Chapter 12
Tank grabbed Lissa as she convulsed and held her close in his arms. Her screams hurt his sensitive ears, but all he could think about was soothing her terror.
He carried her outside into the open space next to the fire pit, knowing that if her first shift happened indoors, surrounded by other animals, her bear would be even more terrified. Her teeth and claws had shifted, and she raked parallel scratches down his ribcage. Her teeth fastened on his arm, blood running in rivulets down his skin.
“Dammit,” he muttered. “Somebody get her mouth.”
Flynn was right behind him, and he dug his fingers into hinge of Lissa’s jaws and forced them apart. As soon as Tank’s arm was free, Flynn brought his big hand over her mouth, holding it closed.
“Oh, no, darlin’,” he muttered. “Bad bear.”
Tank held on to Lissa. He could feel her bones breaking, feel her flesh undulating as she tried to shift. He laid her on the ground, talking to her the whole time. “It’s okay. Let her out. Let’s see what we’ve got here.”
Her eyes were wide open, and they had that horrible flame-red glow. She fought and snarled, no intelligence in her eyes. Just fury. Her flesh looked like it was bubbling, but she didn’t Change.
She was stuck between forms, and it was tearing her apart.
“Holy fuck,” Xander muttered, skidding to a stop a few feet away, the others a step behind him. “What the hell is with the demon eyes?”
“Magic, I think,” Flynn said. Blue fire was beginning to dance around his hands again, and there was a muffled howl from Lissa. “Shit,” he said. “Somebody else keep her from biting. I’m hurting her.”
Xander stepped in and grabbed Lissa’s mouth. Flynn slid his hand out and backed away, shaking it like he’d gotten an electric shock.
Tank ignored all that. His focus was on Lissa, talking to her like he’d always talked to his friend Tristan when he went crazy wolf and couldn’t change back.
“It’s okay,” he said, stroking Lissa’s back over and over again. “Stay human,” he said. “Push her back. You’re not ready yet. You can be human again. Come on, babe. You can do it.”
The screaming tapered off to whimpers, but her muscles were still locked, trembling with the effort of fighting the bear. Finally the red glow faded from her eyes, and Lissa went limp.
Tank carried her into the house, straight through the living area and down the hall to his bedroom. His bed was a California king, the only kind he could really be comfortable in. He pulled her sneakers off and tucked her in. She looked so small lying there in the big bed, her wild spirit quenched. He was suddenly seized by a desire to curl up next to her and hold her safe in his arms until the whole world went away.
Protect her!
He couldn’t. He didn’t even know what was wrong with her. Still, he couldn’t seem to tear himself away.
Instead, he stroked back her hair. “You’re safe now, Lissa,” he said, hoping it was true. “Go to sleep. You’ll feel better later, when you wake up.”
He hoped that was true too.
Flynn was standing in the doorway, obviously waiting to talk to him, so Tank stroked one more strand of hair back and forced himself to follow Flynn out to the living room. The rest were all there, perched on the backs of chairs or at the barstools at the kitchen island.
“Is she okay?” Sloan asked.
Tank leaned on the wall, right near the hallway to the bedrooms. It was as far away from Lissa as he could bring himself to go. He shook his head.
“Of course she’s not okay,” he said, angry at the helpless feeling inside him. “Some bastard Turned her without her consent, and her bear’s stuck halfway. How the fuck is she supposed to be okay?”
Her screams were still echoing in his head, and he could feel his bear getting riled up.
The others looked troubled. They might be assholes, and halfway insane, but one thing they all had in common was a hatred of anyone who abused shifters. They’d all suffered too much to let that shit happen to anyone else if they could stop it.
“Who is this guy?” Xander asked. “Is he coming after her?” He paused, then added hopefully, “Can we kill him?”
“He’s a crazy rogue shifter from Arkansas who thinks he’s a god,” Tank growled. “And no, you can’t kill him. I’m killing him.”
“I’ll fight you for it,” Xander suggested. “Winner gets to kill him.”
“He might already be dead,” Tank said, thinking back on what Lissa had told him. “She’s having trouble remembering the night she was Turned, but I know she was holding something back—something big. What if she killed him?”
Jasmin said from her barstool, “Then I’ll buy her a drink for a job well done.”
She’d grabbed up one of the shirts from the coat hooks by the door and put it on, but her long legs were still bare, twined around the legs of the stool. “The problem is, if she Changed right after he Turned her, and killed him, then that might be what messed up her bear. The both of them could be so traumatized she repressed her bear, and the memories of what she did.”
Fuck it all. He hated to think of Lissa’s bright soul being tainted by that.
Flynn shook his head. “It can’t just be that,” he said.
Tank glared at him, running his fingers through his hair. “Just?” he repeated. “Isn’t that enough?”
“It doesn’t explain the red glow from her bite mark, or the demon eyes,” Sloan pointed out.
“Yeah,” Xander added. “What the fuck was up with that?”
They all looked at Flynn, who glared back at them. “How the hell should I know?” he asked. “Only thing I can think of is somebody used magic on Lissa—or rather, on her bear. What the magic is or what it does, is anybody’s guess. But it’s probably some kind of binding or domination magic.”
Jasmin asked, “What makes you say that?”
Flynn held out his hand. Blue fire danced around it. “Israel Jonas gave me the claim on this territory with that dragon stone he’s got,” he said. “This blue fire is territory magic, like the kind the wolves have. When I tried to extend my protection to her, as alpha of this territory, whatever magic she’s carrying around jumped up and fought it. Like she’s already pledged to someone else.”
“He didn’t just Turn her, he tried to claim her,” Tank reminded him. “Maybe he sealed the claim with some kind of magic, because it wasn’t a true mating.”
And if he had, Tank was going to kill him twice.
“Well, there’s an easy way around that,” Xander said. He’d gotten his knife back in the confusion, and was twirling it between his fingers. He gave a feral smile, and ran the edge of the blade lightly across his own neck. “Death negates a mating claim. Bleed him out.”
Tank turned to Flynn. “Would that do it?” Because he was willing to drive to Arkansas right now and rip the man’s intestines out.
Flynn shook his head. “You’re asking me? I don’t know shit about magic. But you might be right about the purpose of the spell. An ordinary claim wouldn’t react like that—I had half a dozen Silverlake women here a few weeks ago, all of them claimed and pledged to another alpha, and my power didn’t go apeshit on them. Not to mention, that demon-eyes thing is not normal. Fucker did something to her, though I’m damned if I know what.”
“We have to help her,” Tank said. He was feeling desperate inside, and his bear was pacing and snarling. “Her bear’s tearing her up, and if it’s being magically restrained, it really will kill her.”
He couldn’t stand to see Lissa die. She was so brave, so strong. Such a fighter. She had the spirit of a beautiful warrior bear, and it was killing her.
Tank shifted his weight restlessly against the wall, his hands clenching and unclenching. It wasn’t fair. He’d seen too many people die. Lissa didn’t deserve this. He wanted to leave right now to find Brother Damien and rip his limbs off one by one until he undid whatever he’d done.
He was hurting Lissa.
Tank’s fist crunched through the wall before he even realized what he was doing. It felt good, so he did it again and again. Dust and bits of drywall rained down.
Finally he stopped, his muscles feeling limp. There was a huge hole in the wall, and a pile of drywall fragments and dust on the floor.
He glanced at Flynn, ducking his head. “Sorry,” he muttered.
The rest of them were watching him silently. “We’ll fix it later,” Jasmin said.
Tank turned to Flynn. “Can we still keep Lissa here? Even with the magic?” He didn’t know what he’d do if Flynn said no. Maybe take her to Georgia. He couldn’t just abandon her.
Flynn sighed, scrubbing at his hair. “I’m not happy about it, especially if that magic is going to keep her from submitting to my authority as alpha. But I don’t see that we’ve got any choice. She still has a rogue bear inside her she can’t control, and she’s already attacked people. She’s a danger to herself, to humans, and to the shifter community. We either keep her here, or turn her over to the Council.”
Tank snarled at that.
Flynn continued, “Which I agree is a bad idea, until we actually know what she’s done and who she’s killed, if anyone.”
Tank started flexing his fists again. He wanted to bleed someone. Kill something.
“Tank!” Flynn’s voice snapped through the air like a whip crack. “You need to get some air. Why don’t you drive back over to Lissa’s squat and pick up her things?”
Tank bit his lips. He should do that. It was something he could do for Lissa, and he needed to do something for her. But he couldn’t step away from the wall. He felt like he was tethered to Lissa with a bungee cord. The further away he went, the more it pulled at him.
Sloan said softly, “I’ll sit with her.”
“You can’t—she doesn’t—” She didn’t know Sloan. Tank knew she didn’t really know him either, but it felt wrong to leave her with someone else. He should take care of her.
“She’ll be okay,” Flynn said, shoving alpha authority into his tone.
Tank looked desperately at him. “Promise me you won’t put her in the crazy shed. Even if she goes wild again.”
The crazy shed was the reinforced building with the iron lock—the one Xander had been locked in earlier. They only used it as a last resort, when someone’s animal was so out of control they were a danger to themselves, but Lissa didn’t know that.
“She doesn’t understand yet. She’ll be terrified.”
“We’ll take care of her,” Flynn promised. “But you’re too riled up. You need a breather.”
Tank shook himself. Flynn was right. He couldn’t think straight.
“Okay,” he muttered. “Okay.”