Sounds of fighting rang out all around Chadwick Ramos.  The battle was intense and several times Chadwick didn’t think they’d come out victorious.  That feeling had been hammered home when the Council sent in another five hundred soldiers when it appeared Chadwick and his friends just might win.

Roars of pain and desperation were heard as men and women sought to survive.  For Chadwick and his friends this was so much more than defeating the Council.  It was about the right to live their lives as they saw fit without having to constantly look over their shoulders for someone wishing to kill them for their sin – being gay.

A slight disturbance in the air behind him was all Chadwick needed to alert him to someone about to attack him from behind.  Even though the fatigue of fighting for hours was wearing on him, Chadwick had turned and swung his sword, effectively killing the man who thought to sneak up on him.

Admittedly, it was a close call, as the Council’s soldier had nearly managed to severe Chadwick’s head from his body.  Thankfully, even as exhausted as he was, Chadwick’s reflexes were still faster than most.

That was thanks to the training he and his four best friends had forced themselves to endure for the day when their sexuality would be discovered and they had to fight for their lives.  At the time, Chadwick would have rather died than pretend to be someone he wasn’t.

But now?  All that changed when they’d been forced to flee their former pack.  When they’d arrived in Miracle, Oregon, Chadwick had thought his friend and now Alpha, Edrick, had been crazy to buy the abandoned town.  But it had taken less than a week for Chadwick to fall in love with the nearly falling down town.  Now he refused to allow anyone, much less the bigoted Council, to kill him and deny him the freedom he finally managed to find.

So he fought.  That there were three men he was facing didn’t faze him.  He wouldn’t have cared if he were facing a hundred men by himself.  Chadwick planned on killing each and every one of them so he could get back to living the life he’d always dreamed of having.  One without restrictions on whom he had sex with.

A roar of outrage nearby had the hairs of Chadwick’s body rising in fear.  Based on the scent of terror emanating from the men he was currently in battle with, the sound had scared the crap out of them, too.  Chadwick would have enjoyed their terror more, but the searing pain coming from his sword arm hit him, telling him he’d been injured before he’d known there was a problem.

When Chadwick tried to raise his sword, his arm wouldn’t cooperate and one of the three men before him took full advantage.  Chadwick’s training kicked in and he dropped before the man’s sword had gotten close enough to inflict damage.  At the same time Chadwick glanced down at his arm to inspect the damage.

Blood poured from a gash in his upper arm.  That wasn’t a bullet wound, like he’d assumed since he hadn’t felt anyone near enough to cut him.  It had been inflicted by a blade.  As one of the three men came at him, Chadwick rolled to avoid him while getting a look behind him.

An ape, who’s look of rage and the promise of death stood behind him with the shredded remains of a Council soldier at his feet.  “Shift,” the ape demanded.  The word had come out guttural and barely formed since he was shifted into his animal form, but Chadwick could still understand him clearly.

The injury was severe enough that Chadwick should listen to the advice, but he also was a far more effective fighter with his swords.  He’d have to give them up if he shifted into his mountain lion.

In the blink of an eye, the ape had moved and wrapped a hand around two of the soldiers Chadwick had been fighting, snapping their necks before they even knew what was happening.  The third guy barely had time to scream before he was lying in a bloody heap at the ape’s feet.

“Shift,” the ape demanded as he faced Chadwick once more.

The sheer authority in the ape’s voice had Chadwick starting to obey as fur popped out along his body.  But he wasn’t about to be told what to do, especially by this man.  “No.”

The throbbing that started in his arm where he’d been sliced open made him realized just how stupid he was being.  Shifting would heal the injury, or at least enough that he could continue fighting.  If he left it, Chadwick would most likely have to go find Nole, Edrick’s mate and their doctor, to be stitched up.

With the battle still raging around them, Chadwick couldn’t just walk away when he could resolve the issue on his own.  But the unholy glow that came from the coal black eyes of the ape staring him down, didn’t allow Chadwick to do so.  He’d be damned if he was going to follow the ape’s orders.

To do so would only ensure the rest of his life he’d be bowing to the shifter and Chadwick didn’t bow to anyone.  Not even this ape shifter, who, if they won this battle, would most likely run the council.

It would still require the ape shifter to face the current head of the council in one on one battle in a ceremonial ring but based on the ape shifter’s sheer size and deadly fighting skills, Chadwick couldn’t imagine him losing.

Two more soldiers came their way, but they didn’t get within ten feet of Chadwick before the ape shifter killed them in a bloody attack.  Then he strode to Chadwick, the fur along his body receding, his face reshaping into a human.  By the time he stood before Chadwick, the ape was gone and the man stared him down.

It shouldn’t be possible, but the man was far scarier than the ape.  Deeply tanned skin covered more muscle than any one man had a right to have.  Every inch of this man was chiseled into a fighting machine that Chadwick couldn’t imagine ever being defeated.

Dark hair hung down past his shoulders with neatly trimmed dark facial hair that gave the man before him a sinister air that promised death.  Yet, all Chadwick could imagine was running his fingers through that thick mass of hair and having the man’s firm lips taking his mouth in a brutal kiss that left no doubt as the man’s intent.

“I said shift,” the man, Saber, said, his dark as night eyes daring Chadwick to continue to defy him.

The man was an alpha to the core and it took everything within Chadwick to stand his ground instead of obeying.  “No,” he said definitively.  “Now, get out of my way, there is still a battle being fought.”

But the man didn’t move.

When another soldier dared to try and attack from behind, Saber only turned enough to snap the guy’s neck before once more facing Chadwick.  “Stop being so stubborn.  You are losing too much blood to let it heal on its own.”  Those dark eyes glanced down to the way Chadwick barely gripped his sword.  “You can’t even hold your sword properly.  How do you think you’re going to fight?”

The blood loss wasn’t helping with Chadwick’s lethargy.  He felt his eyes close.

“Chadwick, shift,” Saber demanded.

Whether it was the exhaustion from his injury, or Saber’s tone, Chadwick wasn’t sure, but before he could stop it, his body contorted, bones popping, muscles shifting, until his four paws landed on the ground.  Disoriented for a moment, Chadwick stumbled and landed on his side.

Seconds later, Saber shifted into his ape form once more and tore through five Council soldiers that must have decided to use Chadwick’s weakness as their opportunity to attack.  Chadwick must have lost more blood than he’d thought, for he could barely lift his head off the ground, not that he needed to have worried.  Saber would never let anyone harm Chadwick.

It was weird.  Chadwick used to dream of this moment when he was a small boy.  Yet, now that he’d met Saber, a huge part of him screamed for him to run as far from Saber as possible.

It took Saber hardly any effort to dispatch the Council’s soldiers.  Then he was kneeling on the ground once more in his human form, lifting Chadwick into his arms.  “Don’t worry, Kitten, I’ve got you.”

“Don’t call me that,” Chadwick mumbled, the words thick in his mouth.  He hadn’t even remembered shifting back into his human form.  That couldn’t be a good sign.  This shouldn’t be happening.  Shifting healed his wound.  His body should be replacing the lost blood.  So why was he about to pass out?

“I don’t know,” Saber said.  “You hiss and claw just like a kitten who doesn’t know better.”

There was humor in Saber’s voice that Chadwick didn’t appreciate.  “Put me down before I show you just how sharp my claws are.”  Happy that his voice sounded a bit steadier, Chadwick took stock and felt his body start to regain its strength.

Not that he was back to full power but at least he no longer was going to faint.  He wasn’t sure he would have been able to live down that humiliation, especially in front of Saber.  “Put me down,” Chadwick demanded.

Saber only chuckled and tucked him even closer to his chest as he moved through the battle like no one could touch them.  What had Chadwick cursing the man holding him was that no one did touch them.  Saber already had an overinflated ego, the last thing he needed was proof he was invincible.

“I’m fine,” Chadwick insisted.  “Now, put me down.  My friends need us fighting.”  Chadwick wasn’t about to let his friends down when they needed him.  They’d been friends since they’d been in diapers and had each other’s backs even when Chadwick, at the age of five, had announced he’d one day have a male mate.

None of them had turned their backs on him.  Instead they kept his secret and started making plans for the day when they would have to run.

“The battle is nearly over,” Saber told him.  “The Council has lost and you are in no shape to fight.”

“Don’t tell me what I can and cannot do,” Chadwick told him as he squirmed to get out of his arms.

But Saber moved Chadwick back into position and apparently freed one of his hands, because Chadwick felt the sharp sting of that hand on his ass.  “Stop it,” Saber demanded.  “I admire that you are willing to stand up to me.  Hell, it will prove useful since I tend to be quite domineering, but I also won’t allow my mate to die because he’s too foolish to understand he is in no shape to fight.”

Chadwick groaned in dismay.  Even though there had been no doubt in his mind, it was Saber saying it that made the situation a little too real.  Chadwick may have always wanted to find that one person created just for him, but the last thing he needed was an overbearing alpha-type thinking he could tell him what to do.

He’d just found the freedom to be who he was and he’d be damned if he was going to let anyone tell him differently.  Especially an overbearing, alpha-type, who thought everyone should bow down to him.  Chadwick might not be able to do anything about it, but he didn’t want Saber as his mate.