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BEAR

“You cannot do this! You simply cannot burst into another man’s house and take his daughter!” Sir Greggor blustered as Bear carried Aleena’s limp form through the living area where Sir Greggor and his wife and daughter were standing together.

“She’s my wife and you were holding her captive and torturing her! ” Bear growled. He looked anxiously down at Aleena. She was still breathing—she just seemed to have fainted from the shock. He didn’t blame her but he wanted to get her someplace safe so he could examine her.

“Torturing her? What are you talking about?” Sir Greggor demanded.

“What I said. When I went into your back room, Aleena was tied up, half-naked, and two men were about to fucking assault her!” Bear snarled.

Even now, the memory of seeing the woman he loved tied and helpless, about to be raped, made the Rage start to come over him again. He fought it off grimly—he needed to get Aleena out of here, not give in to the berserker fury that wanted to consume him.

“You’re lying!” Sir Greggor said shortly.

“Go look for yourself,” Bear snapped. “There are two men that your wife hired back there—one’s dead and one will be soon unless he gets medical attention. They were in the act of pulling off her skirt and—” But he couldn’t go on. He would go into Rage again if he did—he was sure of it.

“Grindelia, is this true?” Sir Greggor demanded, turning to his wife, who had a stubborn, mulish look on her face.

“Aleena needed to renounce Ambassador Bearick so Faleesha could Join with him instead,” she said, lifting her chin. “I was doing what I had to in order to make that happen.”

“What the fuck makes you think I’d want to Join with your disgusting, spoiled brat of a daughter?” Bear growled at her. “I hadn’t been on this planet a whole hour before I knew she was the last female I’d ever want to be with!”

“Well!” Grindelia looked extremely offended and Faleesha actually began to cry.

Big, fake tears—what the humans called “crocodile tears”—began rolling down her cheeks.

“Pappa, make him Join with me!” she sobbed, pointing at Bear. “I’m the one who should have been the Ambassador’s wife! It’s not fair that Aleena gets to be his wife instead!”

“Hush, child—we don’t want anything to do with such a nasty, conniving man,” her mother said, putting an arm around her shaking shoulders.

Faleesha threw her mother’s arm off with a petulant gesture.

“I want him! I want to be the Ambassador’s wife and have all the jewels and the big house and the important position so that everyone is jealous of me when we go to The Plaza! It’s not fair that Aleena gets all that instead of me! It’s not fair!” she cried stamping her foot.

Faced with his favorite daughter having a full-blown tantrum, Sir Greggor looked uncertainly at Bear.

“Now, Ambassador Bearick, since you’re going to disavow Aleena anyway—” he began.

“The answer is ‘no,’” Bear said flatly. “I’m not disavowing Aleena. I’m taking her with me to the Mother Ship so I can treat her injuries. Wounds that the men your fucking wife hired inflicted on her. And when I come back to Karpsian Prime, it will be to drag you and your family to court to prosecute you for how you kidnapped and abused my wife!”

“How dare you say such a thing to me?” Sir Greggor’s eyes narrowed in anger. “And anyway, no one will believe you!”

“They might…if they see a recording of the event. Which I believe this little device might have.”

Commander Sylvan was suddenly there, plucking a small device from Faleesha’s fingers.

“Hey!” She made a snatch for it but he held it easily out of reach. “That’s my holo-recorder!”

“Not anymore—now it’s evidence,” the Blood Kindred said coolly. Bear wondered how long he’d been listening, staying out of sight in the shadows of the hallway. For quite some time apparently.

“Take the breast shield and the jewelry too,” he told Sylvan. “Those are Aleena’s—I bought them for her and these two thieves stole them right off her body.”

Before Faleesha and her mother could object, Sylvan took the items out of their hands.

“And now I think we’d better go,” he said to Bear. “It seems that your mate might need medical treatment.”

“Yes, she does,” Bear agreed grimly. “She fainted—I think from shock.”

He turned to leave the living area and headed for the front door of the house with Aleena still in his arms.

“Just wait one minute!” Sir Greggor exclaimed. Puffing his chest out importantly, he placed himself squarely in Bear’s path. “You don’t dare insult me like this! I’ll tell the whole Council what you’ve done and the deal between our people will be off—the negotiations will be completely nullified!”

“Your people stand to benefit immensely from our trade deal and the worm hole agreement Ambassador Bearick negotiated,” Commander Sylvan said, raising an eyebrow at him. “Do you really think they’ll call off the entire thing just on your word?”

For a moment, Sir Greggor seemed at a loss for words.

“I…they…my opinion carries great weight with the Council,” he said at last.

“Fine—then tell them whatever you want,” Bear growled. “But right now I’m taking my wife and leaving this fucked-up planet!”

He pushed past Sir Greggor, who was still protesting, and carried Aleena out the door and towards the long-range shuttle, which Sylvan had parked on the front lawn. He was done with their bullshit.

Right now he just wanted to tend to his wife and when she woke up, beg her forgiveness and pray to the Goddess she would take him back.