Page 107 of Shifter Situations

The wolves danced around them, moving much faster than I remembered. As the bears passed them in their assault, Sloane and Briggs both spun around, lunging at their backs.

The way they seamlessly attacked their opponents was an indicator that they were communicating with each other mentally. They were making a plan on the fly, depending on who the opponent groupings were.

It was an anticlimactic fight. The bears were persistent, but too slow to get many good swipes in.

Sloane had a cut along her ribs, though it was healed by the time she had the grizzly on his back. Briggs had puncture wounds on his flank, and his black fur glistened with the blood of their first kill.

The grizzly submitted when he saw the dead polar bear.

An alligator and a Komodo dragon came next. Pairing up two reptiles was smart. The animals were low to the ground and quick moving. While the alligator’s bite was fierce, the monitor’s bite was full of bacteria and venomous.

Sloane went right for the eight-foot long lizard, not the least bit concerned about the anti-clotting agents in his venom. I didn’t think they would affect her anyway, but I still felt myself becoming a little anxious as he wrapped his mouth around her ankle.

Blood beaded on her fur when she snatched her leg away, and her glowing green eyes latched onto the crimson before she growled.

I began counting the minutes it took for her to heal that injury.

Briggs had the alligator flipped on his back, sharp canine teeth touching the thin, exposed skin of his belly. The reptile thrashed violently, and when Briggs applied more pressure, he became eerily still.

The alligator shifted, leaving a tanned woman on the ground yelling her submission.

Sloane continued to play with the monitor, batting at him as the blood flowed from her ankle. The Komodo dragon backpedaled, trying to get away from her as she prowled forward.

She continuously displayed her strength over him, but it was clear he was not interested in submitting.

Briggs shifted back to human form, snatching a bottle of water from Vaughn’s hand as he called, “It’s rude to play with your dinner, Barbie.”

Her wolf snorted, pouncing on him. One gigantic paw landed on the back of the dragon, and she shoved him to the ground. Leaning her head down, she eyed the creature, digging her claws into his back.

He wiggled his reptilian body, trying to go out from under her, but there was no escaping a challenge fight.

You either won, submitted, or died.

No sooner than the thought crossed my mind did Sloane open her jaws, biting into the side of the Komodo dragon. He fought against her until he was too weak to continue.

Her ankle was still bleeding, but I thought it was slowing.

The monitor had put up more of a fight than I thought he would.

Four opponents down; four to go.

A woman and a man came forward, crossing the rope barrier before shifting into a tiger and a mountain lion. The larger feline yawned, her tail lashing back and forth much like my own did.

I briefly wondered who the mountain lion was since Sloane had killed the only one we knew, but it wasn’t important.

He was angry, rushing straight at Sloane.

Novak whispered to us, “That was Katie’s dad.”

“Was?” I asked.

“He has no intention of submitting, he’ll die willingly if he can’t beat Trouble.”

“I wonder if he knew what his daughter was doing?” Vaughn mused.

The vampire shook his head. “I don’t think so, but I can’t glean that from his mind.”

Briggs was going toe-to-toe with the tiger, though they were dancing around each other. They’d both taken swipes and swings, but neither had made any real advance.