by Maia Starr
Nearly losing his mind at the wolves hounding him, Kyle reared up and let himself fall back, trying to flatten to the wolf on his back. The one biting his leg rolled away as the one on his back as smashed into the ground. The impact crushed bones, Kyle could feel the snapping beneath his back, and as he rolled away, he saw the life fade from the wolf shifter’s eyes, his head snapped back as he lay dead on the ground. Blood now gushed from Kyle’s hind leg, but he turned to see the other two standing in his way, with one of the other shifters from behind the diner coming forward to shift, his clothes becoming shreds in the rain. A fourth wolf limped up behind him.
Right where I started. Dammit, these wolves are persistent! Just when will they stop harming the ones I love?
It was then, as Kyle roared out, his every fiber pushed into that roar, that he heard the returning roars.
Grizzlies in the dozens rushed out of the forest from the way Kyle had just come from, every one sprinting towards Kyle and the wolf shifters. Riding the back of one of them was Emily, her natural scowl giving Kyle pause, and allowing him to smile deep inside.
The wolves surrounding Kyle all jerked back upon seeing the score of bears rush towards them. Each looked at the others but once before scattering, leaving Kyle to cackle. Bears from all over chased down the other wolves, cornering them and either killing or capturing them. The shifter who had held onto the woman released her, and raised his hands in submission, kneeling before growling grizzly bears three times the size of him. Panting, Kyle watched as Emily rode up to him and dismounted the bear she had been riding. He tried to turn to meet her, but his sore leg gave way underneath him.
“Woah, woah! Slow down, Kyle,” Emily said as he shifted back. “Rest for now and tell me what’s going on.”
“It was Dax, Emily!” Kyle nearly shouted. “That bastard alpha wolf, of the Gray Rock Wolves. He killed Alexander that night. I found him!”
Shock settled into Emily’s hardened features, resulting in her scowl deepening. “So you found him? Did he run off? Didn’t you promise to avenge Alexander if you found his killer?”
Nodding, Kyle sucked in fresh air. “He has my mate, Emily. I won’t let him slip my grasp...not again.”
Emily said nothing but placed a hand on his shoulder, her touch warm. His leg began to heal, the marred tissue stitching itself together beneath him. Because the wound wasn’t deep enough, it would heal quickly.
“Get him then,” Emily said, looking up. “Hunt him down, Kyle. Do that, and I’ll accept you. Protect your mate...whoever she is.”
Rising to his feet once his leg wound had mostly closed, Kyle spun on his heel, giving Emily a curt nod, and then shot off as he shifted back, racing into the woods. With only Tiffany on his mind, Kyle didn’t get to see Emily motion for other bears to follow him, or hear as she whispered, “I forgive you. I’m so sorry, Kyle.” Nor did he witness her break down in tears at the revelation that life was finally about to move on from the both of them.
All that was on Kyle’s mind was getting his mate back, and then dealing out everything Dax had coming to him. The rain didn’t let up for a single moment.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Tiffany
Her screams were drowned out by the roar of the wind as Dax sprinted through the woods. Tiffany tried desperately to call out to Kyle, to shout as hard and loud as she could, yet with growing vertigo from the incredible speed she was forced into enduring, her voice would give out before long.
The whole situation frustrated Tiffany to no end. More than once, she tried to find her way out of Dax’s arms by wriggling or punching him; she had thought he’d strike her back, to shut her up as he ran, but Dax’s attentions weren’t on her. In fact, he barely flinched at her punches, causing Tiffany to think she couldn’t do anything to Dax. But even through the blurring speed at which they were both traveling, Tiffany knew Dax would tire out eventually. Even shifters couldn’t run forever, especially not carrying baggage like Tiffany...not that Tiffany would call herself baggage in any other situation.
Kyle will come. Yes, he’ll be here sooner or later, and then everything will be over for this bastard. Dammit, Kyle, can’t you hurry this up?
Her head pounded as time went on, the blood in her veins thickening and swelling, her sense of direction completely gone. She wanted to throw-up but held it in as best she could. Nothing good would come of letting herself go now, not when she needed to focus on tripping up Dax. If Tiffany could get away from Dax, then she knew things would be easier on Kyle.
But as the forest continued to fly by around her, Tiffany’s thoughts steadied themselves. Why exactly was she so confident in Kyle’s ability to save her? Why did she expect Kyle would come after her, fighting off wolf shifters left and right, sacrificing himself to reach her, to protect her? Sure, she had built something with Kyle over the last couple of days, but it had just been that: days. Even for Tiffany, that was an extremely quick leap into a relationship. Yet Tiffany’s heart thumped with pleasure when she thought of Kyle now. She had seen him burst from the forest on the other side, throwing off wolves to race towards her. Even now, she could still hear his adrenaline-pumping roars, the sheer power with which he would end Dax and his little pack.
He said he wanted me as his mate...that he wanted me and no one else. But what does being a mate mean? What is a mate to an alpha bear?
Tiffany became so lost in her thoughts that she had all but ceased to resist Dax as he held her tightly to his chest, his fingers digging into her skin and drawing blood. Tiffany winced at the pain, and Dax grimaced.
Nothing was ever simple for Tiffany, was it? Even with Jack, her ex-boyfriend, things weren’t easy. With Jack, her relationship had been amazing at first, steadied out after a while, and ultimately began to boil after mistakes were made on both ends. Trust was lost, tears were shed, and then both she and Jack decided to go their separate ways. The breakup was as ordinary as they came...yet when she compared the time she spent with Jack to now, Tiffany couldn’t see how her life could have changed more. Kyle and his kind were anything but ordinary. There were no perfect relationships in the human world, but Kyle had acted like theirs would be just that. Perfect beyond measure, simply because she could calm his feral side. It was more than that, though, and even if a lot of things still needed to be said between the two of them, Tiffany felt her inner walls begin to crumble. Kyle was an alcoholic, a bear shifter, a man unlike any other; he was hot and chiseled, made her heart skip a beat, and he was strong enough to protect her. He was flawed, and that’s probably why her walls began to come down. He was near perfect, and he needed someone to help filter those flaws out of his system. And Tiffany was that person.
So, even as Dax continued to run, Tiffany began to get used to the blistering pace. Tears welled up in her eyes, and instead of fighting, she went still in Dax’s arms. She hadn’t entirely meant to distract Dax, but that’s what had happened.
Looking down for a single second to eye his stolen prize, Dax didn’t see the low root that came up from the ground and caught his foot. Soon he took a tumble, sending them both crashing into the dirt, the impact seeing each rolling. Tiffany was slow to realize what had happened, as she blinked and held her arms, trying to stop the numbed pain that had shot through her upper body upon the fall. She tried sitting up and looked around for Dax, only to see him scramble to his feet and dart at her. Suddenly aware and very scared of the lean figure that bolted at her, Tiffany rose and tried to flee, only to get yanked back when Dax grabbed at her hair. She screamed at the searing pain on her scalp, Dax’s furious strength nearly tearing out her hair.
“Damm it all!” he screamed, not seeming to care if Kyle or other bears in the vicinity had heard him. “You! You! Why the hell are you so much trouble? You’re supposed to be my mate, not his!”
Tiffany wanted to argue, to tell him off, but Dax’s grip on her hair just tightened, and the only sounds that came out of her mouth were her cries of pain.
“Get up, Tiff
any!” Dax continued to say, tugging her up to her feet, only for Tiffany to let herself fall down. “Shit, get up! Come on; I don’t have all day!”
“Kyle’s coming for you, Dax,” Tiffany finally managed to squeeze through when he’d begun to drag her to her feet. Suddenly the alpha wolf shifter stopped moving, his body and eyebrows twitching at her words. It felt like an eternity passed before Dax finally moved again, this time his open palm striking her cheek. She spun, the slap burning her cheek. Tears welled in her eyes again, this time from the sheer pain.
He came and leaned over her, his expression twisted and furrowed into the most frightful look of pure hatred she had ever seen on a man’s face. “You are mine, Tiffany,” he said slowly. “Nothing you say will change that fact. I’m going to have you...or kill both you and Kyle. Well, Kyle will die either way.” His hard expression turned into a wicked smile. “I bet he’s dying right now beneath the claws of my pack. Slowly bleeding out like any good bear should. You won’t see him ever again.” Now he crouched closer, his body so close, his heavy stench filling her nostrils. “You want to know what I’m going to do to you when I finally find a nice, quiet place for the two of us? I can tell you how I’m going to take you so hard you’ll be seeing stars. Soon you’ll be carrying my pups too. How does that sound to you? Want to be my slave wife?”
“Go to hell, Dax!” Tiffany said, spitting on Dax’s cheek.
He flinched and wiped off his cheek. In the rain that was now dissipating, the sky a gray, dull background, Dax appeared rigid, like some gargoyle. “You got a lot to learn about shifters, Tiffany,” he said. “But I’ll take my time to break you in. Every toy needs special attention at the beginning...and I’ll give you lots of attention. How does a beating every morning sound? Followed by a nice tussle during our love-making? I’ll make sure you feel every bit of my passion for you.”
Tiffany shouted and went wild, trying to hit and slap Dax as he latched onto her. Her flailing was stopped instantly, and before long, she was lifted from the ground, and Dax started at a jog again.
No, no! I didn’t stall him enough...Kyle is coming, isn’t he? All I need to do is keep stalling Dax.
With her mind swimming at the prospect of becoming Dax’s slave, she saw her opportunity and bit Dax’s forearm, causing him to toss her against a nearby tree. He rounded on her once she sat upright, his expression wild with anger. “Maybe I’ll start the beatings now!” he hissed, advancing on her.
But Dax didn’t get the opportunity to go further, as a roar that shook the earth echoed in the forest incredibly close to them both. Swinging around, Dax then stood staring daggers at the bear strolling into the area.
Tiffany’s gaze welled up with tears for a third time, her vision becoming blurry as she whispered his name happily. “Kyle…”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Kyle
Kyle knew that today was a life-changing day. It was a feeling that no matter what happened, things would irreversibly change forever in his life.
And the moment to decide everything was coming up quickly, much faster than Kyle had expected it to.
Alexander’s death, my claim on Tiffany, proving myself as the alpha of the Woodland Bear Clan...it’s all being cemented here.
He raced through the woods, following both Dax’s and Tiffany’s intertwined scents as far as they would lead him. Dax was fast, probably the fastest shifter Kyle had seen, even among wolf shifters. Yet Kyle wouldn’t lose out in stamina. This little race of Dax’s would tire him out eventually, leaving Kyle to saunter in and kill Dax with ease. The faster and quicker his death, the better off both Kyle and Tiffany would be, no matter how much he ached to make the alpha suffer for what he had done to Alexander and countless others.
How many lives did the alpha wolf ruin since he had begun to kidnap unsuspecting women from Salem? How many dozens of lives were forever changed because of that wild wolf’s ambitions? It didn’t matter what excuses Dax used, because Kyle wasn’t in the mood to play games with the shifter. His blood, hot with the desire to wrestle bring Tiffany back into his arms, coursed quickly through his veins, making his adrenaline pump wildly as he increased his pace.
Somewhere in the distance, he heard Tiffany squeal and scream, and Kyle ran even faster. Most people didn’t think bears could run fast, but that was a common misconception. Bears were incredibly fast when they wanted to be, and now Kyle was proving that very fact. He soared through the woods, the earth beneath him thumping and thundering. The rain had stopped. And, he didn’t know when the other bears that were following him disappeared behind him, but soon enough, Kyle was barreling through the woods alone.
He fought off the urge to roar out for Tiffany until the very last legs of his journey, though he realized that when Dax’s and Tiffany’s intertwined scents began to thicken, he couldn’t hold himself back anymore. They were close, close enough for Kyle to let loose a little, and so he did, roaring out a battle cry that shook the forest, scaring everything within a few miles. He was sure Dax and Tiffany had heard his roar, which gave him another dose of adrenaline to keep pushing forward.
Soon enough, Kyle slowed to a trudge, ambling into a small, less-dense area, where there was room to maneuver quickly if needed. Ahead, he saw the very two people he had been chasing. Dax was standing with his back to Kyle, though he twisted around to stare sharply at him, his teeth bared and flashing dangerously. Tiffany was on the ground before him, huddled against a tree, tears in her eyes. She seemed to mouth something upon his arrival, which he thought was, “Kyle…”
Fully turning to face Kyle now, the stark-naked Dax stepped away from Tiffany, clapping as he slowed distanced himself from Kyle’s mate. “Well done!” the alpha wolf said, his voice edged with fury. “I can’t believe you managed to fight your way all the way here. Does that mean you killed the members of my pack? Are they dead? Did you murder them, you ugly grizzly? Well?”
As Dax crescendoed into pure wrath, Kyle shifted to his naked human form, eyeing Dax viciously. “They’re not all dead, Dax. Some gave up, surrendered to my people and me. But you are alone now. Give up...and I promise not to make you suffer for too long.”
Now Dax cackled in insane delight, his mind beginning to turn feral. He hissed and growled and clutched at his head. “Screw off, Kyle! Tiffany is mine! I didn’t sell her to you because I wanted to get rid of her. I sold her because I could have both her and your money. I can have it all! So stay out of my way, and I promise not to slaughter you like I did Alexander.”
Kyle fumed bright red at his rival’s statement and he shook with a barely controlled lust for blood. “You didn’t fight him one on one, Dax. Alexander was killed because you ganged up on him. I don’t expect any less from wolf shifters…”
Flinging his arms out, Dax screamed now. “You think everything is just all dandy for us shifters, don’t you? Life isn’t as simple as you want to think, Kyle! My clan needed the money, and your alpha was about to stop that from happening. Alexander got what was coming for him.”
Kyle roared out in fury marching forward. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Tiffany as she remained huddled against the tree, her eyes fixed squarely on Kyle. She was damp and shaking, probably chilled from the rain. Shivering, her eyes widened at the realization that the moment of Kyle’s revenge on Dax was here. Quietly, she clambered to her feet and backed to around the other side of the tree, peeking out in anticipation of the clash that was about to occur.
“I’m giving you one chance, Dax,” Kyle said, swinging his gaze back to the alpha wolf.
The shifter was on the edge of his toes, leaning forward as if about to pounce on Kyle. He sneered. “Come here and let me kill you, you fat bear.”
Heartbeats went by in the glade, silence permeating the air until both shifters darted forward. Neither of the alphas shifted at first, instead choosing to exchange blows in the middle. Dax threw two fists at Kyle’s jaw and missed entirely as Kyle side-stepped and connected his punch with the side o
f Dax’s jaw. Bone crunched beneath, and Dax was flung backward, spiraling until he slammed into the ground. Howling as he clambered to his feet, he shifted, his body growing and elongating within seconds. Kyle followed suit, running forward to shift into his four-legged bear, roaring and crashing into Dax. The impact didn’t slow Kyle’s rush, and even though he knew he hit Dax, the shifter spun and darted out to the side, using Kyle’s momentum against him.
A tree smacked against his face as Kyle came to a sudden stop. Shaking the pain off, he turned to spy Dax leaping onto him. Sharp claws dug into Kyle’s thick hide, causing the alpha bear to cry out in pain. Dax continued to claw and bite and draw blood as Kyle spun and whipped around, trying to throw the wolf off. Their roars mixed with each other as they slammed into trees, ran this way and that, slid and toppled off of each other. The trees that both shifters had slammed into caved inwards, toppling over and falling to the ground in thunderous waves.
Now at opposite sides of the glade, the two rushed each other again, Kyle’s mind and body racing to keep up with the pace Dax was setting. Even on his own, Dax was formidable, faster than Kyle had imagined, more agile than he’d hoped. Dax wasn’t the alpha of the Gray Rock Wolves for nothing, it seemed.
Amid the chaos, Kyle’s thoughts strayed every chance they got. He remembered the days he hiked with Alexander around Salem; he thought of the suffering Emily had gone through in the past year; he remembered Tiffany’s touch as they laid in bed, her soft lips upon his. With every thought, a boost was added to his strength, his swipes hitting harder, his roars getting louder. The duel dragged out, yet it became increasingly clear that Kyle was overwhelming Dax in size and stamina. The alpha wolf was slowing down, wounds covering his entire body. His blood seeped out in droves now, and with one final smack from Kyle’s massive paw, Dax was flying into the dirt and sliding back.