Bear My Soul (Fire Bears Book 1) (14 page)

A tall man with wide shoulders strode through the smoke. His hair was dark, and his intense eyes churned gold in the muted light of the barn. Smears of ash streaked his face. He carried an ax and swung it upward in a graceful arch as one of Krueger’s men ran for him. A pepper of gunfire blasted to his left, but the man ducked as if he’d expected the threat. The clicking of the attacker’s empty chamber gave their rescuer enough time to leap at the man and jerk him in front of him, shielding him from another volley of gunfire.

Dade gripped the upper part of her arm and smiled at the man who fought with deadly grace.

He was as tall as a redwood and just as strong, each swing felling the few fighters that were left. A shot fired from Krueger’s gun, but the man ducked easily out of the way and lifted his ax in time for the bullet to ricochet away. Arcing a look of pure hatred, he flipped the ax in his hand and chucked it. End over end it spun until it sunk deep in Krueger’s vest. He blasted backward, the gun flying from his hand, and landed hard against the table with the remotes.

The dark-haired death bringer was on him before Krueger got a grip on the tiny kill switches. He yanked Krueger up and jerked his vest from his torso, then dragged him kicking and scrabbling toward the door.

The man slammed Krueger onto the ground, who rolled side to side, gasping as if the wind had been knocked clean out of him.

The man pulled the ax out of the vest and cut at the net until there was a hole large enough for the grizzlies to get through. Cody sank back into his human skin again, followed by Boone. When they were free of the net, Cody pulled her protectively against his back with his good hand.

“Who are you?” Krueger wheezed out.

“My friends call me Bruiser,” the somber stranger said. “You can call me Horace Keller.”

“Good to see you again, brother,” Dade rasped out from his place propped up against Boone’s shoulder.

“Half-brother,” Bruiser said with a hard look. Turning, he nodded a small greeting to Rory and wrenched his attention back to Krueger. “Your men are all dead—proof that good shit happens to good people, and bad shit happens to bad. You’re free to go.”

Krueger stood uncertainly. “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” Bruiser said, flipping the handle of his ax rhythmically, “I won’t stop you from leaving.”

“What’s out there?” Krueger asked in a trembling, suspicious voice.

“The problem with you secret agencies is that you think you always have the upper hand. The tax dollars and a steady flow of intel make you feel safe. Staying hidden from the public makes you feel ahead of the game. Problem with your little program is that you stirred up shit that is better off buried, and then you brought a knife to a gun fight.”

“What does that mean?” Krueger asked, straitening his spine.

Bruiser grabbed the front of his shirt and shoved him out the open door. “It means you have trackers and blackmail. We have dragons.”

Enormous teeth clamped around Krueger as a blasting wind filled the barn. Rory stifled a scream and crouched to keep her balance as the legendary creature flew so low to the ground that the building shook. The dragon arched its back and aimed for the sky. Silver scales faded to an effervescent blue and then back to silver in a dazzling pattern. Giant claws pushed off the ground, blasting craters into the earth where it touched. Krueger’s scream faded to nothing as the creature disappeared from the doorway. Rory ran outside with the others as the dragon caught air currents with powerful thrusts of its wings. Its tail was spiked and flowed in snakelike movements as the dragon lifted himself toward the sun.

Around them, Krueger’s men lay in piles. Their final resting place was a clearing that was charred and smoldering. Smoke billowed from the ground, but there weren’t any flames. Feeling ill, Rory coughed and covered her mouth.

“How the hell did you convince Damon Daye to join our cause?” Cody murmured, a deep-etched frown on the sky above.

Bruiser hooked his hands on his hips and cut a harsh look to his half-brother. “He has a vested interest in the Keller family now.”

“Meaning?”

With an explosive sigh, Bruiser’s eyes tightened as he watched the dragon disappear into the clouds. “Meaning I promised to marry his daughter.”

Rory settled onto the porch swing Cody had erected just for her. She enjoyed reading when the weather was fair or when it was time for the boys in her life to give in to the call of their animal.

After pulling the thick blanket off the back, she stretched the soft material over her lap and curled her legs up under her. With pinks and oranges fading to gray, sunsets here were the most beautiful she’d ever seen with pinks and oranges fading to gray. She’d found so much in Colorado.

Sure, the aftermath of her kidnapping had been hard. She’d been in shock for a couple of days, but a slow feeling of relief had blanketed her as time wore on and no more government agencies came for them. Cody said it was only a matter of time. He and Boone had taken video and pictures of what had been done, of the remote kill switches and incriminating evidence they found in a surveillance van that belonged to Krueger. They’d documented Dade’s horrific neck burns, of which he’d barely survived. Thanks to the capsule being half way out of his throat and in Cody’s hand when Krueger had detonated, the brothers had shared that burden and would don the scars of that awful day for the rest of their lives.

She’d asked Cody if his burned hand bothered him, but he’d just said, “It means my brother is alive. I’d maim the other hand, too, if it got me the same result.”

That’s just how Cody was, though. It’s what made him a good brother and a good mate. Those tough decisions were what made him a great alpha for the Breck Crew.

He had nightmares now. He didn’t talk about them much, but he’d wake with a start, sweating, chest heaving. He always held her close and would press his nose against her skin on nights like that, as if he was using her to anchor him in the present. She couldn’t be certain, but likely the ghosts of the shifters he’d been forced to target were haunting him.

Shayna was in the wind and would hopefully stay that way now that her team was nothing but ashes. Rory had wondered aloud once about what happened to the IESA’s bodies, but Cody had assured her Damon Daye took care of them. Just the thought of the man and all the power he harnessed dumped fear into her and got her heart to pounding. His shifter form was beautiful, but it was equally as deadly. It made her infinitely glad they’d been under his protection and not on the losing side of his wrath.

A couple of days after the battle, Bruiser had gone back to Montana to his beloved Ashe Crew. He’d seemed uncomfortable here and at odds with the Keller men. He’d been practically humming with relief when she’d driven him to the airport. The Breck Crew would be forever in his debt, but praise seemed to make the man fidgety.

He’d told her, “Stop thanking me. That’s just what family does. They’re there for each other.” And when they’d needed him, and it had mattered, he had been.

Good men peppered the Keller lineage, and she was proud that Aaron would have such strong role models to look up to as he grew.

“Mommy?” Aaron asked, hesitating in the doorway.

“What is it, sweet boy?” She held her arms out so he would come snuggle her on the porch swing.

“Cody and I have something we want to give you.”

His blond hair was mussed, and his shirt was nowhere to be found. Jeans clung to his narrow hips in an outfit she recognized as his shifting clothes. Cody wore the same thing when he headed out into the woods, and she smiled at how much Aaron emulated him.

“A present?”

Aaron nodded solemnly as Cody followed behind him, his shirt missing just like his son.

“Go on up in your momma’s lap, boy. I want to ask you both an important question.”

Rory cuddled Aaron up tight and smiled unsurely at Cody. “Fire away.”

Cody knelt down on one knee, the floorboards creaking under his weight. A sharp inhalation of breath took Rory’s throat as she sat up, gripping Aaron. Immediately, her eyes misted over as Cody opened a silver box he drew from his pocket. Inside, a simple gold band lined with tiny sparkling diamonds glinted in the porch light illumination.

“Oh, Cody,” she breathed.

“I know we haven’t talked much about me Turning you, and to be honest, I don’t care if you are shifter or human. But I want my last name on you, and on Aaron. I want you to be mine in more ways than us just being bonded and mated. I want all of you, Rory Dodson. And I have no right to ask for more because you’ve given me something priceless already.” His voice choked up, and he smiled at Aaron and rubbed his head. “You gave me our son, and then you went further and loved me despite all the muck that would’ve sent a lesser woman packing.” Cody leaned forward and swallowed hard. “Aaron, I don’t want you calling me Cody anymore. I’m your dad, and I’d be proud if you’d call me that from here on. Okay?”

Aaron grinned up at Rory, then nodded to Cody.

“And Rory,” Cody murmured, his voice dipping low. “I see you hold our son when he’s sleeping, and I watch your eyes soften when you are around me, and I think, I can’t love her any more than in this moment right now. But then you do something else that astounds me, and I get that same breathless feeling over and over again. I get to fall in love with you every day. I’m already the luckiest man in the world that you’ve chosen me as your mate, but I’d be honored if you’d be my wife, too. Rory, will you marry me?”

She was already sniffling like a crybaby when she nodded and held out her hand for him to slip the ring onto. She laughed thickly as Cody scooped them both off the swing in a bear hug that made her feel safe, warm, and loved, all at once.

How could it be the man she’d met at a bar all those years ago turned out to be the one man in the world strong enough to hold her heart? He was brave, protective, and loyal and could carry the weight of the world on his shoulders and make it seem a light load. He empowered her, encouraged her, loved her with abandon or restraint. He’d taught her it was okay to lean on someone else. And watching him father Aaron had made her fall in love with him even more deeply.

Fate had a funny way of working things out. They had struggled apart and then fought to be together, but it was all worth it for this moment, right here.

A soft growl rattled Aaron’s chest as she pressed kisses all over his face.

With a breathy laugh, she kissed Cody’s lips.

“Yuck,” Aaron groused.

Chuckling, Cody lowered Aaron to the ground, then lifted the boy’s chin. Aaron looked up at him with those muddy gold eyes, a Keller trait he’d inherited from Cody along with his birthmark. “You ready to let your bear out?”

Aaron whooped and jammed his tiny fist in the air, then blasted down the porch stairs toward the yard, chest puffed out. “Bye, mommy!” he called, waving from a patch of swaying wild grass. “Daddy and me have to go do bear stuff now. Oh!” he said, doubling back a few steps. “Can you please make me chicken nuggets when I get back? And apple slices? And milk?”

“Yes, of course, since you asked so politely,” she said, leaning her cheek against Cody’s shoulder as he laughed at his son’s food order.

Cody slid his arm around her waist and pulled her close into his side as they watched Aaron kick out of his jeans and Change into the little bear cub Rory had always protected. His Changes weren’t painful anymore—not like they used to be when he’d fought the animal inside of him.

She wasn’t afraid of him anymore because Cody had given their son a gift greater than any she could’ve ever imagined. He’d taught Aaron to keep his mind when he Changed. There were no more cages or dreading the beast. Aaron was excited and happy to shift. Anyone could see he’d blossomed here in the Colorado mountains under Cody’s careful instruction and abundant adoration.

Rory inhaled deeply as her heart welled with happiness. “Will you come back to me soon?” She always asked this before he took their son to Change in the woods.

Cody smiled at the little cub who was bounding through the grass, chasing a firefly.

Every time his answer was the same.

“Always.”

I have a surprise for you, and dang it’s been hard to keep a secret. For all of you who have messaged me on my website, facebook page, through reviews and email, I’ve heard you. I get to do what I love, which is writing stories, and all because of you. I’m you’re biggest fan. So, that being said, this is the official announcement.

Bruiser will get his story in Axman Werebear, Book 5 in the Saw Bears series.

Coming Soon