Wild Ride: A Bad Boy Romance (22 page)

Herbert
seemed to have had enough of the guesswork involved in the situation. His woman
had been threatened, and he was going to defend her. When the situation got
more complex than that, he had tried to remain interested, but the bear in him
just wanted to get things over, to defend against the predator and then move
on.

Herbert
growled a low growl. It was directed right at Slam. Even though there were no
words, the intention and meaning were quite clear: He was saying, “Get out of
here right now, or else I’m going to hurt you, possibly kill you.”

Slam just
laughed again.

Herbert
wasn’t waiting around. With a swift and deft movement, he launched himself
forward. It was amazing to see how fast such a big creature could moved. Roxy
hadn’t actually seen many bears up close, and certainly she had never seen a
bear as big as Herbert. The fluidity of his movements reminded her more of the
big cats she’d seen on TV—the jaguars and tigers on the hunt, moving
swiftly by the force of their powerful muscles.

But
Herbert only got about one foot in front of him before everything happened. He
never even reached Slam. That was for sure.

Herbert’s
bear reflexes were certainly fast, but Slam’s trap was elaborate and
preplanned.

As soon
as Herbert had growled, Slam’s partner had pressed the button on the remote
control hidden in his pocket.

But who
was Slam’s partner? It was the short drunk man he had supposedly knocked out
only minutes before wish a vicious punch. In actuality, the two were just very
good actors. The punch had been real, though, otherwise it wouldn’t have looked
good. But the rest had been acting. The shorter man, named Jilly, had been
Slam’s hunting partner for almost a decade. And the two had never gotten into a
real fight. They knew that Herbert would be a special target. They’d followed
the rumors over the years, first not believing that they were real. Eventually
they’d tracked down Herbert, and strongly suspected that he was a bear shape
shifter. But until tonight, they hadn’t had any definitive proof, except for
some very ‘bearish’ qualities that Herbert sometimes exhibited when he thought
no one was watching.

Slam and
Jilly had set the trap that night while Herbert and Roxy were getting
acquainted sexually in his apartment. In had been the perfect opportunity for
the hunters who had waited more than a decade for their dream to come true.
They had built the trap many years before, constructing it from industrial
supplies.

It
involved a huge net, supported by massive steel beams. The whole apparatus had
been ingeniously hidden in the alley so that even a man with the senses of a
bear would be unable to detect it. They truly were master hunters. They
practiced their trade like an art, and treated their prey like their religion
and their god, a god they wanted to slay. They wanted to display its carcass on
their walls. They were still in disagreement about which one of them would get
to display Herbert The Bear’s carcass on their wall, but they also couldn’t
agree about whether it would be better to kill him in human or bear form. But
realistically they both knew that there was going to be no carcass. They wanted
the fame and glory of watching a real shifter, but they also wanted the money
they undoubtedly get from selling him. They had already been in contact with a
small and secret branch of the US military that was positioned here in Alaska.
It was a group that investigated paranormal

and
strange phenomenon that were not believed to be true by the regular public. It
sounded a little weird, but they were known to pay very good money for the
delivery of strange specimens.

So when
Slam had been trying to distract Herbert, Jilly had waited, pretending he was
passed out, for just the right moment. He had hit the button when Herbert had
growled that last time, sensing that it was the right moment in the
conversation.

The
button on the remote control had activated a complicated machine that had been
specially built by Slam and Jilly the two hunters themselves. The device had
allowed for the net to drop from where it was hidden high above.

The net
fell on Herbert, surrounding him. The net was made of very thin and bendable
pieces of titanium. It was a new piece of experimental material, known so far
only in the world of industry as “titanium threads.” Herbert was stopped dead
in his tracks. His majestic pounce had ended in complete and total entrapment.

Herbert
thrashed against the metal threads. He roared ferociously. He slashed with his
claws, but he couldn’t get out.

Jilly got
up from where he was pretending to be passed out. He went to stand by Slam. The
two of them stood with their arms crossed, looking contently at their prize,
Herbert, in bear form.

“We’ve
got him now, Slam,” said Jilly. He talked out of the side of his mouth and
sounded a little like an old black-and-white movie gangster.

“Congratulations,”
said Slam, slapping Jilly hard on the back. “That’s all I’ve got o say. I’ll
bring the truck around, and then hopefully we can drop him off at the military
base tonight.”

“That’ll
be all right,” said Jilly. “That’ll be just all right with me. I just hope they
return his head to us when they’re done with him.”

“We’re
about to be rich and famous, that’s what,” said Slam. “Yup, rich and famous.”

Herbert
tore and tore and thrashed and thrashed against the metal net. But it was too
strong for him. The modern technology had trapped him, and it seemed like there
was nothing he could do.

Roxy
looked on, feeling emotionally pained. It felt like someone had stopped her
heart with a dull wooden spike. She hated to see Herbert like this. He had
seemed so ferocious and wild and free. And now his spirit was trapped in this
horrible net, this terrible modern contraption.

When Roxy
looked at the struggling and thrashing bear, she didn’t see just a big fury and
ferocious animal. She saw Herbert himself, as if she was looking into his soul.

It was at
that moment that Roxy realized she was really in love with Herbert. Even if he
was a giant grizzly bear.

“God
damnit,” yelled Roxy, over Herbert’s ferocious roars. “What do you guys think
you’re doing? Let him go right now, or I’m calling the police.” It was a pretty
poor threat, but Roxy couldn’t think of anything better to do in the moment.

“Call the
police,” said Slam, laughing uproariously. “What, little lady, you think
hunting is a crime in Alaska or something?”

“Maybe
hunting a bear isn’t a crime. But hunting a man is.”

“But look
at him, lady. This ain’t a man. This is a bear. And plus, you think the police
wants to mess with the military, if they do find out about him being a
transformer, or shifter, or whatever you want to call him?”

Roxy
didn’t know what to say. She was furious, but felt completely helpless. Tears
started to form in her eyes. Her anger was powerful. She thought about how she
could hurt the two hunters. She was surprised at herself. She normally never
had thoughts of violence. But she found herself wondering what types of weapons
she could find back in Herbert’s apartment. Then she remembered he didn’t own
any guns. Maybe he had some big knives. Maybe if she ran, swinging the knife at
Slam, she could cut him, or stab him, or maybe injure him just a little.

The sound
of her lover’s terrified and angry roars was driving her mad. She felt like she
was crawling out of her skin. She felt like she had to do something. Something.
Anything. But she didn’t know what.

“I’ll go
get the truck,” said Jilly. “I think with the crane we should be able to load
him on no problem.” Jilly ran off down the alley. No doubt moments later he
would return, and they would carry her new lover off to where she was unlikely
to ever see him again. He would be locked away in some horrible military
basement, experimented on again and again, in who know what way.

Just
then, Herbert did the only thing he could do in the situation.

He
couldn’t escape the net as a bear. But he could escape it as a man.

That was
what the hunters hadn’t counted on.

In a
flash, he had shifted back into regular Herbert. He was again a muscular and
wiry human with tattoos and some grey in his hair and beard.

Even
though he had transformed, he was of course still in the metal net. But he was
thin enough that he was able to slip between the titanium threads. He was
already halfway through by the time Slam had understood what had happened.

Slam
charged forward, determined to stop Herbert no matter what. He lowered his
head, and slammed into Herbert with all the force of a college level football
player. Herbert was only partially free of the net. His leg was still caught in
it.

Roxy knew
intuitively that Herbert couldn’t transform with part of his body in between
the net. As a bear, his leg would swell to massive proportions, and the
titanium wire would still be where it was, and it would cut through his bear
leg as if it was Swiss cheese.

So
Herbert had to free his leg from the metal net before he could transform. But
Slam was on top of him now, trying to push all his weight against Herbert so
that he would stay in place.

They were
huffing and cursing at each other. Herbert was strong and wiry, but as a human
he wasn’t quite a match for Slam, who was simply too massive and too muscly.

Suddenly
Roxy had an idea. She ran away from them, hoping that Slam wouldn’t completely
overpower Herbert before she returned. She ran into the bar. This was an old
trick from the movies. She reached over the bar, her big boobs pressing against
it, as she grabbed a huge bottle of tequila from underneath. It was a generic
brand.

She
rushed back outside and without stopping, sprinted over to where Slam was. He
had his hands around Herbert’s throat. “Dead of alive,” he was saying,
practically growling. In that moment Slam certainly seemed the most animal like
of the two.

Herbert
was turning blue in the face.

Roxy
swung the tequila bottle high in the air in an arc before slamming it onto
Slam’s head. It connected with a crunch, and the bottle shattered into a
million pieces, tequila pouring onto Slam’s head. He passed out instantly,
falling in a heap onto the pavement.

Regaining
some of the color in his face, Herbert, said “Thanks, Roxy,” and finally pulled
his leg out from the net. “I’ll see you soon, baby,” he said, before
transforming again.

The
transformation happened this time in just a split second.

Herbert
was again a giant grizzly bear.

He roared
a ferocious roar.

Surprisingly,
Slam woke up. It seemed like the loud roar had woken him up. Facing Herbert as
a giant bear, with his barred teeth and massive muscles, Slam looked terrified.

But Slam
was pretty quick. Despite the incredible look of fear on his face, he reached
behind him and pulled a giant pistol from where it had been tucked into his
waistband.

Roxy had
seemed similar pistols before. They were specifically made for hunters and
woodsmen, in case they came across wild bears in their travels.

The
caliber of the gun must have been enormous, much larger than .45. It was the
largest pistol Roxy had ever seen. It looked like it could only hold one
bullet, and the bullet must have been massive. Surely, it could hurt Herbert.

But
before Roxy could make a move to stop Slam, he had pointed the pistol directly
at Herbert’s face. Slam was simply too fast for Roxy.

Roxy
wanted to cry out as she saw in slow motion Slam’s finger pulling against the
trigger. Surely the giant bullet would destroy Herbert’s face.

But she
hadn’t been counting on how fast Herbert’s reflexes were. They were true bear
reflexes, much faster than any human’s.

With a
swipe of his massive paw, Herbert swatted the gun out of Slam’s hand as if it
were a toy.

Slam
stood there, completely stunned.

Roxy knew
Herbert could have killed Slam with one more swipe of his paw. She admired how
he had chosen to disarm Slam, rather than kill him, even though it meant more
possible danger to himself.

Just
then, the headlights of an enormous tractor-trailer truck appeared at the end
of the alley. Jilly had returned with the truck. He was completely blocking the
end of the alley. It was the only way out, and there was no way Herbert could
get past the truck in his bear form. There wasn’t even any room between the
wall and the cab for a human to squeeze through. Even if Herbert transformed
back into a human, he wouldn’t be able to squeeze through.

Jilly
honked the loud truck horn. He flashed the lights. He must have known something
was up. Through the windshield, Roxy saw him grab an enormous hunting rifle
with a massive scope from the backseat. Jilly then positioned himself so that
he could climb part way out the window of the truck cab. There was no way he
could open the door enough to get out, since the brick wall was preventing any
movement.

Herbert
turned his great bear snout and looked right at Roxy. Even though he didn’t say
any words, he seemed to communicate with Roxy in an almost-telepathic way. Roxy
later would wonder if the communication had taken place because of the sexual
and romantic connection they had established only hours before. There were many
stories of lovers who could talk to each other with just their minds.