Bad Bear: BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (BRIDES fur BEARS Book 1) by Natalie Kristen Page B

and said jauntily, “Let's get the show started.”
    Staci took a deep steadying
breath as Bazl threw his jacket on the ground and swung the table leg
like a baseball bat. This was going to hurt. Bad.
    She glanced at the recorder
on the ground and worked hard to keep the fear out of her face. She
didn't want Marcus to see how scared she was.
    Staci looked down, refusing
to let Bazl see the panic and distress in her eyes.
    She squeezed her eyes shut
just as the table leg connected with her shoulder. Staci toppled
sideways and her cheek landed hard on the floor. Her eyes watered as
the violent, savage pain racked her body.
    Staci gritted her teeth and
refused to scream as another blow landed on her back.
    She made no sound as she
swallowed the blood in her mouth. She wished she could stop her
tears but they just kept flowing of their own accord.
    Don't cry, Staci , she
ordered herself. Don't let him see you cry!

CHAPTER
TWENTY-TWO

    Marcus pulled his car
silently to a stop at the end of a dark, deserted street. Jax and
Joshua were in the backseat, and they both leaned forward to peer
through the windscreen.
    “You sure she's here?”
Jax asked.
    Joshua glared at his twin.
“Of course he's sure. She's his mate! His bear will find her
even if Bazl drags her to the ends of the earth.”
    “Ah, the mate bond,”
Jax said, but he was still staring at Marcus. “Is that how it
works? You can feel her?” he asked Marcus quietly.
    “Yes.”
    Joshua's frown deepened as he
stared out the window. “There's no one in this neighborhood,”
he muttered. “These houses are all about to be torn down.”
    Marcus didn't reply. He got
out of the car and scanned the length of the dark street. Staci was
near. He could feel it. But he could also feel that she was trying
to block her emotions from him.
    Marcus's claws stabbed into
his palms. His chest tightened and he had to force air into his
lungs.
    He knew what Staci was doing.
She was trying to block her pain from him. She didn't want him to
know how frightened she was, and how much she was suffering.
    He would kill Bazl. For real
this time.
    The bastard would wish that
he had died the first time.
    A low, deadly growl rumbled
from his throat as he stalked down the street. Jax and Joshua
hurried after him, their eyes frantically scanning each empty house
that they passed.
    “Where…?”
    “Shhh!”
    “Shh yourself!”
    Marcus ignored his brothers'
furious whispering and kept walking. He took a sharp whiff and his
eyes flashed feral. Snarling, he started to run.
    Staci was in that small,
crooked house at the end of the street. The house was half hidden
behind tall weeds and grasses, but he knew she was inside. He could
scent her blood. Staci was bleeding, and she was in a lot of pain.
    Marcus whacked a thin tree
out of the way as he charged through the overgrown yard. He smashed
down the door and exploded into the musky, dirty house.
    He saw Staci at once. She
was crumpled on the floor at the far corner of the room. Her face
was half covered with blood, and there were horrible, terrible marks
and bruises all over her arms and legs.
    Bazl was crouching over her,
pressing his knife against her bound hands. He was preparing to
slice off her fingers.
    Marcus roared and slammed
into Bazl. “You! What have you done to her?”
    Bazl scrambled up quickly and
grabbed the broken table leg at his feet. He swiped at the trickle
of blood at the corner of his mouth and smiled at Marcus.
    “You're too late,
Marcus,” Bazl said. “She won't live. Even if she lives,
she'll be permanently damaged. Her arms are broken, her pretty
little face is messed up and even if she lives, she won't recover
emotionally from this ordeal. She's only human. She's broken
forever.”
    Bazl laughed. “Your
woman might be in a coma forever, if she survives. You brought this
on her. You killed her, Marcus.”

CHAPTER
TWENTY-THREE

    Marcus cradled Staci's broken
body gently against him. “Why?” The word escaped as