Her Bear Protector (BBW Shifter Romance) by Bonnie Burrows

trail that led to Aaron's family's cabin settlement with my loaded .38 Special tucked into the waistband of my jeans. With no safety catch, only a harder trigger pull than most guns serving as a safety feature, I knew this particular firearm was the best kind to take to the battle. If Aaron needed help and I had to fire quickly, I wouldn't even need to waste a tenth of a second clicking a safety catch off.
                I strode down the trail, lighting the path with a flashlight, while a few early-rising birds chirped in the darkened trees around me. By the time I reached the cabin, maybe twenty-something minutes later, the palest shades of gray and lavender colored the sky. I knew I had just a little over a half-hour before sunrise, and the start of the battle.
                 I investigated the woods bordering the east side of the settlement, looking for some sort of trail, but couldn't spot one. I suddenly realized I should have brought a knife of some kind, even a regular dinner knife, in case I had to hack my way through dense forest the entire half-mile to the clearing. But then I remembered that Aaron and his family went to the clearing, so even if there wasn't an actual trail, they would've had to have cleared the way at least enough for them to walk through, whether they'd been in bear form or human form at the time. I began inching along the edge of the woods looking for an entry-way again, and this time, soon spotted one, just a little beyond where I'd concentrated my search before. Several thick raspberry bushes appeared to have been flattened, leading to a more open space through clusters of dense trees.
                I set out on this trail of sorts, relieved when about a hundred paces in, the trail became more defined, seeming to head in a fairly straight shot to the east.
                It didn't take me long to reach the clearing. But I didn't see it first; I more like heard it. I stopped dead in my tracks, listening, as roars filled the air. I wondered if the battle had already begun. But although the sky was now colored in shades of pink and orange, the sun hadn't actually risen yet. I tiptoed the rest of the way down the path, cutting north to hide myself behind some tall evergreens when I spotted the trail exit and the clearing beyond.
                From my spot between the evergreens, I surveyed the grassy clearing, mere feet in front of me. Aaron and his brothers, all in bear form, stood shoulder-to-shoulder in a line on the side of the clearing closest to me. Just a little behind them stood three smaller bears I knew must be Sarah, Jasmine, and Emily. Hardly bigger than a cub, Emily was easily recognizable. The bright ginger color of her fur stood out against Jasmine and Sarah's deep brown fur.
                 Opposite Aaron and his family, maybe only ten feet beyond them, stood a line of wolves about three times the size of any I'd ever seen in a zoo. One stood in the middle of the pack, at least a head taller than the others, and a foot or two in front of the others. He threw his head back and howled, his silvery-gray fur glinting in the early morning light, and the other wolves followed suit. I knew this wolf must be Alexander.
                Aaron, who stood in the middle of his brothers, answered Alexander's howl with a roar, rising to his hind legs and beating his paws against his chest, his full height at least seven feet. A bear next to him joined in, rising to his full height as well, roaring. I figured this bear was Calvin, because of a distinctive gray streak in the fur on the side of his head, similar to a steak of gray Calvin had running through his hair in human form. The rest of the bears joined in the roar, the sandy-colored bear I knew to be Seth, pawing the ground as if he couldn't wait for the battle to begin.
                And just then, the sun rose. Golden light flooded the clearing. The howls and roars