Rhys (The Shifters of Eagle Creek Book 3) Read online

  My anger surged. Red filled my vision. And before I could think about my stupid plan, I raced forward toward the beast four times my size. Leaping into the air, I landed on his back and used my legs to grab a hold of every part of his body I could. It wasn’t pretty, but it was enough to roll him off Rhys and knock him to the ground. I spun on my back and quickly jumped to my feet. My wolf felt Rhys staring at us, so I made a point of looking at him. He tried to say something, but no words escaped his mouth. He wasn’t well, and if we didn’t get him out of here soon, he would die.

  Howling into the air, I leapt toward the polar bear again. He still hadn’t gotten up, slipping on the massive amount of blood on the concrete floor. I used this to my advantage, landing a bite to the back of his neck and tearing a mouthful of fur away. He roared and stood to face me. Huffing several breaths, he shook his head and I smiled on the inside when I saw the blood flying through the air. I’d injured him.

  And now I needed to finish this off.

  The bear charged, but I was quick. A bite to the ankle left him limping even as I skidded across the damp floor. The second time he came after me, I managed to rip away a part of his bowls. I might only be a wolf. But I was pissed and I wouldn’t let this asshole stop me from saving my mate.

  When the bear stood on his back legs, I knew it was now or never. I couldn’t fight him on strength—I would never win. I had to outsmart him. So, as he was busy showing off his giant body and massive roar, I took in my surroundings and made a decision my wolf fought me on. In an instant, I ran to the side…and shifted back to my human form. Everyone gasped and even the polar bear took a moment to ponder my decision. And while I grabbed the metal pipe laying on the ground behind Rhys, I swear I saw that idiot bear smile. He continued his posturing, waving his hands through the air and exposing the most vulnerable part of his body. White fur stained red, he was too proud to think that I could be a threat in this form.

  So, I aimed to prove him wrong. Rhys had stopped moving, although his heart had steadied. I gave him one last glance and waited for the bear to charge. Bending my knees to get the best stance possible, I watched him approach. As if time slowed, he ran toward me. His mouth hung open, saliva and blood dripped from his teeth, and that wound in his neck pulsed blood in time with his heart.

  Steady…

  The bear only needed to take a few steps but it felt like an eternity. Thump, thump. Thump, thump. His feet hit the ground, shaking the earth underneath. The blood splished and splashed underneath his weight. The crowd grew silent as they waited for the ultimate kill.

  One more step…

  The polar bear roared and opened his mouth. At the same time, I sucked in a deep breath and willed every ounce of strength I had left in me. I thought about Cash. Thought about the way he hit me like I deserved it. Thought about the way his brother gave him a high-five every time he saw my battered face. And then I thought about that last night together. The night Cash took it one step too far and tried to force me into submission with more than just his fists. I remembered feeling helpless as he pushed me onto the couch. I remembered feeling that little voice inside my head telling me to fight back. I remembered my wolf snapping and taking over my body.

  And I remembered how good it felt to rip his throat out.

  All of that anger surged through my arms as I lifted the pipe and swung. The metal made contact with the side of the polar bear’s skull, the impact vibrating my entire body. But the hit had worked, and the bear fell sideways. He made some kind of noise, between a growl and a roar, and slid to the floor. I spun on my heels and lifted the pipe again. I’d planned on smacking him until he stopped moving, but one look at the beast and I knew I’d done enough. Tongue lolled out and silver eyes going black, I knew I’d killed him with just one hit.

  “You bitch!” Cade shouted.

  I turned to see the red-faced bastard waving his arms at me. Pointing at the angry alpha, I said, “Cade Jenssen. I challenge you.”

  “Fuck you, blondie.” He looked at the surrounding crowd and shouted, “Kill her!”

  A few of the men rushed forward, already pulling off their clothes. But a deafening roar followed by the presence of a large black panther and Donovan’s impressive size stopped them cold. The two men held everyone else back as Donovan spoke. “She challenged you, alpha. You must fight her.”

  “I will not,” he snarled. “Kevin, attack.”

  Speaking to his pack member like a dog had me huffing a laugh as I felt the feral smile spread across my face. I tapped the pipe on the ground when douchebag Kevin took a step forward. “Yeah, Kevin. Attack.”

  Donovan sighed and I knew that was an eye roll meant for me. But he, once again, held out his hand and shook his head. “You know the rules, Kevin. We are nothing without the rules.”

  Kevin’s gaze scrambled back and forth between his alpha, me, and Donovan. After a few agonizing moments, he shook his head and retreated into the circle.

  “Fucking pussies,” Cade shouted at them. “All of you. Are you afraid of a girl?” Spit flew from his mouth and his face turned bright red again. “I’m your alpha, and I order you to kill her!”

  Max hissed and swatted at him, and everyone bit their lips when Cade jumped back. “Do you accept her challenge?” Donovan asked. His voice had that powerful alpha presence again. He was so much stronger than Cade. Even the other wolves started to bow their heads.

  “She’ll never beat me,” Cade spat.

  “Do you accept her challenge?” Donovan asked again, slowly so he could enunciate every word.

  Cade looked at me and narrowed his eyes. I glared right back at him. “Fuck you, little Natasha.”

  Lifting my arms, pipe still in hand, I egged him on. “This is what you wanted, right? Now’s your chance to kill me.”

  Without a second’s hesitation, Cade’s grey wolf exploded from his body and ran straight for me. I barely had time to call on my animal before he was on me. Standing upright, and walking on our hind legs, we snapped and grabbed at each other with nothing but vengeance on our minds. Cade bit my ear and tore a chunk away. I got a hold of his shoulder and clamped down until I found bone. He snapped at my eye, barely missing the fur and I slammed my skull into the side of his face. With a whimper, we both fell back onto all fours. And then it was on again. Snapping and snarling and dodging blows, Cade and I were evenly matched. I had no idea I had this kind of fight in me. But when it came to protecting those I loved…when it came to Rhys…I would fight until my last breath.

  Cade jumped forward, but slipped on the blood and slammed his face into the ground. I used this mistake as a chance to take a bite at his stomach. But as I leaned forward to get my teeth in his skin, I felt a sharp stab of pain in the back of my neck. Fuck, he’d turned around too fast.

  Fortunately, he didn’t get a good enough grip, and I was able to yank myself free, even though I lost a piece of skin at the same time. Back on our feet, we circled each other. At one point, Cade barked at Kevin, who took a step forward like he was going to help. But in an instant, Max’s panther was there blocking him from entering the fight. With a hiss from the Eagle Creek Enforcer, Kevin bowed his head while several other wolves pulled him back into line. Had that been a breakthrough? Had they been waiting for someone to take out Cade?

  The alpha wolfed snapped at me again and I barely dodged his jaws. Hunching forward, I got a grip on his back leg and tossed him to the side. He whimpered when his ribs hit the ground but rolled to his feet easily enough. When he glared across the room at me, I knew he was coming in for his final attack.

  And all I had to do was wait for my opening.

  Cade ran forward, teeth barred and jaw prepped for a killing blow. One bite on my neck and I would be done for. As he barreled toward me, I prepared to dodge. But when he got within striking distance, and I tried to jump out of the way, my back feet slipped on the floor and I landed on my hip with a crash. Cade’s jaws came at me full force but only managed to grab my front shoulder. I p
ushed back the pain and searched for his neck. He clamped down and I almost lost my nerve. But just as he snapped my bone, I saw the side of his neck and reached forward with my teeth.

  Making contact, I grabbed on and didn’t let go. He continued to crunch on my upper leg while I dug in deeper in search of his trachea. At one point, my jaw and my leg hurt so bad, I thought I’d have to let go. But then I saw Rhys’ eyes. He was awake. And watching. And something in that look told me that I needed to finish this fight so I could be free. So we could be free.

  Cade’s grip started to fade the longer I crushed his neck. Eventually, he was forced to let go of my leg and with a quick adjustment, I repositioned my mouth over the entire underside of his neck. Cade gurgled and growled but didn’t fight back as he knew that one wrong move would mean I’d bite down and finish him.

  Dragging his body to the center of the circle, I made a point of looking every single wolf in the eyes. I only saw a few hostile ones, the others had a look of…relief wafting across their faces. Max snarled from somewhere behind me and when I made eye contact with Donovan, I stopped. With Cade’s neck planted firmly in my jaws, I now had a decision to make.

  Do I finish this? Or do we walk away?

  I looked to Donovan for advice. The wolves were silent. Rhys was silent. Max chuffed a weird sound like he was trying to talk to me. But I stayed focus on Donovan. Did I have his permission?

  Donovan surveyed the room, paying close attention to the dead polar bear and the alpha wolf acting submissive under my grip. And then, with a quick nod of his head, he gave me the power I’d been searching for.

  I was strong.

  I’d beaten Cade.

  I wouldn’t have to run anymore.

  A split second later I shook my head…and ripped out Cade Jenssen’s throat.

  “Oh my god, you should have seen her!” Max was still telling the story about the night in the warehouse two weeks ago. “She took on a polar bear! As a human!” His hands flayed wildly in the air as he retold the tale for the tenth time today.

  “Will he ever stop?” Natasha asked as she sidled up next to me. We were standing on the platform in the middle of camp watching the party going on around us.

  “I don’t know. But I don’t mind hearing about how badass my mate is.”

  Natasha hung her head. “I’m not that scary. And I’m not brave enough to do this.”

  As the default alpha of the Green Mountain Pack, Natasha and I would be leaving Eagle Creek in a few hours so she could assume her newfound position. She’d challenged an alpha and won. She was the one in charge now. And even though we’d spent the past two weeks here so I could finish up my business, I knew she’d feel better once she was surrounded by her new pack. Being an alpha was scary. But Natasha was strong and I’d promised to stand behind her one hundred percent of the time.

  I kissed the top of her head. “You are going to be an excellent alpha.”

  She looked up at me. “Did you see that letter from Portia?”

  “The congratulations card?”

  Natasha rolled her eyes. “Yeah, the one where she gave me a list of things not to do as an alpha. The one that basically said I would be terrible in my new role?”

  Laughing, I squeezed her tight again. “She didn’t say that at all. She’s just trying to help.”

  “Well, now I can tell her to fuck off anytime I want because I outrank her.”

  The sisters would never be the best of friends, but I had a feeling that as Natasha’s confidence grew, she’d come to realize just how proud Portia was of her.

  “Are you sure you have to do this?” Fawn stepped up onto the deck, holding Micah’s hand.

  “I don’t want you to leave, Mr. Rhys,” he said.

  My heart clenched so I quickly knelt to the ground so I could compose myself. “I know, buddy. But we have to. It doesn’t mean we can’t visit each other.”

  “Dad says I’m not allowed to travel until I get my changes under control.” Micah pouted and that tugging on my heart started again.

  “Well, I have no doubt that will happen very soon.”

  “You think so?”

  “I know so. You’ve done so much work, Micah. You are getting stronger every day.” I rubbed my hand over the top of his head as I stood.

  “Will I be as strong as you Miss Natasha?” he asked.

  Natasha’s mouth hung open for a second and I could smell her surprise and sadness. “Stronger,” she finally said with a shaky voice.

  Fawn jumped forward and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. “It’s not going to be the same around here without you.” She sniffed back her tears and I held her close.

  “Take care of Max. He’s going to need you even more now that he’s Donovan’s new Second.” I couldn’t think of a better shifter for the job and it was one of the reasons why I could justify leaving this place the three of us built together.

  Fawn kissed my cheek and moved to hug Natasha just as Max joined us on the platform. He pulled me into a hug and patted me on the back. “Take care, buddy.”

  Trying to breathe, I squeezed him back. “I will. And maybe you and your family can come for visit in a few months?”

  Max wiped at his eyes and quickly turned his head. “Yeah, I’d like that.”

  “You aren’t leaving before the game are you?” Mariah called out, jogging over to join us. She held her belly as she ran and we all laughed at how ridiculous she looked waddling back and forth.

  “You know you can’t literally hold the baby inside of you, Mariah, right?” I asked.

  She slapped me on the arm before pulling me in to a hug. “Yes, I know that you idiot.” Tears streamed down her cheeks, even as she tried to brush them away.

  “Stop crying, Mariah. It’s not like we’ll never see each other again,” I said.

  She snorted and moved on to Natasha. As the two embraced, I caught Donovan slinking toward us. I didn’t think I’d miss that stalker way of his…always hunting, always watching. But that’s what made him a perfect alpha and that’s how I knew I could trust him with my land and this crew. When Mariah saw her mate, she quickly joined him at his side. He didn’t get on the deck. Instead he nodded his head once and waited for me to do the same. We’d already talked every single day about what was best for the crew. And even though we knew it would be hard for me to leave, Donovan understood that my new role was to support Natasha. She was going to need help being alpha of a dismantled and dysfunctional wolf pack. And Donovan and I agreed that I needed to be the one to help her.

  But that didn’t mean I wouldn’t miss my friend.

  Shifting on my feet, I swallowed down the sadness the best I could. Everyone could sense it, and after one more group hug between Max, Fawn, Micah, Natasha, and myself, someone whistled in the distance.

  “Let’s go!” Mary shouted.

  The shifters of Eagle Creek started to gather in their teams. They decided on one more day of baseball, considering the playoff game had been interrupted all those weeks ago. Max and Fawn grabbed Micah’s hands and swung the little panther back and forth between them as they joined in the game. Mariah set a ball cap on top of Donovan’s head and slapped his ass when he ran past her to officiate the coin flip. Everyone was happy and settled. It felt so good knowing that I was leaving a stable crew who would continue to thrive under the leadership of Donovan and Max.

  “Are you sure about this?” Natasha asked, looking up at me.

  “Yes,” I said strongly. “We’ll see them again.”

  I pulled up a lawn chair, sat down, and invited Natasha into my lap. But instead of facing the game, she straddled my legs and lowered herself slowly onto my hips.

  I laughed. “What’s this?”

  She grabbed my hand and pushed it underneath her sundress where I felt…nothing. My boner responded instantly and she wiggled against the growing erection.

  “No panties?” I whispered, rubbing my hands along her naked ass cheeks and squeezing the tight muscles.


  She shook her head and bit her lip—the moved that instantly crushed my will.

  “So naughty,” I teased.

  Natasha’s fingers started working the zipper of my jeans. “How about one more memory of Eagle Creek?”

  I didn’t stop her, but I did say, “What if someone sees?”

  “You’ll just have to be extra quiet.” Her voice had deepened and that sexy growl of hers rumbled in her chest. Natasha and I had been fucking like a couple of horny teenagers every day. The chemistry between us was so dynamic, it was a wonder we’d actually gotten anything done these past two weeks. And despite the sex this morning, and the quickie in the shower, Natasha wanted more.

  How had I ever gotten so lucky?

  As she freed my cock from my boxers, she adjusted the dress to hide what was about to happen. And then, without saying another word, she slid down over my shaft and I reveled in the warm comfort of her sex. Pulling her in close, I tucked her head against mine as she rode me in silence. The baseball game had started and no one was paying any bit of attention to us. I squeezed her ass and breathed into her ear while she controlled the show.

  Back and forth. Back and forth. She moved her hips slowly over me, teasing and taunting with each little moan escaping her mouth. It didn’t take long before I was ready to explode. I reached up and grabbed her face, pulling her against me so we could see each other while we came. In silence, her lips parted as the orgasm blasted through her, and I sucked in a breath when I shot my seed deep inside. We rode the waves, silently enjoying each other as the rest of our crew shouted and cheered for the game.

  Trembling with release and weak from another round of amazing sex, I held Natasha tight. “This will never get old,” I whispered to her.

  “I hope not.”

  We sat there, perfectly fitting together and perfectly enjoying our time together, and listened to the sounds of Eagle Creek. It had been a good place for me. A good place for everyone here. But now it was time to start something new. And while a piece of that reality scared the shit out of me, I knew Natasha and I could conquer anything together.