Worse, because Chloe wasn’t here to bite him quickly a second time and claim him, there was no way to stop the process. If any of the Bears bit him, nothing would happen. He’d wind up with two bite marks, but the Wolf would be predominant because it came first.
“Why? It doesn’t make sense to change him.” Barney continued healing the vicious wound, but the puzzled anger in his voice echoed what was going through Ryan’s mind.
Ryan suddenly sensed the presence of his cousin on the healing path. Tabby must be awake, or Bunny would never have left her side. His tone was weary as he asked, “You think Salazar had anything to do with the attack on Chloe?”
“Anything is possible, but somehow I doubt it.” Barney’s tone was absent as they continued to close the vicious wound.
“Ugh.” Tabby’s moan nearly distracted him from the blood vessel he was attempting to patch. “Oh no!”
“What?” Alex was already pulling away from Jim, his attention caught by the distress in his mate’s voice.
“He got between us, tried to protect us from Salazar.”
“Shit. That’s why he got bit.” Barney took over from Alex, fixing the last of the damage to Jim’s clavicle.
“But why make it a changing bite?” He finished closing the blood vessel and began working on the damaged skin.
“Because he’s a sick motherfucker and probably thought it would be funny?” Barney sat back with a sigh, most of the healing done. “Shit. We really need to contact Rick Lowell, let him know there are two new Wolves in town who are going to need a hell of a lot of therapy.”
Ryan swayed, exhausted, as he too finished his healing. Jim would have a horrible scar, but he would live. “Bunny. Sit. Stay. Good Bear.”
Bunny nodded as he crooned to his mate.
Good. That took care of Tabby and Jim. The way he was acting, Alex was probably never going to leave his mate’s side again.
Ryan got to his feet, staggering as a wave of exhaustion rolled over him. If the rogue hurt one powder-blue curl on his mate’s head, Ryan would rip him limb from limb. He scowled at Barney and Gabe, the Grizzly rage that rode all of his kind barely held in check. “Now. Let’s go get my mate back.”
Chapter Nineteen
Glory was freaking the fuck out. She’d come to, ready to fight the man who’d hurt Jim and Tabby, only to find herself stuffed behind the driver’s seat with her arms bound behind her back. She thought of changing, shifting into her Bear, but her Bear whined at the thought. With her arms bound, she couldn’t shift without dislocating or breaking both her shoulders, which would render her useless in a fight. Just because she was a shifter that didn’t mean she could automatically heal anything just by changing into her Bear.
Fuck. A. Duck. Ryan could have filled her in on that little tidbit. Stupid werewolf romances. Why’d they have to get it wrong? The hero or heroine always healed by shifting, didn’t they?
But no. Glory wasn’t that lucky, and now she was in a car with the psycho of the month, heading toward Hell and unable to do anything about it.
A small moan had her looking sharply to her right. Hope lay next to her, right behind the passenger seat, equally turkey-tied and still unconscious from the blows Salazar had landed. Hope’s cheek was swollen, her eye bruised, and blood trickled from her lip.
They’d fought. God knew, they’d fought fucking hard, Tabby in mid-shift when the first blow took her out. Hope had been terrified, huddled in a corner away from her tormentor when Glory placed herself between Salazar and her twin. But Salazar had easily taken Glory down, landing two solid blows that dropped her to her knees before he’d knocked her out. Whatever happened to Hope had been done after Glory lost consciousness, but, from the looks of her twin, Salazar had beaten her down as well.
Maybe Ryan was right. Super Grover really did suit her. She’d been about as useful as limp spaghetti when it came time to protect her family.
Ryan.
God, why hadn’t she told him she loved him? She was such an ass. She’d die here, at the hands of Salazar, and Ryan would never have heard the words she should have told him long ago. If she lived through this, the first thing she was going to do was finally say it. Her mate deserved the words, deserved to see her as naked and bare as he’d laid himself out for her. He was so much braver than she was.
He deserved a mate who’d fight for him just as hard as he fought for her, and Glory was finally going to be that mate.
The scent of Hope’s blood filled her senses. Without thought Glory reached for her Bear, wanting to heal her twin before the psycho driving the car to fuck knew where realized Glory was awake. Her Bear answered, its anger over her twin’s state and her own injuries nearly causing Glory to shift in response. She didn’t have the control the others had, not even Cyn, who’d only been a Kodiak a few short months.
Hell, if Cyn had been there, Salazar would be scattered into tiny little pieces while Cyn bitched about getting gore in her curtains.
Her Bear liked that thought. It was odd, gentling the creature that lived within her. She assured her Bear that they’d get their revenge on Salazar, but first they had to take care of Hope. Their twin was far more important than the asshole who was going to die no matter what he tried to do to prevent it. There’d be no shifter jail for his ass, no Bubba Bear using him as their personal bitch.
Nope. Rye was going to shred him into itty-bitty pieces when he found them.
If he found them.
“Stop it.”
Glory jumped, startled, at the deep tone of Salazar’s voice. She scowled at the back of his head, wishing she had the nerve to rabbit kick him until his eyes bugged out. But she could feel how fast the car was going and was terrified she’d take all of them out if Salazar lost control of the vehicle and crashed. “Fuck. You.”
“Sweetheart, I plan on it.”
Glory gagged.
“Shut it. You’re just leverage to get the other Hunters off my ass.” She caught a glimpse of Salazar’s dark eyes in the rearview mirror before he turned his attention back to the road. “Trust me, you’re not nearly as good as your sister.”
Glory froze. He couldn’t mean…?
Her Bear snarled. If Salazar had touched her…had done things to her while she was unconscious, Glory was going to go all SG on his ass. And she didn’t mean Super Grover. A Grizzly versus a lone Wolf, no matter how powerful the Wolf, would always win.