by Ashlee Sinn
“No! You’re supposed to fight Justin first!” Mariah shouted to Rhys.
“I forfeit,” Justin, a rather tough wolf and a good match for Rhys, yelled out. “Let him fight Donovan!”
Everyone cheered and chanted—an even mix between my name and Rhys’. They started jumping up and down in time to their shouts, and Rhys and I shared a mutual look of pride.
“Wait! Donovan needs a break. He gets a break!” Mariah’s concern melted my heart.
I jogged to her side, wiping the blood out of my eyes, and wrapped my arms around her legs. Lifting her up into the air, I carried her into the center of the ring as she balanced herself. “I don’t need a break,” I smiled up at her. “I’m ready to go.”
“Donovan, you’re bleeding all over your face. Take a minute to get cleaned up.”
I loosened my grip to allow her body to slide down my own. When her breasts were at my eye level, I wiggled my brows. She laughed and shook her head until I lowered her to her feet. “I’m fine,” I said. “I promise.”
“He’s fine, Mariah. Now get out of the ring and start this fight!” Rhys egged on the crowd with his own shouts while Mariah dabbed my face with a towel someone had thrown to her.
“Donovan, seriously. Per the rules, you’re allowed a break before your next fight.”
I kissed her on the forehead. “I’m ready now. Really, I’m okay.”
“What am I going to do with you?” she said with a giggle.
“Oh, I can think of a thousand things you can do to me once this is over,” Kissing her again, I cupped her ass and let out a growl. I could smell her arousal and that was coaxing the lion to the surface faster than the fighting had. She rumbled against me with her own special type of purr, and I knew, in that moment, that I would do anything for this woman. She had awakened something inside of me that I thought had been killed off decades ago. No longer did I just care about me—I now had a beautiful, sexy, and brilliant coyote shifter to think about.
Something slapped me in the back of the head, and when everyone laughed, I turned to face Rhys. His mischievous smile didn’t help the angst, and when I pulled a hunk of mud off my shoulders, I slowly pushed Mariah to the side. “Time to start this fight,” I said to her while eyeing up Rhys.
She sighed but jumped onto the railing again. “Rhys, you ready?”
“Hell yeah!”
“Donovan?”
“Yep,” I growled.
“Then begin.” She raised one arm and quickly dropped it to her side, signaling the start of the last battle for alpha of Eagle Creek.
I didn’t want to be alpha, but that ship had sailed the moment I’d stepped into this challenge. Rhys bounced around me, cheering and shouting at the shifters, and I wondered if I should just end it now. He’d been an alpha before. He knew what it took to control others. Sure, I liked to fight, but I didn’t know shit about leading a group.
“What’s wrong, Donovan? Cat got your tongue?” Rhys teased.
I shook my head and smiled. “Nope, just waiting for you to finish your little dance routine.” That got me some laughs, even from Rhys.
“Good one, lion. Now, let’s get this over with.” He jumped forward, crouched to the ground, and attempted to whip my legs out from underneath me with his foot.
I jumped just in time, landing in my own crouch and watching the way Rhys resumed a fighting stance. “Looks like we’ve had similar training,” I said.
Rhys showed me his teeth with a smirk. “Looks like it, buddy.” He waved me forward with his fingers and I didn’t hesitate.
We landed a few jabs on each other, recovering fast enough to avoid the most damaging hits. Rhys and I were pretty equally matched. It was evident that he’d had martial arts experience, but where I may have lacked in formal training, I certainly made up for in brawling. When I smacked him across the face, my knuckles split open and I looked down at my hand.
Holding his jaw, Rhys coughed up some blood. “What’s wrong, Donovan. Scared of a little blood?”
I knew he was teasing me simply to entertain and I had a fleeting thought about how much money he could have made from the illegal fights. He was a natural crowd pleaser, and a personality like that could have made him a lot of money. With a smile, I held my hand in front of my face, stared at Rhys, and licked the blood off my knuckles. “No. Not scared at all,” I muttered a moment before rushing him.
Caught off guard, Rhys tried to jump out of the way, but I grabbed his leg. Yanking it up into the crook of my arm, I body slammed him down into the ground. Hearing his breath rush out of him, I knew I’d just gotten the upper hand. Rhys wiggled beneath me, but I held him so his shoulders were pressed into the mud and his arms were now pinned behind his back. He made a few barking sounds as he tried to bite my leg. Mariah yelled, reminding him of the no biting rules, and Rhys simply growled.
After a few minutes beneath me, he finally stilled. “Are you done?” I asked.
“No!” Rhys said. But the crowd booed at him and started shouting the word “Done!”.
“Are you sure?”
Rhys sighed and I let off my grip a tiny bit. “Fine, you win. I’m done!”
As the clapping filled my ears, I let go of Rhys and helped him to his feet. We were covered in mud and blood but were still able to laugh. Rhys pulled me into a hug and slapped me on the back several times. “Congratulations, alpha.”
I chuckled and held him close for a moment longer. “Congratulations to you, beta.”
Rhys pulled back and smiled up at me. “I’ll take it.”
We hugged again until Mariah came over and tapped me on the shoulder. I spun around and picked her up, nuzzling my head against her breasts. She giggled while telling me to let her go. “Never,” I replied, kissing her every place I could.
“What’s gotten into you?” she asked.
“You,” I said, kissing her on the mouth. “And this,” I said, waving my hands around the ring. “I forgot how much I like fighting.”
“Well, if it’s fighting you like, I think I can do something about that.” Mariah brushed her hand along the front of my jeans where my cock was already hardening. She gave it a quick squeeze, and just as I was about to sweep her up into my arms, someone started shouting.
“Hey! Assholes! Do you hear that?” It was Mary, the lynx with an attitude and she was pointing toward the direction of the main road. “Someone’s here.”
“Not someone, a lot of someones,” Rhys said.
“No. They’re early,” Mariah whispered. “We still have some time.”
I instantly felt her fear and that did something to me that had never happened before. My lion sprang forward, stealing my skin before I even had a chance to stop him. As the animal, I jumped over Mariah, used the railing as a spring, and soared over the rest of the crowd. These government assholes weren’t going to take my Mariah away.
And they weren’t going to take my crew away, either.
“Oh shit,” Rhys shouted. “We have to stop him!”
I couldn’t process the events quick enough to function. Just a second ago, Donovan was standing by my side kissing me and promising fun in bed later tonight, and then his lion ripped out of him like a fucking alien. I’d never seen someone shift so quickly and that had me worried for a number of reasons. “We have to get him,” I breathed.
“Like, now,” Max added. “He’s in freak-out mode.”
I spun in the mud to look at the panther. “What do you mean?”
“When someone’s animal takes over the human without consent, you know it’s going to be bad.”
“Oh shit,” I mumbled, repeating Rhys’ words.
Thankfully, Rhys was in his right mind and could bark commands. “Let’s go, Eagle Creek Shifters. We need to support our alpha!” Then, turning just to me, Rhys added, “Before he does something stupid.”
“What?” I breathed. No, Donovan wouldn’t hurt anyone. Right?
“Mariah, change! You’ll be faster.” Rhys commanded my
animal a moment before he slipped into his own.
His wolf stood taller than most, and he snarled in my direction when he noticed me still in human form. All around me, the shifters were changing. The lynxes, foxes, and panthers started running up the hill that would lead them toward the road. The avian shifters took to the skies. Rhys spent a moment accepting a head bow from the other wolves before they sprinted out of sight. Max roared beside me, his black panther glistening in the setting sunlight, yellow eyes alert and aware and trying to tell me something.
Both Rhys and Max chuffed at me, commanding me to change. But I was having a problem. I needed skinwalker magic to shift, and right now, my body was too freaked out to concentrate and pull that magic into the place I needed it most.
“Shit!” I screamed out as I tried to find my animal. The little asshole wouldn’t show her face, so I had no choice but to start running. I sprinted up the hill, fully aware of Rhys and Max flanking my sides. “Go! Go ahead and stop him!” I shouted at them both. “I’ll catch up.”
They both stared at me as though I was the one that needed protection, so I did the only thing I could think of. I hit both of them in the face. “Go!” I demanded.
They snapped at me, but it wasn’t in a way that said they were mad. It was them telling me to reach for my animal so I could help my mate. Donovan was way too riled up right now. He shouldn’t be anywhere near humans, especially those threatening our way of life. And I knew, without anyone saying it, that I was probably the only person who could talk him down.
The wolf and the panther ran up ahead of me as I slipped on the frozen ground and wished that I was on four feet right now. “Dammit!” I muttered to my coyote. “Where are you?”
Finally making it to the top of the hill, I could barely see the forms of the shifters slipping in and out of the trees in silence as they chased after their alpha. The raven cawed at me from the air, swooping down and nearly taking off my head in the process. She squawked one more time before disappearing into the night sky.
“Well, screw you, too,” I mumbled to myself. In truth, I didn’t know what she was saying to me, but I was too mad to think of anything positive. I kept running, first slipping down the other side of the hill and then doing my best not to trip on the forest floor. I really needed my coyote night vision right now, but the more I kept thinking about her, the further away she felt.
I knew I was miles behind by now. My only hope was that Rhys and Max had gotten to Donovan before he reached the humans. I had to rely on them to protect my mate and that thought made me hate my skinwalker roots so much. I wish I was like the other shifters—not beholden to an alpha’s magic to shift. And while I had magic of my own, right now it was completely worthless.
But then I heard something that stopped me cold in my tracks.
The lion’s roar filled the air and the echoing snap of a gunshot ricocheted for miles.
“No!” I breathed, a thousand horrible visions racing through my mind. “No, no, no!” The sound of the gun continued to echo through the hills and valleys of Alaska and I dropped to my knees. I didn’t hear another lion call. I didn’t hear the sound of a siren. And I didn’t hear a single animal for miles.
Tears streamed down my face. The frustration of not being able to protect my mate had me hating everything about being a coyote. We were weak and small and stuck under the magic of our alpha. We didn’t fight enough to make us strong and we hadn’t learned how to live without a pack. Okay, so that had been my choice—to leave my pack. But still…I suddenly felt like I had absolutely nothing in this world.
A lion roared again.
“Donovan,” I whispered, wiping the tears away. “I’m coming.”
And with that thought, I felt the magic return. My fingers tingled like they’d been asleep and my legs started to shake. Hunched over like a sick kid, I waited for my animal to come to the surface. She was hesitant and slow, but she came. Within minutes, I was stretching my four paws and shaking away the sadness. Sucking in a deep breath, I lifted my head, and howled into the air. Three quick yips and one long note—my song for Donovan, telling him that I was safe and on my way.
Running like a breeze through a valley, I sprinted toward my mate. Now that I was in my animal form, I could smell the vehicles and the other shifters. I was close now, just a few hundred yards. The headlights in the distance lit up the entrance to our land, and this time it appeared the government brought even more vehicles.
I dodged a few trees and quickly found the ring of shifters standing in a row and preventing the humans from entering. Some had shifted back to human form, but most were still standing as their animals, growling or snarling their displeasure with the situation. I sidled up next to Rhys and Max, still as their formidable animals, and waited for them to give me some kind of signal.
One of the government officials, the skinny man from two days ago, walked forward and looked directly at the three of us. “We aren’t here to harm you.”
“Yeah, then why so many guns?” Mary asked. She stepped forward, hands on her hips, full breasts on display, and glared at the man. “You came here armed.”
The guy appeared to swallow slowly, deciding what to say. It was at that time that I really noticed what Mary was talking about. Along the backs and sides of the cars were a bunch of uniformed troopers, each one aiming a gun either at us or into the darkness behind them. She was right—they’d come here armed and ready to kill.
“I repeat,” he said slowly, as though we were incapable of understanding, “we aren’t here to harm you.”
Someone else needed to speak besides Mary, as I could see her getting closer to shifting again, and I knew that wouldn’t be a good thing. Stepping forward, I ignored the low rumbling growls from Rhys and Max. I decided to leave my animal behind and show them my more vulnerable human side, knowing this was a risk. But Donovan was out there somewhere in the dark and I had a feeling he might attack at any minute.
Lifting my head up toward the sky, I gritted my teeth and forced the change. It hurt. It hurt a lot. But I needed to do it in order to keep the situation under control. The troopers gasped and swore as they watched me shift back to human. The government guy covered his mouth like he’d just seen the most disgusting thing in the world. I tried not to be offended. I really did.
Pushing from my knees to my feet, I stood slowly, keeping my hands out to the side. After cracking my neck and squashing any insecurities about standing naked in front of these strangers, I stepped forward. “You’re early,” I said.
The man finally got his voice back. “It’s time,” he replied by way of answer. “Have you all established a crew?” When I nodded, he held out his hand and waited for another official to set a tablet in his palm like he was the fucking King of England. “Well then, it’s time to register. Tell everyone to shift back.”
I huffed a laugh and the man wrinkled his face. “I’m sorry, but I can’t do that,” I said.
With a sigh, he narrowed his eyes. “You can and you will.”
Several of the state troopers swiveled on their feet and aimed their guns at me directly. Rhys and Max took a step forward, lowering their heads like they were about to attack. But I lifted my hand, telling them to stay put for now. “See, sir,” I said with a hint of venom, “I can’t command all of these shifters to change back because I am not their alpha.”
“Well, they speak English, right. Fucking tell them to change.” He lowered his hands and stepped forward, looking at the line of shifters standing behind me. “You understand, right? I need you to be human so you have an opposable thumb to sign the registration form.” He said that last sentence painfully, and condescendingly slow. The raven squawked and the foxes hissed. The man cowered just a little before regaining his composure and stomping up to me. With the hand not holding the tablet, he reached up and grabbed my hair, yanking my head to the side and forcing a small scream from my lips. The entire line of shifters closed in, but I knew it wouldn’t be pretty if they came a
ny closer.
“No! Stay put!” I shouted at them, gritting my teeth through the pain of my hair being ripped out. “Please!”
When they stood down, the man pushed me to the ground before letting go of my hair. “They listen to you. Now force them to change.”
“Only the alpha can do that.” And that alpha was lurking somewhere nearby. I could feel him.
“Who is the alpha?”
“My mate.”
“Your what?” The man huffed a laugh and looked at the troopers and other officials still pointing guns at us. “A mate? Jesus Christ, what kind of world are we living in?” Then, turning back to me, he added, “Well, where is this mate of yours?”
As if perfectly timed, Donovan leapt out of the darkness and landed on top of one of the SUVs. His majestic lion form screamed dominance and power and even I felt the pull of his alpha, forcing me to bow my head. He roared. A sound that echoed off the trees and had the humans scattering backward away from the vehicle. But then they lifted their guns—every single one focused on Donovan.
“Don’t shoot him!” I screamed. Scrambling to my feet, I pushed past the asshole of a man and placed myself in between the guns and Donovan. With my hands up, I pleaded my case. “Please, put the guns down! He’ll tell everyone to shift and sign your stupid registration form once you’ve all calmed down.”
“No fucking way, miss,” one of the troopers grumbled. “That’s a mother-fucking lion. And he’s huge.”
I spun to look at the guy who just spoke. “Yes, he is huge. But he’s also the alpha of the Eagle Creek Shifters and if you harm him, you’ll have the whole crew to deal with. And believe me, you may be able to hit some of us, but it will be the last thing you ever do.”
“Are you threatening us?” the government guy asked.
I wished I had a name for the face, so I could speak more directly to him. But that was a moot point by now. “No, sir. I’m not threatening you. Just stating the facts. We have obeyed your ridiculous rules and you are the ones who came here with guns. They are not necessary. We will not harm you if you put them away.”