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And he had his hands around her neck, his face bright red and splotchy, eyes wild. He was screaming something, but Luther couldn’t make it out over the din. But his intentions became clear as day when he started to strangle Violet, right then and there, in front of everyone, sputtering with rage as his hands throttled her tiny neck.
Luther had never felt such blinding fury before as he had in that moment. He charged through the fray, knocking friend and foe aside just to get to his daughter, to save her from a madman…
Then a flash of brown fur rushed by him and tackled Vesper to the ground.
***
The second Espie caught Willard Vesper doing serious damage to Violet, she saw red and reacted. She’d been keeping an eye on them throughout the whole fight, trying and failing to work her way toward Vesper so she could free poor Violet from his grasp. There had just been too many fucking cougars in the way before, but that didn’t matter when Violet’s life was on the line. Espie had tunnel vision. All that mattered was Violet. Not her own well-being. Not Miguel. No one but that little cub.
She’d never pushed herself harder in all her life, but that surge of bear-mama rage pushed her through the battle and gave her the strength to topple the psychopath from his perch. Once they were all on the ground, she picked Violet up by the back of her shirt, nudged her toward her dad—who arrived seconds later—and then pummeled Vesper into the ground.
Over and over again, she slammed her front paws into him, mouth foaming and mind racing with a single thought: eliminate the threat to her cub.
And eliminate she did.
Sometime later, human rescue and police vehicles had raced over to the scene. By then, many of the other shifters who had come to assist—the rams, coyotes, and armadillos—had left. Bears shifted back. Cougars that were able-bodied fled.
The mastermind behind everything lay bleeding out on the ground as paramedics rushed to his aid. The cougar shifter should have died, as far as Espie was concerned. He was too big a threat, too big a problem. However, in the end, Miguel had ordered her off him, and she’d been forced to comply.
Apparently, it was a greater punishment to rot away in a prison cell than it was to die—her bear didn’t agree at the time, but as Espie shifted back into her human form she was glad her brother had stopped her. She didn’t want Willard Vesper’s life on her hands, even if he had threatened to murder people she loved.
Espie watched silently as the ambulance carrying a near-dead Willard Vesper raced down Main Street, sirens blaring. A police car followed behind, lights flashing. Miguel, meanwhile, pulled the resident police chief aside and explained everything. They’d known each other since she and Miguel were kids. He immediately placed Willard under arrest, pending a trip to the hospital.
What no one could explain was all the animals. Witnesses had claimed bears and cougars were fighting in the streets, but Miguel told the police that Willard had a toxin he’d released on all the hostages that would leave them a little loopy.
As the police began to clear everyone away, the other thing that was difficult to explain was the high percentage of naked individuals left in the aftermath. But Miguel had an answer for that, too – all part of the toxic craziness they could expect until the effects wore off.
Espie was shocked when she saw Maida rush out of A Cup of Beans to bring her a blanket, and she turned to look her friend over, worried that she shouldn’t even be out of the hospital.
“Don’t look at me that way,” Maida grumbled. “Those cougars were rounding up everybody from their rooms, and I decided I was still too weak for a party like that one, so I crept back over here and hid myself.”
Espie chuckled. “Maida, you are a wonder. I’ll give you that much.”
“She sure is,” said Clive, who seemed to appear from nowhere. “It’s a wonder she’s still alive.”
Maida cast the shifter cop the evil eye, but he just laughed and squeezed her shoulder as he continued on his way. The coroner had arrived to help with all the bodies, and since this whole case had been his baby, Clive would be expected to document everything.
After answering dozens of questions, Espie spotted Maida further down Main Street, flanked on either side by Copper and Taymond, but the truth was she wasn’t really looking for her. All she really wanted in that moment was a strong pair of arms wrapped around her and a cute little face to nuzzle against.
Wrapping the slightly scratchy blanket tighter around her body to keep the cool early evening breeze at bay, she sauntered through the organized chaos, taking it all in, until her eyes landed on her mate. Grinning, Espie padded toward Luther and Violet, and upon realizing she was there, the little cub wriggled off her father’s lap and raced toward Espie.
“Pee!” she cried, and Espie giggled, scooping her up and holding her close. Saving her from Willard Vesper had bonded the two bears in ways she had never expected, but just as Luther felt like one piece of her soul’s whole being, now so did Violet. Espie couldn’t imagine her life without the little polar bear.
“Hi, sweetheart,” Espie murmured, pressing a kiss to the girl’s dirty cheek—which she then rubbed with a wet thumb, much to Violet’s dismay. She then strolled over to Luther, who had been watching the scene unfold with a smile on his face.
“I don’t think I’ve thanked you yet,” he rumbled as she perched on his knee, Violet on her lap. “You know…for saving my daughter’s life.”
“You don’t have to,” she insisted, closing her eyes briefly when he kissed her cheek. His hand stroked up and down her back lovingly, and she just wanted to live in that moment forever. “We’re bonded, Luther. Violet might not be a cub I carried into this world, but I’ll defend her until I’m buried within it.” She grinned when Violet started braiding her hair—very poorly, at that. “I love her just as much as I love you.”
“I guess that means we’re in this together?”
Espie laughed and slid down his leg so that she could cuddle against his chest. Violet giggled shrilly at the movement, and Luther wrapped his muscular arms around both, kissing them each on the forehead as Espie sighed, utterly content.
“Always…”
