"Oh, I assure you, he is my mate."
There was a speculative glint in Raymond's eyes as he glanced from George to the man he held at knifepoint. "Then I guess you don't want anything to happen to him, do you?"
George growled and took a step forward. He froze when Raymond pressed the tip of the knife against Leon's throat again.
"Stop!" the man shouted.
Tears sprang to George's eyes when he met Leon's gaze. "I'm sorry," he mouthed before looking at Raymond. "What do you want?"
"You know what I want," Raymond replied.
"The money."
Why was it always about the money?
"It's clan money."
George frowned. "No, it's not. I don't belong to your clan."
"You live in our territory. That makes it clan money!" Raymond snarled. "And I want it."
"Fine," George answered without hesitation. "You let my mate go, and I'll sign every cent over to you."
"George, no!" Leon shouted. "Don't give this asshole a single penny."
George would willingly give up every cent he had if it meant his mate was safe. He stared at Leon for a moment before looking at Raymond. "How do you want to do this? Is there something for me to sign or something?"
Raymond's jaw dropped. "You'd really give up billions of dollars for a human?"
"Yes."
It was that simple.
Raymond snorted. "You're an idiot."
Probably, but that didn't change the fact that George would trade everything for Leon. "Just tell me what you want me to do."
"Carl," Raymond directed, "get my tablet out of the car."
One of the men holding Ford dropped his arm and headed for the car. He came back a moment later with a black tablet. Raymond shoved Leon at Carl and grabbed the tablet. Leon stumbled as he fell into Carl.
Things seemed to happen in slow motion from there. Ford swung around and punched the guy holding him. When the guy fell back, Ford shifted then went after him until the guy's screams turned to a death gurgle.
At the same time, Leon pulled a knife from somewhere—George had no idea where—and shoved it into Carl's gut. The man gasped. Fur rippled along his forearm for a moment then disappeared as he fell back to the ground.
"It's silver, you schmuck!" Leon shouted at him.
When Leon turned and started for him, George felt a moment of pride that his human mate had bested a bear shifter. That feeling died an instant death when he saw movement behind Leon. It was replaced with cold, dead fear.
"Leon!" George shouted as he leapt toward the man, shifting in midair.
One of the things that George always found peculiar was the fact that it seemed to take so long for others to shift. He could do it from one second to the next and always had. Maybe it was something specific to alpha born shifters?
When he slammed into Raymond, he was a fully shifted bear. Raymond was not. George easily took the man to the ground and wrapped his massive jaw around the man's throat. He applied just enough pressure to let Raymond know he was seconds from having his throat ripped out.
"George, let go of him," Leon said.
George growled and bit down just a bit harder.
