“You fucking…” Blah blah blah. It went on for a while with the man swinging wildly and Carl easily sidestepping everything. Everything in Carl wanted to end this now, but he couldn’t do it yet. One more piece had to fall into place. Alan had won in court, declaring Nick legally incompetent. Pam must have given the bastard the news, which is what triggered the tirade today. But Nick’s kids had to…
There.
Mark pulled up in his truck. A second later, Pam and her two sons got out of the cab, looking wide-eyed and terrified.
Finally, Carl could end this. He’d needed to have the boys here to show them that a man stood up for what was right. And that their father wasn’t an all-powerful monster. So he focused back on Nick and dodged one last wild swing.
“We can do this all day, Nick,” Carl taunted. “Or you can calm down and walk away.”
“Fucking whoreson!” Suddenly, Nick swung paws the size of hams, complete with claws a foot long. Nick was shifting, and his dungarees were large enough to accommodate him in his grizzly form. Carl had two seconds to act before he lost his opportunity.
So he swung twice. One blow straight to the diaphragm to stop Nick’s breath, and the other under the jaw to snap his head back. It worked. Even as a grizzly and twice Carl’s weight, Nick’s head whipped back and he staggered. Three more blows and the bear lost his footing and went down. Carl slammed his bare foot down on the furry neck, angling as best he could to choke off the guy’s breath without exposing his own body to a swipe from those massive claws.
“You’re an idiot, you know that?” he growled. “You think you can disobey me and I’m going to just ignore it? Jesus, power isn’t about the size of your claws. Just because you can intimidate a woman and two boys means jack shit. I’ve beaten you as a man, you moron. Do you seriously want to take me on as a bear?”
Nick started to growl, but Carl shoved his heel harder against Nick’s windpipe.
“I could snap that now, but I was trying to be kind to your family. I don’t like killing someone for being stupid.”
Nick stilled, but he wasn’t cowed by any means. Now was the time to get the last of it out. For the video. For the clan. But most of all, for the boys and Pam. They needed to hear just what was going to happen.
“You’ve been declared legally incompetent. Pam has control of everything.” He looked up at her. “What do you want, Pam? You want him with you or gone?”
It took her two tries before she found her breath, but she got the word out clear enough. “Gone.”
Finally. He’d tried to get Pam to defy Nick for years, but she and her boys had steadfastly stood by the bastard’s side. It was the only thing that kept Carl from interfering before. But once Nick started poisoning the land, he’d finally had a reason to end it.
“So be it.” He leaned down and spoke low and quietly. “Leave now or die.” Nick reacted the only way a man like him does: with violence. He swiped with snout and claws, but Carl jumped back and away. Then Nick was up on his feet, rearing to his full grizzly height. He roared loud enough to be heard a county over. A call to his side. The challenge of an alpha to another. Except that no one, not even his boys, who’d both had their first shifts years ago, came to his side.
That left Carl standing alone in his stripper pants against a bear nearly twice his size. There was a moment when Nick seemed to realize he was standing alone. A moment when he seemed to think about the stupidity of his actions. But then it was gone. Whatever ability he’d had to reason things out failed him. So he attacked. And Carl finally got to let his grizzly free. Nick was all in—to the death.
The stripper pants fell away, and Carl shifted.
CHAPTER 14
Becca had never enjoyed violence. She didn’t like The Fast and the Furious movies, only watched cute puppy videos on YouTube, and if there was blood on the TV screen, then she took those moments to check her email. Yet here she stood, rooted to her spot on the porch as two grizzly bears tried to kill each other in front of her.
When Nick had first lunged at Carl, she’d taken a step forward to help, but got no farther. Alan had gripped her arm to hold her back. And then she’d watched Carl’s amazing display as he held himself in human form while the grizzly Nick attacked. It was beyond impressive. It was a demonstration of control and calm like she’d never imagined.
But then it had changed. Nick went from angry to all-out war. She couldn’t have stated what the difference was. It was all fur and teeth with Nick, not to mention roaring. But, suddenly, the atmosphere seemed to thicken and the seven-foot-tall beast became deadlier. Beside her, Alan cursed under his breath and, worst of all, a look of resignation settled on Carl’s face. And then he, too, became a bear.
She’d seen him in bear form before, she told herself. No need to be so shocked now. But back then she’d been in the midst of a bizarre attack in the woods at night. This was in the broad light of day out on the front porch. Carl was standing there all golden skin on a muscled torso, and then she saw his head shift. His nose elongated, his shoulders thickened. And while she watched his whole body grow, he pulled off his pants, abruptly standing as tall as a full bear.
Mahogany brown with a distinctive streak of silver gray on his back, right between his shoulder blades. He was slightly taller than Nick, who was a darker color and had thicker arms and uglier-looking claws. That’s all she saw before Nick lunged and suddenly the two bears were grappling.
She felt Alan’s hand tighten on her arm, holding her back. Had she seriously been trying to move forward to intervene? No one was getting between those bears.
The air filled with grunts of exertion. She saw blood fly but couldn’t tell whose it was. Her brain couldn’t make sense of the mass of claws and teeth, not to mention fur and limbs. The two rolled in dirt, and the onlookers backed up to give them more room. God, there were boys watching. Nick’s adolescent sons, if she had to guess. And how awful would that be to stand there and watch your father fighting for his life.
Then Nick gained the upper hand, pinning Carl with his body as he hauled back an arm—claws flashing evilly in the light—to eviscerate Carl. Becca would have screamed, but she hadn’t the breath. She ought to do something. Throw a chair, maybe, but Alan’s grip was like iron.
And just when Nick was most extended, his arm raised like a spiked mace, Carl moved. He must have gotten his feet under Nick, because in the next second, he threw the bastard five feet away to slam into an oak.
Then Carl rolled to his feet and stood there, watching as the older grizzly shook his head as if stunned.
“Stop,” Alan rasped under his breath. “Stop it now.”
Becca looked at Carl. He wasn’t moving. “He’s not doing anything.”
