Pride (37 page)

I used my momentum to roll over, regaining my feet smoothly. But the stray was already there. He swiped at me, and fire ripped across my right front leg, just beneath my shoulder. My howl of pain almost covered the splinter of breaking wood. Almost, but not quite. Radley had gotten into my room.

He shoved the door open. The stray’s teeth snapped shut an inch from my muzzle. Radley raced into the bedroom. I slapped the stray away with one paw. Two lines of bright red opened across his nose. He hissed and backed away.

Behind me, Radley bellowed in frustration and rage. I turned to see him standing in the middle of my bedroom, staring out the window. The
open
window.

Kaci had run.

“S
he took off!” Radley shouted. An instant later the stray pounced on me from behind, driving me to the floor as Radley’s steps drew closer. “I’m going after her. Kill the tom, knock the bitch out, then Shift and bring her back with you. Now! We don’t have all day!”

The stray pinning me to the hardwood whined in acknowledgment. I couldn’t see Radley, but his footsteps stomped toward me, then into sight, heading for the porch. And beyond him, I saw something moving through the open front door: Kaci—speeding across the grass toward the trees.

“There she goes!” Radley ran after his prize, still shouting as he raced down the steps. “Get done here and catch up.”

Right
. Like it would be that easy. Like we’d
let
it be that easy.

On my right, Ethan snarled, and I twisted to see him pinned by one cat. But he had the other stray’s ear in his mouth, and as I wriggled to wedge one paw between myself and the bastard on top of me, Ethan wrenched his head, ripping his opponent’s ear from its skull.

The injured cat screeched and backpedaled. Blood poured from the hole in his head, and one paw slid out from under him, smearing it across the floor.

Disgusted, I shoved with the paw I’d forced into place. My foe flew back, but his claws sank into my flesh as he went. I howled as pain sliced across my back and blood ran down my fur.

I leapt to my feet, ignoring the sting in my back and my front leg. He hissed. I pounced, anger and fear for Kaci taking over where my training left off. My front paws slammed into his right shoulder. He hit the floor on his left side, and my weight drove the breath from his body.

My back claws sank into his right flank, slicing viciously before I could get squeamish. Muscle tore. The cat screeched. Blood poured from the wound, drenching my feet, and steaming in the frigid air let in by the open door.

I sucked in a deep breath, steeling myself to rip out his throat. But Ethan’s almost-human scream of pain stopped me cold.

I froze, and my opponent tossed me off. I hissed and swiped at him, and he backed away, snarling ferociously. Behind him, Ethan lay on the ground.

The half-earless stray stood over him. Blood pooled beneath Ethan. His eyes blinked almost as slowly as his chest rose and fell. Three long gashes were open on the left side of his rib cage.

My heart beat hard enough to bruise my sternum. I roared in fear and in fury. The earless stray hissed and stepped closer. I snarled at him, but my eyes never left Ethan. I couldn’t get to him. And even if I could, there was nothing I could do for him. Not without hands. And a medical degree.

Ethan blinked at me and whined.

All three strays blocked the door, watching
me,
now that my brother was no longer a threat. Radley’s order replayed in my head. They would knock me out now—probably by clamping jaws over my throat—then Shift and drag me off. I couldn’t let that happen.

I took another step back, and the strays followed. My claws
scratched grooves into the hardwood. My pulse raced fast enough to make my head swim.

Ethan whined again. My gaze flicked to him. His head was moving, his muzzle sliding across the floor slowly, aiming at the door.

What?
But before I could figure out what he wanted, a fourth black blur shot through the open doorway, colliding full force with the stray in the center. The stray went down, the new cat’s jaws clamped over the back of his skull. The downed cat snarled, but his anger was cut off with a whine, then the crunch of breaking bone. The new arrival had broken his neck with a single bite.

The victor stood over his victim’s body and roared in triumph. He blinked, and his eyes met mine.

Marc.

My heart pounded, my head swimming with more questions than I could sort out. But Marc was already in action again, backing the remaining strays away from both Ethan and the door. I came forward to help him, limping from my injury, but he growled at me and shook his head.

I tilted mine in confusion, and he tossed his muzzle toward the door.
Go,
he’d said, and suddenly I understood. He wanted me to go after Kaci.

My muscles tensed, preparing to leap. Agony lanced my injured front leg, echoing in the slash marks across my back. I hunched on all fours—then launched myself over Marc.

I landed four feet from the door, legs in motion before I hit the ground. But my back paw slid in a warm, slick puddle, and I scrambled for traction. I dashed over the threshold and across the porch, then soared over the steps. My feet hit the brittle grass at a full-out run, in spite of the pain in my leg and the grisly ripping sensation in my back.

Behind me, Marc yelped, and paws pounded the ground. I slowed for a glance back, just long enough to realize it
wasn’t him following me. But I kept going because Marc could take care of himself
and
Ethan, and based on the snarls and growls coming from the cabin, he was doing just that.

So I ran. I broke through the foliage at the spot I’d last seen Kaci, sniffing the air regularly as I ran, searching for any sign of her. Or Radley.

Trees flew by. Thorns snagged in my fur. My paws sank in piles of pine needles and bruised against stones. Movement snagged my eye ahead—a green T-shirt, brilliant against the drab colors.

Radley was wearing green.

Adrenaline fueled a fresh burst of speed, and the huffing and chuffing behind me faded. The spot of green veered left. I followed, gaining on him steadily. I was hurt, but he was on two legs, and I was damn fast. He couldn’t outrun me.

Unfortunately, he wouldn’t
have
to.

Kaci screamed, and the green shirt stopped moving. I skidded to a halt in a small clearing flooded with morning sunlight. Leaves swung in the cold wind. A pinecone crunched beneath my left rear paw. Then Zeke Radley turned to face me at the edge of the clearing, Kaci clutched to his chest by her upper arms.

I growled.
Let her go.
But we all knew he wouldn’t, even if he’d understood.

Behind me, four-legged footsteps thudded, then slid to a stop. Radley’s backup had arrived.

“If you want to help her, come peacefully.” Radley smiled as he spoke, as if I should have been grateful for the invitation.

I snarled.
Fuck you.
I think that one came through loud and clear, in spite of the language barrier.

He frowned, and glanced at the cat behind me. “Take her.”

Something slammed into my left flank. I hit the ground beneath the stray. But we both froze as an unholy snarl ripped through the air from somewhere to the east. Somewhere
close.

All heads swiveled as a huge wall of thorny shrubs shook to the left. The roar of fury came again, and my ears pinpointed it at least seven feet off the ground. No werecat was that tall. Not on four legs.

The shrubs shook harder. The roar deepened, ringing in my ears and pinging through my brain. Then the greenery parted. An entire eight-foot shrub uprooted itself from the ground, roots dangling a foot in the air.

The bush flew across the clearing, and all eyes followed it. My gaze flicked back to the gap in the vegetation to find it completely filled—by a seven-foot grizzly bear, nostrils wide in fury, dark brown fur tangled around twigs and briars.

Keller.

Fur stood on end all over my body, and I knew from the sudden stench of fear in the clearing that I wasn’t the only one about to piss my…um…pelt.

More foliage rustled on my right, and a new cat leapt into the clearing—another of Radley’s toms coming to his aid. But the cat froze with one look at the angry bear and began backing slowly in the direction he’d come from.

Radley scooped up a terrified Kaci under one arm and swung around, running for his life as her scream trailed into the air at his back.

Keller sprang into motion, much faster than I would have thought possible for a creature of his size. He dropped to all fours and thundered past me.

I twisted beneath the stray pinning me to see Keller swipe one powerful paw at the new arrival. The black blur flew across the clearing, rolling to an ungraceful halt in a thick tangle of briars.

Keller turned on us, and my heart stopped. I wasn’t at all sure he could tell me from the others. Or that he was on my side, for that matter. I had no idea what a bruin’s thought process was like in bear form—or even if he had one.

I thrashed beneath the tom crushing me, digging into the dirt in an attempt to get to my feet. But the dumbass bruising my flank seemed frozen in place. I clamped my jaws around his leg, grinding my teeth together through his flesh. He howled and jumped up, snapping at me instinctively.

I backed away and the stray tried to follow.

Instead, he flew across the clearing and crashed into a tree, four feet off the ground. I heard his spine snap from ten feet away, but didn’t understand what had happened until my eyes focused on the tower of brown fur standing over me. Keller had
thrown
a full-grown werecat all the way across the clearing. Hard enough to break his back against a tree. With one blow.

I backed slowly away from the bear, lowering my muzzle in submission, hoping he spoke enough werecat to know I was
not
challenging him.

Keller huffed at me and blinked. Then he turned without lifting a paw against me.
He knows me. Thank goodness
.

I leapt to my feet and raced toward the edge of the clearing, where Radley had disappeared between two trees. But before I’d gone four steps, something heavy slammed into my shoulder. I landed in a pile of leaves on my right side. Teeth sank into my right rear ankle. Pain sheared through muscle and into bone. I howled, and my eyes closed as I thrashed, but the teeth didn’t let go. Inhaling, I took in the scent of the stray Keller had thrown into the briars.

Didn’t learn his lesson the first time…

I forced my eyes open and my body into motion. My paws swiped at the form over me, claws snagging in flesh. I pulled harder, and that flesh tore.

The stray hissed, and lost his grip on my leg. I thrashed harder, and he slid onto the ground. I stood and slashed him again, swinging blindly now. My claws ripped through the flesh over his shoulder.

Keller roared again, and my gaze sought him out, even as
I slashed once more. The bruin was on all fours now, facing two new strays whose tails swished along the ground frantically. Their ears were flattened to their skulls, bodies hunched close to the ground.

Fresh pain thudded through my skull as a paw made contact with my head.

I whirled on my attacker, hissing, claws flying again. The stray pounced, driving me onto my side. I wedged my back paws between us, and this time I didn’t hesitate. I simply slashed.

My rear claws slid through soft stomach fur and into muscle. Blood poured over me. The stray screeched, his scream trailing into pitches too high for me to hear. Organs slid from ruined flesh. Paws flailed weakly at my face and sides. The scent of blood permeated the clearing, saturating the ground as surely as the air. And finally the stray stopped moving.

For a moment, I lay still, horrified by what I’d done. But that passed quickly. I’d defended myself. And now I would defend Kaci.

I got to my feet just as one of the remaining strays sprung, pouncing on a bear nearly twice his size. Keller swung one mighty paw, fur rippling in the breeze he created. He connected with the cat in midair. Something crunched, and the stray’s neck bent at an odd angle. He fell into a motionless black heap on the forest floor.

A feline roar of fury sliced the air, and the last black blur launched itself at Keller’s back. The cat landed firmly and clung, sinking his claws into the bear’s flesh through thick, matted fur. The idiot had balls, if not brains; I had to give him that.

I paused on the edge of the clearing, glancing back over the strays Keller had broken and the one I’d disemboweled. The remaining stray still clung to the bruin, probably afraid to let go now, knowing he was dead if he did.

Then I took off after Kaci, confident Keller could handle himself against the last terrified werecat.

I ran as quietly as possible, pausing frequently to listen for footsteps. Fortunately, Kaci was doing her part to help—screaming almost nonstop. Apparently Radley couldn’t hold on to her and cover her mouth at the same time.

The woods flew by as I ran, and less than two minutes after I left the clearing, I caught up with Radley. And he didn’t even know it. He was too busy trying to drag the thrashing teenager up a hill to realize I’d found them, and I wasn’t about to warn him.

Instead, I pounced.

I drove them both to the ground on the upward slant of the hill, Kaci pinned beneath Radley. It was the only way I could think of to keep him from using her as a hostage—I’d been in that position, and didn’t want to put her in it.

My jaws closed over the back of Radley’s neck. My teeth broke his skin. Blood trickled slowly into my mouth. I didn’t want to kill him until she was free, so my bite was mostly a warning. Still, his blood sent adrenaline rushing through my veins, demanding I finish it. That I taste the blood of my enemy: a victor’s right.

Instead, I planted my paws in the dirt on either side of them both and pulled Radley backward by his neck, lifting him several inches off of Kaci.

She didn’t move—apparently too scared to realize what had happened. I whined, and felt her squirm beneath us. Then she scrambled into motion, crawling out from under him in a series of short, panicked movements. Finally free, she scooted up the hill on her rear, staring at us both in horror. There was no recognition in her eyes. She’d never seen me in cat form and clearly didn’t realize her nose worked in human form, too. She had no idea who I was.

Eyes wide in terror, she turned away from us both. Then she ran—again, and I could do nothing but watch her go.

“Please…” Radley begged beneath me. And I hesitated,
because Kaci was free and I was in no danger. I could hold him until someone else arrived—and surely the cavalry would show up any minute. They would probably want to talk to him.