My anger rose thinking about that fucking prison. I should get her seated, go back, and take care of the bastards.
My touches stayed gentle when I sat her in the seat, carefully wrapping the blanket around her body. Her body swayed, and she leaned up against the wall of the plane, her body shaking.
My heart nearly shattered when I saw her like this. My grizzly was damn near rabid to reach out and pull the blankets away from her, pull off my shirt, and let her skin take up my warmth. There was no way I could leave her to seek vengeance now. I had to take care of her, keep her safe.
Fucking hell. What kind of sick bastard could do this to a woman?
I frowned. The doors slammed, and I didn’t even care anymore if I could go back and kill someone. All I wanted was to keep her safe now. I would. I swore to my bear we would. He undoubtedly agreed, and there would be no shame in keeping her away from everyone.
When she gripped her ears, and I heard her near-non-existent whimpers, I couldn’t understand what was wrong.
I couldn’t understand why she found them so loud? Why had she not said a word? More worrying thoughts. My grizzly was restless, and waiting for Bones was no longer an option.
Now, seeing her lying in front of me, with the excitement of finding my mate now fading and reality setting in, she was worse than I feared. My mate had no meat on her bones, her feet bare and dirty, her tiny body lay there so helpless, and my grizzly was just at the surface. He wanted to demand they turn the plane around and gut every last person in that mansion.
My heart raced as my fists clenched, my nails digging into my palms. My breathing became shallow and erratic as I struggled to contain my anger. My vision narrowed as I focused solely on the frail figure before me, my mate. It took all my willpower not to let my grizzly take over and wreak havoc on everything around me.
I tried to calm myself, knowing it would be best for both me and my mate, but that was proving difficult.
As I reached out to touch her, my hands trembled with a mix of emotions. I felt both a fierce protectiveness and a deep longing to connect with her. My grizzly roared inside me, demanding that I claim her and do it swiftly.
Being the levelheaded one, I knew better than to do that.
The only thing I could do was to vow silently to protect her and provide for her, ensuring that she never suffered again.
I didn’t care if I got harmed in the process, but it would seek vengeance on every damn bastard that ignored her.
She wouldn’t—couldn’t speak.
I held enough rage to strip down thousands of forests as she sat there trying to write. I lunged forward, pushing Bones away, and pulled her into my arms. I wrapped my large hand around hers, my cheek leaning against her forehead.
Already her touch soothed the animal inside me.
The humming in my chest eased her quivering breaths as I helped steady her hand, and she wrote out her name.
“Nadia,” I breathed out. “What a beautiful name.”
Suddenly she fell limp, and I cradled her back in my arms. “Nadia?” I gently shook her. “Nadia?” I said it louder, but she did not wake. With her resistance to sound, my panic surfaced, and I lost hold of my bear.
We laid her gently over the table and hovered over her in a protective stance, glaring at Bones like he was the culprit. He held his arms back, showing he wielded no weapon, and backed away.
“Easy there,” Bones soothed. “Everything is going to be fine.” He pressed his comm to his ear, and I snarled.
He was calling for backup.
He was going to take her away from me.
Quillian and Phineus opened the door, their hands on their side where their guns were held. I growled in warning.
“Bear, what’s going on?” Quillian said quietly, not making any sudden movements.
“The female, Nadia. She passed out from exhaustion. Bear just got a little excited,” Bones answered. “I need to get an IV in her, get her stable. I just need Bear to calm down a bit.”
I lifted my lip back, showing off my teeth, and Phineus showed me his fangs in return. Quillian grabbed his wrist and pulled his man back. “Bear’s grizzly is back. We need to show some respect,” Quillian said and didn’t keep his eyes off me. He tried to pull Phineus behind him.
Bones darted his gaze between Quillian and me. “That true, Bear? He’s woken up?”
“Yes.” I gritted my teeth.
