My phone vibrated in my pocket right as I pulled up to the tower where the bosses were.
"Talk to me," I said, craning my neck up at the building as people on the sidewalk weaved around me.
"This is Ian," spoke the man on the other end. "Where are you?"
"I'm at the address now," I said. "Just got here."
"Speaking of ‘just got here,' Atticus is back. And he's brought the clan."
“How many?" I asked.
"A lot."
"Good," I said. "Because all it's gonna take is a word from the bosses before the pack can move out."
"Then you need to do what you can to stop this fight before it can happen."
"It'll get done," I said.
"And Lucas," said Ian. "Get my cousin back safe."
I grunted in response, my body braced with determination. After parking my bike, I strode into the lobby, and after a little "convincing", the clerk in the lobby provided me with a key for the service elevator. Said it should bring me up the back entrance of the apartment. I found the elevator and stepped in, and as the small, tight car rose, I just about boiled over with anger. I was ready to kill.
The elevator opened with a ding, and right as the doors slid open I spotted one of Cutter's goons standing around in the hallway. I thought to shift, but wanted to take advantage of the element of surprise. I flew toward the goon and jammed the knife I'd taken from Smith into his neck. He struggled for a second before dropping. As I looked over his body, the blood pooling around him on the glossy white floor, I felt a tinge of regret. I hated having to kill a brother, but I knew these new recruits weren't really one of us. More likely, they were men Cutter'd hired to boost his numbers for the war.
I moved slowly down the hallway, taking out another goon who'd stepped out of the bathroom just in time for me to slip the knife into him. As I shut the bathroom door, I hear the commotion of Cutter and the bosses from another room. I'd never met the bosses before, but I was sure I'd know them when I saw them. Moving closer to the main room, I peeked around the corner, spotting the three men sitting at a long black table, Cutter standing in front of them, the city framed in the massive windows behind them. The place was like a palace; I couldn't believe men who considered themselves hard-as-nails Stone Masons would live in a ritzy place like this.
"Okay, who's first?" said Cutter.
"I got dibs," said one of the bosses, some guy with short, cropped hair.
"Me next," said another, a pencil-necked little shit with a face just singing for a smack.
I watched as the short-haired boss got up and started on his way out of the room.
"Your boys on the move?" he asked, stopping halfway out.
"Made the call fifteen minutes ago; the crew's moving to the compound now, should be there in about twenty minutes."
"Good," said the military man. "Looking forward to hearing all about it when I'm done getting my dick wet."
With that, he let out a barking laugh and left the room. I scanned the space, planning my angle of attack. I figured I could come in from the side, take out Cutter, and have only the two bosses to deal with. But before I could make my move, a thug I'd missed emerged from a nearby room. I rushed toward him, knife in hand, ready for the kill. But he let out a loud cry as I drove the knife into him, and as his body hit the ground, I heard the voice of Cutter call out "what the hell?" from the other room.
Fuck.
"That you, Lukey!" shouted out Cutter.
I knew I was fucked. Better to take my medicine now. I yanked my knife out of the thug, wiped the blade on my leg, and stepped out into the main room. The two bosses looked me over, and Cutter stared me down hard.
"This is that fuckin' traitor I was tellin' you both about. The ‘brother' who sold us out for some little bear piece of ass."
"Looks like he saved you the trouble of tracking him down," said one of the bosses.
"Nice of him," said the other.
"Where's Isabella?" I demanded, blood pumping through my veins.
"She's a little…occupied," said Cutter. "But hey, maybe when it's my turn I'll let you see her again, if you know what I mean."
"You're not gonna start a war," I said. "I'll kill you all before I let that happen."
"Well, you better get on it, Lukey," said Cutter. "Because the war's about to go down, whether you like it or not."
"No talking," said the scar-faced boss. "Let's kill this fuck and be done with it."
"My thoughts exactly," said Cutter, preparing to shift.
But before he had the chance, a yell of pain sounded from the direction that the military-looking man had walked to.
"What the hell?" asked Cutter, looking in the direction of the noise.
The deafening roar of a bear answered his question.
"What the fuck?" asked the thin-necked boss. "I thought you said she couldn't shift!"
"That's what I thought!" shouted Cutter.
Another yell of pain sounded out, but this one was cut short, the yell fading into a gurgling gasp.
Then she came. Through one of the doors down the hallway, Isabella, now in fully-shifted bear form, came storming toward us, her black eyes wide in anger and her salivating, blood-coated mouth sounding a booming roar. She stomped into the room and looked over the scene, her eyes settling on me for a moment.
She was safe.
"Fuckin' kill her!" shouted the thin-necked boss.
Isabella rushed toward him, bringing down a paw on his face and crushing him before he could say another word, let alone shift. I wasn't about to let an opportunity like this get away. I shifted into my wolf form and ran in, jumping first onto the table then onto the scar-faced man. He was mid-shift by the time I landed on top of him, and it took all the strength I had to get the better of him. Finally, after moments of fierce struggling, I sank my teeth into his neck just as he'd finished shifted. He let out a loud yelp that abruptly silenced right as I twisted his neck with my jaw.
And just like that, the Stone Mason bosses were done. All that remained was Cutter, who was now standing between Isabella and me, his face twisted in fear. He knew he had lost, all that remained was to finish the job.
"Come on, guys," he said, holding his hands up in front of him. "We can talk about this. Maybe make you two the new bosses? No, I mean, make you both Second-in-Command?"
Isabella turned her head toward me, and I got the message right away.
This was her kill.
She let out a mighty roar and stomped toward Cutter. Her mouth opened wide, she stomped onto Cutter, pinning him down with her paws right as he put his head between her jaws.
I turned away as the crack sounded out; there was some shit that even I didn't want to see.
The job done, we both shifted into our human forms, running up to one another and locking into a tight embrace.
"You came for me!" she shouted, covering my face in kisses.
"Of course, I fuckin' came," I said, the smirk on my face covering for the warmth I felt in my heart.
But before I could relax too much, I remembered the club was on their way to a fight. I grabbed Cutter's phone from his limp body, feeling a little vomit rise into my mouth as I caught Isabella's handiwork out of the corner of my eye. I dialed up Jace, one of the brothers I knew trusted me, and told him the bosses were dead, the attack was off.
I caught them just in time. He didn't believe me at first, but a video call allowed me to pan over the scene of carnage behind us and prove my claims in the grisliest manner possible.
It was done. I let the phone drop out of my hand and fall to the floor as I embraced Isabella.
"You shifted," I said, looking her over.
"Yep," she said. "Turns out, all it took was another threat of becoming a sex slave. A girl can only let that happen so many times, you know?"
I smirked before bringing my lips to hers. The glittering city stretching out behind us, I held her close. Right then and there, I decided I never wanted to let her go.
CHAPTER 18
Two months later…
The morning was bright and cheery at the Swift compound. I awoke to the gentle chiming of the alarm clock, and began to roll out of bed. But before I could put my feet on the floor, I felt the warm touch of fingers wrapping around my wrist.
"Not so fast," said Lucas, his blue eyes looking extra sensual from the heaviness of sleep.
A little smirk crossed my face when I realized what he had in mind.
"We can't…" I said. "We've got a big day ahead."
"Oh, please," said Lucas, rolling his eyes playfully. "It can wait."
"A permanent peace treaty between the Swifts and the Stone Masons can wait?" I asked.
"It can when it doesn't start without me," he said. "Being the boss has its perks, you know."
He had a point.
Taking my feet off the floor and sliding back into bed, I moved close to Lucas, looking into his sparkling blue eyes, bright and clear in the morning light.
"I love you," I said, feeling slightly overcome with emotion.
"I love you, too," he said.
With that, he moved in close and placed his lips on mine, kissing me hard and deep straight away. I let my body slacken as he kissed me, focusing on the warm feeling of his tongue moving into my mouth as his right hand slid down the curve of my hip and came to a rest between my legs.
"Someone's ready," he said, noticing the heat of my arousal.
"I'm always ready for you," I purred as he began to slowly rub my pussy, his touch crackling through my body like electricity.
He touched me like this for a time, teasing me with the hint of a finger against my sex.
"Put it in," I said, reaching over and grabbing onto his steel-hard cock. "I need it now."
"Good girls know how to wait," he said.
I huffed internally. Who said I was a good girl?
He continued to touch me, to tease me, and after a few more minutes of this, he slipped a finger inside me, stimulating my G-spot in the way only he knew how. It felt like heaven, but all it served to do was inflame my hunger for his prick. Lucas touched me more, and I angled my body so I could rub his cock while he fingered me. Moans escaped both our lips, and my desire for him to shove this meaty rod into me was becoming overwhelming.
"Now," I said, demanding. "Fuck me now."
Evidently, he had the same sentiment. Lucas rolled over, his prick slipping out of my grasp. He removed his fingers from me, and the empty feeling that followed was soon replaced by the magnificent sensation of fullness and heat only his cock could provide. Seconds later, he was spanned out over top of me, the ropy muscles of his arms tight and firm. His cock slid into me with a smooth glide, and I let out all of the air in my lungs as he filled me.
"Goddamn," I said. "That feels so fucking good."
He smirked, knowing, by now, just how much I loved his prick. Lucas began moving in me, bringing his body close to mine and taking one of my nipples into his mouth, gently sucking it and lashing it with his tongue. The joint sensations of his mouth on my breasts and his cock inside me caused an orgasm to flow to the surface nearly instantly. And as soon as he shifted his thrusting from a gentle plunge to a full-on, relentless pounding, I knew I could not hold it back any longer. The orgasm erupted, spreading through my body like hot molten. I felt as though I was going to melt into goo as he pounded me.
Seeing that I'd already came hard, Lucas was ready to fill me in another way. His face tightening with pleasure, he came, shooting his cum deep inside me, emptying himself into my body. Once he finished, he fell on top of me in a sweaty heap. I wrapped my arms around him, holding him close and tight as we regained our breath.
"I'm starting to think I need to stop being so rough with you," he said, his eyes down at my belly.
"Just because I'm pregnant doesn't mean I'm a delicate little flower," I said.
It'd been a week since we'd gotten the good news. My body started feeling different in a way I couldn't quite describe, and once I told the women of the clan, the knowing glances between them all alerted me that they understood right away what was going on. A quick pregnancy test, later, confirmed I was carrying Lucas's child. A year ago, this news would've shocked me to the core, but now, with the support of my clan and the man I loved, I was ready to become a mother. The fact that it was going to be a hybrid bear and wolf baby did cause me some concern, but the women of the clan assured me that while hybrid children may be more of a challenge, it was nothing we couldn't handle together.
And, of course, once Lucas learned the news, he asked me to marry him. You don't have to guess what I said.
"Ready to do this?" I asked Lucas as we stepped out of the shower and prepared for the ceremony.
"Ready to put that near-war behind us? Hell yes, I am," he said, rubbing a towel against his dark, wet hair, his body glistening with water.
The night we killed the bosses of the Stone Masons was a night that brought us to the brink of war. Thankfully, we were able to put a stop to things just as Lucas's wolf pack and the Swift clan were about to come to blows. His phone call was just in time, and I shudder to think how many lives came close to being senselessly lost that day. And now, months later, with Lucas firmly in charge of the Stone Masons and the Swift clan finally reunited, the treaty ensuring peace between the wolves and the bears could finally become executed. There would finally be peace on Bear Mountain.
A short time later, we were both ready. Stepping out of the bedroom, we were greeted with the sight of Atticus and Ian, along with the rest of the men and women of the Swift clan all gathered with the higher-ups of the Stone Masons. The treaty was laid out on the table, and all eyes were on us.
A new world lay ahead of us, and though it was uncertain, we knew we could handle it together.