Chapter Eighteen

Nikolai wasn’t faring well.

Why he ever thought this would be a fair fight was beyond him. They’d found a ravine, carved from the earth and hidden from view outside a nearby neighborhood. As soon as Nikolai had stepped in, the rebellious shifters that had once belonged to him climbed down to stand behind Alex.

Alex was clearly out of his mind. Nikolai should have brought backup, not that he thought his Pack would be willing to fight for him. His body trembled, dropping him to one knee. He was willing to fight, the willpower there, but his body was flagging.

Blood dripped from a wound in his leg. He looked at the shifter that’d given him the wound, a man he’d once gotten drunk with. More blood spurted from a gash in his side. His gaze slid to the other man who’d slashed him. They’d grown up together, had their first changes together.

Nikolai felt alone in the world. All he had was Monica. No one else in his Pack was rooting for him. None of them would care if he collapsed right then and there. The world would keep spinning without him.

Alex grinned. Victory was almost in sight.

His sight wavering, Nikolai forced himself upright. He staggered away from the shifters. They let him leave, knowing he was losing blood. With one hand over the wound in his side, he attempted to staunch the blood. He couldn’t reach the wound in his leg, didn’t have the time to stop and tie it off.

What he needed to do was shift. The bear roared and slammed against the barrier between them. They had a reason to fight, to survive. The image of Monica laying in bed filled his mind. He envisioned her hair spread over a pillow, her breasts nearly slipping from the sheets. He would return to her at the end of the day.

He just needed to figure out how.

Nikolai was outnumbered. In a fair fight, he might have won. Alex was small and agile, but he hadn’t been trained by Nikolai’s father. He hadn’t spent hours in the fighting ring, trying to get better. Yet, the betrayal of his shifters meant Alex had the upper hand.

The boundary between wilderness and civilization was stark. Nikolai stepped out of the barren landscape and onto sidewalk. Carefully tended trees loomed above his head, providing shade as he staggered through the street, leaning against a stucco wall.

A pop of color caught his attention. Once he noticed the first, he noticed more. They were everywhere. His own face looked back at him, much more gallant than he saw in the mirror. Beneath it were the words, Pack Prevails.

His heart stuttered.

The bear pulled him straighter. It poured power into Nikolai’s human body. It looked out with pride, seeing not only the work of their mate, but the work of their Pack everywhere. The air smelled familiar, of Pack and protection.

A car on the street screeched to a halt. A woman poured out of the driver’s side. He didn’t notice who it was until her scent enveloped him. Monica put her hands on his shoulders, pushing them back so she could see the damage. Worry and pain was written in the lines on her face.

Nikolai tried to step back, to hide his wounds from her, but she manhandled him back into her grasp. He didn’t want her to worry. He couldn’t’ stand the look on her face.

“You defeated him?” Her hands became gentle.

Nikolai shook his head. Every moment he spent leaning against the wall, he spent healing. The bear’s power sped the process. They would be weak if they shifted, but he needed to survive. For his mate. For his Pack.

He would survive.

Nikolai looked past his mate, at the graffiti with his face. “You did this.”

“And you didn’t answer my question. Is Alex dead?”

In response, Alex’s laughter filled the air. Panic slapped Nikolai. This wasn’t the place. He scanned the houses around them. While the neighborhood was on the edge of civilization, there were still people everywhere. Windows gleamed in the light. Behind each one was possibly a human.

“Alex,” Nikolai growled in warning. “Let’s take this fight back to the ravine.”

It would be a fight, getting the shifter back to the ravine where no one could see them. Alex wasn’t about to start playing by the rules. When Nikolai turned toward the shifter, he found Alex staring at the graffiti. The shifter’s jaw dropped before snapping closed with a sharp sound.

Monica sidestepped Nikolai, putting herself between him and Alex. Pride and fear burst through Nikolai’s chest. He set a hand on her shoulder, ready to yank her back should Alex think about touching her. He’d sooner rip Alex’s head off on the open street than let that happen.

Despite his wounds, Nikolai stepped to put himself between Alex and his mate. Monica made a sound of protest, but he pretended not to hear it. He wouldn’t risk her. While he didn’t know what caused the night terrors, he refused to make them worse. This fight would not haunt her.

This was his fight.

Alex’s chin dropped, his eyes narrowing on Nikolai. The shifter took in Nikolai’s wounds. The energy his bear gave him was helping, but not fast enough. Nikolai had lost too much blood. He clenched his fist and begged his beast for more power. The beast’s attention was elsewhere, though.

The shuffling sound of footsteps and the soft murmur of voices surrounded them. The bear warmed, even as Nikolai tensed. It knew something Nikolai did not. Just as familiar faces appeared from every corner, Alex let loose a roar and charged forward.

The bear snapped to attention, pouring power into Nikolai’s hands. He sidestepped Alex’s rage-filled stampede and caught him with one hand. Nikolai used his grip on Alex to shove him back. The shifter fumbled, spinning with wide eyes as he found his footing. They were surrounded—no, Alex was surrounded.

Nikolai’s Pack poured onto the street. They stood tall, their chins high as they stared down Alex and the rebel shifters that backed him. Nikolai’s heart warmed to see how many of them had come out for him. He’d thought this was a challenge he had to overcome on his own, but when he glanced back at his mate and saw her pride-filled smile, he realized having a Pack meant never having to do anything alone.

The Pack filled the road, pressing in on Alex and his rebel shifters. With each step they took, Alex’s eyes grew wilder and wilder. Nikolai knew they had to get him off the streets and back into the ravine soon. His bear squirmed inside him. It was ready for what was to come next. Alex’s uprising was over before it’d even begun.

“You should start running,” Nikolai warned. “You’re not going to want to see what happens if we catch you.” He turned the force of his gaze upon the rebels that’d betrayed him. “That goes for you, too.”

The rebels turned tail and ran before Alex did. They tripped over themselves to get away, finally fearing the trouble they’d stirred up. The Pack behind Nikolai didn’t break and run after them. Instead, they stood strong and formed an immovable wall that pushed Alex off the street.

The shifter his father created snapped. Nikolai saw the firestorm light in Alex’s eyes, watched the energy of it trail into his limbs. Before the shifter could strike, a black streak flew out from behind Nikolai. Monica slammed into the shifter. Both rolled along the pavement. He would have a word with his mate about shifting in public, but she’d kept Alex from shifting and saved the moment.

She extracted herself from Alex, planting her body between her new Pack and Nikolai. The sound her panther released was bone chilling, a hissing roar that promised sharp claws and teeth.

“Run, Alex. It’s your last chance to live.” Nikolai was tired of this man. He was tired of the trouble his father had stirred, even though the man was long dead. He was tired of living a life that wasn’t his.

In Nikolai’s hands were the seeds to a new life, and he wasn’t about to let Alex, or anyone, take that away from him. Alex, now bleeding from several gashes, scrambled to his feet and ran. Monica was the first to run after him. The rest of his Pack dashed around him like an ocean wave. It would come crashing down on Alex, one way or another.

As Nikolai neared the edge of the neighborhood, he glanced back. It was then that he noticed there were no cars in the driveways. There were no bikes, no evidence of life. He let out a small laugh. All this time he’d been worried about exposing shifters when he’d been standing in an empty development.

The bear rose with a victorious roar. It ripped its way out of Nikolai. Their wounds stitched back together and strength returned to his tired body. His bear shook its shoulders before thundering forward to join the run.