Page 45 of Bad Blood Bear

“So there’s only so much I can do to keep them from fighting, and I wouldn’t do much more if I could,” he said. “It’s dangerous for them to keep their emotions locked up. They need the release.”

He massaged the back of his neck with one hand.

“Tank and Xander are both riled up right now. Tank’s worried about you, and he has feelings for you he doesn’t know what to do with. And your story dredged up some shit for Xander, too. They needed to get it out of their systems.” He cracked his neck. “They should just change the job description from alpha to referee.”

Lissa bit her lips. She was still shaky from being so close to getting her arm ripped off, and she hated seeing Tank so upset, and Xander hurt. “Will Xander’s leg be okay?” she asked.

“Sure,” Flynn said. “He has shifter healing. So do you. It’ll be fine in a day or two.”

Wow. An injury like that would take weeks to heal for a normal person.

She looked out into the woods. “I didn’t mean to upset Tank,” she said. “Is he all right?”

“Sloan will watch out for him,” Flynn said. “The problem is, his bear won’t come out anymore except to fight, or sometimes to roam the woods at night.” He glanced over at Lissa. “Or to take care of someone. When Tristan was still with us, Tank used to take care of him when his wolf went wild. Follow him through the woods, keep him out of trouble, like Sloan’s doing for Tank now. He misses Tristan—his bear needs to bond with people, but at the same time, after everything he’s been through, he’s scared to.”

“He told me about his mate,” Lissa said. “Angie. The one who was killed by shifter hunters.”

Flynn looked surprised. “He did? Huh. Did he tell you what happened afterwards?”

“Just that he left their house, left everything behind and never went back.”

Flynn nodded. “What he didn’t tell you was he joined a group of shifters who hunt the hunters. He stayed with them for about a year. I don’t know how many kills he registered, but there shouldn’t have been any at all.”

“Why not?” Lissa said. “They were horrible people. They killed his wife for no reason.” She didn’t feel at all sorry they’d been killed.

Flynn gave her a flat look. “No argument there. Somebody like me, I don’t give a fuck. Killing them’s not going to wreck my soul. But Tank…” He shook his head. “He’s a Protector bear. It’s in his DNA. He left his clan group, so he never took up the role officially, but Protectors only fight and kill when they’re defending their people. They’re not killers by nature. It does something to them.”

He added, “And even then, they couldn’t kill the good in him. You know how Grant’s shifter hunters finally got him?”

She shook her head.

“They set him up. A girl in the wilderness, said her sister was in trouble, caught by the hunters. Led him right into a trap, because he couldn’t fucking stop himself from helping someone he thought needed help.”

Anger burned through Lissa, that someone had used the essential goodness in Tank to betray him.

“That’s why I was glad when he decided to help you, even though the last thing we needed was another problem shifter,” he said. “I think it’s good for him to have you here, but it’s hard on him, too. Try to cut him some slack, okay?”

Lissa nodded.

“Come on,” Flynn said. “I’ll walk you to the tiny house.”

They went around the side of the cabin to the little house. It was dark, and without Tank, it felt lonely.

“You got everything you need?” Flynn asked as she climbed the steps. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to be walking back and forth between here and the house right now. Once you’re inside, stay in.”

Lissa bit her lips. Did he mean Tank might attack her? Or Xander, or one of the others? The woods suddenly looked dark and full of threats.

She shook her head. “I’m okay. Thanks.”

He nodded, and walked silently off into the shadows.