by Kim Fox
I nod as I stare at her, seeing her beautiful energy in a new way. Feeling connected to it like never before. “That was us bonding together,” I say, still staring at her in disbelief. “You’re my mate.”
She smiles and my heart nearly explodes. “I like the sound of that.”
The roaring sound of motorcycles rips through the air, making my head turn. I inhale deeply as six bikers come racing forward. Wolves.
I hate wolves.
My body stiffens as they drive past us, revving their bikes and ruining the peaceful night. I glance at their backs as they pass and my jaw tightens when I see the biker gang name stitched onto their jackets. The Hell’s Howlers.
I remember them from back in the day. They have an endless amount of wolf shifters. Knock down a dozen, and a dozen more take their place.
Nothing ever good happens when those dogs are around.
“Kneecap,” Nora whispers, looking worried as they turn the corner and disappear.
I take a deep breath as I keep staring down the street. Why are they here? The dragons kicked them out years ago.
“What’s wrong?”
I look down at her beautiful face and force out a smile. “With you here, nothing.”
She smiles back at me and squeezes my hand. “Let’s go get some dessert now,” she says. “Turns out I am in the mood after all.”
“Okay,” I say with one eye still down the street. Why would those damn dogs return?
It’s a gorgeous night, I have my mate, we’re getting dessert, and she’s going to stay. I should be flying right now. But instead, a feeling of dread has rooted deep down inside me.
Didn’t Emanuele Marchesi work with those dogs once?
I’m not sure. It was so long ago. I try to shake it off, but I can’t help but think that something bad is about to go down. Something really bad.
“Ice cream?”
“Huh?” I say, shaking the haze out of my head.
Nora laughs. “You want to get some ice cream? There’s a Mr. Sprinkles up ahead.”
“Sure,” I say, taking a deep breath as I try to come back to the moment. “Ice cream sounds great.”
She pulls me ahead and I follow with a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.
12
Nora
Everyone is staring at us, waiting, expecting a big announcement.
Kneecap holds me tight and grins.
“We’re mated!” I say. I can hear the excitement in my high-pitched voice.
The crew cheers and rushes in for hugs and slaps of congratulations like we just said we’re engaged. But this is bigger than being engaged. Marriage can end in divorce. Mating can only end in forever.
“Does that mean you’re staying here?” Jessie asks as she hugs me. She holds me at arm’s length, excitedly waiting for my answer.
“I’m staying!”
She screams and squeals and jumps up and down. Finally, I’m going to be with my sister.
“Wait a minute,” Tito says, looking at me funny. “Are you going to live in a cave?”
I laugh. Kneecap and I have already talked about this. Staying in the cave has been fun, but if I’m staying for good then the cave has got to go.
“We’ll be moving back into the cabin,” he says with a grin. It’s so hard to take my eyes off him. I laugh to myself when I think how far he’s come in such a short time. Two weeks ago, he was a crazy naked man stalking me through the forest. Now he has his hair combed to the side and is wearing a button-up shirt and jeans. He’s constantly squirming around in them, but still.
“I can’t believe you’re staying,” Jessie says, hugging me again.
We pull Abigail in to join our hug. “The three sisters,” I say smiling. She laughs when we don’t let her go.
“I’ve always wanted a sister,” Abigail says with blushing cheeks.
Jessie grins. “Well, now you have two.”
I already feel so close to these people and I know that before long, they’ll start feeling even more like family.
Even Maximus looks pleased as he gives me a warm welcoming hug. “You’re part of the crew now,” he says. “You’re a Grisly Grizzly.”
“A grizzly?” I laugh. “I don’t feel like a fierce animal.”
Maximus laughs back. “Believe me. Anyone who can hang with Kneecap and his crazy bear is a fierce animal.”
I smile as I look at Kneecap, watching him as the twins tease him. He’s not an animal anymore.
He’s a man. And a damn good one.
We take our drinks and head to the picnic tables where Lachlan’s dinner is waiting for us. Roasted turkey with grilled veggies that were freshly picked from the garden by the barn. It looks delicious.
I have my sister Jessie on one side of me and my man Kneecap on the other. “This is so perfect,” I say, looking at the beautiful table surrounded by people I love. “Nothing can ruin this moment.”
But the sound of rumbling motorcycles on the horizon disagrees.
It sounds like an invading force as they get closer. There must be dozens of them.
Maximus’ back straightens as he stares at the trees covering the road. His eyes are hard. His jaw is tight. A cloud of dust is floating over the tree line, getting bigger and closer as they arrive.
“What’s that?” Abigail asks, looking pale.
“Trouble,” Lachlan says as he stares.
“Line up!” Maximus shouts. The boys jump to attention, rushing past us to the dirt path that leads to the road.
I watch, feeling my body shaky with anxiety as they stand shoulder to shoulder like a protective wall.
The roaring gets louder as the dirt cloud arrives. Like an invading army, the bikers storm into the ranch, their motorcycles rumbling like thunder.
There are so many of them. I see one grinning as he slows to a stop, his long black hair flapping in the wind. One huge man with a long nasty scar along his chin lets out a howl. My blood chills as the others howl too.
They sound like a vicious pack of wolves. They don’t sound human.
“Are they shifters?” Jessie asks as she rubs her hands together nervously.
“They look like shifters to me,” Abigail says, staring in horror. “They’re huge.”
I gulp when they start stepping off their motorcycles and I can see how big these guys actually are.
“No,” Jessie says with a gasp. She sees him before I do.
Our father, Emanuele Marchesi is in the middle of them. A huge shifter with a long grey beard steps off his motorcycle and we see our cruel father sitting behind him. He climbs off the bike and straightens his pinstripe suit.
“I don’t believe this,” Jessie says, sounding outraged. “He came back!”
We should have known. Of course, he came back. My father always comes back. He doesn’t stop until he wins.
Jessie grabs a carving knife off the table and charges forward with murder in her eyes. I quickly follow as Abigail hides under the table. The poor girl. I’m sure she’s sick of getting in the crossfire of our family problems.
“Jessie, wait!” I say, running to catch up to her. Her knuckles are white from squeezing the knife so hard. These are not my father’s two-bit thugs. These look like shifters and from what I can see, there are at least twenty of them. We have six.
“We have to be smart here,” I say, grabbing her arm when I reach her. “This time everyone could get killed.”
She huffs out a breath and then slows to a stop behind the muscular wall of grizzly bear shifters.
“Let the guys handle this,” I whisper.
Something tells me they’re better equipped to deal with twenty plus shifters than a hundred and twenty-pound chick with a carving knife.
Maximus steps forward. “Mastiff,” he says, addressing the big guy with the grey beard. He must be their leader. Or alpha, or whatever these guys call each other.
“I heard the dragons told you The Hell’s Howlers were no longer welcome in Redemption Creek,” Maximus
says. His voice is hard, unflinching. He doesn’t look intimidated in the least even though they’re outnumbered about four to one.
Mastiff strokes his long grey beard as he turns back to look at our dad. “Someone made us an offer we couldn’t refuse. One million dollars for two young girls. I’ll risk a little dragon fire for that any day.”
“You’re risking more than a little dragon fire,” Maximus says, glaring at him. “The girls are with us.”
Kneecap steps forward, his body shaking with anger. “And they’re not leaving!”
Maximus places a hand on my mate’s chest and gently brings him back in line.
Mastiff smiles as he turns to the huge shifter. “The famous Kneecap,” he says with a grin. He points to him and turns to his men. “I once saw this guy snap a telephone pole in two and use it to beat half of the Gory Gorillas. Tell me, Kneecap. Are you still a wild animal?”
“No,” Kneecap says. “But I still fight like one.”
Mastiff laughs. “Looks like you boys are in for a treat,” he says, laughing as he turns back to his men. “Who wants a new feather for their cap? The wolf who wrecks the famous Kneecap will be a legend. They’ll have fables and songs written for them.”
“Yeah, but they might not have any ears left to hear it,” Kneecap growls.
“Enough of this!” Dad says, stomping forward. “Girls. Come with me.”
Nausea creeps up my throat when he looks right at me with those hard unflinching eyes. Jessie squeezes the knife even harder. “Come and get me!” she snaps back.
“Your daughter already told you,” Lachlan says in a pissed-off tone. “She’s not yours to boss around anymore.”
Dad looks at him with a look of disgust. “You think she’s yours?”
“I think she’s free to do as she pleases,” he says. “And I think you better get the fuck out of here or I’ll do what I please. And guaranteed you’re not going to like that.”
My father lets out an annoyed sigh and then turns to Mastiff. “Do it your way. Quickly.”
The huge shifter’s shoulders start shaking as he tilts his head back and starts barking. My stomach rolls with nerves as the rest of them join in, growling and barking along with their alpha.
I gasp when one of them explodes into a huge wolf. Then another. And another until they’re popping like fireworks and there are more wolves than men. Mastiff is the last one to phase. His grey wolf is the biggest of them all. I can see why he’s the top dog.
My father looks more sinister than ever as he crosses his arms in triumph, surrounded by an army of snarling wolves.
Jessie is breathing heavily beside me. “You’re not the only one with some big guns,” she says. “You brought a bunch of pathetic wolves to a bear fight.”
The look on my father’s face is priceless as our boys start phasing into their grizzly bears.
Six enormous bears stand between us, Kneecap being the biggest of them all. He towers over Caleb’s bear who’s beside him. I can’t help but feel lucky that he’s in my corner.
The bear turns his massive head and I see the same bright grey eyes as Kneecap looking back at me. I want to go over to say hi and introduce myself. ‘Hi, Mr. Bear, I’m your mate.’ But now is not the time for that. Plus, it feels like we already know each other.
“Go get him,” I whisper.
His thick black lip curls up into a vicious snarl and then he whips his head back to face the huge pack of wolves. He’s the first to move.
I can feel the thunderous vibrations in the ground as he charges forward with a bloodthirsty roar.
The rest of the bears follow, attacking with the force of someone protecting their own. Protecting their friends, their fellow crew members, their mates.
But the wolves are up to the challenge.
They leap forward to meet the bears, smashing into them with barred teeth and extended claws. Maximus stomps on a wolf as another one jumps on his back. The twins fight together, back to back as the wolves surround them. Caleb and Lachlan are fighting hard too, colliding into the dogs with hard shoulders, but no one is fighting quite like Kneecap is.
He’s vicious. A true warrior.
The wolves are swarming him. At least a dozen are all over him, fighting for the bragging rights to be the one to take the great Kneecap down. But he’s not having any of it. Three wolves sail through the air as he shakes them off his powerful back. He grabs a hold of one in his strong jaws and throws him into the two that are charging forward. The flying wolf collides into the two others and the three of them somersault back in a chorus of whimpers and whines.
My heart is pounding as I watch. There’s chaos everywhere.
Lachlan lets out a violent roar as a wolf bites into his leg. His furious bear turns with a feral growl and rips a chunk out of the wolf’s back.
They’re all fighting multiple wolves, except for Maximus who has his hands full with the big grey wolf. Mastiff is not the alpha for nothing, and the crafty old wolf is giving Maximus a hard time. He’s fast and agile, darting away from every one of Maximus’ strikes. Mastiff snaps back with his terrible jaws, but Maximus’ bear is fast too. Like Mastiff, he’s not the alpha for nothing either. The two battle it out in a chess match with the deadliest of consequences.
“Nora!” Jessie says in a panicked voice.
I gasp when I see what she’s looking at. My father is heading straight for us, flanked by two monstrous wolves. Their heads are tucked low, teeth out, the hair on their backs standing straight up. My mind is racing, but I can’t think properly. My heartbeat is thrashing in my ears and I’m practically hyperventilating as they approach.
Jessie looks more confident than me. A lifetime of hardship has toughened her up.
The two wolves growl as Dad stops in front of us.
“What kind of daughters disobey their own father?” he asks, looking disgusted.
“What kind of father sicks wolves on his own daughters?” Jessie shoots back, squeezing the knife by her side.
I shoot a quick glance at Kneecap’s grizzly. He’s fighting hard but there’s too many of them. He rips a chunk out of a wolf’s throat, but four more jump on his back, trying to bite through his thick skin. We’re on our own.
“The kind of father that expects obedience and loyalty,” he says. “The ruthless kind who punishes his spoiled ungrateful children.”
“Ungrateful?!?” I shout, wanting to rip his head off. “You did nothing but torture Jessie and hold her back. I’m her big sister and anyone who tries to hurt her again is going to have to go through me.”
My father takes a step forward and I let one rip, slamming my fist into his big ugly nose. He stumbles backward, holding his face as blood gushes from his nostrils. My heart is pounding and I’m feeling invincible as I hold my fists up, wanting to give him more.
But he’s not alone.
He looks at the wolves and then points to us both. “Maul them.”
The wolf on his right leaps forward and snaps at Jessie. With a grunt, she shoves the knife into the dog’s shoulder all the way to the hilt. He lets out a high-pitched whimper and limps away with his tail between his legs and the knife sticking out of his shoulder.
Shit. I should have grabbed a knife too.
Unfortunately, I only have my fists and they’re not much use against a wolf that looks like he eats steroids instead of kibble.
I throw a jab, but miss by a mile. He leaps up, bashing his big paws into my chest. He takes me down, slamming my back onto the ground with an oomph. My head bounces off the hard dirt, sending stars flashing behind my eyelids and sending a jolt of searing pain down my spine.
The wolf lands on top of me—paws on my chest, growling in my face. He’s crushing my lungs as his hot breath washes down on my face. His white teeth are so big as he leans forward with strings of hot drool dripping from his black lips.
I’ve never been so scared in my life. I’m about to be mauled by a wolf.
Out of nowhere, Jessie leaps on him,
punching and kicking the wolf like a wild animal. He’s too big and too strong, though. He just ignores her, shaking her strikes off like she’s trying to give him a massage.
I turn my head and see Kneecap’s bear. He’s got wolves all over him. All around him. He looks exhausted like he’s drowning in wolves and can’t keep his head above water.
He catches my eye, but I’m forced to turn away. Jessie has fallen on her ass and the wolf is turning back to me to finish the job.
I gasp as he rips his head back and opens his terrible jaws. My body goes cold already as he lunges forward for the kill shot.
His teeth are a breath away from my throat when a furry train collides into him, sending him flying through the air. I turn my head in shock, just in time to see the wolf crash into the campfire. He howls in pain as he leaps out, running away with his whole back in flames.
I’m taking big raspy breaths as I turn my head and look up at the enormous grizzly bear standing over me. He lowers his big head and gives me a long sloppy lick up my cheek.
Jessie rushes over and helps me up as Kneecap’s grizzly turns back to the wolves, growling protectively.
The rest of the guys are still holding their own. A wolf with four bloody scratches on his ass runs away from Caleb’s bear as Maximus’ grizzly finally pins Mastiff’s grey wolf.
A dozen or so wolves line up and approach Kneecap, fighting as a team. He’s the only thing between us and the wolves and he’s way outnumbered. Still, I like my odds.
A loud ear-piercing shriek cuts through the sky and everyone freezes. My ears burn as I turn up to the sky along with everyone else.
Is that a—No. Can’t be.
A red dragon is soaring through the air, coasting on its giant red wings.
“That’s a fucking dragon,” Jessie says. She looks as shocked as I feel.
The wolves don’t stick around to watch it land. At the same moment, they all turn and flee, sprinting over the hill like their tails are on fire, which they might be soon if they don’t run fast enough.
My father is still here, looking around in a panic as his cavalry abandons him.