Free Bearly Enough by W.H. Vega

Was Jeremy’s alpha coming out?
    Stone lowered his body back to the ground and Evan took a
step back.
    “Shift!” Jeremy commanded, the timbre of his voice deep.
    Stone tried to resist, but he was unable to do so. He had
heard of powerful alpha orders, but he had never experienced them first hand.
He was forced to obey Jeremy.
    He shifted back into human form, as did Evan. Stone felt
some satisfaction in seeing a few rather large gashes across Evan’s body.
    He slowly turned toward Jeremy, Torin and Lucy.
    The first thing he noticed was that Lucy was practically
huddled in Torin’s arms, her face buried in his chest. Torin seemed to be
supporting her. Stone wondered if she was even conscious.
    “What the hell is going on?” Jeremy admonished. “The other
tribe is coming!” He turned quickly to Torin. “Get her out of here. Now!”
    Torin obeyed, scooping Lucy up as if she were light as a
feather, and he began racing down the street. Stone watched him, filling with
jealousy, wanting to race after them.
    Lucy didn’t even put up a fight as she was carried away, and
Stone imagined that she was probably so upset and disoriented that she didn’t
know what was happening.
    Just then two bears came into view, their fur brown and
reddish, their snouts pressed to the ground.
    “Leave!” Jeremy ordered, and Stone could see his body
trembling slightly; he was fighting the urge to shift.
    The two bears roared at Jeremy in protest.
    “If one paw crosses onto our land, I will not hesitate to
kill you both,” Jeremy whispered. Stone could tell that Jeremy really didn’t
want to kill the others, but he wasn’t sure if the Virtus members could tell.
They protested again, though they began to back up.
    “Retreat at once, or you and the girl will not live another
day.”
    Stone glanced wildly at Jeremy, wondering what the hell he
was thinking. But he could see in the bears’ eyes that they didn’t want to die,
nor did they want to risk Lucy’s life.
    Letting out a sound of frustration and vengeance, they left,
heading back in the direction of their own lands.
    Jeremy began striding down the street; Stone and Evan
hurried after him.
    “I don’t know where she is,” Evan began, “but she belongs to
me.”
    Jeremy whirled around, his eyes flashing. “You pull another
stunt like that and you won’t have a tongue to complain with!”
    Evan paused, momentarily stunned.
    “Now get the fuck home !”
    Jeremy waited, arms folded, his gaze icy.
    Stone waited, afraid to move.
    “You’ll fucking regret this!” Evan hissed, his face inches
from Jeremy’s. Then he turned on his heel and headed toward his house.
    Once he had disappeared, Jeremy turned on Stone.
    “What the hell happened?”
    Stone went to speak, but Jeremy began walking.
    Stone strode after him. “I was running and saw Evan sneaking
off. I followed him and he went directly to the Virtus lands, where Lucy
happened to be because of the wedding. Stupid fucker! I tried to stop him, but
he charged the wedding. I hurried in and took Lucy before he harmed her.”
    Jeremy seemed to be debating this, then cursed under his
breath. “Evan is more of a problem than I had expected.” His eyes clouded over
and he rubbed at the stubble on his chin. “Either way, she’s here now and we
need to deal with this.”
    “I was going to bring her here,” Stone insisted angrily, as
they moved in the direction of Torin’s house.
    “Yes, well, it seems our plans have changed.”
    They came to Torin’s house and entered. Stone could smell
the fear rolling off Lucy, and he felt immense guilt. He had barely had time to
build her trust, and now everything was about to be destroyed.
    They walked into Torin’s living room, and Lucy was curled up
on his couch, a glass of water untouched on the table. She was wrapped in a
thin brown blanket, one that Stone had remembered from his childhood. It used
to sit on the chair in their living room; Joy loved to wrap herself in it.
    He