BOX SET: Shifter 4-Pack Vol 2 (Wolf Shifter, Dragon Shifter, Mafia, Billionaire, BBW, Alpha) (Werewolf Weredragon Paranormal Fantasy Romance Collection)

by Candace Ayers

  Screaming, the woman lunged in for my throat and I whipped my entire body around, crashing into her. The body slam caused a loud crack, but I couldn’t tell whose ribs they might have been. Growling, I went in for her throat but she turned a few inches and I ripped her ear instead. She cried out as I jumped back, glaring at her. She had caused so much trouble and pain that I couldn’t just let her go. The moon urged me on, and I was impatient to stop this malicious wolf from hurting other people.

  Her red eyes glowed as she snarled at me, but I wasn’t afraid of her. A small growl vibrated through my body and I snapped at her, urging her to make the next move as we circled each other, crouched and ready to spring. My claws dug at the earth, just waiting for her to slip up.

  It had become evident the moment I entered the fracas that there was little chance of people escaping without harm, let alone the gamble for death. After she and Jereth had tried to corner and finish me off, that was when I knew those two couldn’t come out of the fight. They had to change their ways and give in or they had to be finished. If we let them go, they would only plan better and attempt this all over again.

  Nobody wanted this to continue, that much had been evident from the meeting. We needed an end and this was going to be it. I grew impatient and the moment she glanced away at the sound of someone’s dying keening, I sprang at her. Using all of my strength, I pressed on her and grabbed her neck with my jaws, twisting over her and forcing her to follow me.

  She spun, falling hard to the ground with a crash as I pressured her to keep her down. The woman whined and I closed my eyes tightly, wishing she would stop. My heart beat so loudly I thought it would jump out of my chest. I had to do this, I told myself. The moon was silent, waiting for this to be finished.

  Crick. Her body gave and she fell silent and still. Shaking my head, I stepped back to hear the last breath leave her body. I howled my victory in triumph though bitter it might have been. My cry was cut short as someone barreled into me, and by the stench I knew it was Jereth. I should have been watching for him, knowing he would come for revenge. He was covered in sweat and blood. Tossing me off my feet, he clawed me from rising back to my feet and dug his teeth into my broken ribs.

  My vision grew blurry and though I raked him with my claws, it didn’t stop him from biting at me over and over. I could barely breathe as I tried to get him off me, trying to hold back cries of pain. He punctured a lung and I struggled to escape but I couldn’t. It was worse than being cornered by him before, it was worse than defeating a pack by myself, and it was worse than anything I had ever been caught up in before. I couldn’t free myself and soon there was too much blood for me to move.

  Dizzy, I tried to pull away from him but he clawed my face when I tried to raise it. His slap wasn’t that strong, but I was weak and it was enough to knock me out. Everything was quiet.

  When I came to, Jereth was no longer standing over me but was fending off another large wolf. I struggled to see and could tell by the scent that it was Benjamin. I had lost him in the fight and was relieved to see he was still standing. He favored a hind leg, but he was in much better shape than myself. Panting, I watched the two of them fight and shot a look around the battlefield. It was coming to an end and more than half of the wolves were now lying down, dead or dying.

  It was the last leg of the fight, but I noted that it was most of Jereth’s followers that still stood. They nipped at the others, shouting for a victory that hadn’t yet happened. It made me livid which gave me the energy to return to my feet. This was difficult and I was shaky, but I knew if he survived that his people stood a chance.

  I growled as my fury grew, frustrated with everything. Not just today, but over the last several years. Lyell and his pack had thought they could have it all- ignore the old ways until it was necessary. And then there was Jereth and his pack that believed they could do whatever they wanted. It was because of them I had so few friends and family left, it was their violent ways that had caused me to live on my own, unable to stay in one place too long because of the dangers. Dangers that were their fault.

  Benjamin heard me move and glanced back. Jereth took the opportunity and grabbed his shoulder. I limped forward, struggling to regain my strength. The moon urged me on, telling me to end this. Benjamin cried out in pain, shaking off the enemy and I tried to find a good moment to get back in the fight. My side was still bleeding and I slipped on my hind leg, wincing.

  He needed my help. Benjamin was having a hard time holding down Jereth who was too wily to stay still for long. If he could just grab him for a moment, I could help. Somehow. Holding back the waves of pain trying to push me over, I tried to shake it off. He needed me, I told myself, and no one was else was going to help him.

  The moment Benjamin managed to drag Jereth down to the ground, I lunged forward to assist. Biting back the pain was difficult, but I growled and pushed myself on, dumping myself onto Jereth. He wiggled and moved like a madman, biting and clawing at the two of us. But Ben was there and saw was I was doing, trying to keep him trapped. He clawed at Jereth’s face and I helped him shove him against the boulder behind him.

  Another crack, and it was hard to tell where it was. But Jereth had stopped moving and that was enough for us. We stepped back and he collapsed as a puddle of blood began to collect around his body. There was no sound, no heartbeat. Ben howled, raising his head to the moon as I glanced around warily, struggling to stay on my feet. When no one else appeared as a threat, I forced myself to lie down, panting.

  Ben huffed, glancing around as he licked his nose clean of dirt. We watched Jereth’s followers stare and began to run off, only a few staying with their heads bowed in defeat. Ben watched them guardedly before making his way to me, nudging me delicately and sniffing out my injuries. I whined a greeting, letting him know I would be fine. After a minute or two of collecting my breath, I changed back to my human form.

  The evening was chilly and I shivered as I tried to get a better look at my injuries. My left leg was shredded and my toes were blue. I tried to grab for a branch to help me fix the broken bones but was painfully reminded of my torn up side, still bleeding freely. I could see one of my ribs and winced, falling back down and struggling to breathe. It grew a little easier and as long as I could stay strong through the evening, my lung would be healed by morning.

  Bite-marks littered my back and there were scratches on my face. I was testing to see how deep they were when Ben reappeared with our belongings. He changed form to help me dress and wrap my injuries. We focused on taking care of each other, as did the other injured survivors around the field. It was quiet, and few of us there cared to speak.

  We patched me up the best we could, and then I turned to Ben to look him over. He still had all his limbs, and most of the blood on him wasn’t his. I touched his nose as he put his shirt on, and he grimaced.

  “I think it’s broken,” he murmured spitefully. I tried to smile but even my cheeks hurt to move. Ben sighed, putting a hand to my face, rubbing his thumb against one of my smaller scratches.

  “I’ll be fine,” I told him before he could say a word. My body cried out in protest as I stood and waited for Ben to do the same. We took a moment to look at each other, trying to remember how just a few hours ago we had been romantic in a few fields over.

  Swallowing hard, I ran a few fingers over his arm and realized his shoulder was dislocated. He hadn’t said anything, but it was obvious to see. Quietly I pulled him over towards a tree, and leaned him against it. Ben made a face and I kissed him, because it’s best that one never knows when the pain is coming. Still, he cried out when I put all of my pressure against his shoulder and he slumped, gasping.

  “Sorry,” I murmured, tracing my fingers over his tender flesh. Ben gave me an uneasy look and I couldn’t help but chuckle. “It would have healed wrong,” I told him pointedly. “You would have been in pain much longer. It’ll be over soon.” My chuckle turned into a cough and he patted my back until I managed to catch m
y breath.

  I made a face and groaned at his concerned expression. “I just need to heal. I’ll be fine.” Wiping my lips, I turned and looked to the others still standing. Something had to be done, the moon whispered in my ear. Something had to be done so this didn’t ever happen again.

  Clearing my throat, I staggered my way over to the rest of the lot. I opened my mouth to see how they were but closed it upon seeing they were grouped around a fallen figure. Lyell was covered in blood and if it was all his, that was why he hadn’t survived. Several bones were broken and chunks of his hair had been ripped out. He had died in war, just as he had always wanted. At least he had been on the right side this time. I bit my tongue and gave them a moment of silence to respect their fallen leader.

  Raising my gaze, I realized I knew so few of their names. There was only Alicia, the young she-wolf, four of the other men from the pack, and three stragglers who stood in the background with nowhere else to go. I studied them for a while as Ben came to stand beside me. I was glad to have him there and could feel his hand on the small of my back there for comfort.

  “What now?” The young she-wolf asked finally, looking around at we who remained. But no one answered her. “What do we do now?” She asked in a louder voice, filled with terror. “We don’t… I don’t know what happens now.”

  Ben cleared his throat. “You need a new leader. A new Alpha.” That much was obvious. I felt his eyes fall on me and I turned to him as we weighed our options, trying to decide what should be done. The moon urged me to speak up but I hesitated, unsure if I wanted to speak up if it meant doing it on my own.

  “It should be him.” One of the outsiders muttered, his eyes flitting to Ben. “He’s the one that killed Jereth. The one who killed Lyell is dead. He’s the natural victor. He deserves it.”

  Alicia immediately scoffed and fixed her hair. Compared to everyone else, she was barely touched. There were scratches on her neck, but otherwise she was fine. It was hard to tell if she had even been in the battle. “No, he doesn’t. He’s barely one of us. If anyone is going to be the new leader, it should be me. I was Lyell’s Alpha female. I know how to-”

  “Please,” someone else groaned. “Anyone but you. You’re not cut out to lead.”

  One of the others broke in. “Who should it be, then, Rachel?” He pointed to the youngest girl who was watching the argument with wide eyes. She grew twice as afraid when everyone looked to her and froze up, unable to move.

  “Her,” she whispered, but she was ignored.

  “If you’re going to rebuild the pack,” Ben spoke up in my place, “then you need to do it unanimously for your next leader. I don’t know the old ways, but it must be a group decision if anything. If you want to stay in a pack.”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Alicia spoke above everyone. “None of you know. I do. I know. Lyell always said-”

  Rachel sniffled. “Lyell’s dead.”

  “I won’t stay if you’re trying to build a pack,” one of them snarled at Alicia.

  I rolled my eyes but was hit by a dizzy spell. Swallowing hard, I wrapped an arm around Ben’s waist and tried to keep myself upright. Their voices rose and the dizziness spun itself into a headache. This was unbelievable, I thought to the moon. Just after everything that’s happened, they want to fight for power all over again.

  “I won’t, either.”

  “Fine, then leave. Find another pack that might take you in. Good luck!”

  Ben took a small step closer to me, rubbing my back comfortingly. The pain in my skull was too jarring for me to build enough of an argument to speak up, but he had the energy to jump into the conversation that was beginning to steer out of control.

  “Arguing with one another won’t fix anything. You need someone that the others will be loyal towards. You can’t just elect yourself leader and expect everyone to fall in line. The world doesn’t work that way anymore. If you want to lead, then you have to work for it.”

  Rachel grew louder. “Like her.”

  I opened my eyes to find everyone looking at me. While I had heard the young lady before, there had been no clear indication until now that she had implied myself. “Excuse me?”

  She’s the one that killed Meredin, Jereth’s Alpha female.”

  “And she helped him take on Jereth.”

  My eyes glanced around the disorganized party and I was reminded of the stories my mother used to tell me late at night. How that one day I would run my own pack because I was of the purest blood, and they would follow me to the ends of the earth. It was an old dream, one that had faded away as I saw the cruelties of the world. Even now, I saw the red in most of their eyes and I didn’t know if that’s what I wanted anymore.

  “But she left the pack, you fools. She left us,” Alicia reminded them. “Who is to say she is even fit to be a leader? She has little experience and probably wants to leave us.” Even as she spoke, the others were beginning to murmur and whisper among themselves, glancing between myself and Alicia. She looked around frantically. “It is her or me! Only one of us!”

  Everyone was silent and she huffed in angry disbelief. “Fine!” She shouted. “You’ll regret it! I’ll find my own pack, better people than the lot of you.” Alicia ran around gathering her things frantically, muttering to herself. We watched her silently as she stalked out.

  They were all beginning to like the idea of me becoming the Alpha, but then the idea of my mate came into question even with Ben standing right there. I felt his hands tighten against my flesh as the men started to argue all over again.

  “There’s never a lone Alpha female. She needs a mate, someone else to run the pack for her. It’s a position but someone else needs to do the work.”

  Another shook his head. “No, she is strong, that’s obvious. But she needs the support.”

  “I can support her! I knew her before she left, back when she was still part of the pack. None of you pups know her.”

  “Shut up,” I told them promptly. I didn’t have to shout either, and they instantly obeyed now that I was taking part in the discussion. Ben shifted his balance anxiously, as I stepped away from him.

  I stared hard at them. “There is only so much you can decide, especially regarding my personal life.” Pausing, I sighed and tried to evaluate the situation as a few of the men began to pout. “I don’t know if I will stay. I need to think on that. And even if I do, the chain of command may change. While I follow the old ways, there may be some deviations that should take place. Jereth and his brothers weren’t entirely wrong. Time changes things and we need to decide what works now, for us.

  “And if I do stay, you will not squabble with one another about being my mate. It’s not like I’m going to just allow anyone to be an Alpha with me,” I added wryly with a bitter smile. I glanced down to Lyell’s body and sighed. I was tired of fighting. “Now go away.”

  Coughing, I turned from the party and began to stumble through the battlefield. I could feel everyone’s eyes on me but I didn’t care. There was a river nearby, and I wanted to wipe away the blood. I barely made it there to collapse on the sandy banks. The pain was too much and I couldn’t hold back the headache any longer. I barely managed to slump onto some softer ground before passing out.

  When I next opened my eyes, Ben was nearby and both of our wounds were cleaned. Drawing in a deep breath, I checked my injured ribs and found it was much easier to breathe. Sighing in relief, I pulled myself into a sitting position and glanced around. The sun was setting and Ben was sitting nearby, leaning against a tree trunk and skipping rocks.

  He didn’t turn as I struggled to collect my strength and join him. Benjamin looked grumpy and it worried me when he didn’t offer a greeting. I gave him another smooth rock when he ran out of those on his lap, and he skipped that one across the calm water as well. When there were none others to toss, Ben put his hands down.

  I couldn’t take the silence any longer. “Thank you.” The words spilled out of my mouth
and I wasn’t even sure what they were for, whether just for taking care of my wounds and being there when I awoke, or for having stayed with me through everything. After everything we had been through, I could barely fathom how he was still here.

  “Are you going to stay?” He asked finally, still not looking my way.

  The smile slipped off my face as I realized he was avoiding my gaze. I missed the gaze of his dark eyes on me, but he didn’t care. Frowning, I peered at him and tried to understand what he was really asking. The feeling in my chest began to fade away when he refused to look at me, to touch me. I couldn’t explain what it was, but I missed him even as he sat there.

  “What?” My mouth turned dry. “What do you mean, am I going to stay? I don’t… Maybe. I suppose. If they still want me. But they need me, they need… guidance, Benjamin. What am I supposed to do, just leave them?”

  He didn’t say anything and I sat back, perplexed. “They need… somebody,” I spoke again, unable to stand this painful silence. “You asked me once if… if I was going somewhere in particular. I didn’t know then, but I think I do now. I think I need to be here. Or near here, because I don’t want to stay here if I do… well, stay. I don’t want the pack here. We need some new, fresh territory.”

  “So you’ll just run off?” All I had wanted was for him to look at me, but this unfamiliar look in his eyes was not what I had expected as he whipped around to me. “You’ll just disappear?”

  “What- what are you saying? What?” I shook my head at him. “No, I- I mean…” I stopped as he stood up impatiently and began to pace. My mouth hung open as I watched him pick up a rock and attempt to skip it. The movements were right but the rock only skipped once. It appeared to infuriate him as he picked up another rock, and flung it as hard as he could. It hit a tree on the other side.

  Standing, I tried to read him and to understand. His frustration grew as he kicked at the banks and rubbed the back of his neck. I could smell him from here, like sweat and fresh river water. I wanted to bury myself in him if he would just let me.