Chapter 12
Alyssa had always been a fan of Animal Planet. It comforted her to know that nature had a cycle, that animals were predictable, and that even large predators could be viewed from a distance as the magnificent creatures they were.
This was something entirely different: this was two huge bears fighting to the death in a cinderblock building. And if things went really south, there could be eight more of those things all aimed at her and Vic.
She didn’t care. She only had eyes for Simon. His grizzly form was beautiful. Golden brown fur with dark accents. Paws that could tear a tree in half. But it was his ears that she liked the most. They were round and cute on a very scary face. When he roared, she looked at his ears and remembered that he was a friend. A very sexy, uber logical friend.
She winced as the two beasts collided. Big grappling bodies. It was very Animal Planet, complete with growling and chewing. But Nanook was larger, and even she could see that Simon couldn’t win in a contest of straining of muscles. But that’s how bears fought and she wasn’t surprised when Nanook got better leverage and threw Simon aside. Unless that was Simon escaping?
She didn’t know, and it was all so loud and terrifying. She needed to think of a way to escape with Vic. She ought to be doing it now when everyone’s eyes were glued to the fight. But she couldn’t look away, either. That was Simon there, fighting for his life, and her heart pounded with every grunt and growl. And at the sight of dark blood slicking down his golden fur.
Shitshitshitshit.If she shot Nanook, they’d have every shifter in the place going for them. At least right now it was one on one. And no way would she think that one shot would take down that monstrosity.
And then something changed.
She didn’t even notice it at first, but she was watching Simon closely. Hell, she was breathing as he breathed, gritting her teeth as he growled, and clenching her toes as he paced in the concrete space. So when he slowed his movements and his breath, she noticed. And when his head feinted left and right, her own neck tightened at the same time. What was he doing?
His eyes narrowed as he looked around the room. It was like she could feel the man thinking. Except up until this moment, he’d looked and felt just like she’d seen on TV. Just like any other grizzly bear caught on camera in the wild.
But that was her mistake. He was a shifter and now she saw the intelligence in him. And for the first time since the fight began, she felt a stirring of hope. Simon was smart. If ever a smaller creature could defeat a larger one, then now was the time.
She swallowed and murmured to her brother. “You okay?”
“No. But I’m ready.”
That was all she needed to know. He was sane and with her. And looking very human, which was both reassuring and disappointing. He was probably way more powerful in monster form. So now they just had to wait for whatever Simon had planned. Except right now, he didn’t seem to be doing anything but dancing around. He moved faster than Nanook, but neither was exactly fast. They were too huge.
Simon ducked around a support column and then waited. It looked like he was trying to hide behind it, which was ridiculous. Everyone could see him. But every time that Nanook moved to get at him, he just slipped to the other side. And that’s when the strategy became obvious.
Nanook was not a patient attacker. He was getting pissed. His breath was loud and harsh, and his grumbles had turned into angry growls. Enough to terrify her, but Simon didn’t seem fazed. Neither did he care that he looked like a scared monkey ducking back and forth behind the large concrete post.
And then suddenly, Nanook lunged. The motion was quick, startling her enough that she squeaked in alarm. Simon had been leaning in, reaching forward with a paw as if to strike, but Nanook caught him and wrapped him in a grappling hold.
Except that what he really caught was the concrete column. And better yet, Simon had ducked his head to the other side just as Nanook lunged. That meant that when the big one tried to chew on Simon’s neck, all he got was concrete post.
“Yeah!” her brother cheered, and Alyssa agreed with the sentiment, but the thing was far from over.
Simon had his opening. He lunged forward with his jaws wide. He grabbed hold of Nanook’s dirty white neck and bit down. Nanook roared his fury and pulled back, but Simon kept his jaws firm. And with both sets of arms wrapped around a cement pole, Nanook couldn’t take Simon with him.
God, the result was simple logic, but her entire body reeled at the sight.
Even though Simon had his jaws locked deep in Nanook’s neck, the grolar shifted his grip and pushed away from the cement pole. Simon bit down harder and blood began to spray in every direction. Nanook bellowed, then tore himself free. But the hole in his neck was huge. Alyssa could see exposed tendons and blood spilling onto his dirty white fur, but it wasn’t gushing and he didn’t look like he was dying. Which meant that Simon better have another trick up his sleeve.
Or maybe not. He started the same ducking back and forth around the column. And he was making a sound that she’d never heard on any nature channel. It was high pitched and almost warbling. Clearly a taunting laugh and she could practically see the steam coming out of Nanook’s ears.
But the big grolar wasn’t completely stupid. He wasn’t going in for the same kind of attack. Instead, he dropped his head, bunched his shoulders, and rammed forward…straight into the cement column. If he couldn’t bite around the post, he was going to take the obstruction down.
The building shuddered and everyone looked up with worry. No way was that column going to hold for another assault. And if it went down, so did part of the roof.
Simon scrambled backward, but even he looked up to the ceiling. In fact, the only one who wasn’t looking up was Nanook because he was backing up to do it again.
And then the eeriest moment of the entire day happened. Simon looked directly at her. It was like he was calculating in his grizzly mind exactly how many impacts the post could take and what were her risks standing about twenty feet away.
Then he jerked his head at the door. It was a clear indication that she should flee, but she wasn’t the only one who saw it. The others did, too. And quite a few moved to stand between her and the door. Probably because if the building started coming down, they wanted to be the first ones out.
And that was all the time Simon had as Nanook started roaring forward again. But in this, Simon startled her. He bolted around the post then ran full tilt at Nanook. The two were like rams except when they met shoulder to shoulder, Simon took the brunt of it. He shuddered backward, slipping on the concrete floor and going down on his butt then side. And even worse, he appeared to be stunned. He just lay there not moving.
“Get up!” Alyssa screamed. “Get up!”
