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Two large brown bears stood over Zander and Maya growled at the sight of them. She had known they were still around. She had sensed them. She had felt eyes on her when she’d shown Zander around town. She’d been certain they were responsible for destroying her bike but she hadn’t been able to prove it or even catch sight of them, not since that night in front of the bar when Nova had scared them away.
She didn’t understand why they were here or what they were up to. Had she really bruised their egos so badly with her rejection that they would stick around just to cause havoc and attack her mate? Her wolf didn’t care that Maya wanted answers. Her wolf only wanted blood in exchange for the blood that they had spilled.
Her wolf put herself directly between the bears and Zander. She wanted to shift back and take him into her arms. She wanted to staunch the bleeding, figure out exactly what was wrong with him and make it right. She wanted to touch him, feel his warm skin under her hands and know that he was going to be okay. But she couldn’t do any of that, not when there were two giant bear shifters growling and snapping their teeth at her.
She couldn’t take them on her own. She knew that. Even if there had only been one bear the odds wouldn’t have been in her favor.
But she had Darius on her right, his wolf circling around one side. Leo’s wolf was on her other side, spreading out, giving them multiple attack angles. The bears were spinning to keep all three of them in their line of sight, backing to one another and preparing for the fight that they knew was coming.
Maya’s wolf bared her teeth and growled, getting low and preparing to pounce. Just as she was about to leap, the sound of more footfalls in the trees caused the bear shifters to turn their attention. Maya watched as three more wolves came racing into the clearing from the other direction.
She recognized them immediately. The little red wolf that hissed and snarled was Zoey. The large gray wolf in the middle, teeth bared, was Rafe. And the black wolf at the back, the wolf that looked so much like her own, was Nova. Terror that her friends and family were all putting themselves in danger seeped into her veins even as relief at reinforcements warred with the panic.
Her wolf however had no fear for anyone but her mate. She didn’t hesitate or try to communicate a plan to any of them. She saw her chance and she went for it, pouncing on the nearest bear who had stupidly turned his back on her.
Mass chaos ensued.
Maya’s wolf latched her teeth onto the bear’s thick skin and jerked sideways, trying to rip out his throat. He whirled, faster than she’d expected and sent her flying. Her wolf hit the ground with a thud, knocking the wind out of her but she was back on her feet a moment later and reentered the fray.
All around her, the other wolves feigned and attacked, distracted and then pounced.
Zoey and Nova’s wolves were small and fast. They weaved in and out of the bear shifters’ reach, slicing at anything they could reach with a paw before retreating. Rafe followed their lead, attacking from the other direction whenever they distracted the bear. He sank his teeth into one of the bear’s side but a massive paw slapped him so hard his wolf whimpered when he sailed through the air and landed on his side. Maya had only a moment to make sure he got up before her own wolf was smacked with a paw and she howled in pain, getting up more slowly this time and taking a moment to formulate a plan of attack.
It was six against two. Zander was on the ground, bleeding. He had pulled himself further out of the fray but now when she looked at him his eyes were closed. A puddle of red stained the dirt beneath him and Maya’s wolf howled.
They didn’t have time for this. She needed to shift back and take care of Zander, force healing power through the bond. But she couldn’t do that until these rogue bears were dealt with.
They could do this. She knew they could. They just had to be smart about it. The bears were bigger and each of their blows knocked one of the wolves out of the fight long enough to keep them from being overwhelmed. She just wasn’t sure how many powerful blows she and her family could take before one of them didn’t get up and she didn’t want to find out.
If something happened to one of them because of her, she would never forgive herself.
With every single ounce of rage and anger and fear that she had ever harbored and hidden away, Maya let her wolf draw on all of it now. She gave it to the wolf to use as fuel. She only prayed that it was enough as she rushed back into the fight, snarling and biting with vicious intent. Her wolf latched onto a bear’s leg, sinking her teeth in and Maya could taste the blood as it filled her mouth. She felt the muscle between her jaws give and was aware the bear was stumbling, trying to shake her off and losing his balance in the process.
She was taking him down but in her peripheral vision she saw the red wolf weave dangerously close behind him. He was going to fall on Zoey, she realized. She released her grip on him to cry out, to warn her, but she knew even as she did that it was too late. The giant beast of an animal was going to crush Zoey’s wolf and it was going to be Maya’s fault.
She howled, trying desperately to warn her friend, her almost sister-in-law, but the sound only caused Zoey to freeze where she was instead of moving out of the way.
As if in slow motion, Maya watched from behind her wolf’s eyes as the bear teetered, hurtling towards the ground. Dimly she registered the sound of footfalls racing towards her. Too many of them, her brain clicked back to reality in time to take in the appearance of a dozen new wolves in the clearing, one of them, the biggest and strongest gray wolf of the bunch running full speed for her.
No, she realized when he bolted past her. Zoey. He was racing towards Zoey. The gray wolf barreled into her smaller red wolf, knocking them both to the ground and causing them to flip and roll off the path and into the nearby trees. A thundering crash sounded a moment later when the bear toppled directly onto the spot where Zoey had been standing.
Maya’s wolf blinked and her human side warred to take back control. All around her the other wolves had circled the last standing bear, pinning him in so he couldn’t escape or reach them with his massive paws. The bear on the ground had shifted after impact, his human curled into a ball as his ravaged leg bled and he screamed in pain. Maya recognized him as the shorter of the two men that had threatened her outside Hyde’s Pub but she didn’t have time to figure out why they were still here or what they were up to.
She was too busy taking in the fact that the small clearing was full of wolves. Everywhere she looked, more wolves. She had been with Leo and Darius when she felt Zander’s pain so they’d come with her as backup. She could understand if Zoey had felt a similar panic through her connection to Zander which would explain why she and Rafe had come running. What she didn’t understand was why Nova had been with them or how even more members of both the Moirae and Crescent Packs had known they needed help.
She supposed it didn’t matter. Not really. Her tie to both packs, the fact the two packs were so closely knit, had likely saved them all today.
They’d saved Zander.
With a groan she found herself back in her human skin, her wolf retreating to allow her to reach their mate. Her wolf knew there was nothing she could do for him now. She’d taken down one of the bears that had injured him Now it was Maya’s turn to help him.
“Zander!” she cried out as she rushed across the space and knelt at his side, “Oh God, Zander. Hey, open your eyes for me. Come on. Open your eyes.”
She ran her hands over his face but he didn’t react. He felt clammy and hot. Water dripped onto his cheek and she glanced up, not understanding when it had started to rain. It took her a precious second to realize the water hadn’t come from the sky but from her.
She was crying.
“Zander.” Her voice broke, “You’re going to be okay. You have to be okay.”
