Free Grayslake: More than Mated: Bear Up (Kindle Worlds Novella) by Mina Carter

kitchen, throwing a small smile over her shoulder at Dean.
    “You got a keeper there,” Bennett said quietly. “Never seen any newbie accept the bear-life quite so easily.”
    Dean’s chest puffed out a little with pride. “Well, she’s a Lick girl, born and bred, plus she’s my fated. What else did you expect?”
    The two men walked through the main room, where what remained of Dean’s humor fled. Framed by the comfortable civility of the Watsons’ home, with its hardwearing cord and leather couches, and cozy throws, was a scene right out of a horror movie.
    In silence, he studied the room, noting every splash of blood, every handprint, every claw mark and bite in soft, undefended flesh. Like all bears, Dean had been born a shifter, but he’d always been aware of real bears. There were a few in the Lick territory. Mostly, they avoided wereclan areas, but occasionally they stayed. So he knew what a natural bear kill looked like.
    Kill was the operative word. Bears were animals. They killed to eat or to defend themselves. There was no malice in what they did.
    This wasn’t a natural bear kill. The human girl, Angela Russell, hadn’t been killed. She’d been slaughtered in cold blood. She lay on her back on the coffee table like an offering, her face serene. That’s where the peaceful image ended. Below the neck, her clothes and her skin were shredded and covered in blood. The stark white of broken ribs was the only relief in the wash of scarlet.
    Disgust and rage rose hard and fast. She hadn’t just been killed, she’d been tortured first. Played with.
    He snarled, a low, rumbling sound that promised vengeance and hell when he caught up with who was responsible.
    This shit did not happen. Not on his watch.
    “Oh…Holy shit.” Morgan cursed as he walked in, obviously unprepared for the sight of the murdered girl spread out like an offering. “Fuck’s sake, you could’ve warned me. Human sense of smell, remember?”
    “Sorry, bud,” Dean rumbled quietly. “Still taking it in myself.”
    “Understandable.” Just like that Morgan locked down, his expression turning purely professional as he studied the scene. “More than one bear. And it looks like she put up a good fight. I might be able to pick up something from blood traces, but it’s going to take me a while to filter through her blood. Spells are good, but they aren’t that good.”
    Dean shook his head. “We don’t have the time for that. They’ve taken two girls and we need them back, yesterday. You got anything else?”
    “Girls? How old?”
    “Four and seven,” a hoarse voice answered from the doorway. Jeb Watson stood framed there, the big man’s face haunted. Dean noted how he avoided looking at the scene beyond the two men, and he moved subtly so the man wouldn’t see. Angela wasn’t his daughter, but these bastards had his two children. Dean knew without a shadow of a doubt that if Jeb saw the body, all he’d see was his daughters lying there instead. Just as all he could see was Kacie…
    “Good.” Morgan nodded. “Then chances are they still sleep with teddy bears? Yes?”
    Jeb nodded dully, forcing his attention from Dean to the big warlock. “Yeah, they do. Why?”
    “Bring them to me. I might just have a way to track your daughters down before any harm comes to them.”

    * * *
    M rs. Watson was in shock , but she was still mistress of her own kitchen. She wouldn’t let Kacie do anything, firmly sitting her down in the corner while she bustled around, making coffee for the men in the house. Her expression was strained but she kept up a light stream of chatter, mostly about town business rather than what was going on in the next room, or, interestingly, anything to do with bears.
    Thankfully, no one would let her leave the kitchen to deliver drinks. Instead, as soon as a load of drinks were ready, there somehow seemed to be someone in the doorway waiting. Kacie had no doubt they knew, that somehow they could hear the