by Ashlee Sinn
Donovan growled, lifting a lip at the man. I spun around and glared at my mate. He needed to keep himself calm if we had any chance of having this end well. Rhys and Max added their own warnings to the song, and I could see that we might lose control of this situation very quickly.
“What do we do?” one of the troopers asked. She sounded young and scared to death.
“We are people just like you,” I told her. “Put the guns down and we’ll get this done in a peaceful way. Please.”
Donovan jumped to the roof of the closest car, the metal creaking underneath his weight. The three troopers closest to him started to shake and I knew what was about to happen. As if in slow motion, Donovan turned his head to snarl at one of the officials, they lifted their gun, and they started to pull the trigger. I sprinted forward, hearing the click of the trigger before I could reach him. But Donovan had heard it too, and he jumped into the darkness just as the bullet left the barrel.
I screamed, and then I felt a sharp stab of pain in my left hip. Putting weight on that leg only induced more pain, causing me to miss a step. As I began to fall, I twisted sideways, which allowed me to see the culprit. Mr. Government man held his pistol out in front of him, a small waft of smoke leaving the tip, and I realized that he’d just shot me.
Cursing from the pain, the other hip slammed into the ground, followed by the side of my head. I noticed a black wolf rushing forward, but he stopped when the man swung the gun toward him.
“Rhys, it’s okay. I’m okay,” I said. Then, speaking to all of the officials I shouted, “You need to take me to a hospital. Now!”
“What did you do?” shouted the female trooper. She dropped to her knees beside me and looked at my wound. “Shit,” she mumbled. “Shit, shit, shit.” Looking up at the government man, she screamed at him. “Put that fucking gun away and call an ambulance!”
He seemed to be frozen in his tracks, a look of sheer panic written all over his face. But he didn’t move. He didn’t do anything at all. Until he finally dropped his gun. And just when I thought we might be able to get out of this situation without another injury, a giant lion flew through the air, aiming solely for the shooter.
I could only see red. The red of Mariah’s blood pouring out of her side. The red haze of anger blurring my vision. And the red tie the asshole who shot her wore around his neck, serving as a target for my attack.
I flew through the air, leaping higher and further than I ever had before. I needed the power to get over one car, two state troopers, and the gun that he’d just dropped. And that kind of power came easily because I was so fucking furious. My eyes focused on the throbbing artery in his neck. When he saw me coming, I recognized the scent of fear and the look of sheer panic. Good. Serves him right to die in terror.
I prepared my jaws for the impact, lifting my lips high and exposing my canines. In just a few moments, I would taste the warmth of fresh blood and feel the satisfying crunch of another kill. But I never made it. Seconds before pouncing on my prey, something body slammed me to the side and knocked me to the ground. I rolled several times, feet over back, and hated the way my head throbbed from the impact.
I stood, slowly at first, feeling a little dizzy from the hit. Shaking my mane, I lifted to my full height and glared at the two shifters standing in front of me. Rhys and Max. They’d positioned themselves between me and the government asshole, who still stood frozen like he was trapped in some kind of nightmare. I roared at them, giving them a courtesy warning but fully ready to plow right through them if I had to.
Off to my side, Mariah shouted at me. “Donovan, please change back before this gets any worse!”
I tried to look at her, but Max blocked my view. I gave him the lip and stomped my foot on the ground.
Max’s fur shimmered as he shook, taking only a moment to shift back into human. He stood immediately and held out his hands toward me. “Please, Donovan. You’re alpha now. We need you to settle this humanely.”
Humanely? What bullshit. I jerked my head toward Mariah, signaling my thoughts.
“I know. But we can’t let this get any worse,” he said in perfect understanding.
The bones in Rhys’ back began to crack as he also shifted forms. He spent an extra moment on his hands and knees, panting a little with the speed of his change. Max watched me closely as I watched Rhys. They’d both changed without a command from me, but it had taken its toll. Max was covered in sweat and Rhys’ muscles shook with fatigue.
Somewhere, deep down inside where a small part of my humanity still existed while I was a lion, I appreciated what the two of them were doing for me. They were right, I couldn’t kill a government employee without dire consequences. And the longer this standoff happened, the longer it would be before Mariah could see a doctor.
I growled at the man who’d shot my mate. He still had to pay. Rhys and Max lifted their hands to calm me down. “They’ll take care of it. Right?” Max shouted over his shoulder to the other troopers. One of them finally took the hint and reacted. Grabbing a partner, the two of them handcuffed the man and pushed him into the back of a car. Without another word to anyone, they sped out of the road backward until their lights could no longer be seen.
In the distance, I heard the sirens of an ambulance. Mariah would be in good hands soon. I dropped to the ground and commanded my lion back inside. He didn’t want to go, still feeling threatened and not wanting to give up control. But I coaxed him in anyway, and found myself naked and on the forest floor a few minutes later.
The sounds of shifting carried on behind me as my new crew followed suit without even hearing a command. I was scared to death of being a leader, but if it was going to be this easy to control the shifters, maybe it wasn’t going to be too bad after all.
Once the world stopped spinning and my human body had returned, I stood. Rhys and Max helped me off the ground. I wobbled when the forest started to spin. Rubbing my head, I looked at my friends. “Jesus, which one of you body slammed my head?”
They shared a quick glance with each other before shrugging. “We both did,” Rhys said. “You were too locked onto your prey.”
At the mention of the man who’d shot Mariah, my skin started to burn with rage again. I pushed past the two shifters and jogged to the spot on the ground where Mariah lay with a female state trooper holding her head in her lap. I shoved the woman out of the way and took over Mariah’s care.
“Donovan!” Mariah shouted at me. “Apologize!”
“It’s okay,” the woman said, especially after I snarled her way.
Mariah looked up at me and sighed. “We need to work on your people skills.”
“I don’t like people,” I said.
She laughed again. “Exactly.”
“Are you okay?” I asked, seeing the blood still leaking from her side.
“I think I need a doctor,” she whispered.
“Yes, you do. The ambulance is almost here.” The sirens were close enough that we could see the forest lighting up with flashes of red. “I love you so much, Mariah.” Resting my head against hers, I didn’t care that everyone could see the tears starting to fall. “I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you.”
“Well, you’re not going to lose me,” she promised.
Rhys started gathering the shifters in groups by type and began working with the two remaining government officials to start the registration process. He did it without a request from me and that put my frantic brain at ease a little.
“He’s a good beta,” Mariah said with a smile. “He’ll help you through everything.”
“Good because I need him,” I admitted. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”
Mariah glanced beyond me at all the newly assigned shifters of the Eagle Creek crew and shrugged. “I think we’ll figure it out together.”
I watched the ambulance make its way past the cars as one of the troopers directed it toward Mariah. “Good,” I whispered. And that was the last thing I could say to her for a wh
ile. A flurry of EMTs took over the care of my mate, giving me a hard time when I refused to back away. But with Mariah’s insistence, I allowed them to do their job.
As they were getting ready to load her into the ambulance, Rhys jogged over to my side with a tablet in his hand. “She’s going to be fine,” he said.
“How do you know that?” I snapped.
He shrugged as though my anger didn’t scare him at all. “Because I’ve seen a lot of gunshot wounds before. Hers will heal quickly.”
Curious as to why that was, I decided to hold that particular question until a day when we each had a beer in front of us. Instead, I gestured toward the tablet. “What is that?”
He lifted it and set it in my hands. “You just need to sign here and here and then we’re all legal again.”
“The Shifters of Eagle Creek? With a capital “S”? Who came up with that?” I teased.
“Me. It has a nice ring to it, right?” Rhys brushed the hair out of his eyes and grinned. “Actually, it was Fawn’s idea. So, Max kind of pushed it.”
“Fawn?” I asked.
“Yeah, the goth raven shifter Max is all smitten for?” Rhys stared at me until I shrugged. “Geez, man. As alpha, you’re really gonna have to start learning the names of your crew.”
Mariah made some kind of noise which made Rhys laugh. Strapped into the stretcher, she gestured for me with her fingers. I signed my name, hoped Rhys filled out everything correctly, and ran over to my mate.
“You okay?” I asked.
“She might need surgery to remove the bullet. I think it’s lodged in her hip,” one of the EMTs answered.
I growled at her and Mariah tsked. “Donovan. People skills!”
The woman bit her lips and waited for me to say something before she continued filling out the paperwork on her clipboard.
“Sorry,” I grumbled.
Mariah giggled and looked at the woman. “It’s a start.”
“It is,” she agreed with a smile that disappeared as soon as she saw the scowl on my face.
They started to wheel Mariah into the ambulance and I followed while still holding her hand. “I’m coming with her,” I demanded.
“Of course,” the EMT said, as I helped them lift the love of my life into the back.
Climbing inside, I took the blanket they offered me and found a spot where I could still see Mariah’s face. Brushing my fingers down the side of her cheek, the gravity of the situation finally hit me like a punch in the gut. “I could have lost you,” I stuttered, trying to hold back the tears. “I almost lost you.”
Mariah’s eyes sparkled with wetness when she smiled up at me. “I told you, you’ll never lose me. You’re stuck with me forever.”
The ambulance bounced around as we made our way out of the forest and onto the main highway. The female EMT continued to monitor Mariah’s vitals but stayed out of my way while doing it. She was a quick study.
“When we get to the hospital, can you call my dad?” After I nodded, Mariah got a worried look on her face. “We probably should tell him about us too.”
“He’ll be fine with it.”
“I don’t know,” she whispered. “I mean let’s start with the gunshot first so he won’t think me mating with a non-coyote isn’t such a big deal after he hears that.”
I laughed and gently kissed her. “He already knows me. He knows I will take care of you.”
“Okay,” she breathed. “But please work on your people skills with him. You’re an alpha, just like him, and he’ll have some pretty high expectations.”
I kissed her again. “I’m not worried.”
“But—”
I cut off her protest with one more touch to her lips. “But nothing. It will all work out.”
And as we sped off toward the hospital where Mariah would have surgery and I would have to face a bunch of humans messing with my mate, I sighed. I’d meant what I said and I would do everything I could to make it happen.
It would all work out.
I drove the hammer down hard on the last nail in the last board of our little deck. The lynxes and wolves had helped me all day, and now Max and Fawn were busy cleaning up. Taking a step back, I looked at our finished project. In the center of the newly dubbed Shifters of Eagle Creek camp, we had a gathering area. A platform at least a thousand square feet in size, we planned to set up some picnic tables and an outdoor kitchen where we could sit and enjoy nature without sinking into the mud.
“Looks good,” Rhys said, startling me like he always did.
I punched him in the arm—something that was quickly becoming our way of greeting each other. “It does, doesn’t it?”
“I’ve ordered the grill and the smoker. They should be here in a few days.”
Rhys had a story I was anxious to learn about. Somehow, he’d purchased this land, paid most of the bills, and was helping to fund some of the improvement projects in the camp. Like Donovan, he worked on the seasonal fishing boats, but other than that, I wasn’t sure where his finances came from. I’d also decided that he’d tell me if he wanted to, and until that time, I wouldn’t pry.
“Hey, Mariah!” Max shouted at me from the other side of the new deck. “Where do you want the tools?”
“Just put them on the back of Donovan’s house for now. We should have the storage shed finished next week.” One of the other projects I was taking over—storage that would be safe from the elements. I watched as Max and Fawn loaded up their arms with the drills, saws, and tool belts and hoofed it up the dirt road toward Donovan’s place. Well, our place.
“You know,” Rhys said, smiling at the two of them, “you’d make a good foreman.”
“Yeah?”
“Sure. You’re organized, practical, and you like to boss people around.”
That earned him another punch. He laughed, rubbed his arm, and shook his head. “I think we lost Max.”
I looked over at Rhys, who was quickly becoming my closest friend next to Donovan, and I didn’t miss the hint of sadness creeping into his eyes. “We’ll never lose Max. This is his home, regardless of who he’s hooking up with.”
Rhys chuckled and kicked a stone on the ground. It bounced up into the air, hit my new deck, and skittered across the top of it. I gave him a fake glare. “It’s fine,” he muttered. “Have you seen Donovan since this morning?”
Shaking my head, I gathered my own tool belt and hooked it back on my waist. “No. He went for a run.”
“He does that a lot,” Rhys grumbled.
“His lion needs it. I told him he should become an ultra-marathoner with the distance he covers.” I wasn’t joking either. I thought it would be good for him to work toward goals and milestones.
“Hey, I heard one of the big shoe companies is starting to organize shifter-only competitions. You should see if marathons are on the list.”
“Thanks, I will.” I smiled at Rhys and he immediately grabbed me in a choke hold and started ruffling the top of my head. “I’m not your baby sister,” I gritted out through my teeth, while also trying to control the giggles.
He pushed me away and started walking back toward his cabin. “You are the baby of this camp, Mariah. Live with it.”
I flipped him off while he laughed at me. I wasn’t the youngest one here, but I was the youngest of the three men who’d started this place, and now I just had to accept it. The sun was setting and I saw many of the new members setting up camp for the night. A few had gone in together and purchased campers. And the wolves were in the process of building their own tiny houses. I had a feeling that in another year, this camp was going to look totally different. I’d talked to Donovan about maybe having some kind of design plan in place, and he suggested I take some online courses about city planning. It wasn’t a bad idea, and I’d already started to look into the possibilities.
In fact, I’d gotten a text from my dad earlier in the day with a person to contact at the university. Apparently, Holland, my dad’s new mate and mother of my baby
sister, had started talking to people at the college and made a connection. I was thankful, and now that I had Donovan watching my back, I felt like I was ready to take on the world—one deck at a time.
A black panther and a large raven took off into the woods, almost running into Donovan as he crested the hill in his human form and carrying something large and furry on his shoulders. Donovan shouted at them as they circled, but it was all in jest and I loved the way his smile was so genuine. He’d been smiling a lot these last few weeks. Once I left the hospital and the man who shot me was shipped back to Washington, Donovan had relaxed. Each day was a new challenge, but every time he made an alpha decision, joked with his friends, or admired the new crew he was building, it healed him.
Donovan Bain was turning into an admirable alpha and an even better man.
I waved at him as he sauntered down the hill toward our cabin. His smile lit up my heart and by the time he’d reached the steps for the porch, I was ready to pull him inside and make him all mine again and again.
He laughed and threw down the dead deer near my feet. “Stop it, woman. Or I’ll be forced to have my way with you right here.”
I purred, something I’d never done until meeting this man. “Sounds good to me.”
Someone shouted in the distance, a territorial skirmish that happened on occasion, but it was enough to break a little bit of the heat rushing between me and Donovan right now.
Looking down at the carcass, I had to smile at my man. “Did you bring me a present?” I teased.
“What?” He looked surprised until it hit him. “Okay, yeah. I get it. I’m a cat, so I like to leave you dead things.” When I shrugged, he bounded up the stairs and scooped me up into his arms. “I will bring you dead things every day if you want.”
Grabbing his face, I pulled him close enough to devour his lips. He tasted like raw power and sexy man and I truly didn’t care at that point if he did decide to rip my clothes off on our front porch and have his way with me. His tongue slipped into my mouth and I moaned my approval. “I love you so much,” I said through our kisses.