Stolen By Her Bear by Felicity Heaton

Chapter 4

Holly tried to scream as someone grabbed her from behind, but a strong hand clamped down on her mouth, pressing her black scarf to her face and smothering her. Her legs flailed as he lifted her, waves of tingles rushing through her as her heart started at a pace, as her mind struggled to process what was happening.

Trees swept past her as the male hauled her backwards into the forest.

Her eyes widened as she watched them disappearing faster and faster into the distance, as she heard the deep huffing snarl of the male who had grabbed her.

Her mind came back online in a flash.

She kicked her legs out, bucking her body forwards with each lunge of her feet, slowly wriggling free of his grip. He put an end to that by banding an arm around her stomach, crushing her lungs as he pinned her back against his front. She fought harder, refusing to give up, refusing to let the male take her.

A bear.

He had to be a bear.

All the tales the brothers had told her about their neighbours collided in her mind, filling it with terrifying images of what this male might do to her.

Rather than making her shut down and shrink away in fear, it only made her fight harder. She kicked at his knees with her heels, battering them whenever he took a step. He grunted as his right one gave out and he went down, dragging her with him. A root jabbed into her right side through her coat and she grunted too, the sound muffled by his hand and her scarf. She struggled to breathe and found she couldn’t with the material pressed against her nose.

Panic finally set in.

She wriggled, managed to jimmy her left arm free and hit the male in the gut with her elbow. He didn’t even grunt. He certainly didn’t release her. She struck again, winced when her elbow hit a stomach as hard as a rock. Realising she wasn’t going to escape him by hitting him, she took hold of his hand that covered her mouth, scratched and clawed at it as she tried to prise it away from her face.

He pulled her onto her feet, twisted with her and began walking forwards instead, each long stride jostling her as she wriggled and kept scratching at his hand. Her head fogged, thoughts blurring as oxygen became an issue.

Rather than trying to get his hand off her face, she pulled at the dangling lengths of her scarf instead, managing to tug it from beneath his hand. The second the thick material was clear of her nose, she breathed deeply, savouring each one as her head cleared, strength returning to her limbs as oxygen flowed into her blood.

She summoned that strength, focused on her body so she was ready to shift the moment she had enough.

Pulled down another breath.

Her head fogged again as his scent hit her.

Earthy, with a hint of cedar and snow.

Something primal inside her fired to life, had a growl rumbling up her throat and made her restless, but it wasn’t a need to fight him she felt.

Holly locked up tight, too stunned by the heat that had ignited in her veins to do anything but hang limp in his arms, breathing in that scent in a desperate need for more, as if she couldn’t get enough of it. The urge to shift dropped away, the thought of fighting him replaced with something infinitely more frightening.

They reached the edge of the woods and she spotted cabins in a clearing, a lone one to the right of the fire and two near the forest to the left of it.

The bears’ territory.

A need to fight obliterated the primal hunger that had swept through her as the male carried her towards the lone cabin. She growled against his palm as she kicked his legs, snarled in frustration when he evaded each attempt to take them out again.

The desperate urge to fight grew stronger as two males who sat beside the fire stood and eyed her. They were strikingly similar. Twins, if she had to guess. She didn’t like the way the one on the left looked at her, his face darkening as firelight flickered over it.

The one on the right took a step towards her, or at least the male who was holding her. “Have you lost your mind?”

“Back off,” the brute behind her growled, his deep voice rolling like thunder across the land and shaking her deeply.

What he said next shook her deeper still, had blind panic rushing through her.

“I have plans for the female.”

Plans?

Her eyes widened and she threw a pleading look at the one who had spoken, fought with all her might as the one who held her marched her up a set of steps to the deck of the lone cabin. The blond male looked as if he wanted to say something, wanted to do something, but the one beside him grabbed his arm and he looked at him instead.

That bastard shook his head.

Holly yelled against the palm of the male who held her, her words muffled by it, and lifted her legs to brace her boots against either side of the doorframe as she came within reach of it. She pushed hard against it, refusing to let him get her into his cabin. He growled and twisted with her, so she was facing the woods again, and her breaths came faster as he hauled her backwards into the cabin.

She angled her feet outwards, desperately tried to hook the toes of her boots on the doorframe, growled when she managed it and the bear easily kept on pulling her into the cabin.

Holly reacted on instinct.

Bit into his palm.

“Son of a—” He turned and tossed her into the cabin.

She cried out as she slammed into a worn brown couch, bounced off it and hit the wooden floor, catching her right elbow on the small coffee table and landing on her back.

Bear loomed over her, darkness reigning in his deep chocolate eyes as they narrowed, the left one tugging on a scar that intersected his eyebrow and continued down his jaw to the thick mass of beard that covered the lower half of his face.

Holly scrambled backwards like a crab, heart thundering and breath rushing from her.

He glared down at his palm and then back at her.

Bear yanked his hat off, revealing shaggy brown hair and the scar that continued upwards on his forehead. He tossed it aside and his coat followed it, and Holly was quick to dive behind the end of the couch furthest from him, placing it between them.

Fear tried to seize control again but she breathed through it, scowled at the brute and kept her focus on him, even as her eyes darted around the cabin, never straying from him for more than a heartbeat.

There had to be a way out.

Maybe if she screamed loud enough, her pride would hear her.

That thought went out of the only window when the bear advanced on her, a six-seven formidable wall of muscle packed into a black and green checked fleece that hugged impossibly large biceps.

His arms flexed as he clenched his fists and a drop of blood squeezed from between his fingers. She stared at it as it fell to the floor, as it splashed onto the wooden boards, losing track of the world as a strange need came over her. She breathed deeply, caught his scent and growled as it roused a need to fight.

Bear cocked an eyebrow at her. “Threatening me now?”

His deep baritone rolled over her, sending a thousand arcs of electricity tripping over her skin.

She hadn’t been threatening him, but it was better he read it that way than interpret her growl in the right one. She had the terrible feeling her cougar side hadn’t meant it as a threat at all. It wanted him. She wanted him. Oh gods, this couldn’t get any more messed up. She had spent years feeling she was dysfunctional and doomed to a lonely life, and now every inch of her was on fire for a male who had kidnapped her.

There was something seriously wrong with her.

Her body locked up tight as he stalked towards her, refused to move no matter how desperately she tried to run. She could only stare at him as he closed the distance between them, his eyes holding hers, filled with anger.

The brute shoved the hood of her coat back.

Her eyes widened and she braced herself, almost curled into herself and away from him, but stood her ground at the last second.

Mostly because he suddenly stilled.

Just stared at her.

Her heart slowly settled as she stared right back at him, her breathing coming easier and her muscles loosening enough that she could probably make a break for it without tripping on her own feet.

Only she couldn’t move.

She stood as frozen as he was, and she didn’t like it. She didn’t like how her gaze refused to leave him or how her blood quickened at the sight of him, at the scent of him.

She didn’t like the fact she couldn’t seem to bring herself to attack him.

“Why did you kidnap me?” she bit out, feeling a little braver as he continued to just stand there, showing no sign that he wanted to hurt her.

He didn’t answer her, just raked a slow look over her that heated her blood. Panic. That was what was making her hot all over. Not that leisurely once-over he was giving her. Not that look in his eyes that screamed he liked what he saw.

He reached for the zipper of her dark purple jacket.

Holly slapped his hand away, hitting it hard enough that her palm stung, and was quick to move, placing the couch between them again.

His dark eyebrows pinched hard and he advanced on her, trying to close the distance between them again. She refused to let it happen this time, kept on moving at the same pace as he was, circling the couch.

Realising she had passed the damned door and for some damned reason hadn’t made a lunge for it.

Bear growled and went over the couch, and she shrieked as he grabbed her and twisted her towards him. Holly hit him with everything she had, managed to gain enough room to clock him pretty hard in his face with her fist. He grunted and growled, banded his arms around her and hauled her against his chest.

“Settle down.”

His deep voice rolled over her again. Lush. Warming.

She pushed through that weird haziness she felt whenever he spoke and kept fighting him.

“What do you plan to do with me?” She shoved against his chest, kicked him in his instep and weathered another rumbling growl.

She kicked again, missing her target this time. Her foot landed behind his just as she shoved him with all her might, as he went to adjust his grip on her. Her eyes flew wide as he lost that grip on her and toppled over the back of the couch, hit his chin on the cushion and his shoulder on the coffee table.

He snarled.

Shook his head as he shoved his palms to the floor and pushed back onto his feet.

“I just want to sleep,” he growled, his face darker than ever as he flicked a glare at her. “I asked nicely.”

“Sleep then,” she barked. “But you’re not sleeping with me!”

She dodged him when he sprang at her, stumbled into the kitchen and grabbed a heavy skillet from the stove. She twisted as she sensed him behind her, grimaced as she swung and smashed the flat of the cast iron pan into the side of his head. He staggered to his left and sank against the counter, his left arm resting on it to support him as his knees buckled.

Blood trickled down the right side of his head.

Holly ran for the other end of the room as he growled, cursed herself again when she realised she had gone straight past the door. What was wrong with her?

“I was sleeping.” His deep voice was a rumble of thunder, a warning that a storm was coming and she was going to get caught up in it, and it was all her fault.

She should have run out of the door when she had the chance.

Bear twisted towards her, his eyes as dark as midnight. “You damned cougars woke me up. You woke us all up.”

He started towards her, each step harder than the last, shaking the floor, and she eased around the couch, refusing to let him grab her again. She neared the back of it, glanced at the door behind her to her left. This time, she was going out of it.

“I asked Rath to keep it down, but no…”

She paused as she realised something.

He slammed into her, seemed as startled by the fact she had suddenly stopped as she was.

“You took me hostage because you want to sleep? That’s ridiculous!” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

Her cougar instincts were strong at times too, made her do things that her more rational human mind wouldn’t have, but she had never done something as crazy as this bear had when she was in the grip of those instincts.

Although right now, her cougar instincts were making her stand up to a male who had at least twelve inches on her and weighed more than twice what she did.

So maybe she did do crazy things when they were in control.

Like standing up to an angry bear.

Part of her had expected to shrink away from him, to cower and curl into herself and be afraid. Only she wasn’t. Rather than frightening her, his aggression only stoked a fire inside her, one that had her squaring up to him despite the difference in their size.

Holly put it down to having three older brothers, all of whom were overbearing at times, aggressive just like this bear was. She had learned to stand up to them so they couldn’t trample all over her, forcing their will upon her.

Now she was doing the same with him.

He made a grab for her.

She dodged backwards, nimbly leaping beyond his reach, something that ripped a frustrated growl and a black look from him, and was quick to round the couch, placing it between them.

“What’s your great plan?” she snapped. “Swap me for sleep? All you’ve done is anger my alpha and my kin. They’ll be coming for you.”

They would be coming for him quicker if she would just remember to go for the door every time she passed it.

He snarled low. “Let them come. I’m banking on Cobalt trying to take you back.”

Cobalt? She frowned at the bear as she pondered that. Why was he expecting Cobalt in particular to come for her? Because she was Ember’s best friend?

Holly figured that made sense. Well, she wasn’t going to wait for Cobalt to save her. She was going to rescue herself.

She eyed the door, a quick glance the bear didn’t notice as he rounded the couch again, hitting the straight in front of the log burner. She eyed him too, ran her gaze over him from his wild, unkempt brown hair over a rugged face, to impossibly wide shoulders and a torso packed with muscle squeezed into a checked shirt, down to tree-trunk legs encased in winter pants and heavy boots.

As far as she could see, she was up against an older bear, one who had barked orders at the others and had been obeyed. Not a good thing. If she had to guess, she would say he was the alpha.

Which meant he was the star of half the stories she had heard over the last few days.

“Which one are you?” she said, refusing to whisper those words despite the growing fear she felt.

He puffed his chest out a little, his smile confident. “Saint.”

Warmth rolled through her as he tipped his chin up, some deeply primal part of her purring at the sight of him, at how strong he looked as he stood like that. She shut it down and continued with her plan.

Her brothers always hated it when she found ways to belittle them when they were trying to trample all over her, when she acted as if she wasn’t afraid of them or wasn’t impressed by their chest-beating behaviour.

Holly pulled a face. Shrugged for effect.

“I don’t know one bear from another in this pride. You’ll have to tell me whether you’re someone important.” She raked her eyes over him and arched an eyebrow. Playing with fire, but she wasn’t going to let him intimidate her. She was going to irritate him. “You don’t look important.”

He scoffed at that. “I’m the pride alpha.”

She pretended to mull that over as she rounded the end of the couch, keeping him away from her. “So a pride alpha has resorted to childish methods of getting his way?”

He growled. “I’m not being childish.”

Holly tapped her chin, holding her nerve as he stopped opposite her, his face rapidly darkening. “My kin didn’t do as you wanted, so you took something of theirs to force them to do it. Seems rather immature to me.”

Her heart shot into her throat as he vaulted over the couch and grabbed her again, an unwanted thrill chasing down her spine at the display of agility. Her pulse rushed in her ears as he dragged her against him, his grip on her right arm bruising, his face dark with anger as his lips flattened and his eyebrows met hard, narrowing his brown eyes.

Holly tipped her head back and stared up at him.

Breathed. “Saint?”

“Hmm?” His gaze fell to her mouth, darkened in a way that had nothing to do with anger.

A way that thrilled her.

“You’re hardly worthy of that name.” She pushed the words out, sure she would regret them. Irritation flared in his eyes but he didn’t take them away from her lips. “You abducted me, and you’re holding me prisoner, and for what?”

“Revenge,” he growled.

She scoffed now, feeling bold as he continued to gaze at her mouth, as his grip on her slowly loosened, as if she had cast a spell on him and could control him. The thought she had some sort of command over this strong male heated the blood in her veins and was one hell of a power trip.

“Revenge? What did Rath and Storm ever do to you?”

His free hand lifted and he stroked two fingers down the scar that darted over his left eye. “Your kin gave me this.”

He released her and tugged his shirt off together with whatever he wore beneath it, revealing far too much bare flesh dusted with dark hair.

He tossed the shirt aside and growled as he pointed to his right shoulder, to deep scars that cut a groove in his muscles. “And this.”

Holly tried not to stare at his body, tried to pretend she didn’t notice how the sight of all that honed muscle heated her blood in a way no man had before him.

“And it doesn’t end there. You want to see the scars from where Flint tried to turn me into a fucking eunuch?” He reached for his belt.

Holly shrank back and averted her gaze, her heart jamming into her throat and hammering there as panic swamped her, the sudden switch in her emotions wrenching a gasp from her lips.

His hands stilled and then fell to his sides, and his voice was gruff as he growled, “It isn’t wise to wake a sleeping bear, and Rath—you—did just that.”

She wanted to apologise, wanted to tell him that she would have kept the noise down if she had known she would wake him, but the brothers had assured her they wouldn’t.

She refused to let those words leave her lips though.

She refused to feel bad about any of this or what had happened to him. Not now that she knew who he was.

She didn’t look at him, was too afraid to as her mind raced. “You’re the one who tried to kidnap Gabi… and now you’ve succeeded in kidnapping me. She told me about the threats you made… how you were going to—”

Holly couldn’t bring herself to say the words. Her pulse raced, her throat closing tightly as she thought about the threats he had made to Gabi, how he had said he would erase the smell of Storm on her, and fear broke through the wall of her courage, tore it all down.

Saint towered over her, radiating fury she could sense in him, rage that blazed in his eyes as her brow furrowed and she risked a glance at him, needing to know what he intended to do with her.

For a heartbeat, he looked as if he might do something, but then he grabbed her arm and shoved her towards a staircase, releasing her before she even had a chance to panic.

“Sleep,” he snarled. “I need space to think.”

When she didn’t move, he growled at her. It carried a warning, one she knew she should heed, but she couldn’t convince herself to move. She locked up tight, frozen not by his threat but by the glimmer of regret that shone in his dark eyes as he looked at her. Curiosity tugged at her as she stared into his eyes, making her want to ask him why he looked as if he wanted to apologise to her.

His shoulders shifted on a deep sigh and he averted his gaze.

She had the feeling he didn’t only want to apologise to her. He wanted to apologise to Gabi too. Had everyone been wrong about him? She found it hard to believe they had been, but as she looked at him and mulled over what he had said, she got the impression he acted rashly when angered.

Did things he regretted when he had cooled down.

“Saint?” she started.

“Go to sleep,” he grunted. “The alternative is sitting on the couch with me.”

Those gruffly spoken words were enough to convince her to head for the stairs, but she had no intention of sleeping.

She trudged up the wooden steps, stopped at the first turn and looked back at him. He scowled at her and picked up the skillet she had dropped, slammed it down on the stove and raked his fingers through his overlong dark hair as he huffed.

He cast her a look, one that held a flicker of an apology, and then stomped to the couch and slumped onto it.

She crept up to his room, a plan forming in her mind.

She wasn’t going to sleep.

She was going to escape.