by Maia Starr
Snorting as he arrived just outside his home, Kyle sauntered into the clearing and glanced around. He knew Dax’s pack were around, probably in hiding for an ambush. If it really were an ambush, he’d doubt the shifters would pounce until he spoke with Dax. That’s how devious little creatures thought, after all. So, with a small smile, Kyle turned to find his front door kicked in, the open doorway becoming a wind tunnel. Dax wasn’t in sight, but Kyle trudged in anyways, instinct telling him that Dax would be either in his living room or kitchen.
Immediately, Kyle saw that his living room was empty, devoid of any signs of wolf shifters, save the rancid smell. The wind coming in from the outside fluttered some thin blankets that draped the couch and chairs. Other than that, there was silence...until someone began to whistle from the kitchen. Grunting, Kyle walked his way over and through the doorway, stopped just inside to spy Dax at the other end of the room, his hands shoved into his jean pockets, and his body turned to look out a pair of glass doors that overlooked the forest beyond.
The whistle continued while Kyle waited for the alpha to turn, though he knew Dax had sensed his presence. Dax simply appeared to be dragging out the moment, probably hoping to let Kyle’s anger simmer while Dax’s men moved in to close off any escape route. As if Kyle would be stopped by the likes of Dax’s childish ambush.
Suddenly, Dax stopped his whistling and spun on his heels, pretending to widen his eyes at the sight of Kyle. “Ah! Just the shifter I was looking for. I hope you don’t mind that I made myself at home while you were away, Kyle. I very terribly wanted to talk to you.”
“You thinking kicking down my door is making yourself at home?”
“In a very brutal sense, yes.”
Kyle could barely contain his fury, yet Dax didn’t seem fazed in the slightest by Kyle’s overflowing aura. Forcing himself to calm down, Kyle gripped tightly onto his counter, the material cracking under his enormous strength. Dax’s eyes drifted to the demonstration, and his smile dissipated a bit. “Well, it seems one of us is in a bad mood. Should I come back another time? Maybe I’ll get the chance to see the lovely Tiffany then?”
Now Kyle was enraged beyond the point of stopping himself, and the counter in between his fingers shattered and fell to the floor. “Enough, Dax! I’m glad you’re here...but you aren’t ever going to see Tiffany again, and neither are you going to leave my territory alive.”
The alpha wolf cackled. “Well, now if that’s not a challenge I just heard, then I don’t know what is!”
“Your life is over,” Kyle said. “You’ll be paying for all the lives you’ve ruined...you’ll be paying for Alexander’s death.” The last bit came out with a vicious snarl, causing Kyle to tense and hunch over slightly. He could very well see Dax flinch, the man’s smile now nothing more than a mask to hide the alpha wolf’s discomfort.
“So, you’ve finally remembered?” Dax said, shrugging. “What am I going to do now, then? I suppose I’ll let you slaughter me...like I slaughtered Alexander.”
A wellspring of warring emotions shot up to Kyle’s throat. “Just why? Why did you even kill him?”
Now it was Dax’s turn to snort his confidence. “Why? Are you kidding me? You know what me and my men do, Kyle. We kidnap women. We sell them. Is there anyone that wouldn’t want to stop something like that?”
“Of course there is!”
“We needed the money,” Dax retorted. “And we still do. You think being the leader of an entire people is easy? It’s the hardest thing a shifter could do. If Alexander were here, he’d probably agree with me.”
“Shut up!”
Now Dax pointed two bony fingers at Kyle. “It’s true! But Alexander still wouldn’t have approved of my choice of alleviating that burden. In fact, the last time we spoke about it, Alexander beat the shit out of me for even suggesting to try kidnapping people. So I killed him in response…” Dax’s face darkened. “No one is allowed to attack me like that, to humiliate me. But you, Kyle, you’re different, aren’t you? Alexander was so noble, not hesitating once to beat the living shit out of me for beginning a business in kidnapping. But you...oh, you didn’t hesitate when making a deal, no: you actually bought a woman from me. And now you claim to be the alpha of your clan. You must be insane!”
Just as Dax finished his speech, Kyle lunged forward, seeing red, roaring as he shifted into his bear form. A momentary expression of twisted fear appeared on Dax’s face as Kyle sent the alpha flying through the glass doors, shattering them in the process. This all happened before Kyle was fully shifted, so the impact of his half paw into Dax wasn’t nearly as strong as he had wanted it to be.
By the time he was fully shifted, the top of Kyle’s back pushed against the ceiling, nearly breaking in the wood, and every step he took to slink outside put holes in his floor. He ignored the glass as he stepped over it, barely feeling the striking pain as the pieces of glass pierced his thick fur.
Once outside, Kyle spotted Dax writhing on the ground, blood gushing from a shard of glass stuck into the alpha’s shoulder. He struggled until the shard came flying out of his shoulder, and he rose to his feet. Glaring daggers at his rival, Dax waved a big hand around. “Kill him! Kill him now!”
Just as Dax shifted and Kyle shot towards him, four other wolves bounded into the small clearing behind his house. Two darted in front of Kyle, preventing his means of getting at Dax, while two others circled to his flank. Kyle roared in frustration as Dax turned and darted into the woods. He knew where Dax was headed: straight into Salem for Tiffany. So he wasn’t just out to kill Kyle, but to take back the woman he’d sold. The four wolves surrounding Kyle licked their lips in anticipation of the mauling ahead.
Kyle didn’t waste any time thinking as he took the first swipe.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Tiffany
Vaulting over the counter before the two wolf shifters could try and grab her, Tiffany tugged at Amanda to follow. “Come on, Amanda!” Stunned to silence, Amanda followed, climbing over as the first of Dax’s men lunged at Tiffany, trying to reach her with an extended hand but just barely missing as he slammed into the counter. His grin remained, though, as the other shifter took his sweet time coming around the far end of the counter, pushing aside the little swinging door. The second shifter whistled as he slowly sauntered forward.
“What the hell do you two want?” Amanda shouted, finding her voice again. It was strained now, though, sending chills through Tiffany.
“Well, now that’s a loaded question, now, isn’t it?” the second said, stopping his whistling to stare the two women down. He glanced over at his companion, who now straightened and rolled his shoulders. “How about we break it down for you girls nice and easy? Tiffany probably understands...but I’m sure you can’t even begin to fathom everything that’s about to happen, sweetheart.”
Amanda grew stiff at the second shifter’s comments but held her ground in front of Tiffany. Tiffany, in part, gripped tightly onto Amanda’s arm, trying to stand side by side in defiance of the two shifters. But it’s not like we can fight them. Amanda doesn’t know! They’re too strong...so I need to find an escape, call the police.
Glancing around in the moments during the staring contest between Amanda and the second shifter, Tiffany noted there weren’t many obvious ways of getting around the two wolf shifters. While the second stared Amanda down, the first grinned wryly at Tiffany, sarcastically waving his fingers at her. The gesture made her shudder, and so her head spun to the swinging door leading to the kitchen. Think, Tiffany, think! Those wolf shifters...if they can shift, it’s completely over. If they grab you, you won’t be able to get away. They must like bigger, open spaces to move around in, right? So…
“We were only expecting to snatch up Tiffany, for the second time,” the second shifter said. “Isn’t that right?”
“It sure is,” the first shifter said, beginning to climb over the diner counter.
“But since we’ve stumbled upon another beauty...maybe
we’ll bring Dax a gift,” the second continued.
“Or we can keep her for ourselves,” the first replied.
Tiffany yanked Amanda backward and into the kitchen as soon as the first shifter leaped forward. As she did so, she kicked out at the swinging door, sending it slamming into the first shifter’s face. He fell to the ground, shouting in frustration. The second shifter bolted after them into the kitchen. Quickly pulling Amanda along, Tiffany glanced back and pointed, barely able to get her thought across to her friend before the shifter came barreling at them. Amanda had understood instantly, and using her quick feet, she slid out a box and pushed it towards the shifter. The shifter, unable to stop his momentum, tripped and tumbled flat onto his stomach on the cold floor. Both Tiffany and Amanda got ahold of two racks of containers of food and boxes and the like and pulled them over to all land on the shifter beneath. The shifter pounded the ground in frustration while the other stumbled into the kitchen and immediately jumped back as the second had begun to shift.
“What the hell?” Amanda shouted, tripping herself as she tried to scramble back. Tiffany caught her, held her upright as the two scurried back.
“He’s a wolf shifter!” Tiffany said as they witnessed the man growl and groan as his body expanded, as hair began to grow. But the shifter stopped halfway, his body becoming mashed against the sheer amount of objects trapping him on the floor. The shifter thrashed around, his shouts of fury a mix of human and animalistic howling. Both of the women had to cover their ears to keep their eardrums from bleeding as the shrill screams got louder and louder.
“Isn’t there a backdoor?” Tiffany screamed as the second shifter gave up on trying to shift and began to shove off the objects keeping him down. The first shifter was now working his way over his partner’s wreckage, rushing straight for them.
“No, just that window!” Amanda said, grabbing hold of Tiffany’s wrist and dragging her out of the way of the oncoming wolf shifter. The first shifter tried to change directions to chase after the two women as they ran down a narrow corridor but couldn’t stop himself from sliding into the long sink instead, accidentally turning on the faucet and getting cold water to the face. Tiffany looked back to see the rage in the first shifter’s eyes and swung back around as Amanda tried to pull her inside of the manager’s office. Shutting the door, Amanda locked it, only to have the first shifter slam into it seconds later. The door groaned and caved inward...but held for the moment.
Tiffany backed away as Amanda began to fiddle with a narrow window just above her desk. For those few moments, Tiffany’s mind stalled, unable to think of anything other than trying to outmaneuver the two wolf shifters. Weren’t they supposed to be done with her? Why kidnap her a second time. Kyle...where was Kyle? She needed Kyle! Soon enough the shakes overtook her body, and Tiffany had to hug herself to get her body to stop twitching.
“There!” Amanda said, unlatching the window and pushing it open. Standing atop her desk, she reached back down for Tiffany. “Hurry up, Tiff!” And as Tiffany accepted her boss’ hand, Amanda murmured to herself. “This is crazy...just bat-shit insane.”
Tiffany was the first outside, landing painfully on her back. Forced to roll away to give Amanda room to land, she rubbed her lower back and rose to her feet, eyes glancing to the car Amanda had lent her. “There! Come on; let’s leave and call the police.” Rustling in her pockets for the key, Tiffany’s heart jolted when she pulled out the keys and raced away from Herbert’s Diner, Amanda hot on her heels.
But then something huge and black-furred darted out in front of the two women, something so fast that it just seemed to appear out of thin air. Tiffany came to a sudden stop as a familiar, giant wolf stood her in her path, its maw parted in its ravenous desire to suck in air. It looked hurt, bruised around the face, but Tiffany’s eyes widened as she recognized who the wolf was.
“Dax!” she screamed.
Amanda was speechless beside Tiffany as Dax shifted back to his human form, naked and muscled beyond belief. Panting, Dax strode towards Tiffany, the grin and happy expression from the last time she’d seen him replaced by a dark scowl. Tiffany backed away, but that didn’t stop Dax from reaching out to forcefully grab Tiffany’s wrist. Once in his grasp, he dragged her away. “Get the other one!” he called over his shoulder.
Tiffany watched in horror as the second shifter, now free from being trapped in the kitchen, snuck up behind Amanda and clamped a hand down over her mouth to muffle her startled screams. His free arm came around to pull her body to his. The shifter, when he finally lifted Amanda, sniffed her hair and sighed. “Damn, you smell good, girl...I’m gonna have fun with you.”
“Hurry up!” Dax shouted. “We need to leave right now, before any other shifters come this way.”
But it was too late, as a roar echoed in the forest just beyond the edge of Salem. Dax, the second wolf shifter, and the first, who had just stumbled out from around the corner, now froze at the roar. The roar was powerful, seeming to shake the world amidst a chorus of angry and frantic howls. It was clear that none were expecting it.
“Kyle,” Tiffany mumbled, her eyes welling with fresh tears. The tears were from the pain of Dax’s tight grip on her wrist...but also the fact that Kyle was coming for her. That roar was Kyle’s; she was sure of it. Wolves couldn’t stand up to bears...it was over for Dax now, and a smile appeared across Tiffany’s lips as the realization hit her.
And then that smile vanished as Dax yanked her so hard, she tumbled to the ground, landing on her shoulder blade. Pain lanced through her upper body, and Tiffany cried out.
“Shut up!” Dax screamed, spittle flying from his mouth. The wolf shifter was like a mad dog now, the creeping insanity all shifters dealt with finally beginning to quicken in his veins. Even Tiffany recognized the desperate strength with which Dax pulled her along, hearing the roar for a second time, Tiffany glanced back to see Kyle rip through a section of the forest just on the other side of town. He was a tiny dot at this point, with a bunch of other tinier and faster dots darting out around him, but when he roared, the ground shook thunderously. “Fuck, fuck!” Dax shouted. Picking her up in both arms, Dax sprinted away, the world blurring around Tiffany was she watched Kyle struggle in the distance to follow her.
“Kyle!” she shouted, reaching out for him before she was plunged into the other side of the forest.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Kyle
The pain of the wolf shifter’s attacks flared as Kyle burst through the forest’s edge and barreled onto the road leading into the heart of Salem. Blood flowed from his sides and his limbs, the pain so intense, his mind was beginning to numb. The four wolf shifters Dax had left behind to keep him busy were all around him, lunging in to bite down on his skin only to be punched away. But every time he punched one wolf away, another darted at him from a different side. The assholes had been slowly wounding him as he ran, and no matter how many times he had smacked them around, they just kept coming back.
Four wolves were a handful to deal with. It was no wonder Alexander was mauled so easily...no wolf on his own would have gotten Alexander, or me. At first, he had easily knocked each of the wolf shifters aside, throwing them this way and that, carving out a path that wouldn’t slow his progress through the forest, but as he had burst past them in back in the Woodland Bear Clan territory in an effort to get to Tiffany as quickly as possible, the wolves had shown him a terrifying resilience.
Fine then, Kyle had roared at them. Try and keep pace with me!
And, unluckily, they had, following him all the way to Salem. As much as he wanted to stop and give them all a piece of his mind, the most important thing right now was Tiffany. If Alexander had taught him anything, it was the value of loved ones. You sacrificed for me, so let me sacrifice my body for Tiffany.
Down the road, Kyle could spy Herbert’s Diner, or at least the back of it. And just at the back, he noticed a number of people standing around, some he recognized and others he didn’t. Alarm bells
went off in his head as he realized Dax had gotten to Tiffany. He could see Dax lift his mate and sprint away. He roared in a surge of strength to rush forward, only to let one of the wolves trailing him to dart in front of him. Crashing into the wolf, the wolf yelped and rolled as Kyle slammed into him and tumbled onto his back. He was immediately set upon by the other three wolves, who all lunged at once to tear at his sides and hind legs. White hot pain blasted through his body as jagged rows of teeth tore into him. Roaring his anger, Kyle rolled and kicked out, hearing the skull of one wolf crack while the others leaped away.
Rain began to fall as soon as Kyle managed to stumble to his feet, charging forward again. He could see another trio still behind the diner as he moved forward, swiping out at the wolves that still harried him. A fourth, who still reeled on the ground from Kyle’s skull-shattering kick remained behind, limping as it tried to follow.
The trio of figures ahead was wrestling with each other. A woman, Kyle realized, who was being manhandled by two wolf shifters. She had fought hard as Kyle approached, the concrete thumping beneath his feet. He was sure other people were in the town watching this all happen, unsure of what to think. Not that he cared. All he wanted was Tiffany. His mate, stolen from him by the very man who had sold her. By the very alpha wolf who had killed Alexander. Kyle wouldn’t be able to hold back once he finally caught up to Dax. It was only a matter of time.
But then, right before Kyle reached the back of the diner, one of the wolves behind him latched onto his left hind leg with its maw, causing Kyle to cry out and slow down. Another leaped onto his back, trying to push him down and gnaw at the nape of his neck. The third padded in front of him, growling as he fought off the first two.