Page 11 of Goldie and Her Bears (Dirty Paranormal Fairytale Haremlan 3)

“Why can’t you sleep?” I asked. Not because I cared, but because his answer could give me a clue that would prove Cassie was nothing more than a dirty, conniving witch.

He settled his gaze back on me. His eyebrows drew together as though he suspected my ulterior motives. Frankly, I didn’t give a damn.

“Since when do you care?” he asked.

Keeping up with my pretenses, I said, “Look, if that’s the attitude you’re going to have, then screw you too, man.”

I turned my back to him, hyper aware of each sound around me, and started to walk off. Once I took a few steps, I stopped and faced Jasper again. “Are you sure she’s the woman you met when you crossed back over?”

“Yes. Why?” Jasper’s voice sounded strained.

“How much do you know about her?” I asked.

He stared at me. “Why does that even matter? Besides, I told you, I only met her that night.”

“Is she a witch?” I asked. No point in continuing to beat around the bush. Either he will confirm it or deny it. Regardless, I would have my answer.

“Sure, Kai. She’s a witch. Is that what you wanted to hear?” Jasper jumped down from his perch. “You know, not everyone is out to get you. Not everyone is worth pushing away. The sooner you get that in your head, the better off we’ll all be. Cassie is an amazing woman. You’d find that out too if you gave her half a chance. But like everything else you have to go macho grizzly and scare the poor woman half to death.”

“Watch yourself, Jasper. My patience only goes so thin,” I said, warning thickening my words.

“Whatever,” Jasper said. “Do whatever you want. You normally do. It’s your loss.”

He turned his back to me. My blood boiled. I have no idea what pissed me off more. But I saw red.

As soon as Jasper had taken a couple of steps from me, I charged.

Something inside me felt possessive over the woman. Something brief and fleeting. Nevertheless, I was going after Jasper. The exercise would do the both of us good. We needed another meeting of the minds to settle some differences that had continued to come up between us. Besides, I could release the tension building in me, and he could use the opportunity to snap out of his pseudo-devotion to the human.

As much as I had thought I was getting the jump on him, he heard me coming and stepped out of the way just as I threw a punch. My fist careened into a tree. It groaned against the force. Bits of bark and wood splintered from the hit.

“What did the tree ever do to you?” Jasper asked.

His sarcastic comment only riled me up further. I spun to face him with my hands clenched into tight fists on either side. My breaths came out hot and exaggerated. If it was a fight he wanted, then a fight he was going to get. My patience had run out. He said one sarcastic comment too many, and I was done.

Jasper stood staring at me with a pitiful expression. That only pissed me off more. I took a step closer to him just as a high-pitched scream echoed through the woods. We both looked in the direction of the sound before meeting each other’s gazes again.

“It’s Cassie,” Jasper said and took off in a dead run.

I followed behind. My ignorant heart felt like it was lodged in my throat and my lungs didn’t want to work. I was overwhelmed by the urgent hope she was okay. The scream was enough to raise the hairs on the back of my neck.

Maybe I was a bit hasty in my assumption of the girl. Maybe not. Regardless, she was clearly in pain and that didn’t bode well.

Jasper shifted into his Kodiak. I shifted into my grizzly.

We charged through the forest, heading for the direction of the sound, hoping beyond all hope the dumb girl didn’t get herself killed trying to be brave and traverse this forest on her own.

In a way though, I didn’t blame her. However, none of that was going to matter if we didn’t reach her in time.

5

CASSIE

The world in front of me shifted. The trees seemed to rotate and blend together. A dark rim lined my vision as my eyes drifted closed. Though the pain never ceased for a second, at some point, I must have passed out. Because when I opened my eyes again, the sky was brighter when it was barely starting to become lighter in what only felt like seconds ago. The loss of time startled me. I hated losing time. Not only that, but it didn’t bode well that I had lost consciousness, to begin with. That had to be a bad sign. Though I had no idea of how much time had passed, I knew staying put wasn’t going to do me any favors either. I had to gauge how bad my injury was, so I could plan the next steps. Hopefully, I could figure out a way to get the trap off my leg.

I hissed in pain as I sat up to examine my leg. It was unavoidable since I needed to know what I was dealing with. Especially since I now had more light to see by. But the second my eyes fell onto the bloodied mess that my leg had become, I wished I hadn’t so much as even peeked at the thing.

My leg didn’t look good at all.

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