Chapter 66 - His Girl [https://cdn.midjourney.com/83c3d5ab-8b24-4557-872b-cb3c13d698c4/0_1.png]

Red…

“I don’t know.” He shifted his weight but didn’t challenge the other’s authority. “The intel was pretty weak. We looked for the female’s mother and the sheep that was with her after we raided the empty cabin and set fire to it. Paul, down at the police station, tracked them two states over through their credit card usage. From what he said, they won’t be an issue. There was gossip about a fourth father, but if there was one, he left no sign of himself at the cabin.”

“Is he related to any of them?”

The man gestured to Jeremiah on the ground. “That one. They are cousins, but they grew up like brothers.”

“That’s not good.” The man in charge drew his toothpick out of his mouth and flicked it toward the tree line. He drew a new one out of his pocket. “Are the boys still running the perimeter?” Red stared at where the teeth-marked sliver of wood landed, four feet to the right of him.

“Every day.”

“Move that one before his cousin shows up. Better to do it now, then after he wakes up and we have to break more of him.”

As they dragged Jeremiah’s body toward the loading dock, the boss moved closer to Kennedy’s cage and crouched down. When he reached in through the bars, Red’s heart turned to ice. Mine. He better not touch her. Loud enough that his voice carried, the boss said, “She is pretty, though. I’ve never taken a pregnant woman.”

It took all Red had not to shift into bear, every bit of his control. The man was baiting him.

With an evil grin smeared across his mouth, he unlocked her cage. “Wish I could have had her when she was in heat.”

Ready to change, wanting to charge, the wary boy in him noticed the man’s side glance. The bastard was scanning the tree line, looking for motion, for any sign… of him. Be still. Wait for your shot. Wait to raise the bow, the gun, the knife, the claw.

Slow breaths. He managed them one at a time. Rage made him see red at the corners of his vision when the man flicked her hair away from her face. Look for your opening. Don’t rush this. Don’t risk her life.

Red saw her eyes slit open as the stupid man searched for him in the trees. Foolish. The idiot didn’t see her coming when she gripped his wrist in both hands, jerked his arm forward through the bars and sank her teeth into the meat of his shoulder in a way that made him proud. Savage.

When the man squealed like a culled pig, the rush of pleasure and pride he felt was intense. The toothpick fell from the man’s mouth as he flailed against the side of the cage, howling. Kennedy sank her teeth deeper.

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Cow shocker in hand, a second man stepped forward as if she was wayward livestock. That was not going to happen. One thing Red knew for certain. He was a good shot. High in the chest, he shot the man clean through. Avoiding the heart, he’d hit where he’d aimed. Blood exploded backward onto two other men as the cattle prod fell to the ground.

His girl’s change was fast, and she never lost her grip. Twisting the man’s arm in a way that made his cry rise in pitch, high into the air like a bird taking to wing. She took him to the ground as he screamed, “Fucking get her! Fucking stop her!” Wrenching his arm, she pulled his shoulder out of its socket. His fucking angel. Good girl.

To draw the attention of the spooked, wide-eyed cowards, he kicked a shrub to the left of him. More afraid of his gun than the creature in the cage, they turned toward the tree line. Sheltering how they could, they left their leader on his own. Bad move. Blood was everywhere, pumping. Kennedy released him, but only after she had swallowed a chunk of muscle. Limp and partially severed from his body, his arm no longer took directions from him as he pulled it back through the bars.

The bravest of the lot crept toward their crawling boss, who was in shock, not even trying to stop the blood spurting from him. Two shots fired to the right of Red as they tried to flush him, and a flurry of birds lifted into the dark. Wait for your next good shot, breathe. The door to the cage was unlocked, but not yet open.

His girl roared, daring the men to come closer to her. She crouched back a step and threw her body at the cage door and it fucking bowed, straining the latch. Jesus Fucking Christ. He was going to do the dishes the next time she asked him to.

Had they forgotten how hard it was to contain a pregnant bear? He swallowed his laughter, keeping it inside. As he leveled the gun at the man creeping toward the leader, he whispered, “You will not die before me.” He said softly into the night, the sound masked by the screaming. “My girl.” His shot ripped through the man’s thigh and he went down. Not shooting to kill, shooting to cause blood loss, he waited for the next man to make himself vulnerable. Again, her body slammed into the door and the bolt squealed as it moved a bit more. Again, Kennedy, come on.

A shot struck the tree behind him about a foot to his left. Close. He turned his attention from the two crawling, bleeding men. They were distracted by their own mortality. He sighted one, kneeling against the side of one of the trucks in the shadow. Smart. Wearing a vest. This one wasn’t raised by a rabbit. Go on then, he willed, take your best shot.

Red scanned for the others and saw a visible foot behind one of the vehicles. Taking aim, he shot a bullet through the man’s ankle. Like taking out a squirrel, but more screaming.

The third time she hit the gate, the unsecured bolt rattled free, and the gate gaped open. Her howl of victory made his heart rejoice. Run, little mother. Her head swiveled as he leveled his gun at the kneeling fox. A head shot… would be so easy, but he couldn’t give them another reason to kill her. Through the meat of the man’s upper arm, his bullet ripped a hole. Two of them.. Just two… Run, woman.

Instead, she turned toward the men sheltered behind the large trucks, ignoring the wounded writhing on the ground and the trixy fox, who rolled himself under the truck, with his hand clamped over his wound.

People in the community were afraid of these men. These mountain boys weren’t used to having to actually fight. Or if they did, they made sure to outnumber whoever was causing the trouble. Red whistled and her ear swiveled.

He’d keep them from following, if she’d take her head start. Stubborn, she shook off the sound, growling low as she took a step toward the sheltering men. He expected them to explore into bear at any moment. They didn’t take ursa on the mountain. Or was that just a myth to make them sound tough and dangerous? Furious at her intention to fight instead of flee, he yelled, betraying his place, “Run, dammit!”

The wounded boss, remnants of his arm bound by his cousin’s belt, snapped his gaze in Red’s direction.