“What’s wrong, Jason? Afraid everyone will see what a pussy you are? A real alpha can enforce his laws himself.”
“Enough!” Jason, only a few years older than Aidan, panted as if actually exerting himself. His eyes glowed, a fanatic wildness lighting them and deepening Aidan’s dread.
“He’s right,” spoke up an older member of the pack. “This ain’t right. And not just the fact you got two guys holding him down so you can smack him. If he’s found his true mate, who cares what her blood is. Tradition says once found, it’s ’til death do you part. If you wanna banish him, then do it, but don’t beat on him for something he can’t control. Or at least let him go so he can defend himself.”
A rumbling assent came from the gathered shifters, and the grip on Aidan’s arms loosened with indecision.
“Let him go,” snapped Jason. “I’ll take care of him myself.”
Figures. He holds me down to beat the crap out of me, and when he thinks I’m weakened enough he decides to wolf up. Should have beaten me longer, thought Aidan, a feral smile lighting his face. Aidan found himself free, and he flexed his arms to get the blood circulating in them. Jason stepped off the dais and approached him, muscles bulging under the fat that a slovenly lifestyle had graced him with.
Aidan crouched slightly and held himself ready as he and Jason paced around in a circle, the other wolves forming a circle of spectators.
However, a distraction called Sophia-I’m here to help, Aidan!-made Jason’s first blow connect and Aidan’s face snapped to the side. The punch dazed him but not enough to miss his mate’s grand entrance.
The doors to the club blew open with a resounding crash and in the sunlit doorway stood his witch, a light breeze lifting the tendrils of her hair as she stood with one hand on her cocked hip while the other held his ratty broom as a staff.
He cursed even as he held back a rueful smile. That’s my witch. New strength and adrenaline rushed through him. With her now in danger, nobody in the room stood a chance.
Sophia hid her trepidation with a show of power and intimidation. But she couldn’t help the cry that escaped her when she saw the blood on Aidan’s face. “Aidan!”
He glowered at her. “I told you to escape.”
“I couldn’t leave you.” Her words made him smile and shake his head.
“Get her,” screamed Jason.
Most in the room didn’t move, but that still left three shifters coming at her, one swapping his human shape for a wolf one. Using the logic she’d acquired from the cabin, she drew on the power and used it to lift. Nothing. Shoot. The room held only bodies, no furniture.
So, when the first wolf reached her, she used the only weapon in her possession, her broom, and whacked it over the nose, which stunned it into sitting. With a terrifying roar, Aidan tackled the other two men who thought to lay a hand on her. The meaty sound of his fist hitting their faces told her he had them occupied, so she could concentrate on her current problem.
The wolf in front of her recovered from its surprise and advanced on her. It snarled and showed a lot of teeth. Sophia chanted and drew on some more magic. Her broom thickened in her grasp, turning into a baseball bat, a much easier weapon to swing.
The wolf didn’t stop. He obviously didn’t know about her trophies back home for most hits on her softball team three years running. She only cringed after she connected with the wolf’s head. Rock-throwing was one thing, swinging a bat and feeling the shock of connecting from her hands right up to her shoulders was another. But with a whimper, the wolf skulked away on unsteady feet.
Sophia waved the bat menacingly at the still-watching crowd. “Any other takers?” She managed to swallow her sigh of relief when no one stepped forward to her challenge. A short-lived relief, it turned out, when arms wrapped around her from behind to trap her arms. Shoot. Getting caught hadn’t figured in her plans.
“Drop the bat or you’ll find out how it feels to die with crushed ribs,” growled a voice from behind her.
Sophia dropped the bat with a thunk. So much for rescuing Aidan. I think I might have made things worse.
“I’ve got your witch slut, Aidan,” her captor announced triumphantly.
Aidan untangled himself from the two bodies he’d used as punch test dummies. “Let her go, Jason. Your fight is with me.”
“Oh, I intend to fight you, right after I take care of your bitch.” Jason removed one of his arms from around her and placed his hand against her throat. A sharp pain pricked at her skin.
Oh, this really isn’t good.
Things might have gotten really ugly at that point, if it hadn’t been for the arrival of two new players.
“You would dare execute one of our own for no other crime than being caught up in the mating bond caused by your kind. I think not,” said a female voice in a how-dare-you tone. “Dracin, darling, if you please.”
Sophia felt the cold tingle of an alien magic in the room and then Jason’s vise-like arm and clawed hand were gone. A second later-actually more like a millisecond-Aidan’s arms wrapped around her and she clung to him, grateful to find them both alive. But curiosity made her turn to see who had rescued them. At first her attention was caught by a floating Jason, his eyes wide in fright, his mouth working but without any sound. How strange. I thought magic couldn’t affect shifters?
Behind the bad alpha’s dangling legs Sophia saw a stud-seriously, he almost put Aidan to shame with his well over six-foot lanky frame and wavy blonde hair. His bearing screamed Viking warrior, which made the soft, sappy look he bestowed on a petite woman beside him all the more incongruous. Sophia mentally made the connection based on what Aidan had told her of the dragon who had befriended him. Thus, if the man was Dracin, then the woman by default was Clarabelle, a witch like her. A very pregnant one, too, judging by her bulging belly. It also explained the alien magic feel. Dragon magic. And what do you know, they can use it on werewolves? An interesting fact to take note of.
“What would you like me to do with this mongrel, Belle?” asked Dracin without any of the fierceness Sophia would have expected of a dragon shifter.
“I don’t think he has the brain capacity to accept what can’t be changed.”
“I will kill him then.”
Aidan spoke up. “If you kill him, much as he deserves it, my pack might take issue, the whole honor thing. Is there not a way we can neutralize him instead and send him on his way?”
With a curt nod, Dracin raised his hands and once again Sophia felt the cool alien magic tickle along her skin. In the blink of an eye, Jason disappeared and in his place stood a coyote with mangy fur.
Clarabelle shooed the ugly beast. “Bad guy, begone, and do not return to bother my new friends or I’ll make you into a fur stole.”
Sophia bit back a giggle at her words as the coyote, formerly known as Jason, took off scurrying and yipping.
“Now does anybody else want to dispute Aidan and Sophia’s bond?” Clarabelle placed her hands on her hips and gave the rest of the pack a stern look, kind of marred by her round belly and glowing cheeks. However, the impressive Dracin, glowering behind her, appeared quite effective for there were a lot of shaking heads.
“Well, then, now that we’ve settled this, I’m hungry. Sophia, you come with me while Aidan and his pack choose a new alpha. We have much to discuss.”
Sophia turned to Aidan with questioning eyes. “Will you be okay? They won’t try to hurt you, will they?”
Aidan’s eyes crinkled at the corners, and he gave her grin. “I think we’ll be all right from here on. If not, you can come back and beat them with your club.” He hugged her tight and lifted her for a deep kiss, which left her flushed and panting. “I’ll come get you when I’m done here.” Another hard kiss sent her libido spinning wildly, and she wanted to ask why they couldn’t just skip everything and go find a soft bed for sinning-heck, even a wall somewhere would do. But a tug on her arm from Clarabelle and shifters converging on Aidan talking in low voices made her put those plans on hold.