Kelly

“Stop struggling,” Jacen said. “Or else I’m going to have to kill you now and just take the baby.”

She stopped. Not because of the threat, but because of how he’d said it. So mild and calm, like someone stating that two times two is four. There was no doubt in his statement that he’d do it, no hesitation or uncertainty. He just simply would. Without a second thought. Kelly shivered at the knowledge that someone could be so cruel.

No, it wasn’t cruelty. That would mean he was doing it on purpose, that it was his desire to scare her witless and into submission. The more Kelly saw of him though, the more she realized that he wasn’t sane. Jacen was operating in a delusion of his own making. The idea that he could simply take the child from her and it would be safe was so unbelievably stupid that no rational being could come to that conclusion.

Which meant that he was no longer rational. As such, he could not be expected to do things like value her life, or stop himself from killing her if he said he would. So Kelly did the only thing she could think of. She complied with his demands, went along as willingly as she could, and tried not think of what was going to happen when they got to wherever they were going.

In an unexpected bonus, the sudden acquiescence and cease in resistance resulted in Jacen dropping his knife, carrying it by his far side instead of pressed somewhere against her. She breathed a quiet sigh of relief at that, but didn’t allow it to affect her current actions. If there was going to be a time to escape, she wanted to ensure she was able to do so. Having him ready to attack her wouldn’t help. So she played it as cool as possible.

“It’ll all be fine,” he said from her left, over and over again as they walked down the sidewalk. “Once the baby is safe, everything will make sense.”

Somehow she doubted that.

Up ahead the path went on a diagonal to the right, putting them near the edge of one building. Kelly thought briefly about trying to escape down the alley between buildings, but immediately figured it as stupid. Jacen would catch up to her easily, and there was nowhere for her to go for help.

He must have sensed the same thing, however.

“Stay close to me,” he said, transferring the knife to his right hand and switching positions, so that he was now between her and the upcoming building.

“Of course,” she said robotically. “As close as I can.”

Jacen shot her a look.

Kelly never got to figure out what was on his face. Even as she turned her head to see him, her eyes widened and she inhaled to scream. From behind Jacen a huge figure lunged out of the alleyway. It wrapped itself around the arm that contained the knife.

Jacen was caught completely off guard and his arms went limp, releasing their grip on her. As a result she wasn’t pulled along as the pair went rolling across the gravel roadway between buildings. A thundering rumble filled the air like the herald of a storm. Only it came from the figure currently attacking her captor.

She blinked in astonishment as the same shifter roared in pain again. It was Gray! He was here to save her! Kelly shouted in excitement, only to have it shift into a scream as Jacen regained his grip of the knife and slid its razor-sharp edge against Gray’s side. Blood immediately began to flow, staining the plain white T-shirt he wore and leaving a darkened spot on the ground as they rolled away.

Gray may have gotten the drop on Jacen, but that didn’t mean it was going to be a quick victory. Jacen was tough and skilled, even in his delusional state. Gray still had to be hurting from being knocked out earlier too. She was scared for him, not entirely sure how it was all going to play out.

Her mate roared in pain and renewed his attack. A savage twist of an arm and Jacen yelped in pain. The knife skittered across the ground, out of reach of both combatants. Kelly ran across the street as the pair split, Jacen knocking Gray back with a vicious elbow to the chin that rocked him hard.

Then something happened. Something she’d never seen before. Jacen laughed, threw back his head, and shouted a single solitary word.

“Don’t do it!” Gray bellowed, but it didn’t matter. The other man wasn’t listening.

Kelly watched in amazed horror as ivory-colored fur sprouted from Jacen’s body, absorbing his clothes into it as the thick hair emerged from his skin so quickly it looked like magic. Even as it was happening though, the rest of him changed too. His legs grew and thickened, along with his torso, until he was too large to stand upright, his hips having altered their alignment as well.

The massive beast fell forward, shaking the earth and spilling her to her rear as it landed on all fours. It was easily six times the size of Jacen, all thick muscle and fur. A massive snout jutted forward from his flat face, filling with razor-sharp teeth. Revealed in his full glory, the polar bear bellowed a call.

A call which, to her amazement, was answered.

Kelly hadn’t even seen Gray change, too mesmerized by watching Jacen, the first shifter she’d ever witnessed shift into his animal form.

Gray’s bear was an auburn color, the reddish-brown fur mottled across his body in smooth flowing patterns, alternating from more brown to more red and back again. He was also fully equal in size to Jacen, except for a large slice in his fur on one side, where blood was already matting his fur down.

The two animals wasted no time, charging together. They rose up on their hind legs just before they hit, huge paws slapping violently at each other. Claws the length of her hand sliced and tore at one another, leaving huge gashes where both fur and skin had been torn away. Blood flowed easily on both of them, but Gray seemed to get the better of the exchange. It happened so fast, but at the end she saw him take a particularly brutal strike to his chest, but it left him open to rake his left paw across Jacen’s face.

Kelly looked away, but not before she saw one claw hook into and rip out the polar bear’s eye in a welter of gore and blood. The polar bear screamed, a sound she hadn’t realized it could make, but still it came onward, fueled by Jacen’s deranged state of mind most likely. He probably thought he was winning.

But he was wrong.

Gray’s bear danced back and forth, moving surprisingly agilely for a creature that had to weigh nearly two thousand pounds. The earth trembled and jumped under her, moving her and everything near her around as the two bears went at it. She saw something on the ground and picked it up, even as Gray struck from Jacen’s blind side, his paw ripping Jacen’s stomach open.

Gray pushed himself forward at that moment and toppled the polar bear onto his back. He didn’t follow, instead slicing at the now exposed flanks, leaving them looking like they’d just lost a contest with a meat grinder. Shreds of skin hung limply, and blood flowed freely, soaking the ground around him.

Jacen tried to get up, but he couldn’t. Gray had ripped apart too many of his muscles, and his body just didn’t respond. It was over. They both knew it now. Jacen even returned to his human form, the battered and bloody remnants of it appearing in a second.

Gray backed up and did the same. He eyed the wounded man suspiciously, and then came over to her, where she was just getting up off the ground.

“Are you okay?” he asked, taking her by both arms and dusting her off. His eyes never left hers.

Kelly stared at the glittering gemstones in his face. She’d never seen him look so…hard. It was an entirely different side of him than the gentle, caring soul he shared with her.

And yet, to her surprise, she found it suited him. He rarely became like this, and he’d only let it out in an attempt to save her life, nothing more. Even as she watched, the gems in his eyes softened, losing some of their icy, arctic touch and returning once more to the seas of blue she remembered.

“I am now,” she said, her meaning clear. She was unharmed by Jacen, and also better now that he was returning back to himself.

Gray got it; she could see the understanding in his eyes. He nodded and closed his eyes. Kelly got up on her tiptoes to kiss his check.

It was the only thing that allowed her to see what was happening. Behind Gray, Jacen had gotten to his feet quietly and was coming at them. Gray must have sensed her stiffen, because he reacted immediately, shoving her gently to one side while he went the other way.

He never made it. Jacen was too close. He took Gray down, hard, his arm snaking around his neck and tightening quickly. Gray tried hard, but he had no chance. His arms went up over his head and he plunged a thumb into the empty socket where Jacen’s right eye had been. The other man screamed and let go, his spine straightening as he clamped both hands over the wound, sitting straight up on his knees.

Which is when Kelly took the knife she’d retrieved from the ground earlier and without thinking ran it across his throat. Blood spurted forward, drenching the ground. Gray had seen it coming and rolled out of the way, avoiding the spray. Jacen made a sort of gurgling noise as he clutched at the mortal wound, and then he fell to the ground. He shook several times as he bled out, but he never turned over, remaining facedown away from her.

The knife clattered to the ground and Kelly stumbled backward.