Werebear barbarian king, p.15
Werebear Barbarian King, page 15
“And you are incredibly handsome,” Lena said, and she placed her hand on my cheek and leaned in to press her cherry-red lips against mine.
For the rest of the evening, I sat back and soaked in the warmth of the fire. Tomorrow would be our first fight together as a village, and while I was slightly terrified, I was also prepared for the absolute best and the absolute worst. It was possible that some of our men wouldn’t make it out of this alive, which was always a risk when battle was on the table.
All I could do was wait and see how things went.
The prey animals made leaf beds for us near the fire so we would stay warm as we slept, and I laid by Lena and watched her as she drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, I woke up when it was still dark and tossed another log on the fire to keep it going. There was probably an hour or so until dawn, and I figured I’d let my people sleep for as long as possible.
While they continued to doze, I made my way over to the small stream to splash some cold water on my face. I found relief in the feel of the cold liquid against my skin, and I sat for a moment and focused on my breathing before I got back up and went back to the fire.
It didn’t take long until the rest of the leopard group was up and ready to go, and once we were all gathered around, I looked out at the anxious faces of the men and women before me. The prey animals were gathered around, too, and I wanted them to hear this just as much as I wanted my own tribe to.
There was a reason we were doing this, they all needed to remember that.
“I know this is scary,” I said as I looked each of them in the eyes. “It’s nerve-wracking for me, too, but I promise, we’re going to make it out of this alright.”
“What if one of us dies?” one of the women from my tribe asked, and her eyes were filled with sadness and terror.
“Then you will die a hero,” I said seriously. “You will die protecting those you love. Remember, we’re not doing this for ourselves, we’re doing this for the entire forest. We all must come together as one to keep the weakest among us safe. So, when you’re scared, think about who you’re protecting. It’s not only yourself, but also the children, the men, and the women who cannot fight, the prey animals who are being stolen and traded and raped, the elders who have paid their dues already… We are here to protect them now.”
My voice grew louder and more authoritative as I spoke, and I wondered where these leadership skills had come from. Had I always had this potential and just never had a reason to use it?
“I cannot promise that none of you will become injured, or worse,” I continued. “But I can promise that I will do everything I can to make sure that doesn’t happen. If we all work together and protect each other, nothing is going to be able to stop us, especially not some asshole hyenas.”
The tribe members stared at me for a moment. Then slowly, they started to smile a bit more like wild animals, and they erupted into a cheer that told me they were ready to go.
“I will lead you to the hyena den,” Lito offered, and he stepped forward and lifted his chin slightly.
“Thank you.” I smiled at the young man and clapped him on the shoulder.
Then I looked over to the horizon to see the day had just broken through. It was time to go.
“Let’s go kick some ass!” I yelled, and my tribe hollered back their excitement.
I could still smell some lingering fear in the air, but most of it had been replaced by adrenaline. And a little bit of fear was healthy, especially when running head-first into danger. If they weren’t scared at all, I’d be concerned they were fucking psychopaths.
I let out a deep growl as I let my animalistic nature overtake me. My arms and legs stretched out, and my body grew to five times its normal size. My eyesight instantly sharpened so the colors of the trees and the sky became even more vibrant than normal, and my sense of smell intensified by a hundred times until I could smell every creature that had been in my path in the last week. The overwhelming intensity of my senses made me light-headed, but I let out a roar of delight that I was once again in my soul form.
My tribe changed, too, and I looked up at Lito and let out a growly huff that told him we were ready to go.
The massive raven gave a loud caw and then took off through the moss out into the forest while the leopards and I trailed behind. I ran as fast as I could to keep up with him, and at some point, I was delighted at how quickly I was able to move.
I was fucking massive in my polar bear form, but that didn’t stop me from being nimble. The cats could easily outrun me, and some of them pulled ahead, but they made sure to stay in my eye line, and I appreciated that.
Lena ran next to me, and I looked over at her in her cat form and admired how graceful and nimble she was.
The forest was filled with obstacles, and she easily leaped over dead trees and lowered her body to fit under low-hanging branches. It was beautiful to watch.
I was so huge in my bear form that I didn’t bother with most of that. Instead, I hit the branches since there was no way for me to dodge them, and they broke off from the force of the impact and fell behind me.
The hyenas’ den was several miles away, and as we ran, I admired the part of the forest I’d never been in before. At first, it was beautiful, and I could clearly see the mountains ahead as the trees opened up to a more sparse area filled with large boulders and strange flowers that smelled sickeningly sweet.
Eventually, the scent of death and rot overtook the area, and the forest was no more. We were in a starkly barren area where there were no trees or foliage. The ground was just dirt with nothing growing out of it, and we’d gotten closer to the mountains than I’d ever been before.
Lito let out a loud caw above us, and then he flew down to land in front of us in his human form, which was something I didn’t think I’d ever get used to.
Seeing him go from bird one second, to human the next, was astonishing. His body grew so fast that my brain could barely even register the movement, and it almost appeared as if he magically transformed in an instant, rather than going through the process like the rest of us.
“We’re close,” he told me as my bones cracked and shifted back into my human form.
“Lead us the rest of the way,” I instructed. “Then turn into your werecreature form and get the hell out of there, alright?”
“Okay.” He nodded and turned around to continue leading us forward.
“I do not like this part of the land,” Lena said, and a shiver seemed to run through her whole body.
“Have you been here before?” I asked.
“Never this far.” She shook her head. “We all know not to come here. The hyenas took it over long ago.”
“There’s nothing around here,” I said as I scanned the area. “It’s almost as if…”
Suddenly, I realized why nothing was growing here. This must have been where the lions set fire to kill the bears.
“This is where the fire was, wasn’t it?” I asked Lena.
“The fire was nearby,” she answered. “But not here exactly. This land has been barren for a long time. It does not get much rain, and nothing grows here. The predatory animals have used it as their home for centuries.”
Those sonsabitches had no idea what they were in for. I might not be from this realm, but I liked it here, and I was planning on restoring the bears’ role as peacekeepers. If the lions were going to try and pull a stunt like that again, they were going to have to go through me first.
Lito led us further into the dead area, and after a while, another foul scent filled my nose. It was like wet dog mixed with dirt and dried blood and death. My nose wrinkled at the smell of it. There were apparently downsides to how powerful my heightened sense of smell was, and this was one of them.
Up ahead, I could see a large rocky area near the side of the mountain, and I realized we must be close.
“It’s right up ahead,” Lito said.
“Thank you,” I told him. “We can take it from here. You go, we’ll be back as soon as we can.”
He said nothing, only nodded and changed into his wereraven form so he could fly off.
The closer we got to the hyenas’ den, the more bones were on the surrounding ground. These assholes clearly didn’t know how to pick up after themselves.
We inched closer and closer, and the scent of adrenaline that drifted from my tribe of leopards behind me built up my own until I was nearly shaking with anticipation. I could feel my territorial instincts taking over, and I was ready to get this started.
Finally, we reached the den, and I squared my shoulders and lifted my chin as I walked into the clearing that surrounded the front entrance. A half-circle made of rocks surrounded either side so they had one clear entrance in and out, and while it wasn’t the dumbest thing for them to do, it didn’t help them right now.
“What the fuck is that smell?” someone asked, but I held my ground and waited.
After a moment, five men appeared at the front of the den. One was incredibly short, with a large belly and huge ears. Another had a long nose and crooked teeth, two of them were tall and gangly with scars all over their arms and chests, and the final one was clearly the one in charge.
He was the tallest of the five of them, and the most muscular. His hair was a deep blackish-red color, and his eyes were small and brown and set almost too close together for me to feel comfortable looking at him.
“Who the fuck are you?” the leader asked in a terrible, high-pitched voice, and he yanked a bite of raw meat off a bone he had in his hand and chewed loudly and with his mouth wide open.
“I’m the new peacekeeper around here,” I told him, and I had to physically restrain myself from grimacing at the horrific sound of his voice.
“Is that right?” he laughed, and his laugh was even worse than his regular tone. I could see why he was a hyena. Something about him just screamed scavenger.
“That’s right,” I said with a cocky half-smile. “And my tribe and I are here to take back the women you’ve stolen from the prey villages.”
“You’re not going to take anything,” the asshole spat, and he shoved his tongue up under his top lip to get a piece of meat. Then he tossed the bone in his hand to the side and walked forward into the clearing. “You need to get the hell out of here. Who the fuck do you think you are?”
“I already told you,” I said. “I’m the peacekeeper here, and this forest isn’t going to tolerate you around here anymore. We’re reclaiming this land. You and your band of assholes here have preyed on weaker shifters for far too long.”
“Oh, yeah?” the guy laughed again and gestured back to his buddies as nearly twenty more of them came out of the den. “You hear that, fellas? This guy’s here to save the fuckin’ day. Peacekeeper of the barbarians. And just what are you gonna do about all this, peacekeeper?”
There were at least thirty hyenas out here now, and I had about the same number of leopards on my side, so I already knew it would be one hell of a fight.
But this asshole had talked for too long already, and his taunt sent me over the edge. My lip pulled back into a snarl as a deep growl filled my chest, and I released a loud roar as I allowed my instincts to take over and turn my body into my werebeast form.
I landed on all fours and gave my massive body a huge shake before I stared the leader right in the eyes. My senses had heightened like a surge of power through my body, and I could smell the terror on the hyena before he even recognized it himself. My eyesight sharpened, too, so I could see even the small beads of sweat that accumulated on his upper lip.
He knew he was no match for me, but he looked determined to be tough for his crew.
“Fuck you,” the leader spat, even though the air was filled with the sweaty sweet scent of his fear, and he let out a terrible laugh and leaped forward.
Then his body grew and hair appeared out of every pore. His nose and mouth pulled into a long muzzle that held huge, sharp teeth, and his fingernails lengthened until they were claws that scratched the ground as he landed in front of me in his werehyena form. He was bigger than any hyena I’d ever seen, but nowhere near the size I was, and he was an ugly son of a bitch. His fur was matted, at least in the spots where he had fur, and he made that terrible laughing sound hyenas made that caused me to want to deafen myself just to get away from it.
A shiver ran through my body as my nose was overwhelmed by the sudden change behind me as the rest of my tribe shifted. The hyenas all shifted, too, until we were all in our werecreature forms, and they cackled as they pranced behind their leader in anticipation of the fight. I’d never seen a hyena in real life, but I knew the werehyenas were much larger, and they looked dirtier, too. Their fur was even more matted in their werebeast forms, and their teeth were terribly yellow and rotting.
Still, they were ready to fight, and it was a full blown standoff.
I snorted and stared down the leader as he started to fall back a bit, and I realized he intended to let his tribe members handle this one. I looked him dead in the eyes and stood up on my hind legs, and as I towered over him and his beasts, I let out a roar that echoed off the rocks around me.
Suddenly, one of the hyenas got overzealous, and he lunged at Keel, who was on my left. Luckily, Keel had been ready, and he let out a high-pitched hiss and dodged the hyena.
Then every hyena was in motion.
The rest of the matted assholes leapt at my band of leopards with teeth bared, but the big cats used the long reach of their arms to keep them at bay. The hyenas tried to gang up on the leopards in groups of two and three, but that wasn’t working, either. There were about the same amount of leopards as hyenas, which meant they couldn’t get a large pack around one of my tribe members like they wanted to. Whenever they tried, another leopard was there to jump in and help, and soon blood was oozing through hyena flesh as more and more leopard jaws clamped on their matted backs.
In all the mayhem, I noticed two hyenas circling around Lena, and immediately, I wanted to rush and help. Before that instinct could kick in, though, she reached out her long arms and grabbed hold of one of them by the face. Her long claws punctured his skin and ruptured one of his eyes, and he yowled and tried to pull away, but she bit down hard on his skull.
The other hyena jumped on her back, but my woman was feisty, and she quickly rolled over so she crushed him beneath her while she continued to bite the other hyena’s head.
I was distracted watching my woman fight, and the leader took that opportunity to leap at me while the rest of his pack attacked my tribe. As much as I wanted to focus on them, I couldn’t right then, I needed to focus on myself. Hyenas weren’t as loyal to their alpha as wolves were, but it was clear I needed to take out the leader of this pack of jackasses.
The son of a bitch tried to bite at my shoulder, but I quickly swatted him away with my massive paw and sent him flying to the ground. He was quick and leaped up to let out a terrible, high-pitched laugh before he trotted around me to try and figure out the best angle to attack me from.
I’d never been a patient man when I was only a human, and I certainly wasn’t patient as a polar bear, so I rushed forward and charged at the ugly motherfucker.
He managed to get out of my way before I could adjust myself, and my claws ripped up the rocks and dirt beneath me as I tried to stop myself. With heavy breaths, I came to a halt and spun around to look him right in his beady little eyes.
This asshole was quicker than Pekev had been, and his small size gave him a slight advantage against me since he wasn’t as large of a target for me to grab onto.
Suddenly, I smelled another hyena coming up behind me, and I realized the leader was only biding his time until he could get more of his pack to surround me. He clearly knew he couldn’t take me in a one-on-one battle.
I glanced back at the other hyena just in time to see Lena leap forward and tackle it to the ground. The two of them rolled away in a bundle of fur and claws, but that wasn’t going to deter the leader.
He took the opportunity to leap at me again, and this time, he managed to sink his teeth into my shoulder and hold on.
He’d made a mistake in doing that.
His hind legs were within my reach, and I twisted my head to the side and wrapped my powerful jaws around one of his ankles.
The hyena let out a terrified yelp and released my shoulder from his grasp as he struggled to get away. He managed to twist his foot just right so he was able to get it out of my mouth, but the bone was broken already, and I tore open the entirety of his leg in the process.
The tangy, coppery taste of blood filled my mouth as he pulled it out of my mouth with only part of his leg intact.
I could smell my own blood as it leaked from my wound, too, and the scent of it only made me that much angrier. This asshole wasn’t going to get away with this.
The son of a bitch’s leg was all sorts of mangled, but he glared at me and already looked ready to attack again. He clearly didn’t know when he’d been bested.
All around me, I could hear the scuffles of battle, and a quick glance back and forth showed that the rest of my tribe was locked in combat with the hyenas. There were more of them than there were of us, but not by many, and my leopards were holding their own. I could smell some leopard blood, but the majority of what I smelled was hyena blood and the stench of their fear.
These hyenas weren’t used to going after animals who could hold their own, and it showed. They clearly weren’t equipped to take us on, and from the increased fear I smelled coming off the leader, they all knew it.
With a guttural growl, I leaped forward at the hyena, but as I did, I felt my body start to shift. My limbs became much weaker, and my body cracked from the changing of my bones.
What the fuck was going on? I wasn’t doing this. I needed my polar bear form. Why was I changing back?
I landed next to the hyena in my human form, and the hyena took no time at all to try and take advantage of that. Even with his back leg broken and completely mangled, he lunged at me and knocked me onto my back.
