Free Southern Shifters: Bearly Dreaming (Kindle Worlds Novella) by Ellis Leigh

stared at me with wide eyes as I struggled to hold my human shape. My hands squeezed into fists and my teeth lengthened, but I succeeded in blocking my bear. Though he wouldn’t be controlled for long if he thought Nyla needed him.
    “They ain’t killed Nyla yet,” he said, still staring at me with trepidation. “But they locked her in the holding cave four days back. The Council met this morning, which probably means today is her day.”
    “Why would they kill her?” Whit asked, helping Audrey up the path. All of us walking faster.
    “To protect the secret of the clan. She’s refused to take a mate, see, and that means she’s slowly going insane from the power bleed of the Tallan. She needs a man to claim her so the two of them can balance out that power, but she’s stubborn and wants a true mate, not just someone assigned to control her. I offered for her—” he stumbled as I growled again, catching himself on a nearby tree “—I offered for her because she’s a nice girl who doesn’t deserve the fate coming her way. No one else would have taken her on because her Tallan is too weak. They see her as expendable. But she was always kind to me growing up, and I owed her momma a favor.”
    “But she wouldn’t accept you,” Audrey said, glancing my way.
    “Nope, and that put her in a worse spot,” Liam replied. “One of the Council members claimed her himself. He’s got enough pull to convince the others to allow the forced mating to go through, too. He’s also mean enough to kill her even if she does accept him, purely out of spite.”
    “How. Much. Farther?” I bit out, the tingle of a shift teasing my spine. I would kill them all. For scaring her, for thinking they could control her, for locking her up and trying to take her away from me. I would destroy her entire clan to save her, but first, I had to get to her.
    “Right over this last hill,” he said. Once we crested the top, he pointed down to a slight rise in the valley floor. “Just around that tree is the cave entrance. The Council may already be there or they may not, that I can’t tell you. There’s a guard shack not too far away as well, but you won’t have to worry about him.”
    “Why not?”
    He smirked. “He’s my brother. I’ll take care of letting him know he needs to go on break for a while. You three just get to the cave. Once you get past the Council, you’ll be fine. They’ve got her in a cell inside.”
    “Thanks,” I growled, too far gone to care if he noticed. I moved to stride past him, but he grabbed my arm.
    “You go in there, there’s no sticking around. And there’s no reasoning with the Council. They lost a MacDonald psy to a cougar shifter a while back and have been right pissed about it since. You get Nyla out of there and you run. Don’t ever let her come back.”
    I nodded, understanding. This was it. I was a hundred yards from my mate, the woman who’d been haunting my dreams. And she was in danger. She needed me, and I was going to save her. Then I’d tell her everything. About me, about my life, my bear. I’d tell her and I’d ask her to come with me. To let me keep her safe. To let me make her happy. Because I would, I’d do everything in my power as her mate to make her the happiest woman in the world. I would cherish her, if only she’d let me.
    Without another word, the stranger turned to leave, heading back up and over the hill the way we’d come. Whit, Audrey and I rushed down the hill, boldly walking across the open spaces, not trying to hide. We’d barely made it a quarter of the way when a feminine scream rang out through the forest, coming from the direction of the cave. My shift was immediate, my bear taking over my body in a split second and racing ahead. My mind focused on only one thing as I roared my fury.
    Nyla.

Chapter Eleven
Nyla
    I stood with my head up as the Council walked into the cave, Secor right smack in the middle of them. My mother stepped in front of me, her