Worshiped By The Bear Kings - Complete by Rosette Bolter Read Free Book Online Page B

him.

 
    CHAPTER TWO
     
     
    Eternal darkness. Thunder Brad stood
between the river and the forest and saw the fire was so great, he wouldn’t be
able to rescue anyone who’d been left behind. He wiped the remaining tears away,
and turned back in the direction of the waterfall.
    Spike…
    Brad ground
his teeth together and shifted into his bear. He staggered back down the hill
and bounded across the edge of the river. He moved on to the waterfall’s
underneath passage.
    While this
structure was so entrenched it would probably be safe from the fire, Brad
didn’t know how much of the river’s bank would be accessible if Spike remained
here any longer.
    In a hurry,
he found Spike lying in a pile of cushions floating above the pool, his eyes
closed, fast asleep. Brad reached out and swatted him angrily, to get his
attention.
    Spike fell
off the pillows and into the water, surprised to by his cousin’s bear form.
    Once out of
the water, Brad’s stern glare at him was enough for Spike to understand there
was imminent danger, and shifted into his bear likewise. The pair raced out of
the temple and moved on to the left side of the river, where the forest fire
had yet to touch.
    After a long,
arduous journey to the top of the mountain, the pair went to the edge of it so
they could see how far the damage had gone. They simultaneously shifted into
their human forms.
    “Who has done
this?” Spike demanded. “Why have they done it? What do you know?”
    “It was the
Destair,” Brad answered. “I spoke with Hades.”
    “Where is the
Uthuro? Where is our tribe? Have you led them to safety?”
    Brad lowered
his head. “It was too late, my cousin. I was struck down before I could do anything.”
    “I don’t
believe it,” Spike said. “They must have taken … hostages … prisoners…”
    “Perhaps they
did,” Brad said. “I guess there is that hope.”
    “What did
Hades say for himself? Have the black bears moved so far away this fire won’t
touch them?”
    “They had
come a great distance. They rode on horseback. In their bear forms.”
    “An act of
war?”
    “Hades said
it was as incentive for us to rejoin the Destair. Serve him as we served his
father.”
    “How could he
ever trust us with his life, after he has done this to us?”
    “I don’t
know. He obviously believes his tribe is the only sanctuary for bears.”
    “But we could
never join,” Spike said. “Could we?”
    Brad looked
at Spike. “No. He is now a murderer. Even if our tribe is alive, he had killed
all our animal friends. He has destroyed the trees. Our home. He is worse, than
the worst humans.”
    Spike took a
deep breath.
    Slowly, he
released it.
    “They have
our mate too,” Brad informed him. “Jasmine was taken by them.”
    “What?” Spike
cried. “How did – how could you let this –?”
    “Please do
not argue with me,” Brad said. “I was outnumbered. There were dozens of them.”
    “We have to
find her,” Spike said. “Who knows what they could be doing to her? Have you
thought about that?”
    Brad shook
his head. “I couldn’t bring myself to.”
    “But this
isn’t over, is it? You will fight them with me, won’t you?”
    Brad nodded.
“Till the end.”
    “Till the
end.”
    Brad motioned
back to the trees. It was time to move on.
    Back on the
path, he heard Spike whispering a prayer for Jasmine.
    Brad closed
his eyes.
    And did the
same.

 
    CHAPTER
THREE
     
     
    By now, Jasmine and her captors were
far away from the bear kings and their forest fire, and there was no telling
how far they intended to go. Jasmine was sandwiched between the horse and the
black bear riding it, with little room for her to peer out in front or behind
her. It may have been just because they were in the depths of night now, but
the leaves in this part of the forest seemed darker. The trees were longer,
thinner, sharper. She could see ahead of her, and for much time there wasn’t
anything that resembled light.
    Since the
horse never