Bearing My Soul: A Paranormal Werebear Shifter Romance by Ellen Graves Read Free Book Online

heft crushed them. I cried out in pain and horror, but they ignored me.
     
    “What do you want?” I demanded. I attempted to sound angry, but my voice cracked and broke with every word.
     
    “Just goin’ to have some fun, love,” the fat one sniggered. “Then, you can go home.”
     
    “But Carl,” the man who held my arms spat, “you said when were done we hafta...”
     
    “Shut up!” Carl snapped. “You just shut up and pin her down.”
     
    I forced myself to acknowledge what they were about to do. I heard myself bawling in despair. I curled up inside and walled myself off from the hell of reality. “Please don’t!” I wailed. “Just let me go, please!” My stomach turned sick and I tried to imagine I wasn’t there at all.
     
    Although I pleaded, I knew it was hopeless. Misery and despair poured through every inch of me. They had me there, alone, helpless. They were going to use me, then kill me. They had no mercy.
     
    The third guy kneeled beside me and struggled to pull my coat off of me. The icy chill froze me instantly. Carl dug fat fingers between the buttons of my shirt. His breath choked me, as he ripped my shirt open and let the breeze hit my bare skin.
     
    “Get off her bra!” the man holding my arms squawked.
     
    “No,” I whimpered, then I screamed in a last ditch effort of desperation and gloom.
     
    “Don’t scream!” Carl barked. I opened my eyes to see him pull out a large hunting knife. He brandished it in my terrified face with a big grin. “We don’t want to have to gut you like a fish, see?” He laughed, as I sobbed in total helplessness. A crushing terror squeezed my insides until I couldn’t breathe.
     
    “Cry all you want little girl, but don’t scream!”
     
    I jolted, as the man kneeling over me screamed. His shrill voice pierced the dusky air like a thousand pins.
     
    “What the fu...” Carl’s words fell off midsentence. I looked up at him. The world moved in slow motion, as his horrified expression froze across his face. I watched, detached and bewildered, as the man kneeling beside me scrambled to his feet. He turned and raced back along the trail. Carl leapt off of me and ran, too. His boots thudded hard on the path. Glancing up, I saw the man who pinned my wrists look behind him. A low, thundering growl emanated from somewhere beyond.
     
    He jumped over me and followed the other two in a dead run. Behind him loomed a dark, menacing animal. Its teeth were bared and its eyes narrowed with wicked fierceness. The demon lurched from the early dusk shadows and clawed its way toward me.
     
    I choked on my screams, as I watched the horrid beast race at me. Drool hung from long sharp fangs. Its thick fur was matted with gory ooze. Its brute strength pulsed and rippled through its long legs. It bounded directly at me, snarling ferociously. Its claws dug into the soft soil as it ran. It was a devil freed from the hottest depths of hell and it looked angry.
     
    I couldn’t move, but I managed to cover my head with my hands and scream. I screamed louder and louder, as the horrid beast pounded its way to where I lay helpless, and...
     
    It leapt past me. Air rushed over my body as it flew over me and raced further down along the trail. I rolled over and sat up, stunned as I watched the back end of the beast round a turn in the trail.
     
    The hunter’s wild screams rang out through the forest. I heard them make it to their truck, as the doors slammed. Several shots cracked in surreal violence. The truck engine roared and sped down the road. I heard the beast slam into the side, denting the metal with a dull crunch. Then, it was suddenly silent.
     
    I sat on the cold ground. My torn shirt wafted in the breeze. It was just me, as I sat alone in the calm of the forest.
     
    The snort of the beast reached my ears only seconds before it rounded the bend and came back into view. Its hideous claws sank into the ground with every step. It came toward me, but it