Page 17 of His Bear Hands (Bear Creek Grizzlies #1)

17

SIMON

S imon's phone rang when they were only halfway to the rally point; he tossed it to Ethan, who answered with a laconic, "Talk to me."

Simon gripped the steering wheel harder as Ethan put it on speaker and Rosie's voice crackled and broke through the poor reception. The bartender sounded like she moved fast, breath coming hard as she ran. "Your little cookie is in my bar with two of the rudest sons of bitches I've had the pleasure to see in recent days. One ugly one by the door, packing at least a pistol and maybe something else, and a slimy bastard sitting right next to her. She's doing something on a laptop."

Ethan glanced over at him but Simon couldn't think through the rage that turned his vision red. So Ethan cleared his throat. "Thanks, Rosie. Did she look injured at all? Anything wrong with any of them?"

"She just looked scared, hon. But bless her heart, she smiled when she asked to call in her favor. Are you boys close?"

"We will be," Simon ground out, feeling his teeth crack.

"I'll get some of the boys together," Rosie called into the phone, the signal breaking up. "We saw some other odd fellows running around the trees, we might need to get the sheriff involved in roundin' 'em up."

"Not the sheriff," Ethan said, then cursed as he looked at the phone. "We lost signal." He picked up his radio instead and called back to the rest of their guys, warning them about the additional shooters in the woods.

Simon stepped on the gas, pushing the truck until it nearly rattled apart around them and Ethan gripped the handle of the door to keep from hitting the ceiling every time they hit a pothole in the road. It felt like an eternity until the town came into view, and Simon eased off the gas. No reason to raise the alarm, in case Castellano posted look-outs to give him warning if the cavalry arrived. Ethan hid the rifles so they rode lower in the truck as they turned onto a side street parallel to the main street. The radio crackled as Finn said they were closing in on the south side of town and had run across Rosie and several of the other shifters in town, with half a dozen guys in paramilitary equipment detained.

As their truck rolled to the back of Rosie's bar, Simon saw Zoe. A bruiser held her in a near head-lock while a greasy-looking guy in an expensive suit carried a laptop and got into the driver's side of a dark sedan parked across the street. The bruiser shoved Zoe into the backseat and climbed in after her, and Simon's bear growled to see the terrified look on her face. She looked like she'd been crying.

He accelerated until the truck bumped the sedan, about to leap out and drag the suited bastard out through the window, but the sedan took off. It skidded on the loose gravel but got enough traction to head out of town, clouds of dust choking Simon as he struggled to stay with the speedy car. He snarled as the sedan slid into a sharp corner, a steep angle, and sailed over the edge of the embankment. Rolled twice and landed upright, the interior filled with deployed airbags and cursing.

Simon leapt out of the truck before it even stopped and raced to the vehicle. He heard Zoe swearing and crying, saw her climbing out of the dented window. Trying to climb out — the ugly bruiser tried to grab her ankle, and the suited man pulled a gun from inside the car.

Simon couldn't breathe. Could barely see. And then — the bear roared out, beyond his control, entirely in charge. And an enraged grizzly collided with the sedan and crushed the door shut on the suited bastard. He roared and reared up on his back legs to get better leverage to crush his paws on the roof of the car, not caring at the tinny pop-pop of a pistol, and his claws ripped through the metal like tissue paper.

Ethan ran up behind him, still human, and retrieved the weapons before punching the henchman in the face. He got out of the way as Simon crushed the car around Castellano, as he created a cage to trap and maybe kill the bastard. Castellano screamed, high-pitched and desperate, as a grizzly bear landed in his lap.

Ethan went to help a wide-eyed Zoe limp from the other side of the car, easing her over to the truck so she could sit down, and the scent of her fear and a hint of relief brought Simon back to his senses. He shook off the rage and reasserted control of the bear, sliding back to human so he could reach through the window to grab the front of Castellano's shirt. He wrenched the pale man forward until their noses almost touched, and Simon's voice remained half-bear as he growled. "Listen to me, and remember every word I say. Zoe is off limits. If there is so much as a whisper of you getting near her, I will fucking end you. I will rip your face off and tear your heart from inside your chest. You got it?"

The mob boss's mouth worked soundlessly as he stared at Simon, eyes wide and uncomprehending. Simon shook him, didn't care about blood that splattered from a deep cut on Castellano's cheek or that Simon was stark naked after the shift. All he could hear was Zoe's panicked breathing, and the almost-hyperventilation of her whispers to Ethan. Simon bellowed an inhuman, enraged sound. He bared his teeth, on the verge of going back to bear form. "You call every single one of your little friends and tell them she's protected. If anyone looks at her sideways, you will be the one paying the price. You better use every means at your disposal to keep your fuckheads away from her. Got it?"

Castellano gurgled in his throat and managed to stop screaming long enough to say, "Fine. Fine. I'll call it off. She'll be fine. It's all fine. Just — call a goddamn ambulance. I think my legs are broken."

"Fucking suffer," Simon said and threw him back against the seat. He snarled again at the bruiser in the backseat, despite the man being unconscious, and turned to face where Zoe sat next to the truck. He struggled for calm as he walked up to her and Ethan retreated, muttering something about keeping the mob boss alive long enough to send the message not to kill her.

Zoe shook and shivered, eyes still glued to the sedan and the two men trapped inside. She whispered, "Is he still mad?"

"No," he said, and Simon cleared his throat as his voice came out all rough and rocky. Maybe making bear noises while in human form wasn't a great idea for the vocal cords. He crouched in front of her and held her shoulders, desperate to comfort her. "You're safe, Zoe. He's not going to bother you anymore."

"Are you sure?" She blinked tears away as she looked up at him, and Simon's heart broke.

He took a deep breath and started checking her over for any damage from the car wreck. "I had a little talk with him. He knows to stay away from you. "

Zoe took a shaky breath then flushed bright red and held her hands up in front of her. "You're naked."

Simon looked down at himself and sighed. He leaned forward to kiss her forehead, holding her face in his hands. "You'll get used to it eventually." But he pulled a set of coveralls from the bed of the truck and slid into them before he helped her to her feet.

Zoe leaned against his chest, hiding her face against him, and said, "I did something bad."

"Nothing you did could be —"

"I told him I gave the money back." She looked up at him, guilt making her adorable until Simon wanted to kiss every inch of her face. "But I didn't. I just put it somewhere else."

Simon bit back a laugh, squeezing her tight against his chest until he could rub his chin on her head. "Do you really need all that money, Zoe?"

"I only kept a little," she said. She leaned against him, as if too tired to stand on her own, and her arms linked around his back. Simon wanted to carry her away to some place warm and safe. Zoe sighed and nuzzled against him. "I put most of it in the charity fund for the people who were hurt. But I saved a little. I've been thinking of buying some land."

"Land?" Simon looked up with a frown at the sound of approaching vehicles. He picked out Finn and Cooper and Noah, but a couple of other SUVs and farm trucks rolled through the grass as well. He breathed easier when he saw Rosie in the lead, her eyes narrowed in fury. The cougar had claws and didn't take kindly to outsiders threatening her friends. Simon rubbed Zoe's back and looked in the truck for something that would keep her warmer. "What are you talking about?"

"Land," she said, gesturing back at where the lodge waited, far beyond the town. "You said there was a bunch for sale and you wanted to build cabins. I thought we could — "

She trailed off, uncertain, and he took a breath to reassure her. It was the best idea he'd heard in a long time. But Zoe's expression froze and Simon's heart sank — something behind him scared her. Something he had zero chance of surviving, from the look on her face. He braced himself for the inevitable, and hoped he would at least save her before he died.