AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Defiance flashes in her eyes, but she complies in the next breath. “Go!”
I fling my body out the front door, closing it tight behind me and hoping she locks it, as instructed.
Sure enough, Leo is on his back with a bear atop him, a long slash on his chest bleeding over his sides while he makes every effort to breathe through his teeth. “Don’t do this!” he commands, but it is clear his pack isn’t listening to their leader any longer.
The answering roar needs no translation. Eight large bears close in on Leo, who I can tell is refusing to shift out of principle. Stubborn, noble ass that Leo is, he will not attack his own, even if it costs him his life.
I’ve seen enough to make myself useful. It’s a leap and a flash of fangs that makes the bear towering over Leo fall back with a roar. I don’t bite. That would be a grave mistake that would get me kicked out of my home for good. But I can remind them that vampires, too, can come unhinged.
I don’t hold back when I knock the bear on his back. I don’t need their obvious bulk. My skin is impenetrable and my bones unbreakable. “See how you like being on your back in front of your pack mates,” I challenge him. “Anyone who wants to tear into Leo has to go through me. Are we clear on that?”
The shifters growl their displeasure, some kicking up onto their hind legs to paw at the air, letting me know they are not to be trifled with.
Neither am I.
Sure, it’s been a minute since I’ve been in a real fight with anyone but Leo, but I’m not about to sit back and watch this happen. My upper lip curls to reveal my fangs. Though the shifters are known for their bulk, vampires are far faster, our movements quicker and often just as deadly.
However, there are eight of them, and only one of me.
No matter.
One of the bears shifts into a woman, naked and fiercely beautiful in her rage. Her blonde hair is knotted and wild looking. “Leo turned his back on us. He’s a disgrace to our pack! We cannot choose a new Alpha unless he is dead.”
I maintain my protective stance over Leo’s supine form. “And you call vampires savages. Look at you all! Do you think your leader wanted this? He tried to push us away, but the tether is too strong.”
“His loyalty is weak!” she protests, much to the howled agreement of many of the others. There is only one who stands to the side, looking uncertain of what to do.
I take a step forward, guarding Leo with my body as best I can. “No. Your pack is weak if you won’t protect your Alpha when he’s been messed with.”
The uncertain bear standing off to the side shifts onto two legs. He looks younger, and not like he wants to maim Leo. In fact, he looks tormented at the split in the pack. “The vampire is right! Leo didn’t choose this!”
It is clear this boy is the odd man out. Not a single person wants to hear what he has to say.
“Of course you feel that way, Mark. You’re his number two,” the woman jeers.
Mark throws his hands in the air, unabashed at his own nudity and unphased at the woman’s. “Nice, Jerusha. If anything, that should make me glad to see the Alpha dethroned, because then I could have the power. Well, I don’t want it. Not like this. Not when you all could turn your backs on me just as easily.”
His argument is solid, and I’m grateful for this young kid who looks to be somewhere in his mid-twenties.
But it seems reason has left the building. While the bushes rustle with the night air, I know that we have mere seconds to get out of here, if that.
“We’re leaving,” I rule. “We’re taking Leo with us, and you’ll leave him be.”
One of the bears roars in response, I’m guessing demanding his pound of flesh first.
“Calvin, take Ivy and get out of here!” Leo cries, still on his back. “Mark, stand down!” he tells the one shifter on his side.
And there goes our window of escape.
The nearest bear lunges at me, and to my surprise, another leaps at Mark, knocking him back while he shifts into his bear form to better fend off the attack. He howls—a hurt sound that lets them know he deserves better than this, better than being turned out for simply disagreeing with the majority.
A foolish shifter slashes his paw across my chest, as if I am made of mere skin and bone. A sadistic anger overcomes me. I thrust my hands out to take the shifter’s head and snap it to the side. All fight leaves the angry shifter in a sigh that hits the wind and dissipates with no fanfare.
As it should be. There is no honor in a death like that, fighting against their own as they are. They will all die the same unceremonious death if they come for my…
My shifter? My pack member? None of those words feel exactly right or exactly wrong.
Another shifter lunges for me, this one in rage over the death of their member at my hands. Another slams into me, butting me up to the side of the condo while they take swipes at my face, getting nowhere as they try to take my head clean off my body, which, short of sunlight, is the only way to kill me.
