Vessa looked at Dan for a silent beat before they disrobed and shifted into their respective animals, a cheetah and a timber wolf. No one else from their pack returned to their animals. Broken Sue and Tristan stayed as they were.
“Hey,” Nessa said, bounding up with a beer. She sported a gleaming smile. Nothing ever phased her, even two massive animals with a crapload of power about to rumble on a dirt road in the middle of ass-crack nowhere where Sebastian would somehow have to keep Jessie out of the fight.
He’d get sucked into it, he knew he would. He always seemed to, somehow, and then he’d scream in front of all these strangers as Austin Steele barreled down on him. It wouldn’t be the first time, and he vividly remembered the last.
“Want one?” Nessa indicated the beer. “Niamh is passing them out like party favors. Too bad Edgar isn’t here to wrap it in a doily.”
Sebastian grabbed Nessa’s arm and threaded through the widening circle after Broken Sue. Jessie stood just behind Austin in her gargoyle form, waves of shimmering pinky-purple light shedding from her rough skin. Her wings were delicately tucked against her back, and none of the resident shifters could seem to avoid looking at her for long.
Broken Sue stopped beside Tristan, slightly behind Jessie. Power pumped within the circle. The positions of the observers were set and now it was the alphas’ show.
“Why don’t we ever see any hippos?” he mused as Tristan stepped back, ushering Sebastian on. “Or, like…a rhino?”
“Not you.” Tristan put out his hand to stop Nessa, gently moving her behind him. “Stay put,” he told her in a commanding voice. “This is going to get vicious, and we might need to move in a hurry.”
“And what, you’re going to trip me so that you can get away?” she asked teasingly.
“No,” he replied, looking back at the alphas. “I’m going to throw you in their way. If you’re going to do a job, do it right.”
She grinned, but amazingly, did as he said. Sebastian would’ve liked to do the same, but instead, Broken Sue ushered him closer to Jessie. Jessie looked back, nodding comfortingly. She was in the thick of it and still giving him encouragement. There was really no end to her courage.
Power throbbed from the alphas; Sebastian could feel it. They circled each other, slow and methodical. Drex lowered his head a fraction, then launched at Austin. Austin didn’t close the gap right away, instead angling right as Drex reached him and quickly rose to his hind legs. Drex had the drop on Austin now but not the right position.
Austin pushed to his hind legs in a burst of speed and power, his arms outstretched to grapple. He tackled Drex and latched on with his claws, ripping at the Kodiak with teeth and incredible aggression. The Kodiak barely flinched, instead hunkering on his rump and rolling, taking Austin with him.
“Solid move,” Broken Sue murmured.
Austin went with it, flopping onto the ground and using his claws to rip at the bear. The Kodiak followed suit, the two of them biting and tearing at the other. Blood spilled across the ground and matted in Austin’s white fur, darkening the brown of the Kodiak, but neither showed signs of pain. However, they must’ve felt it because Jessie started shedding light and magic in increasing waves, though the pulses did not balloon out. It was so subtle, that if Sebastian hadn’t been standing right next to her, he wouldn’t have felt it.
Austin untangled from the other bear and lumbered backwards. Drex stood and lunged at him, trying to smother Austin to the ground again. Austin was ready for him, though. He darted forward, flinging his huge body at the Kodiak’s feet, and barreled through. Drex lost his balance and fell. Before he could get back up, Austin had twisted and pushed back with his powerful hind feet. It was a move only the sleeker polar bear could do, and he used it to his advantage. He gouged the Kodiak, opening a weeping gash along his side and then his stomach.
Still Drex showed zero pain. He growled angrily and forced his way up, shoving Austin off. He ran at Austin like a linebacker and Austin met him. They crashed together with such force that Sebastian took a step back. Austin growled as Drex tore into his side, then latched his teeth on Austin’s neck; Austin struggled to find purchase with the angle.
Broken Sue didn’t move a muscle, watching in silence, but Tristan tensed. That didn’t look good for Austin.
Fear rose in Sebastian. He glanced at Jessie, unmoving, and then back at the fight.
Austin flagged, panting. He was pushed back a step, and another, scratching and biting but not doing enough to beat the other bear back. His paws slipped from their purchase on the bloodied fur, too low now, leaving an opening.
The Kodiak was experienced enough to take it. He leaned in for the kill shot, his great maw exposing sharp canines, stained red. Austin hesitated, not jerking out of the way as he should. Drex latched onto Austin’s jugular.
“Jesus, Jessie,” Sebastian said, stepping closer to her. All that Kodiak had to do was rip his head side to side and he’d take out Austin’s throat, killing the alpha. Given the force and growls and animalistic movements, the Kodiak wasn’t using a human brain now. He was reacting as his bear. Kill or be killed. “Should I?—“
Broken Sue’s hand gripped Sebastian’s shoulder, and Sebastian raised his hands to help, but suddenly, Austin surged up, slamming the Kodiak to his back. Austin’s throat was still in the other alpha’s mouth, but he didn’t seem to care. He bunched his lower half, using that dexterity, and ripped with all four claws, raking across the Kodiak’s soft, vulnerable stomach.
A wave of power so intense it stole Sebastian’s breath gushed from Jessie. She half ran, half flew into the circle, her magic acting as a wedge between the bears, covering the Kodiak’s stomach so Austin couldn’t do any more damage. Drex’s jaws still gripped Austin, but off to the side now. There was no longer any danger he would rip out Austin’s throat. Holy crap, that must’ve been planned by Austin, somehow. The Kodiak still held on, weaker now, his jaws slackening and his eyes starting to glaze. He was at the brink of death.
Broken Sue shoved Sebastian into the circle. “Keep them out.”
Sebastian stumbled. The cheetah and wolf were running in to help their alpha, and Jessie had rammed into Austin’s side, using magic and force to roll him off the Kodiak.
“Keep them out?—“
But he didn’t get a chance. When he took another step, he slammed into a magical dome, and the shifters on the other side hit the same blockade. Magic fizzed and sparked, issuing an electric shock. It was enough to make Sebastian jerk away, but the other shifters rammed into it, trying to force their way through, ignoring the pain. When he’d concocted the thing, he should’ve known shifters would need a more powerful version.
He worked on that now as Jessie stuck her hand into the Kodiak’s jaws, trying to free Austin from his grasp. Still, he tried to hold on, even as he faltered.
Austin scrambled to his feet faster than any large animal had a right to and spun to go for Drex again. Jessie blocked him. Pushing outward with her hands, she hit Austin with a spell that singed his fur black in places. The great beast stood on his hind legs and roared, his size dwarfing the little gargoyle blocking him.
