My Hero Bear (2 page)

***

Dylan watched the tiny figure struggle over the limbs of ruined trees. The cool autumn breeze was blowing in the wrong direction, making it impossible for him to catch the intruder’s scent, even with Dylan’s keen senses. The one thing he knew was the uninvited visitor was female.

Was this the sign Noah had warned him about?

This whole situation was troubling. Dylan had been yanked from an assignment for the Bear Haven Preservation Society by Mason Raines himself, the president of the Society. In the four years he’d worked as a Peacekeeper, he’d never been taken off a case. The work he did for the Society was too important.

To the general public, the Society presented itself as a group that set up nature preserves around the country. What the public didn’t know was those nature preserves were actually safe havens for various shifter groups.

Humans didn’t know about shifters. Most humans anyway. Some of Dylan’s supernatural brethren lived normal lives right alongside humans, hiding in plain sight. Others preferred more secluded surroundings, away from cities and possible detection.

Those shifters were welcome to live in the Society’s nature preserves, protected by the Society itself. In exchange, those shifter groups agreed to live by the Society’s rules. When those rules were broken, the Society sent in Peacekeepers like Dylan to make things right.

He’d been on a Peacekeeping mission with his brother, Xander. Some wolves from a rogue pack were looking to expand their territory by pushing out a smaller, weaker group of deer shifters. Dylan and Xander were there to bring the wolves back in line and settle the dispute.

Then he got the call.

The Society sent someone to take Dylan’s place and instructed him to go home. When Dylan asked why, all Mason said was to ask his brother, Noah.

Noah didn’t have much more in the way of answers. He said that Dylan needed to go back home and wait for a sign. No amount of questioning would get Noah to say anything else.

Dylan didn’t like being kept in the dark, but he trusted his brother completely. So despite the cryptic instructions, Dylan did as he was told.

As far as assignments went, spending a few days at home wasn’t so bad. Dylan liked being alone, away from the world and away from all the terrible things he saw on a regular basis. Things were simpler out here. Less complicated.

Only now he was no longer alone.

A certain someone was making a beeline for his house. A certain female someone. The idea irritated him more than it should. Most lonely, eligible bachelors would be thrilled to get some female company out here in the middle of nowhere.

But Dylan was different.

He didn’t have much interest in hooking up with anyone for more than one night. Relationships didn’t interest him at all. Not anymore. Not after Aurora.

He’d fallen in love with her the moment he saw her. She had dark eyes, pale skin, and a smile that stopped his heart. He still dreamed about that smile sometimes, but it was the only time he ever saw it these days. She hadn’t smiled at him like that since before he’d gone off to join the military.

That had been almost nine years ago. So long it felt like a lifetime ago. She wasn’t someone he liked to think about, but in some ways, she was never far from his thoughts.

It was one of the many things that tortured him late at night when he tried to sleep. He tried to remind himself he was the one who walked away, but it didn’t take the sting out of how much he missed her.

Dylan tried to put these thoughts out of his mind. He focused instead on the shadowy woman making her way towards the house. She moved slowly, almost painfully, like she was about to topple over at any moment.

A person didn’t move that way if they were on the attack. They moved that way if they were running from something. She looked like she had been running for a long time.

Dylan looked behind her, straining his eyes to see what she was running from. He thought he caught a glimpse of something, but it could have been a trick of the light. His night vision was impressive but it didn’t work as well over long distances.

Nothing moved. He must have been imagining things.

Dylan chalked it up to paranoia. Years spent fighting had that effect on a person. He saw demons in every shadow, and danger hiding around every corner. It was just a part of who he was now. It made it difficult for him to breathe easy or trust anyone.

It was one of the reasons he liked being out here all alone. He didn’t have to be on his guard all the time.

Just as he was about to relax, two dark spots in the landscape seemed to come to life. Two men from the looks of it. They’d been frozen still, blending into the shadows. There was no mistaking them now. And there was no question they were after the woman.

The men moved swiftly. It was only a matter of time before they caught up with her.

Dylan wasn’t about to wait around to find out what would happen once they did.

***

Rory was halfway across the field of broken trees when the wind shifted. Instead of blowing in her face, a gust of breeze hit her back. That was when she caught their scent.

Two men. Maybe three. They were close.

She risked a glance behind her and saw them gaining ground quickly. Panic flared within her. There was no way she’d make it to Dylan’s house before they caught up to her. Her limbs burned and her body was on the verge of collapse. Still, she had no choice but to stand and face them.

Rory positioned herself in front of a waist-high tree trunk, keeping her back protected. If this was where her journey ended, she wouldn’t let them take her without a fight.

“All right, you bastards,” she shouted. “If you want me, come and get me.”

Sinister laughter floated towards her as the men approached her. One of them was at least a foot taller than her. The other was about her height with a shaved head.

“You’re a brave one,” the tall man said. “I’ll give you that.”

“Yeah,” the bald man said. “I like my women to have a little fight in them.”

Rory shot them a confident smile, even though it was forced. “You’re so ugly, I bet every woman you hit on puts up a fight.”

The bald man scowled, but his friend laughed.

“So feisty,” the tall man said. “It’s a shame I have to take you back to Bishop.”

“I won’t tell him you found me if you won’t,” Rory said, flashing a cocky grin she didn’t feel.

The tall man shook his head. “Funny, but no deal. You wanna come with us peacefully or are we doing this the hard way?”

“If you assholes want me, come and get me,” Rory said, growling in a low, threatening rumble.

The arrogant expressions faltered on the men’s faces. The tall man looked at her appraisingly, sizing her up.

“You come from a strong line,” he said. “But I doubt you can take two of us.”

“I’m willing to find out,” she shot back. “Are you?”

“You wouldn’t be running that pretty little mouth of yours if Bishop was here. Hell, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation.”

“Then why isn’t he here? Too afraid to face me himself?”

“He’s taking care of things back at the clan. Lots of people are asking questions about what happened. He’s making sure everyone knows what you did.”

Rage erupted inside her and she shifted into bear form. Rory savored the feeling of intense power transforming her limbs. She felt her thoughts shift subtly too, becoming more raw and animalistic.

Fight or flight? Those were the two options flashing in her mind. Run and she might live. Fight and she would surely die. Rory was tired of running.

She gazed directly at the tall man and growled. The sound of it cut through the quiet night like a buzz saw.

The tall man took a step back and held his hands up in front of him, palms out. “Now, hold on there. We have orders to take you back unharmed, but if you fight, I can’t promise you’ll make it out alive.”

Rory hesitated. Her desire to fight was strong, but the man was right. If it had been a one-on-one fight, she wouldn’t back down. But she was outnumbered. She wasn’t sure she could survive.

At the same time, she refused to go back to Bishop and the Stone Bear Clan. She knew what awaited her there. Either a cruel death or a crueler mate. Neither option worked for her.

She growled at him again in response. The tall man shook his head.

“Have it your way,” he said.

A third man emerged from the darkness behind Rory’s two attackers. This man towered over the other two men. Rory’s heart sank. There had been a chance of survival against two bears, even if it had been slim. But there was no way she could win against three.

The third man shifted. He’d been big in human form, but as a bear, he was enormous. He was the biggest bear Rory had ever seen, and that’s when she knew exactly who he was.

It was Dylan.

The tall man sensed the threat behind him and shifted, too. But Dylan was already on him lashing out with claw and fang. The bald man gaped in surprise, and Rory didn’t hesitate to take advantage of the situation.

She sprang at the bald man, who was still in human form. She pinned him to the ground with her claws pressed hard into his throat.

The man knew better than to shift. He was already beaten.

Rory turned her attention to the fight beside her. Although calling it a fight was a little generous. The tall man was a thug. Dylan was a trained killer. It wasn’t even close. The tall man fell swiftly, shifting back into human form as the life drained out of him.

Dylan shifted back as well, although his transformation was by choice. He hauled the bald man from beneath Rory and slammed him against the side of a fallen tree trunk.

“Give me one reason I don’t kill you right now,” Dylan said.

“Please, I was just following orders,” the bald man whimpered.

“That’s no excuse. Who sent you?”

“Bishop Blackpaw.”

Dylan growled at the sound of his name. “I know that son of a bitch. What does he want with the girl?”

“She’s to be his mate,” the bald man said, his voice shaking with fear.

Rory shifted so she could speak. She wavered on her feet at the effort it took for her to shift.

“That’s a lie,” she said.

Dylan nodded without looking back at her. “Looks like your boss is mistaken. Go back and tell him that, and I’ll let you live. Or you can end up like your friend here.”

The man’s eyes turned to look at the still form of his friend. He shuddered. “I’ll tell him.”

“And you tell him not to get any ideas about coming back here. You tell him that Dylan Sinclair will be waiting for him if he does.”

The man’s eyes widened at the sound of Dylan’s name. “Holy shit, you’re Dylan Sinclair?”

“I am, and all those stories you heard about me?” Dylan said, leaning in so he was right in the man’s face. “They’re all true.”

Dylan let the man go. He stumbled to his knees, as if his legs had gone weak.

“Get the hell out of here before I change my mind,” Dylan said.

The man scrambled away, moving faster over the fallen trees than seemed possible. Dylan watched him go, as if making sure the man did as he promised. It wasn’t until after he had disappeared into the forest that Dylan turned around.

Rory turned away from him and let her hair cover her face, suddenly nervous now that Dylan was standing right in front of her.

“Are you alright?” Dylan asked.

“Yeah, thanks to you.”

From the corner of her eye, she could see Dylan gazing at her, like he thought he might recognize her. Dylan’s hand grasped her chin firmly, but gently. Then he tilted her face towards his, illuminating her features in the moonlight.

Dylan looked like he’d seen a ghost. “Aurora?”

Chapter 2

Aurora was the last person Dylan expected to see tonight.

“Aurora,” she said and smiled. “You’re the only person who ever calls me that.”