by Mandy Rosko
It had been on the tip of her tongue to accept the offer right then and there, but she’d clamped her mouth shut and shaken her head instead.
She couldn’t leave. She wasn’t ready to leave. Miranda said she was too scared, which wasn’t a lie. She was scared, so that made it easier for Garret to believe her when she used that as her excuse for not wanting to be sent away from the protection of his home.
It was also because she wasn’t ready to leave Miranda and Anna behind. That was the main reason.
There was nothing else. If she told this to Miranda and Anna, they’d smile and think it was because she didn’t want to leave Dane behind, when in truth, he was so far below on her list of things she cared about, he might as well not register on the meter.
The door burst open, the thick wood slamming against Anna’s wall. Lois snapped her head to the side from the sudden shock of the noise, only a tiny bit disappointed it wasn’t Dane busting in to come see her.
Katie rushed inside, her eyes intent and blazingly angry as she marched up to Lois.
Lois backed away from her easel, clutching her paintbrush tightly in her hand. The only reason she didn’t drop it was because she didn’t want to get paint on the nice flooring. And she had years of practice keeping good care of her brushes.
“What? What?” she snapped, half panicked as Katie pointed her clawed finger, pushing her up against the far wall, where Lois didn’t have anywhere else to go.
Anna sounded about as shocked and maybe a little scared. “Katie? What are you doing?”
“You need to cut this shit out.”
Lois blinked. “What are you talking about?”
When Lois realized she was holding the thick brush in both hands, pointing the wet end against Katie like it was a weapon, she nearly lowered it until she realized it was probably for the best if she didn’t lower her only means of self-defense. Lois wasn’t sure whether Katie was the sort of woman who cared too much if her clothes got ruined by paint, but just in case, Lois kept the brush up.
“Stop messing with Dane and go out there already. Put him out of his misery before this gets worse.”
At first Lois genuinely thought Katie meant to put Dane out of his misery in the same way someone might talk about putting down a dog.
Then she understood, and she wasn’t happy.
“How is him going outside every day and letting his face get pummeled my fault?”
“How is it not your fault when you mope around here every day giving him false hope and guilting him?”
Katie’s words hadn’t come out any harsher or louder than anything else she’d already said, but Lois honestly felt as if she had physically punched her in the stomach. For a second, she lost all her words. She couldn’t say anything.
Because it was selfish of her to stick around. She’d known it all this time, and she’d been lying to herself about it the entire time.
“Where is he?”
Katie stepped back, propping one hand on her slim hip and using the other to point at the door. “Letting himself get beaten bloody by Jax and the alpha.”
“Jax, too?” Anna cut in.
Katie kept right on talking as though she hadn’t said anything at all. “So you need to get your ass down there and stop him already. This bullshit pity party you’re both putting yourselves through needs to stop!”
Lois was already rushing out the door. She only caught the last half of that sentence because Katie was yelling it at her.
13
Lois knew where the fighting would be because it happened in the same place every single time. The omegas always seemed to be running back and forth from the same direction whenever they wanted to see an exciting fight, as if they were hosting the UFC right in their backyard or something.
They thought this was nothing, but Katie seemed to think Dane was really hurting himself, and that was enough to make her want to put a stop to this.
Lois heard the sounds of the fight, of harsh growling noises, and of the cheering of the omegas, before she got to the first floor. She ran to the back doors, just beyond the kitchen. There were some young men and women in there by the stainless steel fridge grabbing canned drinks, like this was supposed to be some kind of event.
They stopped smiling when Lois glared at them. A few of them glared back, like they didn’t understand what her problem was. Lois didn’t care about them, or what they thought. She pulled open the sliding glass doors, and the cheering and whistling was so much louder than it had been before she’d stepped outside. She could see just why she’d tried to avoid seeing this. She’d already seen Dane in his bear form a couple of times. At least, the monster version of his bear form, which was what he looked like right now. He was tall, he was wide, he was powerful, imposing, scary, and so many other things that made her terrified of him the first time she’d seen him like that. She hadn’t wanted to admit to that terror at the time, but it was true.
And now she could see him in the yard, taller than the other betas and omegas that stood around him and Garret in a circle, cheering for him while he roared at Garret. He had dark fur all over his body, as well as the head of a bear, but his arms, the way he stood, looked a little more human. It made each swing of his fists seem all the more dangerous. A wild animal didn’t know how to fight like that, didn’t know how to plan ahead and make moves that precise.
Dane had the advantage of being both. Of being the sort of creature who could think, as well as charge ahead with wild strength. Lois shivered as Garret ducked out of the way of his claws, rolled to the side, and in his wolf shape, he snapped his teeth at Dane’s arm, biting down hard. The sharp, pained cry made Lois’s heart constrict and drum loudly in her ears. It almost drowned out the noise of the cheering.
Jax sat on a lawn chair, a sweating glass of ice water in his hand that he had pressed to his bruised face. He looked like he’d just come out of the fight before Garret took his place. Katie rushed out the doors just then, holding a cloth and a brown bottle of alcohol. When Jax spotted her, he leaned back and let her dab the cloth over the red, open cuts on his face.
A deep, sinking dread drilled a hole in Lois’s stomach. Dane had done that to his friend? This was seriously their idea of a good-natured fight?
And now it was Garret in the ring with Dane, both of them trying to bloody up the other.
Even in Garret’s wolf form, Lois could still tell there was something intelligent and thinking within him. He was still in control of himself. Dane, on the other hand, was starting to look a little less in control, and a lot more wild and desperate to win the fight. He lunged at Garret, and Garret jumped out of the way again. Dane ended up pushing himself through the crowd, forcing the circle they’d created to move, but then he roared and turned back to charge at Garret.
He really would have looked like a wild animal had it not been for the fact that no bear in the world looked exactly like he did in this shape. Garret punched Dane in the muzzle, putting a quick stop to his attack. Dane cried out a high-pitched animalistic sound and keeled over.
Lois jumped, a tiny shriek escaping her mouth at the sight of the violence. Red blood flew from Dane’s maw. It almost seemed to glitter in drops in slow motion before things sped up again and Garret jumped on top of Dane.
She still couldn’t breathe. Oh God, was Garret using his claws? She hadn’t seen them come out when he’d punched Dane, but he was bleeding. Dane pulled his teeth back, and they were pink with more blood as he pushed Garret off him.
It was terrifying when Dane roared at Garret, shook himself off, and went back for more before the loose hairs he’d shed hit the ground. Both of them, as huge as they were, crashed into each other, and somehow managed to make the ground beneath Lois’s feet shake.
And their teeth were coming out again, both terrifying creatures biting and fighting with each other. It looked like they were trying to tear each other’s faces off. Or kill each other.
“Stop! Stop!”
Lois barely realize
d it was her screaming at them to stop, or that she was running towards them, until she was pushing against the cheering omegas, shoving them out of the way and squeezing through.
She got through them with only a minute or so of hard effort. There weren’t enough omegas and betas to create a strong enough wall to keep her out. It was only when she was through them and within the inner circle that one man grabbed her by the arm.
“What are you doing?”
Lois looked back at him, and only when she saw the worry in his eyes did she snap out of it and realize what she’d done.
Oh, right. It probably wasn’t the safest thing in the world to get between two shifters as huge and powerful as Dane and Garret.
The omega pulled her back among the ranks before she could make the move herself. He yanked her hard enough to cause a painful jolt in her arm.
When Dane roared again, Lois snapped her attention back to him, and was stunned to see him staring at both her and the young man who’d grabbed her.
“Shit,” he said, backing off quickly. It wasn’t until he turned and tried to run that Dane pounced.
“Wait! Dane!”
The omegas scattered. Several of them screamed as they all seemed to come to the realization that the game was over. It looked as if Dane had lost control for real this time.
14
The animal spotted someone touching his mate, grabbing her, and trying to take her away. The beast within him roared, demanded action, demanded punishment for the offense, and Dane was in no mood to deny his wilder side what it really wanted.
The other alpha called out to him, but Dane took no orders from him. Dane was an alpha, too! Why were they even here listening to this wolf when his mate was right there, being assaulted by these people?
The crowd screamed. He could feel their panic as they scattered, but Dane kept his eyes on what really mattered as he chased down his prey. He ran like a rabbit. Rabbits were delicious when they were caught.
And Dane caught him, biting down hard. A scream. A taste of blood, warm and intoxicating, that splashed into his mouth.
More, he wanted more.
His woman grabbed onto his ears. Yanked them hard enough to hurt. Dane paid her no attention as he bit down harder.
The dragon creature appeared, the one he’d already bested, leaping in front of him, wings spread, roaring in his face.
Dane lifted his head and roared back.
His woman…she grabbed his prey and took him away. That was fine. That was good. She could help him save his kill for later eating.
The wolf jumped on his back, thick arms coming around his throat, cutting off his air, and Dane roared and bucked. The wolf wouldn’t be moved. His arms remained tight around Dane’s throat. He couldn’t breathe now. The wolf would kill him if he didn’t get the damned creature off!
The more he moved, spun, and clawed back at the being behind him, the faster he seemed to run out of air, the faster his lungs burned and swelled, like they were getting ready to burst.
Dane bucked and threw himself onto his back, using his weight to crush the wolf holding him. The wolf yelped, but his grip remained strong, and Dane’s body weakened, his mind slowing, his limbs becoming heavy as his thoughts fogged.
“No! Garret! Let him go!”
Lois.
When Dane opened his eyes again, Garret and Jax were both standing over him, their hands on their knees, in their human shapes. There was relief in their eyes when he glared at them.
“What the fuck? Did you choke me out?” Dane moaned.
He lifted his hand to his face. He both sounded and felt like he’d just woken up from a forty-eight hour nap.
“Yeah, no shit I choked you out when you put your teeth through Joey’s leg.”
“I…what?”
He shouldn’t have asked, because the second he did was about the time everything came back to him. The taste of blood was still in his mouth, highlighting the memories, the sensation of fragile, warm flesh breaking under the pressure of his sharp teeth.
He wasn’t lying on the grass because he’d lost the fight. He was lying on the grass because he’d gone nuts and tried to kill one of the omegas.
Lois had been there. She’d tried to pull him off the boy.
Dane sat up, groaning only a little when the ground beneath him swirled ninety degrees before righting itself. “Christ, is he okay?”
“Of course not. Katie’s taking him to the hospital. We can’t treat that here.”
“Fuck,” Dane said again. He spat the taste of blood from his mouth, but it still lingered. Lois had seen that. God, what must she think of him?
So much for his self-control.
“Where’s Lois?”
“I sent her back inside. Miranda and Anna came out here, and I didn’t want them seeing all this. Not that it matters anyway since they got an eyeful of it.”
“What happened?” Jax asked. “You were doing fine.”
Jax offered his hand, and Dane took it, letting the dragon help him to his feet. It almost made him puke from the sudden way he was pulled up, but he managed to keep it down.
“Well?” Garret asked.
Dane had to think about it. He groaned, clenching his teeth when it came to him. “Lois pushed through the omegas. Joey grabbed her and pulled her back. Fuck, I saw that and I went nuts. I…shit.” Joey had been trying to keep Lois safe. She’d probably come out here, not realizing what was happening, and she’d, what? Tried to run to his rescue?
It was as sweet as it was stupid. The entire point of alpha fights was to get all the anger and rage out of his system. It was a cathartic way for an alpha to blow off steam when he had too much of it so he could feel like himself again.
In this case, Dane apparently had a little too much steam to blow off, and he’d nearly killed Joey for it.
Mate. The bear had called Lois his mate.
Christ, he’d known, he’d known there was a pull, about what her smell and body did to him, but when the animal side made that connection, when it howled out the word and got all protective…
There would be no going back for Dane. Not from this.
Jax hissed when Dane finished explaining. He didn’t hide the part where his bear thought Lois was his mate. Might as well tell Garret what was going on in his head, since he’d nearly killed Joey.
“Christ, I’m sorry, man,” Jax said. He scratched the back of his head, his brows drawn in discomfort. “I didn’t see her running for the circle. Katie was with me and…”
Dane nodded. He knew how Jax felt about Katie. He wasn’t going to rub it in the man’s face that he’d been caught off guard.
Though he was sorely tempted.
“Joey will survive?”
Garret nodded. “From the looks of things, yeah. You didn’t hit anything major when you bit him. Lot of blood, though.”
Dane knew that. He could smell it around him. It didn’t take him long to locate the spot where the blood had pooled, making the grass look dark, almost oily black in the sunlight. Would the kid ever walk right after what Dane had done?
Garret put his hand on Dane’s shoulder. “He should be fine. They’ll give him a shot, cast his leg, and his healing will do the rest.”
Omegas didn’t heal as fast as alphas did, but hearing that Joey would be all right was a big bucket of relief. Dane was going to have to do something for the man to make up for trying to bite his leg off.
His first instinct was to go to Lois. She was the one he wanted to see right now. He wanted to make sure she didn’t think he’d completely lost his mind, that he wasn’t that monster she’d just seen attacking Joey.
He looked to Jax first. “I should probably give it a day or so before I talk to her, right?”
Jax nodded. “Yeah, probably.”
Mate or no mate, what sort of woman would want to see him after what he’d done? After everything he’d done. He was going to have to explain himself.
* * *
Lois hadn’t exac
tly acquired much during her stay in this house, so it was easy enough for her to pack up the few toiletries she’d been given, along with her purse. She just had to put on the clothes she’d arrived in and she was ready to go.
Anna watched with big puppy eyes from the doorway. Miranda looked about a thousand times more heartbroken than Anna did, which made sense since it was more than likely the other woman didn’t expect Lois would come back.
Lois didn’t want to come back here. She didn’t belong here, but Miranda was the only reason she had to stay connected to these people. She wanted to ask Miranda to come with her, but she knew that wasn’t going to happen. Miranda belonged here now. She needed these people to help her learn some control.
So she wouldn’t attack people like Dane had.
“He didn’t do it on purpose,” Anna said quietly as Lois pulled her purse over her shoulder.
Lois stopped, looked at the girl, at the fear on her face that Lois would leave.
And Lois could still feel the warmth of the blood splashing on her leg, staining the jeans she’d borrowed from Anna. She could still smell the blood in the air, still hear Joey screaming as he desperately tried to push Dane’s face and teeth away.
It had seemed a pathetically weak attempt as he thrashed like a wild animal that was about to be eaten alive.
Lois had tried to pull Dane off, grabbing him by the ears and yanking hard, thinking they would be sensitive enough to at least warrant a reaction from him.
It hadn’t. It was as though Dane hadn’t realized what he’d been doing.
And that was the thing that scared her the most.
Lois shook her head. “I’m not…I’m not actually leaving. Not forever, anyway, so this isn’t like it’s a big deal.”
“Are you sure?” Anna asked, her voice soft, quiet. There was no hint of bitterness there.
And that made Lois’s guilt pierce her in the chest harder.
Lois shook her head, forcing some calm back into her. She knew her friend, and so far, Anna hadn’t turned into a great big wild animal that had tried to hurt or kill anyone.