Taken: Warriors of Hir, Book 2 Read Free Page A

back—
    Hope stumbled, catching the front of her boot on an exposed tree root in her hurry, and fell hard, scraping her palms. 
    Her knees and hands throbbed as she knelt there, her head hanging, a wail rising from her chest to stick and catch in her throat before it finally broke.
    “Never again,” she sobbed to the solid silence of the mountain beneath her. “Will never be so fucking . . . stupid again . . .”
    She stayed like that, her red curls blocking her vision, tendrils sticking to her face, the space around her enveloped by fog, her weeping the only sound in the little clearing.
    Finally, wrung out and trembling, Hope slumped back to sit on the damp ground. She brushed her hands onto her jeans to get the dirt off and then wiped at her wet face.
    I should have known. I did know. Give me a room full of men and I’ll pick the first lying, cheating, son of a—
    The soft crunch of a nearby footfall brought her head up.
    Out of the grey mist dark shapes moved toward her and Hope froze as they took on recognizable forms.
    Oh my God!
    No more than ten feet away now and already well into the little clearing where she sat, the large black bear swung its head in her direction. At the same moment, Hope spied two young bears toddling behind their mother.
    A mama bear with cubs.
    Hope had grown up within walking distance of the metro’s Red Line but even she knew you stayed the hell away from a mother bear and her cubs.
    The fur on either side of the big bear’s snout was a light tan and the black fur of her body gleamed darkly in the fog’s muted light. The sow sniffed at the air and her inky eyes locked with Hope’s.
    Hope’s fingers clenched, digging into the damp earth at her sides as the bear lumbered closer. The bear’s claws gleamed against her black fur—white, long, deadly.
    The bear paused, her wet nose twitching, then suddenly slapped her feet on the ground in challenge. The sow made a loud huffing noise, somewhere between a moan and a growl, her eyes fixed on Hope.
    An angry mama bear with cubs!
    Hope whimpered and risked a darting glance around where she sat. There wasn’t even a branch or a rock nearby to grab. She’d left her cell back at the cabin. Even if she could shield herself from the bear long enough, she couldn’t call anyone for help. Like an idiot she’d just blundered blindly into the woods; she didn’t even know which direction the cabin was from here!
    The bear huffed, clacking its teeth.
    What the fuck am I supposed to do? I can’t remember what I’m supposed to do! Play dead? Run? Climb a tree?
    A scream tore from Hope’s throat as the bear charged—
    A huge snarling blur shot past her to throw itself against the bear. Hope scrambled backwards as the force of the man’s impact knocked the bear off its feet, his powerful arms wrapped around the sow’s neck to wrench it away from her. Then the two—bear and man—went tumbling, rolling over, the bear moaning, her cubs making high-pitched cries as they pawed at the ground.
    The big bear gripped at the ground with her claws and gave a sharp shake of her powerful body to throw the man off.  He twisted in the air, nimble as a cat, to land in front of Hope in a crouch, his back to her and balanced on the balls of his feet.
    The sow swiped at him and the muscles of his broad back tensed as he dodged the bear’s claws.
    The man growled and a chill ran up Hope’s back as the sound rose to an inhuman snarl. The bear’s large head reared back at his roar, her black fur rippling in alarm as the sow backed up toward her cubs.
    He angled his body to stay protectively in front of Hope even as the bear nudged her cubs and fled with them, the three lumbering over the crest of the hill to disappear into the mist.
    His broad back still toward her, the man stood, showing himself ungodly tall—six feet seven or eight inches at least. His clothes looked to be brown leather and they had the oddest look to them—as if they had been wrapped