Jared: Mating Fever (Rocked by the Bear Book 5) by V. Vaughn Page A

“Because you’re an abomination that shouldn’t be allowed to walk this earth.”
    She has an accent that reminds me of a girl I know from the Philadelphia area. I raise my eyebrows at her. “Really? So because you don’t understand what I am, you think it’s okay to kill me?”
    Her tone is haughty as she says, “Kill or be killed.”
    I frown. “Seems to me you and your group are the ones trying to do the killing. We just defend ourselves.”
    “Is that what happened to my partner you killed yesterday?”
    I tilt my head back and tug my shirt away to show her my neck. “That man tried to strangle me, and I would have died if my boyfriend hadn’t come to save me.” I step closer to her and say, “Your partner attacked me in my apartment. Not the other way around.”
    Jared’s footsteps sound in the distance and tell me he’s on his way back to us, and from the careful way he’s walking, I think he’s listening to our conversation.
    The girl’s eyes flash with anger, and I’m impressed by her display of bravery when she says, “Doesn’t look like much to me.” I realize that my new healing powers have probably taken care of the bruising that I noticed this morning. The girl spits at me, but I’m not close enough to hit. She snarls as she says, “Nobody will be safe until your kind is gone.”
    Jared steps out and says, “Guess we missed one.” He reaches for the gun, and I let him take it from me. The girl inhales sharply, and I realize she thinks he’s going to shoot her.
    I place my hand on Jared’s arm and speak in his mind. “Don’t kill her.”
    “We can’t let her go.”
    “I understand, but—” I know we should kill her, because that’s exactly what she’ll do to us if she gets the chance. But I can’t let it happen. “Let’s tie her up.”
    Jared says, “You know, maybe it’s because we didn’t invite her in.” He tilts his head toward the house as he keeps the rifle trained on the girl and says, “Right this way.”
    I ask, “Have you ever kept a prisoner before?”
    “Nope. But I don’t want to kill her either.”
    We walk up to the house, and when we get inside, Jared asks me to get the cuffs. He tells the girl to sit in one of the kitchen chairs, and I detect the stench of her fear when I attach her wrists to the back and her feet around the bottom rung. The leather creaks as I tug the restraints tight enough she can’t wiggle her way free.
    The girl glares at me while the gun clicks as Jared unloads it. I seat myself across from her as I ask, “What’s your name?”
    “What’s it to you?”
    I shrug. “Nothing, I guess.” I imagine what she must be thinking, and the disgust on her face makes me wonder what it must be like to hate so deeply. I ask, “Are you thirsty?”
    “What do you plan to do with me?”
    Jared speaks in my mind. “I contacted Tori, my alpha. And she’s sending some warriors down to deal with this. It should be a couple hours.” I recall that the alpha of each clan can speak telepathically to all members the way bonded mates can.
    I ask the girl, “Why do you hate us?”
    She curls her lip. “You’re foul creatures that pose as humans, while you’re really just feral animals determined to take over our world.”
    I wonder if she’s ever spent time with any werebear, and I point to Jared’s cello case, which is sitting next to Jax’s saxophone. I ask, “Do feral animals play musical instruments?” When she doesn’t answer, I ask, “And do they cook like chefs, play sports like athletes, and go to colleges like Bowdoin? Why we would do all of that if our intention was to kill off all humans? I think you’re misinformed.”
    A flicker of doubt crosses her face before she catches herself. She scans me as if she’s trying to figure out if she can believe me. She says, “Sasha.”
    “Courtney. I’m going to get you something to drink.”
    Water rushes in a glass as I fill it, and I glance over at Jared. I know that he and Jax