Page 23 of Bad Blood Panther

“At least it’s not me this time,” Xander said.

Flynn just gave him a black look and started down the stairs. “We’re done here, for the moment,” he called back over his shoulder. As he continued on, Jenny heard him mutter, “Because one fucking crisis isn’t enough for a Sunday.”

Jenny followed him down the stairs and out to the front porch. Lissa and Jasmin were in animal form, rolling around on the open lawn in front of the cabin. Brody paced the sidelines, human, but growling. His eyes had gone a strange silver color.

Sloan and Tank, also Changed, patrolled the edges of the fight. It looked like they were keeping the combatants away from the parked vehicles and the fire pit, but not doing anything to stop it.

Flynn stood on the porch, arms folded, watching. Jenny watched too, biting the back of her hand. At Broken Hill, panthers weren’t allowed to just brawl anywhere. They had regular sparring matches to burn off their excess energy and aggression—at least, they had until they started going into battle so often. Formal challenges took place in the arena, according to special rules.

This was terrifying. She couldn’t bring Brandon into a place like this, where he could get crushed or mauled at any time, when someone lost control.

Why wasn’t Flynn doing anything?

The black bear writhed and twisted, and brought her jaws down on the jaguar’s forepaw. Jasmin gave an ear-shattering yowl, and Brody shifted to wolf, bursting out of his clothes.

“Enough already!” Flynn bellowed. Finally. Alpha dominance rolled off him in waves, and everyone froze. He strode out into the yard. “Change back!”

Everyone Changed back except Lissa, who backed away from Flynn, snarling. “I mean it!” he said, walking right up to her and staring her down.

Holy fuck. He was in human form, and she was at least as big as he was, with enormous claws. It didn’t seem to faze Flynn at all.

Jasmin was holding her right arm with her left. “Dammit, Lissa! You broke my arm!”

Lissa Changed back. “Shit,” she said, holding her head between her hands. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

Brody shook his head and knelt by Jasmin, feeling her arm bones. “It’s not bad. Ready?” Jasmin nodded. Brody yanked the bones back into place. Jasmin yelped.

“I’ll splint it up,” he said. “You’ll be fine by tomorrow.”

“That’s not going to help me tonight at the fucking restaurant,” she said. “How the hell am I supposed to cook with a half-healed break?”

“I’m sorry,” Lissa said again. “Fucking bear. Fucking Brother Damien. Dammit!” She stomped off in the direction of her cabin.

“Do they do that all the time?” Jenny murmured to Xander.

“Usually it’s me,” he said. “But I was busy.”

“But you all just…brawl like that? On the front lawn? And Flynn doesn’t punish you?”

Flynn was checking Jasmin’s injuries, but apparently his hearing was sharp enough for him to have picked up that remark. “If I punished these idiots every time one of them lost control, they’d all be grounded for life,” he said. “Which isn’t a bad idea, come to think of it.”

“Aaaand, it’s Douche Daddy,” Xander muttered. “Next he’ll be taking away the car keys and making us clean the garage.”

Jenny flinched. Was he crazy, mouthing off to an angry alpha like that?

Flynn just rolled his eyes. “Don’t tempt me,” he said.

He returned to the porch, and gave Jenny one of those opaque looks that still scared her. “This isn’t the fucking panther suburbia you’re used to,” he said. “We aren’t any of us totally sane. Most of us were fucked up to start with, which is why we ended up in Alexander Grant’s lab. Because we didn’t have anyone to back us up or keep us safe. Then he fucked us up some more.”

He added, “They’re all doing the best they can, and brawling takes the edge off. If you think you’re too good for this shit, you know where the exit sign is.” He walked into the house.

That stung. She didn’t think she was too good for anybody. All her life she’d felt like she wasn’t good enough. If it was just her, it wouldn’t matter so much. She’d had fight training like everybody else—she could hold her own.

But she couldn’t take chances with Brandon. Not with her little boy.