Page 40 of Damien’s Mate

The bear kept coming, letting out a huge roar that shook the woods. Lights had come on in the house, and now the porch door slammed open and people swarmed out—two naked guys and a girl with a rifle. Also naked. A window on the third floor opened with a bang and the barrel of another rifle poked through.

Damien heard a snarl, and then something furry burst out of the passenger side of the SUV and launched itself at the bear’s rear end.

A lioness. Lithe and muscular and pissed off, trailing shreds of what he was pretty sure used to be Lila’s scrubs.

The lioness leaped on the bear’s ass, claws first, drawing blood. The bear rose to his hind feet with a furious roar.

The guy in the lead, dark-haired and clearly just as pissed off, took two steps and leaped off the porch…

…and turned into a huge black panther with blazing green eyes.

Fuuuck.

The panther hit the ground and bounded toward them without even slowing down, letting out a terrifying scream of rage.

At the same time, a wolf loped out of the forest, followed by two owls, screeching.

They were so, so dead.

Chapter 16

The bear shook itself, flinging Lila off. She landed hard and gave a snarl of mingled fury and pain, trying to scrabble to her feet.

The panther was still coming. With her injuries, if all the animals pounced on her, they’d kill her even if they didn’t mean to.

Without conscious thought, Damien ran to intercept the panther, waving his arms. “Stop, dammit!”

The panther barreled right through him, sending him flying. He hit the ground with a jarring thud, just in time to see a snow leopard flash by behind the panther.

Lila had totally lost it—he could see it in her eyes. She attacked the panther and he slapped her with his claws, raking bloody gashes down her side. The leopard circled around behind her.

Oh, fuck, don’t make me shoot them, he prayed.

“Don’t kill her!” he yelled at the top of his lungs. “She has internal injuries!”

The panther, the bear and the leopard had her surrounded. Lila crouched, tail lashing, turning slowly to try to keep them all in sight at once.

The panther shimmered, bones cracking, and turned back into the guy that had been in charge of the shifters last time they’d met. Brandon.

Still naked.

He strode forward and gave Lila a glare that should have set her fur on fire. “Calm the fuck down! Now!” he bellowed.

His voice rolled out through the yard like a physical thing. Damien felt every hair on his body stand up.

The woman—Kitty, he thought her name was—came up to stand at Brandon’s shoulder, rifle at the ready. Brandon ordered Lila, “Change back.”

Lila stayed a lion. Damien didn’t know if it was because she still felt threatened, or because she was too hurt to change back. Or she just didn’t want to. He started to get up and heard a female voice from the third floor say, “Stay where you are. Drop your weapon.”

He looked up, saw the rifle trained on him, and immediately dropped his 9mm.

The wolf had come down the hill and stopped about ten feet from Brandon, his eyes on Damien. The owls circled overhead, silent and menacing.

Damien thought he heard Brandon mutter, “I gave up an orgasm for this?” But that couldn’t be right. He opened his mouth to say something, and then Brandon folded his arms and thundered, “Change back, dammit!”

It was like an earthquake rippled through the yard. The bear turned into a huge naked man with long silver hair, bleeding from several gouges across his backside. The two owls dropped precipitously out of the sky, Changing as they fell, and the snow leopard burst into human form so suddenly it was knocked on its ass.

The only ones who stayed animal were the wolf—and Lila.