Jerking her pack, she took off at a sprint, slinking as low as she could to make use of the height of the grass. They’d still be able to make out where she was, but she wouldn’t be as easy a mark. The first shot whizzed by her shoulder, so close she felt the ripple in the air near her skin. The second one slammed into the ground behind her right foot. She was halfway across now and gaining more speed as she went. The third hit her backpack with a pop sound, and it dawned on her they weren’t shooting bullets. She spared a brief glance back. Darts. The motherfuckers were shooting darts at her.
She hit the tree line and straightened as a roar rent the air. Her mate. He was close and, from the sound of it, mad as hell. Piercing fire hit her buttock, sending pain lancing down her leg and making it go immediately numb. She screamed and reached back to rip it from her skin. She managed to stay on her feet, dragging one leg behind her as she veered in a direct path for that roar. She heard scrambling behind her and knew the men were done playing. She had no idea if they meant to kill her or take her someplace else so they could play some more. She didn’t want to find out.
She slipped behind a tree and collapsed. The numbness was spreading into her other leg and up her right arm. She couldn’t seem to fight it anymore. It had to be some form of muscle relaxer. It wasn’t knocking her out yet, but it was making her incapable of moving. A man appeared in a gap between the trees. He was a giant, easily over six and a half feet tall with short hair somewhere between blond and brown. He was gorgeous, but one whiff said he wasn’t the man she was hoping for. He spotted her immediately and headed toward her at a fast run.
She tried to shake her head, to warn him of the danger, but nothing on her body was responding to her commands.
“Shh,” he crooned as he dropped to his knees beside her. “You’re safe now. Where are you hit?”
She couldn’t get her lips to move but managed to push out sound anyway.
“Fuck,” he muttered. “I have no idea what the hell you’re trying to say.”
A loud roar rent the air again, this time coming from behind her. A masculine scream filled the air then abruptly shut off.
“Normally, I’d check you over, but I’m not sure that would be a safe call at the moment. My brother seems to believe you might be his mate, and in the primal state he’s in right now, I’m not sure he’d understand I’m just trying to help you if he showed up and my hands were on you.”
“Ma…” she gurgled, trying to force the word out. His brother was her mate. She could feel it, even now her bear was reaching out.
“Let’s try this. Can you blink?”
She blinked her eyes several times.
“Good. So one blink for no, two blinks for yes. Okay?”
“Perfect. Were you shot?”
Stupid question. Of course, they’d shot her with something or she’d be able to fucking talk to him, wouldn’t she? But if she blinked yes he might think she’d been shot with a bullet and not a dart. Damn!
His hand suddenly reached out and plucked something off her backpack. She watched as he brought the dart around and carried it to his nose, sniffing at it.
“Fucking hunters and their tranquilizing darts,” he muttered.
He brought the dart to his tongue and tasted the tip of it. It had to be a minute amount, surely not enough to hurt him with his size, but still, she wanted to swat him upside the head. Didn’t he see what it was doing to her? He reached out and touched two fingers to the pulse point in her neck.
“Strong and steady. This tastes like…a muscle relaxer mixed with the drug they use to prevent us from shifting. Definitely potent in someone as small as you. I don’t sense anything else in it. We’ll need to get you back as soon as we can so I can take a closer look at it in the lab. Can you move anything at all?”
She rolled her eyes at him, which served to make him laugh.
“I bet you’re going to be a lot of fun when you can talk back.”
Another roar, this one sounding closer, had him leaning in to whisper.
“I’m Jensen, by the way. Jensen Holloway. That very angry bear you hear is my brother, Koby,” he said. “He can be a little intimidating, and right now, he’s not exactly at his best. So try not to let him scare you, okay?”
She blinked twice. Koby. Her mate was Koby Holloway. Nicholas would be happy to know her bear seemed set on a Holloway and one of the very ones he’d suggested to her, too. Just thinking of Nicholas had her eyes filling with tears. It appeared she had as much control over her emotions as she did over her muscles at present. She couldn’t stop them from spilling down her cheeks.
“Shit! Don’t cry. He won’t hurt you. Promise. But if he comes in here and sees you crying and me next to you… Well, hell. I’m not opposed to shedding some blood, but I’d prefer it wasn’t mine.”
She tried to laugh, but it surfaced as more of a wet gurgle instead. Jensen was muttering something when a grizzly came through the trees and reared up on his hind legs claiming her full attention. He was the largest bear she’d seen. There was blood on his muzzle and one of his paws, but she knew instinctively it wasn’t his. He’d killed to protect her. Her heart beat a fast staccato in her chest.
He dropped to all fours and stalked toward her. Jensen came to his feet and moved to stand slightly in front of her.
“She’s been darted. Found this on her backpack. She seems fine, but we’ll want to get her back to the house as soon as we can, so I can analyze this and see exactly what we’re dealing with. It seems like their normal cocktail, though. She should be able to sleep it off and be fine when she wakes up.”
The bear shifted and turned into a gorgeous male slightly larger than Jensen. Koby.
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