With bated breath, I wondered what that word might be. His lips parted, and he held my gaze, fire simmering in his dark eyes. A current of alpha power lapped against my body like waves to a shore, but he never spoke a word. He never gave me that command.
I moved around him, my hands trembling. “I have to go,” I whispered, hurrying away. The effect Tak had on me was like nothing I’d ever known, and it went way beyond the fact he was an alpha wolf. Something about being near him was familiar, magnetic, and intoxicating. It frightened me to think that anyone could have that kind of power over me. And he sensed it too, because he didn’t wield his power irresponsibly. Tak could have pressed on and made my wolf submit to his command.
But he hadn’t.
As I breezed through the bar, a man rose up from his table and jerked his arm at me. Beer splashed in my face, and I blinked in surprise. My feet rooted in place as I looked down at my wet blouse, my mouth agape.
“Fuck you and your cheap-ass purse,” the man snarled.
It took me a second to blink away the alcohol and recognize him as the irate customer who had tried to return a damaged handbag in my store.
A few chair legs scraped against the floor as bystanders rose to their feet, and all I heard before the explosion of violence was Wheeler announcing, “And boom goes the dynamite.”
Chapter 13
Before I could fully comprehend what had just happened, I slapped Dumont in the face for throwing his drink on me. And then he struck me back.
The sharp sting shocked me so much that I stumbled. People rushed at him from all directions, and out of nowhere, he shifted into a giant grizzly. Grown men backed up when the bear unleashed a monstrous roar that made my hair stand on end.
The sight of him turned my legs to jelly, and I collapsed onto my back. Rarely could a single wolf take down a bear of his size. Several men scattered for the door, but not Wheeler. He shifted into a brown wolf and flanked the bear on the right.
“Take that outside!” the bartender bellowed.
Dutch appeared in my line of vision, holding a chair with the legs pointing out. He reminded me of a circus ringmaster taming the lions.
The bear swiped his enormous claws at me, and Wheeler lunged, biting his leg before scuttling backward.
One minute I was staring at the jaws of death, and the next, Tak’s wolf appeared, interposing himself between the bear and me as he dug in his heels and stood over my legs. Pinned to the ground, all I could see of him were his hind legs and low tail. My blood ran cold. Even though Tak was an alpha, there was a chance his wolf could turn on Wheeler in the melee since the two wolves didn’t know each other.
“Stay down,” Dutch ordered, distracting the animal with the chair.
The bear swung his massive head left and right, looking between the two wolves and a bar full of curious spectators who didn’t appear eager to lose their lives over a spilled drink. My feet were within his reach, and I wanted to pull them up but was afraid he’d shred them to pieces with one swipe of his paw.
I can’t breathe.
Cold terror washed over me as flashbacks of a childhood attack raced through my head. The wolf lunging and biting my face, my head in his jaws, Melody screaming, the sense of helplessness, the agony, the fear of dying. Even now that I could shift, I was catatonic. My mind flipped between past and present, and I clutched a barstool behind my head and quelled the urge to scream.
The bear’s paw batted my foot, but I couldn’t see him. Tak was the only thing separating me from certain death, and if he abandoned me, I would undoubtedly meet a gruesome end. He confronted the deadly beast with a savage growl that made my breath hitch. Tak wasn’t just guarding me; he was ready to die for me. My wolf could never fight off such a powerful animal, but could Tak’s?
Wheeler moved swiftly, commanding the bear’s attention. When the grizzly lumbered after Wheeler, Tak snarled and locked his jaws on the animal’s neck. The bear swung his head, shaking him off, and swiped his paw—a blow powerful enough to knock a grown man down. But not Tak. His paws barely left the sticky floor.
My wolf fought to break free, and I had to shut my eyes to push her spirit back down. Without a pack—without my family—it would be suicide.
I gripped the barstool, which was bolted to the ground, and dragged my body away.
A shotgun blasted from behind the bar. “Get out, or I’ll call the Council and start blacklisting your asses!” the bartender roared. “And if you break that chair, you’re paying for it.”
I risked a glance.
Rivulets of blood raced down Dutch’s arm, dripping from his fingertips. When he steered his gaze to the door behind him, I sensed he wanted to flee. Wheeler’s brown wolf had bloodstains on his mouth and neck. Tak faced away from me, and the grizzly appeared more alarmed about him than Wheeler’s wolf. Alphas were relentless and less apt to back down than most. They could galvanize a group into action and would fight to the death.
A husky man leapt over the wall and laid his hands on the bear’s back, blue light emanating from his palms. The animal jolted, his eyes rolling back, and a broken roar quaked through the room. Did the Mage have enough energy to bring down an animal that size? He did it three more times until the bear finally surrendered.
“All right. Show’s over,” the bartender announced. “Everyone better start shifting back.”
Dutch’s injuries looked severe but not grave. Blood saturated his torn shirt, and he needed to shift to heal. When he rushed for the door, I sighed with relief. Shifting in front of wolves with blood in their mouths was suicide.
Wheeler kept his eyes trained on the bear and stood guard while everyone dusted themselves off and headed out.
