Page 73 of Bad Blood Bear

Brother Damien’s face darkened. Apparently he liked it better when people were scared of him.

“You are insolent, Cat,” he said. “I think I’ll capture you both. Then I’ll kill this grizzly, slowly, and let you watch him die.”

Over my dead body, Lissa thought. Her bear whined.

Flynn put on his bored expression. “You’ve been watching too many supervillain movies,” he said to Damien. “And I’m getting the overwhelming urge to rip you limb from limb. Because I have a personal issue with evil torturers, and you’re starting to annoy me.”

“You’re far outnumbered,” Damien said. “And your sniper will do you no good. Do you take me for a fool?”

He drew a gun out of a holster at his side and aimed it straight at Edward. Lissa gasped.

Damien coolly pulled the trigger.

A crimson glow surrounded Edward, and there was a bright flare as the bullet disintegrated.

Lissa didn’t dare look at Flynn. They hadn’t planned on killing the other men, but it hadn’t occurred to them that they all might be protected. That meant the tranquilizer darts couldn’t get to them either.

Lissa felt Flynn’s reassuring touch on her back. She knew that meant “stick to the plan.” A grip on her arm would mean “stand down.”

An order which she might or might not obey.

Damien let out another one of those chilling laughs. He was full-on batshit crazy.

“Not so full of arrogance now, are you, Cat?” he said. “I believe I’ve changed my mind. I’m going to have my men take you down, and then I’ll make Lissa kill your friend while you watch. That would be even more fun that you watching me kill him.”

He turned his gaze on Lissa, and a crimson light outlined his body, his eyes glowing red.

“Come here, Lissa,” he said softly. “I unbind you. Become your bear. Come and kill for me.”

Lissa could feel the compulsion in her mind, pulling at her, dragging her forward. Flynn bore down on her with his own powerful alpha energy. Keep your head. Tank needs you. Don’t let this fucker take you over.

She was moving forward, her bear rising to the surface. She felt the bone-deep need to give in to the compulsion, to please Brother Damien, to do what he said. He had made her; she belonged to him.

She walked faster, then broke into a run. Go, go, go. She undid the clasp of the loose robe she wore and gave a great leap, letting her bear take her skin, bounding forward to where Brother Damien was standing by Tank.

The other men were running toward Flynn, preparing to take him down. From behind her in the trees, she saw trank darts flying through the air towards Brother Damien’s men. They disintegrated as soon as they hit the men’s magical layer of protection, just like the bullet had.

She heard a muffled “Fuck,” from the trees, and then twin feral snarls as Jasmin and Xander leaped to the ground and shifted. But Lissa was focused only on Tank, eyes on his bare neck, running as hard as she could.

She could hear Brother Damien’s manic laughter in her mind. That’s it, my love. Tear out his throat and watch him bleed. He dared to touch you, and he must die.

With a final bound, Lissa leaped on Tank. She opened her jaws and bit deep into the bulky muscle where his neck met his shoulder.

I claim you, her bear shouted. You are mine!

Tank’s head snapped up, eyes wide and shocked. In her mind, Lissa could hear his bear. Yes! Mate!

Behind her, she heard a roar, and then Flynn’s mental voice, strong and clear: Tank Morrison,as the mate of Lissa the Black Bear, I accept you into my crew.

The Bad Blood Crew was whole. The circle of power was complete.

Blue lightning shot out from Flynn’s body and arced through the clearing, stunning Brother Damien’s men. They stumbled back.

From high up in a tree came two rifle shots, one to each of the chains that bound Tank’s arms. Sloan. The chains broke, and Tank fell forward onto his hands and knees, gasping.

Flynn swept his hands in a wide circle, and a wall of blue light rose out of the ground, just past the edge of the rock cliff.

The territorial boundaries, Lissa realized. With the full power of the crew’s bond behind him, Flynn was invoking the territorial magic gifted to him by Israel Jonas, with the power of the Dragon Stone.