Warrior Princess
Chapter 10

Samantha POV

I army crawl backwards very slowly. This black bear is bigger than any I’ve ever seen. Usually, these bears are the same size as us werewolves. I’m about 5-foot-tall, but this one is easily double my height. It’s like a bear on steroids. It looks almost rabid. This is just peachy. He snarls at me and starts stalking towards me.

“Akira, a little help here…” she comes to the forefront of my mind and I let her have control. We use our tail to stir the dust and rocks around. Sending pebbles flying. It works as the bear turns his head towards the ruckus. I use this to my advantage and bolt. I get maybe 5 feet from the cave and I am thrown into a tree trunk. Guess he’s smarter than I thought.

“Well, we’re going to have to fight our way out of this one.” I get up on all 4 paws and roar as loud as I can, making sure to look as vicious as I can. Hackles raised and lips pulled back to flash my teeth I start circling the bear. He assesses me as well. I can be patient. I NEVER make the first move.

“Come on, big boy! I can do this all day.” I chant.

Growling he charges at me and attempts to swipe at me with his paw. I duck and jump as high as I can. I land on his back and bite his shoulder. He roars and throws his head back to try to knock me off balance. I try to hold on. He throws his body on the ground and rolls taking me with him. I’m forced to let go, so I don’t get crushed. He may be big, but he is fast. It’s extremely odd. Unless he’s a Bear Shifter! That’s got to be the reason he’s so big. What is he doing on royal pack lands? This fight is going to be tough.

I turn and run. We push our legs as fast as they can go! Going so fast I didn’t notice the tree root on the path. I stumbled and rolled. God dammit this isn’t helping.

“Moon goddess if you value all your children, I suggest you help out a little!” I growl and stand up.

The ground is still wet from the morning dew. As soon as I take the first step my back legs are knocked out from under me and I and pulled back. The great douchebag of the morning has caught up to me. I buck like a horse and manage to catch his jaw with my back claws. He shakes it off quickly though. Alright, a*****e I’ve had enough of this.

I charge at him and lunge for his neck. I manage to grab a bite on him, but he takes his paw and slams me down on my back digging his claws into my chest. I howl in pain and feel the b***d coating my fur.

Think, think, think. Samantha, we need to get out of this position, or we’re dead! Shifting to my human form is out of the question. I’d be crushed in an instant.

I take all four paws and swipe at his neck and his belly. On f my back paws catch his stomach managing to cut him. Not deep enough. My front paw, however reaches its target and claw at his throat and chest. It’s a decent enough injury. Enough to get him off of me. I roll out of the way taking a second to catch my breath and assess him for his next move.

He throws his head up and roars so loud it hurts my ears. I shake my head a bit disoriented but steady myself. He charges and his claw catches my shoulder and drags down to my side. Whimpering in pain, Akira gives me control again. My shoulder feels like it’s on fire and I don’t know how much longer I can stand tow to toe with this fucker. He swipes again, but I duck out of the way and jump on his back again latching onto his neck. I refuse to let go this time. I just need to stun him enough or keep him down enough for me to get away and get help.

He rears up and stands on his back legs attempting to shake me off. A couple minutes go by and I’m still hanging on. He tried to barrel roll me again, but I learned last time. I won’t let go.

I growl and Clench my jaws tighter. He whines a bit at the pain but bucks enough to throw me off. Not before I managed to take a chunk of his skin with me. Spitting out his fur I try to stand up, but my paw is swollen and aching. It must have been injured in the fall. I stand up anyways and hold my injured paw up. Whimpering and growling at the same time. I’m done for. I just know it.

He stalks towards me but a flash of black flys by my face. Familiar grey wolves join in the fight. I collapse finally able to rest my aching and injured body.

A chocolate wolf stands over my wolf in a protective stance. I recognize the scent as josh. He’s here! I whimper and rub my snout on his leg. His wolf licks the top of my head to let me and Akira know he’s here, he’s got our back.

A creamy tan colored wolf that I know all too well lays next to me inching her way forward. I whimper. “Mom.”

She licks my snout and I see tears falling out of her wolf eyes. I lay my head down getting so tired. She lays her head on mine and Akira purrs at the contact. Turning back to the fight I see my dad and Jake’s wolfs helping this black wolf take down the bear shifter. He smells familiar. Then it clicks.

It’s the king, Kasen, my mate. He came.

Kasen…he came. How did he replace me? Who cares, I yip in happiness that he came. That has to mean something, right?

As if sensing me looking at him and thinking of him, his eyes replace mine. Other warriors arrive to help with the fight and Kasen stalks to me. Josh leaves his protective stance over me and steps to the side. Kasen approaches and his wolf licks my head. He sniffs me and looks at all my wounds. He growls slightly. I hear him link me.

“Can you stand mate?” I don’t answer I just attempt to stand. He sees I’m holding my front paw and licks it.

He stands next to me. His wolf is a lot bigger than mine. But he still lets me rest my body on his. We look at the battle in front of us and see the warriors pin the bear down and shoot it with a tranquilizer. He shifts back to his human body. I feel Kasen stiffen. He must know who it is.

My dad and brother’s wolves approach me. I see me and Kasen are not only twins in human form but in wolf form as well. He whimpers but doesn’t approach me. He hangs his head and extends his neck. He’s submitting…to me?

My dad’s wolf rubs his head on me, and I can feel the tears welling up in my eyes. “Hi, daddy…”

He doesn’t say anything just places his forehead on mine. I sway a little bit. That battle took a lot out of me. I try to stay standing. I don’t want to look weak in front of my dad, mom, brother, and most of all, my mate. But I am so tired. My legs buckle and Kasen senses it. His wolf lowers and catches my body. I whimper in pain. I’m just so tired.

“Rest mate, I’ve got you. You did well.”

Kasens POV

After Jake had collapsed in pain, I started to worry. He should only feel half of what Samantha feels. It feels weird saying her name instead of calling her rogue. But it was enough to bring a full-grown beta down. Naturally, I forced us to quicken the pace. I let Atlas take the forefront while I watched through his eyes. Charging in a sprint atlas picks up her scent as well as a foreign scent.

“I want all teams of trackers to head to my location. We’ve located her, but she’s not alone.” Josh nods his head acknowledging that he heard the link. “there’s another shifter with her. I can’t quite tell who or what. This is either going to be good or bad. Be prepared.” I tell him through our individual link. He growls in response. We push a little faster until we spot her. She is latched onto the neck of a pretty hefty bear.

“Bear Shifter!” Josh yells in the link.

What is she thinking about taking him on by herself? She needs to get out of there. She doesn’t even look like a grey wolf anymore shes covered in so much b***d. Whether it’s hers or his, I’m not sure, but it’s making atlas and myself nervous. She’s thrown off and she doesn’t get back up immediately.

“Alright Atlas, let’s do this.” I charge ahead and knock my body into the bear. Jake and Samantha’s dad join in and the 3 of us attempt to take down this bear. He is easily double Samantha’s wolf. He makes Atlas look small and that’s saying something.

I notice josh standing over Samantha in a protective stance. Her mother is checking her over, and Alpha Aaron is standing guard. Josh is a fantastic beta knowing exactly what I want him to do without me having to ask. Finally, the other teams of warriors and trackers arrive and help in taking down this stubborn supernatural creature.

I remove myself from the fight and trot over to my mate. I have tried to resist her. I know she deserves so much better than me. This very well be the mate bond getting stronger, but I think I’m going to have a hard time letting her go with her family. That’s if I even let her go. She and I are going to have to sit down and have some difficult conversations.

Atlas licks her wolf’s snout and dismisses josh. He stands guard to make sure there are no more surprises. I check over her and see she has a few deep wounds especially on her shoulder and down her side.

“She shouldn’t shift back yet, Kasen. If she does, it could kill her.” Atlas tells me. I growl at the thought of that.

“Can you stand, mate?” without responding, she tries to get up. She staggers a couple of times, but she finally achieves her task. I notice she isn’t bearing any weight on her paw. It looks broken. Atlas takes control and licks her injured paw. He is such a sap.

“I heard that.” he huffed.

I stand next to her, taking in her scent. It has a calming effect on me. She smells like vanilla Christmas cookies. It’s fantastic, enough to make me drool. She leans her body against mine and I feel the sparks shoot through my body. That’s when I realize this is the first time we’d truly touched. It makes me mad that it took a bear almost killing her to get me this close. I am such a fool.

After what her family said about her reasoning for running away, I felt ashamed with myself for pushing her away. She has been hurt as much as I have. We are two broken souls.

Knowing she is safe pressed against my fur, I turn my head to the fight. Atlas looks on proud of his warriors. They get him pinned and I order one of the trackers to shoot him with a tranquilizer. After he is darted, he shifts back.

Christ, this is not good. If I am remembering correctly this is the Bear Kings son. Well, one of them. He has 4 and this one is the one that was disowned for being a Violent Psychopath. He had attempted to hill his father and 3 older brothers to take the throne by force. What the hell is he doing on my territory?

“Cuff him and take him to the cells. Make sure he is secured. Let’s move out here soon.” The two other grey wolves come up to us. Jake stops just short in front of her. My guess is the pup is afraid of her pushing him away. His tail is tucked, and he submits to her. That’s a good start, I think to myself.

Her dad approaches her and greets his pup. His entire body posture just relaxes at being reunited. I can feel her weight shifting. Looking at her, she seems to be losing quite a bit of b***d.

“Josh, have the doctor ready.” I order through the link. He bows his head and his eyes glaze over.

“Rest mate, I’ve got you. You did well.” I link her as she lays down.

Atlas rubs his head through the fur on her neck and back and her family looks at us curiously. That’s right, I haven’t told them I’m her mate. This should be interesting.

Crouching down I have josh and Jake help place Samantha on my back. Once she is secure, I turn my head and lick her snout again. I am an i***t for pushing her away, but it doesn’t mean that I’m not still scared that she could hurt me. My mate would hold all the cards to break my already broken heart and I am afraid to risk that.