Redeeming the bear trapp.., p.15
Redeeming the Bear (Trapped in Bear Canyon Book 3),
p.15
Several of his companions rushed at Riker, but he knocked them out of the way with a few well-placed elbows, sending them sprawling back onto the ground. Those that didn’t attack stepped backward to let Riker through.
The man, now covering his face as blood poured from either his mouth or nose—either way, Riker didn’t care—was caught unaware as Riker grabbed the man by the neck. He lifted him into the air and then slammed him down onto the ground on his back, the floorboards splintering under the impact.
With a loud grunt, the man pounded the ground, but before he could get up, Riker shoved his heavy, steel-toed boot onto the man’s chest. He struggled to get free, but the harder he resisted, the harder Riker pressed, until he finally stopped. All around them, his cowardly drinking buddies gaped in shock.
“My town. My rules,” Riker commanded as he leaned over the drunk, enjoying the way his foot rested squarely on the man’s chest. “Welcome to Bear Canyon, bitches.”
Ana stomped her way through the underbrush, trying to ignore the ache of her backpack weighing her down.
Corey, you asshole.
No, that was too kind a word for the man who’d dumped her in the woods on what was supposed to be a romantic vacation that would make everything better for them.
Yes, things had been rough for months and gotten worse in the past few weeks, but she’d never expected he’d been cheating.
Or after being confronted about it, he would leave her in the woods with nothing but their camping gear and no way to get home.
She checked her phone for the millionth time and sighed. Still no reception. She hadn’t worried about it because Corey’s carrier got service up here. Now she realized that had been a mistake.
Quitting her job and putting her dreams on hold to help support him with his stupid DJ career that never went anywhere was also a mistake.
Falling in love with him had been the biggest mistake of all.
She kicked small sticks out of her way with righteous vindication as she trudged over the small mountain path that looked like it hadn’t been used in a long time. She knew there was some sort of town around here, way up in the mountains, some hokey village named Bear Canyon or something like that.
But until she found herself alone in the woods, unwilling to stay at a campsite that just reminded her of what a jerk she’d dated, she hadn’t planned to visit.
Now she had nothing to do but hike, and even as the trail got steeper and narrower, with the trees closing in and jagged rocks biting at the toes of her hiking shoes, she was determined to get to her destination. There, she would hopefully find a phone, call her sympathetic friends, and go have a cry over a nice cup of warm coffee. And never go camping again.
Not that she minded being in the woods. In fact, right now, with afternoon sunlight streaming through the trees and beautiful mountain views all around her, it was refreshing enough to almost make her forget how bad everything had gotten.
A tiny, ashamed part of her wished she’d never looked over when his phone had dinged while he was setting up their cookstove.
But no, it was always better to know. The truth was worthwhile, no matter now much it hurt, and all she could regret was not knowing it sooner.
Now she could get back to repairing her life and figuring out where she wanted to go in a life with no man in it. She would simply hang around with her girlfriends, who loved her, and try to forget. And stay away from men for a while.
Heck, with her bad judgment, maybe she should just stay away from men altogether.
She came over the top of a hill and brushed her sweaty, red hair out of her face as she started down the next little canyon that led to another, taller hill. Overall, she was rising in elevation, and the breeze up here through the trees was wonderful, even if she was growing tired.
She heard male voices faintly carried on the wind and froze. She pushed aside the tree branches blocking her narrow path and looked through them as she crested the hill.
She’d found something all right, but it wasn’t what she’d expected. Instead of a town, she saw what looked like an event site in a dirt clearing. She saw a huge ring off to the side, with tons of men gathered around it. They were still a good way from her, so she crouched and hid against one of the trees, squinting to see what was going on.
Aside from the large ring with the crowd around it, there were a couple tents in the distance and, beyond that, more mountain trail. Perhaps the town was up there. Or perhaps she’d gone the wrong way.
She heard a loud growl and flinched, turning back to the ring, which was fenced in on all sides by high, heavy duty metal.
The crowd let out a cheer, and she wondered if her eyes were just fooling her or if the men in the crowd really did seem larger than usual.
Another hair fell in her face, and she bit her lip as she undid her hair tie, pulled her hair back as tight as she could, and retied it, all the while keeping her eyes on the scene by the cage.
But who was fighting there, and why? Was this something mountain people did? Illegal cage fighting?
Another roar sounded, and Ana felt a sick feeling inside. That sounded an awful lot like an animal. They couldn’t be…
She snuck along the ground, moving in the direction of the ring while still staying in the cover of the woods. Hopefully no one would notice her, and she could get a closer look.
Another roar rent the air, and she looked up from her crawling to see a furry head rise above the crowd, white teeth flashing in the sunlight. Was that a… bear?
Either that or her coffee had been laced with something hallucinogenic.
She scrambled back on her hands, pushing herself back from the sight as her brain tried to comprehend it. All she’d wanted was a ride home. All she’d wanted was to avoid men and heal from this whole thing.
Instead, she was alone in the mountains, and there was a giant crowd of men between her and the town she needed to get to, presumably.
Tall, angry-looking men who were watching a totally illegal fight between animals.
She heard snapping in the woods and jumped, looking around her. Maybe this had been a bad idea after all. Maybe she should just go back to the campsite and wait for reception. Maybe—
But as she stood and started to creep away, she heard voices coming closer.
“I smelled her. I’m certain,” a low voice said.
She jerked and started back toward the way she came, ready to run full speed once she was back on the trail, but she felt her arm brutally caught from behind, nearly yanking her off her feet as she stopped.
She whirled around, jerking her arm free from her surprised attacker, whose face changed from glare to grin as he looked down at her.
She slowly moved her eyes up his massive body until she reached his grizzled, bearded face. Her eyes hadn’t been playing tricks on her. The men here were giant.
The men behind him grinned and came closer, a deadly semicircle that made her wish she didn’t have on a heavy pack and wonder if she could ditch it fast enough to get out of there.
“Hold on, now,” the one in front said, stroking his beard. “We don’t mean to hurt ya none.”
“Yeah,” one of his buddies said from behind him. “Just wanted to see what you were doing here.”
“No place for a lady,” a third said mockingly.
A chill went down to her toes. Despite the friendly note in their tones, with her backpack on, she felt like a turtle approached by hungry lions. The one in front looked especially ready to eat her, his dark eyes gleaming as he stepped forward rubbing calloused hands together.
“I was just leaving,” she said, stepping back and looking over her shoulder for the best route. “I think I got lost.”
She turned to run but hadn’t taken two steps before the man was in front of her with just a rustle of the grass around them.
How had he moved so quickly?
He caught her hand and pulled her against him, easily stymying her struggles as she pushed against his rock-hard chest. “Calm down, sweetheart,” he said. “Hell, we can use someone like you around here. Lots of hungry boys.”
“I don’t care,” she spat. “Eat this.” She brought up a knee, hitting him squarely in the groin, and he bent forward, releasing her. Before she could run, two of his friends were in front of her, blocking her way. They walked forward, trapping her as their friend recovered.
She turned to face him, hating the evil gleam in his eye.
“I was going to be nice to you,” he said, wiping his mouth. “But now you’ve done it.” He took a step forward. “If I were you, I wouldn’t fight anymore. You’re just going to make me angry.”
She tightened her hands into fists. Like hell she wouldn’t fight him. If today had taught her one thing, it was that she wasn’t going to just go along with whatever a man wanted from her.
Never again.
Sheltered by the Bear
Terry Bolryder Reading Order
A Note From Terry
Most of my series go by species. Most of my books are standalone, but if you want to read them in order and see characters reappearing, here is my list of the order for each species. So just choose your favorite shifter!
Bears
Bearstone Park Series
A billionaire tech mogul, a movie star, and an Olympic snowboarder come back to Bearstone Park and find unexpected but wonderful mates.
Bearllionaire
Bearlebrity
Bearthlete
Beary Sexy Boxed Set: All three brothers in one (BEST DEAL)
Soldier Bear Series
These ex special-forces fighting bears are about to find curvy mates in beautiful, remote Bearstone Village.
Big Bad Bear
Big Sexy Bear
Big Strong Bear
Bear Haven Ranch Series
These rancher bear brothers need to find mates to keep the family land. Luckily, three curvy city girls are about to arrive just in time.
Mountain Bear
Rancher Bear
Wild Bear
Mountain Lion
Bear Claw Security
These sexy ex-special forces soldier bears are ready to protect in a whole new way, as bodyguards of the exclusive Bear Claw Security.
Bear to the Bone
Bear-ly a Hero
Bear to the Rescue
Bear-ly Human
Bear to the End
Polar Heat Series
A matchmaking papa bear sets his three bear shifter sons up with women on a Caribbean island.
Bear-ever Yours
Some Bear to Love
One in a Bear-l-lion
Remem-bear Me (Dad’s book)
Polar Heat Boxed set (Savings!)
Dragons
Dragons of New York (Menage)
Dragons work in pairs, the fire-breathing enforcers of the shifter world and rescuers of anyone in distress. And these sexy dragons are about to find mates:
Double Dragons
Desired by Dragons
Destined Dragons
Tiger Protector Series (Spin-off of Dragons)
Three tiger brothers trained by dragon shifters work to bring evil shifters to justice while finding the perfect curvy mates.
A Tiger’s Bounty
A Tiger’s Treasure
A Tiger’s Destiny
A Dragon’s Heart
Awakened Dragons
These powerful, newly awakened ancient dragons are stronger, more vicious, more powerful, and ready to save humankind, if only they can decide to be heroes rather than villains…
Onyx Dragon
Sapphire Dragon
Ruby Dragon
Diamond Dragon
Amethyst (this book)
Lions
Lions of Pride Island
The hot royal family of shifters is ready to find mates!
King of Rock
Prince of Fate
Protector of the Pride
Wolves (The Alpha Series)
Alpha Games Serial (Complete story with boxed set)
An alpha female returns home to the pack mates she left and finds herself choosing between three alpha males in this paranormal romance serial from Terry Bolryder
Alpha Games Boxed Set
Alpha Rogue Serial (Novellas with cliffhangers between volumes)
An MMA fighting shifter meets his match in his exciting paranormal romance serial from Terry Bolryder.
Alpha Rogue Boxed Set
Alpha Contender Serial (Novellas with cliffhangers between volumes)
A average human woman finds out she’s a desirable female alpha and ends up in a mansion with ten possible suitors in this paranormal romance serial from Terry Bolryder.
Alpha Contender Boxed Set
Ultimate Alpha Boxed Set (One huge series)
Ultimate Alpha Boxed Set
Alpha Defender
When alpha wolf Thor finds an acquaintance on his doorstep needing his help, will he take the mysterious person in, or step aside?
*Stars Thor from Alpha Contender Series*
Alpha Defender on Amazon
Wolf Protectors Series
Three hot, wolf shifter brothers run a martial arts studio and divide their time between training to be the toughest around and winning over their sexy, independent mates. All in KU!
*Stars Asher from Alpha Contender Series*
Alpha Champion
Alpha Hero
Alpha Protector
Terry Bolryder, Redeeming the Bear (Trapped in Bear Canyon Book 3)
