Forbidden Love: A BBW, BWWM Paranormal Romance (9 page)

Alice opened her mouth to answer, but Shara gripped her
hand. “Alice was shot by some poachers a mile or so from our
camp. I know your camp is far away, and she couldn’t walk that
far on her leg.”

“
Mom, Shara cleaned and dressed my wound. She
helped me,” Alice clarified further, hoping to end this before
anything more happened. She could see Susan on the ground, injured,
as well as the wolf she’d fought. “I couldn’t get
back on my own, and I didn’t want to bring a werewolf home.”

Alex moved to Alice’s side, silently asking if she
was ok. Riley narrowed his eyes at the exchange but reserved his
comment.

Alex looked at the group. “The poachers were going
to kill her, skin her, and sell her pelt.”

“
Alex saved me, Mom,” Alice told her. “He
could have let them take me, but he didn’t.” She looked
at him and smiled, and Cammie gasped audibly.

Riley knew for sure then; something had happened between
his sister and this werewolf. He glared at Alex first, then turned
his gaze on his sister. His mother stepped up to him and took his arm
before he could speak.

“
Alice, what’s going on between you and this
werewolf?” Cammie asked quietly.

Shara sighed. She looked at Cammie, hoping to find an
ally before all hell broke loose, but she couldn’t read the
woman’s expression. She truly hoped this wouldn’t end
badly.

Alice looked at her mother, then her brother. Before she
answered, she looked at Alex. Riley growled deep in his throat. “Why
are you looking at him before you answer, Alice? What the hell is
going on?”

“
Riley, calm down and give her a chance to
explain,” Cammie said, still gripping his arm. His muscles were
quivering; he was barely containing his need to shift into his bear
form. If that happened, a war would begin. “She deserves the
chance to explain.”

John, who’d been enjoying this little exchange,
gleefully said to Alex, “Yes, Alex, why don’t you explain
what happened between you and this werebear.”

Alex glared at his father, and Shara said, “Shut
up, John. Don’t make this any worse.”

“
How could it get any worse? Our werewolf son has
fallen in love with their werebear daughter and sister.” Every
creature, bear and wolf, gasped or murmured or growled lowly in
response.

“
Dammit, Dad,” Alex cursed. Alice rolled her
eyes at John’s obvious attempt to start a fight, but her
concern grew as the mumbling and growls increased in volume.

Cammie looked at her daughter, concern and what looked
like fear in her eyes. “Alice, is this true?”

Alice stared at her mother. She didn’t know what
to say. Admitting she was falling in love with Alex was tantamount to
treason in the eyes of many clan members. But refusing to acknowledge
her feelings also seemed wrong. She didn’t want to hurt Alex,
who looked at her now with true hope in his eyes. He took her hand
and nodded encouragingly at her. She furrowed her brows at him, and
he smiled the smile that drew her to him. She smiled back and looked
at her family.

“
Mom, Riley, I am falling in love with him.”

Riley’s reaction was terrifying. He roared, and
the bear’s voice spoke through his human throat. The bears
around him roared with him, and the wolves joined in. All eyes were
on Riley, who would either begin a battle or accept this treason.

“
I feel the same way,” Alex called over the
noise.

“
Have you two . . . um,” Cammie began. Her
question was obvious, and Alice’s bold stare and nod answered
her question. Cammie looked at Shara, the only other logical person
in the clearing, and silently communicated with her. Share stared
back and shrugged. There was nothing the two of them could do; events
would have to unfold as fate deemed.

Riley’s attention was on his sister. He yelled at
her, furious. “What the hell are you thinking? He’s a
damn werewolf! He’s our enemy!”

“
Riley, please calm down. We can talk about this
rationally,” Alice soothed, releasing Alex’s hand and
stepping forward. “There doesn’t have to be a fight.”

“
Alice is right. Why don’t we sit down and
talk about this. John, Alex, and I on one side, Riley, Cammie, and
Alice on the other. We can straighten all this out without any more
bloodshed,” Shara said, gesturing at Susan and the wolf, whose
bleeding had slowed. Still, the injuries stood out starkly against
their fur.

“
I agree,” Cammie nodded her head. “Let’s
take this down a notch. Violence isn’t necessary.”

Riley
hadn’t stopped staring at Alice, and his anger exploded on her.
“Alice, how could you do this? A werewolf’s whore!”

Cammie
grabbed his arm. “Don’t you dare speak of your sister
that way!”

“You
shut your damned mouth, Riley!” Alex yelled. “You will
not speak about her that way!”

“Screw
you, wolf! You seduced her into believing you care about her and
fucked her! She was injured and probably drugged!”

An
answering warning at the insult arose among the wolves. Several of
them lowered their heads aggressively, ready and willing to fight for
their future leader’s reputation. In response, the bears
rumbled menacingly, also prepared to fight for Alice’s
reputation.

Alice’s
eyes widened at the implication. “Riley! I was perfectly lucid
when we had sex. He did not take advantage of me! Stop this!”

“It’s
ok, Alice. We all know you seduced my son with your whore ways,”
John said.

Riley screamed in fury, shifted, and charged at John.
The bears followed their leader, roaring in anger. John grinned
before shifting and readying for the impact of Riley’s weight.
Cammie and Shara screamed for all of them to stop, and Alice moved to
protect Susan, who still lay on the ground. The shouts of the
matriarchs were ignored, and soon the entire pack and clan were
battling for the honor of their members who had suffered insult.

Alex had followed Alice to Susan and stood next to her,
still in human form. He said, “I’m going to shift and try
to stop this. Please don’t shift, please don’t fight.”

Alice looked at him. “I won’t shift unless I
have to.”

He nodded, shifted, and ran into the melee around him.
He pulled wolves off bears, and pushed bears off wolves, hopping
between them, trying to show he wanted this to end. He was
accomplishing nothing in his wolf form, but he had to keep trying.

*****

Bud watched silently from his position near the camp.
He’d made eye contact with Mike just a moment ago, shaking his
head at him. They had planned to ambush the camp as soon as the bears
arrived, firing shots like snipers until most of them were either
dead, injured, or had run away.

But the drama that had unfolded was interesting. The
werebear they had shot and almost captured the day before had stayed
at the wolf camp and had sex with the werewolf who had saved her.
Although it fascinated him, it also turned his stomach. These
creatures should not procreate. They were inhuman, regardless of the
fact that they could assume a human form. And because they weren’t
plain old bears and wolves, they had no right to make more
abominations like themselves.

He had watched the whole episode between the two
families, listening to the pleas and anger on both sides. Like a soap
opera, the arguments had continued to escalate. Bud knew if waited
long enough, one side would lose the calm façade and attack.
Once that happened, the clan and the pack would kill each other. He
considered his options as the arguing continued.
Bud knew that a torn up pelt was worth
nothing. If he and his men waited until this escalated into a
were-battle, very few of the pelts would be worth anything due to the
claw marks and bite wounds. However, if the battle occurred, more of
these disgusting creatures would die, and perhaps, if he and the
human race were lucky, they would obliterate the clans so entirely
that any werebears or werewolves left would leave the area.

He had a decision to make. He focused on the leaders and
listened. Still just talking, so he had time to think. A whistle
sounded from his left, and he looked over at Jason, who raised his
eyebrows at tilted his head at Bud, silently questioning him. Bud
shook his head and made a sign that meant to wait longer. Jason
narrowed his eyes at him, but nodded his agreement and signaled the
other two.

Bud returned his attention to the camp at a howl and
watched as the leader of the bears shifted and attacked. He sighed.
His decision had been snatched from him. They’d have to settle
in and let the situation play out and then see what was left.

Great. I’ll never hear the end of this
,
he thought as he glanced at the other guys. They didn’t see him
looking; they were so immersed in the battle they couldn’t tear
their eyes away. Bud returned to the show.

*****

Alice guarded her sister, watching the battle tensely.
So far, neither the clan nor the pack had the upper hand. Alice knew
the clan was well-trained for this kind of thing, even if it was
rarely necessary. Obviously the pack was also well-trained for this
circumstance. Growls of rage and howls of pain filled the clearing;
blood stained the grounds, drops here, splatters there, a pool or two
forming under a were who had fallen and not gotten back up. As far as
Alice could see, none had died, but if the battle continued, dead
bodies would dot the area.

Alice looked at Susan, telling her, “I have to try
to stop this, Susan. They’re going to kill each other if I
don’t.”

Susan pled with her large bear eyes, a new tear joining
the ones already on her furry nose. She shook the large bear head at
Alice and put a paw on her leg. She couldn’t change into her
human form to talk to her; the wound on her neck would kill her if
she were human. She’d knew she was stuck in bear form for the
next few days so it could heal some.

Alice put her hand over her sister’s paw. “Susan,
I have to. I love him.”

Susan’s bear eyes widened, and she shook her head
more vigorously. Blood begin to ooze out of her neck again, and Alice
covered it with her hand to stop the flow.

“
Stop moving,” she commanded, smiling gently
at Susan. “Don’t worry, you know I’m careful.”
She winked, and Susan rolled her eyes at her and slumped back to the
ground, groaning a little in pain.

Alice rose and looked around. She didn’t shift to
her bear form, hoping with the power of speech she could talk some
sense into the weres fighting each other. She called to them.

“
Weres! Weres! Listen to me! Stop fighting!”
Her voice rose above the melee of battle sounds, and those closest to
her turned her way. The cease of fighting sounds reached others, and
soon only Alex and Riley were left fighting. Somehow in the battle,
Riley had found Alex and was trying to rip him apart.

All the weres watched the fight that wouldn’t
stop. Alex was clearly not trying to hurt Riley, only defending
himself against the attack. Riley wanted blood, and used every weapon
he had at his disposal: his big claws, the fact that he outweighed
his opponent by at least a hundred pounds, his powerful jaws. He
swiped a paw at Alex, who dodged back and feinted left. His agility
allowed him to move faster, but he already had a minor injury that
slowed him down.

As Alice watched, Riley’s paw caught Alex’s
right flank, and he dropped to the ground, blood already flowing
freely from the wound. Alice screamed his name and ran between the
two, throwing herself over Alex’s form before Riley could
finish his deadly work.

Riley froze at the sight of his sister covering the
wolf’s damaged body. She lay across him, hiding his vulnerable
underbelly from his enemy. She held her hands up at her brother
defensively. He fell to all fours and shuffled back a few steps,
unable to remove his eyes from this spectacle.

Around them, bears and wolves shifted back into their
human forms, the situation too much for them to understand. A
werebear had thrown herself over an injured werewolf in order to
protect him from her own kind. The world just might be ending.

John stood and stared at his son on the ground, Alice’s
body covering his. He looked at Shara, who returned his gaze with
what looked like a smirk on her face.

Cammie had also shifted and was staring at her daughter
protecting the wolf. Secretly, she cheered. The end of this
ridiculous feud may be upon them. She looked at Shara, and they
shared a moment of understanding and hope. Neither of the women liked
this continuing hatred, and both were happy to see a possible end to
it.

Riley finally shifted when he realized everyone else
had. His breathing was labored, both from the fight and from the
scene that lay before him. His voice was quiet, almost awed. “What
the hell are you doing, Alice?”

“
Riley, I’m in love with him. I couldn’t
let you kill him,” she explained quietly, firmly. “I know
there’s some kind of feud between the clan and the pack, but I
don’t care.”

Alex had shifted beneath her, and she turned to touch
his wounded side, which looked much deeper and more deadly on his
human form. She put her hand to his face, pale with pain. He looked
up at her and smiled. Then he shifted his attention to the rest of
the group.