Jogging through the parking lot, I called out, “Harper!” I scanned the area, hoping she hadn’t driven off. As I distanced myself from the club, I could still hear the music thumping. Pockets of laughter and chatter erupted from the front of the building. A white car drove past me, but it wasn’t Harper in the driver’s seat.
“Harper?” I tried again, tucking the cigarette case inside my back pocket.
Something hard thumped against the back of my head, and a soda bottle fell to my feet. I staggered forward, pain briefly radiating throughout my skull as I turned around. Four men moved on me in a flash, and I didn’t have time to sharpen my light, let alone flee.
Two seized my arms, and a third backhanded me across the face. Certainly not the hardest I’d ever been hit, but I was annoyed as hell that I didn’t know why. When he shook back his stringy hair, I recognized the scrawny physique and concave cheeks.
“Skeleton Man,” I murmured. These guys were from the sleuth we’d run into earlier.
Damn bears.
“What the fuck did you just call me?” he growled, backing up and raking his gaze over me.
I kicked like a soccer player aiming for the goal, striking his chin so hard that his teeth clicked together.
My hands were bent behind my back, so I couldn’t blast the two men holding me. Instead, I leaned over and sank my fangs into one guy’s shoulder.
“Owww…Fuck! She bit me!”
When he let go, I swung my free arm and punched the guy to my left. Then I bent forward and gripped his arm, blasting him with energy while simultaneously kicking the man behind me in the stomach.
Skeleton Man suddenly shifted, and if he was the smallest guy in the group, I’d never be able to tell by the size of his grizzly. The bear craned his neck and roared, slobber dripping from its massive jaws. I stumbled back, putting as much distance as I could between us before bumping into a sedan.
When the two other men morphed, I flashed to the end of the parking lot, which ran into a brick wall. I whirled around, facing three bears who were coming for me. I jumped on top of a Mercedes, ran down the trunk, and hopped onto a taller vehicle. One of the bears stood up on its hind legs and rocked the SUV.
Surrounded by angry and potentially hungry predators, I pulled out my phone in a panic.
“I just ordered a second pint. Can this wait? Your onion rings just arrived,” Christian said.
A bear swiped at my feet, and I jumped. “I need your help.”
“Is that so? Could have sworn this was all about phone sex. Don’t be thinking that woman was right. I don’t need help in the bedroom.”
“Dammit, Christian. I’m surrounded.”
“You can’t handle a few juicers? You’re getting rusty.”
“They’re not juicers.” I looked around but couldn’t see a safe way off the vehicle without getting mauled. God forbid if I slipped and wound up a meal.
“I’m disappointed in you, Raven. Didn’t we teach you better than that? All those hours in the training room, and you’re asking me for help? Jaysus, lass. What could possibly be so important that you’d actually pick up the phone to ring me for help?”
“Bears. Fucking bears! Now get your ass out here.”
I hung up and felt like a dancing fool on top of that large SUV. It wasn’t easy to take down a big animal with Mage energy, not without a struggle. Two additional bears only added to the likelihood that I would wind up somebody’s dinner.
And I was nobody’s snack.
My eyes widened at the massive claws on Skeleton Man’s bear as he clawed my leg and tore through my pants and flesh. He and the others circled the vehicle, watching my every move to prevent me from jumping down. They knew that all I needed was some flat land to flash to safety.
Christian coolly strode up, hands in his pockets. “Well, that’s a dandy predicament you’ve gotten yourself into.” He pulled a piece of candy from his pocket and casually unwrapped it as I dodged another attack. “Did you know that a bear’s fangs are three inches long? But it’s their claws that do the most damage.” He looked over my attackers. “I don’t know—they look rather hungry to me. Bears eat up to ninety pounds of food per day. How much do you weigh?”
Once again, destiny screws me over.
Christian chuckled darkly. “Will Goldilocks escape to live another day, or will she perish in the jaws of three hungry bears?” He popped the candy into his mouth. “Tune in next week for the exciting conclusion.”
“I’m not asking you to save me, you fanghole. Just make it a fair fight.”
“Since when is life fair?” He tucked the wrapper into his pocket.
One of the bears rocked the vehicle so abruptly that I almost tumbled into the clutches of another.
Christian wanted to see me grow as a warrior, but he was also being a dick. Admittedly, I probably would have done the same thing to him.
I pointed at the darker bear. “That one clawed my leg. He’s still got my blood on his paw.”
A black look crossed Christian’s face, and he stalked toward the animal. The bear must have weighed half a ton, but Christian grabbed his neck and threw him into the front end of a BMW as if he weighed nothing. The animal bellowed in pain as it slumped to the ground and shifted into a man.
My hero, I wanted to say in jest but jumped into his arms instead. When our eyes locked, sexual heat bounced between us like static electricity.
He smelled amazing. Like onion rings and expensive cologne.
What Harper didn’t know was that the only thing Christian and I needed to spice up our sex life was a battle. While toys sounded kinky, nothing titillated me more than the smoldering look in Christian’s eyes after he watched me fight. He winked and twirled me away as if we were dancing. While the two remaining bears circled the SUV to see what was going on, I kicked the naked man in the head until he fell unconscious.
“I’m gonna have a talk with Viktor about this ‘no weapons’ rule.”
Christian pushed up his sleeves as he faced the bears. “Where’s your creativity?”
I flashed around the parking lot, peering into cars until I found what I was looking for. After smashing the back window, I pulled out a sheath. “Hello, darling.”
Christian punched one of the bears before looking back at me.
I sliced the air with the katana. “How’s this for creative, Mr. Poe?”
He nonchalantly struck the bear again when it lunged at him a second time. “You should have torn the bumper off a car.”
“Are you serious? They don’t put real bumpers on cars anymore. Besides, what would I do with a bumper? Thump his twelve-inch-thick skull with it?”
“I was thinking more along the lines of impaling him in the arse.” He kicked the second bear when it grabbed a mouthful of his pant leg and ripped it off at the thigh. Christian stared down at his bare leg. “You insipid excuse for a fur coat. I’ll give you a good thrashing.”
“What is it with you sticking things up people’s asses tonight?” I swiped my sword at one of the bears, lopping off his ear. “Thinking about what you want me to do to you later?”
“Over my rotting corpse,” he growled, tearing the roof rail off an SUV and stalking toward the bear.
Yeah, this night was about to get interesting. But not half as interesting as the hot sex we’d be having once we got home.