Pride

  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.

  I shifted, tightening my grip on Radley’s neck as I settled onto my stomach on his back. I would wait.

  I inhaled through my open mouth, listening as Kaci’s footsteps echoed off to the west. Radley squirmed beneath me, and I growled, warning him to hold still. Then I heard a metallic click, completely out of place in the woods.

  What the hell?

  Pain lanced my right side and shot through my hip. My heart tripped in panic. Then understanding bit me just as deeply as the pain. The son of a bitch had a knife. He’d fucking stabbed me!

  I roared around his neck in pain and fury, and in response, someone shouted my name from the woods. “Faythe?”

  It was Jace. Footsteps pounded the earth frantically, headed in my direction.

  Radley pulled the knife free, and my teeth bit farther into his skin, my paws digging into the dirt on either side of him to hold him still. But then the bastard stabbed me again.

  I moaned in fresh agony. Blood soaked through my fur, drenching the form beneath me. Pain ripped through my side with each heartbeat, echoing in the lacerations in my back and the vicious bite on my ankle. Panic edged up on me, burning beneath my fur like an electrical charge.

  The bastard pulled the knife out again, and I screamed around his neck. If he hadn’t nicked any vital organs yet, he would soon, and I’d be dead. And he’d be gone long before the guys found us. The motherfucker would get away free and clear.

  The hell he will.

  My jaws clenched around his neck. Blood flowed into my mouth. My teeth met bone. He thrashed beneath me. I bit as hard as I could, but breaking someone’s spine was harder than I expected; Marc made it look easy.

  I concentra
ted, clenching my jaws so hard they ached. Radley bucked, and shoved the knife in one more time. My body jerked on top of his. Footsteps raced toward me from the trees, but I couldn’t hold on. My whole world was pain. Pain, and anger.

  I seized the anger and forced my teeth together. Finally, bone snapped. Radley shuddered beneath me, then went still.

  Fire licked at my side, burning deep within. I rolled off him onto my good side, and thought of nothing but breathing through the pain. Minutes later, Jace ran into sight, followed by Kaci and a handful of toms in cat form. He knelt at my side and pressed his shirt to my worst wounds, as Marc had done two days earlier.

  I growled to tell him he was late, as usual, and to my surprise, he actually seemed to understand.

  He smiled, even as his eyes watered. “Better late than never, right?”

  Says the man who wasn’t used as a pincushion.

  “Faythe?” Kaci knelt at my side, and her hand stroked my muzzle. “Is that you?” I nodded, and she sobbed. “You came for me. You didn’t let him take me.” She wrapped her arms around my chest and laid her head on my shoulder. “Thank you.”

  Thirty-Four

  “Hey,” Marc said, and I looked up to find him leaning against the door frame, a mug of coffee in one hand. He wore his leather jacket, even though a fire raged in the next room, heating the tiny cabin much more effectively than I would have thought possible. “How do you feel?”

  “Like someone used me for target practice.”

  He smiled and sat in the sturdy, knobby wooden chair by the bed. The chair was handmade by Elias Keller, as was the bed frame. The whole building, in fact. They’d carried me to Keller’s cabin because it was closer than ours, and the bruin had insisted I stay to recuperate. I think he liked having company, after fifty-odd years alone.

  Which was why he’d invited Marc, too.

  Instead of catching his flight the morning before, Marc had headed for Keller’s cabin. According to the bruin, he showed up on the doorstep with determination in his stride and desperation in his heart. He’d asked Keller’s permission to stay in the territory until my verdict and lightened sentence were official, to make sure I was safe.

  Rather than simply granting him permission to camp in the woods, the bruin had insisted Marc stay on his couch.

  Later that day, he’d loaned me his bed. And earned our Pride’s loyalty for life.

  Marc set the mug on a small table made of a section of tree trunk polished to a smooth finish on top. “Doc says you should wait at least a week before Shifting again. Radley got you pretty good. It’s a miracle he didn’t hit anything vital.”

  Yeah, that’s what it was. It was a miracle I’d “only” been stabbed in the hip and the side. It was a “blessing” the knife had nicked bone, rather than intestines, on the first plunge, then gone clean through muscle and skin and out the other side on the last two attempts to end my life. Really, I should have been grateful.

  Marc smiled, as if he knew what I was thinking. Hell, he probably did.

  Dr. Carver had also said my arm and ankle would probably scar, but I didn’t give a shit about that; I was just grateful there was no muscle damage. Besides, I didn’t know any enforcers without a couple of claw marks to show off. And now I had scars to match Marc’s.

  “How’s Ethan?” I asked, reaching for the mug.

  Marc handed it to me before I could stretch far enough to hurt myself. “Heavily bandaged, lightly sedated and recovering nicely. His ribs look awful, but Doc says he’ll heal fine.”

  “What about Kaci?” I hadn’t seen her since Carver shooed everyone out of the room so he could stitch me up.

  Marc’s mouth turned up in a triumphant smile. “They’re going to send her home with you, when you go.”

  “Really?” I grinned through the pain. That was too good to be true. “How did my dad manage that?”

  “You play a pretty convincing hero.” He brushed a strand of hair back from my forehead and I treasured the touch, wishing it would linger. “You’ve made lots of progress with Kaci. And Malone saved face by pointing out that your mother will be there to bail you out if you screw up. She’s still well respected among the Alphas. Even by most of those who don’t like your dad.”

  I nodded. My mom was strong, and Alphas respected strength. Especially in my mother, because she presented her strength all dolled up behind a dainty, well-appointed and feminine facade. She’d been playing the game for a long time, and she almost always won.

  I was trying to learn from her, but my facade was nowhere near as shiny, and I was pretty damn disinclined to polish. Especially after such an obvious dig from Malone.

  “Where is Kaci?”

  “She’s asleep at the lodge. Jace is there, too. The only way we could get her to leave you was by promising Jace would stay with her.”

  When Kaci had run from me and Radley, she’d run right into Jace and the other enforcers, who were following the sound of her screams. “What was he doing in human form?” I asked, letting the mug warm my hands. “I thought they all went out furry.”

  “They did.” Marc picked up the old-fashioned alarm clock on the nightstand and fiddled with the dials to keep his hands busy. He was nervous about something. “When they got there, Radley’s hangout was empty. Jace Shifted and snagged some clothes one of the strays left behind, then headed for Keller’s. They were hoping he had a phone Jace could use to call the lodge. He wasn’t home, though.”

  I shook my head, smiling at the memory of the bruin smacking a werecat hard enough to snap his neck. “No, he was with us.”

  “I know. He went out to catch some fish for dinner, and caught the scent of several werecats near the stream instead. The trail led in this direction. So he Shifted and followed, just in case.”

  “Where is he now?”

  “Out hunting with Parker and Michael.”

  The guys were hunting with a bruin? “No fair. I always miss the good stuff.” I took another sip from my mug, watching him. “What about the strays? Did we get them all?”

  A glimmer of true satisfaction shone momentarily through Marc’s melancholy. “You got one in the woods—two including Zeke Radley—and I finished off two of the three you and Ethan took on in the cabin. Keller got several more, and the other guys ferreted out the last two—we hope—shortly after they found you. It was a big mess, and a horrible waste of life. Such a shame, what Radley turned them into. But Keller should have some peace on his mountain now.”

  “What about Hannibal?” After seeing him in midmeal, I still couldn’t think of the blood-covered cannibal by so benign a name as Jeff.

  “He was dead before the hunt began. Ethan and Reid put him out of his misery as soon as they were done with him.”

  A shadow crossed the door frame and I glanced up to find my father smiling at me, an old-fashioned oil lamp hanging from one fist. He wore a faded button-down shirt and the only pair of jeans he owned. “How do you feel, kitten?”

  “I’m fine, Daddy.” I wasn’t in much pain at the moment, thanks to a strong local anesthetic at the site of my stitches. And there was another pile of little white pills on the table, for when the shots wore off. “So, what’s up?” In consideration of my latest injuries, the tribunal had postponed the announcement of my verdict until Doc finished sewing me up. But my father had spent the past hour at the lodge, and I was pretty sure I knew why.

  “The tribunal has reached a verdict.”

  Marc’s hand closed around mine, and I nodded, holding my breath in anticipation. I was still pissed about missing the announcement, but Dr. Carver would not let me leave the bed yet. Not even to use the restroom. And I was not fond of the bedpan, though I have to admit it was better than a coffee can.

  My father smiled. “Guilty of infection.” Which we’d already known. “But innocent of murder, by reason of self-defense.”

  I exhaled, but wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or angry. The real news was yet to come. “What’s the sentence?”

&
nbsp; My father’s smile widened, his eyes sparkling in the firelight. “Public service.”

  “Meaning what?” Marc asked, before I could.

  “Basically, they want Faythe reinstated as an enforcer, but working for nothing for the next year.”

  Okay, that wasn’t too bad. I didn’t know what to spend my meager salary on anyway…

  “And…they want you to teach the rest of us to do the partial Shift. Which means you’ll have to spend five days with each of the other Prides over the next few months.”

  “Really?” Surprise tingled through me, and my father nodded. Now that’s interesting. Though there were certainly a few territories I did not look forward to visiting…

  “The partial Shift saved your job,” he continued, transferring the oil lamp to his other hand.

  Yes, and Marc had saved my life, as well as Ethan’s. But they wouldn’t cut him the same break they’d cut me. He was officially exiled. In fact, other than my uncle, no one on the tribunal knew he was still around.

  “Thanks, Daddy. That’s great.” But my victory was bittersweet. Now that my life was no longer in jeopardy, Marc had no reason to stay.

  Fortunately, my father seemed to understand my lack of enthusiasm, and his own smile didn’t reach his eyes. “I’m going back to the cabin to sit with Ethan. If you need me, call his cell.”

  I nodded. He had dropped—thus shattering—his own phone on the floor of the lodge the previous morning, which was why he hadn’t answered it. He and Michael both seemed to feel pretty guilty for being incommunicado at the worst possible moment. In fact, Michael had gone out twice already to get me my favorite treats, to aid my recovery. I’d let him off the hook soon. Once he got back with fresh game…

  My father’s gaze shifted to Marc, and his expression sobered even more. “Ten minutes.” Marc nodded, and his former Alpha retreated into the main room, then out the front door.

  I watched him go, then frowned at Marc in dread. “You’re leaving now?”

  His eyes closed for a moment, then opened to meet mine in obvious pain. “I have to.”