Page 25 of Bound to Two Bears

The guy couldn’t be more than a teenager.

Royce, still in bear form, glowered down at the boy, his claws poised and ready to cause injury.

“We didn’t know he was your mate,” the young man said, staring up at Royce. “We thought he was one of your guests, wandering around up here on their own. We only wanted to scare him off.”

Royce, still in bear form, roared into the teenager’s face before swatting the man with one paw. Royce left a thin trail of blood as his claws marked the guy’s chest.

Jared, who’d shifted back into his human form and stood naked between Carson and the pair, glared at the guy on his knees. “It didn’t look like you were only scaring him away. You were killing him. For sport.”

“We weren’t killing him,” the teenager shouted. “You should be thanking us!”

“Thanking you?” Jared asked, brows knitted together.

Royce roared again, swatting the man once more and drawing new trails of blood. Finally, Royce shifted into human form and punched the guy, knocking him to the ground. “Shift into your bear, godsdamn it! I’ll not fight you as a human.”

The teenager moved back onto his knees. “You’ve wanted us dead for years. Go ahead, Royce. Do it.”

No, no, no…

Carson didn’t want a kid killed because of him—even if they’d taken it too far. He wasn’t sure about the other shifter, but if they were both a couple of kids, they didn’t deserve death.

Royce growled, curling his fists, but didn’t make a move forward.

The teen glared up at Royce. “I swear we didn’t mean to hurt him. Just scare him off!”

Royce’s eyes lit up, and he growled, head raised to the sky. He looked back down at the young man, seething. Carson pushed to his feet, Jared rushing over to help him up. Before Carson could rise to his full height, Jared had him in a bear hug, nuzzling his hair.

“Are you alright?” Jared asked, his voice low.

“I think so,” Carson answered his gaze locked on Royce.

Withdrawing from Jared’s hold, he knew he had to stop the events before things went too far. He brushed some of the pine needles and debris from his body and eyed Royce. “Is he really going to kill him?”

“No one touches our mate. No one.”

“But he’s just a boy,” Carson whispered.

“Boy or no, he broke a cardinal rule. He needs to learn a lesson,” Jared spat.

Carson looked toward the other one. “What about the other bear? Is he dead?”

“I’m not sure,” Jared answered. “Royce slammed him pretty hard, but these McCreary boys are hard to stop.”

Carson looked down at the silent, still bear and decided there had been enough violence for one day. The boy was barely more than a child and deserved a second chance.

It was all his fault. He’d been warned not to hike alone. No another might pay the price for his mistake.

“Don’t hurt him, Royce!” Carson called out.

Royce glanced at Carson, and he could see the rage in the man’s eyes. He needed to soften it in some way.

“I shouldn’t have come up here alone. You warned me, and I didn’t listen.”

The younger bear shifter nodded and pointed at Carson. “See, he knows he didn’t belong up here.”

Carson noticed the bear was slowly shifting into a human form, blood coating his bruised body. When he looked up, his stare captured Royce’s. “I think they’ve learned their lesson.”

Royce’s gaze pinned Carson. “They don’t touch another’s mate.”

---