Page 75 of Bad Blood Panther

Chapter 30

The panthers backed and snarled, unable to figure out where the bullets were coming from.

Xander broke away from Alton. The cavalry had arrived—but it sure as hell wasn’t the way he’d expected.

Flynn stepped out of a rip in the middle of the air, dressed in full combat gear with ammo belts draped across his chest, machine gun in his hands. He was followed Jasmin, Tank, and Lissa, all fully armed. They fanned out behind him.

Xander Changed to human, panting. Alton was still cat, and he was pacing, snarling, his eyes full of so much crazy Xander didn’t even know if he could Change back.

One of the guards drew his gun and aimed at Flynn. A bullet came from a tree at the edge of the valley, knocking it out of his hands.

“That’s Sloan,” Flynn said. “Former Shifter Special Forces. Sniper.”

A shadow drifted overhead, and a giant snowy owl glided over the top of the crowd, a round metallic object clutched in her talons.

“And that’s Caitlyn,” Flynn added. “With a grenade. And yes, since you ask, she can pull the pin with her talons.”

Everyone underneath Caitlyn shuffled nervously in their seats. She glided in a slow circle, beating her huge white wings every now and then to keep herself aloft.

“Now,” Flynn said. “We’re going to turn this into a fair fight.”

Tank moved to cover Alton, and Flynn walked up to Xander. Xander tried to give him an obnoxious asshole grin, and failed epically.

“Thanks for the dramatic rescue,” he said. “Can we go home now?”

Flynn tilted his head slightly. “Depends,” he said. “You want to finish this?”

He really didn’t. “Believe it or not,” he said, “I’m not feeling as homicidal as you might expect.”

Flynn held his gaze. “What are your choices?” he asked.

Xander knew what Flynn was saying.

He could walk away, and hope that Alton didn’t keep coming after him, and Jenny, and Brandon.

He could take one of Flynn’s guns and just blow the sucker away, and hope that didn’t turn this into a huge battle.

Or a war.

Or he could do the right thing, the humane thing. The shifter thing. Finish the fight, and put this crazy fucker down.

Xander knew Flynn had put down more than his share of insane shifters—those who were a danger to humans, to themselves, to the shifter community as a whole. Who were so out of control they risked revealing the existence of shifters to the public.

He didn’t do it because he wanted to. He shouldered the burden because he was an alpha, and he believed it was his responsibility.

Flynn would put Alton down if Xander asked him to. Maybe put a bullet right in his brain, or maybe go lion and give him an honorable death in battle. He knew that Flynn could kill utterly without remorse, if he felt it was necessary—if he or his people were attacked. But Xander also knew that every broken shifter he put down took a piece of his soul.

This wasn’t Flynn’s fight. And Xander was done letting other people shoulder his responsibilities for him. It was time he stepped up.

He sure as hell didn’t want to be alpha of this hellhole, and there was no way he was going to stay here with Jenny and Brandon, fending off challenge after challenge.

But these were her people. If they were going to have any chance of surviving, of turning back into a viable clan, someone had to take this guy down.

This wasn’t his mess. But dammit, he was going to clean it up.

Xander nodded. “I’ll finish it. If I can.”

Flynn nodded, and for the first time, Xander saw respect in his eyes.