Kill the cats.
What? No, you are one of the cats. Defend the cats.
Protect the bear.
What the fuck was happening? She couldn’t stop or slow down, and she was only yards away. And for an instant, that horrifying, terrifying monster bear locked gazes with hers, and there was a spark of something she didn’t understand. She bunched her muscles, prepared to force this body to leap onto his back and rip into his exposed throat as he was busy with one of the panthers, but she put too much power into her jump and instead sailed over his back and slammed into Ben, who had been jumping for the bear at the same time. At least she thought it was Ben. It smelled like him as they hit the grown like a pair of missiles. The wind was nearly knocked from her, but that didn’t stop She-Devil, no. She went to war with her damn alpha, and he went to war right back.
Pain slashed against her shoulder as she sank her teeth into his neck. God, he was strong, and so fast he blurred. A good fighter, but he lacked the insane fury that She-Devil was fueled by. Claws raked down her back, and she was pulled hard. The other panthers were there, trying to separate her from their alpha.
Fuckers. Pulling her off a kill like this? They were gonna die too then. Annalise spun and slashed her claws across the face of a green-eyed panther—Barret probably.
The bear stood behind Barret and roared a long, deafening sound. It felt like he was calling to her. That wasn’t right…was it? She wanted to run to him. She wanted to place herself between him and the crew and dare these assholes to fight her. Nobody was killing the grizzly today. Not today…not ever. Ever? God, what was wrong with her?
Ben was going to kick her out of the crew for how damaged she was. This was the part she had been trying to hide for the last three days. Completely out of control of her body, Annalise swung to the side, bolted around a very surprised looking Barret, and charged the bear. He didn’t even move, didn’t back up a single step, just locked eyes on Annalise and watched her skid to a stop in front of him.
And then she did something unforgiveable.
She turned on her crew.
Yep, she, the biggest dumbass in the history of shifters, gave a murderous grizzly bear in the heat of battle her exposed back while she turned on the only people who would protect her.
She-Devil was clearly suicidal.
The crew didn’t attack. Two of them slunk back and forth in tight paces, and two of them, Ben included, looked like they would probably eat her if they were dragon shifters.
Ben approached slowly, his massive paws making prints the size of dinner plates in the mud. Annalise hissed. Close enough.
Ben’s gold eyes with the tiny pupils narrowed dangerously on her. He hunched into himself, and the alpha of the Red Havoc Crew Changed back into his human form. What was he doing? The grizzly could kill him so easily. But when she looked over her shoulder, the bear had backed himself across the road and was pacing the tree line, eyes on her. He shook his head as though dizzy, or perhaps confused. Welcome to the club, Griz. She confused the hell out of herself, too.
“Change back,” Ben demanded. Power pulsed through those two words and brushed against her skin, making her want to do…something.
The other panthers had an immediate response to Ben’s order, and their bodies broke in a painful-looking way. Anson pitched forward on his hands and knees and muttered, “Fuck, Ben. You could’ve just asked,” as pain washed across his features.
“I said Change back!” he yelled at Annalise.
She hunched down, but She-Devil liked this body and didn’t give it up easy. Sorry Ben.
The sound of something big approaching too fast from behind startled her, and she turned to see the bear charging the alpha. Oh, shit. It was a bluff, thank God, and he skidded to a stop right behind her. Grunting on every exhale, eyes full of fire and locked on Ben, the grizzly was promising a quick death. Tension roiled from him, and for the first time, Annalise was actually scared. He was a monster, and on closer inspection, she could see the mash-up of claw marks on his body and older scars that had kept his fur from growing back in places.
The click of metal on metal was deafening in that silent moment. In the woods stood Jenny, huge long-range rifle aimed right for the middle of the bear’s forehead. “Get the fuck out of here if you want to keep your brains from painting my goddamn woods.”
The moment was so charged, Annalise’s body seized with the tension, and in an instant, She-Devil was giving Annalise her body back. Her Change was painful, but fast. Annalise sat with her knees tucked under her, gasping for air as she waited for her body to make sense again. She hated the gun pointed at the bear, but for the life of her, she couldn’t figure out why. He was a stranger and had brought violence to the crew. And if she was honest, she was pissed he’d made her betray Red Havoc. This was her shot at gaining a normal-ish life someday, and he’d just ruined it for her.
“Please leave,” she ground out.
The grizzly turned his massive block head toward her, gave her a hard, calculating look, and then strode toward the truck. His Change was fluid, like magic. He was bear, and then he was a man. A muscular man with wide shoulders, who stood over six-foot-tall and had tattoos down his neck and back. The claw marks on his body streamed red, but he didn’t limp or favor his injuries. His bare ass was perfection over long, strong legs moving in a smooth, effortless gait. He had black hair that was longer up top, but shaved short on the sides, and his giant fists were balled with anger. God, she wished he would turn and show his face so she could see if it was as beautiful as the rest of him.