Free Mail-Order Bear: BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (BRIDES fur BEARS Book 5) by Natalie Kristen Page B

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