He was here for her.
His inhuman gaze traveled down her wrists and followed the chain. His thin, green cotton shirt already sported singed holes in it, but if the burns hurt, he showed no sign. “Stand up,” he growled out.
She did, though the chains kept her hunched forward.
“On three,” he said. “One, two, three.” His neck strained as he gripped the metal and pulled upward. Every muscle in his chest flexed through the threadbare material of his clothes and sweat and soot ran streams down his face and throat.
She pulled until her wrists bled. The flames were coming closer and they were out of time.
“Ethan,” she said, coughing hard. “You need to leave.”
“I’m not leaving without you. Again. Bron!” he called as he bent down and pulled the thick metal pipe.
“I can’t get in!” came her alpha’s answer. “Fuck! I can’t get to you!”
“Baby,” Ethan whispered, rubbing his thumb over her cheek. “I know it hurts, but one more time. Ready?”
Her face crumpled under her fear and she coughed over and over and nodded her head. Her skin felt ablaze under the intense heat of the flames at her back.
“Now,” he gritted out, pulling on the pipe as she gripped the chains and yanked them with all of her strength.
It gave a little.
“Don’t stop,” he yelled.
Closing her eyes, she found her inner bear and locked her legs against the strain. Metal echoed, and she fell backward as the pipe broke. Ethan jerked her forward, away from the blaze, then pulled her by the hand. Shoving her under a collapsed ceiling beam, he followed and guided her through the black, billowing smoke until she saw sunlight. He didn’t stop in the yard though. Ethan pulled her hand until they were standing near his Bronco on the other side of a clearing.
He was gasping for air and shaking badly, and suddenly, he spun and crushed her to him.
It hurt as he pressed against the claw marks on her back, but Reese couldn’t find it in her to care about that right now.
They were alive.
How did you know I was here?” The words burned up her throat and she stifled another wracking cough.
Ethan turned and threw open the car door. He grabbed a thick blanket from the back of his Bronco and wrapped it around her shoulders. With a light touch, he traced the throbbing side of her face, then shook his head. “I didn’t do it. I didn’t kill Trent.” His anguished eyes were still silver, and above the scent of smoke was the smell of fur.
“I know,” she whispered, clutching his shirt in her closed fists. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know what to think when I woke up in a bed full of ashes. I should’ve let you explain.”
“I sleepwalk. I always have, but not as much in the last few years. Bear finds burned places. I think he’s searching for my family. I don’t burn things. I hate fire.”
“Shh,” she cooed. Heartache filled her chest cavity until it was even harder to breathe. “I know about your parents and I understand why you didn’t want to talk about them. I’m so sorry you went through that, and I don’t care if you sleepwalk, or if Bear takes over, or whatever you think you have to hide from me. I’m here.”
His arms shook as he held her and his heart pounded furiously against where her cheek rested. “I thought I was going to lose you.”
“How did you find me?” she asked again.
“Rieland lied. I was trying to find out for sure if any of my people were involved in Trent’s death. I wanted to find his murderer so you wouldn’t hate me anymore. I called her in and asked her where she’d been when Trent had died, and when Bron’s house had burned. She lied. She must have gone straight to Bron’s while I was showing you around the campgrounds, but she looked me in the eye and told me she’d been working near the cabins the entire time. I could hear the lie, and later, Unger told me he saw her leaving before we spotted the fire. I tried to call you and when you didn’t pick up, I called Bron. He said Samantha and Muriel hadn’t been able to get ahold of you either, and that you were supposed to talk to them after work. I panicked. Something felt wrong and I couldn’t find Rieland in camp or at the post she was supposed to be working. I went to your house and you weren’t there either, and your truck was still parked at Buckeyes. I knew it was Rieland who took you. We have both clans combing the mountains right now for you. I used our bond to pinpoint an area, and Bron and I saw this old road with new tracks, so we followed it in.”
“She was going to burn me alive.”
“I know. She’s gone now though. She’ll never hurt you again. I won’t let anyone hurt you ever again.”
Bron approached, pants on, shirt in hand, cell phone propped between his ear and shoulder. “I swear she’s safe,” he murmured into the receiver. “I’m looking at her right now. Call everyone off and tell them we’ll bring her to Muriel’s. Reese is hurt, but she’ll be all right. Tell Muriel we need something for burns too.”
Burns? She didn’t feel burned. All she felt was the throbbing, seeping claw marks Rieland had decorated her back with and a hella bad headache. But when she turned back to Ethan, he was pulling singed fabric away from an angry looking mark down his side.
“Ethan,” she gasped, pulling away the tattered shirt that threatened to touch his injury. “Here, take this off.”
He didn’t even wince as he pulled the shredded shirt over his head. Reese hissed as she took in the full expanse of the burn. She couldn’t even imagine the pain he was in.
“It’ll heal,” Ethan said gruffly.
Reese slid a narrow glance to Rieland’s crumpled body in the yard. “Your brother is avenged,” she said softly to Bron.
He nodded with the saddest look in his lightened eyes. “I guess it’s time we both moved on now, huh?”
She intertwined her fingers with Ethan’s and smiled up at him. “Yeah. I do.”
“I’m glad you’re okay.” Bron stepped toward her with his arms out like he was going to hug her just as he’d done a hundred times during the course of their friendship.
A menacing snarl came from Ethan’s throat. The Hells Canyon alpha stopped his progress and dropped his arms to his sides, then answered with a long, feral growl. Dominance, thick and suffocated pressed weight across her shoulders and she shook her head to rid herself of the fuzziness standing between them caused. “Stop it, boys. That’s no way for family to behave.”
Ethan dipped his confused gaze to her. “What are you talking about?”
“Samantha found your lineage. Her hunter’s journal told us what you are.”
His dark eyebrows drew down and he shook his head slightly. “What am I?”
“Your great-grandmother was named Lenora Cress.”
Ethan lifted startled eyes to Bron, who looked equally stunned.
“Reese,” Bron said low, “if you’re just fucking with us for not getting here earlier—”
“Even Rieland knew what you are. It’s why she went after Trent and Bron. She wanted you to be the one the legends talk about. She wanted you to give her Cress children.”
“Holy shit,” Bron murmured.
“You see,” Reese said, gripping Ethan’s hand and gazing into those dark, soulful eyes. “You weren’t ever really alone.”
Chapter Twelve
A weight had been lifted from Hells Canyon with the discovery of the identity of Trent’s murderer. Reese hadn’t realized how dark and heavy everything had become until Rieland’s admission and subsequent death. Bron and Samantha were safe from her threats now, and even Ethan admitted his clan was more at peace with her gone.
Reese no longer worked at Buckeyes soul-sucking Bar and Grill. She’d accepted a position training as a forest ranger under Jesse, and would graduate to full-time soon. Ethan was planning this ridiculous party next week when it would be official. She’d worked hard to earn that ranger badge, but she felt a little silly involving the entire clan in her accomplishment. Ethan said that was just how they did things in the Seven Devils clan thoug
h, so she was just along for the ride at this point. Plus, she was pretty sure Ethan had been looking for an excuse to invite Bron and all of her friends to mingle with his clan.
He’d been reaching out to the Hells Canyon shifters more after they’d come to his aid in helping to track her down, and he’d learned Bron was family.
As Ethan’s burns had healed, Bear seemed to settle. The more time she spent with him, and the more devoted they became to each other, the less Ethan fought with his animal. He could still be scary as hell, but he wasn’t as unpredictable as before. Ethan said he felt more in control, and pride surged through her at how hard he was working to maintain balance with his primal side. There would probably always be a struggle there, but at least he didn’t have to bear that burden alone anymore.
Now, he let her in.
“You ready?” Ethan asked as his hand tightened against her thigh.
“I can’t believe they made us wait an entire day to see her.”
He chuckled and leaned in to kiss her softly. “I talked to Logan last night, and he said his animal was having trouble around other people. His protective instincts are kicked up because of the threat Shira made. It’s best if we don’t piss off the lion around his cub, right?”
She gave a private smile as she imagined Logan’s lion facing off with Bear. Best to avoid that little scenario. Pushing open the door to his Bronco, she snatched the oversized stuffed lion and bear they’d bought baby Abigail from the back seat. She tucked them under one arm and met Ethan around front.
“Hey,” Bron said with a two fingered wave. He and Samantha were getting out of his truck beside them, and Dillon hopped down from the backseat.
Bron clapped Ethan on the back in that mannish greeting of theirs, and Ethan gave Samantha a side hug as they walked up the gravel walkway together.
“I’m calling lion right now,” Bron said with a playful grin.
“I’ve got bear and twenty bucks on it too,” Ethan countered.
“This is going to be the longest running bet in history,” Dillon muttered. “We won’t know until Abigail shifts for the first time, and that could be years from now.”
Ethan hugged Reese close and kissed her temple as they walked through Muriel and Logan’s front door. Muriel stood there with the most beautiful smile, in a long white robe and holding her precious baby girl in her arms.
She looked like an angel.
Logan stood behind her, averting his eyes, but even from here, Reese could make out the gold color of them. Shira wasn’t even here and had him riled up.
The soft cooing of wonderment at seeing Abigail’s perfect face filled the cabin as Reese stepped closer to take in her little hands and chubby cheeks. Her tiny nose wrinkled at the noise of their soft laughter. Her soft downy hair was as dark as her mother’s and Muriel rocked slowly back and forth as Reese pressed her finger into the baby’s tiny palm. Five little fingers clamped around her, and tears burned her eyes at how precious this baby was.
She would grow up knowing love, and knowing an extended family. Already, she’d earned the fealty of two Cress alphas and their people.
Logan was angry over Shira’s threat to take Abigail away if she turned out to be a lioness, but that conniving woman would never get near her. Whatever came, they would all face it together. Abigail would grow up strong and nurtured, no matter what sleeping animal she harbored inside of her.
When Reese looked up, Ethan was watching her with such pride in his eyes. Twitching his head, he mouthed, Come here.
She made room for Samantha to see Abigail and padded toward him. Spinning her around to watch the happiness of their family and friends, Ethan rubbed his two day scruff against her cheek and lowered his lips to her ear. “Mate,” he said.
“Hmm?” She loved when he called her that.
“You will make a wonderful mother to our cubs someday.”
“Don’t tease me,” she said through a hesitant smile.
“Wouldn’t tease about something like this,” he rumbled as he nibbled her neck.
“What about Bear?”
He sighed and rested his chin on top of her head, and watched Logan and Bron laugh at something Dillon had said. Samantha was now swaying in rhythm with Muriel as they talked softly to Abigail. Ethan rubbed her arms gently and kissed the back of her hair.
A contented sound vibrated his chest, and at last, he said, “It was scary thinking about being a father when I was alone and had no control.” He jerked his chin toward their ragtag group. “But they’ve showed me that no one is perfect, and that it’s okay.”
It was true. Their friends had all struggled and worked to get to where they were now. None of their love stories had come easy, but maybe the good love—the real kind—wasn’t meant to.
“I can’t imagine you not looking at our daughter like you looked at Abigail just now,” he said low.
Her heart filled until her chest ached, and she turned and burrowed her face against his him. She loved him. After everything she’d been through, and after all of his suffering, they’d found each other. Fate had bonded them just as they were ready to put another person above themselves—when they were wide open and vulnerable and ready to be stripped down and built up again.
“Say yes,” he whispered, hugging her tightly and kissing her forehead. “Say you’ll build a family with me.”
Sniffling, she nodded her head.
“Yes?” he asked. Hooking a finger under her chin, he lifted her gaze to his.
His smile was so hopeful, her lips curved up to match him. “Yes.”
For the rest of her life, she would remember this moment—the moment when the man she loved more than anything cast his fears aside and declared his desire to claim her completely. He was standing up to Bear for her. He’d saved her from that burning house, then went beyond that. He’d allowed her to see her worth again, and after years of questioning her value, it felt so damned good to be loved without abandon, and to return his love without reserve.
Hang all of the reasons they shouldn’t work.
She loved him.
She loved Bear.
She adored the life they were building together.
And someday, years from now, she would tell their children about how hard they’d worked to save each other.
Other Books by T. S. Joyce
KDP All-Star Series – Bestselling Series
Bear Valley Shifters - Complete Series - Available Now
The Witness and the Bear (Book 1)
Devoted to the Bear (Book 2)
Return to the Bear (Book 3)
Betray the Bear (Book 4)
Redeem the Bear (Book 5)
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Sneak Peek
THE WITNESS AND THE BEAR
(Bear Valley Shifters, Book 1)
Read on for a sneak peek of the thrilling first book in the bestselling Bear Valley Shifters series.
Chapter One
Today was as good a day to die as any.
Jimmy’s fingers dug into her shoulder as he shoved her out the window. “Hannah! Stop fighting me. If you don’t run now, it’ll be too late.”
Another tremendous crash rattled the room. Stone’s men were coming in sooner than later and the men protecting her were sitting ducks to the hell on the other side of that door. Jeremy watched her with an eerie glow to his dark eyes. Fluorescent lights and dingy walls had that effect on him. Braced against the door, he snarled, “Get out of here!”
“And what about you?” she snapped, lunging for the window and gripping the edges with straining fingers. “Huh? They’ll kill you! There is no end to their reach. They’ll keep coming until I’m dead and I’m tired of running. Just let them have me.”
Defeated. After the last time they’d found her, she’d skimmed the insanity train. Paranoia ruled her life. And not the I-smoked-a-joint-an
d-now-the-government-is-after-me kind. This fear didn’t end with the high. It stretched on and on until she would drown in it. Burn in it. Fall into the darkness wider than the known world and tumble forever, hitting every rock crevice on the way down until her mind was shredded. She was so damned tired of it.
“I’ll never forgive you,” Jeremy said. His cold eyes threw ice that pierced her heart. Gray hair cropped short, wrinkles that textured his face, and most of them were probably from trying to keep her safe for the past year. Witness protection gone horribly wrong. He’d given too much for her to give up now. He knew it, and begrudgingly, she knew it too.
“Jimmy,” she breathed, tears burning her eyes.
His grip on her shirt tightened and he shook his head, slow. Bright blue eyes filled with sadness so deep, she didn’t know how he could draw a breath. Jimmy and Jeremy wouldn’t come with her this time. Their last stand would be here, in this filthy apartment in Ashland, Oregon.
Crash. Plaster spewed from the walls and ceiling and Jimmy shoved her out onto the fire escape. “Climb down and run. Don’t stop until you know they aren’t following. Take this.” He shoved a Glock into the palm of her hand, the metal cold against the perspiration of fear. “Shoot ‘em if you’re cornered.”
Jeremy flew backward with the force of the next blow and Jimmy shoved her in the back. She fell forward, catching the grate with her knees and crying out at the sudden pain. Gunfire peppered the tiny space and she tumbled down the stairs, caught herself on the railing at the bottom and shot one last look to the window, then pounded the pavement with the soles of her sneakers.
Jeremy who’d given up his life as a civilian to protect her. Jeremy, who’d calmed her fears when Stone’s men got too close. Jeremy, who’d become more like father figure than friend. He was trapped in the middle of the rattling explosions.
A sob wrenched from her throat. The last good parts of her would die with him. His death was on her. She’d made the choice to testify against Stone and his men, and that decision had caused an earthquake that rippled through her life and killed people she cared about. If she lived a minute or a decade, she’d never curse another person with her love.