Bear Enchantment: BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (Arcane Affairs Agency) Page 10

  His foot crunched on glass. He looked down and saw the gold of a picture frame under foot. He picked up the photo. A woman who looked like an older Ari held two young girls between her arms. The resort’s reception desk was behind them. What struck him was that no one in the photo looked truly happy. They all had half smiles pasted on their faces and shadows in their eyes.

  Ari’s attitude toward shifters had been made absolutely clear after his own encounter with her mother. It went beyond the normal dislike between shifters and witches. Raised by Charlotte Wren’s uniquely unpleasant personality, possessing a witch’s natural dislike for shifters, then having her own sister taken from her… Chase understood why Ari would want to rid the resort of his kind forever. It would have seemed like the only thing that could bring her peace and possibly wake her mother from the woman’s selfish shock.

  But the time he’d spent with her showed him another Ariadne. Underneath the prickly exterior and need to please her mother was someone who cared deeply about others, to the point of being willing to do something stupid to help them.

  “Your mother is a peach.” He carefully placed the broken frame on a counter as Ari joined him again, cinching the stuffed bag closed.

  She rounded on him. The sting of anger threaded into her scent. “Don’t talk about her. Don’t even think about her. I know she wasn’t pleasant to you, but she’s still my mother.”

  He raised his hands to ward her off. “I just don’t think you need to tie yourself here for her.”

  “And where would I go? I don’t know what I’d do anywhere else. I don’t know anyone else I could stay with while I figure things out. Besides, she needs me here to help run the resort.”

  “I doubt that woman needs help doing anything.” Chase snorted. His eyes flicked over Ari’s frame and more words tumbled out of his mouth. “I wouldn’t turn you away.”

  She pretended to study her feet, but he could just about see her stormy grey eyes peeking at him through her thick lashes. He held his breath. It was too much. He shouldn’t have suggested a thing. He’d gotten too close to calling her his mate and too close to telling her to leave the mountain behind. It wasn’t his place to tell her anything, especially when there was no guarantee they’d survive the day.

  His bear growled at him. It wanted to lay everything out for the little minx and tell her in no uncertain terms that she was meant for him. It also wanted to claim her and carry her as far away from the demonic threat as possible, but that wasn’t even an option.

  The quiet stretched between them. Chase opened his mouth to tell her it was a joke in poor taste, to ignore his stupid words, to cast a spell and rewind time, anything, when she said with a quaver in her tone, “I think that’s something to talk about later.”

  Chase cocked a smile. It was enough for him. She had no idea yet, but there would be no debate. Should they banish the demon, she would be his.

  “It isn’t making this round of hide-and-go-seek very hard.” Her chin jerked in the direction of the main cabins.

  Through the window, he could see smoke rising above the trees. Chase’s brief flicker of hope plummeted. He had visions of finding the broken bodies of the guests and the solid prison door closing between him and Ari. The demon had better banish itself back to its dark realm. Chase would hunt it and tear it apart if it destroyed his chance with his mate.

  “That’s our next destination, I suppose.”

  The march from the Wren home to the main resort area was grim. Neither spoke. They stared ahead at the column of smoke that smudged the sky and ruined an otherwise cloudless day.

  The chattering reached his ears first, but it wasn’t long before Ari heard it as well. Chase again fought to urge to bundle her away from danger, but even the bear recognized that she was a necessary part of the plan to destroy the demonic threat. Even if he could take out the greater demon, there were too many of the lesser demons to easily contend with. All of the hell-beasts needed to be banished and a witch was needed to perform the spell.

  He led Ari off the trail and up the gentle slope behind the cabins, careful to show her where to put her feet to avoid the loudest detection. But the noise from the center of the space was loud enough that he didn’t think anyone would hear her steps. He scouted through the trees. No reason to make it easy on their enemy by coming right off the trail and into the thick of things.

  Hidden by trees and bushes, they were able to look down on the scene. The guests were still frozen in their places and a tightness eased in Chase’s chest. The resort’s equipment had suffered damage, however. The entertainment in the middle had been torn up and cleared away for the greater demon’s use.

  Lesser demons roamed the clearing and largely ignored the frozen guests. A small number squealed and launched themselves into the fire. A new burst of smoke rose into the air, thicker and darker than before.

  The one-armed demon stalked around the roaring bonfire. It’s remaining arm looked even longer and misshapen without the other to balance out the malformed body.

  “You’re out there, little witch! I can smell your magic. Come here before I make your humans into pets!”

  “Look, there. To the left of the fire,” Ari whispered.

  Chase scanned the space. Next to the twisted ruins of the barbecue pits was an empty space that he thought had once held a volleyball net. A circle of glowing red lines had been scrawled into the sand.

  “I think it’s trying to open the summoning circle again. It’s using the lesser demons as an offering, but I don’t think it’s working.”

  “So the spell book would be near there, wouldn’t it?”

  She nodded. “I think so. I might even be able to use the existing circle instead of needed to draw and power a new one.”

  “I can hold off the greater demon, but I don’t know about the rest of the lesser pack. They might break off and go for you.”

  She shook her bag. “Good thing you gave me that pot of salt. If you can distract them long enough, I can make a ring around the whole thing.”

  “Consider it done.” Chase started toward his target.

  The greater demon paced and yelled furiously into the air. Each word riled up the lesser demons and a few more jumped into the flames. “You’ll be a sweet treat, little witch. Come to me now and I won’t kill your bear. Immediately.”

  “Chase…” Ari’s hand caught on his arm. She tugged the Arcane Affairs Agency badge over her head and shoved it into his hands. “Take this. It’s yours.”

  “Ari, no. You need it more than I do.”

  But she was shaking her head as soon as he objected. “Let’s face it, you’re going to be up close and personal with the beast. Injured like it is and without his pet witch, I don’t think it will pull any punches. I can’t have a possessed bear and a demon trying to kill me.”

  He frowned. A line of salt wouldn’t stop his claws if the demon took control of his body. Reluctantly, he laid the chain over his neck and tucked the badge under his shirt. The chain would be long enough that it would still encircle his neck when he shifted.

  He pulled her close and planted a kiss on the top of her head. The strawberry scent of her filled his nose and he drank it in deeply. It might be the last pleasant scent that would roll over his senses and he wanted to savor it. His voice thick with emotion he hadn’t intended to acknowledge, he told her, “Don’t do anything stupid.”

  “Don’t you die,” she whispered just as harshly.

  “Can’t. I have a homeless witch to take in.” He cracked a smile and pulled away from her before she could say anything else. He started down the slope and slowly let loose of the control that held his bear at bay. His inner beast eased forward, ready to rip away the last bit of control and take over their form.

  Whoever thought he, Chase Parker, would willingly throw himself at a demon for a witch?

  He’d come close to saying the word when he tried to soothe her and again, when he told her he’d take her in. He’d only held back from tellin
g her so he didn’t add anything more to the burden she already carried.

  Mate.

  It’d become clearer the more time he spent racing around the woods with her. Her scent was truly intoxicating and he couldn’t imagine waking up without being surrounded by it. She wouldn’t change into a bear shifter once he slid his fangs into her, of course, but she’d be his. She was his mate. He couldn’t deny it any longer.

  And he’d be damned if he let a demon kill her.

  Ari let out a long breath. She bounced on her toes and waited. She wanted to move. She didn’t like sending Chase in alone, but it was the plan and she needed to stick to it. She’d be worse than useless if she went in without a proper distraction in place.

  She didn’t have long to wait. A roar sounded over the chattering of the lesser demons and the wailing of the greater. It vibrated in her skull and sent a thrill of pride down her spine. The bear it belonged to stepped out of the trees and roared again, jaws wide and fangs shining.

  The greater demon raised a cry of its own. The sound of it grated on Ari’s soul.

  The bear challenged the beast with another roar of fury and waited for the wave of lesser demons to turn toward him. It backed away and swiped at the forerunners, sending them up into smoke. More took his retreat as a victory and surged at him but they, too, were sent to a smoky demise.

  When the lesser demons started to balk at their attack, the greater demon strode forward. It waded into the pack of the lesser demons and went against the bear with the decaying rats at its side.

  Still, the bear backed up. Ari saw what Chase attempted. He wanted to pull the entire demonic host as far from her as possible. She silently sent him her thanks. She could use any delay to their detection of her presence.

  She waited until the bear had lured the demons as far from the circle as possible. Some of the lesser demons lost their nerve and slunk away from the pack. Ari made note of them. They would be the ones to raise the cry when she made her mad dash to the summoning circle. She would need to silence them before they brought down unwanted attention.

  When it seemed like Chase would not be able to lure the demonic pack further away, Ari made her way down the slope. She passed through the trees and ignored the scrape of bushes on her legs. She had one goal in sight and she wouldn’t lose it to some minor pains.

  A lesser demon spotted her as soon as she passed the tree line. She drew in a deep breath and channeled the bravery she saw every single time Chase clashed with the demons to protect her. She ran straight for the lesser demon and kicked it with all her might. The beast sizzled and faded into smoke.

  Ari wanted to jump and yell in her victory, but she celebrated in silence. She wouldn’t risk drawing the attention she wanted to avoid. With one demon out of the way, she ran across the clearing and toward the bonfire and summoning circle.

  The circle glowed with the untapped power of the demon realm. Ariadne nearly wept with joy when she skidded to a stop and found the spell book lying next to the red lines.

  She kept the fire in her line of sight. It blazed high enough that it mostly blocked the pack from her view, which meant she was equally hidden to them. She hastily dug the pot of salt out from her bag and dumped it on the ground, sealing herself and the summoning circle inside.

  The cowardly lesser demons spotted her before she had finished, but were too late. She settled on her knees and ignored the little monsters. They hissed and snapped their mouths at her, but they weren’t able to cross the salt line. They dug at the barrier, but not even a grain dislodged to allow them entry.

  Even so, Ari quickly flipped through the spell book. There wasn’t any time to waste. The demons needed to be sent back to their realm before they could do any permanent harm.

  She found the spell she needed near the end of the book. Words of warning and signs of death were scrawled on the previous page that described exactly how to draw a circle to summon a demon into the world. The following page was stylized in flowers and spoke of cleansing the world. She flattened out the book and dug through her pack for the herbs and candles she would need.

  She lit the candles and focused her mind on removing the demons. The circle already drawn was nearly what she needed for the banishing spell. She reached into her pack and drew out the thin knife she’d retrieved from the altar in her room. Lighting the herbs she needed, Ari reached inside the summoning circle and drove the knife into the sand to carve another line through the existing design.

  The glow of the lines turned from red to purple. But there was no immediate result.

  Ariadne pushed down the sense of despair that filled her. She focused on the circle. The color had changed to what was described in the spell book, but the demons were still roving around the clearing.

  One of the demons digging at her salt barrier tried to attack her outstretched hands. It screamed and writhed and was dragged closer by an unseen force. Then, with a pop, it was sucked into the middle of the circle and dragged into the sand.

  Fuck. They wouldn’t be simply wiped from the earth. They had crawled through the circle to come into the mortal realm and they would need to be banished in a reverse process.

  “Bring them here, Chase!” She yelled.

  Her cry summoned the other stragglers. They were pulled into the circle as soon as they drew too close.

  Ariadne swayed at the edge of the circle. She dug her hands into the earth at her sides and tried to steady herself with the power of the world around her. Her head swam with the energy that flowed through her. It was hard to breathe, but she took slow, measured breaths and focused on what she wanted: the demons gone. She wouldn’t lose control of a second circle.

  She was vaguely aware of the demon cackling. The bear’s roar mingled with loud snaps that she imagined must be his jaws. Metal twisted and groaned under a great pressure. Ari didn’t dare to turn her face and see what was happening.

  The fire expanded and changed color to a dazzling green. The demon strode forward and shoved a long bar of metal into the flames and withdrew it. The metal glowed but didn’t warp or melt. The demon stalked out of her eye line again, its bloodless lips in a harsh line.

  Ari could feel them all. Hundreds of the lesser demons were scattered around the resort. Under the writhing mass of the decaying beasts was the dark and disgusting pit that could only be the greater demon.

  But she was so tired. Dangerously so. The last time she felt that bone-deep tiredness, she’d nearly succumbed to the threat of magical exhaustion. Chase’s warmth had saved her.

  The fighting moved within her eyesight. The bear was swarmed with the lesser demons. They burrowed into his thick fur with their razor-like claws and bit at him with sharp teeth. He snapped his jaws at them as he backed away from the larger threat.

  The greater demon swung the glowing piece of metal at the bear’s face. The bear whined and staggered back another step when the bar connected with the side of his large head.

  The whine of pain made her wince. There was no defiance left in the sound. The blow was followed by another, then another. Each connection made the bear fall back and cry out with pain.

  Would Chase even be alive to save her, if she ran her ability dry once more?

  Her teeth ground together in determination. She wouldn’t let it come to that. She would end the demons before they seriously hurt Chase or anyone else.

  The bear stumbled between the circle and the fire, but it still wasn’t close enough. Only a few of the lesser demons were sucked into the banishing circle’s power. Ari groaned with the toll it took on her to keep upright. But she needed to see the deed done and the demons sent back to their realm.

  Her arms trembled. Her fingers stretched outward and she fought for her balance. She could do nothing as the greater demon swung again and again at the bear, landing more blows and burning the brown fur away.

  Then, the bear went down.

  “Chase!” Ari screamed. She pushed every ounce of energy left in her outward. The banishing c
ircle shook and grew, as the first circle she used had done. It easily tripled in size, and one lesser demon after another tumbled into the demon realm.

  The circle grew still more. Ari saw the greater demon’s foot slip into the circle just as it raised the hunk of metal for one final blow against the bear. The metal fell from its too large hands and it was dragged, screaming, into its proper realm.

  Ari let go of her magic. The circle snapped into nothing with a burst of dust and a belch that smelled too much like the sickly-sweet stench of death. Likewise, the bonfire was sucked into the earth and left only a ring of ash.

  The shaking in her arms spread to her entire body. The bear hadn’t moved. She didn’t see the rise and fall that meant it breathed.

  She stumbled and crawled her way to the body. The hunk of twisted metal had left long lines of burned skin where brown fur should have been. Tufts were torn out, in what she imagined were injuries from the lesser demons.

  “Chase, no. Please. You can’t die.” She pleaded with him. Begged. Cried. She swore to every single god and goddess she could name that she would do anything to save the man. “Please. You can’t leave me alone.”

  Slowly, so slowly that she thought she imagined it at first, the bear’s limbs changed shape. She could almost feel the muscles snap back and the bones break to reform into a human shape. Brown fur receded and revealed skin. The holes in his sides knitted together and left pink lines of scars.

  With a groan, he rolled over and opened one eye. “You did it, little witch.”

  “Quiet, shifter,” she ordered and threw herself into his arms. “Are you okay? Do you hurt? I should look at those wounds. They could still be open. You can’t scare me like that again.”

  “Shh. I’m fine. A little sandy.”

  “Oh!” She scrambled away from him and dug into her pack again. He’d torn through his probably hundredth outfit when he shifted to battle the demon. Again. But they had prepared and she pulled the shorts from the bottom of the bag.