staci flinched when he
reached out to touch her. “Pretty,” Bazl mused. “I've
seen Marcus Beck with a few females, but he's never been with the
same woman for more than one night. You must be real special to him.
He even brought you to meet the twins.”

Staci swallowed painfully.
“Y-you saw...”

“Of course I saw. I
make sure I see everything. But nobody sees me, because—no one
sees a dead man.”

Staci bit her lip and
resolved not to make a single sound. She knew that Bazl was going to
hurt her bad. He was going to torture her before killing her. He
would hurt Marcus by hurting the woman he loved.

He wanted Marcus to live
knowing that Staci had screamed for him in the last hours of her
life. She had screamed for him to save her, and he hadn't come.

No. Staci clenched her jaw
tightly. She would not scream. She would endure everything and stay
silent.

I'm not afraid, Marcus.
And I'm not in pain. I don't regret knowing you. I love you, and
please tell Ethel that I love her too
.

Bazl studied her for a
moment. He pulled a dusty camcorder out of his jacket and set it on
the floor. The clunky recording device was old but apparently still
workable.

He pressed a button on the
recorder and said jauntily, “Let's get the show started.”

Staci took a deep steadying
breath as Bazl threw his jacket on the ground and swung the table leg
like a baseball bat. This was going to hurt. Bad.

She glanced at the recorder
on the ground and worked hard to keep the fear out of her face. She
didn't want Marcus to see how scared she was.

Staci looked down, refusing
to let Bazl see the panic and distress in her eyes.

She squeezed her eyes shut
just as the table leg connected with her shoulder. Staci toppled
sideways and her cheek landed hard on the floor. Her eyes watered as
the violent, savage pain racked her body.

Staci gritted her teeth and
refused to scream as another blow landed on her back.

She made no sound as she
swallowed the blood in her mouth. She wished she could stop her
tears but they just kept flowing of their own accord.

Don't cry, Staci
, she
ordered herself.
Don't let him see you cry!

CHAPTER
TWENTY-TWO

Marcus pulled his car
silently to a stop at the end of a dark, deserted street. Jax and
Joshua were in the backseat, and they both leaned forward to peer
through the windscreen.

“You sure she's here?”
Jax asked.

Joshua glared at his twin.
“Of course he's sure. She's his mate! His bear will find her
even if Bazl drags her to the ends of the earth.”

“Ah, the mate bond,”
Jax said, but he was still staring at Marcus. “Is that how it
works? You can feel her?” he asked Marcus quietly.

“Yes.”

Joshua's frown deepened as he
stared out the window. “There's no one in this neighborhood,”
he muttered. “These houses are all about to be torn down.”

Marcus didn't reply. He got
out of the car and scanned the length of the dark street. Staci was
near. He could feel it. But he could also feel that she was trying
to block her emotions from him.

Marcus's claws stabbed into
his palms. His chest tightened and he had to force air into his
lungs.

He knew what Staci was doing.
She was trying to block her pain from him. She didn't want him to
know how frightened she was, and how much she was suffering.

He would kill Bazl. For real
this time.

The bastard would wish that
he had died the first time.

A low, deadly growl rumbled
from his throat as he stalked down the street. Jax and Joshua
hurried after him, their eyes frantically scanning each empty house
that they passed.

“Where…?”

“Shhh!”

“Shh yourself!”

Marcus ignored his brothers'
furious whispering and kept walking. He took a sharp whiff and his
eyes flashed feral. Snarling, he started to run.

Staci was in that small,
crooked house at the end of the street. The house was half hidden
behind tall weeds and grasses, but he knew she was inside. He could
scent her blood. Staci was bleeding, and she was in a lot of pain.

Marcus whacked a thin tree
out of the way as he charged through the overgrown yard. He smashed
down the door and exploded into the musky, dirty house.

He saw Staci at once. She
was crumpled on the floor at the far corner of the room. Her face
was half covered with blood, and there were horrible, terrible marks
and bruises all over her arms and legs.

Bazl was crouching over her,
pressing his knife against her bound hands. He was preparing to
slice off her fingers.

Marcus roared and slammed
into Bazl. “You! What have you done to her?”

Bazl scrambled up quickly and
grabbed the broken table leg at his feet. He swiped at the trickle
of blood at the corner of his mouth and smiled at Marcus.

“You're too late,
Marcus,” Bazl said. “She won't live. Even if she lives,
she'll be permanently damaged. Her arms are broken, her pretty
little face is messed up and even if she lives, she won't recover
emotionally from this ordeal. She's only human. She's broken
forever.”

Bazl laughed. “Your
woman might be in a coma forever, if she survives. You brought this
on her. You killed her, Marcus.”

CHAPTER
TWENTY-THREE

Marcus cradled Staci's broken
body gently against him. “Why?” The word escaped as a
ragged whisper against Staci's matted hair.
Why didn't you reach
out and let me feel your pain? Why didn't you scream for me, Staci?

“I have been kind
enough to record everything for your viewing pleasure.” Bazl
indicated the camcorder on the floor. “I have everything on
tape.”

Marcus let out an anguished
roar. He grabbed the wretched device and threw it against the wall.
The thing cracked and broke into pieces.

Marcus spun round and charged
at Bazl, but Bazl could move incredibly fast for a human. He watched
Marcus's every move with cunning, calculating eyes and seemed to be
able to anticipate his moves.

Consumed with rage and
grief, Marcus could hardly see clearly, much less think clearly. His
eyes and mind were clouded and his fists kept smashing into the wall,
instead of Bazl's skull.

“You fucking piece of
shit!” Marcus bellowed. His voice was hoarse and broken. He
had failed to protect the one woman who meant everything to him. She
had been brave enough to love him. And he had failed her.

Marcus swung again and
managed to rake his claws down Bazl's side. Bazl swore viciously and
whirled round to slash at Marcus. He managed to knife Marcus in the
back, and laughed triumphantly.

Joshua and Jax had rushed to
Staci immediately. Joshua looked stricken as he gathered Staci up in
his arms.

“I'll rush her to the
hospital,” Joshua said.

Jax nodded and unsheathed his
claws as he went to stand in front of Marcus. “I'll finish
this,” Jax snarled.

Bazl gave a taunting laugh.
“Oh, it's little Jumping Jax. I forgot to bring my whip. But
I bet I can still make you jump.”

Jax flinched and Marcus
exploded with fury. Jax was deaf in one ear because of Bazl and
Marcus knew that Jax still woke up screaming from his nightmares
sometimes.

Marcus hurtled towards Bazl,
half shifting into bear form. His jaws widened as he rushed at the
man.

Bazl pulled out a gun
suddenly and fired. The bullet burrowed into Marcus's shoulder and
the excruciating pain made Marcus jerk back.

He shook his head hard and
tried to shift fully into his bear but he couldn't.

It was a silver bullet.

With the silver in his body,
he couldn't shift. And he couldn't heal.

Blood poured from his wound,
and he could feel his strength draining away as his blood spurted
from his body.

Bazl raised his gun again and
smirked.

“No!” Jax roared
and shoved Bazl away just as a shot rang out.

Bazl stumbled sideways and
lost his balance. He flailed desperately and croaked out what
sounded like a plea.

His eyes bulged and he stared
at Jax as he fell. “You...”

He pointed his gun at Jax as
he crashed backwards and fell onto the overturned table at the
corner.

But he never got to fire his
gun.

A sharp, jagged spike pierced
his back and protruded from his chest.

Jax didn't even glance at
Bazl's body. He went to Marcus and threw his big brother's arm
around his shoulder.

“Come on,” Jax
said. “Let's get you to the hospital as well. Joshua should
have gotten Staci to the hospital by now.”

“Staci...” Marcus
gritted out.

“Staci is strong. Like
you,” Jax answered. “She will make it.”

CHAPTER
TWENTY-FOUR

Staci could hear soft
murmuring voices. Someone was holding her hand and calling her name.

She tried to open her eyes
but she couldn't. It was just too painful. The pain radiated
through every nerve in her body, and Staci wanted to open her mouth
and scream. But she couldn't move, and she couldn't make a sound.
It was like she was a prisoner in her own body, trapped in a cocoon
of pain.

The voices grew louder and
more distinct. She thought she heard...Gramma's voice. She could
recognize Gramma's husky voice from her karaoke singing at The Round
Table.

Staci tried to ignore the
pain stabbing through her body and concentrated on the voices. Yes,
it definitely was Gramma's voice. And she heard Ne-ma's voice as
well. And Melanie's. And many other voices she thought she
recognized but couldn't quite place. They were all muttering some
unintelligible words in unison, their voices rising and ebbing
rhythmically. It sounded like...an incantation for a spell.

Staci vaguely remembered
Melanie casting a minor glamor spell over herself before a big date.
She remembered feeling the shiver of magic rippling through the air
as Melanie's unruly, frizzy locks tamed themselves in a jiffy.

Staci could sense that same
benign magic in the air. She just felt safe, protected and loved,
and the pain in her body became so much more bearable. There was a
gentle warmth against her skin, and Staci relaxed and surrendered to
the calming, soothing sensation.

Someone was calling her name
softly. Staci started.

It was Ethel's voice.
But...what was her big sister doing here?

The low chanting gradually
faded away, and Staci heard the electronic beep of medical equipment
as urgent footsteps rushed around her. Someone was reading off some
numbers and she felt a needle press into her arm.

“All right. We'll keep
her in the ICU for a while more, but it looks like she's doing good.
Well done, ladies.”

“Is she going to wake
up? When can I...”

“You can stay with her,
Ethel. I'm sure Staci will want to see her big sister when she wakes
up.”

“I'm sure she'll want
to see Marcus too. Oh...oh! She's opening her eyes! Doctor, come
here quick! Staci's waking up! Staci! Can you hear me? How are
you feeling?”

Staci blinked and saw the
white fluorescent lights above her. Then she saw her sister's
worried face staring down at her. Ethel's large brown eyes were
filled with tears.

“Oh Staci!” Ethel
cried, clutching her hand.

“Wh...what...Ethel...”
Staci rasped.

A bespectacled blond woman in
a white coat came and shone a light into Staci's eyes. She pressed
her stethoscope to Staci's chest and spoke rapidly to the nurses
behind her.

Staci stared at the pretty
blond doctor and frowned. She had seen her before. Dr. Emily Halle,
her name tag said.

Staci's eyes widened
suddenly. Of course. She was the witch at the end of the conga
line. She was the one who had made loud smooching sounds at Marcus
as she yee-hawed and slapped her hips provocatively before darting
out of the alley.