by Zoe Chant
For a long moment, no one moved. Zeus had frozen with his teeth sunk deep in Alec's throat. Then he dropped his limp opponent and straightened up, shifting. He barely seemed damaged, despite the fervor of the battle; he was splattered with blood, with a few bruises and parallel claw marks, but it all looked superficial. He glared up at Charmian with a look of rage, and behind him, some of the other bears started to growl.
"You dare—"
"Yes, I dare," Charmian snapped. "I'm not a shifter. I'm not bound by your stupid rules. I won't stop Alec from doing what he needs to do, because I understand how important it is to him, but my tolerance and understanding only goes so far. I'll just be damned if I'll sit on my hands and let you kill my mate. He may be pissed as hell when he wakes up, but the important thing is that he'll be alive to wake up."
No one moved. Charmian raised the rifle and squeezed the trigger, firing into the air. The powerful blast was deafening. Several of the bears jumped. One of them actually fell off the top of the truck it was standing on. There was an outburst of anxious cattle noises from somewhere beyond the barns.
Charmian cranked the bolt-action lever on the rifle. The spent shell went spinning off into the shadows and pinged off something under the eves, while another snapped into place. She lowered the muzzle to point at Zeus.
"That's just in case some of you are so backwoods that you didn't know what a gun does. I'm not the world's best shot, but I think I can bag me a bear at this range," she said flatly. "I have a whole box of shells up here. You're probably thinking I can't get all of you before you stop me, and you're right. But I've barricaded the door of this room, and I will damn well shoot every bear who tries to hurt my mate or anyone else down there, for as long as I can."
Daisy could almost feel the anger of the assembled bears. Their anger filled the night with growls and snarls. She knew she should back up to the door and get inside the house, but she was afraid to move. In front of Zeus, Alec was an unmoving hump of bloody fur. Zeus could have easily finished him off ... but Daisy had no doubt that if he'd tried, Charmian would shoot him.
Then Gannon shifted, making Daisy jump.
"Uncle Zeus." Gannon's low voice was no louder than ever, but somehow it cut through the snarling of the enraged bears; she could hear it clearly. "I challenge you."
Zeus's head whipped around. "You fool. You know you can't win. I just beat your alpha; what makes you think you can defeat me?"
"I challenge you," Gannon repeated, his voice stronger and louder. "I challenge you for leadership of your clan. I challenge you for Guardian of the Mountains."
Zeus stared at him, and then shifted as he lurched forward. Gannon was already shifting too.
Bear met bear, roaring.
This time the watching bears weren't silent. They roared and snapped their teeth together, making Daisy think of over-excited spectators at a hockey match. And she knew it wasn't Gannon they were cheering for, especially as Gannon began to lose ground—Zeus pushing him back, past Alec's still body—and the roaring grew louder, rising to a crescendo like a wall of noise.
Daisy glanced up at Charmian, watching from the window with the rifle. Her face looked tormented, and Daisy knew Charmian would have loved to run to her mate but didn't dare. Only her position in the window as a sniper was keeping the bears at bay.
A blow of Zeus's paw made Gannon stumble. For a moment he almost went down, and Daisy had a terrifying flash of that moment when Alec had fallen and hadn't been able to get up. But Gannon was able to recover his footing and dodge the next blow. He was still in the fight.
I can't watch, Daisy thought wildly. I can't watch this.
She looked around desperately for inspiration. If Charmian with her rifle wasn't enough, what could Daisy do, armed with only a stick of wood?
But if she did nothing, there was a very good chance her mate would be killed. And then what? Gannon and Alec were the only bears who had a chance at taking on Zeus. If he defeated both of them, did that mean that the Circle B bears and their mates would be added to Zeus's clan?
No, no, I can't ...
Her desperate, wandering gaze fell on a small black bear at the edge of the circle of watching bears. Unlike the rest of them, the small bear wasn't snarling or clashing her teeth to show support for Zeus. But the thing that drew Daisy's attention most of all was a small pack strapped to the bear's shoulder. She couldn't tell most of the bears apart, but she recognized this one.
It's Sofia!
Daisy jumped off the edge of the porch, trying not to feel as if she were leaving her only safety and plunging into the lion's den. Most of the bears continued to be riveted to Gannon and Zeus's fight, but a few of them looked around at Daisy as she ran toward Sofia, their hostile predatory attention turning on her.
Being this close to this many bears was an astonishing experience. Up on the porch, she'd had the sense of being separate from them. As bizarre as it was to have all those bears in the yard, they'd also been one step removed from her, like watching them at the zoo. But now she was down among them. If one of them decided to attack her, it could have leaped upon her before she had time to react.
And yet, no one attacked. It was as if they didn't know quite what to do with her. And maybe they didn't—their alpha was fighting, so there was no one to give them orders regarding the tiny human in their midst. She reached Sofia unmolested.
"Sofia!" Daisy cried. She had been completely unafraid of Gannon's bear, but it took all her courage to stand face to face with Sofia, even though the black bear was much smaller than any of the Circle B bears—Sofia's back only came a little way past Daisy's waist, and Sofia had to tilt up her muzzle to look Daisy in the eyes.
"Sofia, he's killing my mate. Please. I think it's all some kind of terrible misunderstanding. There has to be something we can do to stop this."
Sofia rose to her back legs, and shifted as she did so, a graceful and well-practiced motion. She caught the backpack as the longer straps slipped off her comparatively slender human limbs. She was a striking woman, with dark eyes and long black hair. "What can I do about it?" she asked. "If you've sought refuge with this clan, you've made a mistake. They're our enemies. For the first time, all our clans have come together, because our very existence is in danger. And my alpha says that this clan is the reason."
"But why?" Daisy begged. "Alec and the Circle B bears haven't done anything to you."
Sofia tossed her head, flinging back her curtain of black hair. "They're working with the humans to log our mountains."
"No, they aren't! How can you say that? They were as shocked and horrified as anyone. Sofia, listen." Reaching out, Daisy took the other woman by her bare arms. "You're not like them. The backpack, and that stuff you injected me with earlier—you have some kind of medical training, don't you?"
"I was a paramedic," Sofia said reluctantly. "I used to live in the city until my alpha told me to come home. And it worked out all right; I found my mate here. Even if I'm living among people who don't even understand how simple medical technology works." She frowned. "But that's how I knew we made a mistake kidnapping you. I've been to college. I understand how the human world works a lot better than they do. They think humans are like us. They thought your alpha would have to make a deal to get you back, that would involve stopping the loggers. But humans don't have alphas, and I could tell just by looking at you that you weren't on the logging crew anyway. You weren't dressed right."
"No, I think I was actually trying to stop them," Daisy said urgently. "I don't remember things very clearly. Your sedative drugs messed with my head. But I'm pretty sure I came to the mountains to write some kind of exposé story on the illegal logging operation here. And one thing I can tell you for sure, Sofia—Gannon and Alec and the rest of them aren't making deals with the loggers. Why did your clan think so?"
"Because they gave you refuge. And they were all over the place where the loggers were working."
"That's because they wanted to know what was
going on," Daisy said. "And as for helping me—Gannon's my mate! What else were they going to do?"
She looked over her shoulder. Gannon was still holding his own, but she thought he seemed to be slowing. Urgently, she turned back to Sofia.
"Listen to me. If Zeus wins this fight, there's no hope of peace. You said it yourself, your clan doesn't understand how humans work. The loggers aren't just going to go away. Even if you attack them, they'll come back with guns. You can't fight them with shifters' ways. You have to fight them with human ways."
"How?" Sofia asked.
"If they're logging illegally, we can tell the police. We can file lawsuits. I'll show you how to do all of that, but first, we have to stop this fight. Zeus has to lose, or we're all going to lose."
Sofia looked from the fighting bears to Daisy, her expression torn. "I ... I see what you're saying, and I think I agree, but I can't interrupt a challenge."
"Can't, or won't?" Daisy shot back.
"You don't understand. If we interfere with the challenge, the other bears will never accept it. Even if they don't kill us outright, they won't ever accept Gannon as the winner of the challenge. Zeus would be considered to win automatically."
Shifters and their ways! Daisy tried to think. "What if there was some way to help without seeming to help? You said your clan doesn't really understand modern medicine. Is there something in your medical bag that you could give Zeus to slow him down?"
"Maybe," Sofia said slowly. "But ... not without getting close."
As if to underscore her words, Gannon and Zeus met again in a clash of fangs and claws, shivering the ground underfoot. Sofia was right, Daisy thought. Even if they could get close without being noticed, getting in the middle of a grizzly bear fight would be like throwing themselves into a meat grinder.
And Alec's unconscious body was right in the middle of it. Charmian must be going out of her mind ... he was going to get trampled, she thought, or worse ...
Hmmm.
"Sofia, we could go out there to help Alec, couldn't we?"
Zeus roared and attacked again. Gannon, dodging him, nearly stumbled over Alec's outflung leg. Zeus's massive paw smacked the ground instead, gouging massive claw marks in a shower of dirt and gravel.
"And get close to that?" Sofia protested.
"My mate is fighting for his life ... and for mine. For all of us. If you don't want to help, then give me your medical case and tell me what to do."
Sofia shook her head. She smiled faintly. "You're nuts, little human. But in a good way." She slung the strap of the case over her shoulder. "Come on."
Daisy had expected to be terrified as the two of them moved into the center of the watching circle of bears, dangerously near the spinning, snarling combatants. And yet she wasn't afraid at all. It was as if stepping down off the porch, into the midst of the bears, had used up her entire supply of panic, and now that she was in an even more dangerous situation, there was nothing left.
But she was also buoyed up by a deep conviction that Gannon would never allow any harm to come to her. Even in the depths of his battle rage, he wouldn't touch a hair on her head, nor would he allow Zeus to do so.
With Gannon in her corner, she needed to fear nothing.
Unless he loses the fight, she reminded herself. Her eyes were drawn once again to the two snarling bears, locked together in mortal combat. The fight went on and on, first Zeus losing ground, then Gannon.
Sofia crouched beside Alec's shaggy bulk. She laid her case down and opened it. "Can you get him to shift back? This would be much easier if he were a human."
Daisy hesitantly put her hand on Alec's blood-matted fur and shook his shoulder. "Alec, wake up!"
It was no good; he didn't respond. He was still breathing, but unconscious. Daisy tipped her head back, looking up at Charmian leaning out the window with the rifle. Charmian's face was twisted with worry, though she held the gun in rock-steady hands, covering the women as they knelt in the middle of the circle of bears.
"We need to get him to shift," Daisy called up to her. "Can you do anything?"
"Alec!" Charmian shouted. "Shift back—now!"
It shouldn't have worked, at least in Daisy's opinion ... but maybe that was the power of the mate bond. Alec's furry bulk jerked and twisted, and suddenly she had her hand on the shoulder of a naked, bloody man.
She was almost getting used to all the nudity around here. Apparently it was the kind of thing you just had to get used to when you were dating a shifter.
Daisy heard a gasp from Charmian, up at the window. She didn't blame her. The grievous severity of Alec's injuries was much more obvious without the bear fur in the way; he'd been mauled all over. However, under the mask of blood and mud, some of the wounds were already starting to knit together as his shifter healing kicked in. He was panting softly with pain, though he made no sound otherwise.
Sofia worked quietly, opening a sealed package with a clean, sterile syringe. She injected something into Alec's arm.
"What was that?" Daisy asked.
"Morphine," Sofia said quietly. She peeled open another syringe and began to draw something into it from another bottle in her case. "And this is a sedative." Her voice was even softer now. "I just need Zeus close enough. It won't put him out totally, but it'll slow him down."
"Don't."
The low, rough voice came from Alec. Daisy looked down at him in surprise. His eyes were cracked open, a glimmer showing between the lids in the moonlight.
"Don't what?" she asked, bending down, her hand pressing his shoulder.
"Don't do whatever you're planning." He paused to cough, and wet his lips with the tip of his tongue. "Gannon can do this. Trust him."
Helplessly Daisy looked at Sofia, and saw the other woman looking back at her, just as torn.
A tremendous snarl drew her attention back to the fighting bears. Exhaustion was evident in both their movements, the swipes of their huge paws moving in slow motion now. But Alec was right. Gannon had regained the upper hand. When Daisy had last looked, he'd been giving way to Zeus, but now she saw that he had allowed Zeus to back him up against the side of the house so that Gannon could fight back with the wall at his back, offering him some protection. And now it was Zeus's turn to give ground.
Roaring, Gannon drove him back, one step at a time, and bore Zeus down to the churned-up mud with all his powerful weight. Daisy couldn't see exactly what happened, only their thrashing, combined bulk, with the moonlight gleaming off the guard hairs of their shaggy pelts.
Then one of the bears lurched to his feet, the other lying still.
Daisy's heart rose into her throat until the bear swung his head to the side and she saw the scar across his face.
"He won," she breathed aloud.
Even without their help, Gannon had won.
Chapter Twelve
Standing over his defeated opponent, Gannon shifted back to human. Zeus struggled to rise, but fell back.
It didn't seem real. All his life, his uncle had been almost legendary, the unbeatable alpha and the latest of the mountain guardians, strongest and largest of all the mountain bears. Gannon had gone into the fight fully expecting to be killed. Now he was tired and aching, but alive.
Though, in reality, his victory had been a team effort. Gannon wondered if Zeus knew that. He glanced over at Alec and the two women with him. Neither he nor Alec could have defeated a bear of Zeus's size and strength alone, but Alec had worn him down to the point that Gannon had been able to hold his own and eventually win.
Had he ever heard of such a thing—two alphas working together to win a challenge?
But, as he'd come to realize, it was a changing world.
The circle of watching bears had gone completely silent. It was very evident that none of them had expected Zeus to lose. Now they watched in shock.
Suddenly the dark-haired young woman with Daisy stood up. "Alpha among alphas," she said, and bowed her head, then knelt.
Gannon watched
in dazed shock as a slow ripple passed through the bears. One by one, they followed suit, their heads dipping, lowering themselves on their front paws.
Ever since being cast out, he'd dreamed of something like this—going home in triumph, having his clan abase themselves in front of him.
But now he couldn't find any satisfaction in it. Nothing about this felt right, especially when he looked across the yard and saw Remy and Cody bowing their heads as well. The only one who didn't was Axl, the other member of Alec's clan who was an alpha born, even if he'd never chosen to take up the mantle himself. Now Axl was staring fiercely across the yard at Gannon, with one arm around Tara. As humans in the midst of shifters, Tara and Daisy could only watch uncomprehendingly, unable to feel the subtle currents passing between the shifters in the night.
Gannon felt his bear, tired as it was, stirring in response to Axl's defiance. That look seemed to say: If you want to challenge my brother for alpha of this clan, you're going to have to fight me too.
But he didn't.
He didn't want to fight any of them, didn't want any of them to bow to him.
Even the most recalcitrant of the bears had gone down on all fours now, lowering their heads, bending their forelegs.
Then, in the middle of this solemn moment of utter silence, Daisy sprang to her feet and came running to throw herself into his arms.
Gannon grunted and staggered, caught off guard. Everyone else might be bowing their heads worshipfully, but she wasn't intimidated in the slightest. And she didn't seem to care that he had blood and mud all over him, which was messing up her pretty blouse and skirt. She squeezed him with a surprising amount of strength for a human, and Gannon hugged her back, lifting her feet off the ground.
"You won," she said breathlessly, and tipped her head back to kiss him with passionate intensity.
Breaking the kiss, Gannon smiled down at her. It felt unfamiliar on his face. He didn't remember the last time he'd smiled like that—really smiled, all the way, with both sides of his mouth. "We did," he said. "All of us. You. Me. The clan."