Page 11 of Brandon’s Mate

Learning she was underage had just made Rocko hotter for her, the perv.

Kill it? his panther asked.

In a minute, he replied.

“Come on,” he said, reaching for Kitty. “We’re getting out of here.”

Rocko tightened his arms around her. “You better stand down, Fierro. I’m the alpha of this crew.”

Brandon snorted. Bringing his natural dominance to bear on Rocko, he stared the leader down and said with deadly intensity, “Let. Her. Go.”

Despite himself, Rocko’s arms slid from around Kitty. Brandon pressed down on him. “Get on your knees,” Brandon said.

He could feel the rest of the gang closing in behind them. This wasn’t technically an alpha challenge, and if the guys still wanted Rocko for their leader, it was going to get ugly.

Without warning, Rocko went wolf, dumping Kitty to the floor, and lunged at Brandon.

Brandon dodged back, his mind working furiously. In panther form, he could take Rocko without even trying hard—and maybe the rest of them, too. But he could smell the pheromones and arousal. They wouldn’t all go after him. Some of them would go after Kitty.

Rocko lunged again, and then there were shimmers and popping noises all over the room as people started Changing.

Brandon Changed too, ripping out of his clothes and trying to battle his way through Rocko to Kitty.

Two of the guys who were still human grabbed Kitty and yanked her to her feet. One pulled her to him for a rough kiss, and the other one grabbed her ass.

Before Brandon could do anything, she exploded into wolf form, knocking both of her attackers to the ground. Her animal was bigger than he remembered, bigger than Rocko, and something scary was happening to her eyes. They were a churning red, and her body was rippling with weird bulges, like she couldn’t hold her form.

The drugs? Were they messing with her Change?

Rocko dove at Brandon, and Brandon barely avoided getting eviscerated by the alpha’s razor-sharp nails. His instinct for survival was warring with his need to protect Kitty, and being distracted could easily make him dead. Then she’d be at their mercy.

Kitty snarled defiance at the pack surrounding her, and the room filled with growls. They were going to tear her apart.

Brandon turned on Rocko, a flurry of deadly teeth and claws. With one well-placed swipe of his claws he hamstrung Rocko and then used a jaguar trick to cut off his air until he passed out.

They were going to mob her any second.

Brandon Changed back to human, letting his full dominance roll through the room. “Stand down, all of you!”

They paused, their animals looking up at him. He’d defeated the head of the gang, and their wolf instincts made them want to obey him as the new alpha.

The thought of being bonded to them made him sick.

“Don’t move,” he commanded them. Some of the more dominant ones shifted their weight uncomfortably and growled, but they stayed in place.

Hopefully he could hold them long enough.

He dug his fingers into the fur at the back of Kitty’s neck and half-dragged her outside to where he’d parked his bike. Her eyes were still that crazy color, and her body was still rippling.

What the hell was wrong with her?

“Change back,” he said, putting all the alpha juice he had into it. “Change, dammit!”

For a minute he thought it wasn’t going to work. Then her whole body shuddered, and she was human again, huddled at his feet.

He was so relieved, all he could do was yell at her. “What the hell were you thinking, coming here? With him?”

Kitty scrambled to her feet, her chest heaving as though she’d run ten miles. But that didn’t stop her from getting up in his face.