In an instant, everything changed.
Magic burst like bubbles around them as one shifter after another burst into their other forms. Viktor howled in outrage and shoved her back into Kaz’s waiting arms. Her cousin snatched her to his chest and hauled them both backward, toward the cover of the tram, as Valen and the rest of their entourage waded into the melee.
Everyone arrowed toward the brawling cougars. Coyotes mingled with lynx, wolves, and swooping eagles. Elves moved to guard the tram, matte black claws at the ready, and Lee, unshifted, barked orders for everyone to stop from somewhere near the center.
Camille tried to follow the figures, her eyes moving, searching for her familiar coyote, and found him guarding Lana’s back as she struggled to snap her father’s neck and defend herself at the same time.
The cougars were thoroughly outnumbered, but they were close enough to Lana and her father to make separating them a difficult and dangerous task. All the shifters were bigger than their natural animal counterparts, but cougars in particular had a muscle advantage over nearly everyone except the wolves and, notably, Taisia the bear shifter.
“Gods, would you look at that,” Kaz muttered. Together, they watched as Taisia’s huge body launched into the fray, clearing a path toward Viktor and Lana. Viktor was outmuscled by his opponent, but he was quick enough to keep them busy until Taisia took one heavy paw to their side and simply swept them off the platform.
There was a blood curdling yowl as the cougar tumbled over the edge and down into the canyon below.
There was a split second of stunned silence, followed by the softwhumpof a body making contact with the ground and, from the center of the fray, the meaty crunch of a neck being broken.
For a frozen moment, no one moved, nor breathed, nor dared to make a sound as Lana opened her jaws and let her father’s corpse fall to the platform.
She lifted her head and, opening her blood-streaked muzzle, let loose a roar of triumph that shook the canyon walls.
Viktor and the other cougar were the first to recover. Two things happened at once: the last of Andreas’s loyal packmates lunged for Lana’s throat, and Viktor leapt at him from the side. Her coyote knocked the surprised cougar to one side and, in the coyote way, was immediately joined by his packmates.
Letting out a musical, yipping howl, they worked together to pin the larger shifter down. Jaws clamped on legs, digging into heavy muscle to wrench him onto his back, and coyote claws shredded a soft underbelly.
Viktor, snarling muzzle smeared with blood, dropped all his weight onto the cougar’s prone chest. In one smooth move, Camille’s consort lowered his head, ripped out the cougar’s throat, and tossed it over the side of the platform to join the corpse below.
In the calm that settled over them, Lee sighed, “Well, that’s one way to do it.”
ChapterThirty-Seven
The tripback to the EVP wasn’t exactly celebratory, but it wasn’t somber, either. The tension of knowing what lay ahead had vanished, leaving a tram full of predators to mingle and discuss the mess that was the challenge.
Impressed by the shifter ferocity they witnessed, the elvish guards that accompanied them broke their usual stony silence to talk to the bloodied and rowdy coyotes. Kaz sprawled in his seat and stared out the window, his expression darkly satisfied, and Valen had broken the usual code of conduct and gotten his phone out to call Theodore as soon as the tram lifted off the platform.
Benny was in a heated discussion about the best way for a coyote pack to overcome a larger threat — say, a dragon — and Diana sat in the back, calmly polishing a wicked looking harpy knife with a tiny rag pulled from the pocket of her jeans.
Camille sat in Viktor’s lap. Her legs were slung over the arm of their chair, and her head rested beside his on the seat. They were set away from the rest of the group, and with all the talking, it was easy to feel like they were in their own little world.
“Were you scared?” he asked, skimming his palms up and down her back.
She stared at a fleck of dried blood on his cheek. He missed it when he’d washed in the compound’s bathroom, probably because it was hidden in his usual scruff.
Lifting her hand, she used her thumb to ever-so-gently scrape it away from his skin.
“No,” she answered. “Not after I knew you weren’t fighting. Iknewsomething was going to go wrong if you did. Once Lana took your place, I was okay — even when shit hit the fan.”
She shuddered to think of what might have happened if things had gone according to plan. Would she have been too focused on the fight to catch the two cougars mid-shift? Would Viktor have been slaughtered before they even felt the need to break the rules? Camille couldn’t possibly know and didn’t want to.
My consort is safe in my arms. Nothing else matters.
“It didn’t bother you seeing me fight?”
She shook her head. “No. I knew you would be okay.”
“You trusted me.” Viktor turned his head to brush the tip of his nose against her cheek. His voice was soft, husky with feeling. “You knew I’d keep my promise to come back to you.”
Camille swallowed the lump in her throat. “Of course I did. I’m your mate.”
“You are. Gods, I don’t know how I got so lucky, but you are.” He curled his arms around her middle and hugged her close. Burying his nose in her hair, he whispered, “Thank you for being here with me, Cam. I know how hard this was for you.”
