Grayson tore into his backside to get him to turn around and face him. That did the trick, and the bear pivoted and attacked Grayson again. Ferocious, hearts pounding, burning up calories in the primal, aggressive action, both were becoming exhausted.
The bear tried to grab his neck and force him down, but Grayson got the best of him and grabbed his neck and pushed with all his might to hold the bear down. The bear was swinging his arms, his deadly claws trying to reach Grayson. The testosterone-fueled males kept fighting, the bear freeing himself as the two reared up, mouths wide, baring wicked teeth, biting, clashing, growling.
They backed away from each other for a moment, gathering their energy for another bout. He wanted to make sure Kendra was okay, but he couldn’t take his eyes off the wild bear.
Grayson had even seen wild bears mating in the park, and another male bear attacking the other male just to get the female! So it wasn’t even like once a bear was in the middle of mating, it was a done deal. It wasn’t like a sow had chosen a male, and no other bears need apply.
The bear came at him again. Hell. He just wasn’t giving up. Grayson knew that even if Kendra left, they still had to fight it out. He’d torn part of the bear’s skin off, but the bear had clawed him and torn some of his skin too. At least as a shifter, it would heal quickly, but as a wild bear, it would take so much longer, and he would be scarred for life.
Plus, depending on the severity of his injuries, Grayson feared this would end his search for Younger. Then the bear came at him again, probably assuming that if he was as aggressive as he could be, Grayson would give up. Even if he tried to run away from the fight, to break it off, he knew the bear would come after him.
Kendra came after the bear again, and Grayson quickly stepped in to garner the bear’s attention, again to keep him from hurting her.
This time, the bear acted like he’d had enough and hurried off. Females did not defend a male she was mating. She would become highly aggressive and fight off males to protect her cubs, but in the wild, females mated with several males. She would just wait around for the winning male and mate him, keeping herself out of danger until the males were done.
So the bear had to have been thoroughly confused. When he loped off, she nuzzled Grayson’s face.
He ached all over from the bear’s claw marks, the torn skin from the bear biting him, and the muscles that he’d overworked. But he didn’t want to stop searching for Younger.
It was probably a lost cause. Not because of his injuries. He could probably just get some stitches and bandages and continue to search for him. But Kendra was ripe for any grizzly in the area to vie for the chance to mate with her.
He kept looking forward, sniffing the air, wanting so badly to look for Younger, while she waited beside him, letting him decide what he intended to do.
He wanted to keep her safe. He licked her face and motioned to return to camp. Younger might have left the park after all his gear was destroyed. He might even be worried about the grizzly coming for him. If he’d witnessed the fighting grizzlies, Younger probably would have decided this was too dangerous for him.
Grayson let out a sigh and a growl, then rubbed his head against hers where it didn’t hurt, then he indicated with his head that he wanted to return to their camp.
10
Seeing Grayson fighting with the wild grizzly over her, Kendra had been terrified. She had to help, which had scared her too, because she was a smaller bear, and an attack was an attack. The wild bear could have easily killed her.
But she couldn’t allow Grayson to be hurt or killed, not to mention that she would have had to put up with the other males’ advances.
She walked beside Grayson, hating that he’d been so injured. He was walking more slowly, his gait betraying that he was in pain. She could smell his pain, his heart still beating like crazy, and knew his adrenaline was still rushing through his blood, probably helping a little to block all the pain. Likewise, adrenaline was still pumping through her blood like crazy, too.
Then she saw a blondish grizzly bear she thought was Rowland, sniffed, and recognized it was. She sighed with relief. Grayson perked up and gave the deputy sheriff a bear smile.
Rowland ran to join them, looking over Grayson’s injuries.
Then they continued to head for Grayson and Kendra’s backpacks. They finally found them, shifted, and dressed.
“I’m going to where I left my backpack. Are you returning to your campsite?” Rowland asked.
“Yeah,” Grayson said.
“And we’re going to the clinic,” Kendra said firmly. “We can’t search for Younger while wild male bears are looking for me and fighting my bear.”
Rowland raised a brow. “Okay, so what happened to you, Grayson?”
“I had to fight an amorous wild bear who wanted Kendra,” Grayson said.
“Hell.” Rowland looked back at Grayson’s wounds.
“Younger may be gone anyway. We destroyed his camp as bears, and he doesn’t have anywhere to stay comfortably. A wild grizzly ate his food,” Kendra said.
“All right, I’ll find your campsite and join you there as soon as I have shifted and dressed. I would have you come with me, but you need to just go to the camp. Wait for me, and I’ll help you break it down.” Then Rowland shifted into his bear and headed out to wherever he had hidden his backpack.
Kendra glanced at Grayson. “I never thought we would have issues with male bears interested in me to mate.”
