Read Online Grayslake: More than Mated: Bear Up (Kindle Worlds Novella) by Mina Carter - Free Book Online Page A

for both their personal safety and road law. All of them.
    Not normally a nervous passenger, she was nonetheless reduced to clinging to the “oh shit” handle above the door and trying not to squeak as she was rattled around like a cookie in a jar. She closed her eyes tightly at one particularly hair-raising corner. A soon-to-be broken cookie if Bennett carried on driving like this.
    Dean must have caught her small squeak of pain as the vehicle slid to the side again, slamming her broadside into the door, and he turned on the driver.
    “Slow down, Bennett. Human in the car, remember?”
    Bennett grunted, casting her a glance in the rearview mirror. “Sorry, boss lady. I’ll slow it down a bit.”
    She shook her head. “Don’t mind me. Missing girls are way more important than my comfort. You just get us where we need to be.”
    Warmth and a look of approval crossed both men’s faces at her words, the vehicle carrying on at a just slightly reduced breakneck speed. Kacie clung to the handle, trying to concentrate on the scenery around them, but thoughts of Angela filled her head.
    “Was she… Angela Russell, I mean… was she killed by the same men who attacked me?” she asked suddenly.
    Bennett nodded. “Think so. Smelled like it anyway.”
    Smelled like it? With those three little words Kacie was thrust back into a world that was so unlike the one she was used to. One that looked identical, yet was so different. A world where people could be identified by scent rather than sight, and men with claws attacked women in alleyways or in the safety of their own homes. Well, okay so Angela hadn’t been in her own home, but she was babysitting so she might as well have been. And those girls had been taken from their home…
    Rage built up inside her. It started with a small ball of heat at the center of her being but festered and grew the closer they got to town. The memory of claws flashing in the darkness made her stomach clench in remembered pain, and the anger exploded outward. It raced through her body in an instant, infecting each cell like wildfire until it consumed her. She clung harder to the handle above the door, her teeth clenched so tightly she was sure they were about to break off. Without warning, a feral growl rolled up from the center of her chest.
    The two men in the front of the vehicle started in surprise, Dean turning to look at her.
    “What?” she demanded. “You think you bears have the monopoly on viciousness? These guys took little girls… we find ‘em, I want an hour alone in a room with them.” She growled again, giving voice to her rage. “I’ll teach ‘em not to pick on women.”
    Dean nodded, a small smile on his face as the car pulled to a stop outside the Watson place. “You know what? I think that would be a lesson they wouldn’t soon forget.”

    T here were cars surrounding the Watson house when they arrived, vehicles from the sheriff’s department as well as one she recognized. Lilly’s little pink SUV was parked behind one of the police cars, the woman herself talking to a couple of men from town.
    Relief rolling through her, Kacie slid from the back of Dean’s car and headed over to her friend’s side. Lilly turned from her conversation, and her eyes widened as she saw Kacie. The next instant, she was wrapped up in the tightest hug she’d ever been given.
    “Ohmigod, Kace, I thought we’d lost you,” Lilly whispered when the pair had finished squealing. “When those rogues attacked… there was so much blood.”
    Lilly released her grip a little and looked down at Kacie, which was when she realized exactly what was different about her friend. She held herself like Dean did.
    “You’re one of them, aren’t you?”
    Lilly’s expression was worried, and she nibbled on her lower lip. “Yes, I am.”
    “Fuck’s sake, Lilly!” Kacie broke away to run a hand through her hair, turning in a circle before looking at the other woman again. “How am I the last to know