The Black Bear

Thyra:

“You can hear me?” My voice shrieked out in shock, pressing my paws to my vibrating chest as they stared at me with bright smirks of curiosity.

“Yes we can, little one.” Rocko brushed his finger along my slack jaw, ears twitching as my whiskers trembled in waves of surprise.

“Thyra! My name is Thyra.” Looking between the three amused smiles that melted my heart, taking the other cookie that was offered as they took seats along the L-shaped desk. JR placed his hand on-top of the desk, quickly moving onto the glass top protecting the beautifully crafted hickory desk with a natural finish, allowing the rich grain to pop beautifully against the dark stained mahogany walls.

“Hello, Thyra. I’m JR, that’s Max, and the ‘lost for words’ man that found you is Rocko.” Shaking his outstretched finger with my paws as they poured themselves another round of bourbon, giggling at the flustered expression across Rocko’s handsome face snarling lowly back at them.

“Yes, I put the names to the faces, while you spoke with that piece of shit of a husband, Myles.” Catching them off-guard, halting their glasses millimeters from their snarling lips.

“Did you just say..” All three pointed out in shock.

“Yes. Yes. Husband, but that’s not important. He came here for our son, Peyton...” Stopped by the growling huffs that rolled angrily along my puffed-out fur, shrinking down into a ball as they leaned forward with swirling orbs of blackness.

“Your son?” Max growled the words, scaring me more as a whimpering squeak, twitched out over my flattened whiskers as Rocko slowly brushed his finger along my trembling spine.

“Y-Yes. My son, but I’m nothing like them. I came here to warn Elicia.” Scooped up, clamping down on the muscular thumb that held my trembling body in mid-air. Squealing out in shock at the grumbling growl of Rocko as he held me to eye level with those soulful green eyes laced perfectly with gray flecks.

“Easy, Thyra. I won’t hurt you.” His voice was laced with a soothing calmness, releasing my sharp teeth from his already healing skin, tasting the after taste of metallic-iron along my tiny tongue.

“Sorry, natural instinct for a Rat.” Chuckling softly at his tilted smirk, looking back at JR and Max staring with cold expressions.

“He’s already past the border.” JR snarled out lowly, locking on to my trembling form with those golden-blues swirling wildly with a menacing blackness.

“Why are you looking for Elicia, and warn her about what exactly?” JR and Max leaned against the glass desktop, their forearms flexing and twitching with slight ticks along those strong jaw muscles as Rocko gently placed me back down with a reassuring smile.

“Please don’t eat me, but I took care of her while they tortured her. I can only do so much in this body and tending to her wounds was all I could do.” Motioning to my tiny body, flinching back at their sudden snarls and jerks of their bodies.

“What exactly did they do to her?” Max looked conflicted as his by-colored orbs flickered with a darkness I have seen before.

Bloodlust. Rage. Homicidal.

“Tormenting her already weakened mental state with taunts about the Nightshade Quad using her, not wanting her. Telling her about how they “Thrive on Pain” and “Feed on Pleasurable Fear”. I know about my nephew’s history…” Interrupted by a slurry of snarls and exhales as Max scooped me up quickly, squealing out in fright as his long pearly-white fangs elongated, drawing out tiny beads of crimson from his pursed lips.

“Your What!” The words sharp and menacing as they rolled over his twitching lips.

“My nephew’s by marriage. Myles is their Uncle.” Pressing back against his curled fingers as his body heat seeped through my fur, trembling in fear as his beast raged behind the blackness swirling violently in his eyes.

“Don’t tell me. Titan is your brother-in-law.” JR leaned forward with a snarling growl of mockery, feeling the suffocating presence of their auras as the room began to spin violently with my racing heartbeat.

“Maybe it’s a good thing M and Lexi aren’t here.” Rocko chuckled darkly as he motioned to Max to hand me over, scampering over into his safe palms as Max sat motionless with a blank expression.

“Not by choice. I was taken as a mate and wife. My father traded me off as payment to the DeLois Family. I had no idea who they were really, just a prominent family with strong bear lineage.” Relaxing slightly as they nodded in agreement, leaning back into their chairs with their glasses in hand.

“Mind explaining how you became a rat.” JR motioned to my tiny body, shifting my body so I could sit comfortably in the warmth of strong, reassuring palms.

“I was sixteen when Myles took me as his mate and wife. Peyton was born within the same year, but things changed. Myles took over his upbringing, and that’s when his true intentions became known. I got scared when I found out I was with child again, Bain, and I took off, but Titan and those fucked-up fighters, intercepted me about fifty miles North of the family estate.” Scared stupid at the growling, half-shifted forms that jumped to their feet, pacing wildly along the wall of windows overlooking the children from earlier, playing kickball. Soothed by the soft embrace of Rocko’s thumb as it rubbed down my side, looking at his gentle greens reassure me.

“I was caged until I gave birth, and then Myles sent his whore witch to poison me. My family bloodline was known for the “svart bjorn”, and the poison somehow turned me into a rat.” Uncertain at the sudden stop in pacing, feeling smaller than I already was as their swirling black orbs stared into my soul, plucking it from the heavens on a thunderous ride as my heart hammered violently behind my eyes.

“The Black Bear.” Max spoke in a gravelly tone, causing every hair to stand-on-end as another sinister voice spoke through his link over top of him.

“How do you know about the “Black Bear”, and who just spoke?” Questioning my own sanity as a creepy chuckle ripped from his chest, noticing a familiar scent of crisp forest.

Shifting through my memories, trying to recall that scent as it slammed into me like a wrecking ball. My mother had sent me a care-package shortly after Peyton’s birth, filled with my favorite sweets and photos of my baby brother, Maximus. The same, crisp forest scent lingering on the tiny booties she sent as a memento for missing his birth.

Is he my brother? No, impossible.

“That was Kaval, my bear. My Black Bear.” He spoke with an amused tone as a tingling numbness crept through my limbs, stunned into silence as I compared this inked beast of a man with piercings, to the tiny little boy pictured to perfection with thick auburn locks tucked cutely under a black and red knitted cap.

“Y-Your what!” Shrieking out in shock and confusion, wrapped around the swirling memories as his by-colored eyes swirled into black pools of intense emotions. Reassured by the soothing warmth of Rocko’s palms as he sat quietly with the occasional nod of understanding.

“Max, I think Thyra might be your missing link to your past.” JR spoke with a calm amusement as he shared a knowing smile of unspoken understanding.

“We’ll address that later, but first, I need to know what this ‘warning’ is you spoke about earlier.” Max’s whole demeanor changed as his eyes slowly shifted back to their normal by-colored hues of green and amber, grabbing his bourbon with a tensed hand.

“I know this might sound crazy, but I just learned about this information before I arrived here. A lot of it is still settling, but I needed to find Elicia to warn her that Bain will not stop until his mission, which is totally fucked-up in every way, is fully satisfied in his mind. Myles raised those boys to follow in his footsteps, step-by-step, destroying everything in their path until they succeed. His brother Titan ran the training facilities, while Myles handled the business politics after Richard and Yvonne, my in-laws, passed away shortly after Bain was born. The oil fields, cattle ranches, and horse farms are their legit businesses masking the illegal businesses of underground fighting and slave trading.” Halted by the scary growls swirling around the room as Rocko fought to stay calm, gently setting me down on the desk as he grabbed his bourbon, gulping it down quickly.

“Mei, my wife and our mate, along with Max came from that facility in Colorado. She was that fighter who ended Titan, well, so we thought, but I have an idea of what transpired after she shredded his manhood and left him for dead with my warriors. All you need to know, is that ‘rat’, no pun intended, has already been dealt with but now those repercussions are starting to surface.” JR placed his palms flatly against the glass top, fogging the cooled surface with his radiating heat as his golden-blues studied me closely.

“I promise you this, I had no idea the damage the DeLois family was inflicting, and for the past nineteen years, I have roamed every inch of that estate, listening and learning everything I can to destroy them like they destroyed me. I didn’t ask for this to happen, but I will do everything in my capacity to protect Elicia, because she’s a very special creature. I can’t explain it, but I know for a fact that what I saw only means that she has a powerful presence that has just begun to awaken.” Accepting the bourbon dipped cookie from Max as he slowly relaxed back into his chair, humming at the woodsy tang as it slipped down my throat with a satisfied burn.

“You connected with her, and it shows. She needs someone like you on her side, because as you know, her mates are the products of Titan’s twisted beliefs. She’s confused and overwhelmed by everything, but I have faith in those boys to protect her with their lives. I should know, because I trained them.” Max’s smile reached the heavens as he spoke about them, feeling guilty he was involved in all of this, and if my suspicions are correct, even guiltier that I couldn’t protect my own brother from all of that evil.

The DeLois family will pay for their sins.