Page 22 of Shifter Situations

“You or Briggs could handle a bear,” Vaughn commented.

He didn’t understand, but Briggs summed it up with haste. “There’s more than one. Go inside. Call Charlie. Now.”

Stone glanced from left to right, tracking the movements from within the dense trees beyond the row of cabins. “What’s wrong with them?”

“The drug, maybe? I don’t know yet,” I whispered, reaching out to Jack and begging them to stay inside if this was just a challenge fight.

Briggs and I would be the only people that could fight if one came to challenge us and brought witnesses. But the mental static that I was hearing told me otherwise.

I pushed my thoughts out to my mates, Jack, Grim, and Blaire, pulling them all into my mind like a group chat.

“Six,” Stone called, and I shook my head.

“Six bears. They’re masking the scent of whoever is behind them. They smell stronger than the rest of the shifters.”

“Try six directions,” Grim corrected, sounding like he was speaking underwater as he moved through the Void. “I see around twenty animals moving toward us. Could be more.”

“Grab Charlie, Grim,” Jack demanded, concern making his voice rise.

Jack brought Blaire through the Void, landing on the porch beside us at the same time as Grim and my dad. Briggs and I flanked the Supreme Alpha, walking down the steps and into the leaf-littered yard to meet the incoming shifters head-on.

And the shifters breached the tree line in small droves.

5

Sloane

Wednesday, June 3rd

Midday

The moment I had a clear line of sight on the animals coming at us, I knew they weren’t here to make a single challenge. I’d seen the behavior before, the hive mentality.

They weren’t working together as a pack. They were working around each other, staying out of the others’ way.

I was reminded of the rogues that Briggs, Stone, and I took out a few weeks ago, but there were quite a few more this time.

Twenty-two that were visible.

I couldn’t count based on mental signatures because all the static made them sound the same.

Charlie King wasn’t Dad right now; he was the Supreme Alpha. His power rolled off him in waves, weakening my knees with the need to kneel. It didn’t affect the shifters in front of us.

He didn’t show his anger toward their defiance as he shouted, “State your challenge or leave.”

No one shifted to speak.

A grizzly bear stood on his hind legs and roared so loudly that birds scattered through the nearby trees.

I began to assess, looking for weak spots and counting shifted species. We needed a fucking plan, but godsdamnit. I hated planning. It was the smart thing to do, even if there was no way to account for how they would react.

The two eagles would be a nuisance, but they could wait.

The three tigers and the six bears were a more significant threat. They needed to be taken out before we moved on to the wolves and coyotes.

The mountain lion balancing on a low-hung branch was a pain-in-the-ass, but it’d be a quick kill.

All I needed to know was if this fight was for Briggs and me or a free-for-all.