Page 105 of Bear Facts

Seven thirty in the evening. Good. Freya climbed shakily to her feet. “Moon should be up, then.”

“Moonrise at nineteen hundred hours tonight,” the Feline continued. He must be the science nerd of the group.

Rolf glared him to silence, but the Feline had given Freya the information she needed.

She turned to face Shane, who still rested on his knee, trying to fight the tranq.

“Shane,” she said in a clear voice. “By the light of the Mother Goddess and in front of witnesses, I accept your mate-claim.”

The words strengthened as Freya spoke them, and the sentence ended on a shout. A few of the Shifters cheered—a mating was always a celebration.

Matt ran in a circle on Shane’s huge shoulder. I knew it. I knew you were mates.

Shane gazed up at Freya in triumph and love. Yes!

His word clicked inside Freya, a coupling that was right. She reached out a hand to Shane, and he gripped it hard as he hauled himself to his feet.

“Too bad for you, future brother-in-law,” Shane said to Rolf. “You’re going to see that Freya and I together—we rock.”

Shane released Freya’s hand and went for Rolf. Rolf brought around the shock stick, which was still live, but Shane, with his longer reach, grabbed Rolf’s shoulder and dislocated it.

As Rolf yelled in pain, the rest of the Shifters attacked.

Shane yanked the dart from his hip and turned to meet the onslaught. He was laughing, striking out with fists and claws at Felines who leapt away and Lupines who struck back with force.

Freya distractedly saw that a few of the Shifters had turned on the others to help Shane defend himself. They were probably tired of existence in a bunker too. One of the human guards joined in—the one who’d followed Shane to the bathroom. He managed to tranq a few Shifters before one felled him with a roundhouse punch.

Freya’s first instinct was to get Matt out of here to safety, but he sprang from Shane’s shoulder to the head of a Feline, clawing at him while the Feline spun in place, trying to dislodge him. Matt leapt from the Feline and raced through the melee, nipping at ankles, and clawing his way up backs to bite before he ran down again.

A nimbus glowed around the cub. He seemed to grow, becoming a fierce and insubstantial beast striking at the Shifters who couldn’t grab him in return.

Freya ripped off the annoying coveralls to shift, not worried about nakedness at the moment. She felt better once on four paws and charged into the fray to help her mate.

Her mate. Though she’d waited to voice her decision until now, she realized she’d made it some time ago. Shane was for her, and she for Shane.

Another nimbus glowed in the room, and with a shocked start, Freya realized it came from herself. A wild power filled her as her wolf enlarged to become the size of her between-beast. She howled at the two Felines who’d half shifted to come for her, and they immediately spun away.

As she raced to defend Shane, another glowing wolf shoved her aside. Not Matt—Rolf. His eyes were eerie red in his Lupine face, his body blurred with light.

Look at us, he boomed at her. This is what we were meant to be. No one will stop us. Not Graham, not Shifter Bureau, not the humans trying to use us. Join me, Freya!

Freya’s rage increased. You went after my mate.

He’s not worthy of you. No one is. Stay with me, sis. I’ll make you so much better than you were.

And I am not submitting to you. Freya snarled the last before she hurtled herself at Rolf.

They’d sparred and wrestled as cubs, which became a martial arts-like practice when they got older. They were evenly matched, and Freya wasn’t going to let Rolf best her.

She felt a crazed strength within her, one that had nothing to do with being feral. She was powerful, ready to vanquish everyone in this bunker, including her obnoxious brother.

No one fucks you up like family, she thought as she hammered at Rolf.

The two of them rolled and tumbled across the floor, knocking Shifters out of the way. One Lupine tried to yank Freya from Rolf, but yelled in pain and danced away when the nimbus touched him.

Shane rose into his full grizzly form, a perfect fighting machine, even half-tranqued. The Felines and Lupines melted out of his way, but they didn’t quit. Normal Shifters would flee him, but these adrenaline-pumped fighters would persist until the last blood was drawn.

Freya couldn’t help Shane at the moment. Being female didn’t make her weaker than Rolf, but Rolf had turned into a well-trained killing machine Freya knew she’d have difficulty defeating.

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