by T. S. Joyce
“Anson!” the alpha snarled.
“Well what, Ben? If he wants her, he should take her straight outta here and save us all some misery. I mean”—he shrugged and gave a quick gesture to the woods—“where is she? Surely she can hear a big-ass loud truck in her territory, but she’s probably holed up in her room, paintin’ her nails or doin’ a facial or whatever other dumb shit pretty girls like her do.”
“Annalise?” Jaxon asked.
“That’s the one,” the man in the tree said, waving the tip of his knife toward the road. “We call her Princess Panther.”
“Why are we talking and not killing?” asked the tall man leaning up against the tree.
“Barret, I’ve told you, we can’t kill everyone who drifts through our woods,” Ben murmured.
Dark eyebrows arched high, Barret asked, “Why not? I know like six ways to hide a body.”
“You know six?” Bowie Knife asked, leaping gracefully from the tree and landing with almost no impact on his legs. “Bullshit, list them.”
Barret lifted his middle finger. “One, alligators.”
“Oh, God, here we go,” Anson said, rolling his head back.
“Two,” Barret said, lifting his pointer finger, “we could call Dark Kane to eat all the bodies.”
The alpha rolled his eyes and threw his head back. He inhaled deeply and released the breath in a puff. “Can we talk about this dumb shit literally any other time than right now when we’re supposed to look like we aren’t idiots.”
“He’s a bear shifter,” Anson said in a thick southern accent.
“So?” Ben asked.
“So, who gives a fuck what he thinks because he’s a bear shifter.”
Bowie Knife snorted.
“Annalise isn’t up for grabs, Grizzly,” Ben said, running a hand over his cropped blond hair. “If I were you, I’d get out of here while the gettin’ is good.”
But Jaxon hesitated. She was really here. Ben and his crew had confirmed it. She was so close he could practically feel her, smell her, and he imagined what tasting her would be like. He’d been doing this for four months, wishing he could be close enough to see her, and now he was within spitting distance. And yeah, he was angry she’d been a lying little liar. But he also wanted to see if their connection in real life could be as strong as it was through those text messages.
Fuck, he was gonna bleed today. Fight good. Ma’s voice rang in his head as he kicked at the mud with the toe of his work boot. “I can’t leave without seeing her.”
“Can we kill him now?” Barret asked.
Jaxon chuckled and shook his head. “You can try, kitty cat. I don’t die easy, though.”
“Last chance, Grizzly, because you ain’t seein’ Annalise,” Ben said. “She’s part of my crew, and panthers don’t mix with other shifters. Everybody knows that, so don’t push me on this one or I’ll let Barret have you.”
“And me,” Anson said.
“And me,” Bowie Knife muttered, chucking his knife at the ground. It flung end over end and stuck blade first. And then he pulled his shirt off smoothly to reveal a chest that was scarred to hell. These boys were brawlers and dominant, every last one of them. Jaxon cursed Bash and Ma for not giving him more of a head’s up. He could’ve come and stolen Annalise in the night, caveman style, and saved himself some scars if he’d known she was in hillbilly panther-land.
A smattering of pops sounded, and the scent of fur hit Jaxon’s nose just as he looked over at Barret. He was already Changed into a massive black panther and was charging Jaxon. Shit, he was fast. The echo of bones breaking filled the clearing around the road, and then his own Change came out of nowhere since his inner grizzly was pissed.
Barret barreled into him and slammed him into the side of the truck just as his bear hit the ground on all fours.
And then there were claws, teeth, and pain.
Chapter Three
The scream of a panther made Annalise sit up straight in bed. Frozen, she sat there, ears straining, staring at the door of her single room cabin. Perhaps she’d imagined it.
A deep, terrifying, and unfamiliar roar shook the entire house.
“Oh, my gosh,” she murmured, flying into action.
Something was wrong. They were under attack, or the police were here, or they were at war with another crew, or something equally bad. She just knew it.
Instincts blaring, Annalise threw open the door and looked frantically around. Two cabins down, Jenny, the alpha’s mate, stood staring at the woods, her six-year-old son, Raif, gathered against the front of her. She cast Annalise a worried glance, her shoulder-length brunette locks twitching with the movement.
“Not much scares the boys,” she murmured, “but if it’s a grizzly shifter…it’s bad news.”
“What do we do?”
Another roar sounded, followed by the screams of two panthers.
“Jenny, what do we do?” Annalise repeated louder as panic did something awful to the animal inside of her.
Jenny sighed. “We kill it.”
Annalise’s legs were moving before she fully registered what Jenny had uttered. Kill it? She’d seen bear shifters before on television. They were monstrous things, massive bruins twice the size of panthers. Three times, perhaps. But kill it? She didn’t even know why she was running through the woods right now. She didn’t understand her panther’s reaction, but now she could smell fur and blood, and the fighting was so loud it made her dizzy.
A tree root came out of nowhere, tripping her, and with a cry, she pitched forward. Before she hit the ground, something more terrifying than a grizzly in her new territory happened. Her panther exploded from her.
And now she was going to kill everyone.
She wanted to sob and scream, “No!” and tuck herself back into her human skin so she wouldn’t hurt anyone, but it was too late. She-Devil was out.
The Red Havoc Woods blurred by, and her stomach dipped with how fast she was in this body. She was a black-furred bullet headed straight into the heart of the fight. This was what She-Devil lived for—bleeding things. Ben and the crew were going to be so mad at her.
Through a break in the trees, she could make out the clearing around the single dirt lane that wound through the forest. Parked near the trees was a giant, jacked-up silver Dodge Ram that was a damn monster truck, and beside it was the battle she’d heard. The grizzly was bigger than any she’d seen in the news. It had reddish brown fur and black, six-inch claws that arched through the air as he swatted a panther across the ribs and sent it flying into a tree. It’s glowing green eyes sparked with intense fury as he swung around to the cat currently biting the muscular hump on his back. He reached over his shoulder and ripped it off with such violence, it should’ve stopped her in her tracks.
Kill the cats.
What? No, you are one of the cats. Defend the cats.
Protect the bear.
What the fuck was happening? She couldn’t stop or slow down, and she was only yards away. And for an instant, that horrifying, terrifying monster bear locked gazes with hers, and there was a spark of something she didn’t understand. She bunched her muscles, prepared to force this body to leap onto his back and rip into his exposed throat as he was busy with one of the panthers, but she put too much power into her jump and instead sailed over his back and slammed into Ben, who had been jumping for the bear at the same time. At least she thought it was Ben. It smelled like him as they hit the grown like a pair of missiles. The wind was nearly knocked from her, but that didn’t stop She-Devil, no. She went to war with her damn alpha, and he went to war right back.
Pain slashed against her shoulder as she sank her teeth into his neck. God, he was strong, and so fast he blurred. A good fighter, but he lacked the insane fury that She-Devil was fueled by. Claws raked down her back, and she was pulled hard. The other panthers were there, trying to separate her from their alpha.
Fuckers. Pulling her off a kill like this? They were gonna die too then. Anna
lise spun and slashed her claws across the face of a green-eyed panther—Barret probably.
The bear stood behind Barret and roared a long, deafening sound. It felt like he was calling to her. That wasn’t right…was it? She wanted to run to him. She wanted to place herself between him and the crew and dare these assholes to fight her. Nobody was killing the grizzly today. Not today…not ever. Ever? God, what was wrong with her?
Ben was going to kick her out of the crew for how damaged she was. This was the part she had been trying to hide for the last three days. Completely out of control of her body, Annalise swung to the side, bolted around a very surprised looking Barret, and charged the bear. He didn’t even move, didn’t back up a single step, just locked eyes on Annalise and watched her skid to a stop in front of him.
And then she did something unforgiveable.
She turned on her crew.
Yep, she, the biggest dumbass in the history of shifters, gave a murderous grizzly bear in the heat of battle her exposed back while she turned on the only people who would protect her.
She-Devil was clearly suicidal.
The crew didn’t attack. Two of them slunk back and forth in tight paces, and two of them, Ben included, looked like they would probably eat her if they were dragon shifters.
Ben approached slowly, his massive paws making prints the size of dinner plates in the mud. Annalise hissed. Close enough.
Ben’s gold eyes with the tiny pupils narrowed dangerously on her. He hunched into himself, and the alpha of the Red Havoc Crew Changed back into his human form. What was he doing? The grizzly could kill him so easily. But when she looked over her shoulder, the bear had backed himself across the road and was pacing the tree line, eyes on her. He shook his head as though dizzy, or perhaps confused. Welcome to the club, Griz. She confused the hell out of herself, too.
“Change back,” Ben demanded. Power pulsed through those two words and brushed against her skin, making her want to do…something.
The other panthers had an immediate response to Ben’s order, and their bodies broke in a painful-looking way. Anson pitched forward on his hands and knees and muttered, “Fuck, Ben. You could’ve just asked,” as pain washed across his features.
“I said Change back!” he yelled at Annalise.
She hunched down, but She-Devil liked this body and didn’t give it up easy. Sorry Ben.
The sound of something big approaching too fast from behind startled her, and she turned to see the bear charging the alpha. Oh, shit. It was a bluff, thank God, and he skidded to a stop right behind her. Grunting on every exhale, eyes full of fire and locked on Ben, the grizzly was promising a quick death. Tension roiled from him, and for the first time, Annalise was actually scared. He was a monster, and on closer inspection, she could see the mash-up of claw marks on his body and older scars that had kept his fur from growing back in places.
The click of metal on metal was deafening in that silent moment. In the woods stood Jenny, huge long-range rifle aimed right for the middle of the bear’s forehead. “Get the fuck out of here if you want to keep your brains from painting my goddamn woods.”
The moment was so charged, Annalise’s body seized with the tension, and in an instant, She-Devil was giving Annalise her body back. Her Change was painful, but fast. Annalise sat with her knees tucked under her, gasping for air as she waited for her body to make sense again. She hated the gun pointed at the bear, but for the life of her, she couldn’t figure out why. He was a stranger and had brought violence to the crew. And if she was honest, she was pissed he’d made her betray Red Havoc. This was her shot at gaining a normal-ish life someday, and he’d just ruined it for her.
“Please leave,” she ground out.
The grizzly turned his massive block head toward her, gave her a hard, calculating look, and then strode toward the truck. His Change was fluid, like magic. He was bear, and then he was a man. A muscular man with wide shoulders, who stood over six-foot-tall and had tattoos down his neck and back. The claw marks on his body streamed red, but he didn’t limp or favor his injuries. His bare ass was perfection over long, strong legs moving in a smooth, effortless gait. He had black hair that was longer up top, but shaved short on the sides, and his giant fists were balled with anger. God, she wished he would turn and show his face so she could see if it was as beautiful as the rest of him.
He slid into the driver’s side and slammed the door so hard the truck rocked with the force. The engine roared to life, and as he pulled slowly onto the road, Annalise covered her boobs with her hands in a last-minute fit of modesty.
There are some moments in life that draw you up, and etch themselves so eternally and so fully on your brain, that flashbacks will happen for years to come. Maybe forever. Annalise had one of those moments now as watched the stoic profile of the bear shifter she’d just protected.
He had a trimmed, black beard and a striking, masculine profile. His tattoos were stark against the pale skin of his neck, and right as the truck passed, he turned and locked eyes with her.
Annalise gasped in shock. It was the man who had kept her steady for the last four months. Jax had sent her a picture once. It had been blurry, just of his face, and his dark hair had been longer and shaggy, falling in front of eyes. It was a picture he’d taken before he got the ink on his neck, but she would recognize those light brown eyes and their shape anywhere. She had obsessed with that picture in her hardest moments, had memorized every facet of his face.
“Jaxon?” she murmured softly.
He looked different from the picture in subtle ways. Hardened and harsh, like a warrior instead of the sweet man she’d been talking to.
He ripped his gaze away from her and hit the gas, filling the woods with the sound of his roaring engine. Mud sprayed out from the sides of his tires as he disappeared down the road.
She’d just had a moment with the man of her dreams…but Jaxon was nothing like what he’d portrayed himself to be.
And clearly, he’d just learned, that neither was she.
Chapter Four
She couldn’t get Jaxon off her mind. Which was bad, because right now, she was supposed to be paying attention.
“And furthermore, way to be the worst crew member in the goddamn world, Princess!” Barret yelled. “You know you’re supposed to fight with us, right?” He pointed to the long, half-healed claw marks down his face with a shaking pointer finger. “Not against us!”
Jenny swatted his hand out of the way and slathered on another layer of scar cream. Barret snarled at her, but Jenny growled right back and didn’t back down an inch.
“How do you know Jaxon?” Ben asked from where he sat at his four-seater table with his boot propped up on an empty chair and his arms across his chest. His eyes still weren’t his normal human blue. They blazed gold like the sun.
“What had happened was…I met him on this dating site, and we were just talking as friends—”
“How many dirty pictures did you send your friend,” Anson asked.
“Rude, and none of your business.”
Anson barked out, “I’m asking with a purpose, and you just told me more than one, so don’t give us that bullshit about you’re just friends. You turned on your crew!”
“You aren’t my crew yet!” she fired back, good and pissed. “I haven’t pledged to anyone.”
“And you never will if you bring a bear around here,” Ben snarled, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. “Panthers. Don’t. Mix. We never have. It’s the rules.”
“But bears and ravens and boars and gorillas and snowy owls and dragons all mix,” she pointed out for the sake of arguing. All these boys were dumb as fence posts and had been mean to her for days, and she was good and done with their stupid arguments and shenanigans.
It was Jenny who spoke up, though. “How long have you been a shifter, Annalise?”
That drew her up straight on the loveseat she was currently sitting on by herself. “Not long. Six months.”
> “What?” asked the quietest member of the crew, Greyson. He was a big blond behemoth who she usually forgot was there until he on occasion uttered a few words. “Only six months? You were bitten?” Anger flashed through his blue eyes. “By who?”
“I’m not ready to talk about it.”
“Mother fuckin’ fucker,” Barret drawled. “Ben seriously? We’re bringing a brand new bitten she-panther into the crew? This is the worst idea. Sniff her! She’s near her heat cycle, and she’s already bringing in the damn bears from Damon’s Mountains. Kick her out before she gets us all killed.”
“It’s not that simple,” Ben murmured, staring at his hands as he rubbed them together. She hadn’t ever seen him duck his gaze in the three days she’d been here.
“It is that simple,” Barret snarled. “Kick her out and choose your crew! She clawed me protecting an enemy. Fuckin’ traitor already. Look at my face, Ben. This wasn’t just some brawl for fun like the boys and I get into. This was an act of treason against her own crew.”
“She doesn’t have loyalty to us yet,” Ben argued.
Barret winced away from Jenny’s touch on his cheek and strode for the door, yanked it open, but then hesitated. “Get your head off this stupid idea, Alpha. She’s a danger, and you have a son to protect. You have all of us to protect, and you’re bringing a damn grenade into our territory and playing with the fucking pin. Three days in, and we have a grizzly fight with a Barns. With a Barns! You know who his momma is? Who his daddy is? Who his fucking brother is? He’s a Gray Back, Ben. He’s a Gray Back, and she’s not important enough to die over,” he said, jamming a finger at Annalise. “It’s her or me, and I’m giving you time to decide. You know where I’ll be until you kick her out.” Barret arched his eyebrow at Ben. “Do it fast.” And then he walked out the door and slammed it behind him hard enough to rattle the small cabin.
“I’m really sorry,” Annalise said in desperation. “I didn’t know he was a shifter! And I cut off from him and everyone else in my old life when I came here. I don’t even know how he found me!”