Free Bear's Claim (Bear Heat Book 3) by Natalie Kristen Page A

Black Bears hurtled through the opening in
rapid succession.
    Dr. Faizel and the soldier
fired immediately. Baxter shot the doctor in the leg and ducked as
Dr. Faizel squeezed off another shot before crumpling to the ground.
    Dylan aimed his gun at
Michael, but Thor shielded Michael with his massive body.
    Despite the arrival of the
three Black Bears, Michael's attention was on Thor alone. No one and
nothing else mattered to him. He had been ordered to take Thor out,
and he would blindly carry out the order even if it killed him.
    Paige took aim at the
soldier, but he was holding Luke up as a human shield.
    “Put down your rifle
and step away from him!” Paige yelled.
    Dr. Faizel pushed himself up
and wheezed, “Shoot him.”
    At his order, Michael turned
around slowly. The command had been directed at the soldier, but
Michael responded to the doctor's voice. The new command seemed to
clash with the earlier command, and for a moment, Michael's brain was
his own again.
    Michael stared at Dr. Faizel
and blinked rapidly.
    “You...”
    Thor saw Michael's eyes turn
human once more. Gasping, Michael stared down at his clawed, furry,
misshapen hands and made a strangled sound as he looked up and saw
the Black Bears for the first time.
    “Shoot him!” Dr.
Faizel screeched to the soldier.
    The mercenary's lips curled.
Shooting someone in the head was the best part of his job.
    Dylan and Baxter raised their
guns simultaneously, but Michael was faster than either of them.
    With an anguished roar, he
barreled towards the soldier. The soldier pulled the trigger but not
before Michael punched the rifle away from Luke's head. The shot
went off as Michael plunged his claws into the mercenary's neck. His
eyes widened in shock as Michael decapitated him with a single swipe.
    Dr. Faizel crawled to a
console and slammed a lever down. He turned to the Black Bears and
let out a crazed, maniacal laugh.
    With his face and body
covered with blood, Michael turned to them and growled, “Get
out! This whole place is going to collapse. He'll bury everything,
everyone!” He pointed at Luke. “Take him and get out
now!”
    Baxter threw Luke over his
shoulder and ran for the exit as a loud explosion went off. As Thor
held the narrow door open for them, Dylan shouted into his watch,
“We are getting out now! Do not, I repeat, do not approach!
Stand down, and stand back!”
    There were other Black Bears
standing by, waiting for the signal to move in. Thor growled to
Michael, but Michael only smiled sadly at him. “I'll make sure
the doctor is buried together with all his research. I don't want
him to escape, and continue his terrible, nightmarish work.”
    Thor growled again. Come
on, you have to get out!
    Michael seemed to understand
him. “No. I won't be leaving. I will stay here. I promised
Aubrey I'll get Luke out. I kept my promise. I also swore to serve
and protect the city when I got my police badge. Let me do my duty.
Go!”
    Chunks of the ceiling were
falling all around them. Thor tried to lurch towards Michael, to
drag him towards the exit, but a large, heavy slab of concrete
smashed down between them. Rocks and metal pieces began to rain down
on them. Thor roared for Michael, but an explosion flung him away
from the door. He was thrown into the tunnel in a cloud of smoke.
    Scrambling to his feet, Thor
rushed back towards the door but the door had sealed shut. Bellowing
in rage, Thor rammed his massive shoulder against the sealed doorway
again and again. He felt the walls shudder and there was a loud,
ominous rumble that was gathering in strength and volume.
    “Let's go!” Dylan
yelled. “The tunnel's going to collapse!”
    Thor stared at the crumbling
rock wall and turned away. He promised Aubrey that he would return
to her.
    Dylan and Paige were running
hard. Baxter had already made it out of the tunnel with Luke. Thor
turned to look over his shoulder one last time.
    He was out of the tunnel in a
matter of seconds. But in just