Lucky Bear - Wild Bear 01 by Ruby Shae

his hands off the waitresses, and two men were arguing at the pool table.
    After his encounter with Belle earlier, he’d decided to give her some space and report to work at his normal time. In order to diminish some of his lust and desire to track down his mate and force her submission, he’d decided to shift and take a run in his bear form. By the time he got back to the Wild Bear , the place was packed. Besides the normal Tuesday night crowd, a shifter motorcycle club had rolled in from the next town over, and apparently the locals didn’t play well with others.
    He’d already broken up four fights and intercepted dozens more. The man he’d just escorted out the back door had been the second one that evening who had decided not to heed his warning.
    He hadn’t been to the bar once, and Belle and Jared had been filling orders continuously all night. He glanced at his watch, grateful to see they only had to endure another hour and a half of madness before they could close the doors.
    On his way to the pool table, a woman threw herself in his path and tightened her arms around his waist. Getting attacked by patrons was common, but they usually returned to their seats when he firmly chastised them. He reached behind his waist and undid her fingers, then put her arms at her sides and forced her to take a step back.
    She looked up at him, and he inwardly cursed. The woman was drunk, slightly green, and about to puke. He grabbed her hand, pulled her down the hallway and shoved her into the men’s restroom. If he’d tried the ladies, she never would have made it.
    Ten uncomfortable minutes later, he sat her down on the stairs that led up to his apartment and called a cab. While they waited, a fight broke out in the women’s restroom and he’d been forced to call the police. Before the taxi arrived for the first patron, Gabe brought back two others who had overindulged and needed a ride home.
    Nearly thirty minutes later, he walked down the hallway again and immediately noticed Jared waving at him from the bar. He hastily cut across the dance floor and before he could reach the counter, Jared yelled over the people in front of him.
    “She left without an escort about five minutes ago.”
    Fuck!
    He shoved his way through the crowd, ran into the storage room and burst out the side door leading to the parking lot. The sight before him made his bear surge to the surface and he had to fight to stay human. He let out a bloodcurdling roar and advanced on the scene.
    Belle was on the ground, surrounded by the three men that had bothered her his first night in town. The leader of the three held a baseball bat, and though she rolled on the asphalt to avoid their kicks, she could only go so far before her skin met with another boot.
    They messed with the wrong bear’s mate.
    He attacked swiftly, breaking the arm of the man holding the bat, and then breaking the bat in half. One of the men ran off, but the more ignorant of the three decided to fight him. He kicked the man in the chest and watched him fly across the parking lot. He slid across the asphalt and laid still.
    He turned to track the other man, and saw Belle swaying on her feet. He ran over and scooped her into his arms at the same time Gabe and one of the waitresses came running out of the bar.
    “Izzy,” Gabe yelled. “Are you okay? What the hell happened?”
    “Oh my god, Izzy,” Michelle, the waitress, gasped on the verge of tears.
    “I’ll be okay…bear remember?” she smiled at her friend. “The three guys from the other night attacked me. I fought back, at first, but they grabbed my hair and pulled me down.”
    “Shit,” Gabe said, looking at the two downed men. “Where’s the third guy?”
    “He ran away when I broke his buddies arm,” Finn said, motioning to the guy crying on the ground.
    “Fucking pussy,” Gabe growled at the man. “Take care of her, and I’ll call the police. Michelle, go back inside.”
    Michelle glared at Gabe, but she