BEARing it All (Wylde Brothers 3)

The four wolverines laughed, and her heart raced. This was bad. How had it gotten so out of control so quickly? God, this reminded her of the junkies who always seemed to be around Rook. Memories assaulted her, vile and disgusting ones that had her whole body shaking.

Bram sensed her freaking out and reached out to her, but she gave his hand a squeeze and said, “I’m good.”

“Looks like your bitch has more brains than you, bear.” The leader chuckled, which had the other three doing the same. In a move she thought surprisingly quick for the drug addicts, they attacked all at once.

Bram pushed her back, and she fell on her ass. None of them changed into their animals, and all she could do was watch in horror as three of them swarmed Bram, dragging him into the alley. But she knew her bear, knew he was far stronger than all three of them, and the only reason they were taking him back there was because he allowed them to do so.

The leader started howling with laughter. “Not so tough now.” He slammed his fist into Bram’s stomach, and he fell against the wall. The other three males started throwing punch after punch, and a low vibrating noise started to surround her. The leader snapped his head toward her when she started to rise. “You’re a pretty little thing.” He eyed her up and down, his voice discreetly low. Bram was still holding his own with the other three.

The leader crept closer. She could have run, but no way in hell was she going to let some greasy fucker scare her away from her mate.

“Fuck you.” The words flowed freely from her and actually had him stopping, but after a second, he grinned wider. His teeth were yellow and rotting, and her stomach cramped in disgust.

“I can arrange that.”

Kenzie curled her hands into fists, ready to fight, because she was sick of running and being scared, but he never got any closer. Bram roared out, and she knew the windows surrounding them had to have rattled. The leader’s eyes went wide, and he grunted right before he was flung back in the alley.

Bram stood before her, his chest rising and falling violently and his bear right under his skin, his blue eyes flashing to black and then back to blue. A strangled noise came from behind him, and he turned and met the wolverine head-on. She saw the other three addicts lying still on the ground but could still hear their heartbeats. Bram had taken them down in a matter of seconds. God, he was so fierce.

The sound of bones breaking slammed into her ears, gurgling noises surrounded her, and then there was silence. Bram stood over the leader, the wolverine holding his hands up in surrender, his fingers at odd angles from being broken. Blood sprayed across Bram’s chest, but at that moment, she couldn’t see anything but her protective, powerful mate.

“Please, man, please. I didn’t mean n-nothin’ by it,” the wolverine stuttered, and blood slipped down his chin. Bram lifted his hand, his fingers curled inward and clenched tightly.

“I told you not to look at my mate, think about her, or fucking touch her. You dared to think about touching my female, to hurt her?” His voice was bordering on vicious. “Because of that, I’m going to rip your fucking throat out and let you bleed out.” He started to bend toward the wolverine, and a whimper came from the broken male at his feet.

She had to end this. It had gone too far, and even if the other shifters started it, and Bram was just protecting them and defending himself, this needed to end now.

“Bram.” Her voice was surprisingly strong for the events that had transpired, but he instantly stilled and looked at her. “It’s enough.” His eyes flashed, yet it wasn’t with anger but acceptance and surrender. Her big bear was submitting to her. That was a heady damn feeling.

“Mine.”

If she hadn’t realized that before, she certainly did now. He stalked forward, and all Kenzie could do was stand there. When he was right in front of her, she inhaled deeply. The violence he just delivered should have had her screaming in fear, running away from him, and reminding her of the life she had led.

But none of those emotions came to her. Instead, she softened under his gaze, felt everything that was female about her melt right before her mate. He made sure she was safe, once again, and she knew that falling for this bear was unavoidable.

“You’re mine, Kenzie, and I’ll destroy anything that threatens to take you away.”

Her breath stalled, and all she could do was nod. Yes, she was his, and dammit did it feel good.21The terrain was rough and uneven, but it was perfect for her inner deer, and being out in the open with nature surrounding her was glorious.