Taking advantage of Dumont’s blindness, I threw the board a few feet to the side. It clacked against the concrete, diverting his attention.
This bear had blood in his mouth, so I needed to lure him away from Tak. Maybe I could climb onto one of the trash bins and make some noise. When I fell back a step, my foot knocked a pebble across the concrete. The grizzly turned so fast that my wolf rippled beneath my skin.
Seconds before the beast barreled into me, Tak appeared out of nowhere and savagely ripped at the grizzly’s throat. Blood poured onto the concrete as skin and fur tore away.
“Hope!” Wheeler shouted. Before I knew it, he hooked his arm around my waist and hauled me back.
The black smoke had changed to pale grey, and voices shouted from behind me. No one cared about Tak. Whether these men were Shifters or otherwise, they had no skin in this game. All they wanted to do was extinguish the fire as they continued hosing down their stores with water. Breed rarely called the fire department because it got humans involved in their business. Dumont had used so much gasoline to set the trash and building ablaze that several people were using fire extinguishers.
Unable to see Tak anymore, I writhed in Wheeler’s grip. “Why don’t you help him? Let me go! Tak!”
Wheeler set me down and gave me a grievous stare. “If I shift, it’ll be bad news. My wolf will turn on your friend.”
I spun around when the grizzly roared. It wasn’t as ominous this time and sounded like a death knell. I sucked in a sharp breath when he collapsed in a heap of bloody muscle and fur. Somewhere beneath six hundred pounds of bear was Tak, his hind legs thrashing wildly.
When he went still, my heart sank.
This couldn’t be happening. My eyes blurred with tears, and my feet rooted in place. The world had just stopped. Maybe if I blinked, I’d wake up, and all of this would have been a dream.
Tak’s leg twitched. Moments later, he crawled out from beneath the bear, his dark fur cloaked in blood.
My body sagged with relief. “You’re alive,” I whispered. “Thank the fates.”
Tak stood atop the creature and howled, his face stained with so much blood I didn’t recognize him. His victory cry sent chills up my spine.
When I started to run toward them, Wheeler grabbed my arm. “He’s got blood in his mouth!”
I wrenched away and kept going despite the danger. Predators who had gotten a taste of blood were geared up for a kill. Often those impulses were so powerful that even the animal’s human counterpart surrendered to their primal instincts. The grizzly’s eyes were swollen shut, his tongue hanging out. Water flooded beneath my feet as the men washed away the gasoline.
Tak’s wolf staggered off the dead animal before collapsing with exhaustion. His injuries weren’t grave, but when I looked past him, my eyes widened in horror.
Dumont’s grizzly had severely mauled Dutch. The gruesome scene looked fatal, but I could hear him gasping for air.
An older man jogged up and looked between us. “I’m a Relic, but I can only take one.”
Dutch choked on his own blood, and I pointed at him. Tak would survive his injuries, but Dutch wouldn’t.
“Someone help me put him into my car!” the Relic shouted.
Two men rushed over and carefully lifted Dutch’s limp body. There was so much blood that it pained me to think he would probably die. Dutch didn’t deserve this ending. I’d been wrong about him all along. He wouldn’t have fought the grizzly if they’d been working together. All this time, Dumont was the culprit.
And with Dumont dead, I would never understand why he’d gone to such lengths to ruin me. Maybe he was one of many who’d lost the bid on the property, or maybe he didn’t like seeing wolves taking over his town. The packs were strong, and that sparked animosity among local rogues.
It didn’t really matter anymore.
“Tak,” I cried, falling to my knees.
Wheeler squatted next to him. “We need to get him to shift. I don’t like the looks of that wound on his shoulder. It’s deep.”
Wheeler yelled and shook Tak’s haunches, but Tak remained unresponsive. His injuries weren’t as grave as Dutch’s, but if he didn’t wake up and shift, he could wind up disabled. There was also no way to know if he’d sustained any internal injuries.
I smoothed my hand over his ear. “Can you hear me? If you don’t shift back, you might die. Please, Tak. Fight harder. You have a purpose in this world—you matter.” I stroked his face, wiping at the thick blood.
Wheeler snatched my wrist. “If he wakes up, he’ll bite you. I know you care about him, but it’s not worth your life.”
“Let me go,” I bit out.
I’d called to Tak once before as a stranger, and now I called to him with all the love in my heart. Any doubts I’d had about what real love felt like were extinguished the moment I saw him bravely challenge Dumont, turning the threat away from me and onto himself. Tak was a man I could give my whole heart to—someone I wanted by my side as my mate and the protector of our children. Our future flashed before my eyes, and it filled me with a fierce determination to undo this wrong.
