Black Bears of Independence: Marek: Black Bears of Independence, #6

By K. R. Hall

Marek Malone is the head enforcer for the Hurst Family Clan in Estes Park and a bear shifter working undercover for the Keenesburg Wildlife Sanctuary. Someone is cursing shifters to remain in their shifted form.


Stephanie Dawn Winters is cursed to remain in her black panther form. She lives in the Keenesburg Wildlife Sanctuary. She knows that Marek is her true mate, but she can do nothing to let him know.


Marek knows something is drawing him to the black panther, but he can't figure it out. After a few months, he starts hearing a female voice talking to him in his mind.


Stephanie can hardly believe that Marek is finally hearing her trying to speak to him with their mating bond link.


Now that Marek realizes that the black panther is, in reality, a shifter and his mate, can he break her curse? How did Stephanie get cursed to stay in her black panther form? Who is responsible for the curses?

WARNING, this book contains scenes and references of abuse/assault that some readers may find triggering. Along with graphic sex scenes and violence. This book is not intended for anyone under the age of 18.

• Language: English
• Publisher: K. R. Hall
• Release date: Sep 19, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215717387

Book preview

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Prologue

Dawn hated living in foster homes. She didn’t know about her birth family. When she was three, she was abandoned in a bathroom inside Union Station in downtown Denver, Colorado. Social services gave her the last name Wynters because it was near Christmas when she was found.

Dawn was sent from one foster home to another each time she reached the age limit the foster family was willing to take in. When she was eight, she shifted into a black panther. It was painful and frightening. The foster family had her immediately moved to a home that took in shifter children.

When Dawn turned thirteen, she was sent to the shifter foster home she currently lives in. There were no other foster kids, just the human’s son. She was treated poorly. When she read the Harry Potter series, she knew what Harry was going through because it mirrored her life in this foster home.

Today was Dawn’s sixteenth birthday. She would mark it as any other day. There were never any parties for her. She would pray once again to be removed from this place. She was getting more worried about the foster father.

Dawn saw him staring at her as she developed breasts and a curvier figure. She wore baggy clothes, trying to hide her figure. He would grab his crotch and say, See what you do to me, whenever it was just the two of them around.

Good morning, birthday girl, Dawn said to her reflection in the mirror before she brushed her teeth. Two more years until we age out of the system and be free.

It was the last week of March and the first day of spring break from school. Martin, the teenage son of the foster parents, was getting braces put on today. He and his mother would be gone for hours. Too bad the dad worked from home.

He was sitting at the kitchen table when she came back downstairs. He hadn’t even eaten the lunch she had made him. Martin and his mom had left after they ate. Dawn cleared the table, scraped the food into the trash, rinsed the dishes, and loaded the dishwasher. All without a sound.

Dawn didn’t want to draw his attention. Her skin crawled each time he looked at her. She couldn’t tell his wife; she wouldn’t believe it. She tried telling someone at school but chickened out because nothing had happened. He never laid a hand on her until now.

He reached out and grabbed her arm as she walked past the table to head back to her bedroom. He pulled her closer to him. He was a large man and stronger than Dawn.

Look at you. You’re so beautiful, he said.

I have homework to do, Dawn said as she tried to pull her arm free, but his grip tightened.

Liar! he shouted. You’re on spring break.

It’s an assignment to do over vacation, Dawn said, hoping he would let her go.

Dawn’s heart sank as he wrapped his arms around her and brought her down to sit on his lap. Fear filled her as she felt his hard erection. He smoothed his hand over her hair. She kicked and fought, unable to escape his grip.

Hush, he soothed. Just relax. It’s all right. I will make it feel so good.

He bent his head, lowering his lips to hers. Dawn bit down hard, drawing blood.

You little whore! he roared.

Dawn shoved him as hard as she could. The chair wobbled for a second or two before toppling over and crashing to the floor. It was what Dawn needed to break free of his grip. She scrambled to her feet and tried to run for the door. He was on her fast, taking her to the ground and slamming her head to the floor.

Dawn was temporarily stunned, but the feel of his hands trying to take off her shirt was enough to bring her back to focus. She bucked and screamed as she tried to shove him off of her. Panic rose inside her. This could not be happening. She wouldn’t let him take her virginity. He would not rape her.

Let go of me! Dawn screamed in his ear.

His eyes were wide and full of rage. The veins on his forehead and neck were popping out. He balled his hand into a fist and smashed it into her face. Dawn felt blood drip down the back of her throat as it poured out of her nose. She thought her nose was broken, but it was the least of her worries right now. By some miracle, Dawn was able to get her leg up and knee him in his crotch.

He quickly rolled off Dawn as he grabbed his dick.

You will pay for that, you ungrateful bitch! he said, his voice full of menace.

Dawn scrambled away from him and stood. She dashed to her bedroom. She needed to grab the bag that held the money she had saved up from babysitting. She reached the top of the staircase when she felt something wrap around her ankle and pull. She looked down and saw he had his hand wrapped around her ankle.

Dawn kicked several times until he let go of her ankle. She kicked his face, and he lost his balance and fell down the steps. She heard something that reminded her of the sound when someone cracked their knuckles. He landed on the floor with his head at an odd angle. He was dead.

Oh my God, Dawn cried out.

Dawn ran to her bedroom to pack some clothes in a duffle bag she had bought from the Army Surplus store. Then she grabbed the butter knife she had hidden under her mattress and pulled her dresser away from the wall. She knelt down and, using the knife, pulled up a plank of wood. In the hidden hole was the money she’s saved up. It was close to a thousand dollars. She would take a bus anywhere away from here.

Dawn ran down the steps, careful not to step on his body. She briefly thought about cleaning up the blood from her nose but was afraid the others would return before she could escape. She gingerly touched her nose and was surprised it didn’t hurt. She remembered reading somewhere online that shifters healed faster than humans.

Dawn walked out the door and never looked back. It was done; it was over. But she had lost a part of herself she would never regain.

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Chapter 1

Stephanie woke up covered in black fur again. She looked around and sighed when she saw that she was still in the sanctuary. She had no idea how she was trapped in her black panther form nor how to shift back to her human shape. She couldn’t talk, so there was no way to call for help. No one would be looking for her as she grew up in human foster homes until she was eight and shifted for the first time.

It had been ten years since she escaped the last foster home she had been in. Ten years since she killed the man who tried to rape her. She had changed her name from Dawn Wynters to Stephanie Winters with the help of Shifternet.

Stephanie ran away to Pueblo, where she went to school and became a certified nursing assistant and worked while going to school to complete her licensed practical nurse degree. After she graduated, she moved to Greeley to attend the University of Northern Colorado to get her registered nurse degree.

Stephanie remembered that evening months ago. She had been set up on a blind date by some of her nursing classmates. Jerold picked her up at the apartment she shared with two other girls. He seemed nice, and they chatted as he drove them to the theater. They were going to see the latest action movie set in the Marvel Universe.

Jerold parked in the lot and opened her door to escort her inside the theater. One of the lightbulbs was out, making the parking lot darker than usual. They were passing a dark van when a masked man, brandishing a gun, appeared from the other side.

Have you ever been shot in the belly? the gunman asked.

No, and I don’t want to. Neither does she, Jerold said as he stepped in front of Stephanie.

Stephanie began to back up to have enough room to shift into her black panther when she felt something prick her neck. The last thing she heard was gunfire.

When she woke up, she was in a cage surrounded by other shifters stuck in their animal form. The shifters explained that she was in the animal sanctuary in Keenesburg and that the humans had no idea they were not wild animals. No one knew who did this to them.

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It was easy for Stephanie to lose track of time as she remained in her shifted form. She watched the moon go through its cycle six times since she arrived at the sanctuary. She spent her days lying in the field soaking up the sun’s rays. At night she padded through the land. The natural animals steered clear of her and the other shifters.

Why do the natural animals stay away from us? Stephanie asked the Canadian lynx.

They can sense that we are not naturally born animals. That there is something different between us. They don’t understand it, so they keep a safe distance. They don’t understand that we wouldn’t harm them, Trixie replied.

I guess that makes sense.

During the time that Stephanie has been living in the sanctuary, she discovered that the shifter animals in the sanctuary were not part of a group. They were all lone shifters and none of them had met until they were captured. There were a pair of African lions named Kiya and Aaron. The alpacas, Cesar and Ellie, came from Colombia. The camels Lana and Pancho came from Egypt. The Coatimundis, Derek and Natalie, came from California. Harriet and George are the emus who came from Australia. Rego and Despina were jaguars who came from Brazil. Ausha and Ajani were leopards from India. Shari and Ricky were tigers who came from North Carolina. Isabelle and Conri were both wolves. Isabelle was from Montana, and Conri was from Wyoming. Brandon was a bear from Connecticut, and Melody was a bear from New York. Hunter was a bobcat from New Mexico, and the bobcat Zelda was taken from Texas. Chip was a palomino horse shifter from Beverly Hills, California, and Summer was a mustang horse from Nevada. Kristoff was an ostrich from Arizona, and Bethan was an ostrich from Arkansas. Lila and Callen were foxes from Alaska.

At first, the shifters thought that the staff at the sanctuary weren’t involved in the spells and kidnapping of lone shifters. But over the last two years, as more cursed shifters arrived, the shifters picked up a scent on them that wasn’t on any of the staff. It was an odor that had been described as turpentine, rotten onions, and sewage.

It reminds me of sweaty feet or gym socks, Harriet, the emu, surmised.

No, more like urine and rotting cheese, Ricky, the tiger, disagreed.

You’re both wrong. The smell is more like rotten eggs, Pancho, the camel, said.

To me, it was more like animal puke, Conri, the wolf, explained.

No, the smell was more like a bloated dead whale, Chip, the palomino horse, added.

Essentially, a skunk would smell more pleasant, Stephanie surmised. I think we can all agree that this creature is a troll.

Yes! It makes sense that we all relate it to something that is the worst smelling thing we can identify. A troll would do that to us. Now we need to figure out how, why, and what it will take to break the curse, Aaron, the lion, said.

I’m not familiar with trolls. Would someone explain them to me? Despina, the jaguar, asked.

Same here. Trolls are not known in Brazil, Rego, the jaguar, added.

They are large, hairy, aggressive beasts that live in mountain areas and caves. They loathe humans and would happily destroy any they come upon. They hate shifters because of our human side. I’ve heard of trolls as tall as nine feet, Derek, the Coatimundis, answered.

Trolls are evil beings who use dark magic. They can be turned into stone if they get into sunlight or burned to death in an acid/water combination, Ajani, the leopard, added.

Trolls also regenerate quickly, as shifters do. The difference is that if they lose a limb, it can grow back. If you battle a troll, it’s best to stab them in the eyes so they can’t see you aiming for their hearts. Decapitation will not work as they will grow a new head, unless you are using a sword made of solid steel. If you stab them in the heart, do not remove the sword or knife. By keeping the blade embedded, they can’t regenerate their heart. You can’t move a troll on your own. Even our shifter strength is no match for a troll’s weight. Get as many shifters as you can and drag the troll into the sunlight so it will turn to stone, Callen, the fox, explained.

How can we find the answers we need to break the curse? We are all in our animal form, and none of the humans can understand us, Stephanie asked.

I have no clue. Humans have known about shifters for a little while now, but there is no way we can communicate with them. We can’t even write because we have no hands, Callen, the fox, replied.

If we were part of a pack, we could telepathically contact them, Zelda, the bobcat, said sadly.

I think that’s why the troll chose us. We’re all lone shifters, Stephanie replied.

I wonder if there are any other sanctuaries around the country that have shifters stuck in their animal forms, Brandon, the bear, wondered.

"If there was more than one troll doing this, I think they could