Read Guardian Bears: Karl for Free Online

the way the three men looked at her didn’t reassure her at all.
    “Matt, why don’t you do as the woman asks,” the approaching man said, tone entirely reasonable and friendly. “We’re all friends here, after all. We all want to find the Monster.”
    As the man at her side let go, she turned to face the newcomer. “I’m not your friend,” she told him. “And who the hell do you think you are?”
    “My name’s Damian,” he told her, chuckling nastily, entirely unimpressed by her anger. “And I hunt monsters, so you can give up on trying to intimidate me. I’ve seen far worse than you, little lady.”
    That stung. Allison glared at him, suddenly certain she’d made the right choice in walking away from Megan – confiding in someone who’d speak to her like that couldn’t have been a good idea. And the way he spoke about monster hunting, she didn’t think that the main aim was catching one on camera.
    Forcing herself to relax, she spoke quietly but firmly. “I wouldn’t be so quick – you might not be scared of me, but I work for the sheriff.”
    That was stretching it a little, but ‘working in the deputy’s office’ wouldn’t sound as intimidating. At her comments, the men exchanged glances, but they didn’t back off. In fact, Damian took a step closer, forcing her back against her car.
    “Good for you,” he said. “But he doesn’t intimidate me either, I’m afraid. So why don’t you give me whatever it is you’re trying to hide in that pocket, and we’ll all go our separate ways, okay? We don’t need trouble with the sheriff, but you really don’t want any trouble with us.”
    He held out his hand, palm up, and Allison bit her lip, trying to think of what to do. It didn’t look like they would take no for an answer, and they had her surrounded. Maybe I should shout for help? She glanced at the Blackrock Bar’s door, all too far away, and swallowed. Probably they’d just walk off if she called out. Probably . But if they wanted to do something worse, they’d have time before anyone reached them.
    And they looked crazy enough that she didn’t want to take the risk. Looking up into Damian’s eyes again, she saw no fear at all, just the dark amusement of a man holding prey at bay. She certainly didn’t want to hand over the hair sample to these crazy hunters, not when it looked like it might link her to the scene. God alone knew what they’d make of that!
    “What’s going on here?” The voice was hard, angry, and deep. Her eyes snapped back to the bar’s door, and there, striding towards the confrontation, was Karl.

    * * *
    S triding out of the bar , Karl felt his blood boil. The men surrounding Allison all looked up at the angry tone in his voice, and he didn’t blame them. The threat was very real, and he was having difficulty keeping his bear in check.
    Something had drawn him out of the bar when Damian had left. He hadn’t known what it was, but his bear had insisted. It meant pushing past the camera man, and now he was certain that the way the man had blocked the exit wasn’t an accident. Now he could see that the filming was at least partly an excuse to keep people inside and let their boss hassle Allison.
    And that made Karl very, very angry.
    “Nothing to do with you,” Damian said, turning around to meet him. “You get on your way and we’ll be finished up here soon enough.”
    “You’re finished now,” Karl growled. “The lady doesn’t want to talk to you, so back off. Unless you want me to make you back off.”
    He half-hoped they’d take him up on that offer. There might be three of them here in the parking lot, but he knew that he could take them all if he had to. If not in his human form, his bear was itching for a fight, and these three wouldn’t stand a chance against the giant predator he could become.
    It would be so easy to change forms and deal with this, and he could feel his body wanting to shift. It took an effort of will not to give in to