“Get off me. Caden’s bloodline has nothing to do with it. You’re being a dick and I don’t have to tell you anything. But you know what? When I tell him you were messing with me, he’ll be furious.”
Dane freezes, shuffling back a step. “Lorne.”
Lorne laughs. “Relax. It’s fine.” He gives my head a shake. “You truly think my cousin gives a shit about you? He rejected you. He doesn’t want to claim you. All you’re good for is an extra pussy to present for him.”
The words sting and turn my stomach, but I know he’s wrong. I feel it in the thrum of the mending bond.
“Leave me alone. Now,” I snap, kicking out at Dane at my side.
He snorts. “She attacked first.”
Lorne grins. “Females should know their place.”
He uses his grip on my hair to wrench me to my knees. I go down with a bitten-off cry of pain, my scalp throbbing.
“You like using that mouth so much, you can use it on me.” Lorne grabs his belt with a sickening leer. “After we’ve taught you a lesson.”
He lifts his boot to kick me. I roll away before the blow lands, grunting as his toe catches my shoulder instead. The males snicker. They think I’m nothing. They believe I’ll lose to them and allow them to rough me up simply because they feel superior to me.
One of them blocks my escape, roughly tossing me before Lorne so I land hard on my knees, scraping my hands to catch myself on the road. Another pulls my hair to make me look up at his arrogant smirk. He backhands me with enough force to snap my head to the side. I gasp for breath, my face on fire.
“This is going to be a long lesson if you don’t sit there and take it,” he says casually. “How long do you think it’ll take her to cry, boys?”
Fuck this.
I’ve had enough. I’m not a broken shifter who can’t defend myself. I’m not waiting for my mate to come to my rescue like I’m helpless. These males have treated me terribly for years, making sure I always knew my place at the bottom of the pack hierarchy. Beneath males like them.
They don’t get to hurt me anymore. The rage I’ve always swallowed down bubbles to the surface, overflowing in an unstoppable flood that demands retribution for myself and all the females shifters like Lorne have wronged.
My wolf bursts from me, shredding my clothes. The transformation startles two of the group back.
“Shit, she’s fucking huge,” someone balks behind me. “You didn’t say her wolf was that big.”
I go for him first, herding him back with clacking snaps of my teeth until he’s backed against a tree, eyes wide. I prowl a wide circle on the road, then face Lorne in challenge.
Fight me, male. See how strong you are against me. I’ll break your bones with my teeth.
He narrows his eyes and rips off his shirt. “You want a fight? You’ve got one, you stupid bitch. And when I’ve broken you, I’ll make you regret it.”
When he shifts, he’s smaller than me, covered in wiry gray hair. His eyes are deadly. They’re a mark of the danger he poses. I won’t underestimate him the way he does with me.
He waits for me to make a move, faking me out until my wolf grows frustrated with his games. She wants him to clash with her head on. When he runs us around in circles, he finally darts in. His charge fails to knock my balance. I headbutt him, then pounce on his back.
He goes down, but he manages to wriggle free, kicking at my feet until I trip over him. I round on him, biting his shoulder as he gets to his feet. He howls, teeth dragging over my ear. I growl at the sting without releasing his fur.
Another wolf barrels into my side. He’s slightly bigger, with the same wiry hair. Dane. He pants, attention split between me and his brother. Another of their cousins has shifted, too. The shaggy brown wolf comes at me from behind. One of the males that hasn’t transformed throws a rock at my side.
Then all at once, the five of them are on me. My wolf is a formidable beast, but the fight isn’t fair.
I swipe at brown fur with my claws and kick at a wiry gray muzzle at my rear flank. Someone’s teeth puncture my back when they try to pin me. My wolf isn’t going down without giving all of them hell.
She rolls to the side, attacking Dane’s leg. He yelps, backing away. Two others are back on me again.
Lorne is within reach. He stayed to the outskirts of the tussle once his friends joined in. If I take him down, the rest will give up.
Rearing up, I throw one of them off. The other keeps on me, biting at my heels as I charge Lorne. He snarls at me, hackles raised.
I leap into a tackle. Someone bites my ankle, but I focus on Lorne. My claws dig into his side and belly. I clamp my jaw around his throat. My teeth sink in, tearing at flesh and fur in warning to demand his submission.
One of them barks and their offensive stops. The one biting my ankle backs away. A furious growl booms from my chest. Blood drips from my snarling maw. They thought they could take me down, but they were wrong.
Lorne’s wolf alternates between whining and growling, attempting to swipe at me from the prone position I have him pinned in. He can’t beat me like this one on one. My wolf is bigger than his. Stronger.
Yield, I snarl.
He barks, then slumps with a pissed off noise. I keep my teeth bared, allowing him up. He surveys me with his tail rigid and fur ruffled down his spine.
I expect him to attack again with the way he meets my eye without an ounce of remorse. Then he turns tail and runs. The others follow his retreat. Fucking cowards. I bound after them, clacking my teeth at their heels until I chase them off.
Satisfaction and pride dance within me. I’m not coming away unscathed, but I have more than my wits to fight with now. I’m not Wolfless. Nor am I an easy target to pick on. Five males fought me at once and my wolf outlasted them. If any packmate tries me again, I know I’ll be able to take them on.
28AVERY
When I make it back to the cottage, my wolf gives up our fur. The shift back is uncomfortable, my body drained and stiff. I press a hand to my bleeding arm and hobble through the door. At least my sisters aren’t here to see me like this.
The worst of the wounds will heal within a day or two. I check myself over and most of it is superficial. I already feel some of the scrapes tingling, but I can make things more bearable to take the edge off. After pulling on a loose cotton shift that ties in the front, I get a bowl of water and a washcloth to clean the deep gash in my arm, setting it on my workbench.
The crash of the door slamming into the wall so hard it almost comes off its hinges startles me. Caden barrels through out of breath, features contorted in confusion and distress, fangs extended, fingers partially shifted into claws.
He stops in his tracks, raking his gaze over me, nostrils flaring. His fists ball and he’s at my side in two strides, face set in a feral storm of emotion.
“You’re hurt,” he says hoarsely.
“It’s not that bad. My wolf can handle herself.”
“Who did this to you? Who fucking touched you?” His fingertips flutter over my bruised jaw and his wolf becomes more evident in every word. “Tell me who hurt you.”
Through the echoes of pain, warmth spreads through me in a rush. I fought my own battle, but to see the way this affects him stokes a fire in me. I wish he could’ve seen how resilient I was.
“Calm down. It doesn’t matter right now.”
“Of course it does,” he counters fiercely.
I rest a palm on his chest, searching his face. It helps quell him, though he’s still a restless force. The bond ripples with probing pulses from him.