Page 9 of Claimed By the Guardian

She blinked and looked at her environment with a new perspective. Everything appeared the same as it had a second ago. Big black bear in front of her. Wiry black woman with a shotgun to the left. A wolf’s howl that came from outside, echoed over and over by at least six other voices. Had she been hearing that for a while and just now noticed? How could she not have heard that?

Mother stepped to the basement door and whipped it open.

The bear was ready, but so was whatever was on the other side. With a sudden roar, out leapt a grizzly bear. It had light brown fur, sharp white teeth, and a powerful paw that shoved the door into Mother. Or at least it would have if the woman hadn’t leapt onto the couch and out of the way.

The creature started barreling toward the front door, which is when the black bear—Hank?—caught it on the side. He rammed it with his head, and the grizzly went tumbling. Unfortunately, it went tumbling straight at her. Or maybe not straight at her because it rolled into the wall about four feet away. But damn it, in this tiny house, four feet was too close. Plus, it was pissed as hell as it scrambled back onto all fours and roared.

The sound cut straight through Cecilia and had her climbing up the bannister as far as her tied hands could go. The black bear looked at her, and she would swear she saw concern in his eyes. Concern. From a bear. But then he focused on the grizzly as he opened up a mouth as big as a truck and roared right back.

Think logically!

Her brain tried to tell her that. Her brain tried to tell her that this entire situation was illogical and therefore impossible. She gave her brain the finger and kept her gaze on the fight. But she did allow it to tell her that the black bear’s mouth was in no way the size of a truck. It would, however, feel like a truck had dropped on her if that mouth ever managed to clamp its massive jaws on her.

Strangely enough, the black bear’s roar was more impressive than the grizzly’s. It was deeper, more sustained, and it didn’t hold that same note of I’m going to eat you in it. Maybe because Hank wasn’t facing her but was squaring off with the grizzly. Or perhaps because it sounded more like a parent telling a child to chill out. Hadn’t she heard her father growl that way at her and her brothers more than once? It was the grumble of a parent who was about to bring punishment. And Cecilia straightened up out of reflex, as much as she could while wrapped around the top of the bannister.

The grizzly—Sammy?—snapped back. A loud click of its jaws followed by another roar, but it wasn’t as ferocious as before. And it held a note of confusion. And was she really interpreting bear roars? While one of them was inches away from her? Hank was close enough that she felt the heat from his side; she could’ve reached out and stroked the inky black fur if she weren’t tied up. Instead, she tried not to whimper in alarm when Hank blew out angry breaths and bared his teeth.

Sammy bared right back. Sharp white teeth, flared nostrils puffing in and out, and a small pink tongue that was licking its chops…and then hanging out as it panted. Just like a winded dog. In fact, while Cecilia watched in shock, the grizzly collapsed backward onto its haunches and panted. Just sat there breathing hard, and no wonder. It had been roaring and clawing at that basement door for who knows how long.

Outside, the wolves howled again. Closer this time. One sounded like it was freaking next door. The grizzly heard it. Sammy’s head snapped up and it pulled its teeth back in a growl. The black bear’s ears twitched. The ear nearest Cecilia seemed to twist back toward the front door, but Hank remained steadfast in squaring off with the grizzly. He grunted, low and kind of rolling, deep in his chest. Not a growl, but not really a grunt either. A grumble? Like a cranky grandfather?

Hank lumbered forward. No other way to phrase it on a beast his size. He thudded forward until he was muzzle to muzzle with the grizzly. And when he was near enough to take a big bite of the creature, he extended his long pink tongue and groomed the creature’s face.

Lick, lick, and then a nuzzle.

At first the grizzly was having none of it. It growled and turned its face away. Damn, if that didn’t look just like a toddler coming out of a tantrum. Cecilia could almost hear the words, I don’t wanna. But Hank persisted. Nuzzles, licks, even a thick paw stroking against the grizzly’s side.

And wow, just watching that had Cecilia softening. It was beautiful, seeing one bear comfort the other. One big, black, and powerful. The other golden brown and frightened. Truthfully, it was the gentlest thing she’d ever seen. And the idea that it was Hank—the huge black man with a scar who had abducted her—made her entire mind twist in confusion. He’d slammed her face into the seat of his car, he’d zip-tied her twice, and he’d even flipped her over his shoulder and dragged her inside here where he’d turned into a beast.

And yet he was also gentle and fatherly as he nuzzled a frightened grizzly. She felt the tenderness as surely as if he were nuzzling her. As if that long pink tongue were stroking up her neck and side. It wasn’t sexual, but it was sensuous. In her mind’s eye, she felt the heat of his tongue, the wet scrape of it and the reassurance in it as he groomed the grizzly. And she felt the push of his face against her in a way that begged her to curl her fingers into his ruff and sink deep into the softness of his fur.

Incredible. And it relaxed her enough that she climbed down from her awkward place on the bannister. She perched on the edge of the stair and watched in a surreal kind of envy as the grizzly continued to settle beneath Hank’s ministrations.

And then Hank looked up. The grizzly whined at the loss. So did Cecilia, though she didn’t voice it aloud. Hank lifted his dark face and turned to Mother. The woman was still on the couch, though she was sitting there much the way Cecilia was on the stair step. She had her feet under her and the shotgun in her lap, but at Hank’s look, she set the weapon aside.

“Okay, Sammy. I’m coming over. It’s me, Mother. You know who I am.” She took two steps forward. Then suddenly she snapped out an order. “Say something when I’m speaking to you, child!”

The grizzly’s head pulled back and it barked out an “Eep.” That’s what the sound was. An eep of startled response, except really deep. And then it opened its mouth wide. Cecilia heard its breath come in and out a couple of times, as if it were trying to talk but couldn’t figure out how.

So Hank did a kind of long bark. It wasn’t a short burst of sound like a dog’s. More like a rolling symphony of sounds that were guttural and yet had enough tones in it to make it sound like conversation. Weird, but amazingly reassuring because it sounded just like an adult teaching a child how to speak. Especially when he did it again. Once, twice, and then waited patiently as the grizzly tried again.

The next sound was almost funny. The grizzly grunted but it came out very much like a bark. Short, low, and more like a surprised gasp than anything else. And then the grizzly did it again. And again. Its eyes widened, and it looked straight up at the bear with a kind of look-at-me expression. In response, Hank gave it a long lick with his tongue and a bump with his nuzzle.

Was that the bear’s form of a fist bump? Had to be because the grizzly did it right back this time. No longer terrified and suddenly as much like a happy puppy as a three-hundred-pound bear could be.

Until another set of wolf howls cut through the air. Everyone’s head snapped up, including hers. She’d begun to relax on the steps, but suddenly she tensed along with everyone else because those howls were really freaking close.

Cecilia didn’t know what to do except to look longingly at Hank’s clothes. Somewhere buried in his pants was the Swiss army knife that would cut her free. And now that she heard those wolves outside, she sure as hell wasn’t running out there. Meanwhile, Mother was stepping forward with her own stern tone.

“All right, Sammy, you’ve had your fun. Time to turn back now.”

Cecilia frowned as she looked at the woman. She’d set aside her shotgun and stood there in front of both bears with her hands on her hips and her legs spread wide. She looked calm but stern, like a mother telling a child it was time to turn off the video games. Her brow was arched, and she looked like she was counting in her head. Definitely a by-the-count-of-three-please look.

Everyone looked at the grizzly. Hank’s big bear head, Cecilia from her place on the stairs, and even the grizzly looked down at itself. Time to change back? Like into a human?

Again, Cecilia’s mind tried to express that it was impossible, but that was a small, shrinking portion of her mind. The rest was eagerly anticipating the sight. Just where would all that mass go? What about the fur? What would Sammy look like as a human?

And they all waited.