Free Betray The Bear by T.S. Joyce Page A

been a long day and his patience was as thin as rice paper right now. “Hurt. Her.”

Chapter Six
     
    Hurt her? Chase was serious. Anya’s first lesson was getting her ass kicked by Joanna?
    The clawed slap that Jo laid on her shoulder echoed and sent her sprawling.
    “Good. Again,” Chase said.
    What? Anya shook her head, trying to clear it and stood on her hind legs again. Her balance was off, so she bucked forward against Jo. Lurching backward, the scruff of her neck burned as Chase yanked her away from Jo. She wanted to bite him to punish his roughness, considered it even, but Jo hit her again and she flew back onto the muddy ground.
    Asshole. Chase was a mega-asshole. If this was how he was teaching his bears, they were all doomed in a fight with the Long Claws anyway. Maybe she should tell him that—rub it in his sneering face.
    Chase’s lips turned up in a humorless, hard smile. “That a girl, Anya. Get angry. You should be, because Joanna’s about to hit you again.”
    And Joanna did, but it was too much to just sit there and take it anymore. Anya lunged and tackled Jo, who seemed surprised, because she fell backward and landed hard in the mud. Slapping and clawing, Anya was pushed off of Jo by the black bear’s hind legs, and she circled her slowly.
    “Acceptable,” Chase barked out. “Now line up again.”
    Blood and anger pounded through her veins and she didn’t want to do what Chase commanded. She wanted to defy him as his punishment for letting her get hit. Jo stood up and Anya followed, her legs more steady this time.
    “Jo, hit her again.”
    It was too much to ask her to be still for that kind of abuse and she charged, hitting Jo around her middle. This time, they didn’t separate. Everything was red fury and lightning against the backs of her eyes, and she wanted to kill everything. Jo was vicious with her claws but Anya wouldn’t let go. Maybe they were locked up like that for seconds, maybe hours, she didn’t know. All she knew was that no one was going to hurt her unchallenged again.
    “ Heyayayay!” A voice came through her clouded mind, stretching for her logic through the heavy tendrils of crimson fog.
    A hand grabbed the scruff of her neck and she turned, lashing out. Chase’s eyes were hard , and she tried to pull her claws back but the momentum was already too great. He knew the slap was coming. She could see it in the grim set to his mouth, but before her six-inch weapons touched him, he exploded into a red-furred grizzly bear twice her size.
    As h er claws raked across his chest, he roared so loud the sound rattled her bones. The man was all teeth and claws and battle scars and for a split second, she saw her short life flash before her eyes. And sadly, most of it was kind of depressing.
    She sank down onto her back and offered him her neck in a last ditch effort to save her own hide. The ground shook as he lowered down onto all four paws, then he wrapped his giant canine teeth around her throat.
    She was scared, really scared, but there was something intimate about his mouth on her, and she reached up and rested her paw on his chest, just to feel his pounding heart. His expression changed, softened, and he released her. Pressing his giant nose against the fur of her neck, he inhaled deeply and wrapped his arm around her, drawing her closer to his body. Her breath came in short bursts. She wanted him. Bear or human, she wanted this man.
    “Chase!” a man yelled from the fence. Riker.
    His eyes dropped to his paw, now cradling her and such a look of utter confusion passed over his features. He shrank back and in a moment was human once again. And gloriously naked.
    Everything about him was huge and he didn’t even try to hide his erection from the p eople gathering around the edge of the arena. Confident man indeed.
    “Change back, now!” he yelled. Whoa, he sounded pissed.
    Closing her eyes against his angry glare, she melted back into her human skin and stood with as