Stolen By Her Bear by Felicity Heaton

Chapter 16

Fired up didn’t feel like a strong enough word to convey how Holly felt as she woke in Saint’s arms and sensed Ember, her alpha and his brothers outside, when she heard Knox and Lowe telling them to back off.

And realised her kin had come for her again and were determined to steal her away from Saint.

It was more like someone unbolted the cage on a feral, primal part of her she had never known existed, freeing it and launching her into action.

She was powerless to resist that fierce part of her that roared at her to protect Saint, to stop the cougars from trying to hurt him again, and to drive them away and stop them from trying to take her from him.

Before she knew what she was doing, she was at the bottom of the stairs, blood thundering in her ears, skin tight with a need to shift and growl, to snap fangs at those who wanted to harm Saint.

“Holly,” Rath said as she stopped in the doorway, as her gaze zipped from him to Cobalt where he stood to his left, and then to Flint and Storm where they flanked the two males, and finally Ember where she lingered behind them. “You’re safe. We’ll get you out of there soon.”

Holly frowned at him. Get her out of there?

It struck her that they thought Saint had kidnapped her again.

Maybe she should have at least spared a few minutes to scrawl a note explaining where she was. She grimaced at that. It was too late for that sort of thinking now. She had to defuse the situation and make them see that they were wrong.

“Return Holly, and maybe I won’t kill you.” Storm stepped up beside Cobalt, his bright grey-gold eyes fixed on Knox. Storm wanted a fight—it was right there in his eyes as he narrowed them on Lowe, sizing him up.

Lowe looked off to his right.

“Cameo, go back inside,” Lowe hollered and then unleashed a vicious growl when Holly looked in that direction too and spotted a female standing on the deck of his cabin. “Take your eyes off her, cougar.”

At first, she thought he was talking to her, but as she turned to face him, she found Cobalt looking in that direction.

“You into kidnapping too?” Cobalt tossed Lowe a black look, one that promised pain.

“Fuck off,” Knox snarled and closed ranks with his twin, flexing his fingers as he stared Cobalt down. “You don’t know shit about my brother. You don’t know anything about any of us.”

“Know enough to know you’ll get your asses kicked if you don’t hand Holly over.” Cobalt scoffed and folded his arms across his chest, and Holly didn’t fail to notice that all of the brothers wore only dark jeans and T-shirts.

Everyone had come here prepared for another fight, had dressed in as little clothing as possible so it wouldn’t hinder their shift if they needed to make one.

Lowe peeled off his black coat and tossed it aside.

Things were going to go south fast if she didn’t do something.

“Saint didn’t—” she started, but the males spoke over her, making her want to growl and attack all of them.

“Come on, Holly. They won’t dare attack you.” Flint held his hand out to her and rolled his fingers, his face etched with hard lines as he glared at Knox and Lowe. “If they do, I’ll make them regret it.”

“Yeah? I’d pay to see that. You only won against Saint because you clawed his balls, you sick fuck,” Knox snarled and took a hard step forwards, his fingers curling into tight fists now. “How about I claw your balls and see how well you fight?”

Cobalt and Storm stepped forwards as one, Storm cracking his knuckles as hunger blazed in his brightening eyes and Cobalt running an assessing glance over Lowe.

They were going to fight.

Fight.

That word echoing in her mind had heat rolling through her, a fierce and powerful urge to shift chasing in its wake. She wanted to fight. She needed to fight. It was the only way. She felt that deep inside her, heard it roaring in every hard beat of her heart, compelling her to obey it.

If the cougars wanted a fight, she would give them one.

She was moving before she could stop herself, shoved a stunned Knox and Lowe aside as she pushed between them, and wiped the smug look off Storm’s face as she growled and bared her fangs at him, threatening him rather than going to him for protection.

Daring him to try to take her or to try to reach Saint. She wouldn’t let these males near him. She wouldn’t let them disturb his rest. She wouldn’t let them take her.

Because this was where she wanted to be.

She was done doing what she was told.

She was going to do what she wanted to do.

“I wasn’t kidnapped.” This time. “I came here by choice.”

Neither Storm nor Flint looked like they believed her. Rath looked worried. About her? Cobalt was too busy staring down Knox.

Ember peeked her head out from behind her mate. “You did?”

Holly looked into her grey-blue eyes and nodded, drew down a breath and sighed it out as some of the tension flowed from her. “I needed to see he was all right.”

“Why?” Storm bit out. “He was holding you captive, Holly. You shouldn’t give two damns about him. You should want him dead.”

She growled and flashed fangs at him, followed it up with a glare. “The last thing I want is Saint dead. You don’t understand. None of you do.”

“I’m thinking you don’t understand.” Flint glanced at Rath and spoke out of the corner of his mouth. “This some kind of Stockholm syndrome thing?”

Rath shook his head, a frown knitting his dark eyebrows and narrowing his grey eyes. “Let her talk.”

She wanted to thank Rath for that, for being the only one other than Ember who was willing to listen to her, to actually take in what she was saying and trust she meant every word.

“Saint… He might have taken me hostage, but he was never rough with me.” She looked to the blue sky, fighting for the right words, ones that would convince the brothers she was telling the truth.

“It doesn’t change what he did.” Storm levelled a black look on Lowe when he moved, and she was surprised when the bear stepped up beside her.

“Saint isn’t a bad male—” Lowe started.

Storm cut him off with a scoff. “Yeah, tell that to my mate.”

She could see things were heading south again, knew she had precious little time to convince her kin to back down and leave. That feeling intensified as Knox came to stand on the other side of her.

“I thought you were just a little overwrought yesterday when you argued with me, but now I’m starting to think the bears have brainwashed you.” Cobalt looked her right in the eye, and she wanted to curse him as he added, “I figured you just needed some sleep and you’d forget this nonsense in the morning. See things right, like.”

“Overwrought? Just needed sleep?” She hurled each word at Cobalt as anger built inside her, because he was treating her just as her family did, as if she was delicate because she was female and incapable of making her own decisions. “I’m not a child, Cobalt. What I feel for—”

She cut herself off, losing all momentum as she stared at the brothers, at Ember, feeling as shocked by what she had been about to say as they all looked.

Rath stepped forwards, concern washing across his face, softening his rugged features. His tone was gentle as he held her gaze.

“What do you feel, Holly?”

She clenched her fists beside her hips and wrestled with herself, trying to vanquish the part of her that said to keep her feelings to herself. She couldn’t, because they were the only way to convince the brothers to leave Saint alone and make them believe she was telling the truth and had come here to check on him.

“I feel…” She pulled down another steadying breath, gathered her courage and steeled her nerves as everyone looked at her, including Knox and Lowe. The weight of expectation was crushing, had her wanting to bolt and escape their gazes, but she pushed onwards. “Saint is my fated mate.”

“Took you long enough to figure that out, Holly.”

That deep baritone coming from behind her sent a shiver traipsing down her spine and had her spinning to face the owner of it as shock rolled through her.

Saint stood in the doorway of his cabin, leaning heavily on the frame, his dark eyes warmed by what looked a lot like affection to her.

Her heart lodged in her throat as she stared at him, unsure what to say, deeply aware that he knew what he was to her. She wanted to curse him, wanted to ask him why he hadn’t told her, wanted to run into his arms.

Rath spoke before she could do any of those things, dragging everyone’s attention to him, including hers.

“You’re sure?” His deep voice was soft, laced with concern that shone in his grey eyes as he looked at her.

Holly swallowed hard and nodded, feeling lighter inside as she looked into his eyes and saw he believed her, and stronger for putting it out there.

“I felt as if I was going crazy when I was near him and that I would go crazy without him.” She rubbed her arm through her green jumper. “I needed to get back to him.”

“Sounds like what I went through.” Ember stepped up to Cobalt and slipped her hand into his, linking their fingers as her mate gazed down at her, love in his eyes. Ember didn’t take her gaze away from Holly. “Is there anything else you feel where Saint is concerned?”

The shimmer of heat in Ember’s eyes told Holly exactly what she was talking about.

Holly zipped her lips and threw away the key, because there was no way she was answering that question in public. Her friend knew about her man problems. A problem she really didn’t have with Saint. He had her firing on all cylinders. Just the feel of his gaze on her back was enough to have her blood heating and wicked thoughts filling her mind.

“You could have picked a better day to go running off after your mate,” Storm grumbled and shifted foot-to-foot, agitation rolling off him that had nothing to do with a need to fight the bears.

Her eyes widened as the reason for his uneasiness hit her.

It was his wedding day.

She looked at Rath, feeling horrified as he smiled slightly at her and she noticed the strain in it.

It was their wedding day, and she was ruining it.

She covered her mouth with her hand, wasn’t sure what to say as guilt flooded her, as she cursed herself.

“Oh gods,” she whispered, her brow furrowing as she looked at both males, and then at the sky, charting the position of the sun. It was already getting late. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I forgot… and I only meant to check on Saint and then come back to the Creek, but I fell asleep.”

She looked at Saint. She didn’t want to leave him, but she had to. She wanted to be there at the ceremony with the others, sharing this joyful moment with them. A joyful moment she hoped she hadn’t ruined.

“Ivy and Gabi swore not to divorce us the moment we were married as long as we got you back to the Creek.” Rath ran a hand around the back of his neck, his expression gaining an awkward edge. “So… want to do your alpha a favour and come back for now?”

She glanced back at Saint, loath to leave him. He was holding his shoulder, hand on the bandage wrapped around it, and she could tell he was fighting a grimace for her sake, didn’t want her to feel bad about having to leave him again when he was in pain.

“Our neighbours could join us for this celebration,” Rath said and Storm grumbled something under his breath.

“You rowdy bastards will only keep us awake anyway. We might as well attend.” Saint’s tone was gruff, drew a smile from her that became a frown when he pinned Rath with a hard look. “This truce lasts just the day.”

Rath nodded.

Holly had the feeling that it was going to last a lot longer than that as Saint looked at her, heat and need in his eyes, hunger that echoed inside her too.

“I want to talk to you about what’s happening between us,” he said.

Panic swelled inside her, nerves quick to ignite. She needed a moment, was quick to take the out Rath offered her.

“Later. If I’m any later to my wedding, I might find myself without a mate. You have two hours, bears. Don’t be late.” Rath held his hand out to her and she hurried to him, walked past him and felt him turn to follow her, together with his brothers and Ember.

Holly glanced over her shoulder at Saint.

Already aching to see him again.