Bears & Beauties - Complete by Terra Wolf, Mercy May Page A

and my bear’s single-minded determination that I’d become so wealthy. By the time I had realized what was going on and just how much money I was making, there was no putting a stop to it. I had an image to maintain now, and that image came with some serious consequences. One of which was that I would never be able to let my true self, my bear, out into the open.
    So at night, I moonlighted as a cage fighter in an underground shifters-only fight club. Shifters from all over the region came to duke it out inside the cage. Not for money, but for dominance. To prove to their inner beast that they and not the others were the greatest. The fights drew crowds that swelled well into the hundreds at times, every one of them a shifter just itching for their chance at dominance. Most would never make it inside the octagon, though. They were too weak. Too fragile. Meant to be subordinate and ignored.
    But not me. Not my bear.
    Here, I was king.
    As I made my way around the octagon, still playing at the crowd, I heard the familiar sound of flesh tearing and bones rending. Before I had a chance to turn around, a deafening roar sounded, silencing the cheers from the crowd. The distinct scent of a big cat was suddenly stronger, and I turned to see a massive mountain lion crouched down in front of me, its fangs bared and claws ready to strike.
    My bear snarled as I braced myself, preparing to shift. My opponent had violated the rules. Shifting during a fight was strictly prohibited. But I’ll be damned if I wasn’t going to defend myself.
    I started to clear my mind, letting the bear’s consciousness overtake my own, but it was already too late. Before I could shift, the massive mountain lion lunged toward me, its fangs digging into my shoulder as I threw my arms up in a defensive posture.
    I roared as the pain ignited my senses, doing everything I could to force my opponent off of me. I threw a pair of punches into the lion’s stomach, but to no avail. The beast continued to tear into my shoulder, absolutely deadening my left arm.
    I was bleeding profusely then and the world was starting to spin. I knew it wouldn’t be long before I lost consciousness or worse. But there was nothing I could do to get the monstrous beast off of me.
    BOOM !
    An explosion sounded from the back of the arena, followed by a sickening thud right in front of my face. The mountain lion’s grip on my shoulder lessened suddenly and the beast dropped to the floor of the octagon, a tranquilizer dart protruding from its neck.
    I stared at the mountain lion for a long moment before collapsing to the floor, the world suddenly fading into black.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Megan
     
    My backpack jostled against my shoulder as I walked away from the bus stop, my earbuds blasting the latest Billboard 100 pop song directly into my brain. I jarred my head from side to side in time with the beat, doing my best to keep the singing in my head and not on the street. It was one thing to walk down the road jamming to some over-hyped music, it was something else entirely to offer it to uneasy onlookers. Not that there were many strolling about at that time of night, but still.
    I had just left my study group at the campus library and my head felt like it was about to explode. No matter what the professors said, there really was such a thing as studying too hard. And I’d just proved that an eight-hour cram session was all it took to reach that limit. No matter. Today I was an over-tired medical student, tomorrow I’d be a doctor. Assuming I passed my exam, that is. And then there was the whole residency thing. So, at least in name, I’d be a doctor.
    Dr. Megan Holt , I mused as I continued bobbing my way down the street. It has a nice ring to it. Megan Holt, M.D. Even better.
    Something about accomplishing a lifelong goal has a way to make a girl feel upbeat and like nothing in the world can defeat her. In fact, at that moment, I felt like nothing could rock my