Page 29 of Goldie and Her Bears (Dirty Paranormal Fairytale Haremlan 3)

He spun around and faced me. “You’re taking her side?”

“I’m not taking anyone’s side. I’m trying to defuse a situation that is rapidly getting out of control.”

“So, I’m not in control? I’m the one that’s trying to prove she’s not who you think she is!”

“And who is that, Kai?” I asked, growing impatient.

“She’s a witch!” he screamed.

I snorted. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

Kai breathed heavily as he stood before me. Then his anger took hold of him. His face turned red, and I prepared myself for the punch I knew as seconds from happening. But instead, he shifted and tackled me. I had no choice but to do the same. I either protected myself and Cassie at the same time or I let Kai try to kill me. He was much stronger than me, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t get some good hits on my own. I may have put myself out as a pushover, but when that push came to shove, I was vicious.

My brown bear instantly broke free of Kai’s grizzly.

Cassie screamed in terror. I switched my attention to her as she crawled off the bed and forced herself into the farthest corner of the room.

Kai took advantage of my brief distraction and smacked the crap out of my snout, dragging his sharp claws along my skin. My eyes watered as my nose swelled. Hot blood dripped into my mouth. I groaned and shook out my head to help release the sensation. Once I reclaimed my bearings, I rammed into Kai’s thick body.

Kai wasn’t having it though. He picked me up and threw me across the room. I landed on Jasper’s dresser. The thing crumbled under my weight. Bits and pieces of wood splintered in all different directions. Some of his clothes exploded from the drawers, scattering around the room.

“Stop, please!” Cassie cried out. “Get away! Get out of here!”

My heart broke for Cassie. She was terrified out of her mind. The only problem was her voice pulled Kai's attention. He growled and started to turn for her, but I couldn’t allow him to go any closer than he already was.

With everything in me, I rolled to my paws and placed myself between him and Cassie. I growled a warning. He tried to up me on the threat and side-step me. But I reared up on my hind legs and pushed the grizzly toward the other end of the room.

He groaned and batted at me, but I didn’t let the pain stop me. He was so blinded by his rage and his suspicions that he couldn’t see he was the one in the wrong here. This wasn’t like Kai. It didn’t seem right. But, then again, he always had been standoffish.

Though he had his moments, he crossed the line this time, and finally took things too far. This was too much. He needed to snap out of whatever got him so riled up and calm the hell down before he did something he really regretted.

If that meant he took his frustrations out on me, then so be it. Because I would die before he harmed Cassie.

13

CASSIE

I couldn’t believe what had played out right before my eyes. There was no way this was real. What I saw couldn’t have been real. I had to be stuck in some excruciatingly vivid nightmare. It just couldn’t be. But no matter how I tried to rationalize what I witnessed, there was no other explanation for it all. And that terrified me to the core.

Chase and Kai were… monsters. Bears. Creatures that shouldn’t exist outside of books.

I shuffled off the bed, ignoring the sharp, stabbing pain in my leg to crawl to the farthest corner of the room. Ideally, if I had been thinking straight, I would have dashed out of the room and the cabin, but I wasn’t exactly in my right mind. From my little spot on the floor, I continued to stare at the impossible. My heart hammered in my chest, and I didn’t seem to have the ability to catch my breath. Tears blurred my vision as I stared, unable to pull my eyes away from the chaos ensuing in front of me.

Jasper’s room was becoming destroyed more and more by the second. There was barely anything left of the furniture that was still untouched or unbroken. The only thing left in somewhat decent condition was the mattress, and who knew how long that was going to last. The bed frame was done for. The chair Jasper liked to sit in was reduced to rubble. The dresser was now good for nothing else but maybe kindling. And the closet doors barely hung straight on their hinges. What was left of them anyway... Bits and pieces of them lay strewn among the rest of the debris. I was almost surprised the door to the room itself wasn’t completely disfigured along with everything else.

Maybe it would have been better if they had managed to take the fight to the door. At least then, they probably would have made it outside and I would work on breathing and calming down so I could start to make sense of everything that was happening. But there was no such luck for me. That option wasn’t in the cards.

I gripped whatever had surrounded me and pulled it close. I wasn’t paying attention to what I grabbed. I simply clutched it in my fists and brought it closer to me, like it was a shield that would protect me from the war I sat uncomfortably close to. I breathed in Jasper’s scent. His clothing had exploded from the closet and the dresser, adding to the disarray of the room. He probably wouldn’t have a thing left to his name except for the clothes on his back. But I must have grabbed a t-shirt to protect myself with.

Maybe the idea wasn’t so off the wall after all. I mean, how often did men shift into bears? So, if this was the shtick, then it wasn’t too far off to believe a t-shirt could protect me, right?

I found myself looking toward the door wondering where Jasper was. Was he one of them too? Did he know about his roommates turning into bears? How did he live with himself? Why would they keep this hidden from me? And all this time Kai was accusing me of being deceitful.

That was all under the assumption what I was experiencing was truly real.

I supposed, in the end, it really didn’t matter much. Not anymore. Because it wouldn’t be long before the fight inevitably made its way toward me, adding me to the disarray of what used to be Jasper’s room. I wasn’t even sure the cabin would still be standing if the fight continued for much longer.

Something or someone had to stop them. But Jasper was gone, and I was frightened out of my mind and couldn’t bring myself to move. Though every nerve in my body screamed at me to run away as fast as I was able, there was no way. Not with my leg, and I didn’t think I could move or run or protect myself if I wasn’t hurt. I felt glued to the floor and the corner that I wasn’t able to press myself deep enough into, clinging to my t-shirt shield. My breaths were shallow, and I watched as the two bears drew closer to me, cutting off my only path of escape.

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