~

 

“Harvey!” Macy squealed with delight at the sight of her friend as he stalked towards her.

She’d decided that not all bear shifters were as nice as Harvey, and she had started to get bored while waiting with Zach and his brother for Harvey to come home.

“Told you Harvey would be here soon,” Zach said. He snorted his contempt for Harvey, but his words had been meant for the man and not the child.

Harvey knew what he’d been walking into the moment that he’d taken the shifter’s scent from the air where it had been mixed with Macy’s. Zach, his brother Jed, and one of the female shifters from the clan, Amy, had all been waiting for his arrival outside of their rundown cabin.

“Can we go home now, Harvey?” Macy asked, looking a little more nervous than he wanted to see her.

Harvey didn’t rush to answer because he knew that there would be a price to pay and that he’d be the one to pay it.

“Amy, why don’t you go show the kid that thing behind the house,” Zach growled.

Harvey looked at Macy. Even for a child so young, she sensed that something wasn’t right, and she looked to Harvey for reassurance. Harvey nodded once, and Macy walked away with Amy.

“I want the kid,” Harvey growled.

He couldn’t bluff, and he couldn’t walk away. Zach at the upper hand and they both knew it.

“And I want my brother to win that fight tonight,” Zach offered back.

Harvey had a feeling that would be the price. He was outnumbered, and Macy was in danger because his bear was already clawing just under the surface of his skin to burst free and take the brothers down, and he couldn’t let Macy become collateral damage.

“Done,” Harvey growled long and hard. He’d never thrown a fight in his life, and it was an attack on his pride but one that he would survive. “Now I’m walking away with the kid.”

“Not so fast,” Zach said. The man looked like he was enjoying the fact that he finally had the upper hand over Harvey. “What say you and I go a few rounds right now before your fight with my brother tonight?”

It had been asked as a question but Harvey knew better. His shifter blood would heal him before the fight, but not all the way. He’d be weakened, but then if he was throwing the fight anyway he could live with that.

“Not in front of the kid,” Harvey growled a warning but Zach paid him no mind.

“Well, that’s why I had Amy take her around back.”

Harvey knew it wasn’t up for debate. If he wanted Macy then, for now, he’d have to do what the brothers wanted.

His beast didn’t like that. The bear was itching to break free and take both brothers down. But Harvey wasn’t in a good place to let that happen.

“Just so you know — Macy is going to be leaving here with me.”

“Whatever you say, Harvey.”

The subtle smirk on Zach’s his lips said it all. There was more, but Harvey had no clue as to what it could be.

In his mind, he had one chance, one opportunity, to walk out of there with Macy, and that would involve beating the brothers down before he could walk away.

 

~

~

~

 

“We have to move fast — now,” Owen was already in front of Jordan and as the man’s speed increased, she had to run to keep up with him.

“Is it Macy?” Jordan rushed out on a shaky breath.

Her heart was already hammering in her chest, and she could hear her pulse beating a hard tune in her ears as she ran as hard as she could so that the vampire did not leave her behind.

“In a roundabout way,” Owen offered back over his shoulder.

He didn’t want to scare the hell out of the human, but he could hear the distinctive sound of men beating the hell out of each other, and he knew Harvey’s growl when he heard it.

“Go. Run. I’ll catch up to you,” Jordan managed to get the words out even as she fought to breathe.

She wasn’t stupid, she knew that she was slowing him down, holding him back, and she’d do whatever it took to make sure Macy was safe.

“What are the odds?” Owen offered back.

That didn’t mean that he wasn’t going to take her up on it as he raced off ahead of her.

 

~

~

~

 

Harvey was as mad as hell. He hadn’t really expected a one-on-one fight, and he hadn’t been disappointed.

Taking on both brothers at once made his bear want to break out of the cage that he’d locked the beast in and get his true mean on. Harvey couldn’t let that happen because if he released his bear, then the brothers would do the same, and Macy would be in even more danger.

Added to that the time it would take him to shift back to human and get Macy the hell out of there was unacceptable. When the opportunity to take the child arose, he would have to act fast.

It wasn’t just fists that came at him. Neither brother had any qualms about releasing their claws and using them to good effect. After all, they were trying to damage him before the fight tonight.

Harvey could smell the shifter blood in the air. He was giving as good as he got but he was still taking damage.

“Well, this is where all the fun is happening,” Owen’s voice rang out through the grunts of pain and the growling that came from each fighter.

Zach was the first man to back off. Harvey took a satisfying swing at Jed and knocked him down onto his backside on the ground.

“This is none of your business, vampire,” Zach growled hard.

He’d finally got Harvey where he wanted him, and now the vampire was poking his nose in where it didn’t belong.

“I just came for the child. I don’t need to be ripping anyone’s head off today unless you press that point,” Owen offered back.

“I don’t think it will come to that.” Zach grinned. “I think we got what we wanted.”

“Go anywhere near the child or her family again, and you won’t remember this day — because you’ll be dead.” Owen issued the warning.

He didn’t need to do it, and it might have been stepping on Harvey’s pride, but still, it was always better to show the strongest hand to the clan.

“We’re not stupid, we weren’t going to hurt the kid,” Zach bit out before spitting out a mouthful of blood.

“Harvey,” Owen turned his attention towards his friend. The man’s clothes were ripped and stained with his blood and that of the other shifters. “Clean yourself up.”

“Sure, I’ll just go take a shower,” Harvey growled back.

“Oh my God,” Jordan’s voice snatched Harvey’s attention towards the tree line as his mate rushed out into the clearing. Her eyes took him in before darting around the area in search of Macy. “What the hell…?”