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"You only remember the bad times. We mostly made love. The beatings only happened when you misbehaved and set the other members of the pack off. I understand now why it got worse over the years, with your pheromones, but it won't be like that anymore. With you mated, we can be together, and love each other without all that hostility."
"I belong to my mate. He loves me and cares for me. Dale has shown me how a real man treats a woman, and the Goddess can damn me before I go back to a life of pain and fear with you."
Malcolm's eyes turned fierce at my comparison with Dale. I swear I lost an entire patch of hair when his fist ripped my head back. My scalp stung, and there was the feel of blood dribbling. "You are mine!"
Hissing in pain, I tried to delay, to hold out long enough for help to arrive. "You're obsessed, and obsession isn't love. If you loved me, you would care how much you are hurting me. Your fixation is about you and how you feel. You are selfish and violent and cruel."
Relaxing his grip, Malcolm snarled at me. "Selfish?"
A strange calm came over me that I'd never experienced. I was goading him, and I wondered if my behavior was suicidal. That subconsciously I decided I'd rather die than go back with him.
"Especially in bed. I've never been able to compare before, but now I know how bad you are at sex."
Rearing back, fist ready and aimed for my head, Malcolm swung. A growl ripped through the night. My back door smashed as something dark-grey came through it and threw Malcolm away from me.
Above me, a massive beast straightened. Covered in dark-grey fur with a white strip down his spine. Goldeyes rimmed in blue checked me over while Malcolm snarled and got to his feet. With a flick of his arms, Malcolm became beast too, but he had nothing on Bob. Bob was over a head taller, and much broader. Bob was stronger.
Malcolm rushed Bob. Swinging his arm, Bob sent Malcolm flying across the room and smashing into my kitchen. Rolling me, Bob slashed his giant claw, sliced the belt restraining me. With my wrists free, he turned his attention to the threatening growl of Malcolm.
Planting his feet, Bob pushed down and pounced. Catching Malcolm, Bob forced him back to the kitchen and away from me. Relief washed over me; Bob was stronger than Malcolm, I could sense it. This should be easy.
But, nothing in my life had ever been easy. As I watched them fight, I learned there was a difference between strength and speed. Malcolm didn't stay Alpha in a hostile pack of madmen because he couldn't fight.
The first time Malcolm got the upper hand on Bob, my heart stopped. As they smashed through the kitchen, my breath stopped, my heart raced, and fear drowned my senses. The fear of someone I cared about getting hurt. Panicking, unable to move, I stared in horror as they fought. The fear paralysis finally kicked in, and I was stuck watching; dreading every hit Bob took to protect me. Fearing for him.
It was all so very new to me. I'd only ever feared other people, never for another. Never had I had to worry about another's safety. Never feared someone dying as a result of trying to help me.
Raking his claws across Bob's chest, Malcolm scored his first real hit. A pressure in my head developed, making me wince. It was like someone yelling in your ears, but it was so loud you actually couldn't hear it. My head hurting under the assault, I didn't know how to relieve the pressure. It didn't matter because, at that moment, Bob stumbled.
Using his speed to grab Bob's throat, Malcolm punched him in the face. Blood spurted from Bob's nose. Without thinking, I caught up a vase and threw it straight at Malcolm's head. As it smashed against the side of his face, he released Bob and turned to me.
Staring down at my hands as Bob renewed his effort, I stood with my mouth hanging open. I'd moved fast. Inhuman-quick. Blood and fur slashed through the air. Following the blur of the beast's battle, I worried I wouldn't see what was happening.
When my eyes itched, I squeezed them shut and rubbed them, taking a second to relieve the itching. When I opened my eyes, the fighting had slowed down, though, it hadn't, I was just able to track it now. The pressure in my head was also gone, the yelling no longer noiseless.
'Run!'Bob yelled at me. 'Vera, run.'
Bob hit the window. It wobbled like jelly from his impact. Rebounding off, Bob fell to the floor, and a millisecond later, the ripples of the glass seized. The glass exploded outwards towards the backyard. Getting to his feet, Bob swayed a little as Malcolm picked up the dining room table like it weighed nothing.
'Bob, watch out!'
Swinging the table like a bat as Bob turned, Malcolm swatted Bob like a fly. Standing helpless, I screamed as Bob flew passed me and smashed into the wall of the lounge room. Unlike me, Bob didn't bounce off. He went through the wall and landed with a sickening crunch against the bathroom sink.
The mirror cracked behind his head, scarlet webs streaming through the reflective surface. Bob blinked at me, my shock and fear staring back at me. 'Vera.'He fell to the floor.
"No!"
A hand grabbed me and threw me to the ground. 'Move, and I will hurt you.'
Whimpering, I shrunk away from the threat. Stopping as my eyes caught his attention, Malcolm grabbed my chin and studied me. 'There is a wolf in there. I thought for sure that worthless mutt had lied about everything.'
Choking anger rose inside me. Howard betrayed his Alpha, betrayed his pack, betrayed my pack. As Malcolm punched handfuls of gyprock so he could climb through the wall, the anger hit me.
Malcolm was going to kill Bob. Bob was going to die for trying to protect me, and I was sitting here doing nothing like the pathetic weak human. He was my pack, they had taken me in, cared for me, shown me not all our kind were assholes. Why couldn't I protect him?
The need to do something burbled up in me like water boiling in my veins. The bubbles of rage and loyalty growing bigger and bigger as the anger burnt away my fear. Lifting my head as Malcolm broke his way through the wall, I focused on Bob lying in human form on the other side. A crumpled heap of flesh and blood and glistening white bits I swear was bone. As Malcolm shifted to human form, my need to protect my pack reached the boiling point.
'Vera!' Dale was somewhere far away, his fear coating my tongue like a mouthful of dough.
