Read Online Return To The Bear by T.S. Joyce - Free Book Online Page A

only for the last few minutes of her life, it counted—it mattered. Brody had gifted her a new clan as his last deed before he went to battle.
    A row of trucks and vans were parked along the main road just outside of Long Claw territory and Hannah led her to a jacked up black one with mud all over the tires and doors. Just as she opened the creaking door a voice rang out.
    “You thought you were home free, didn’t you, Joanna.” Blake walked out of the woods behind them, glaring at her with such hatred in his eyes.
    They’d almost made it.
    Pulling the picture of her family from her pocket and tugging her father’s knife from her back, she handed them to Hannah, closing her fingers over her treasures. “Give these to Brody if he makes it.”
    “What are you going to do?” Hannah asked, eyes wide and frightened.
    “I’m going to protect you.” She pulled her shirt over her head and shimmied out of her jeans. “Get in and lock the doors, Hannah. No matter what you see, don’t get out of that truck. Okay?”
    She nodded slowly, her eyes brimming with moisture. Hannah was worth saving just for that caring gesture. Joanna wouldn’t die unloved after all.
    “No matter what,” Hannah said, her voice dipping to a ragged whisper as she cupped her hands over the old picture and blood covered blade.
    Hannah scrambled into the cab of the truck, and pressed the lock button. The click made the abandoned road feel so lonely.
    Blake changed into a massive black bear, the same as her animal, but bigger. Joanna closed her eyes and let her beast out, bellowing with the pain of the change and the anger of having come so close to freedom, only to have Blake snuff it out. She’d go, but she wouldn’t do it graciously and she’d fight tooth and nail to bring Blake into the afterlife right along with her. She stood on her hind legs and curled her lips away from her teeth, promising his death.
    Blake charged.

Chapter Seven
     
    Engaging in a violent smattering of bites and slaps, Joanna jerked back and circled Blake. Her hackles rose in a strip down her spine, making her skin tingle. Lunging, he raked his claws down her chest, drawing blood, and red rage burst through her veins. With a short bellow, she tackled him, clawing and scrabbling as they tumbled end over end down the hillside beside the road. He would come for Hannah the second she was incapacitated, so she had to injure him enough that he wouldn’t be able to get into the truck. Hannah should leave, let Riker and Brody and their soldiers defend her, then meet up with the survivors later. She couldn’t tell her that though.
    Relentlessly, she stayed on Blake, even as he slashed her with his six inch claws. Even as he sank his long, penetrating teeth into her shoulder. She ripped and shredded and bit, shaking her head until his flesh tore free. The anger in his eyes faded to defiance, and she knew she had him. She just had to hang on long enough.
    Her body was shredded, a dozen ga shes through her skin seeped into her matted fur, and the puncture wounds at her shoulders ensured she didn’t use her arm properly, but it was almost done if only she could endure his scratching claws against her stomach. Sinking her teeth into his throat, she held on as he furiously bucked. His roar of death rattled her eardrums, but still she clung to the fading pulse at his neck.
    “Joanna. Jo,” Brody said from above her. “He’s gone. Let him go.”
    How long had she lay like this? Blake’s heart had stilled and she’d remained attached, afraid if she let go, he’d come back for her and Hannah. Maybe she’d stayed on him for minutes. Perhaps an hour. He was growing cold and stiff beneath her.
    Brody’s clothes likely still lay in strips near the pond, and his skin was streaked with dirt and blood. His shoulders heaved, and with every breath, his abdominal muscles flexed. Her gaze teetered between the intensity of his gold flecked eyes and his taut stomach and chest.
    “Jo,”