Mail-Order Bear: BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (BRIDES fur BEARS Book 5) (10 page)

Irfan shrugged. “We'll
put him to work to pay off his father's debt.”

Lauren didn't have to ask
what kind of work. The Dire Wolves ran all kinds of underground
businesses. They had clients who had all sorts of fetishes. She had
no doubt that some of these clients would pay a lot of money for a
young half-shifter boy.

Irfan tipped an imaginary hat
at Lauren. “Good day, Mrs Ken. You go back to your husband.
We'll leave with the boy...”

“Over my dead body!”
Lauren screamed.

The other wolf gave a mocking
laugh but Irfan tilted his head at her and asked, “Do you mean
that?”

Lauren was momentarily
startled into silence.

“Do you mean that?”
Irfan repeated.

“Mean what?” she
spluttered.

“That we leave with the
boy over your dead body.”

Lauren blinked at the older
wolf, but there was no humor in his eyes. He wasn't making a joke or
taunting her. He was dead serious.

“Yes,” she spat,
balling her fist. “You can take him only if you kill me!”
Lauren gasped once the words were out of her mouth. She realized
what Irfan was asking now, but it was too late. She had doomed them
both.

“All right.”
Irfan nodded solemnly at her. Turning to the younger wolf, he
instructed. “Kill her, Cage, and we can leave with the boy.”

“With pleasure, Beta,”
Cage smiled, handing Eddie over to Irfan. Cage bared his teeth in an
ugly smile and pointed at himself. “We'll let the boy go, over
my
dead body.”

Lauren felt cold sweat
trickling between her breasts. “Wait, I...I didn't...”

“We can take the boy
now,” Irfan said quietly, looking at her.

Lauren met Irfan's intense,
glowing eyes and saw the warning in them.
Don't back out of this.

It was both a warning and a
lifeline.

“Okay,” she said,
hating the quaver in her voice. “Okay.” She closed her
eyes for an instant. “If he kills me, I'm dead so I can't stop
you anymore.” She hiccuped a bitter, frightened laugh.
“But...if I win, and I kill him…?”

Cage slapped his knee and
snorted derisively. “That's a good one!”

But Irfan didn't even smile.
“If you win, the boy goes home with you.”

“And you'll leave us
alone?'

“Yes.”

Irfan must have seen the
skepticism on her face, because he went on, “I'm the Beta of
the Dire Wolves. When I make a deal on behalf of the Dire Wolves,
the deal binds the whole pack. If you win, the debt will be written
off. As good as dead and buried with Alex Sanchez.”

Lauren nodded. “You
won't go back on your word? We don't have any witnesses...”

“We'll be your
witnesses!”

Lauren turned to see Gramma
and Ne-ma jogging towards them from behind the trees. The two
grandmothers were in track suits and running shoes. Apparently, they
were taking their usual morning jog round the park when they came
across Lauren and the wolves.

“We heard what you
said.” Ne-ma waved her mobile phone at the two wolves. “And
we recorded everything!”

“You...” Cage
snarled and started towards Ne-ma, but Irfan stopped him.

“That's all right. We
intend to honor the deal. And it's good you have the deal on record,
so when we take the boy, we will be well within our rights. Her
husband can bury her...” Irfan jerked his head at Lauren.
“But he won't be able to come get the boy.”

Gramma turned to Lauren with
a shrewd look. “You're half bear, right? When a bear fights a
wolf, the bear always wins. Unless the bear is fighting a pack of
wolves. But you're only fighting one wolf here, Lauren. You can do
this.”

“But I'm not...”
Lauren began, but Gramma shook her head.

“You'll win,”
Gramma said firmly, almost stubbornly.

“That's if I can shift
into a bear,” Lauren muttered under her breath.

Gramma's next words were so
soft that Lauren wasn't sure she'd heard them right. “You
can.”

CHAPTER
TWENTY-NINE

Lauren glanced at Eddie.
Irfan was holding the boy by the scruff of his neck. Eddie stopped
struggling long enough to flash her a brave smile through his tears
and yell, “Win, Aunt Lauren! I want you to win! I know you'll
win!”

“Don't worry, Eddie.
I'll win.” She smiled grimly and hoped he didn't hear her
gulp.

She glanced at Gramma and
Ne-ma, but the two little old ladies were staring skyward with their
palms out. Lauren cleared her throat and tried to catch their eye
but they started mumbling some unintelligible words and were making
strange gestures with their hands.

Lauren grimaced. She wanted
to tell them to run and get help. She was going to get killed.
Perhaps they should just call the undertaker right now. The two
grandmothers seemed to be praying, but prayers wouldn't help her
right now.

Ne-ma clasped her hands and
pointed her fingers at Lauren. Her chanting grew louder before
stopping abruptly. Nodding in satisfaction, she tapped Gramma's
shoulder lightly and smiled.

“Now. I'd better
record this,” Ne-ma said, holding out her phone. “So
there's no dispute.”

Lauren gaped at her, but
Ne-ma merely pressed the record button and stepped back to get a
better shot.

How could they be so calm?
They were going to be recording her grisly death, yet they seemed
unfazed and unconcerned.

What were they up to?

Gramma was still chanting
softly and waving her fingers discreetly at Lauren. Lauren took a
deep, shaky breath and turned her eyes to Cage. He crouched slowly
and shifted into a large gray wolf.

“Shit.” He was
fighting her in wolf form. Of course he was. She was so dead.

Lauren stared round
desperately and snatched up a broken branch. She held out the branch
in front of her like a sword and shook it threateningly at the wolf.
The wolf made a chuffing sound. He was laughing at her.

Lauren and Cage circled each
other. Gramma was still chanting steadily as she followed Lauren
with her eyes. Lauren wished she would stop her useless chanting and
mumbling and go get help. After Cage finished her off, the two
little old ladies couldn't possibly save Eddie from the two burly
Wolves.

“Go get Reid,”
she wheezed.

“I've messaged him
already,” Ne-ma answered matter-of-factly. “He'll be
here soon. You just concentrate on the fight and win. You can take
Eddie home over
his
dead body. That's the deal.”

Lauren winced and gripped the
branch tighter.

Over his dead body.
That's the deal.

The Dire Wolves might be
brutes but they weren't dumb. They knew how to play with words and
get what they wanted out of their victims. They didn't take anything
by force. They weren't thieves. That's how they managed to always
stay one step ahead of the law. They were businessmen. And a
businessman's word was his honor. A perverse kind of honor.

A deal was consensual.
Lauren had agreed to let the wolves take Eddie if they killed her.
They had chosen to interpret her words literally and there was
nothing wrong with that, legally.

It wouldn't even be murder.

Lauren ground her teeth. She
had to kill Cage. The wolves would let Eddie go over Cage's dead
body.

It was as simple, and as
morbid, as that.

CHAPTER
THIRTY

Reid growled as he charged
towards the park. His claws were slicing out and his eyes had turned
feral. His bear had reared up as soon as he read Ne-ma's message on
his phone.

Lauren was fighting the Dire
Wolves. The wolves had come for Eddie, and it was a fight to the
death. Ne-ma had sent him a short voice recording with the message.
In the recording, he heard Lauren shouting, “You can take him
only if you kill me!”

What the hell was she
thinking? Why would she agree to such a deal? Reid snarled when he
caught the scent of Lauren's blood on the wind.

He ran harder, and his bear
almost ripped right out of his skin when he saw Lauren rolling on the
ground as a huge wolf snapped its jaws just inches from her face.

He ran blindly forward, but
someone caught him firmly by the elbow. He looked down and saw Ne-ma
gripping his arm. Her hand was thin and small, but her grip was
incredibly strong.

“Don't,” she
said.

“I have to save
Lauren,” he snarled.

“And who will save
Eddie?” she demanded.

Reid snarled at her but she
was right. Only Lauren could save Eddie right now.

If only he was the one who
had made the deal with the Dire Wolves. He should be the one
fighting that big, vicious wolf. Not Lauren, who couldn't even…

Reid's eyes widened.
“Lauren, she...”

Ne-ma nodded but kept her
hand on his arm. She was holding out her phone, recording the fight.

“We cast a spell,”
Ne-ma said. “I finished my part of the incantation quickly and
Glynda took over. The spell draws out Lauren's hidden power. It
doesn't give her any powers that she doesn't already have. That
would be unfair. It just draws her powers out. In Lauren's case,
the magic drew her bear out from its dormant state. Cool, yeah?”
Ne-ma grinned suddenly.

Reid couldn't even crack a
smile, but he could hear his knuckles cracking as he stared at Lauren
twisting and bellowing as her shape changed. Even her voice was
changing. It was no longer human.

Lauren let out a roar of
surprise and anguish as her bear rose for the first time. The gray
wolf flew towards Lauren as she was shifting, aiming for her neck but
Lauren raised her hand and batted him away. Her hand dropped to the
ground, but it wasn't a small human hand any more. It was a massive,
powerful paw.

Lauren panted and growled as
her bones and muscles shifted into place. Reid saw her sniff the
air. He knew she had scented him. She turned her head and looked
him right in the eye.

Reid nodded once.
You got
this.

Lauren blinked. Then nodded
back.
I got this.

Gramma staggered back
suddenly and Reid rushed forward to catch her before she hit the
ground.

“Wow,” Gramma
said, passing her hand over her forehead. “That took a lot out
of me. That spell used to be easy peasy for us, right Neveah?”

“Yeah,” Ne-ma
agreed wistfully. “But we're witches, not vampires. We don't
grow stronger as we get older. You did good, Glynda.”

Gramma stared at Lauren and
nudged Reid. “Her bear's really pretty. And sexy too, eh?”

Reid couldn't answer. His
heart was in his mouth.

Lauren was a beautiful black
bear. She was a little unsteady on her feet at first as she adjusted
to her new weight and bulk, and the gray wolf took advantage of that.
But after being clawed and bitten a few times, she fought back.

Reid saw that Lauren was
discovering her immense strength as a bear, and couldn't help
smirking.

“She'll win this,”
he said on a slow, shuddering exhale.

“Of course,”
Gramma and Ne-ma said together, without looking at him. It wasn't
news to them. They had known all along.

CHAPTER
THIRTY-ONE

Lauren reared up on her hind
legs and roared. She was astounded by the volume of her own roar.
Wow, it was a really big sound. She sounded fierce and powerful.
Hell, she was powerful. She was a bear!

Lauren faced Cage and
growled. The gray wolf didn't look quite so confident now. Good.
He should be scared. She was going to finish him off and free her
nephew.

She prowled towards him,
slowly, deliberately. She never thought that she had a bear inside
her. Her brother, Alex, could shift, but his bear and his senses had
been dulled by his heavy drinking. In the last few years of his
life, he'd hardly shifted at all. Lauren thought the shifter gene
had bypassed her completely, but it turned out that she was just a
late bloomer. It was better to bloom late than to burn out early,
she supposed.

Cage flew at her and Lauren
slashed at him with her sharp, glinting claws. Blood spattered on
the grass as Cage rolled away, howling in pain.

Lauren glanced at the blood
dripping from her claws in awe and disbelief. Her bear was lethal.
Its killer instincts were sharp and it was baying for blood.

The blood lust of her beast
both scared and thrilled her. She had a dangerous predator within
her. She would have to learn to control it and not let it control
her.

But at this moment, she was
happy to unleash her bear fully. If her bear wanted blood, it would
get blood.

Her bear had emerged very
suddenly, without warning. She had experienced some pain as her body
shifted for the first time, but she hadn't been terrified.
Instinctively, intuitively, she had known what to do, what to expect.