“Man to man,” Zackary ground out, eyes locked on Brutus.
The bear shifter dropped the chain and cracked his knuckles. “Fine by me.” He jutted his chin and smiled smugly. Zackary’s fist tightened.
“Just walk away, Brutus. You’re outnumbered,” Elsie said.
The brute’s smile turned into a sneer. Skin wrinkled around his eyes and he growled through his beard.
“Shut your mouth, woman.”
Snarling, Zackary threw the first punch, smacking Brutus square in the jaw. Brutus’s big head snapped back. He jerked forward with a roar, rubbing his chin through his bristling beard. Zackary lifted his fists, ready for the bear shifter to come at him.
Brutus tugged at his beard, shoulders relaxing. He gave a rumbling laugh. Zackary narrowed his eyes.
Puffing up his hairy muscled torso, Brutus beat his fists against his chest then started forward, eyes intent on Zackary. The next time Zackary swung at the brute, Brutus ducked and shoved him. Stumbling backward a couple feet, outrage burned through Zackary, made worse by Brutus’s laughter. He heard his father’s cruelty in that taunt.
Zackary charged, only to be flung to the ground.
Elsie gasped.
Zackary refused to look at her, not until he’d beaten the bear shifter. He wanted Brutus on the ground bleeding.
Jumping back to his feet as though he’d never fallen, Zackary made as though he would storm Brutus again only to stop at the last second. As predicted, the bear shifted leaned forward to grab him, only to stumble when his hands hit air. Brutus scowled. Zackary might have smirked if it weren’t for the fact that he was still seething at the sight of his mate nearly naked and chained like a sex slave. Zackary spread his arms wide, making himself appear bigger. He’d always felt abnormally large, but in front of Brutus it was as though he’d shrunk down to average size.
They circled one another, their chests jutting forward and their arms spread high. It felt like a savage dance in which one wrong move could lead to injury and pain. After Zackary made another false attempt at attacking, Brutus copied him, barreling forward. Zackary shuffled aside on quick feet. Normally, his mass made him feel slow, but today he was matched with a male on the bulky side. Brutus wasn’t particularly fast or stealthy. The more they circled and tested one another, the more Zackary learned of the bear shifter’s fight tactics. Brutus was a lumbering beast who breathed heavier as their scuffle dragged on.
Zackary lowered his arms and took a step back. When Brutus came toward him, he walked backward with a smile, leading Brutus into another circle around the small clearing.
Brutus no longer chuckled. His expression turned pinched and angry, and he emitted low huffs whenever he appeared to think he’d catch up, only to end up chasing air.
“Wise choice fighting in human form,” Brutus said. “My bear would have had your entrails strewn across the clearing by now.”
“My wolf would have ripped open your throat before that ever happened,” Zackary bluffed since he couldn’t use his animal’s help. The rabid beast might have no interest in a bear and go after his packmates instead or flee. Even a mad wolf kept a sense of self-preservation.
“Is she worth it?” Brutus asked.
“I love her.” Saying it aloud made it easier to express over and over—even to a thickheaded bear shifter who wouldn’t know what love was if it bit him on his hairy ass.
Brutus snorted. Yep. Zackary had been right about the moron.
“Her breasts are too small.” Brutus braced himself, clearly expecting Zackary to charge. He bounced on the balls of his toes, keeping his spot, building his energy for the right moment.
“My mate’s body is none of your concern,” Zackary said in a calm, even tone.
Brutus narrowed his eyes. “You don’t care that she was using you.”
Zackary shrugged. “I got a mate out of it, which is more than I can say for you.”
With a roar, Brutus charged. Zackary sidestepped the enraged shifter and used the force of Brutus’s own weight to shove him from behind. He pushed with all his might, his clammy palms slapping the male’s hairy muscled back. Brutus stumbled forward, nearly catching himself until losing his footing and landing on his hands and knees. Wasting no time, Zackary lunged at the fallen brute, swinging his fists, pummeling him on his exposed back and sides. He held nothing back.
Brutus scurried forward over the ground, getting up before Zackary could stop him. He whirled around, bringing his fist with him. The impact against the side of Zackary’s skull sent him reeling. The ground rushed up at him, which is how he noticed the thick fallen branch near his feet.
Spots of light danced in front of his vision. He hunched over, blinking rapidly. It was shocking that Brutus didn’t attack him after stunning him with his blow. The bear shifter was either slow in the head or extremely confident he’d win this fight. Zackary kept his sights on the heavy branch just in case.
“I’ve got my eyes on him, Zackary. I’ll warn you if he decides to shift,” Tabor called out.
Brutus growled. “I will do no such thing. We agreed to fight man to man, and man to man we shall fight until one of us wins. I keep my word.”
While the bear shifter bellowed over his integrity, Zackary made a split-second decision. Once his arms were in motion, there was no turning back. He lunged to the ground and grabbed the fallen branch, comforted by its dense weight. Jumping up, he spun around and ran at Brutus, swinging the branch back. He aimed for the male’s face, taking in Brutus’s shocked expression. The bear shifter only had time to open his eyes wider before the branch struck him. They heard a sickening snap that sounded more like bone than branch.
Brutus bellowed in pain, hands cupping his face. When he pulled his fingers away, blood gushed from his nose.
Maybe it had been a cheap shot, but honor wasn’t something Zackary prided himself on.
Once a mongrel, always a mongrel. He’d do anything to protect his mate.
chapter twenty-four
“Time to get out of here,” Sasha hollered.
Zackary kept hold of the branch, focus on the hairy male. Brutus wasn’t on the ground yet. As blood continued to run over the male’s thick lips, horror entered his eyes. Brutus turned, running for the cave.
“Zackary, let’s go!” Tabor yelled.
Blinking rapidly, Zackary took notice of his packmates headed in the opposite direction of the cave as though they intended to sprint for the woods as soon as he joined them. During the fight, someone must have helped Elsie out of the collar and ropes binding her wrists.
Worried, beseeching blue eyes found his. “Please, Zackary. Let’s go,” she said.
He nodded and jogged toward his group. They ran the way they’d come and continued running until they’d reached the bottom of the hill.
“I’ll shift so all my senses remain alert in case he tries to follow us,” Tabor announced, glancing over his shoulder.
“I will too,” Sasha said.
The mated pair changed into fur within several blinks of the eyes. The wolves took up the rear while Zackary and Elsie set a brisk pace back to the hollow.
“Am I allowed to go back?” Elsie asked softly, eyes on the ground.
Zackary repeated what Sasha had told him, leaving out the part about starting their own family.
“Do you still want me?” Elsie’s voice was no more than a whisper.
Zackary tugged on his ear. Their claiming had been followed by a shit storm of revelations, violence, and life altering consequences. He was ready to put it all in the past.
Zackary stopped in his tracks and turned to her, taking her delicate fingers in his hands. “I will always want you, Elsie. I love you.”
Tears glossed over her eyes. She sucked in a shaky breath.
“You’ll forgive me?” He didn’t like how small her voice sounded, as though the joy had been crushed out of her.
“You saved me,” Zackary said.
“I . . . tricked you.” Elsie wrinkled
her nose.
“You could have told me the truth from the start, you know.”
Elsie shook her head. “No. I couldn’t. You would have thought that was the only reason I wanted to be with you, then you would have never known the truth.” Fresh tears filled her eyes. “I love you so much it hurts, Zackary. I didn’t want this damn curse to get in the way of you believing my feelings for you were genuine. No one has ever meant as much to me as you.”
Zackary felt himself falling for Elsie all over again, wanting to win her over, mate her, and make her his. Leaning forward, his eyes hooded, Zackary’s kiss was cut off by a low growl.
Elsie’s eyebrows lifted. She and Zackary turned to find Tabor’s wolf glaring at them with his lips lifted over his teeth.
“Uh, I guess he wants us to keep moving. Lots of ground to cover,” Elsie said.
“Yeah, I’m sure that’s it.”
When Elsie smiled at him, Zackary chuckled. Soon they were both laughing. He held on to her hand, walking forward, because the wolf wizard was right to urge them on. The farther they got away from the bear shifter’s cave, the better. Brutus didn’t know that Zackary could no longer shift, and he wanted to keep it that way.
“So, my brother’s really okay with us?” Elsie asked, sneaking a peek over her shoulder.
“Yeah, couldn’t you tell by how happy he sounded a moment ago?”
Elsie put her free hand to her mouth, stifling a giggle. She lowered her fingers, grinning up at Zackary. “Was that a joke?”
Zackary grinned and shrugged. He didn’t care when his hand turned clammy or that he could have used it for balance, he kept hold of Elsie’s hand until they found a place to stop for the night. A steep, earthen shelf jutted along a mossy patch of ground. There was enough overhang to act as a ceiling, not that there were any clouds in the sky.
“No fire tonight,” Tabor said after shifting. “We don’t want to alert Brutus to our whereabouts in case he pursues us.”
“He probably thinks we’re long gone in wolf form,” Sasha reasoned.
“Still,” Tabor said with a frown.
Sasha nodded. “We’ll shift back to wolves and hide in the bushes farther up in case he happens to amble this way.”
Zackary and Elsie were still smiling at one another when Tabor faced them and scowled.
“You two, keep quiet. No funny business.”
Zackary had a few choice words for Tabor’s commands, but given the circumstances, he held his tongue. They weren’t home safe yet.
“I mean it,” Tabor said as he got onto the ground to shift.
Zackary turned his back to him and rolled his eyes.
Sasha joined her mate on the ground. Once they were in fur, they trotted off silently into the woods.
Elsie’s chin dropped as she looked down and frowned, picking at her fur bikini.
“Ugh, I wish I’d gotten my dress back before fleeing. I never saw what he did with it—probably shredded the thing.”
Like that, rage billowed straight back up to Zackary’s head. “He undressed you?”
Elsie looked up and scowled. “Don’t worry. Brutus said he didn’t cop a feel, and I believe him. He seemed truly disgusted by me.”
Zackary growled. “If I wasn’t so relieved, I’d knock him over his thick head for insulting my mate.”
Chuckling, Elsie lifted onto her tiptoes and kissed Zackary on the cheek. He craved more than kisses, but it was a nice start.
“So, no fire,” Elsie drawled, glancing around. “I guess you’ll have to keep me warm tonight. No funny business, though.” She wagged her finger at Zackary and laughed.
Tabor could keep his rules. Zackary had his mate back and he got to hold her in his arms all night long.
Elsie woke to strong arms hugging her middle and her mate spooning her from beneath the earthen shelf where they’d lain down to rest. At first, she feared she was dreaming, but Zackary’s steady breath at the back of her neck reassured her that not all was lost. She would have liked to snuggle longer, but all too soon Tabor walked over and frowned at them.
“Time to go.”
They continued their brisk pace, keeping conversation to a minimum. It gave Elsie lots of time to think and for the guilt to seep back in. As the sky darkened on the last night before they reached the hollow, Elsie felt a cloud settle over her heart.
As with the previous evening, Tabor and Sasha took to wolf form and hid a short distance off in the brush. Zackary had found a soft patch of moss behind a boulder where they would cuddle up and get some sleep before the final trek home.
Elsie held back as Zackary made himself comfortable, lying on his side. He patted the area in front of him. Uncrossing the arms she’d wrapped around her middle, Elsie took a seat beside her mate.
“I’m so sorry, Zackary,” she whispered, not meeting his eyes. “For everything, and especially for the loss of your wolf.”
Zackary sat up and placed his hands lightly on her shoulders, leaning forward. He didn’t speak until she looked into his beautiful brown eyes.
“I would have lost myself completely if it hadn’t been for you.”
She nodded sadly. “I still feel horrible.”
“Well, stop.” Zackary’s firm tone made her sit up and pay attention. She blinked. A smile curved up Zackary’s luscious lips. “Claiming me was supposed to be the key to your happiness, remember?”
He lowered his hands off her shoulders and nudged her arm with his. Elsie pursed her lips, not convinced she was ready to stop wallowing.
When Zackary’s finger trailed down her collarbone to the valley between her breasts, her breath hitched. A satisfied smile lifted his lips.
“What would you say to some funny business?” he asked huskily.
Like that, Zackary turned her frown into a smile. Her mate knew exactly how to cheer her up.
Approaching the hollow the following afternoon, Elsie reached for Zackary’s hand. He gave her a reassuring squeeze.
How would the pack react to her return? Had she lost the few close friends she’d made? Would packmates merely tolerate her? Ignore her? Despise her?
After crossing the Sakhir River, Elsie’s steps slowed. Zackary turned to her and offered a warm smile.
“It’s going to be okay.”
She nearly laughed. Her mate was the one who had lost his wolf, and yet he was comforting her.
Tabor and Sasha shifted to human form after crossing the river.
“Home,” Sasha said happily, her smile brightening as she lifted her head to take in the familiar trees.
They headed down a trail to the glade. From the position of the sun, it was just after midday. Most shifters would be on duty so at least Elsie didn’t have to parade in front of a large gathering. She wasn’t expecting a warm welcome, but even more than that, she really wasn’t expecting to find Brutus in his brown fur pacing the glade. He knocked over a table with clean bowls, sending them crashing to the ground.
“Hey!” Elsie yelled.
Lacy and Diego ran in from the woods, eyes widening when they saw the bear and broken bowls.
Brutus stood on two legs and roared.
Tabor and Sasha took one look at each other then dropped to the ground to shift. Brutus came down onto all fours with a thump that shook the ground. When he started for Tabor and Sasha, Elsie ran along the edge of the glade, waving her arms.
“Hey, Brutus. Over here!”
The bear growled and went after Elsie.
“No!” Zackary shouted.
Elsie scrambled up the nearest sturdy tree, adrenaline sending her up with the speed of a squirrel. She grabbed at branches and pulled herself up higher as Brutus appeared below bellowing in outrage. A rock flew at his back and bounced off. Brutus’s jaw opened wide as he roared.
Four wolves snarled back.
While Brutus had chased Elsie, Lacy and Diego had undressed and shifted. The four wolves stalked toward the bear, their ears flattened against their backs and their lips lifted over gli
stening fangs. Their growls chorused around the glade, soon echoed by howls from around the hollow.
Brutus charged the wolves who circled around him easily. He spun around, batting the air with his great big paw. The wolves sprinted behind him, making him turn and turn and turn, bellowing the whole while.
Six more wolves ran into the glade. Now ten wolves snarled and snapped at the bear, putting him on the defense. Brutus circled frantically in place, raking a paw through the air to keep the wolves from closing in on him.
When four more ran in, he charged through the group and took off running across the glade in the direction of the Sakhir River. All but two of the wolves gave chase, howling in pursuit. When their cries began to fade off, one of the wolves who had remained behind lifted her head and issued a piercing howl.
Elsie wasn’t surprised to see the female wolf shift into Sasha afterward.
Zackary rushed over to the tree, helping Elsie as she climbed down.
As Tabor shifted, Jager limp-hopped into the glade, worry lines wrinkling his forehead.
“What in tarnation is going on?”
The first wolves back from the chase were Lacy and Diego. The blonde shifter changed form beside her discarded dress, pulling it back on before jogging over to the broken bowls. Her hand covered her mouth and she said, “Oh no. So many broken.”
Elsie lowered her head. She’d brought this havoc to the hollow. Zackary put his arm around her and pulled her against his side. It was tempting to bury her face into his chest and hide.
Wolves entered the glade from all angles—some returning from the chase, others arriving from patrol areas farther out. One by one, they shifted into human form, filling the grassy expanse as though the gong had summoned them for dinner stew. Elsie winced with each new arrival. They’d all hate her for sure.
“Elsie! Zackary!” Wiley hollered, lifting his arm from across the glade before jogging toward them.
Well, maybe not everyone.
Justin sauntered over, scratching his chin. “Welcome back, lovebirds. Glad you worked everything out.”
Moon Cursed (Wolf Hollow Shifters Book 4) Page 25