Heart of the Bear (Hells Canyon Shifters Book 5) Read Online Free PDF Page B

fuck what you tell them. Kinky game, cops and robbers, whatever. I can’t afford for her to escape out there in the chaos.”
    “I have a name. It’s Rae, and I swear I won’t run away. I can help look for the missing hikers.”
    “Oh, you’re going to help,” Ethan growled out. “You’re going to see exactly what we do, and how we live, and how little a danger we pose to the unsuspecting humans around us. Because if I choose to let you go, it’ll be because you know exactly how many lives you carry in your hands and because I trust you. And if I don’t feel like I can ever trust you, I’ll have you turned into one of us.”
    “Hey, man, that’s enough,” Jesse said low. “She doesn’t need to be turned. We’ll stay handcuffed. Just ease up. We’ll take this area right here. I’ve got my radio on if you need us, and we’ll stay in contact with Landon. We’ll find them, Ethan. It won’t be like last time.”
    “Jesse?” Rae asked as he pulled her toward his truck. “What happened last time?”
    He helped her onto the bench seat of an old Ford that was so jacked up, she had trouble climbing up into it. Jesse slammed the door beside him and yanked her hand toward him to turn over the engine.
    Rae’s heart was pounding as she imagined a couple of scared kids out at night in the woods. Already, the stars were twinkling above them, and someone was lighting lanterns in front of the row of cabins.
    “What happened last time?” she asked louder when he jammed the gas and skidded onto a dirt road at the tree line.
    “Ethan isn’t a bad guy, Rae. He has a lot to shoulder. He has to keep his clan safe, and he has to keep the people visiting Hells Canyon safe, too. All while trying to control his animal. He’s special—a Cress alpha. He’s strong, or he wouldn’t be able to run this place. Not with Bear inside of him, but he hates intruders, and that lion showing up in his territory today is setting him off. He has a lot to lose. And right now, he doesn’t have a second to help him maintain control. He only has his mate.”
    “Second. You mean like a second in command?”
    “Yeah, like that.”
    “Why aren’t you his second? He seems to depend on you.”
    His nostrils flared as he inhaled deeply and took a sharp turn around a rotten tree stump. “I’m trying, but it’s not that simple. I have to fight a lot, and my bear isn’t as dominant as some of the other challengers. It’s prolonging everything.”
    “You didn’t answer my first question,” she said softly.
    “Last time a hiker was lost, he died, and it shredded Ethan. He was out all night, unprepared, and we didn’t get to him in time. He fell down a ravine and Ethan found him. We aren’t killers, Rae. We’re protective of humans, especially the ones we feel responsible for—the ones in our territory.”
    Burning tears stung Rae’s eyes, and she blinked hard, then looked out the window. The moonlight was bright enough for her to make out the passing spruce, firs, and pines in a blur of dark green. What an awful way to die, scared and alone. She was mad at how Ethan talked to her, but how much of his soul had he given up to shoulder those kinds of burdens?
    “I’m sorry.”
    Jesse clenched his jaw and released her hand between them. “It’s not your problem.”
    And just like that, he’d pushed her away. Reminded her she was an outsider. She’d only been here a little while, but something about this place had called to her, and Jesse was making sure she didn’t get too comfortable here beside him.
    She was human— other —and he was bear.
    The revelation about their utterly different worlds made her clench her hands against the disappointment.

Chapter Four
    Jesse pulled a handheld radio out of the sling of a utility belt slung low around his waist. “What are their names?” he asked into it.
    “Braylan and Courtney,” came a masculine voice on the other end. “They are brother and sister. The girl is fourteen and the